Minority Mental Health Matters with Dr. Eliza Belle

Dr. Eliza Belle is a Licensed Psychologist and Board Certified Forensic Examiner. She currently serves as the Director of Psychological and Behavioral Services for Alabama’s Department of Mental Health.

 

Let’s talk about discrepancies in mental health treatment between minorities and non-minorities.

 

20% of African American adults are more likely to experience more negative impacts from mental health issues. However, they are less likely to receive it due to misdiagnosis, lack of culturally responsive health care professionals, and socioeconomic factors.

 

18% of US adults have a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year, and approximately 4% of adults have a serious mental illness.

Mental disorders are among the topmost costly health conditions for adults 18 to 64 in the U.S., along with cancer and trauma-related disorders.

Black people with mental health conditions, particularly schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and other psychoses are more likely to be incarcerated than people of other races.

 

Dr. Eliza Belle Mental Health Tips:

How to Relax

Visualization – Close your eyes and picture your peaceful place

Deep breathing – Take a few minutes to slowly breathe in and out. Deep breaths for the win.

Meditation – This will allow you to focus on your body, thoughts, and surroundings.

Unplug – set boundaries for communication, use of devices, and response to requests of your time.

Deep Breaths – Controlled breathing is your body’s built-in calming system. When things feel overwhelming, take a moment to take deep breaths and exhale. This will calm your heart rate and allow you a moment to reset.

Get Up & Move – Adjusting your posture and movement can change your brain’s signals and help reduce stress, depression, and anxiety.

Journal – Journaling allows you to process events, identify what is causing you stress and clarify your feelings. It is a great tool to help gain self-awareness in stressful situations.

Talk to a Loved One -Speaking with someone allows you to express your feelings. It also allows an unbiased party the opportunity to introduce an alternative perspective.

 

How to Achieve a Healthy Lifestyle: #LivingYourBestLife

Throughout your life, you will have many ambitions. Perhaps you want a family one day and to get married, to land your dream job, or travel the world. Whatever you want to achieve in your future, a part of that should be getting a healthy lifestyle so that you are able to enjoy and celebrate all the great things to come. It can, however, be hard to know exactly what you need to do in order to be at the peak of your health, so this handy guide will help you out by giving you some ideas of how to be in the best condition of your life and look out for your health.

The right treatment

No matter how healthy you are, every now and again a trip to the doctors will be necessary for one reason or another, and this is not a bad thing as the medical professionals can help you to achieve this healthy lifestyle you want. However, doctors and nurses are not infallible and can make mistakes. If this happens, you need to make sure you get the right advice on how to get compensation for any negative effects caused by the negligence of the medical professionals who treated you. The Medical Negligence Experts are a great resource for this and can help you get justice if your health has been harmed.

Keeping strong

Exercise is always something sighted as being a must if you want to be healthy, and for good reason too. By doing some frequent physical activity, you can lengthen your lifespan and remain mobile for many years to come. One great exercise to do, especially if you struggle with high impact sports like running and cycling, is yoga. The health benefits of yoga are manifold, as frequent practice can improve your posture and protect your spine, build muscle mass making you stronger, while also having a positive effect on your mental health as well, as yoga has been proven to be a calming way of moving through stress and anxiety.

Eating right

A third way of achieving the healthy lifestyle you want is to change up what you eat on a day to day basis. To make sure you are making the right changes in your diet it is important you know what a healthy diet looks like.

Start with breakfast. Instead of sugary cereal, trying something such a porridge which releases energy slowly throughout the day. Adding antioxidant-rich cranberries and blueberries will help you keep energy levels up while fighting off illness. For lunches and dinners, the general rule is the more colorful, the better, and an easy way to do this is to build your own rainbow salad bowl. Fill the bowl with greens, such as spinach and lettuce, adding in shredded carrot, purple cabbage, and cherry tomatoes, adding in protein with some steamed chicken and some carbs with quinoa. Achieving a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to be a chore once you know how to get started.

