This week Healthful Direction enjoyed a day of corporate wellness with GE.  During the day employees were challenged to provide healthy tips in order to be entered into a drawing for a Vitamix!  Healthful Direction's summer workshop which is slated for June will show GE employees how to utilize the vitamix or other blender systems to create healthy, easy snacks and treats. 

At HealthAhead Day 2013, Healthful Direction was introduced to Faith Goulbowne, Director of Catering and Events for Chloe's Soft Serve Fruit CO. 

Their soft serve ice-cream and pops are both gluten and dairy free!  Even better, it's free of all 8 major allergens.  In fact, only three ingredients are used: frozen fruit, water and organic cane sugar.  While only a few retail stores exist at the moment, you can have their items shipped to your home. 

I love how this company is making waves in Corporate Wellness by offering healthier alternatives.  Apparently regular soft-service ice-cream can contain anti-freeze (or a similar ingredient) as a preservative. 

Chole's has introduced an incredible vending machine for that post lunch sweet tooth or that 3pm pick-me-up.  There is sugar in these products so I don't recommend for daily use but pair with some nuts, and your blood sugar will thank you!  Given the purity of the ingredients, this is a much better choice than a Snickers bar or even a bag of heavily salted pretzels. 

These are a great summertime treat…consider for your child's birthday party as it's a safe alternative for those allergic or sensitive to nuts, gluten, and dairy. 

Give them a try, and let me know what you think!

In Health,

Alison  Held, M.S.
Clinical Nutritionist

As my clients know, I do not advocate a calorie counting style of eating even during a weight loss program.  While it's good to have some general knowledge of calories & caloric value, there is so much more that encompasses health, wellness, and weight loss. 

Another point here is that caloric labels can be misleading or filled with false numbers.  The Opinion Pages of The New York Times featured this informative video which demonstrates how mislead we might be when eating out either at a restaurant or purchasing any packaged foods. While restaurants or food manufacturers might be required to list the calories, are they accurate?  This video shows the real math that goes into food labeling – eye opening!

If this video is accurate, then those of us that are eating out on a frequent basis might be consuming an extra 500 calories per day.  This is yet one more reason to cook whole fresh ingredients at home — this way we know exactly what's going into our bodies.  Again, nutrition is so much more than a calorie count but there is certainly something to be said about eating more than we need on a daily basis.

In Health,

Alison Held, M.S.
Clinical Nutritionist

Valentine's Day is around the corner and sweet treats will be plenty!  Instead of gifting sugar laden chocolates to your loved ones (you care about their health, don't you?), how about making them a mouthwatering dessert sans sugar?  

My friend Kate Horney over at Beyondfit Physiques shared with me this absolutely amazing gluten-free cheesecake recipe that I've posted below.  I gave this recipe a whirl over the Christmas holidays and let me just say, it was a huge hit with the entire family!  

Important: when serving recipes like this it is recommended that you leave out the part about it being gluten-free and sugar-free.  Why?  Because you can not tell that this is the healthier version!  While this recipe is excellent on its own, the most incredible part is the fact that it tastes like the real authentic cheesecake that many of us have grown to love.

I used full fat cream cheese for this recipe to help enhance the flavor and digestion.  Low fat dairy products are difficult to digest. Fear not the fat!  This is a treat and should be treated as such.

The BeyondFit Physiques team has a boat load of other delicious recipes on their blog and a superior fat loss program for moms called, Beyond Baby.  Check them out, you will not be disappointed!  Now without further adieu, the fabulous cheesecake recipe:

Vanilla Macadmia Nut Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts, ground fine
1/2 cup pecans, ground fine
2 Tablespoons almond flour
3 Tablespoons organic pasture butter, melted
4 Tabelspoons stevia (e.g. NuNaturals Stevia for Baking)

Filling:

6 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temperature
3 organic eggs
3 vanilla beans
1 cup stevia

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  While heating, fill a cake pan halfway with hot water and place on bottom oven rack.  In a large bowl, mix together all the crust ingredients and press into bottom of a spring-form pan, set aside.  Scrape the inside of the vanilla beans out with a sharp knife.  Place scrapings on a small glass plate, set aside.

Using an electric mixer, mix the cream cheese, stevia and vanilla beans until well blended.  With the mixer on low, add the eggs to the cream cheese mixture one at a time until well blended.  Pour mixture over crust.

Place cheesecake in the middle rack of the oven, directly about the pan filled with hot water (NOTE: doing this prevents the top of the cheesecake from cracking during the baking process).  Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes depending on your oven.  The center should be set and the top lightly browned.

Allow cheesecake to completely cool (overnight is best) before removing from the spring form pan.  Once cooled, take a knife and run it around the edge of the spring form pan to help release and loosen the cheesecake.  Enjoy!  Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week or frozen (the later is what we did).

Thank you again Kate for this scrumptious treat!  Let us know what you think and post your comments below!  Happy Valentine's Day!

