It came out of nowhere. I was in the middle of a consult with a potential new member when it started.

That morning, I’d woken up feeling a little weird. I was in a good mood and life was good… but something was off. Then when we were sitting in a consultation (which is a totally normal daily occurrence), I felt a sensation that I’d never experienced come over me. I was suddenly panicky—as if something was really wrong. I felt this strange wooziness like I was going to pass out. I could no longer focus. It got so bad that I had to leave the room.

I was terrified. My thoughts were racing. I felt like I was in an episode of The Twilight Zone. The people around me could see me but had no idea what was going on in my body. I felt like running away and I had no idea where I was going.

I excused myself, leaving Dr. Dangovian to continue the consult, and walked out into the hallway where I proceeded to pace back and forth. When being inside became too overwhelming, I went outside.

I needed air.

I needed something.

Nothing This Extreme

After pacing around the building outside I had this overwhelming feeling that I needed to leave. I went inside and told my brother Curtis (our office manager) that I needed to leave, I was having a panic attack, but I was going to be fine. Then I went to my car.

I started driving. I didn’t have a destination in mind. Instead, I just felt like I needed to go somewhere. I kept telling myself if it didn’t pass I would go to the emergency room.

After I had been driving for a few minutes, Curtis called me and asked if I could walk him through how to finish up paperwork from the consultation I excused myself from. I started explaining to him the steps and then told him I was going to come back to help. He asked me if I was sure, and I said yes I can do it.

It was such a strange feeling. I had a heightened sense of awareness of my thoughts and the sensations in my body but I had no idea what was happening or where it came from. I was able to distract myself from the feelings and thoughts when I focused my energy on a familiar routine, but as soon as I allowed my body and mind to become still, the overwhelming feeling of panic came back to me. I was sure my blood pressure was through the roof. I was sure my heart was racing.

If you have felt this you know exactly what I am talking about. And if you haven’t you will never fully understand what this experience is like.

I’d experienced episodes of anxiety in the past, but nothing this extreme.

Dr. Dangovian called me right after the consultation ended. He wanted to check in with me because I would never just bail on a meeting. He was worried that I’d had a family emergency. When I told him about the experience, he said, “What if we took your blood pressure right now and it was normal?” I told him that I knew it wouldn’t be normal. He replied that he knew exactly how I was feeling.

“If it happens again,” he said, “don’t try to run from it. Instead, lean into it.”

That thought hit home with me. Built into us is a “fight or flight” response. When I started feeling this overwhelming sensation that I was going to pass out… I got up and started pacing around to “run away” from the feeling. When my thoughts were racing in a circle of “impending doom”… I distracted my thoughts by diving into a daily routine.

I was not allowing myself to feel what was going on. I was too afraid of what feeling it would lead to.

But, I knew he was right. I also knew that if he thought something life-threatening was going on, he would have taken action. This gave me the reassurance I needed to lean into the thoughts and sensations.

The sensations of panic started to disperse the moment I began to allow myself to feel them. The thoughts kept coming, but I just observed them without judgment.

For the next few weeks I had moments of heightened anxiety, but to be honest, I felt grateful for them. I started viewing each moment as a blessing.

Why? Because my body was telling me to pay attention.

I allowed myself to really experience all the sensations. I started listening to my body at a completely new level.

Round Two

Some background: for as long as I can remember when things are going exceptionally well… I freak out. It seems counterintuitive… you should freak out when things are in crisis, but that’s just not how I am wired. In the weeks leading up to my panic attack, things weren’t just going well—they were going GREAT.

My Dad had some minor health issues come up, which is stressful and scary, of course, but we took care of everything early, which, over the long term, is a blessing for his health. Everything we were going through was even strengthening our relationship. Business was going great. We were in a steady flow of expansion. One of our team members would soon be going away to school and our other team members were stepping up into new roles and doing amazing work. With all that was going on, I couldn’t have asked for things to be any better!

In the past, I would start feeling moments of that “impending doom”… like, what if this all goes away and I lose everything? I would isolate myself for a day and then dive back into work to distract my thoughts. I would make myself so busy that I didn’t have time for that feeling.

Luckily for me, my work allows me to help other people which is extremely rewarding. The downside to that is… it is very easy for me to justify sacrificing my well being to help others. (I am always working to achieve that healthy balance).

