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Off with the winter gear and in with the racket. Tennis time!
Hello Again!
Welcome back friends! And the celebrations just keep continuing here at The HealthShrink. In March we had our first year anniversary of the website launch. April brought the thrill and excitement of changing offices. And now, we’re doing major high fives over the release of the first Anniversary Issue of From The HealthShrink, the very e-newsletter your reading right now. How time flies!
I’m having a blast bringing my authentic passion of wanting to help people incorporate their sound mental, emotional, and character health into their lives while healing their relationship with body, eating, and food. Add to this mix dealing with feelings of shame, hurt, anger, etc. that frequently go hand-in-hand with eating and body image struggles. Put it all together, (throw in some nutrition science too), and you’ve got The HealthShrink program.
I’m psyched and honored to be doing this work and to be living what I preach. Thanks to you all for your support throughout the year. Every note of encouragement has meant so much! In honor of this issue, I’ve decided to bring back 2 past articles that were favorites. Look for them in This Month and our Feature Article. If you haven’t read them yet, you’re in for a treat.
May is actually National Bike Month! I will very shortly be dusting off my bicycle and hitting the bike path which runs parallel to the Hudson River in Manhattan. I love the warmth, the sun, and the longer days. It just gives me a whole boost of energy.
You can see from the banner image above, I’m back on the the tennis courts. My shoulder finally healed and I can swing a tennis racket. Yay! As a teenager I really got into tennis. One of my idols of course was Billie Jean King. Not only was she fabulous on the court, but she brought a whole bunch of pride to women in 1973 when she defeated Bobby Riggs in Battle of the Sexes II. What a memorable moment and what a dynamic role model she was.
And, sometimes, as luck would have it, we bump into our childhood heroes, (in this case at a local comedy club), and we get the chance to shake their hand and to tell them how much they rock. That was my fortunate experience and honor recently one chilly evening in early April. Billie Jean was friendly and very willing to talk with anyone who had an interest. She continues to have a tremendous amount of my respect and appreciation.
Enjoy this special Anniversary Issue everyone! Just one last note: Make sure not to miss this month’s Nourishing Recipes: Cinco de Mayo Rockin’ Guac! There’s a tremendous health and yum factor here.
All the best in good health!
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Susan D’Addario, LCSW
Founder, The HealthShrink
Certified Eating Psychology Coach
Licensed HeartMath Certified Coach
If you like From The HealthShrink, please share it with your family and friends!
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Several days after finding myself on a tennis court, I found myself next to tennis legend, Billie Jean King.
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What's New?
May 1st: May Day – This old time tradition celebrates the arrival of spring. You’re familiar with this holiday right? Children sing and dance around the May Pole. What I find particularly enchanting is the act of giving out secret May Day baskets, a fun tradition established by the early Europeans who settled in the States. These baskets were filled with treats or flowers and left anonymously at someone’s door step. The receiver of the basket would have to guess who gave the gift. If the giver was “caught”, a kiss was exchanged.
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May 2nd: Happy Anniversary! – So much has happened over this past year of writing the very first From The HealthShrink e-newsletter. It’s been a very exciting time developing the website, The HealthShrink program, changing offices, and offering services all of which I’m quite proud! The evolution has been thrilling and I’m eager to see what things will look like from now into 2017. Thank you for your interest, support, and spreading The HealthShrink word!
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May 5th: Cinco de Mayo - Congrats Mexico and better luck next time France when on this day in 1862 Mexico pulled out an unlikely victory. But, let’s not belabor victory and defeat. Instead, let’s celebrate today’s festivities! Grab a friend and go out to a nearby Mexican restaurant and have fun. Or have a small gathering at your place and offer wonderful appetizers including super healthy and tasty guacamole. And, if you don’t have a guac recipe, fear not. This month’s Nourishing Recipes Cinco de Mayo Rockin’ Guac won’t let you down. Enjoy!
May 7th: Kentucky Derby – I don’t play the horses, nor do I ride them. But, I do admire looking at this beautiful animal and how his/her body moves with such force and grace. Today, I tip my hat to all the majestic 4-legged champions. To move and run the way they do, these horses are clearly present in their bodies. We can learn from them when trying to be more present in our own body. Take a deep breath, slow down, and observe how you’re feeling right now. That’s always a good starting point from which to increase mindfulness and health.
