Today, I will be delivering a lecture presentation at the Federal Reserve in Manhattan on the topic "Healthy Shopping, Cooking, and Eating: Navigating Today's Food Marketplace". Giving talks and presentations to groups has become an increasing part of my practice as a health professional, and it is an opportunity I greatly value and enjoy because it provides me with the platform to communicate important and helpful information about food, health, and wellness to a large group of people at one time, while also cutting down on the cost for each of those people to receive and benefit from that information. Generally I am hired by a company or organization to speak to their staff or members, in which case the attendees are receiving the information without cost to themselves, usually during a lunch hour or a break in the day. Other times, the presentation will be hosted as a special event at a time convenient to attendees. In this vein, as well as talks, I am also hired to participate in health and wellness events where I am available on site in person for a period of time to answer any questions for staff and/or members.
These are services that companies and organizations are increasingly interested in, for reasons ranging from concern over the health and well being of their employees and members, to a desire to increase productivity in the workplace, to an effort to reduce health insurance costs. If you would be interested in having me to come to your workplace or organization to give a talk or participate in a health and wellness event, please contact me for more information and/or pass my information on to the appropriate person in your community. I am also available to speak or present at private group gatherings or symposiums in a range of settings; homes, churches, schools, etc.
I have given presentations at the following companies and organizations:
The Federal Reserve
The Social Sciene Research Council
Harris, Rothenberg International (currently employed as freelance lecturer)
The Brooklyn Tabernacle
The New York City Family Court
Omala Yoga
The Providence Day Spa
The following are options for presentation topics:
What to Eat and Why: The Basic Fundamentals of Holistic Nutrition
Healthy Shopping, Cooking, and Eating: Navigating Today's Food Marketplace
Stress and Your Eating: Healthy Habits for Eating in the Workplace
The Healing Power of Vegetables: Nature's Nutrient Powerhouses
Going With The Grain: Incorporating Whole Grains into Your Life
Vegetarian Cooking 101: How to Benefit from a Plant-Based Diet
The Scale of Truth: Separating Fact from Fiction in Weight Loss
Healthy Nutrition on a Budget: Eating Well and Saving Big
I am also open to tailoring a talk around a topic specified by the hosting group.
Prevention of illness and day to day maintenance of well being are the future of health and wellness; what we put into our bodies and the environments we live in come together to create the reality of what is going on inside our bodies. As we become aware of the fact that making powerful changes to our wellness is within our grasp and can be executed simply and naturally, we are on our way to a healthier, fitter, more balanced population with less disease, obesity and stress. I am here to inform, support, and help to create that change. Contact me if you are interested in benefiting either on your own through one on one counseling or in a group through a company/organization event, private group gathering, or other hosted wellness event.
Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stress. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 14
Thursday, September 9
Beating Bloat
Check out this magazine article I was interviewed for on Bloat: It's Causes and Natural Remedies, which ran in the July issue of YourHealth Monthly, a nationwide health and wellness publication. You can zoom in to read/print the info!
Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com
Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com
Tuesday, December 1
Surviving the Holidays
Greetings Everyone!
With Thanksgiving now behind us and Christmas looming ahead, take a moment to check in with how you are treating your body this year. You've all seen the articles, recipes, tips and to-do lists that are aimed at helping you to stay healthier and avoid temptation during the holidays, but the first step is to just become aware of how you are living in your body. Do you feel that you are inside your body at all? Are you noticing it's patterns and rhythms, what makes it feel good and what makes it feel bad, and what makes it feel really awful? Are you paying attention to the emotional effects of neglecting your body and it's needs?
When I was at home for Thanksgiving vacation, my father said something in jest that struck a chord in me. In reference to all of the typical holiday overindulging, he said "Our poor tummies. We put them through so much." He was joking, but there is a profound truth in what he said: our bodies are working around the clock to keep us moving, breathing, digesting, processing, and living. Our digestive system plays a huge role in that, because food is the fuel for all of our bodily needs, and the digestive system is responsible for taking that food and converting it into energy, as well as satisfaction and a sense of comfort. Yet often, especially at this time of year, we treat eating as a sensory free-for-all and throw any concern about what we are feeding our bodies out the window. Our "tummies" are left to contend with more sugar, fat, processed/refined foods, and way more calories than they can process healthfully. The result is sluggishness, weight gain, decreased energy, heightened stress, and seemingly inevitable feelings of despair and failure.
