Smartphones are nearly ubiquitous in this day and age, and we’re excited to see so many nutrition, fitness, and wellness apps on the market! If you’d like to find out how your phone can be turned into a tool for your personal health, check out this next segment in our Integrative Nutrition Reviews series.

Fitness

RunKeeper - iOS / Android

Enter activity manually, or use the GPS feature to track your run automatically. The app will save information about how far you went, your pace, calories burned, and your route and upload them to RunKeeper.com. It even integrates your phone's music, and makes it easy to share your accomplishments with friends online. (Free)

C25K - iOS / Android / Blackberry

Never run a day of your life? No problem. This app already has your gradual training for a 5K all planned out. With GPS support, music integration, and alerts to let you know when you need to switch between walking and running, you'll be a regular runner in no time. ($2.99)

How are you doing with your New Year’s resolution?

Every year millions of Americans make resolutions on January 1st. Many of them have something to do with improving health and wellness. But by February 1st a majority of those resolutions have gone right out the window.

Since 1980 the American Dietetic Associate has been providing a gentle springtime reminder by celebrating National Nutrition Month in March. Each year there is a theme to help us eat better and be healthier. This year’s theme is “Eat Right with Color.”

So how does it work?

Think back to your last meal. How many colors were on your plate? If you answered 4 or 5, then congrats! You are eating right with color.

If you answered 1 or 2, then let’s talk:

Mother Nature has a habit of putting lots of healthy vitamins and minerals into foods that grow in the dirt, but did you know she took the trouble to color-code them for our convenience?

• green foods contain antioxidants and nutrients that promote healthy vision
• orange and deep yellow foods also help promote healthy vision, plus they contain vitamins that boost your immune system
• purple and blue foods contain antioxidants that provide anti-aging benefits, plus they help with memory, and urinary tract health
• red foods are good for heart health, vision, and your immune system
• some white, tan, and brown foods have nutrients that promote heart health
• bonus: each of these colors also help reduce your risk of cancer!

Of course, these aren’t the only benefits to eating a more colorful, plant-based diet. These kinds of foods also provide a good source of fiber, a boost in mental function, and tons of other feel-good perks.

So load up those plates with color and let’s celebrate good nutrition all year long!

How are you going to eat more colors this month?

We’ve made it simple and easy for you to become your healthiest self with this list of 50 Easy Ways to Get Healthier Now! We have compiled some of the best tips, resources and products from Integrative Nutrition guest speakers and friends like Dr. Andrew Weil, David Wolfe and Deepak Chopra, as well as some Integrative Nutrition graduates that have been rocking the world of holistic health. Also included are some inspiring resources that support living a happier, healthier life! Be well!

1.    Want to ditch processed food for good? Learn from the Natural Gourmet herself, Annemarie Colbin, in this informative video How to Choose Your Food.

2.    Learn meditation for health. Dr. Weil’s Three Breathing Exercises are a great place to start.

3.    Looking to clean up your diet? Make it a Clean Start in 2011 with Integrative Nutrition Grad Terry Walters’ new book, inspiring You to Eat Clean and Live Well.

4.    A great workout for mind, body and soul: Pop in this DVD, Intensati: Intention and Power—A High Energy Workout for Body Mind and Soul, created by an Integrative Nutrition student.

5.    Want to avoid getting a cold like the plague? Invest in a neti pot. This Ayurvedic remedy will keep your sinuses clean and clear all year. Check out this how to video if you are a neti novice.

6.    Follow the leader. Take the lead from Dr. David Katz as he shares his 3 Tricks to a Longer Life.

7.    Eat with the seasons by learning what your Ayurvedic body type is, compliments of Dr. John Douillard.

8.    Build your brain with exercise:  Exercise is beneficial for more than just your waistline. Deepak Chopra suggests breaking a sweat to improve your memory, learning and metabolism.  

9.    Say NO to chemicals in your food by using this helpful guide on common food additives to avoid, compliments of Center for Science in the Public Interest.

10.    Keep a check on your health with Dr. Oz's Lifesaving Numbers You Need to Know.

11.    Get to know your food: Learn from nutrition expert Joy Bauer’s “Should I be eating…” Food Index about the benefits of the foods you love. Also discover new favorites that might surprise you with their vitamin, mineral, and nutrient content.

