Integrative Nutrition has such a strong, powerful female population. Today, as we observe International Women’s Day—a “global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future”—we toast women everywhere for their strength, beauty, and desire to stand up for what’s right.

As you may know, International Women’s Day dates back to the turn of the 20^th century. On the heels of the Industrial Revolution, women began to rise up against the oppression and unfair treatment they experienced in the workplace and society at large. Campaigns for equal rights and women’s suffrage gathered more and more support, and in 1908, a massive group of “15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.” (Left Image Courtesy of International Women’s Day)

Two years later, the International Conference of Working Women voted to commemorate the spirit of this march with an annual celebration set on the same day every year—and so International Women’s Day was officially born! In 1911, the holiday spread to countries including Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria, and received an outpouring of support; 30,000 women demonstrated, and “village halls were packed so full that male workers were asked to give up their places for women.”

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.

You probably already looked at the calendar and realized it’s 11/11/11. Here at Integrative Nutrition, we’re calling it a Day of Oneness. One Health Coach can inspire thousands to get healthier and happier and together, we can create a ripple effect of health and happiness that changes the world.

We’ve come up with a way that will allow you to make a difference in your own life as well as the lives of others. If you call an Admissions Advisor at (877) 730-5444 to enroll in the Health Coach Training Program today only from 9am-5pm EST, we’ll donate $111 to your choice of these charities:

Last Monday, October 24^th, The Center for Science in the Public Interest hosted Food Day, a nationally recognized day for people to cook meals with whole foods and promote nutrition in their communities. Food Day was a huge success, with celebrations everywhere from a Food Day Open House at the Nation Achieves in Washington DC to a conference on food deserts and prison food in San Francisco. We challenged our community to get involved and were blown away by what we saw!

In Las Vegas, several IIN grads got together to host “Local Foods Make A Difference”, a community camp out at Tonopah Community Garden. The group had quite a turnout as people brought their families, sleeping bags, and healthy snacks to watch healthy food-related movies such as Food Inc. and Forks Over Knives.

Food Day is just around the corner on Monday October 24^th and it seems that the whole country is excited. Just take one glance at the Food Day website and you will see hundreds of events scheduled to take place from Washington to Maine. Just as Michael Jacobson had hoped when he founded Food Day last year, people are joining together to push for and celebrate healthy, affordable food that’s produced in a sustainable and humane way. Even Slow Foods is participating by encouraging people to take part in their second $5 dollar challenge on October 24^th.

On October 24, 2011 the first annual Food Day will bring awareness to the need for healthy, affordable food produced in a sustainable, humane way. Food Day seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life—parents, teachers, and students; health professionals, community organizers, and local officials; chefs, school lunch providers, and people who just love food. Thousands of events in homes, schools, churches, farmers markets, city halls, and state capitals are being planned all over the country. 

When we announced our partnership with Food Day we began to hear from our community of students, graduates and health coaches, about the amazing events that they are planning.

We asked our community for some tips on how they got involved with food day and here is what we found out:

At Integrative Nutrition, our goal is to have the world see clearly that food changes everything. We started more than 20 years ago, and have continued to educate thousands of students of the vital importance of true nourishment. In turn, Integrative Nutrition Health Coaches have gone on to educate tens of thousands more people. Together we have created a ripple effect that is bringing health and happiness to the world.

We always strive to find new ways to spread our message. In 2010 alone, we have given more than $135,000 to charities and foundations that share our mission and to organizations working to make our vision of a healthy world into a reality.

One of the most rewarding parts of giving is hearing and seeing the positive impact that has been created. Recently we have received letters from a few of the organizations that we have donated to. We wanted to share their words of thanks, in hopes of inspiring you all to continue to make a difference in any way you can.

“Integrative Nutrition, thanks for everything. You just enabled us to begin our winter soccer program!!!!!”
- From Seeds in the Middle, a non-profit that inspires parents, educators, and students to improve their health, enhance arts education, and green their environment.

“We have done so much recently!  Most notably, we launched our program in 19 schools where chefs are now working alongside School Food workers, teaching them to cook from scratch.”
- From Wellness in the Schools, a non-profit, community-based organization working to improve the environment, nutrition, and fitness in NYC public schools. Co-founder Nancy Easton is an Integrative Nutrition grad!

“Thank you! This donation will help us with our many projects. We provide water wells, housing and farm animals to the poor. We work on job creation programs, education for children, orphanage support and many other things to help the poor! We have recently installed waters wells in Haiti for people who are so desperately in need of potable water. This is just a small example of what we do to help the poor.”
- From Food for the Poor, a non-profit that improves the health, economic, social and spiritual conditions throughout the Caribbean and Latin America.

“This donation will enable us to provide nutrition education in more schools and expand our program offerings in the spring. Thank you, thank you.”
- From Food Fight, a non-profit founded by one of our own students! This organization is fighting childhood obesity by providing high schools with comprehensive nutrition curriculum.