When I had the panic attack, it was almost as my body was saying I AM GOING TO BE LOUD ENOUGH THAT YOU CAN’T IGNORE ME!

The second one was far worse than the first. I was getting ready for bed after a relatively uneventful day. Suddenly, the feeling came back. And it was even louder. My heart was racing. That nameless dread was back, this time with a vengeance. This time, I felt like I needed a non-biased opinion that this was, in fact, anxiety and not something worse.

I drove myself to the emergency room without telling anyone I was going. The whole way there, I tried to take Dr. Dangovian’s advice. I tried to lean into the fear. I tried to force myself not to fight it, but instead let it wash over me, fill me, let it do whatever it was that it was doing and then (hopefully) pass. But no matter what I did—no matter how hard I tried to lean into the fear—it only got worse.

The attending doctor finally confirmed my suspicions and said that yes, it was a panic attack. His aloofness about what I was experiencing actually made me feel calm. He essentially said, “All you need is Xanax.” Now, of course, I wasn’t going to take it! There are natural ways to deal with anxiety, but knowing that it was anxiety—and that I was experiencing a panic attack—allowed me to feel peace.

Since then, I haven’t had any full-blown attacks. But I still feel one kind of waiting along the periphery sometimes. Overall, both experiences were terrible.

But, here’s the thing…

I am super grateful for them.

I learned something significant.

The Lesson

I’ve talked to members who’ve struggled with anxiety in the past. In those conversations, I was able to speak reasonably intelligently about causes and solutions. But now I understand that I didn’t understand their experiences. Not really.

It’s the same thing with friends and family members who’ve had heart problems. They’ll express their apprehension about getting a stent put in, for example, and since my business partner is a cardiologist, I’m able to describe exactly what’s going to happen and reassure them that it’s a relatively simple, relatively low-risk procedure.

But I didn’t understand their fear. I didn’t understand their worry. I didn’t understand how it feels when you think you’re dying. But, now I at least have an idea. For all the terror, for all my inability to just lean into the fear and embrace the experience in that moment, I got something very valuable out of it.

I have more empathy. And for that, I’m eternally grateful.

Want to learn how to calm your anxiety naturally? Download your free eBook here: The 7 Habits of Highly Healthful People: Cultivating Awareness

The post A Lesson in Leaning in appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

So, WHAT does the Wellness Training Institute do? Hard question. The best way I can describe it is by telling you WHO we are.

One of the things I hear the most often from both our program members and those who attend our Wellness Dinner Seminars is that they’re startled at how happy everyone is.

Which, is great!

It’s also true!

Our members are happy. So, the next question is: Why?

There are two main reasons.

First, our team is happy. They’re fantastic at their jobs and living into their purpose. Each of us loves helping others reach their health goals. We love guiding people out of sickness and disease all the way to health. We love seeing the transformations that happen on a daily basis within our community. And why? Because we’ve all been there.

Second, and maybe more important, is that our programs work.

After all, it’s hard to be happy when you’re sick, depressed, and on a laundry list of prescription meds. Feeling terrible is no fun.

It’s a sad fact that a lot of program members, past and present, didn’t even know they felt terrible when they first stepped through our doors. Before the program, they just thought being sick, broken, and exhausted were the norm. They thought it was their fate. They thought that feeling terrible was just what happens as you age.

But as they begin to build habits that promote life and happiness, they soon realize what “good” really feels like… even what great is. Your body, when you give it what it needs, naturally begins to repair itself. Knowing what to eat—and why—gives you peace of mind. You’re able to confidently create the life you want. You’re no longer a slave to all the things that are slowly killing you.

And once you know not just what it feels like to feel good but also why you feel that way, happiness just naturally follows. Our members understand that the work they put into taking back their health serves a higher purpose than themselves. It might be so that they’re around for their kids or grandkids. It might be because they want to travel. It might be because they want to volunteer.

That higher purpose is different for everyone. But our members are happy because they understand what it means to them.

Happiness is kind of weird. We think of it as a destination, but it’s usually actually found in the process of working your way to where you want to be. What our program offers, maybe above everything else, is a map for that journey. Everyone’s path forward is going to look different, but what we’re great at is charting the way to that destination.