12.    Want to find the perfect lover in 2011? Harville Hendrix, bestselling author of Getting the Love You Want and founder of Imago Relationship Therapy, explains what "Imago" means and how it relates to your soul mate in this video.

13.    Avoid food shopping pitfalls: Try this grocery store guidance to prevent yourself from making tempting, yet regrettable, food purchases.

14.    Get your cookie fix and keep fit: Purely Elizabeth Cookie Mixes are gluten and dairy free and made with unrefined sweeteners. Easy to make and incredibly delicious. Founded by an Integrative Nutrition grad!

15.    Breathe easy in your home: Easy steps to make sure the air you are breathing in your home is clean and safe.

16.    Want to heal holistically? Browse Veria’s Holistic Health Solutions Database.

17.    Get the FAQs: Dr. Fuhrman might have the answers you’re searching for! His list of frequently asked questions and answers provides insight into many great debates in health, nutrition, diet, and lifestyle.

18.    Bring your stress level down: Try Integrative Nutrition grad and guest speaker Robert Notter’s “8 Ways to Reduce Stress Now,” to take your anxiety down a notch and allow for greater wellbeing.   

19.    Cut the salt: The Harvard School of Public Health recommends these 25 easy ways to decrease your sodium intake and boost your health, without sucking the flavor out of your food.

20.    Be happy to be healthy: Take the time to be actively joyful about the abundance in your life. It can actually boost immunity, among other benefits.

21.    Supercharge your diet: These top 5 superfoods are anything but a fad, according to David Wolfe, one of the world’s top authorities on organic superfoods.

22.    Don’t skip dessert! Try Gnosis raw chocolate to add a superfood and some well deserved bliss to your daily diet!

23.    Become a farmers market pro: Whether you’re a newby or a regular at your local farmers market, have a successful shopping trip every time by trying these 10 tips to becoming an expert locavore.

24.    Think positive thoughts: In order to make room for positive thoughts, it’s important to learn how to stop negative thinking. You’re bound to start feeling better.

25.    Stall the clock: If you’re interested in slowing down the aging process for a healthier, longer life (who isnt’?!), try any combination of these 30 Healthstyle Tips To Keep You Young.

26.    Snack well:  If you’re hungry between meals or just need a little crunch in your life, stick to healthy snacks like Brad’s Raw Chips. These dehydrated chips come in 9 delicious flavors and are made from fresh vegetables, sprouted flax seeds, and buckwheat groats!

27.    Transform leftovers: Try these simple ideas and tips for turning leftovers into healthy snacks and meals.

28.    Know what to buy organic: Prioritize your organic produce shopping list to include the “Dirty Dozen,” which are those fruits and veggies most likely to contain high traces of pesticides if they are conventionally grown. Check out the “Clean Fifteen” that pass the test.

29.    Looking for skin care products free of toxic chemicals? Check out Skin Deep, a safety guide to cosmetics and personal care products brought to you by researchers at the Environmental Working Group.   EWG also offers a printable shoppers guide to safe cosmetics.

30.    Kick that cold! Top 10 natural ways to kick a cold’s butt from Integrative Nutrition graduate and health coach, Michelle Pfennighaus of Find Your Balance Health.

31.    Go from conflict to connection. Heal your relationship in 2011 with Imago Relationship Therapy.

32.    Bring on the sea vegetables: Incorporate these low calorie, mineral/vitamin rich foods into your diet to reap the immunity & energy boosting benefits. Check out Top Chef contestant and Integrative Nutrition grad Andrea Beaman’s simple, delicious sea vegetable recipes to get started.

33.    Score Your Diet with a quick check-list to show how your diet rates on nutrition, the environment, and animal welfare. 

34.    Stuck in a recipe rut? Check out the list of vegetarian/vegan online recipe resources compiled by animal welfare activist, Howard Lyman. There are over 10,000 veg recipes, so you’ll be fully equipped to stir things up in the kitchen!

35.    Not so fast: Eat slower and more mindfully to do more than just savor the flavor. Enjoy better digestion, metabolize faster, and even lose weight with these suggestions to slow down speed eating.

36.    Cleanse continually: Take simple steps to cleanse your colon naturally and consistently by incorporating foods and beverages that lead to a cleaner colon.

