Are you ready to shed those extra pounds once and for all? Are you motivated to feel healthy and be well?

Then it’s time to Cre8 A New You! Join Nicole Garnsey, MA, RD, CDN, CDE and Brigit O’Donnell, MS, RD, CDN of Feed the Soul Nutrition, Inc. as we teach and empower you to meet your nutrition and health goals.

Cre8 A New You© is our unique 8-week program, created to teach you the skills you need to take control of your health and well-being through gradual behavior change.

Sign up for this spring’s session, beginning April 19th and running through June 7th, and for just $199 you’ll receive:

• a baseline health assessment
• eight 1-hour educational and motivational sessions
• weekly weigh-ins
• a follow-up reunion upon completion of the program

Classes will be held Monday evenings from 5:30-6:30pm in two locations:

Feed the Soul Nutrition, Inc.
727 Washington St., Watertown, NY

OR

Northern Physical Therapy
Clayton, NY

If you’re interested, sign up fast! Space is limited and classes start soon!

To sign up for the Watertown class, contact Nicole at (315) 783-6810 or kngarnsey@yahoo.com. To sign up for the Clayton class, contact Brigit at (315) 767-8926 or eathealthy09@hotmail.com.

If you’re still not convinced that the Cre8 A New You program is for you, check out our series of posts highlighting some of the topics covered during the eight week instructional sessions.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

According to an article in The New York Times published last fall, a recent study indicates that brain power is improved by exercise. And the harder you work, the more your brain may benefit. The study, completed with mice, showed that those mice who were challenged with a more difficult “workout” (on a mini-treadmill) demonstrated significant cognitive improvements in comparison to the mice who were allowed to do their usual “workout” (on their running wheel).

What does this mean for you and I? Well first, it means that if you’re doing moderate exercise on a regular basis, you’re probably improving your smarts. It also looks like if we challenge ourselves, the improvements may increase. If you’re always doing the same exercise or stick to a typical exercise routine, you might want to consider mixing things up. Push yourself a little harder on the treadmill or elliptical. Try a circuit workout. Take a spinning class.

While the study was on mice, and the results may not translate perfectly to humans, shaking up your workouts and increasing the intensity certainly can’t hurt. Even if it doesn’t boost your IQ to genius level, just think about all those extra calories you’ll be burning!

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

Did you know that one in five Americans is at risk for type 2 diabetes? Or that almost 6 million Americans have diabetes and don’t know? That’s a lot of Americans at risk for or living with diabetes and not receiving treatment or altering their lifestyles to improve their health. And odds are, you could be one of them.

Today is American Diabetes Association Alert Day^SM. Help us Stop Diabetes by knowing your risk and making your health a priority. Just head over to the American Diabetes Association’s website and take the Diabetes Risk Test.

When you’ve finished taking the test, take the next step and share it with your family and friends. Visit stopdiabetes.com now!

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

If you’re allergic to milk you should know that Perdue Farms, Inc. has issued a voluntary recall of more than 10,000 pounds of fresh sweet Italian turkey sausage products because they contain an undeclared allergen. The sausage was prepared using an ingredient blend containing milk, which was undeclared on the label.

This recall includes 16-ounce packages of “PERDUE, Sweet Italian, Lean, Turkey Sausage” with a use by date on or before 03/30/10, the UPC Code “72745-10301,” and the establishment number “Est. P-286″ inside the USDA mark of inspection. The product in question was distributed to retail stores in Fla., Ill., Ind., Ky., Md., Mo., N.J., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., and Va.

If you have consumed any of this product and are concerned about an allergic reaction, you should contact your doctor immediately. If you have other questions regarding this recall, you can contact Perdue’s Consumer Relations at 1-800-473-7383.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

The medical community is always looking for ways to prevent diseases, and that often means researching vaccines. We’re used to hearing about vaccines for contagious diseases like HIV, the flu, chicken pox and measles, but newer vaccines are targeting diseases like cancer and diabetes.

There are several diabetes vaccines being developed and tested and it’s likely one or more will be available in just a few years. While most of the vaccines in development now are for Type 1 diabetes, there is also hope for the creation of a Type 2 vaccine.  Considering that diabetes of either type can be have significant health consequences and may be deadly, the benefits of vaccines targeting both Type 1 and 2 diabetes will be immeasurable.

The diabetes vaccines currently being studied are reported to improve the body’s ability to produce insulin by reducing the tendency to destroy it’s insulin-producing cells. Studies are in their early phases, and only time will tell the true effectiveness of this type of vaccine, but the results are promising. Within this decade, it may be possible to vaccinate against diabetes, a medical development that could positively impact the lives and health of millions of people in the United States.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

March is officially Red Cross Month, a month not only for the Red Cross to acknowledge and thank their donors and volunteers, but also a time to remind you of the importance of the Red Cross and their efforts.

The Red Cross has been especially visible during tragedies like Hurricane Katrina and the recent earth quakes in Haiti. They’re often the first to publicly step up and help people who have been devastated by natural or man-made disasters. And they’re also the quiet soldiers behind the scenes, preparing for these disasters with blood drives, fund raisers and community service events.

To show your support for the Red Cross and the people and communities they help, why not take some time out this month to give blood, donate or volunteer. Who knows? Your effort, money or time just might make a life-saving difference to someone next door or half-way around the world.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."

March is National Nutrition Month and the American Dietetic Association wants you to focus on “Nutrition from the ground up”.

This theme suggests that when making healthy lifestyle changes, it’s important to start with a solid foundation. This means making small and gradual changes that you can live with. A healthy diet doesn’t have to be all-or-nothing, and it doesn’t have to happen all at once. You can make one healthy change at a time and then build on those changes.

If you need some guidance on where to start building your foundation, try focusing on feeding yourself from the ground up. Center your diet around foods that come directly from the ground–fruits and vegetables, whole grains, beans and nuts. Then add in limited amounts of foods like meat and poultry that grow by eating things that come from the ground. Processed foods should be strictly limited or eliminated. Even if some of their ingredients start out at ground level, by the time they get to the grocery store they’re full of added stuff (chemicals, preservatives, flavors, etc.) that definitely did not come from the ground.

Basically, the further away from the ground a food gets, the less you should include it in your diet. This may seem like an overwhelming thought, but remember that you don’t have to make these changes all at once. Start slowly and build on your successes. Every healthy change you make is another brick in your nutritional foundation.

"Eat well. Live well. Be well."