There’s also something to be said for how our expectations shape our happiness. If you come to us looking to lose 50 pounds by next week or want a magic bullet solution to your health issues, you’re going to leave disappointed. We’re in the sustainability business. Changing the trajectory of your health—and your life—is a long process. It’s simple, but it’s not easy. It requires that higher purpose to help drive you through the tough parts. If you’re overweight, have type 2 diabetes, and rarely leave your spot on the couch, that didn’t happen overnight.

Likewise, reversing those issues doesn’t happen with the snap of your fingers.

It takes work. It takes time. It takes a community. It takes building new habits that push out the old, bad ones.

But I can make you a promise. In that journey, you’ll find happiness. You just have to start… and then stick with it.

And we’d love to guide you along the way!

The post Why We Have So Many Happy People in Our Programs appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

June 7, 2018

As a doctor myself, I can see it happening all around us. The medical system is failing. But we can reverse it if we’re each able to make one simple change…

I once heard a story of a woman who, after coming back from a run, found a tick on her arm. She was able to get it off intact but was worried it had bitten her. After a few days, she began to feel weak, emotionally exhausted, and achy. The next week, she began experiencing high fevers.
She went to the doctor and explained her symptoms. She also told him she was convinced it was Lyme disease. After all, she’d found that tick. The doctor went down the checklist for diagnosing Lyme disease but told her that while yes, she had some of the symptoms, she didn’t have the “bull’s eye rash” that almost always surrounds the bite location.
So, she went home. A day or two later the symptoms worsened. And, whats more, the bull’s eye rash now presented.

She went to the ER. The doctors finally agreed that it was Lyme disease and put her on an intensive round of antibiotics. Over the next few days, the symptoms begin to decrease, and she was sent on her way. The doctors agreed: She had been healed.

But, she knew something was still wrong. She tried to explain this feeling to her doctor, but he wasn’t convinced. She went home empty-handed and worried.

A week after being “healed,” she began having night sweats, incredibly painful abdominal cramps, and fevers that reached as high as 105 degrees. But, because the doctor had told her the Lyme disease had been cured, she started to wonder if these symptoms were related to something else.

She knew something was wrong, but her doctor was, well, a doctor after all. Surely, he knew best, right?

The Misdiagnoses Epidemic

The results of recent studies are shocking: One in twelve patient cases are misdiagnosed. That statistic accounts for twelve million people each year. Studies of autopsies have shown that doctors seriously misdiagnose fatal illnesses about 20 percent of the time.

It gets worse: John Hopkins University recently published a study that shows misdiagnosis and medical mistakes are now the third leading cause of death in the United States. Think about that fact: Only heart disease and cancer kill more people per year than doctors getting it wrong.

Despite all our technological advances, the American Medical Association recently published an article stating that misdiagnosis rates haven’t improved since the 1930s.

So, one thing is clear. We have a problem. But before we start trying to figure out a solution we need to ask another question. Namely, how did we end up here?

Why We’re in This Mess

Doctors care about their patients. Let’s make that clear up front. The problems in our healthcare system aren’t a result of a lack of concern from physicians.

The people involved here aren’t the problem. Instead, it’s a system issue.

The way it works now is that doctors, nurses, and the hospitals themselves aren’t paid to come up with the correct diagnosis. Instead, they’re paid to run tests, hand out prescriptions, and perform surgeries. They aren’t reimbursed for being right. They also aren’t negatively incentivized for being wrong.

Couple that with the necessity of seeing many people each day and having the ethical obligation to do something to treat them, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that misdiagnoses rates are so high.

So, what do we do about it?

The Solution

Back to my friend with Lyme disease. She knew she was still sick… even after getting a clean bill of health from her doctors. And it was getting worse.

She decided to do her own research and eventually found a doctor who knew a lot about Lyme disease. She went to her, got the right treatment, and finally, after years of being sick, was cured.

And in her story, we find the answer to our current healthcare problems. She was her own best doctor. She knew how she felt. She knew the doctors weren’t looking at the whole picture. So, she became her own advocate.

To get to that point, though, she had to be in tune with her body. She had to listen to what her body was telling her. And it’s the same thing for everyone.

If you begin building the habits that provide the foundation for so much of our health—awareness, consideration, transformation (which you can read more about here)—your body will tell you what it needs. It will tell you when you feel great and will communicate when something is wrong.

