General

Last year I read a lot of books about habits (The Power of Habit and This Year I Will… being two of them) and my philosophy on living a healthy life has changed. I used to think it was discipline and willpower that was the difference between someone who ate well and exercised regularly and someone who did not. Now I believe that life is a cumulation of habits, and that we have picked either habits that support our health or ones that do not. Gradually those stuck. We all have a bad habit or two that we can work on, no matter how many good things we do in our life (one of mine is eating late at night). The key to breaking bad […]

I read an excellent book recently called Change or Die which begins with the shocking fact that only ONE of nine people are able to make the necessary lifestyle modifications when told they will die unless they break some bad habits. Dr. Raphael Levey, founder of the Global Medical Forum, an annual summit of health care leaders, says, “Eighty percent of the health care budget [is] consumed by five behavioral issues.” (italics mine) These are: smoking, eating too much of the wrong food, drinking alcohol, too much stress and not enough exercise. We Americans pride ourselves on our exceptionalism, yet the reasons we are dying earlier than necessary is because of lifestyle choices we have made for ourselves? Yep. Alan Deutschman, the author of Change […]

One common thread many of my clients have is that so many want to work on being more mindful, especially around food. You might think that word is uttered only by gurus and yoga teachers, but it is now mainstream – at least mainstream among people who want to improve their health and their lives! We would all benefit from incorporating more mindfulness into our life. It simply means being aware in the moment. When it comes to food, awareness is key. How many times have you found yourself eating from a bag of chips and before you know it they are all gone? Do you eat so fast at the dinner table that when you finish your plate you are still hungry? Do you […]

My mother is a great cook, and because I am not that interested in the culinary arts, she finds my kitchen woefully inadequate when she cooks one of her delicious meals at my house. The one thing in my kitchen that impresses Mom, however, is my Vitamix blender. My husband Ian and I bought it (refurbished, as we really are serious about buying used products to reduce the waste stream) last year. I make delicious soup in it almost weekly. My favorite, which I have creatively named “Veggie Soup”, takes little preparation except to cut up broccoli, carrots, yams and onions (feel free to choose your own mix) and toss them into a vegan broth. When the vegetables are cooked, I transfer half of that […]