Collaborative Post

Culinary Trends For Healthy Food

It’s not only in the fashion world that we see trends but also in the culinary world too. If you are not up to date on the latest fashions in food, then read on for a simple breakdown and some advice on how they could help you be healthier.

kim-kardashian-660

5:2 Diet Plan

5:2 is the most recent trend in food that people are raving about at the moment. It a fasting diet, where you consume under 500 calories for two days of the week and eat as normal for the rest of the time. This way of fasting is said to kick the body out of fat storage mode while allowing you to eat regular meals.

5132112

Some people do two full days of eating only 500 calories. While only eating 500 calories in a day might seem pretty grim, you are not completely starving yourself. There are some tasty and filling soups, salads and frittatas that you can still enjoy, even on a fast day. Just make sure that you count your calories.

Some People choose to spread their fast out through the whole week. This process is known as intermittent fasting and comprises of regular ‘eating windows’. Basically, you have a window in each day that you can eat in, but you are not to consume anything outside of that time. It usually last about 6 hours so many people skip breakfast and use the time when they are asleep to make up the rest of their 18-hour fast time. This is a lot easier because when you are asleep, you are not going to feel hungry.

Clean eating

Clean eating is also popular with celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow, Alicia Silverstone, and Jessica Alba. In fact, Paltrow is so committed to the cause that she has written several cook books on the subject including “It’s all good” and “It’s all easy,” which you can purchase here.

Clean eating focuses on cutting out any processed food. This is because processed food often contains lots of sugar, fat, and additives that make it taste nice, but doesn’t need to be there. That means if you are eating a lot of processed food you are taking a significant amount of bad stuff into your body when you don’t  need to. By switching to clean eating, your body gets more of the proper nutrients it needs and less of the bad stuff that is harmful to it.

bd39eed891fb30cb600e65291aa2e124

For the most part cleaning eating requires you to prepare and cook the food yourself to avoid these ‘dirty’ additives. However, you can, of course, eat healthy whole snacks like popcorn, and raw fruit and veg. Some companies are now also selling prepared products that follow the clean eating ideal. One such company is Hampton Creek, who are trying to change the food industry from the ground up. You can check them out on YouTube where you can discover what goes into their products. There are also some nice recipe ideas for clean dinners that you have to try.

Paleo

The paleo diet has been all over social media in the last few months and has been trending hard on both Pinterest and Instagram. If you are still in the dark about this food trend, the basic premise is that you can only eat food that would have been available to a caveman. So that means sugar, cereals, dairy and beans and pulses are out. This leaves meat, vegetables, fats, nuts and fruits on the menu.

It’s based on the idea that as the world became industrialized, we humans, started to eat a lot of stuff that we are not meant to. Stuff like refined sugar, cow’s milk and the like. Our bodies were never designed to eat or digest this stuff properly so going back to a caveman diet will reset our bodies to optimum health.

paleo-diet

While it sounds pretty strict, some of the more clever cooks have been adapting everyday recipes to the paleo diet so it’s not as hard to stick to as its sounds. You can actually have brownies, cheese cakes, cupcakes and cookies on this diet. The only thing you need to do is replace the flour and sugar with honey, white beans and avocados.

Carb free

Another trend in food that has been popular is to cut out carbs altogether. This one you have probably already heard of as it has been around a while and was popularized with the famous Atkins diet.

Atkins got some quite controversial press as it seemed that people were losing weight while still eating fat. But doctors did point out that a pure protein diet it’s pretty harsh on the liver, not to mention the problem of subcutaneous fat. So it’s had a bit of an overhaul, and now there are four stages, which gradually reintroduce a reduced amount of carb into your diet. Atkins recommend that you judge for yourself and see how much carbohydrate your body is comfortable with to keep you at your optimum weight.