You are your best doctor. Become an advocate for your own health, and so many of the problems we see in our healthcare system will reverse themselves. Listen to your body. It’s got some great information to share!

The post You Are Your Own Best Doctor appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

November 21, 2017

The holiday season is synonymous with food… and lots of it! So, with all the events you’ll be attending this season, how do you keep from destroying your health… and actually lose weight?

Whether you’ve been trying to take back your health for a while now, or are just starting out during the last months of this year, the holidays can be daunting. Food—most of it bad for you—can feel like it’s everywhere. Holiday parties, big family meals, all those extra boxes of calorie-packed treats Dorothy at the office keeps leaving in the break room… it can feel inescapable at times.
But, here’s the thing…

It’s not inescapable. The temptation to indulge—or, more likely, to overindulge—doesn’t have to be irresistible.

Here are five surefire strategies for tamping down the temptation and holding on to your health this holiday season.

1. Understand What You’re Up Against

Your health starts with one thing, and one thing only: Awareness.

When you understand where your bad habits have their roots, you can make healthy choices. You can say “no” to death and say “yes” to life.

It’s no different when it comes to your health this holiday season. Understanding what you’re up against will go a long way in allowing you to make the right choices for your health.

So, what exactly are you up against? What, exactly, do you need to be aware of?

First, understand that holiday overindulgence isn’t a real thing. Instead, it’s the primary message of a marketing campaign you’ve been subjected to for your entire life. The holidays can mean a lot of things, but NONE of those things are overeating.

We have this vision of huge, calorie-packed meals—and the lethargy that follows—because that’s what they’ve sold you. You hear a lot about the over-commercialization of the holidays when it comes to gifts. But it’s the same thing with food.

Notice the commercials on TV this time of year… In an attempt to sell you french-fried onions, for example, they’ll show those onions posed within a square acre of “holiday food.”

You won’t just see Acme Turkey gravy.

No, you’ll see it poured over a metric ton of meat, stuffing, potatoes, and who knows what else. Those big meals aren’t there by accident.

Toy companies target your kids. Food companies target everyone.

Second, you’re up against the idea that everyone eats terribly during the holidays. It’s social pressure 101. Because it’s “just a thing people do,” it makes it much easier to indulge yourself. Despite the fact that no, not everyone eats terribly during the holidays.

Third, know that eating is never an isolated activity. It’s rooted in emotion. Around the holidays, it’s also rooted in the feelings we have about traditions. Apple dump cake might be tempting. Grandma’s apple dump cake, though, is on a whole different level.

Traditions are powerful. So are emotions. Understanding those connections—and building awareness around their existence—can go a long way in keeping you healthy—and happy—during the holidays.

So, awareness is the starting point.

2. Don’t Look Forward to New Year’s

New Year’s is a tough animal to tackle. Because, while it’s good to feel like you have a fresh start, and equally good to set healthy goals for yourself, too often it tends to have the opposite effect.

It can be easy to overindulge during the holidays when you “know” that you’re going to get your health in order on January 1st. That day has become more of an excuse than anything else. It’s easy to see it as a chance for a do-over… even when you know, in the back of your mind, that most, if not all, of your resolutions will be broken and forgotten by the second week of January.

It’s human nature to want to improve yourself. It’s also a noble endeavor. But New Year’s Day isn’t the time to do that. For one, there’s a ton of added pressure. And secondly, just like a lot of people wrack up credit card debt buying gifts during the holidays, there’s also often a “health debt” that comes due once the holidays are over. Overindulge for the last two months of the year, and you’re setting yourself even further behind the eight ball, health-wise.

Also, look… The truth is, there’s no good time to start making healthy lifestyle changes. The fourth quarter of the year is problematic because of the holidays, right? But the first three months of the year are inconvenient because, well, it’s cold and no one wants to leave the house to go to the gym. The second quarter isn’t great because you’re busy and vacation is coming up. And the third quarter? It’s hot. You’re trying to pack in more summer fun before the leaves start turning brown, and honestly… after the holidays you’ll get things in order.

All of which combines to mean one thing: Because there’s no “good” time to start taking back your health, any time of the year is the best place to start.

Don’t let your excuses get in the way of everything you can accomplish.

