We recently kicked off the Health Leadership Awards with mother and school food champion Allison Carmen.

At IIN we are blessed to have a community filled with exceptional mothers who are dedicated to changing the lives of their family and the world.

That’s why this week, we honor and celebrate Smokin’ Hot Mom Nina Manolson, whose outstanding work as a Health Coach empowers all of us to “feel good in our skin.”

Turning Risk into Reward

I enrolled at IIN after a genetic test determined I was at high risk for Breast Cancer. After a lifetime of struggling with my weight and criticizing myself in the mirror, I was faced with the preciousness of my body and how I could no longer afford to be at war with myself. I stepped up my self-care and, in the process, realized that my passion lay in helping women reclaim their body and ending the struggle between food and self-image for future generations.

I am thrilled, proud and honored to present the very first Health Leadership Award to an outstanding graduate who has been a leader in the school food movement, a health educator, and role model for her children and her community:  Allison Carmen.

When I first met Allison, she was a young woman in her twenties, highly educated and a successful lawyer for a large New York City firm. As one of the thirty students in Integrative Nutrition’s very first class, she demonstrated an exceptional desire to understand the transformational effects that nutrition can have on our lives.

With curiosity and intelligence, Allison has continued to analyze and put into practice the ideas and energy she gained from that program. Her most recent project, The Book of Maybe is inspired by her time at IIN, as well as her experience as a business consultant and coach.

Early Adapter

Overworked, stressed and exhausted from her successful career in corporate America, Allison was seeking a way to heal herself and others. She recognized the possibility of holistic principles long before they had entered the mainstream.

When I started the school 20 years ago in a kitchen with 20 students, I only dreamed that Integrative Nutrition would be able to change the world.

Today, we have over 23,000 students and graduates in more than 90 countries, and we really are creating a ripple effect that is transforming the health and happiness of the world.

As part of Integrative Nutrition’s mission, we support the success of our students and graduates through life long learning opportunities such as our live events. And as we celebrate 20 years of health and happiness, I’m pleased to announce that we’re now taking our exclusive live events IINternationally.

When I started Integrative Nutrition, it was a small group of dedicated students with one simple idea: if we could change what people ate, we could help change the world for the better.

It’s 20 years later, and our little school has expanded into a community of thousands of passionate students and graduates who are making a real difference in countless lives worldwide.

It’s wonderful that the National College Credit Recommendation Service (NCCRS) also values our hard work; now, our programs are being recognized as a valuable part of an undergraduate education. (If you’re not familiar with it, the NCCRS is an internationally recognized organization that partners with over 1500 colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada.)

If you are passionate about healthy, sustainable food practices, now is the time to take action!

This coming Monday, February 27th, you have a unique opportunity to join forces with national advocates of healthy eating. This is a chance to call for a healthier future. It's called Occupy Our Food Supply (OFS), and you can help now! Please 'Like' the OFS Facebook page and follow their newsfeed.

What can you do to help fight food practices that are destroying the Earth and our bodies? With your wallet.

Here are a few ideas:

• Buy seasonal whole foods.
• Prepare meals with the most basic ingredients.
• Read packaging and nutrition labels.
  

Our mission at Integrative Nutrition has always been to play a crucial role in improving health and happiness, and through that process, create a ripple effect that transforms the world.

As part of our 2020 vision and our commitment to help others share in our mission, I am very excited to support an organization that strengthens young women around the world.

The Girl Effect is a collaborative movement of amazing organizations and people passionate about alleviating poverty by investing in girls. They have found a way to empower girls to get a great education, stay healthy, and raise a stable family.

Hi IINer’s,

I have some exciting news for you!

We just announced our Mega Conference and Celebration in the Los Angeles area on the weekend of March 3-4, 2012. 

The month of love is here and people everywhere make a special effort to celebrate their relationships. However, celebrating your special someone doesn't have to be just once a year. Cultivating happy, healthy relationships year-round is the key to an enjoyable life. There are many ingredients that go into making a great relationship, but the one that is essential to providing nourishment for both partners is communication.

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and while they are talking all you can think about is what you want to say? You look for just the right opportunity to interrupt. You haven't heard anything the other person has said. We all have something we need to talk about with our partner, something we want to share, a frustration we have to get off our mind or we feel as if we will explode. Healing happens when people listen to us and when we listen to them. Everyone wants to be heard.

The art of listening is a vital component to a relationship that thrives every day of the year, making Valentine's Day so much sweeter.

Not everyone is a great communicator. We struggle in our relationships because of communication problems. Because we want to be heard, we like to talk. Communication is a skill and like anything we want to be good at, we need to practice. Like when you were younger you scheduled time to practice the piano or sports, you can schedule time with your partner to communicate. Choosing the right time and the right place to communicate is important. Pick a time when you both will be focused and not tired. At the end of the day or first thing in the morning may not be the ideal time to chat if you want to be heard. Choose a place that is quiet so that you can hear what your partner is saying without straining and so you can speak without yelling. A crowded restaurant isn't the best venue for communication practice!

Real communication can open a relationship up to growth and fulfillment. You and your partner can take on a couple of these suggestions and try them out. Start this month, schedule a time to talk and listen. This special month of love can last all year, or your whole life. It really is worth the effort. Remember, the aim is to strengthen the flow of nourishing energy that passes between two people. You are each other's primary food, and you are fine-tuning the recipe for long-term satisfaction. When our relationships are out of balance, our life is out of balance.

To read this entire article visit the Huffington Post.