However, we can decide to make a change. There are many things we can do in our day to day lives to create a healthier holiday time for ourselves, and I will be posting about them in the coming weeks. But for the time being, make that most important step: Slow down and take a moment to check in with yourself, and with your body. Appreciate it for all that it does for you to keep you going in your life, and be aware of how your choices affect it's processes- not only physically, but emotionally. Actually BE in your body. It sounds obvious, but it isn't- most people are going throughout their day living completely up in their heads. Instead, get to know what it feels like to be inside your body by moving your awareness there, and see how it feels- simply take a moment, and practice sending your awareness there- once you become used to it, it will come much more easily. When we are in our bodies, we can be aware of our emotional and physical states and what we need to do to satisfy our needs, rather than constantly being distracted by the noise and chatter in our heads that promotes the quick fix and the sensory indulgence. This is the first and most crucial step to making health and food choices that will support you physically and emotionally, and fulfill your body's needs. The more in your body you are, the easier it becomes to intuitively make choices that will sustain and support you, not deplete and defeat you.
So, notice where last week's indulgences have perhaps caused some negative side effects, either physically or emotionally; or, conversely, notice how that run outside or meditation session or yoga class or new healthy vegetable recipe or restraint around the pie over the holiday helped you to feel more balanced, centered, healthy, and just plain good in your body. At this time of year above all, we must remember that everything we do it a choice, and we have no one but ourselves to hold responsible for the outcome of those choices. Let that idea empower rather than intimidate you: your health, fitness, weight, and well being; it is all in your hands, even at this challenging time of year. And the first step is awareness.
Check back in often over the next few weeks for tips and tidbits to help you soldier through the holiday season healthfully and happily!
Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com
With Thanksgiving now behind us and Christmas looming ahead, take a moment to check in with how you are treating your body this year. You've all seen the articles, recipes, tips and to-do lists that are aimed at helping you to stay healthier and avoid temptation during the holidays, but the first step is to just become aware of how you are living in your body. Do you feel that you are inside your body at all? Are you noticing it's patterns and rhythms, what makes it feel good and what makes it feel bad, and what makes it feel really awful? Are you paying attention to the emotional effects of neglecting your body and it's needs?
When I was at home for Thanksgiving vacation, my father said something in jest that struck a chord in me. In reference to all of the typical holiday overindulging, he said "Our poor tummies. We put them through so much." He was joking, but there is a profound truth in what he said: our bodies are working around the clock to keep us moving, breathing, digesting, processing, and living. Our digestive system plays a huge role in that, because food is the fuel for all of our bodily needs, and the digestive system is responsible for taking that food and converting it into energy, as well as satisfaction and a sense of comfort. Yet often, especially at this time of year, we treat eating as a sensory free-for-all and throw any concern about what we are feeding our bodies out the window. Our "tummies" are left to contend with more sugar, fat, processed/refined foods, and way more calories than they can process healthfully. The result is sluggishness, weight gain, decreased energy, heightened stress, and seemingly inevitable feelings of despair and failure.
However, we can decide to make a change. There are many things we can do in our day to day lives to create a healthier holiday time for ourselves, and I will be posting about them in the coming weeks. But for the time being, make that most important step: Slow down and take a moment to check in with yourself, and with your body. Appreciate it for all that it does for you to keep you going in your life, and be aware of how your choices affect it's processes- not only physically, but emotionally. Actually BE in your body. It sounds obvious, but it isn't- most people are going throughout their day living completely up in their heads. Instead, get to know what it feels like to be inside your body by moving your awareness there, and see how it feels- simply take a moment, and practice sending your awareness there- once you become used to it, it will come much more easily. When we are in our bodies, we can be aware of our emotional and physical states and what we need to do to satisfy our needs, rather than constantly being distracted by the noise and chatter in our heads that promotes the quick fix and the sensory indulgence. This is the first and most crucial step to making health and food choices that will support you physically and emotionally, and fulfill your body's needs. The more in your body you are, the easier it becomes to intuitively make choices that will sustain and support you, not deplete and defeat you.
So, notice where last week's indulgences have perhaps caused some negative side effects, either physically or emotionally; or, conversely, notice how that run outside or meditation session or yoga class or new healthy vegetable recipe or restraint around the pie over the holiday helped you to feel more balanced, centered, healthy, and just plain good in your body. At this time of year above all, we must remember that everything we do it a choice, and we have no one but ourselves to hold responsible for the outcome of those choices. Let that idea empower rather than intimidate you: your health, fitness, weight, and well being; it is all in your hands, even at this challenging time of year. And the first step is awareness.
Check back in often over the next few weeks for tips and tidbits to help you soldier through the holiday season healthfully and happily!
Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com
Wednesday, February 18
Taking Time vs. Making Time
My high school guidance counselor, who was also my Physics teacher, once addressed our class and said "People, there is one thing in this world that you will never have enough of, no matter what. That is Time."
At the time, I thought it was very profound and absolutely 100% true, I myself being a person who has perpetually struggled with the art of time management since I arrived into this world. However, now that I have some more age and experience under my belt, I can see that while on the surface this appears to be true, it is also the generally held idea of "not having enough time" that keeps us stuck in habits of time wasting and stressing about time, all the while holding us back from truly enjoying and using to our highest benefit the time that we do have. Let's be honest: we have days, weeks, months, and years. We do have all the time that we need; it is a matter of learning a balance between prioritizing how we spend that time and also going with the flow, and that I think is what was at the root of what my teacher was trying to impart to us. He was trying to tell us that we needed to learn to live our desired lives while accomplishing what we needed to get done in the time that we DO have, rather than to focus on an idea of endless time that does not exist.
It is easy and very human to get stuck in a broken record message of "not having enough time" to cook dinner, bring lunch to work, go to the gym, take a walk, play with your kids, have a heart-to-heart talk with your partner, look for a new job, or clean your apartment. In reality, we spend minutes, hours, days and weeks telling ourself how little time we have while we tune out in front of the internet, the TV, or at work, numbing ourselves to needs that we want and deserve to fill "if we only had the time". Everyone can relate to this...when was the last time you got so worked up about how little time you had that in the end you got nothing on your list done, not even the "important" things? We need to tune out that mental noise and still the anxiety inside of us about not having enough time, and instead repeat the message to ourselves that we have all the time that we need, and WE decide how we are going to use it. Because, no matter what, it is important for us to realize the truth in that statement. Everything that we do, everything that we say, everything that we make, use, or eat, is a choice.
So what matters to you? I hear so often "I don't have time to do that". So often, it is an excuse that a person is using to keep themselves in the same safe, numb routine of not having to push themselves, not having to face the fear of bettering themselves or taking on new goals. It is a message that's been repeating in the person's mind for so long that they don't even see the damage that it's causing by depriving them of the satisfaction that they are capable and deserving of. At the root of it, it's a way of cheating oneself, and keeping oneself down, because it's familiar and easy that way. We do it all the time, and we don't have to!
Let's take exercise: people say that they don't have time to go to the gym or exercise. Generally speaking, 45 minutes to 1 hour of the day, 5 days a week should be spent doing some kind of physical activity or exercise, but 30 minutes a day is a great start. So let's say you have a heavy work schedule and feel that you can't give one hour of the day 5 days a week to the gym. You say to yourself "Well forget it, if I can't do that, then why bother with anything". But wait. If you live in a city, you can walk to work. 9 out of 10 days, the weather is just fine for walking to work, even in winter. We all have coats and scarves and gloves; bundle up! 20-30 minutes each way walking to and from work gives you between 40 minutes - 1 hour of exercise 5 days of the week; it's completely free, and actually saves you money on your transportation costs. Not to mention, most people's subway commute with walking on either end winds up taking about 30 minutes anyway, so that gets rid of the "not having time" excuse. Not into walking outside? Weather just too awful? Buy yourself a few inexpensive workout DVDs online. They usually run about $12-$15 and many of them on the market are designed to give you a full toning workout in 20-30 minutes. Pop one of these into the DVD player when you get up in the morning before your shower, or at night after work and before dinner, and there you go: that 30 minutes you would have spent reading email with your coffee has now been spent giving you a healthy, energized body. If you really get into it, do one in the morning and a different one at night. You will hardly notice each 30 minutes you've spent in the comfort of your own home, but at the end of the day you've exercised for an hour without really having sacrificed much.
The same goes for cooking and preparing food. So often people tell themselves they don't have time to make a healthy lunch and bring it to work. In reality, it takes less time to whip something up at home and toss it into a bag than it takes to leave the office, walk or drive over to the deli or take-out place, stand in line, and return to the office with your food. And when you add in the money you save from bringing your own lunch, the health benefits are the biggest benefit but by no means the only one! Generally what I see when I begin working with people is that lunch is their unhealthiest meal; they are either skipping lunch entirely because they "don't have enough time", or they are scarfing down a nutritionally-deficient meal laden with calories, fat, and sodium because it was whatever they could grab at the nearest food joint. Instead, try stocking the kitchen with the following easy lunch staples: nuts of various kinds, fresh fruits, hummus, beans (either home-cooked or in a can), chopped raw vegetables, cooked vegetables (dinner leftovers are great for this), cooked rice (can be made ahead of time and kept for days), carrot and celery sticks, dried fruit, whole grain bread or wraps, zip lock bags and small plastic containers. Here is a lunch idea: fill one ziploc bag with a small handful of nuts mixed with a little bit of dried fruit, another one with a bunch of carrots and celery sticks, a small plastic container of hummus, and a small container of beans tossed with brown rice and a little olive oil and vinegar. If you have some raw or cooked vegetables (dinner leftovers are great for this), toss them in with the beans and rice.