If you’ve already started taking back your health by slowly replacing the bad habits with good ones, then take this holiday season as an opportunity to continue.

If you haven’t started making those changes, start today. Now is as good—or bad— a time as any.

Either way, let New Year’s Day be a celebration of everything you’ve accomplished so far instead of the starting point.

3. Have a Plan

No one’s ever done something good for themselves in a sustainable way without a plan. So, as you tiptoe through the minefield that is the holidays, go in with a plan.

This plan doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as making sure that you’ve filled up on a healthy meal or snack before you go to a holiday party. Or it could be just making a promise to yourself that you’ll drink water instead of punch, or pop, or eggnog.

You know yourself. And because you’ve built up that awareness about what your triggers are going to be back in step 1, you’ll be able to come up with a strategy that works for you.

4. Bring Your Own Food

Part of that strategy might be bringing your own food to meals and other events. Make something healthy… and make a lot of it to share!

Thanks to the internet, there are tons of super healthy holiday recipes right at your fingertips. Here are a few to get you started. 

Choose one, take it with you, and share it. You can even decide not to tell anyone it’s healthy. See how they feel about it before you tell them it’s the only dish on the table that won’t cause a coronary.

Be an inspiration to others.

5. Remember What the Holidays are Actually About

Finally, take a step back. Take a deep breath. Let it out slowly. And then think about what the holidays REALLY MEAN.

Your answer is going to be your own. The holidays mean as many different things as there are people who celebrate them. Family, faith, togetherness, joy, thanksgiving… for you it can be about any combination of these deeper meanings.

But what this time of year is NOT ABOUT holds true across the board.

The holidays are not about spending more money than you have on gifts that no one needs.

They aren’t about raiding the shopping mall at midnight on Black Friday.

They aren’t for stuffing yourself until you pass out on the couch in front of the football game.

So much of what is marketed AT you this time of year are lies, plain and simple. Those huge meals you see in the commercials? Most of the time, that’s not even food.

Everything you see is an idealized—and FALSE—expectation that you’re being psychologically manipulated to attempt to live up to.

Take this holiday season back for yourself. Build that awareness. Understand your own reason for the season.

And above all, choose your health. Choose your happiness.

Choose life.

Watch more below!

The post How to Actually Lose Weight During this Holiday Season appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

November 14, 2017

We get this question all the time… How do you get your mind calm, free of those racing thoughts, and allow yourself to just be? Here are three steps to achieving just that!

Our world is a hectic, noisy one. And although you’ve probably heard that it’s healthy to spend time each day in meditation, knowing where to start can be a challenge. So here are three ways to dial down the world around you and just BE…

1. Know that it’s not always easy to do

I’ll admit it. Even after years of yoga and meditation training, and I still have problems turning off my brain sometimes. I tell you that as encouragement. Things get busy, stressful, and your mind starts racing.

Sometimes even thinking about meditating, if only for a few minutes, just feels like too much. Like that silence is impossible to face.

So, even when you know all the techniques, it still takes practice. And again, if I can learn to do it, so can you!

2. The Body Breath

Try this exercise:

1. Take a big deep breath. Inhale and then hold it. Notice where your center of gravity is located. For most people, that center of gravity will be high up in the body (a “face breath”), making you more top-heavy.

2. Now stand up straight, with your feet four inches apart and flat on the ground.
3. Push your feet into the floor and squeeze up— squeeze your ankles, your calves, thighs. Pull your belly button in and continue squeezing up— through your lower back, middle back, upper back. Your body will naturally inhale.

When your lungs are full, pause. Be aware of what it feels like to be full of this life force. Be aware that taking this breath is the most important thing you will ever do.

Now, reverse the sequence and squeeze down, focusing on each part of your body as you do, from your upper back down through your ankles and into the floor. Your body will naturally exhale.

Pause for a moment at the bottom of your exhale, and notice how it feels not to breathe.

Wash, rinse, repeat. Continue to do this and, with practice, your mind will clear, and you’ll have far greater control over your thoughts.

3. Label Your Anxieties

So much of your health starts in your head.

We have a member who is prone to having a feeling like she is going to pass out. We found that if she says it out loud—”I feel like I’m going to pass out”—whenever the feeling comes, just putting words to it is enough to allow the sensation to pass.