Despite The controversy, many people use a low carb diet it to control their weight, especially people with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. Up to 5 million women in the US may have POCOS, many of them undiagnosed. In this syndrome, the insulin levels are often higher that then need to be and the body reacts badly to sugar and refined carbs. This can cause a sugar addiction. This is where the person will crave sugar. What happens is when they consume that sugar it won’t be processed right be the body. So the sugar levels will fall quickly into the bloodstream, and then they end up feeling like they want some more. By taking themselves out of the sugar cycle, people with PCOS can stabilise their insulin levels. This allows them to maintain healthy weight much more easily and can help prevent the onset of diabetes.

highcarb-vs-lowcarb-update05

Some people don’t go as far as following the Atkins all the way,  but compromise with only eating carbs at lunch or breakfast. In this way, your body has a greater chance at processing them as you are active through the day. Instead of instantly converting them to fat, during the sedentary evening period.  

Collaborative Post

Terra’s Kitchen Partners with Nava Health and Vitality Center & Merritt Athletic Clubs

unnamed (6)

Terra’s Kitchen, a Baltimore-based, meal-kit delivery service innovating nutritious, farm-to-front door meals, announces its partnerships with Nava Health and Vitality Center and Merritt Athletic Clubs. Providing members and employees with healthful, convenient meal options that make clean eating easier, the partnerships extend Terra’s Kitchen’s commitment to bringing health and wellness to the Maryland community.

Through these partnerships, Terra’s Kitchen will offer exclusive perks and deals of its direct delivery of seasonal recipes designed for the wellness-minded individual, including meals that are certified vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, paleo and low calorie. By delivering high-quality ingredients that are pre-prepped and portioned, each Terra’s Kitchen meal can be made in 30 minutes or less, giving community members access to wholesome recipes without the time commitment.

“Terra’s Kitchen, Nava Health and Vitality Center and Merritt Athletic Clubs all share a commitment to promoting wellness by using mindful, innovative approaches to healthy living,” shared Michael McDevitt, Chief Executive Officer of Terra’s Kitchen. “We are excited to partner with these like-minded organizations by offering a solution for their members to put healthful home-cooked meals on the table in under 30 minutes.”

“Terra’s Kitchen demonstrates an unparalleled dedication toward mindful meal selection, and providing their recipes, which are certified and recommended by our staff nutritionists, gives Nava the ability to go another step further in delivering premium value to our clients who depend on the Nava medical experts to precisely guide them toward optimal health,” added Bernie Dancel, Founder and CEO of Nava Health and Vitality Center.

“Through the partnership with Terra’s Kitchen, Merritt Athletic Clubs is excited to continue adding convenience to our members’ daily eating habits and to share in our commitment in bringing health and wellness to our local community,” added Donyel Cerceo, Marketing Director, Merritt Athletic Clubs.

For more information on Terra’s Kitchen, please visit http://www.terraskitchen.com/.

About Terra’s Kitchen

Terra’s Kitchen, LLC is purpose driven company focused on feeding other’s the way we would feed ourselves. With nutrient dense, well balanced, pre-prepped meals delivered right to your front door; we remove the stress of “what’s for dinner.” Terra’s Kitchen delivers high quality, sustainable ingredients, pre-portioned and chopped in its re-usable climate controlled vessel. Each recipe provided by Terra’s Kitchen is carefully created for both flavor and convenience. With a cook time of 30 minutes or less, Terra’s Kitchen can ensure its customers more time for the things they value most. Terra’s Kitchen is the recipe for real life. For more information, visit http://www.terraskitchen.com

About Nava Health and Vitality Center

Nava Health and Vitality Center is the region’s leading integrative wellness brand, with Center locations throughout the Maryland and D.C. area. Nava offers a revolutionary approach to optimizing the client’s health by addressing the effects of aging, offering medically-supervised weight loss programs, and providing solutions  for  chronic pain, sports performance and recovery. Nava’s medical protocol draws from Eastern, Western and alternative methods, with a foundation grounded in science and developed from years of clinical experience and proven principles. Services include PRP, Weight Loss, Bio-Identical Hormone Optimization, Massage Therapy, Nutrition Counseling, Life Coaching, Chiropractic Therapy, Acupuncture, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Light Therapy, Adrenal Recharge, Thyroid Balance, and IV Micronutrient Therapy as well as a range of proprietary premium-grade nutraceuticals and supplements. Visit NavaCenter.com or call 1-800-762-NAVA (6282) for more information.