“Thank you so much! We're so happy that we were able to collaborate with you, and truly appreciate being part of your program! We're working on some exciting things for next year, and with IIN's donation specifically we'll allocate it to furthering our Eat Healthy Program--obtaining more resources geared towards healthy eating and using the funds to help our 2011 Eat Healthy Party kit. The Eat Healthy Party kit, like our Healthy Home Party Kit, is a special peer to peer program we're starting next year that will focus specifically on eating as nutritiously and organically as possible on a limited budget. We're really excited about it, and the generous donation from IIN students will certainly help in making sure our kit is an overwhelming success!”
- From Healthy Child, Healthy World, a non-profit dedicated to creating a healthier world for our children, by educating the public on the harmful effects of chemicals in our food and environment.

In the season of giving, what are you excited to make happen?

That is the Question….for some Moms and Moms-to-be.

On Thursday December 9 we will host a webinar with Best for Babes.  A non-profit organization whose mission is to help moms “beat the booby traps™”-the cultural & institutional barriers that prevent moms from achieving their personal breastfeeding goals. 

ALL moms deserve to make an informed feeding decision, & to be cheered on, coached and celebrated without pressure, judgment or guilt, whether they breastfeed for 2 days, 2 months 2 years, or not at all.  ALL breastfeeding moms deserve to succeed & have a positive breastfeeding experience without being “booby trapped”! – Best for Babes

Many of Integrative Nutrition’s students and alumni are moms striving to help themselves and others lead happy, healthy, and fulfilling lives. We are excited to work with Best for Babes to educate more students pursuing careers in health and nutrition about the importance of breastfeeding and breast milk. Through education, awareness, and outreach we have a common goal to affect real change in the world. 

Best for Babes is designated a grant recipient during the month of December, joining charitable organizations Food Fight and the Organic Farming Research Foundation.

Check out Best for Babes exclusive interview with actress Jenna Elfman. Jenna shares her challenging breastfeeding experience, how she overcame obstacles, and how her pumped breast milk helped save the life of a baby that was born drug-addicted.

Do you struggle with the question whether to breastfeed or not?

This March, Integrative Nutrition is teaming up with Wellness in the Schools, in honor of National Nutrition Month. For every student who embarks on a new career path at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in March, we’ll donate $100 to Wellness in the Schools.

Wellness in the Schools is a nonprofit, grassroots organization manned by concerned New York City public school parents who believe healthier bodies make healthier minds, and conversely, unhealthy school environments interfere with student health, school attendance and academic achievement. During the 2005-06 school year Wellness in the Schools launched several pilot programs, including “Chef-in-Residence” and “Clean, Green Schools” to promote healthier places of learning for students. Now, Wellness in the Schools offers its program as a model for other classrooms and schools.

Nancy Easton, co-founder of Wellness in the Schools, is an IIN graduate, a Health Coach, a former New York City public school teacher, mentor and principal. She founded Wellness in the Schools with the goal of providing children with the best possible learning environment. Students at Integrative Nutrition are committed to making a difference by improving the health and happiness of their friends, families and communities. We’re so honored and excited to be able to give back in this way.

Dear Friends,

We know that the IIN community is a group of people dedicated to making a difference in the world, but we were blown away by the overwhelming response we received! 

So many of you responded to our call to action and made generous donations—thank you.  Because of your incredible generosity, we collected $25,000 in donations from our community and will match that sum for a combined donation of $50,000 to the Red Cross.  On behalf of each new student who enrolled between January 14 and January 22, we also donated $100 to the Red Cross.

We were inspired by how our graduates mobilized to help the Haiti relief effort:

•    IIN alumni Colleen DeCesare ran a special at her breakfast café in Philadelphia where she collected donations for the Haiti Relief Effort. 

•    Jenny Choi-Fitzpatrick, a 2007 graduate, is working with San Diego-based international humanitarian organization called Project Concern International that is partnering with several aide groups in Haiti to provide immediate rescue and relief services.

•    Dr. Marino, a 2007 graduate, spent one week in Haiti on a medical relief mission with Mt. Sinai Hospital.  As an anesthesiologist, he provided compassionate pain relief & anesthesia to those that suffered traumatic bodily injuries at the National Public Hospital in Port au Prince.

Your generosity will support crucial humanitarian efforts that will aid untold numbers of people affected by the earthquake.  To learn more about how you can help Haiti, visit www.redcross.org or check out this comprehensive list of charities providing aid.  You can keep up-to-date on the crisis in Haiti by following IIN guest speaker Dr. Mark Hyman’s blog while he works to aid the victims there.

Thank you for your heartfelt giving and helping us send relief to the victims in Haiti.

Sincerely,

Institute for Integrative Nutrition