Another lunch idea: grab a piece of fresh fruit or a little bag of fresh berries, a little bag of olives, a whole grain wrap spreaded with hummus and filled with raw or cooked veggies, and a small container of fresh salad on the side. You can mix and match the parts and use your imagination; it doesn't have to be fancy, it has to be functional. For some great, easy veggie ideas and to make sure you are covering your bases, read the Varying your Veggies post further down on this page.
Most importantly, when it comes to time and having enough of it, as paradoxical as it may seem, you need to SLOW DOWN. We do so much rushing around these days, it's no wonder we are in a fit over having enough time. This is such an important thing to remember in our day to day life, because the days will pass whether we are noticing them or not, and our valuable moments can pass us by if we are not careful to appreciate them. Take this lesson into the most basic aspects of your day. Remember to breathe, and be calm. You cannot and will not accomplish everything in one day; you aren't supposed to. Start to rethink the messages you repeat to yourself about not having enough time, and then be honest with yourself about it. Where can you carve out some more time from tasks that are not important to you and give that precious time over to the things you have been promising to do for yourself?
Stay tuned for more Tips on Time in following entries, including information about the importance of eating slowly and chewing, and how to save time and bucks by preparing easy, wallet friendly meals at home!
Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com
At the time, I thought it was very profound and absolutely 100% true, I myself being a person who has perpetually struggled with the art of time management since I arrived into this world. However, now that I have some more age and experience under my belt, I can see that while on the surface this appears to be true, it is also the generally held idea of "not having enough time" that keeps us stuck in habits of time wasting and stressing about time, all the while holding us back from truly enjoying and using to our highest benefit the time that we do have. Let's be honest: we have days, weeks, months, and years. We do have all the time that we need; it is a matter of learning a balance between prioritizing how we spend that time and also going with the flow, and that I think is what was at the root of what my teacher was trying to impart to us. He was trying to tell us that we needed to learn to live our desired lives while accomplishing what we needed to get done in the time that we DO have, rather than to focus on an idea of endless time that does not exist.
It is easy and very human to get stuck in a broken record message of "not having enough time" to cook dinner, bring lunch to work, go to the gym, take a walk, play with your kids, have a heart-to-heart talk with your partner, look for a new job, or clean your apartment. In reality, we spend minutes, hours, days and weeks telling ourself how little time we have while we tune out in front of the internet, the TV, or at work, numbing ourselves to needs that we want and deserve to fill "if we only had the time". Everyone can relate to this...when was the last time you got so worked up about how little time you had that in the end you got nothing on your list done, not even the "important" things? We need to tune out that mental noise and still the anxiety inside of us about not having enough time, and instead repeat the message to ourselves that we have all the time that we need, and WE decide how we are going to use it. Because, no matter what, it is important for us to realize the truth in that statement. Everything that we do, everything that we say, everything that we make, use, or eat, is a choice.
So what matters to you? I hear so often "I don't have time to do that". So often, it is an excuse that a person is using to keep themselves in the same safe, numb routine of not having to push themselves, not having to face the fear of bettering themselves or taking on new goals. It is a message that's been repeating in the person's mind for so long that they don't even see the damage that it's causing by depriving them of the satisfaction that they are capable and deserving of. At the root of it, it's a way of cheating oneself, and keeping oneself down, because it's familiar and easy that way. We do it all the time, and we don't have to!
