It's been a great week in the world of wellness.  From the US Supreme Court's decision on abortion rights, to a surprising report on corporate wellness, here's our roundup of all things well-being related.  

US Supreme Court Firmly Backs Abortion Rights

A women's right to choose gets backing from the Supreme Court!

The First Wellness-Focused Co-working Space 

Wellness-centric start-ups now have a place to call home in NYC complete with yoga, wellness lounges and more!

Surprise, Surpise: Smoking May Hinder Breast Cancer Treatment

A recent study finds that smoking may inhibit some breast cancer treatments.  One more reason to quit.  

WSJ Reports: Companies Are Over Corporate Wellness Programs! 

Flu shots, health coaching and other perks declined over the past year, human-resources study finds. 

More Veggie, Less Meat Could Reduce Risk of Type 2 Diabetes 

Not surprisingly, a plate full of colorful veggies has far-reaching health benefits, including reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes.  So load up that plate!  

How You Fight With Your Spouse May Effect Different Body Parts

Over 15 years of research correlates couples' fighting styles to particular ailments.  

By Resha AlTai

It’s that time of year again! The trees are beginning to bloom, birds are singing outside windows, and parkas are finally shed. With all this physical renewal, it can be easy to forget that our minds also need freshening up. Allow your heart and mind to flourish with these four incredible reads for Spring:

1) Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ by Giulia Enders This quick, informative read delves deeply into the workings of our digestive system, including its effects on our mental well-being. The language is totally accessible to those of us with a basic understanding of anatomy and physiology and makes wonderful use of illustrations (drawn by the author’s sister) to complement her explanations.

2) The Places That Scare You by Pema Chödrön In our current age of anxiety, Chödrön is both a refreshing and challenging voice — she encourages us to see problems as spiritual opportunities. Instead of trying to run from discomfort, she advocates staying put and learning about ourselves. This a wonderful read for those of us who are facing uncertain or difficult times and looking for a little spiritual boost!

3) The Faraway Nearby by Rebecca Solnit It starts off with a basket of apricots sitting on the authors floor and morphs into an allegory. The gift of apricots that Solnit’s estranged mother gives her starts to decay, much in the the same way as her mother’s mind (she is suffering from Alzheimer’s) is doing. Through the observing of the apricots, she makes sense of her mother and her relationship with her. Solnit reminds us of the importance of empathy in our lives in this brilliant work of non-fiction.

4) Real Happiness: The Power of Meditation by Sharon Salzburg While this work is technically a 28-day program, it can totally be used as a reference guide for your existing or burgeoning meditation practice. Don’t let the self-help sounding title scare you away from this book, Salzburg shares incredible insights best illustrated by this quote:

"Real happiness depends on what we do with our attention. When we train our attention through meditation, we connect to ourselves, to our own true experience, and then we connect to others. The simple act of being completely attentive and present to another person is an act of love, and it fosters unshakeable well-being. It is happiness that isn't bound to a particular situation, happiness that can withstand change.”

Happy reading! 

Who doesn't love to travel?  But it can be such a challenge to stay healthy while we do.  Business travel is forecast to hit an all time high and it’s one of the biggest ways that healthy professionals lives’ get sidetracked. We reach for convenient foods, stay out late, and drink more than we probably should.  Additionally, when you’re out of your routine it can be harder to hit the gym, find healthy spots to eat, and avoid the temptations that work dinners pose. 

Even when it comes to vacations, it can be hard to stay on track.  Holidays are often synonymous with overeating, drinking too much and an absence of workouts. So what's a busy gal/guy to do?

This well wanderlust has spent a lot of time in the air (and on busses, trains, rental cars) and have perfected my routine.  Now there's no need to arrive feeling and looking anything less than stellar.  K?

Pro tips:

•Airports have come a long way in the last few years in terms of healthy options, but they still have a long way to go.  Try and prepare as much as you can ahead of time by bringing your own food and snacks and make sure you hydrate more than usual.  My go to?  A gluten free wrap with hummus and hormone-free turkey and lettuce, or vegetable quinoa.  

•Moisturize your skin in-flight so you don’t arrive dried out and inclined to a breakout.  I've even been known to do a full on face mask in-flight.  But no need to be ridiculous.  You can simply use a hydrating mist, or your regular lotion.  

•Bring detox tea in-flight.  Nothing is worse than landing with cankles or with hands so swollen you can hardly type.  Choose a tea that has dandelion root, which acts as natural diuretic. 

•Clean your area: Airplanes are a breeding ground for germs and you don’t have time to get sick.  Wipe down the arm rests, screens, remotes and tray tables. 

• Bring a portable workout: Hotels are getting more healthy (Thank you, Even for paving the way!) but in case you’re tight for time and there is no gym, bring a jump rope, or simply do some HIIT in your room.  

•Map out healthy places to eat: A fellow health coach and marketer once told me that he mapped out the healthy restaurants and groceries stores near his hotel on every business trip.  It’s super smart and it keeps you from making poor decisions when you’re hangry. 

•Get a massage on arrival.  If you’ve been flying for a while, massage can be a great way to reduce aches and pains as well as anxiety.

•Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!  Drink water before, during and after your flight to keep your body hydrated.  Flights can be extremely dehydrating and that can worsen jet lag.  

•Take digestive enzymes.  Flights can slow your digestion.  Keep things moving by taking digestive enzymes during your flight.  

•Limit the booze.  Alcohol at high altitudes impacts your body even more than at sea level.  Keep alcohol to a minimum (avoid it all together if you can) to keep your body detoxing at it's optimal levels.  

How do you stay well while you travel?  Share your tips in the comments below. 

