Monthly Archives: June 2021

Integrative Nutrition – The Power of Color

Posted on by

Integrative Nutrition - The Power of Color

The living world around us is filled with color. Blue sky, green grass, aqua oceans, and an unlimited array of trees, flowers, and plants bursting with intense, vibrant color. These are all tools for a practitioner with a Whole Health Coaching(TM) certification.

Health is associated with color. When we are healthy, we have pink cheeks, bright eyes, and a healthy flush to our skin. Quite interestingly, aging is the slow loss of color – a fading oF color- that marks the slowing or ebbing of life vibrancy.

It is no wonder that colorful foods are the healthiest foods we can nourish our bodies with. They have nutritional benefits in the form of phytonutrients, which means plant nutrients. The vivid colors of the fruits and vegetables that contain the highest amount of these important plant nutrients act as a table of contents for the phytochemicals found inside the plant. Listed below is a color guide for choosing the fruits and vegetables which provide these powerfully healing plant nutrients:

  • Orange = beta-carotene an antioxidant = supports immune function
  • Yellow-Orange = vitamin C = detoxifies and inhibits tumor cell growth
  • Red = lycopene an antioxidant = reduces cancer risk
  • Green = folate and iron = builds healthy cells and genetic material
  • Green-light = indoles, lutein = eliminates excess estrogen & carcinogens
  • Green-white = allyl sulfides = destroys cancer cells, supports the immune system
  • Blue (fruits) = anthocyanins = destroy free radicals
  • Red-purple (fruits) = reservatrol = plaque reducer, mineral chelator
  • Brown (legumes, whole grains) = fiber = carcinogen remover

Being sure to fill your diet with many colorful, fresh fruits and vegetables is a way to ensure your body is getting all the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients your body needs to stay healthy, happy, and vibrant. Recommend the same to your clients.

Think RAINBOW the next time you prepare your plate!

Join the conversation. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow NIWH on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates filled with useful health coach certification information for holistic nurses and health advocates.

Transforming Relationships with Easy to Learn, Proven Communication Skills

Posted on by

By Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD- 

Changing BehaviorAll of us, from time to time, identify things about how we behave that we would like to change. Changing our behavior is very difficult because it is the result of the many learned responses we develop as soon as we come into the world. There is research today suggesting that conditioning that can begin even in the womb.

How we learn to adapt to our environment, what outside events or stimulation feel safe or threatening, how we view the world we live in, what our beliefs and values are, and so forth all play a role in how we learn to behave towards ourselves and others. These factors also influence how we learn to communicate.

The variations of how each of us learns to adapt in the world around us are most noticeable when we are in relationships with others. What behaviors each of us bring to a relationship determines how well, or not, we are able to work together, live together or love together.

An example of how our conditioning impacts our relationships is seen in how couples relate to each other and get along before and after having children together. It is often, after the children come along, that the couple begins to have conflicts that stem from how each of the individuals was raised, what values they have, or what they believe is best for raising a healthy or successful child.

While it is inevitable that we do have conflicts with others because we are uniquely different and uniquely conditioned individuals, there are easy-to-learn, proven communication skills that we can all apply to any of our relationships to make them more fulfilling and positive for both ourselves and others.

A basic and simple skill that we can all apply to our very next encounter to improve our communications with others is putting aside the ongoing conversation in our mind, our concerns of the moment, or what we want to say next, and focusing completely on the individual in front of us and what they are sharing with us. Being fully present to another person shows them that you value and respect them and that you are sincerely interested in what they are feeling, thinking, and communicating with you. This is the basis of the National Institute of Whole Health’s Behavioral Engagement with Pure Presence model.

We all want to be valued and in our fast-paced, electronic-communication world having another person look at us directly while we speak, respond to us with smiles, head nodding or other gestures that let us know they are listening, without their speaking or interrupting us is a wonderfully validating experience that uplifts both ourselves and the person who is generous enough to give such affirming attention.

If you would like more information on how to make your relationships more rewarding and successful through easy-to-learn, proven communication skills, you can download a free chapter from Changing Behavior: Immediately Transform Your Relationships with East to Learn, Proven Communication Skills by going to www.changingbehavior.org.

communication and behavioral engagementThis self-help book focuses on how to transform all types of relationships with hospital-tested, proven communication skills that enhance and improve all relationships, even those that are suffering and struggling. Donadio presents the research with an easy-to-read and understand style that allows the reader to walk away armed with new skills and tools to create a happier, healthier life through more fulfilling relationships.

The title is a #1 Top Rated Amazon Kindle bestseller, the recipient of the coveted 5 STARS from ForeWord Clarion. Changing Behavior has also received high recommendations and outstanding reviews from Kirkus Reviews, “the world’s toughest book critics”, and the popular Mid-West Book Reviews.

Kirkus says of Changing Behavior – “Recommended as a top-tier psychological self-help book… [a] strikingly original case for the transformative power of receptiveness.” Mid-West Book Review states – “Changing Behavior is a choice pick for community library and self-help collections.”

For more more information on whole health and changing your behavior, explore these resources:

Join the conversation. If you enjoyed this article, be sure to follow NIWH on Facebook and Twitter for regular updates filled with accredited health program information for holistic nurses and whole health coaches or advocates.

Can A Hormone Imbalance Really Cause Depression?

Posted on by

Georgianna Donadio, MSc, DC, PhD

A research review by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) explored hormonal dysfunction in women as a potential cause for depression. The focus of the investigators and their subsequent report was on how the female reproductive system interacts with the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis, which regulates the body’s stress response.

HPA Disruption Consequences

This mechanism can set up a biochemical environment for psychological disorders in females. It was noted that females are twice as likely as men to experience depression. Through the HP-axis, stress in women impacts the reproductive hormones, which can upset patterns of ovulation. This upset can contribute to the loss of menses and to infertility. If the inter-relationship of stress and female reproductive hormones becomes chronic, behavior and mood disorders and depression can increase significantly.

When oxytocin is suppressed due to excessive stress hormones, fertilized eggs cannot implant into the uterus. This is believed to be a primary cause of infertility in American women, owing to our highly stressful lifestyle. Depression, eating disorders, alcoholism or other addictions may also occur with the estrogen-induced disruption of normal HPA function.

The Stress-Less Cure

The key to preventing or correcting the problem as we find in many physiological conditions is to create a more balanced, less stressful lifestyle. If the body’s stress adaptation system becomes overwhelmed, and cannot appropriately adapt to the environment and demands of everyday life, many disorders and conditions can develop, depression being just one of them.

Post-Partum Problems

Regarding post-partum depression, the investigators identified that chronic hyper secretion of the stress hormone cortisol during a pregnancy creates a temporary suppression of adrenal function following delivery. This coupled with the sudden drop of hormonal levels of estrogen after birth may be a significant factor in post-partum depression or subsequent immune dysfunctions such as post-partum thyroid conditions.

Why Balance Is The Key

It is very important for women, because of our very integrated hormonal and nervous systems, to work towards a balanced, low stress life-style. Unlike our male counterparts, our hormonal system immediately lets us know when we are “off center” by delivering loud messages through hormonal dysfunction.