Maybe you thought it was money, sex or organic food, but experts are saying that the key to happiness is something entirely different. It’s something that anyone can have at any time. It’s simple and it’s vital. It’s gratitude.  

Gratitude is the practice of noticing and appreciating the positives in the world (particularly in your own personal world). Shifting the focus from what you don’t have to what you do have can have a profound influence on your moment-to-moment mood and emotional state and it can have a huge impact on your physical health as well. 

Research in the burgeoning field of positive psychology found that a daily gratitude practice can lead to increased concentration, enthusiasm, optimism, and satisfaction—not to mention improved sleep quality and a greater sense of connection to others.

So, what if gratitude isn’t part of your current repertoire? The wonderful thing is that gratitude can be learned and doesn’t need to take a whole lot of time. Do what is easiest for you: write a list at the end of the day, take 2 minutes before you eat a meal, or think about it on your daily commute. Cultivating gratitude within ourselves ultimately has a positive impact on the people around us and on our communities.

So what prevents us from reaping the benefits of this simple practice? Like many things that are good for us, perhaps it feels unfamiliar, too spiritual, or just hasn’t been cultivated into a habit.  With Thanksgiving this week, now is the time to commit to a practice of gratitude. It’s easy to lose sight of this holiday’s true meaning:  a time to notice and give thanks for all that nourishes us including friends and family, community, and the food on our plates. 

Starting a daily gratitude practice will allow you to reconnect with the deeper meaning of the season and to more fully enjoy it. Here's how:

1.    Slow down and be mindful

One of the first steps in practicing gratitude is slowing down so that you can notice the things there are to feel grateful for. It’s often the little things that end up being the most significant. Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary takes attention and mindfulness.  The beauty in a flower and the smile from a stranger are places you can start.

2.    Keep a gratitude journal

Writing down the things you are grateful for takes just 10 minutes and can increase your overall well-being significantly! It can be as simple as writing 5 things you are grateful for in that moment, either daily or every other day.

3.    Shift your focus

Instead of viewing your world through a lens of all of the things you don’t have or are missing out on, try shifting the focus to what you do have and what is going well. You can hone in on a small detail that you appreciate, like someone holding the elevator door for you when you were in a hurry or your friend remembering to ask about the big presentation you had.

4.    Take a snapshot

If you are having a difficult time picturing something that you are grateful for, try taking a mental snapshot of a person, place, or moment that you feel grateful for. Hold that visualization in your mind for a little while.

5.    Make it a practice together

 Take 5 minutes at the end of each day with a friend or family member (meal times are good) to share with each other 3 things you are each grateful for, or a few positives from your day. This can set a nice tone to end the day and having a conversation can make you feel more connected.

6.    Practice generosity

Giving to others will help you to connect with just how fortunate you really are. There are many things that don’t require money: your attention, your time, a kind word, a thoughtful phone call or email, a compliment, or a music playlist. Your gift will inspire gratitude in others and perpetuate a cycle of generosity, gratitude, abundance, and ultimately happiness!

If you want to feel happier this holiday season (and beyond), start by incorporating a small dose of gratitude into your daily habit—it all adds up and can be very valuable to your health and well-being. You can also use it to inspire others.

How will you begin your gratitude practice?  

Did you know that October is the first official Non-GMO Month? This month, retail stores nationwide will celebrate the consumer's right to be informed of foods and products that contain genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

What exactly are GMOs again?

GMOs, or Genetically Modified Organisms, are products of biotechnology (also called genetic engineering, or GE), which creates new combinations of plant, animal, bacteria and viral genes by combining DNA from one species with DNA from another. The result: new organisms that do not occur in nature.

GMOs are often not labeled as such. In many developed nations, GMO products are heavily restricted or banned altogether because they have yet to be proven safe for people's health and the health of the environment. However, in the U.S. there is a dearth of public awareness of the potentially harmful repercussions of GMO products.

Here are four more reasons why you should celebrate Non-GMO Month this October and empower yourself to make the right decisions for you and your family.

1. Human Health

Currently, seed companies prohibit independent research with their products, leaving very little empirical data available.

2. Environmental and Animal Health

Genetically engineered crops can cause a variety of destructive problems on the surrounding environment. Farmers who use GMO crops can spray their fields to kill everything growing in the area except the specific GMO food crop. The increased use of pesticides and herbicides often leads to superweeds, which then become resistant to the same pesticides, creating the need for stronger, more toxic pesticides (that can leach into our food and water sources!).

3. Moral and Ethical Concerns

Some people question whether genetically altered crops and species threaten and violate the natural order of an environment. Also, genetic modification may involve the creation of foods that are prohibited by certain groups (e.g., the use of animal genes may conflict with some religions, as well as the diets of vegetarians and vegans).

4. Labeling Concerns

Whether you decide to limit or restrict your consumption of GMO products, the right to know what is in our food is important. Research has shown that many Americans would choose not to have GMO products if aware and given the choice.

When shopping for food, it's a valuable practice to stop and ask yourself the basic question: Where does it all come from? It's time for us to be food detectives.

Here are a few ways you may be able to consume fewer GMO products:

• Buy produce and other food items from farmers' markets.
• Start conversations with the people selling your food to get more information.
• Grow your own food in a garden at home or join a community garden.
• Join a corporate garden or co-op to know where items are coming from.

To help you choose the right foods, check out the Non-GMO Project's iPhone App Shopping Guide and the Non-GMO Shopping Guide.

How will you celebrate Non-GMO month?

To read the full article by Integrative Nutrition Founder Joshua Rosenthal go to The Huffington Post.