The new year rolls around and we are all full of promise and hope as to what our blank canvas of a year will entail.  We spend hours reading inspiring self-help books and pour our hearts and souls in to writing goals and consecrations. And often times we give up before we start.  The reason?  Because they are too complicated, too hard, require too much change…and the list goes on.   And interestingly enough, of the top ten resolutions people make each year, seven of those are about achieving better health.  So why is it so complicated to take care of ourselves these days when a few thousand years ago it was so simple a cave man could do it?  The answer: with our over-complicated lives we over-complicate EVERYTHING.  In 2015, let’s go back to the basics.  Here are a few simple and easy to implement solutions to get you on the road to better health now.  No excuses necessary.

1.     Breathe: We are so busy living life that we forget the most basic way we stay alive is to breathe.  We rush through the day taking shallow breaths that don’t fully oxygenate our bodies and calm our minds.  Just taking a few deep breathes can enhance your mood, reduce stress and promotes relaxation.  Proper breathing positively influences our physiology and thought processes.  So just by focusing on your breathing, even without changing it, you are moving towards greater relaxation.  I recommend starting your day with a few deep breathes.  Breathe in through your nose and hold for four seconds, and then push the air out through your mouth for 5 seconds. 

2.     Eat breakfast: And I don’t mean a bowl of sugary cereal.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  Your body fasts and detoxes while you sleep and thus needs energy from your breakfast to kick off your day.  Skipping breakfast or just having your coffee starts you at a deficit.  Often times your blood sugar is low first thing in the morning.  So a breakfast of protein, complex carbohydrates or both is recommended to get your body going.  If you jump straight to the sugar cereal, you’ll go from low blood sugar to high blood sugar and be on the roller coaster all day.  Unbalanced blood sugar can lead to mood swings, metabolic syndrome, pre-diabetes, weight gain and more.  Opt for an omelet, a protein shake, or healthy bowl of fruit with nut butter.   

3.    Hydrate: This is simple enough, as your body reminds you that it is thirsty all day.  Our body needs water for every function from circulation to respiration.  Often times we mistake our thirst for hunger and it can lead us to overeat.  So next time you reach for a snack, ask yourself first, am I just thirsty?  And make sure you’re not adding any sugar to that water.  It’s recommended that we take in at least 8 cups of water per day, but that varies from person to person based on body composition and lifestyle. 

4.    Sleep: I touched on this earlier, but I want to stress how important sleep is.  At night, our body shifts from the stress of the day and focuses on detoxing our bodies and removing any of the toxins accumulated over the course of a day.  So it’s really important to allow your body to go through this process without interruption.  That means no eating up to 3 hours before bed so your body isn’t focused on digestion.  It also means shutting down from TV, phone and computer screens up to an hour before bed so your body can properly shut down.   The light from screens simulates sunlight and cues to your brain that it is still daylight and you should be awake, when that isn’t the case.  Allowing yourself an hour away from technology allows your body to naturally move into a state of rest and relaxation so you can enjoy a deep sleep.

5.     Nourish your cells: Forget about diets, they don’t work.  When you eat, eat to nourish your cells.  Whatever we put in our body eventually becomes our hair, our skin, our teeth etc.  And when it comes to finding your optimal body weight, food is 70% responsible.  So when you are choosing your meals, select options that are going to boost your energy and immunity, brighten your skin, increase serotonin, feed your gut flora etc.   Put down the packaged food!  Often times, prepackaged foods are laden with chemicals and preservatives and our bodies don’t recognize them as food and so they don’t support our health in the way we would hope.  So next time you’re reaching for something that has yellow dye 5, ask yourself, is that what I really want to look and feel like?  Eat foods that are in as natural a state as possible.  You’ll find that when you eat naturally, you wont need to calorie-count, as your body will start working and burning fuel more optimally.

6.    Move: Whether you want to boost brain function, lose weight, extend your flexibility, get stronger or are concerned with heart health, it’s important to move.  You don’t have to go crazy and partake in strenuous exercise, just doing a little bit each week can boost your energy and your mood, increase your HDL or good cholesterol, reduce stress and even prevent cognitive decline.  So grab your sneakers and go for walk, jog in the park or take the stairs at work.  Your brain and your body will thank you for it. 

7.    Stay positive:  Your mom always told you stay positive and keep your chin up and she was right.  Thinking positive thoughts, or changing your negative ones into more optimistic ones can positively impact your health and your stress.  Studies suggest that a more optimistic outlook can protect you from the common cold, lower your risk of depression and even cardiovascular disease.  If that’s not a reasons to write some daily positive affirmations, I don’t know what is!

8.     Detox: It seems like people are always talking about the latest juice cleanse to detox their systems.  And don’t get me wrong, they have their merits, but I’m talking about something else.  Our skin is our largest organ in the body and is largely tied to detoxification.  Opt for skin brushing, a visit to the sauna, a hot yoga class or even a soak in the tub with some Epsom salts to release those stored toxins through your skin.  When our body is holding onto waste, it’s also holding onto weight.  So helping your body to detox better, is a sure-fire way to get achieve better health. 

9.  Balance your energy:  Vital energy or Qi circulates through our body like a system of roads and gives it life.  When some part of that energy hits a roadblock or is overcharged, the body can't function optimally and you might start to feel "dis-ease" such as lack of energy, digestive troubles, and poor immunity. By treating the energy imbalance with a modality like acupuncture, you remove those roadblocks and allow your energy to flow more freely and support your body.  I've been taking weekly trips to Aquarius Acupuncture for nearly a year now and it has healed conditions I thought would be with me forever.  To get healed at the hands of Sarah Sajdak visit http://www.aquariusacupuncture.com/