In Health,

Alison Held, M.S.
Clinical Nutritionist

"Dancing is one of the most wonderful things you've ever experienced. It boosts your energy. It boosts your immune system because it actually puts more oxygen in your red blood cells" said Tony Dovolani of ABC's Dancing with the Stars at the January 16th, 2013 Health and Wellness Event at The Dance with Me Studio in Stamford, CT. 

It was a great pleasure to be involved in this joint-benefit event where I was on hand to speak with participants about health from a nutritional standpoint.  My focus at this event was to educate on food sensitivities and how they can contribute to a variety of health issues including:

Chronic Diarhea, Heartburn/GERD, Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Joint Pain, Muscle Pain, Weight Imbalances, Chronic Fatigue, Chronic Sinusitis, Insomnia, Skin Eruptions, and Autism/ADD.

Through blood work and/or the food elimination diet (alone or in combination with a detoxification program), one can better understand what foods might be problematic.  This is a very individualized approach because what may be healthful to one person could be poison to the next!

The event at Dance with Me Studios in Stamford also addressed the importance of exercise in the form of dance.  Tony captivated the audience with his compelling speech which reminded us that dancing can help lift our mood, improve our blood flow and correct our posture.  Watching the all-star dance instructors 'shake their bodies' on the dance floor was a real life example of the power of dance.  Here's a short clip from Tony:

Put on your dance shoes and give it a try!  If you're local, I highly recommend lessons at Dance with Me Stamford.  This combined with a healthy diet will get you feeling and looking your best in no time!

In Health,

Alison Held, M.S.
Clinical Nutritionist

Who is Gabrielle Bernstein?  My friends asked this question a few weeks back after sending out an email invitation asking them to join me for an author talk and book signing event.  Funny, after the event, one even admitted that she thought we were going to see a nutritionist speak. This preconceived notion all shifted when Gabrielle Bernstein, otherwise referred to as "Gabby," entered the Fairfield Theatre company (FTC) stage last night. 

Gabrielle is a speaker, author and a role model to many women all over the world.  Her life experiences as a theater student, event promoter and public relations professional have brought her to a place of deep, very deep abundance and gratitude.  Her journey was not easy from drug and alcohol abuse to relationship heartache to financial worry to even caffeine addiction.  Her formal training is deeply rooted in A Course In Miracles but she has also recently found a strong connection to Kundalini Yoga.  Today she blogs, talks, writes and leads meditations inspiring others to create what she calls the, "Miracle Mindset."

The "Miracle Mindset" includes shifting our thoughts to ones of gratitude.  Someone with this mindset will:

• Say and think in the face of tragedy, "there has to be a better way"

• Turn inward for solutions

• Be in a state of flow

• Practice forgiveness and uses the "F" word like it's a full time job

• Live in a state of faith

Her latest book, "May Cause Miracles" just launched and last night she shared her deepest desire.  This desire is to reach those that feel called to serve at a deeper level.  This book is a 40 day program that involves daily inspiration and practices.  She knows deep within her that our radical shifts can not only shift our own world but also the world around us. 

"I have the infinite capacity to create everything I desire" ~ Gabrielle Bernstein

You might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with nutrition and my health?  In her book, she has an entire chapter dedicated to the body.  She feels like this section of the book is a very important one and fills our "container" in a way that we may have never imagined or thought about previously.  In order to thrive in society and our everyday lives, we must fuel our body with nutrients that will allow us to be able to be our very best.  She and I both agree, that our optimal self will not 'show up' unless the self-care is there.  By shifting the mindset, it is much easier to get to a healthy place.  In fact every corner of our life will flow and work together….I like to see this as a domino effect except in this case, the dominoes stand up tall instead of falling down.

My favorite part of the evening was the facilitated meditations.  Gabby modernizes her meditations with upbeat music and positive talk.  Her opening meditation focused on conflict resolution and the deep pain being still held from the Newtown shooting incident.  In closing she played a powerful version of the Beatles song, "Let It Be" in order to release all that we were willing to let go of.  Here is a description of the inner conflict meditation directly from Gabby.  She recommends this daily:

The night was magical in many ways.  Her down-to-earth approach resonated with the audience as attendees lined up during the Q & A session to share their own life struggles, successes and wide-eyed ah-has.  Gabby lit up the room with her smile and get-down-to business approach to spiritual practices.  She reminded us that we all have within us the ability to heal, love and live to our highest potential. 

A big thank you to Catch A Healthy Habit Cafe for hosting Gabrielle Bernstein last evening!  Here's a powerful clip that Glen, the owner of the cafe, took to close out the night:

I found a great deal online where you can purchase her book and get some freebie gifts.  I'm jumping on the deal and think you should too!  Join me for the 40-day journey to fill up our containers with love, gratitude and forgiveness!  Click here to purchase your book and join me and others on this wonderful journey called YOU!
 

In Health & Complete Happiness,

Alison Held, M.S.
Clinical Nutritionist