May 8th: Mother’s Day – To all mothers young, old, alive or passed, today is celebrated in your honor! Thank you for bringing beauty to the world. I’m so grateful to my mother Ann for all she has done for me over the years. I’m happy to be seeing her on this day. If you can’t see your mother today, contact her. Even if perhaps you don’t have the best relationship. Forgiveness of a parent or anyone who may have wronged us, is an important part of our relaxation and healing process. If your mother has passed, it’s still beautiful and poignant to express gratitude. Love, forgiveness, relax, and thanks all release healthy and rejuvenating hormones.
May 10th: “Them’s the Fats”: Eating Fat for Greater Health & Increased Energy – Come 1, come all to my upcoming FREE presentation at Christopher Street Financial's Words & Wine seminar, 475 Park Ave, Ste 2100, New York, NY from 6:00PM - 8:00PM. Enjoy a few healthy treats and a glass of wine while I give the low down on how to acquire enduring, healthy, natural energy as well as a body composition re-do. We’ll cover eating tips, flipping the switch, and changing from being a sugar burner to a fat burner. This is my 2nd talk with Christopher Street Financial and I’m so grateful and excited to be going back. RSVP is required as space is limited. See you there!
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May 13th: Friday the 13th- FYI, today is the ONLY Friday the 13th in 2016! Take in the beauty of the moment and be playful.
NAVEL EXPO
May 14th: New York, NY – The Millennium Hotel
May 15th: Long Island, NY – Long Island Hilton, Melville
Hey everyone, I’ve reserved a booth at both these health expos. I’m super excited to meet with people in-person, listen to their situations around health and body re-shaping and talk about how The HealthShrink program may be helpful for them to work through issues and get on the right track! If you’re free, come on by to say “hello”, chat, and meet a whole slew of talented healers.
May 20th: National Bike to Work Day – Given that this month is National Bike Month, it only makes sense that Bike to Work Day falls in May. Grab your 2-wheeler, put on your helmet, pedal away and explore. Even if it’s not practical to bike to work, get out there on your own, with a friend, or in a group, and engage in pleasurable, healthy, stress-relieving body movement. I enjoy recreational biking more now than as a child. Love it!
May 30th: Memorial Day – Did you know Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day and was started in 1868 to honor all soldiers – Confederate and Union – who died in the Civil War? The beauty here was in the intention of the holiday, i.e., to unify the celebration as a national day of remembrance versus having a holiday celebrated separately by Union and Confederate states. In time of course, the day was expanded to include deceased veterans of all wars fought by American forces. But, I just love the original dual concepts of unity and honor! There’s likely something from these healing words that many can take in, metabolize, and thrive by. Thank you soldiers!
May 31st: World No Tobacco Day – Thank you World Health Organization (WHO) for organizing this day of plain packaging of tobacco products. Taking away the sexy, attractive, and appealing design from cigarette packs helps to reduce the draw to this nothing but unhealthy product, (especially for those who have never smoked before like our young ones). As a former pack-a-day smoker of 8-years, I consider myself extremely fortunate for having had the stamina to quit smoking.
Cigarettes are manufactured to be as addictive as possible. (Many of the scientists who worked in the tobacco industry then went to work in the food industry and created the perfectly addictive sugar, fat, and salt formulas used in processed foods.) With the highly addictive cigarette, when seductive package design, advertising and marketing are thrown in, it only makes it that much harder to not want to experiment with this drug. Don’t hand over your hard earned money to an industry that spends millions to addict us so their profits soar. Our bodies are too precious for that.
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This Month: Once Upon a Time – The Weight Loss Myth – Part 2
by
Susan D'Addario, LCSW, Certified Eating Psychology Coach, Licensed HeartMath Certified Coach
Intro
It’s time to end the myth that if we don’t achieve or maintain our weight loss that we’re to blame. We are not weaklings nor is our willpower lacking. In truth, it’s the weight loss formula – eat less, exercise more – (promoted by the diet and fitness industries) that has failed, not us. Moreover, the gigantic food industry plays a huge role in our weight challenges by creating foods intentionally designed to hijack our taste buds and influence our brains. (“Lay’s Potato Chips – Bet You Can’t Eat Just One!”)