Your mind is a fantastic instrument. It’s capable of far more than you probably give it credit for.

When you need to shut your brain off, just breathe. Just be okay with what’s happening. Put a label on it.

Say, “My thoughts are going crazy. There’s no reason for it, and it’s okay.”
Saying it out loud can have amazing effects. Reducing the anxiety to what it really is—a tiny worry, a moment of panic, a thought that won’t stop running through your head—puts it in its place and makes it small enough for you to handle.

So, the next time your brain just won’t shut off—no matter what you do—pull up this post. Recognize that what you’re feeling is normal. That everything is okay. Do a few deep grounding breaths. And then put a label on those thoughts. Put them in their place.

Then relax…

And just BE.

The post Flipping the Switch: How to Turn Off Your Brain… and Just BE appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

January 26, 2017

Our goal at the Wellness Training Institute is to provide the knowledge and tools for our members to live a better life. So, when that happens, we celebrate it big time internally.

But, we also think it’s important to celebrate the success of these fantastic people with you as well. Here are four, very inspiring stories of people who have recently graduated from our Healthy Evolutions program, and—more importantly—regained their lives.

Nancy & Bill H.

Nancy and Bill both had a number of health problems. When they sat down with us the first time, Bill was skeptical. He’s an analytical guy, the type who wants to have all the information up front before making any big decisions.

So, during that first sit-down (which I believe Nancy had to drag him to, since he was not at all on board at the beginning), he peppered us with questions.

You might think those are the type of people who are the hardest to work with—nobody likes being questioned at every step!—but the exact opposite is actually true. Bill, and guys like him, tend to resist change at first but then, once the questions have been answered and all the knowledge is set out on the table, they push all in.

And that’s what Bill and Nancy both did. They pushed all in.

Although it wasn’t smooth sailing at the beginning.

The primary roadblock at first for Bill was that he hated vegetables. Like, REALLY hated them. He could do potatoes and corn and maybe lettuce if it was already on his burger, but beyond that, their kitchen was a vegetable wasteland.

What he DID like, though, was cheese. A lot. Which was also a problem. He’d had severe chronic acid reflux for years.

The third issue was that Bill wanted results. And if they didn’t come quickly, he wasn’t going to waste his time eating food he didn’t like and making other potentially pointless lifestyle changes.

Some of our members get quick results. For others, it takes longer. The results always come if the person sticks with the program, but it’s hard to undo the damage from eating a Big Mac Value Meal every day for four decades.

Fortunately for Bill and Nancy, once they took the plunge and started working through the program, the results came quickly.

Bill lost 40 pounds, his cholesterol plummeted, he got off his blood pressure and cholesterol medications completely, and his acid reflux medication was drastically reduced.

Nancy lost weight as well as bringing her triglycerides down by over 300 points.

They are vibrant now. The change is incredible.

And one of the best parts? Bill now craves all sorts of vegetables.

Tina P.

Success in life is never guaranteed. And sometimes, halfway through a journey, it looks like the end will never come.

Which is exactly what happened to Tina P.

Tina got halfway through the program, and then quit. Or, at least, she tried to quit.

She didn’t have a support system around her outside our walls, was exhausted, had a lot of weight to lose, a lot of barriers where present at work… and had no energy left to handle all it at once.

So, we got her restarted on the program. The first detox left her feeling completely wiped out, but she continued to push through it. By the end she’d gone through three detoxes, lost the weight she needed to, and gotten her energy back.

She’s now running between one and three miles daily. She writes in her Gratitude Journal every morning. Meditation and Yoga had a big impact on her.

We don’t give up on people. Tina didn’t give up on herself. And now, she feels like her whole life is different.

One of the most interesting things about Tina’s story is that she told us, just last week, that she’d really only done “40% of the program.” She’d lost a lot of weight, gotten her energy back, and felt so much better. “But I can’t imagine what my life would be,” she told us, “if I’d done 100% of it!”

Gene J.

A lot of our members initially come into the program looking just to lose weight.

Gene was among them. With his job requiring him to travel internationally almost constantly, though, he made it clear up front that time was going to be an issue.

So, with Gene, we worked around his schedule, allowing him to meet with us for the bare minimum number of bi-weekly hours, and worked to provide him with enough resources to help him work through the program while he traveled.

And it worked!

