Intrinsic Health Source Wellness Champion Blog
Spicey Vegetable Quinoa Recipe
Quinoa has a light, fluffy texture when cooked, and its mild, slightly nutty flavor makes it a great alternative for white rice. There are many varieties of Quinoa. The most common one I use most is the white variety. Quinoa is commonly cooked much like rice, bringing water to a boil then adding the grain and covering it to simmer for about 12-15 minutes. Due to the relatively high oil and fat content in quinoa, it's best stored it in the refrigerator.
Now that you learned a little bit about Quinoa, here is an easy recipe to try:<< MORE >>
“Just Do It” ...not just for Nike…but for your health!
A lifestyle in which you don't engage in regular physical activity can become a major risk factor contributing to many chronic conditions. According to the World Health Organization “Physical inactivity is estimated to cause 2 million deaths worldwide annually. Globally, it is estimated to cause about 10-16% of cases each of breast cancer, colon cancer and diabetes with about 22% of ischemic heart disease. Estimated attributable fractions are similar in men and women.”
Viewing exercise as just another chore scheduled into your day, will inevitably lead to talking yourself out of doing it. Perhaps it’s difficult for you to carve out a full hour to exercise. Did you know that studies show even small bouts of exercise, several times a day, can also have health benefits. In fact, opportunities to incorporate exercise into the day are more possible than you may think<< MORE >>
Simple ways to identify healthier choices when food shopping: Part Three of a Three Part Series
As we have highlighted in this series, walk through most grocery stores and you will see tons of food products advertising their "healthy benefit". Food Industry leaders are capitalizing on consumers' desire to purchase healthier products. Therefore all efforts are made to create packaging that grabs your attention, creating the impression you are making a healthy choice.
As mentioned in Part 2: Playing Food Detective, manufacturers make claims such as "Trans Fat Free" "High Fiber" and "All Natural" which can mislead consumers. But remember " all foods are not created equal", so you need to look beyond the front label and turn over to the ingredient list of every package you contemplate purchasing. Reading the ingredient list is truly the only way to determine the product's health factor.
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Simple ways to identify healthier choices when food shopping: Part Two of a Three Part Series
Our quest for better health has created a trend within the food industry. The increased promotion around healthy food choices, health claims and marketing strategies highlight product health benefits with terms such as "No Trans Fats" " Heart Healthy Choice" "High Fiber" "Excellent Source", etc. However, even though these are helpful claims, are they completely accurate?
Keep in mind that companies are responding to consumer requests for healthier products; their first goal is to reel customers in. The FDA provides guidelines around claims and descriptions manufacturer's may use. BUT these are just guidelines. Nutrition claims can be misleading if you don't know how to read between the lines. Not all labels give us the whole picture. << MORE >>
Simple ways to identify healthier choices when food shopping: Part One of a Three Part Series
Welcome to the first of a three part series, helping you to navigate a healthier grocery shopping experience while better understanding food labels and the long list of ingredients we are faced with.
How can we avoid unhealthy ingredients? The first step is pretty simple...eat less processed and packaged foods. Sure, this is easier said than done, especially when trying to make informed decisions regarding healthier food options. In fact, reading food labels can surely overwhelm our shopping experiences, raising many questions such as: Is "enriched wheat flour" healthy? or What is high fructose corn syrup?
But consider this; we are mindful of putting the right type of fuel into our cars in order to perform efficiently and extend the life of our vehicle? Therefore, shouldn't we give that kind of attention to the fuel (food) we put into our body's? << MORE >>
Welcome: A Place to Find Information on Nutrition, Exercise and Support for Healthy Behavior Changes
Intrinsic Health Source is excited to announce the launch of the Wellness Champion Blog. Why a second blog? The Intrinsic Health Source blog is a great resource for everything health and wellness related. However, nutrition, weight loss and exercise information are the most sought after topics in the wellness field. This blog allows us the ability to provide a designated forum for easy navigation of information and discussions related specifically to nutrition and fitness topics. In addition, this blog also serves as a source of support to share information and insights not only based on professional expertise, but also personal struggles and successes. Through these "been there, done that" dialog, I hope to facilitate discussions of the difficulties of changing habits, but the strategies that work.
In addition to this new blog experience, I am also excited to collaborate with Jenn West in providing the latest information and helpful tips to enhancing nutrition and fitness habits. You may recall being introduced to Jenn when we collaborated to launched the 12 Days of Wellness in December on the Jeannine's Journey blog. Now we have the privilege of Jenn's insights and expertise as she helps guide all of us into healthier behavior changes.
Why did we choose to call this blog Wellness Champion?
A champion is someone who wants to excel at a given task, even when the task is difficult. A champion is committed to the challenge and understands planning and goal setting are required. As we navigate through our daily life, it can be challenging to maintain healthy habits. It becomes very easy to slip into our old habits that may not best serve our wellness needs. A wellness champion is a person with a commitment to achieving optimum wellness and to serve as an ambassador for wellness! Regardless of where you are on your wellness path. We want to be that Wellness Champion for you! We want to help you plan your strategies, set achievable goals and most importantly provide support and encouragement. We also hope that you can be that Wellness Champion for each other. Most importantly we want you to be that Wellness Champion for YOURSELF!Stay tuned for more exciting blogs and information to help you achieve your wellness goals!
Ciao for now!
Jeannine
Meet Jenn West, MS, CHES, ACSM
I am excited to have Jenn as a team member for the Intrinsic Health Source Wellness Champion blog. Jenn has an undergraduate degree in community health and graduate degree in exercise physiology. She is a certified health educator, exercise physiologist and personal trainer. For over a decade Jenn has worked with individuals, community and corporate groups to reach their personal health and wellness goals.
Her dedication to nutrition and fitness goes beyond just "dieting". Her passion is to educate people about the importance of consuming "nutrient dense" minimally processed, whole foods. Her passion is to help individuals understand the relationship between food and one's emotional and physical needs. Her mission is to help people develop and implement personal goals in incremental steps to achieve sustainable lifestyle changes.
In addition to her extensive background, Jenn is also completing her second graduate degree in clincial nutrition. For additional nutritional information and receipes check out her personal website listed in our blogroll above.
