Integrative Health Blog

Rebounding for Detoxification

Posted by on Tue, May 29, 2012

Healthy Tips

Rebounding, or gently bouncing on a Rebounder, similar to a "mini trampoline", is a great form of gentle exercise.

Rebounding is great for the lymphatic system and helps move toxins out of the body. The lymphatic system runs next to the circulatory system. The circulatory system has a pump to pump blood through but the lymphatic system does not have a pump. The lymphatic system is like the “garbage can” of the blood and takes toxins out of the bloodstream.

Why do we need to move more?

For health and our well-being, we are told to exercise for about 30 minutes a day. Exercise helps the lymphatic system move out the toxins so they are not reabsorbed back into the body.  The type of up and down, vertical motion done on a rebounder is especially helpful for lymphatic drainage. It only needs to be done for a few minutes a day and is a good thing to add to your exercise regimen.

In this short video I will demonstrate the motion and you can see for yourself how easy it is to exercise on a rebounder.  

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Tags: detoxification, rebounding, anita's healthy tips

Spring Cleaning is Not Just for Houses!

Posted by on Tue, Mar 13, 2012

 

Early Spring has begun in the Washington metro area. Temperatures are rising and the threat of a snow fall is diminishing.

Lighten Up with FRESH foods!

The change in season should also bring about a change in the types of food we eat. Winter is a time for warming foods like soups, stews and casseroles. Spring lends itself to lighter fare that helps the body to cleanse and rejuvenate itself ~ vegetables, lean proteins, leaves and fruits.

The body cleanses or goes through a detoxification process via the liver, lungs, kidneys, bowel, lymph system and skin on a daily basis. We can help that process along in several different ways, but most important, in my view,  is by taking out the foods that don’t serve us (processed food) and by including the foods that our bodies respond to in a favorable way (real foods).

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Tags: detoxification, integrative health, integrative nutrition, anita's healthy tips, integrated health

Time Out... A Perfect 10!

Posted by on Mon, Feb 27, 2012

Healthy Tips

Recently, my husband and I hosted a wonderful engagement party at our home for our son and his girlfriend who will be married in the fall. My house was filled with out of town family who stayed for the weekend.

My normal routine and eating habits were put on hold from Thursday to Monday!

Can anyone relate to “I haven’t exercised in days and I have eaten my way through the weekend” feeling? Well, that was me a few weeks ago, let me tell you! I thoroughly enjoyed my family, the party was a huge success AND I was completely satisfied!

Enjoy the Moment

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Tags: holistic nutrition, anita's healthy tips

Holistic Nutrition: Try a Food Swap

Posted by on Tue, Jan 31, 2012

Healthy Tips

Yesterday I gave a talk at a local school about health and wellness. I was speaking to the teaching staff who work long hours and some of whom are big on “convenience” foods.

Convenience foods make life easier in the short run, don’t they? Pop a frozen dinner in the microwave, get some take out food.

We have turned into a society that no longer waits for anything....instant news, instant information on the internet, instant oatmeal. And then when we do have to wait for something we are super inconvenienced!

Does it make sense to forego our wellness because processed food is so much easier to prepare? I’m sure you have heard me talk about this before but I do so again here because it’s THAT important:

Processed foods do not contribute to wellness, they contribute to illness.

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Tags: holistic nutrition, integrative health, integrative nutrition, anita's healthy tips, integrated health

Are You Making One of These 3 Health Mistakes?

Posted by on Mon, Jan 09, 2012

Healthy Tips

Life certainly doesn’t come with a guide book and we all do the best we can with the tools we have.

That said, when we see a better way or when we gather more information we are inspired to make changes.

Today I want to share with you 3 common mistakes that could be sabotaging your best efforts at maximizing your health:

  1. Too much sugar

  2. Too much white flour

  3. Not enough “real” food

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Tags: integrative nutrition, sugar, anita's healthy tips, integrated health

Try This New Year's Resolution

Posted by on Wed, Jan 04, 2012

Happy New Year !!   

So, by now, 4 days in to the new year, you are either going strong with your new year’s resolutions, or you have thrown in the towel, vowing to do better “next time”. My personal experience has taught me never to make resolutions...they don’t work out so well for me!

Try Just One New Healthy Habit

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Tags: holistic nutrition, integrative health, integrative nutrition, anita's healthy tips

Step Lightly In To the New Year!

Posted by on Tue, Dec 13, 2011

How many parties or holiday events are you attending this season?

Do you have a plan for what to do when you are faced with a plethora of sweet treats and drinks?

In the spirit of good health habits, here are some tips on navigating the holidays so you enter the new year without the guilt (and extra weight).

Parties and Events

-  Plan to ask for water first thing - there are so many ways in which we dehydrate ourselves from soda to alcohol, so water is an excellent way to start the evening.

-  Eat a small snack before you go out to a party or event to prevent over indulging (and make sure you have these healthy snacks at home). Avocado, thin slices of turkey or chicken, and nuts are good choices.

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Tags: holistic nutrition, integrative health, integrative nutrition, anita's healthy tips

Breakfast of Champions

Posted by on Tue, Dec 06, 2011

Healthy Tips

We’ve all heard it before.......breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

I agree with that , IF your breakfast fuels you and doesn’t fool you.

The word breakfast comes from “breaking the fast”. We fast all night long while we sleep (at least I hope we all do!) and in the morning we need to give our bodies fuel for the day. Foods that fuel us give us energy to keep us going until lunch time. Foods that fool us give us an initial energy surge only to leave us hungry and looking for food an hour or two later.

Try eating different foods for breakfast and see which ones leave you feeling good and energized throughout the morning. Don’t forget those leftovers from last night’s dinner! Nobody says that you can’t eat dinner for breakfast!

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Tags: holistic nutrition, holistic health, integrative health, anita's healthy tips, integrated health

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles... How to Avoid Family Meltdowns

Posted by on Tue, Nov 22, 2011

The holiday season starts this week and that means travel for a lot of people. I started thinking about weather and airplanes and trains and crowded terminals and delayed flights. Imagining all the ways in which stress could get the better of us, I thought that this week I would talk a bit about how to avoid “personal and family meltdowns”.

Prepare for the Unexpected

Last winter in Washington, D.C. we had a January storm that came upon us fast. I left my job at 3 p.m. and due to the amount of snow falling and the amount of people driving on the roads, a trip that usually takes me 45 min. took me 10 hours!! Talk about your possible meltdown! All of us were in the same boat that day, never going above 10 mph for hours on end.

What saved me?

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Tags: stress, integrative health, anita's healthy tips, integrated health

Good Day Sunshine

Posted by on Tue, Nov 08, 2011

Healthy Tips

Do we need to experience hard times to create stress in our lives? No, we don’t...some of us do a good job of that all by ourselves regardless of what’s going on in the world around us.

We stress about how we look, how we don’t know what we should eat, how we don’t have any “down” time, how we haven’t been to the gym in a while, how cluttered the kitchen counter is, blah, blah, blah...

What if we were to understand that the road to wellness is paved with attention to our thoughts?

Wellness is not just about the broccoli, folks!

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Tags: stress, integrative health, integrative nutrition, anita's healthy tips, integrated health