About Merritt Athletic Clubs

Voted Baltimore’s Best Health Club for four consecutive years Merritt Athletic Clubs is the best part of its members day EVERYDAY, and the only health club in Maryland that offers a Results guarantee or your money back. With its award winning aquatics program, premiere group fitness classes and top-notch children’s programs Merritt offers a first class workout environment that redefines the fitness experience.

Glow Bio – Stay Hydrated During the Summer Heat Wave

The summer days are getting longer, but with all the sunshine comes major heat! Be sure to keep cool and hydrated all summer long with Glow Bio! Start your mornings with a healthy, green energy kick thanks to the Glowing Green Smoothie, created by nutritionist, Kimberly Snyder.

Full of beauty nutrient greens that help nourish your entire body and have life-enhancing nutrients, this beauty friendly smoothie is the perfect way to keep you hydrated and feeling full throughout the morning up until lunch!

Glowing Green Smoothie

The Glowing Green Smoothie® Recipe

Author: Kimberly Snyder
Serves: 64 oz

Ingredients
· 1-2 cups very cold, filtered water

· ¾ pound organic romaine lettuce, rough chopped, about 1 head

· ½ head large bunch or small bunch organic spinach

· 3-4 organic celery stalks, halved

· 1 organic apple, cored, seeded, quartered

· 1 organic pear, cored, seeded, quartered

· 1 organic banana, peeled

· ½ fresh organic lemon, peeled, seeded

· bunch organic cilantro with stems (optional)

· bunch organic parsley with stems (optional)

Instructions
1. Place water, romaine, spinach, celery, and optional ingredients, if using, into the Vitamix container in the order listed and secure lid.
2. Starting the blender on a low speed, blend until smooth.
3. Gradually moving to higher speeds Add apple, pear, banana and lemon to the blender and blend until smooth.

Glow Bio Cleanse – Healthier Lifestyle

Introduce yourself to fruits and veggies you never knew existed with the bountiful menu at Glow Bio! From Acai to Goji and everything in between, Glow Bio offers a lineup of beauty food rich smoothies and juices that will keep you satisfied AND taste good – all carefully curated by nutritionist and New York Times bestselling author, Kimberly Snyder!

For an added bonus, many of your favorite smoothies are found in a number of the Glow Bio Cleanses. These help rebuild your digestive system and help you achieve sustainable results by getting on track to a healthier lifestyle! With three options to select, durations ranging from 1 to 5 days, each cleanse consists of four unique components:

1) The world famous and fiber-filled Glowing Green Smoothie to start and end your day with.

2) Cold-Pressed Juices enhanced with probiotics to aid digestion.

3) Powerful benefit-driven boosters.

4) A specific order of consumption to maximize the nutritional benefits and get your body back to harmony.

Cleanse-PackageFINAL-300x185
All of which help to achieve renewed energy, a more svelte and toned physique and glowing, radiant skin!

BioHarvest: First – Ever BioFood

BioHarvest, a brand that has pioneered a way to provide the benefits of red wine, in one convenient zero calorie packet: VINIA red grape powder.

image005

What is it really? VINIA is the first-ever biofood (a new kind of superfood) and is free of sugars, calories and alcohol

How do you consume it? Mix the red grape powder in anything you would normally eat or drink (oatmeal, yogurt, water, smoothies, salads, etc.) for a wellness boost

VINIA is now available for purchase in a 30-day supply box for $149.99 at www.BioHarvest.com. Or, consider purchasing a reoccurring subscription for $119.99/month. I’ve included topline key information for VINIA below for your reference.

