Wow. Wow. Wow. What an amazing graduation weekend. Congratulations to the class of 2009 on all of your successes!

Every year I am overwhelmingly ecstatic about all of the great things people are accomplishing in their communities. I bet many of you had no idea you would be where you are today. In fact, respond to this post. I just want to get a sense for how many people came into the program expecting they would improve their own health, but had no idea they would be a part of a bigger mission…

I want to highlight some successes and hear from more of you. This weekend we heard from one student who is starting a juice bar at her local hospital. By speaking up in class she inspired others to contact their hospitals about opening juice bars. Swap out those fast food restaurants for juice bars. So cool!

A group of IIN grads announced that they founded a group called Citizens for a GMO Free World. They have written a letter to Michele Obama bringing her attention to the problem of genetically modified organisms in our food and how we need to take action to remove it from the food we feed ourselves and our families. That’s determination!

Let’s give these graduates our support and please remember that even though you graduated you will always have the support of the school. I encourage you to continue doing the work that you love and reach out for help when you need it and if fellow grads need your support give it to them.

One person alone can’t transform the health of Americans. It has to be all of us together. All of our wisdom, love, generosity and team work will successfully improve the health of Americans and eventually the world.

Who’s IIN?

Tags: About IIN, Career, Food, Politics, Uncategorized by Joshua Rosenthal
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Congratulations to everyone who is graduating this weekend and going on to a fulfilling and healthy career in health counseling. You did it!

Many of you took a leap of faith by coming to Integrative Nutrition. Some of you may have seen positive changes in friends and family and knew it was the right step for you, but others of you really didn’t know what you were going to get out of the program. We thank each and every one of you for putting your trust and future happiness in our hands.

We put a lot of time and energy into making sure our students receive all of the knowledge they need to improve their own health and the tools they need to launch a successful career. You may have noticed that the students at Integrative Nutrition are not like other people you will meet. They are a group of focused and dedicated people. People who want to change, not only their health and happiness, but the health and happiness of the world. It’s inspiring. So, while the staff at Integrative Nutrition does everything we possibly can to provide for you, we know the success of the school would not be possible without the passionate and motivated students that pass through.  

I realize that many of you may have mixed emotions right now. You’re overjoyed that you’ve improved your health and you’re launching a new career, but you’re also sad that it’s ending.

I have good news! It’s totally not over. The relationships that you have made over this past year are only going to get stronger. You can stay connected through the OEF, Facebook and now Twitter!

Tags: About IIN, Career, Uncategorized by Joshua Rosenthal
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Have you noticed that many doctors are not walking examples of health? It’s very odd. They’re the ones giving us advice on how to eat well and take care of our bodies, but many of them seem to be overweight themselves. This New York Times article addresses this very issue.

It brings up a very interesting point: Doctors who are struggling with their own weight might have an advantage of personal experience from the patient’s perspective. The patient might put more trust in the doctor if they’re going through the same thing. We’ve all had our own health issues. Would you be more inclined to seek advice from someone who is suffering from the same symptoms, or someone who has gone through it but has successfully healed him or herself?

At Integrative Nutrition we teach our students to walk the talk. We first give you the tools and knowledge to improve your own health so you can go out there and share with others how you healed yourself and give your clients tools to improve the foods they eat and lifestyle choices.

Oftentimes students choose to work with people who suffer from their old health concerns. Clients feel like the health counselor can relate and see that they in fact are practicing what they preach.

It doesn’t always go this smoothly. Sometimes it’s hard to give, give, give and take care of yourself. Have you every struggled with this? When this happens it’s often best to take a step back and reevaluate what is out of balance in your life.

Tags: Career, Healthy Tips by Joshua Rosenthal
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Many people avoid cooking because they believe they need all fresh ingredients to make a nutritious and delicious meal. While fresh fruit and vegetables do add a nice flavor to many meals, you might be overlooking several ingredients in your pantry that add up to not one, but several meals.

The good news is you don’t need to head to the grocery story or farmers’ market every time you cook and you don’t need to resort to bags of potato chips or cans of soup for a simple meal. Here are some common pantry items and some nutritious recipes to go along with them.

• Chickpeas

• Lentils

• Millet

• Brown rice

• Oats

Try an experiment. One night this week, make a meal just using some of the contents from your pantry. You might need some refrigerated ingredients, but see what you come up with. Who knows, you might surprise yourself with how creative and delicious a meal you can make. As always, share with us so other people can try your creative concoctions.