Let’s look at the real deal of what has been going on and why it’s so easy to gain weight and so difficult to lose. The following tips and suggestions are intended to simplify, rather than complicate, healthy eating and living. I’m going to emphasize slowing down, getting back down to earth and out of the rat race and maze of the diet, fitness, and food processing industries. I’m cheerleading for eating and living a bit more as our great-grandparents once did not all that long ago.
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The HealthShrink leads a 'Fire Feet' warm-up with her Gotham Volleyball team, Wicked. Making movement fun!
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Feature Article: Warm Weather is Here: Time for Nature, Walks & Company
by
Susan D'Addario, LCSW, Certified Eating Psychology Coach, Licensed HeartMath Certified Coach
Oh, warm weather, how I love you! It’s a time for renewal and shedding of outer, heavy clothing. It’s the season to enjoy the longer days and feel the healing warmth of the sun on our bodies. Take in deep breathes of fresh air while luxuriating in the wonders of floral aromas, colors of blossoming flowers and trees, baby birds tweeting, and quiet relax.
Go ahead, be skeptical. You have a right. I realize the above may sound like a very nice, albeit rather impractical fantasy, especially if you live in a city, are feeling stressed and believe you can’t possibly make time to walk in nature– not even over the weekend. Well, I live in New York City in the borough of Manhattan and I say, “It can be done. We can be in the outdoors, be one with nature and reap its many benefits.”
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Nourishing Recipes
(Organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised, local, wild, gluten-free, and love!)
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Cinco de Mayo Rockin' Guac
I first started eating homemade guac about 7 years ago. Up until that time, I’d really misunderstood the avocado; the wonder fruit. I thought it bland tasting and even worse, fattening. What was the point of eating it and why did people love their guacamole? I didn’t understand then, but what I’ve come to learn!
Firstly, avocado is delicious simply sliced with a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime and a grate or 2 of Himalayan pink salt. When making guacamole, it also goes well with a variety of mix and match accompaniments including red onion, tomato, cilantro, jalapeno or Serrano chiles, garlic, strawberries, and whatever else you’re tempted to throw in. (If you’re in the mood for a velvety, chilled summer soup, trust your avocado to step in and do the job.)
Secondly, the avocado is supremely healthy! True they are loaded with fat, but despair not, since this fat is largely the omega-9 monounsaturated kind, (also found in olives and macadamia nuts). These fats are actually great because they contribute to weight loss, not weight gain. (Eating healthy fats in general make us feel full sooner than either carbs or protein, plus they are the only food that don’t raise our insulin. Awesome!) Avocados help balance our cholesterol ratio, as well as reduce the risk of certain cancers, diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease. They also provide numerous anti-oxidant qualities and are an excellent source of fiber. Moreover, eat an avocado and your eyes and skin will thank you too. Wow, nature at its finest!
Lastly, I frequently bring up the importance of buying as cleanly as possible when food shopping. Well, surprise, avocado is 1 of the very few foods where not buying organic is okay. (Yep, I said.) Avocados have 1 of the lowest pesticide load levels around and consequently are among the safest conventionally grown crops to consume. In fact, avocados are #1 on the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Clean Fifteen list. (For your Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen app by the EWG, click here.)
So friends, California Haas avocados are in season right now. Don’t miss out for 1, single moment on enjoying this versatile, easy to prepare, and thoroughly delightful and health-ful super food!
Please note: Instead of using the standard, unhealthy corn chip or tostado for scooping up your guacamole, I strongly recommend you try jicama; a round root vegetable grown in warm climates. Jicama can be eaten raw and it tastes somewhat like an Asian pear. While having a very low glycemic level, jicama is also loaded with fiber, Vitamin C, and potassium. (This beats a GMO, cooked in trans-fat, corn chip any day of the year!) I promise you’re about to make a new BFF!
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Time to close my friends with this month's,
Healing Thought: Coaching you to be your best, Happy Anniversary to The HealthShrink.
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It’s here!
We're delighted to present The HealthShrink’s very own brochure designed for your reading ease.
In it you’ll see:
• How Susan works and with whom
• Which life issues influence body size
• Why our services are unique from others
• What guides one to long-lasting health and weight results
You’re just a fingertip away from ground-breaking perspectives that nourish and enrich.
Questions? Let us know!
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