VINIA™ Key Facts:

  • One serving contains a similar amount of Resveratrol as found in 1,000 grapes or 1 bottle of fine red wine
  • Supports blood circulation, healthy arteries, and blood pressure already within normal range
  • Comes directly from the Avnir red grape; contains NO artificial coloring, flavoring, or preservatives

About BioHarvest

BioHarvest, a consumer health care innovator, has pioneered a patented breakthrough platform technology to produce the first-ever superfood sub-category, known as “biofood,” made from the essence of fruit and vegetables and cultivated into a fine powder. The company’s flagship product, VINIA, is made from red grapes, and offers many of the benefits of red wine without sugars, calories, or alcohol. BioHarvest uses a clean production process – no solvent extraction used, non-GMO, free from fungicides, pathogens, pesticides and any other residual chemicals.

 

 

Lifestyle Segment on Fox 45 Morning News: Health Benefits of Drinking Tea in Winter Months

I was invited to host a lifestyle segment on Fox 45 Baltimore WBFF sharing the benefits of drinking tea in the winter months. Brewing a cup of tea can serve as an aid with weight loss, stress relief, and help give a boost of energy. Also, black tea is the equivalent of drinking coffee due to a stimulating substance call theophyllin.

Although there’s a social aspect to drinking tea, we have to remember the original health benefits.  Personally, I like to drink tea as a preventative measure against colds and to boost my immune system.  If I’m not feeling well or have an upset stomach, I brew a cup of tea and drink it in the afternoon (or before bedtime) to flush away the toxins.  Below are additional health benefits:

1. Reduce the risk of heart attack

2. Fights free radicals

3. Helps diabetics better process sugar

4. Improve bone density

5. Helps with relaxation and concentration

I was super excited to share the following products and showcase my favorite tea cups. Don’t forget to purchase Carrington Organics Tea, Sparkling Ice Bottled Tea, Downtown Abbey Tea, or visit Caffe bene new tea house (nationwide) for a relaxing experience.

 If you like this post, click here: National Wine Day Television Segment

Dr. Natalie Strand Gives Tips for Spring Cleaning Your Health

Dr. Natalie Strand’s (winner of TheAmazing Race and contributor on The Doctors) tips for spring cleaning your health with your readers, because spring cleaning isn’t only for homes:

• Get A Spring Tune-Up
• Make Exercise Fun
• Spruce Up Your Mouth Health
• Get Seasonal
• Relax, Don’t Just Rest

 

Spring Clean Your Health Tips with Colgate Total

Colgate Total

Dr. Natalie Strand’s Tips: 

1. Relax, Don’t Just Rest – Stress is a huge contributor to poor health, but many people don’t know how to manage it. People often mistake resting for relaxing, but it’s not the same. Learn some stress reducing techniques such as progressive muscle relaxation or meditation.
2. Get Seasonal – Check out your local farmer’s market. Buy seasonal foods and try to incorporate them in your meals every day. Seasonal produce is more flavorful and densely packed with nutrients.
3. Make Exercise Fun – Spring is the perfect time of year to combine exercise with social activities. Be creative to get endorphins pumping and think of things to do with friends such as taking a salsa class, archery lessons, or an evening walk around the neighborhood.
4. Get A Spring Tune-up – Doctor’s appointments are important, but often pushed to the wayside. Make a list and schedule all your appointments at once: yearly check-ups, dental exams and cleanings, eye exams, etc.
5. Spruce Up Your Mouth Health – You’re already brushing your teeth twice a day so take the chance to switch to using oral care products that do more than just protect, but can actually help improve the health of your mouth. Using the Colgate Total® regimen is proven to eliminate fifteen times more bacteria and improve mouth health in two weeks. It’s a simple change with a powerful impact.

Dr. Natalie Strand

 

Dr. Natalie Strand (winner of The Amazing Race and contributor on The Doctors)

Dr. Natalie Strand, is the director of integrative medicine at Freedom Pain Hospital. She has worked closely with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The American Diabetes Association, and dLife to promote exercise and healthy living among people living with diabetes. She has appeared on CNN/HLN, The Early Show, The Doctors, EXTRA!, The Rachel Ray Show, CNBC, and CBS.