37.    Expecting? Take it from Integrative Nutrition graduates, Real Food Moms, for some wonderful recipes, ideas and tips for feeding your little one with this cookbook, Great Expectations: Best Food for Your Baby and Toddler.

38.    Go green (smoothies): Incorporating green smoothies into your diet for an easy way to get a boost of readily absorbable nutrients. Just blend up these yummy green smoothie recipes to help increase your energy and feel healthier from the inside out.   

39.    Meditate your stress away: If your New Year’s resolutions included minimizing your stress levels this year, try this wonderful audio CD, Stress Management: Meditation and Affirmations by Peg Doyle, an Integrative Nutrition graduate!

40.    Nutrition on the go! Don’t let being busy take away from your nutrition. Try YouBars! You can chose all of the natural ingredients in your fresh, customized nutrition bar so it meets all of your prefernces and needs!

41.    Sparkle me well: Check out these beautiful iloveme rings and necklaces from jeWELLery, they are a "gentle reminder to love yourself so you can open your heart, receive love and share it with others." Made by Be Well With Arielle, an Integrative Nutrition graduate and health coach.

42.    Want to say no to GMOs? The Non-GMO Project has created great resources to help you make informed decisions about the foods you are putting in your body. You can even sign the consumer pledge to support the preservation of a non-GMO food supply.

43.    Animal love: Keep your pets healthy along side of you! Find natural and holistic health products for your sweet animals here.

44.    Listen for health: Check out these weekly holistic health pod-casts that explore all different aspects of wellness.

45.    Strike a pose. Experience the benefits yoga can provide for your body and mind. It’s never too late to start or learn something new. Check out Simple Yoga, a website and community dedicated to everything yoga.

46.    Kick your coffee habit. If you fuel up on caffeine daily, try these 11 tips to say goodbye to your daily buzz and hello to better health.

47.    Mindfully make your way towards health. An Integrative Nutrition graduate created Mindful Organics, where you can get health tips, nourishing organic baking mixes, and detoxifying juice kits!

48.    All in the family! Check out Kiwi Magazine online, committed to “Growing families the natural and organic way,” for great articles, products, recipes and resources.  

49.    Continuing Education. Learn to cook or sharpen your skills with these free online cooking demonstrations! Cooking your own food is a great way to set yourself on the path to health!

50.    Eat smart with us! Integrative Nutrition’s healthy recipe directory has some of the best tasting healthy snacks, meals and dessert ideas around.

Feel free to bookmak this page for your future reference, or pass it along to your friends and family to help move everyone towards health and happiness!

Are you or anyone you know trying to change your diet and eat healthier? Checking labels and asking what’s in the food on the menu? That’s great, but there’s a simple healthy habit that many American’s are forgetting about when it comes to eating better.

Food and health journalist and author of Food Matters, Mark Bittman, brings up a good point in his recent New York Times article looking at American eating habits—we hardly cook for ourselves! In his words, “Real food is cooked by real people!” It doesn’t seem surprising that real people are cooking less than ever before.

Cooking is becoming a skill of the past and many Americans barely know where to begin. Not knowing the basics of cooking sets us up for perpetuating the “convenience” habit of getting take-out, fast food and relying on heavily processed foods.

The easiest way to eat healthfully and control your diet is to make or prepare the food you eat for yourself (and/or your family). This way you know what you are putting into your body and you also can focus on eating combinations of whole foods (items with the least amount of processing). The average American clocks in 35 hours of television a week (ironically much of it spent watching cooking shows), so it doesn’t appear that lack of time is the real reason why people don’t cook.

If you don’t feel confident about cooking in your kitchen or living space, try to figure out how you can increase your cooking habits. You might even find that you get great satisfaction and actually enjoy preparing your own food. There are plenty of resources online that offer great recipes and educational videos on how to properly cook different kinds of foods and simple ways to prepare whole meals quickly. Check out this video of graduate and Top Chef Andrea Beaman!  

It can often be more gratifying to eat something that you’ve made, plus you can make something exactly how you like it. Cooking your own food doesn’t need to be complicated and it doesn’t need to take a lot of time. Check out Integrative Nutrition’s recipe collection for some simple, delicious recipes that will nourish your body and make your taste buds happy.