Let's take exercise: people say that they don't have time to go to the gym or exercise. Generally speaking, 45 minutes to 1 hour of the day, 5 days a week should be spent doing some kind of physical activity or exercise, but 30 minutes a day is a great start. So let's say you have a heavy work schedule and feel that you can't give one hour of the day 5 days a week to the gym. You say to yourself "Well forget it, if I can't do that, then why bother with anything". But wait. If you live in a city, you can walk to work. 9 out of 10 days, the weather is just fine for walking to work, even in winter. We all have coats and scarves and gloves; bundle up! 20-30 minutes each way walking to and from work gives you between 40 minutes - 1 hour of exercise 5 days of the week; it's completely free, and actually saves you money on your transportation costs. Not to mention, most people's subway commute with walking on either end winds up taking about 30 minutes anyway, so that gets rid of the "not having time" excuse. Not into walking outside? Weather just too awful? Buy yourself a few inexpensive workout DVDs online. They usually run about $12-$15 and many of them on the market are designed to give you a full toning workout in 20-30 minutes. Pop one of these into the DVD player when you get up in the morning before your shower, or at night after work and before dinner, and there you go: that 30 minutes you would have spent reading email with your coffee has now been spent giving you a healthy, energized body. If you really get into it, do one in the morning and a different one at night. You will hardly notice each 30 minutes you've spent in the comfort of your own home, but at the end of the day you've exercised for an hour without really having sacrificed much.
The same goes for cooking and preparing food. So often people tell themselves they don't have time to make a healthy lunch and bring it to work. In reality, it takes less time to whip something up at home and toss it into a bag than it takes to leave the office, walk or drive over to the deli or take-out place, stand in line, and return to the office with your food. And when you add in the money you save from bringing your own lunch, the health benefits are the biggest benefit but by no means the only one! Generally what I see when I begin working with people is that lunch is their unhealthiest meal; they are either skipping lunch entirely because they "don't have enough time", or they are scarfing down a nutritionally-deficient meal laden with calories, fat, and sodium because it was whatever they could grab at the nearest food joint. Instead, try stocking the kitchen with the following easy lunch staples: nuts of various kinds, fresh fruits, hummus, beans (either home-cooked or in a can), chopped raw vegetables, cooked vegetables (dinner leftovers are great for this), cooked rice (can be made ahead of time and kept for days), carrot and celery sticks, dried fruit, whole grain bread or wraps, zip lock bags and small plastic containers. Here is a lunch idea: fill one ziploc bag with a small handful of nuts mixed with a little bit of dried fruit, another one with a bunch of carrots and celery sticks, a small plastic container of hummus, and a small container of beans tossed with brown rice and a little olive oil and vinegar. If you have some raw or cooked vegetables (dinner leftovers are great for this), toss them in with the beans and rice.
Another lunch idea: grab a piece of fresh fruit or a little bag of fresh berries, a little bag of olives, a whole grain wrap spreaded with hummus and filled with raw or cooked veggies, and a small container of fresh salad on the side. You can mix and match the parts and use your imagination; it doesn't have to be fancy, it has to be functional. For some great, easy veggie ideas and to make sure you are covering your bases, read the Varying your Veggies post further down on this page.
Most importantly, when it comes to time and having enough of it, as paradoxical as it may seem, you need to SLOW DOWN. We do so much rushing around these days, it's no wonder we are in a fit over having enough time. This is such an important thing to remember in our day to day life, because the days will pass whether we are noticing them or not, and our valuable moments can pass us by if we are not careful to appreciate them. Take this lesson into the most basic aspects of your day. Remember to breathe, and be calm. You cannot and will not accomplish everything in one day; you aren't supposed to. Start to rethink the messages you repeat to yourself about not having enough time, and then be honest with yourself about it. Where can you carve out some more time from tasks that are not important to you and give that precious time over to the things you have been promising to do for yourself?
Stay tuned for more Tips on Time in following entries, including information about the importance of eating slowly and chewing, and how to save time and bucks by preparing easy, wallet friendly meals at home!
Interested in finding out more about what foods are right for your own body and why? Looking for personalized information and support to help you change your eating and lifestyle choices in order to achieve your own specific goals for health and wellness? Contact me to set up a consultation: erica@wellnessrealized.com
Monday, January 12
Welcome!
Hello and Welcome to Wellness Realized!
Here I will be sharing health and nutrition tips, healthy recipes, articles, and guidelines on how to maximize your health and wellness even when schedules are full and budgets are tight. There will be tips for weight loss, reducing stress, increasing energy, sleeping better, introductions to new and healthy foods along with instructions on how to prepare them, and tools for how to eat well and keep it simple. Simplicity and feasibility are the keys to success, so check in often to learn lots of little ways to make big changes!
I am a Certified Nutrition and Wellness Counselor with a private practice in one on one counseling, and I am available to deliver group seminars and presentations on various topics pertaining to nutrition and wellness as well as to offer freelance consulting for projects and research. Visit my website at WellnessRealized.com if you'd like to learn more about my practice and how nutrition and wellness counseling can help you to achieve your health and wellness goals.
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