What makes you feel amazing? What can snap you out of a bad mood in seconds?

One of the key things we learn at Integrative Nutrition is how to feel our whole selves with what we call “Primary Food” – the relationships, activities, work, exercise, and spiritual practices that fulfill our lives and fill us up in ways that food cannot.

Our community is great at feeding themselves with healthy doses of Vitamin L (love) and primary food. We asked our community what makes them feel their best, and here’s what they told us:

Welcome to the latest installment of Integrative Nutrition Reviews, where we consider books, movies, and other media related to health, food, and personal wellness. Want to suggest something for us to review? Post it in the comments!

As you probably know, obesity and type 2 diabetes—two diseases that go hand in hand—have become major global epidemics. Recent estimates predict that by the year 2030, over half of American adults will be obese and 552 million people will struggle with diabetes.

The statistics look grim, but is there anything we can do? As it turns out, there’s hope after all. In his new book, The Blood Sugar Solution, renowned physician and IIN visiting teacher Dr. Mark Hyman offers an encouraging answer for the dual-pronged problem of obesity and insulin resistant diabetes, which Hyman refers to as “diabesity.”

Diabesity may have a tight grip on the world’s population, but Hyman offers some good news: the condition is highly preventable, treatable, and often reversible. The Blood Sugar Solution provides a personal plan that breaks through myths and misconceptions about diabesity, and lays out seven key steps to preventing, treating and reversing both diseases by dealing with the underlying causes.

The eight-week plan is designed to reboot the metabolism, foster weight loss, and essentially reverse type 2 diabetes. According to Hyman, additional benefits may include reduced blood pressure, increased energy, the elimination of joint and muscle pain, improved sleep, and an overall better mood and outlook.

February is all about one thing: Love. Or as we like to call it: Vitamin L. This month we will be exploring the various relationships that not only help define who we are, but bring us closer to our happiest, healthiest selves!

Let’s start the series with a relationship that has been proven essential to our health and well-being: Friendship.

What would life be without our friends? Slightly lonely? Probably. Much less fun? I think so.

But could being friendless also affect your health? Several studies say yes.

In 2006, a study, involving 3,000 women diagnosed with cancer, was conducted to see what effect friendship had on cancer patients. Researchers found that women, who had 10 or more close friends were four times more likely to recover from the disease.

At Integrative Nutrition, our students and graduates know that balancing primary foods is the most important part of nourishing our whole selves. We’ve seen students transform their health during their time at IIN by reconnecting with old friends or loved ones, getting into shape by starting a new workout plan, or embarking on a career path they love by starting their own business.  As they begin to balance their primary foods, their health and happiness improves tremendously!

Did you transform your health by focusing on your primary foods? Did your education at IIN support that transformation?

Great! We want to hear from you!

Enter IIN’s Transformation Contest to share a photo or two that shows how you improved your health by focusing on your transformation once you embraced your primary foods.

New Facebook profiles roll out today, and if previous changes are any indicator, it means there will be a lot of groaning and griping. Maybe this is a good weekend to take a break from not only Facebook, but from all your technological crutches.

Yes, that means email, too.

The rise of technology and the Internet is amazing in its ability to connect people around the globe to information and each other, but individuals who make the most of this access often face the adverse effects of overstimulation. We've already discussed the danger of "popcorn brain," but Internet addiction can also limit creativity and deep thought and lead to eyestrain, stress, and sleep deprivation.

“I’ve got a perfect body ‘cause my eyelashes catch my sweat.” – Regina Spektor

No matter what your shape or size, gender or age, most (if not all) of us have experienced the nagging doubts of body insecurity. Little imperfections can cloud our heads, and we can forget to love ourselves.

What many people don't realize is that no one is born with self-confidence - it is practiced.

One fantastic way to practice self-confidence is to eat right and exercise. A healthy body will certainly make you feel more energetic and radiant, but what else can you do to remember to love yourself?

Everybody deals with stress differently, but new evidence suggests that whether you're a city mouse or a country mouse plays a big role in how you cope with life's curveballs.

The study, reported on in Time Magazine, revealed that people who live in a city have a more sensitive response to stress. Compared to country-dwellers, city folk have greater activity in the amygdala region of the brain, which translates into being quicker to respond with fear or anxiety when confronted with a stressful situation.

Furthermore, the person’s amygdala activity strengthens in correlation to the population density of their city – so the larger the city, the greater the stress response.

Do you ever find yourself coming home from a long day of staring at the computer screen at work, just to pull out your laptop and spend the rest of the evening surfing the internet?

If you answered yes, you aren’t alone. As reported by CNN, researchers are saying that constant stimulation from electronics is causing people to suffer from something researcher, David Levy calls “Popcorn Brain.”  As our brain becomes more and more accustom to the “popping,” fast pace stream of information that we find on the internet, we are becoming increasingly less adept to handle the slower pace of real life.