Clean out that pantry and get cooking!

Tags: Food, Recipes, Uncategorized by Joshua Rosenthal
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Have you ever thought that who you are today in your career, relationships and life might be linked to what your parents were going through when you were conceived?

Look at your life now. Is money always tight? Do you have loving relationships? Are your relationships tumultuous? Do you love to learn? Perhaps if you have concerns around money your parents were undergoing financial problems when they conceived you. Were they newly married and just starting their lives together? Perhaps the love they had for each other shows up in your romantic relationships. Do you have not one, but two or more degrees? Do you love to read or take classes? Maybe your mom or dad were in school when they conceived you, or were planning to go back to school.

This might be a difficult exercise for some of you, but I encourage you to take the time to do some research. If your parents are still around ask them. If you’re not able to ask your parents directly, maybe you have an older sibling or other relatives who might know.

How do these stories inform who you are today? What insights are you able to form, based on this part of your personal history? If you feel comfortable, share with us. If not, jot these insights down and keep for yourself. This is a great exercise to help you connect with your parents as well as to think about why you are the way you are.

Tags: Celebrity News, Primary Food, Relationships, Spirituality, Uncategorized by Joshua Rosenthal
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There are many different beliefs around dairy and whether or not it is good for you. It has been cited as being good for your bones, but it has also been found to contribute to menstrual pains, asthma, brain fog, mucus and a wide range of allergies. One of our guest speakers, Sally Fallon believes that dairy is an important part of a healthy diet. She argues that we’ve relied on milk to meet our needs for protein and fat. She states the problem isn’t in dairy itself, but rather the way it is processed today and believes that we should consume raw dairy products.

Yes, humans have been consuming milk for thousands of years, but if you think about it humans are the only ones who continue to consume it into adulthood. Mammals nourish their babies with their own milk, but stop after a brief period of growth. After this, mammals don’t have any interest in it, nor do they have access to it. The truth is we don’t need to live on an all dairy diet in order to get adequate protein, calcium and fat. You can get valuable nutrients from non-dairy foods as well.

If you know you consume a lot of dairy products like cheese and ice cream, experiment with some non-dairy types. You might find that your health improves after decreasing the amount of dairy in your diet.

If you want to experiment with cutting out dairy, but want to make sure you’re getting enough calcium you can try these foods:

• Sesame seeds
• Sardines
  
• Kale
  
• Chickpeas
  
• Mustard greens
  
• Almonds

Tags: Food, Recipes, Uncategorized by Joshua Rosenthal
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It seems odd to even broach this topic when 34% of the population is obese and millions of people suffer from preventable diseases every year. Millions of Americans can afford to adapt a healthier lifestyle by improving the foods they eat and adding more movement to their daily routine, but many people have an all-or-nothing mentality. When some people decide to improve their health they change their eating and lifestyle patterns too quickly and obsess over eating only veggies and exercising if not one, but multiple times a day. This is when the behavior becomes unhealthy and one may develop orthorexia nervosa.

This doesn’t seem like it would be a problem, but drastic changes often backfire and result in bad outcomes. One nutrition professor says that making sudden changes may cause an imbalance of neurotransmitters, leading to a decrease in joy and an excess of fear.

Improving your health can be a simple and enjoyable experience. Think of how you want to improve your health. Do you want to eat better or start exercising more, or do you want to do both?

If you eat mostly processed foods, don’t cut them out right away. Instead, pick one vegetable that you’ve been dying to try and add it to your diet. Maybe it’s edamame or even kale. Pick a recipe that is easy and sounds interesting to you. Prepare it once or twice this week. Notice how you feel after eating it. If this dish isn’t delicious, don’t give up. There are many other vegetables to try and creative ways to prepare them.

If you’re one that finds the gym boring, summer is the perfect time to explore new and fun ways to get moving. Simply call up a friend and go for a walk. Grab your bike and go for a ride in the park. Schedule two or three days this week that you’ll get outside to move around a little.

As you slowly incorporate more veggies into your diet and more movement you will realize that healthy living doesn’t require drastic measures and can actually be fun. What are you going to try this week?

Tags: Food, Healthy Tips, Recipes by Joshua Rosenthal
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