In the end it will save your health and your money!

Do you have any cooking tips to share?

Most television shows about food are focused on competition between chefs and recipes for less than healthy meal ideas. The up and coming Food Forward is a refreshing, delicious, health-conscious change in the right direction. Food Forward, while still in the process of being created, is a 13 episode documentary focused on people in the United States who are trying to create more just and sustainable ways for people to think about, acquire, and eat their food.

The different episodes cover all different kinds of food activists from metropolitan areas around the country. From an urban gardener to a nouveau lunch lady, these people are making the changes that need to be made to create a happier and healthier country. We applaud all of the amazing work they have done and continue to do!

Since so many people spend their relaxation time watching television, this could educate a whole new group of people on these extremely important issues. To find out more about this inspiring project visit their website.

Do you or anyone you know work to change the way Americans eat and think about food? Share your stories with us!

Did you know that eating junk food can change the chemistry in your brain? A recent article on CNN.com reports on scientific findings that junk food is addictive. Addiction comes in many forms, and food addiction is nothing new. The article states "high-calorie foods affect the brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction." Food is made more addictive when it is stripped of its nutrients, and we end up eating bad food not because we’re hungry but because we think we need it.

Morgan Spurlock demonstrated fast food addiction in his documentary film, Super Size Me. During his 30 day fast food binge, Morgan began to experience the addicting effects of subsisting on an all fast food diet; in particular, he craved his daily fix of fast food at every meal and felt ill when he did not get it. 

Just like drug addiction, this study explains that when eating too much junk food, we overload the "pleasure sensors" in the brain. The junk food makes us feel good for a short time, but once the pleasure sensors crash, we need more and more of the food to feel that sugar "high" again. Imagine your body needing a certain amount of junk food just to function normally?

It’s not surprising that processed, chemicalized foods alter brain chemistry. What’s surprising is that fast food is still the number one choice for many people. How do we help people overcome fast food addiction? Awareness is the first step. People need to be informed of the harmful effects of fast food.  Transitioning to a diet of whole foods is the key to helping a junk food junkie overcome the addiction. 

Can we program ourselves to become ‘addicted’ to healthy, nutritious foods instead of high-calorie, processed, junk foods?

Dining can be a very social experience.  Gatherings with friends after work, family on the weekends, and coworkers at lunch are how many people spend mealtime.  We like to eat with others, whether the people are with us at the dinner table or on the television.  Many people do not dine alone, ever.  Many people would never go out to a restaurant alone.

However, eating alone can be a meditative experience that helps to control over-eating.  Martha Rose Shulman references “Savor: Mindful Eating, Mindful Life,” by Lilian Cheung, a nutritionist at Harvard, and Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist teacher, in her New York Times article, that focuses on eating alone.   Eating alone allows you to contemplate and focus on your food.  You can count chews and be mindful of when you feel full.  When you cook for yourself you can practice mindfulness, which is something you need when using a knife!

Many people find that cooking for one can also be a challenge.  Obviously ordering take-out is much easier, but finding creative ways to stretch a meal or work with a recipe that feeds 4 is a great way to save money, skip unwanted calories and put meditative eating into practice.

Shulman will be hosting a series with recipes for one beginning with Pan-Seared Tuna with Asian Coleslaw.

Obesity is a multi-layered health issue in America.  Many health advocates are calling out sodas, fast food, lifestyle and genetics as culprits on the list of those to blame for the crisis.  Now there is a new name to add to the list of usual suspects in the fight against weight gain: obesogens.

Researchers have targeted obesogens which are chemicals that disrupt the function of hormonal systems.  An article from MSNBC details how they “enter our bodies from a variety of sources — natural hormones found in soy products, hormones administered to animals, plastics in some food and drink packaging, ingredients added to processed foods, and pesticides sprayed on produce.  They act in a variety of ways: by mimicking human hormones such as estrogen, by misprogramming stem cells to become fat cells and, researchers think, by altering the function of genes.”

This research gives us more evidence and reason to advocate for organically grown whole foods.  As the article suggests, you can enjoy the foods you love, just make sure they are from natural sources free of antibiotics and chemicals.

Do you think that burgers and fries should remain off the list of foods for someone trying to lose weight even if they are of the all natural variety?