Gene lost 50 pounds in 3 months, and his blood panels look drastically better than we even expected!

He’s thinner, happier, healthier, and likely to live a much better life going forward.

Maxine

So, weight loss is generally the thing that brings people into the program. When they leave, though, they have a much better understanding of all the other things that make up a healthy lifestyle. Learning to stand correctly, sit correctly, understanding how being aware of your own body through yoga or meditation grounds you at a fundamental level. Or, how important having a strong community around you that only wants you to succeed is to your overall health. Or, how your diet isn’t meant to be a restrictive “diet,” but instead a life-giving relationship with food.

But sometimes, we have members come in to the program for things other than weight loss.

Maxine came to us after two major surgeries. She was on oxygen. She required a walker.

And she only wanted one thing: Her goal was to dance—without the aid of her walker—at her 50th high school reunion.

She had a whole list of things wrong with her medically, and it was really very sad. The main issue we had trying to help her back to wellness, in fact, were all the medications other doctors had put her on.

But we worked on her posture, and her breathing. It was a gradual process, and a hard one at times, but finally, after months of work on everyone’s part… she did it.

She danced without a walker at her reunion!

Her success was enough to bring tears to your eyes.

The lesson here is this: No matter where you are health-wise, your body has an amazing capacity to heal itself. You just have to learn the right habits to allow it to happen. That’s what we do at the Wellness Training Institute: We give you the knowledge and the tools to take charge of your health and make this the best stage of your life!

Need more life-changing health info in your life? 

Of course you do.

Check this out:

Download the first installment of our NEW 7-part eBook series The 7 Habits of Highly Healthful People for FREE right now, right HERE!

The post 4 Member Success Stories! appeared first on Wellness Training Institute.

January 19, 2017

Dairy is everywhere.

Literally everywhere.

Americans on average eat around 630 pounds of dairy each year—whether it be in the form of milk, yogurt, ice cream, cheese, etc. And speaking of cheese… within that number, cheese accounts for a full 31 pounds all by itself.

That is a lot of cheese.

Here some other things that weigh around thirty pounds to put this into perspective:

• 2,400 earthworms.
• 3 human heads.
• A cinder block.
• A three year old child.

Again: That is a lot of cheese per person.

So, okay, maybe I’m belaboring the point here. But it’s important to understand just how integral milk and cheese and other dairy products are within the Standard American Diet (SAD)… and what’s it doing to our bodies.

It’s such a standard ingredient (especially when you’re talking processed food) that trying to give it up for good isn’t nearly as easy as it seems.

Here’s just a short list of surprising places where you might find dairy:

• Baking mixes
• Baby Formula (which, by the way, is NOT good)
• Breath Mints
• Chewing Gum
• Coffee Creamers
• Prescription drugs (a whopping 20% contain dairy!)
• Faux-Meat Soy Products (like Not-Dogs, etc.)
• Artificial Sweeteners

And honestly, that’s just the beginning.

So, without continuing to beat around the bush (which probably also contains dairy), here’s the long and short of it.

Dairy products are bad for you.

And, what’s more, they’re bad for you in a lot of ways.

Here are four reasons why you should give up dairy for good:

Not How We’re Made

Think about what milk actually is.

It’s a substance made in the body of a female mammal. It’s sole purpose is to turn little baby mammals into bigger kid mammals.

And after that stage is accomplished, no more milk. None. Mammals wean their young off the milk after a while, which kinda ticks off the young for a bit, sure, but also forces them to start eating like the adult animal they will become. So, cow’s milk is for baby cows. Goat’s milk is for baby goats. Mouse milk is for baby… well, you get it. Plus, take a look at that last sentence. Notice the repetition. Not only do other mammals only drink their mother’s milk for the first stage of their life, they also ONLY drink milk from their own species. This is profound in a way I can’t even express. We—us humans, I mean—are the only species on earth that consumes the milk of other animals. And while that’s not exactly a knock-punch of an argument—we’re also the only species to fly planes, get in land wars, and write novels—it’s at least a cause for concern. The point is this: When you look across the world, its biological systems, and how nature seems to just work, our consuming milk from another animal and for the duration of our lives is, essentially, unnatural.

Most of Us Can’t Handle it Anyway

75% of the world population suffers some degree of lactose intolerance. That should tell us something. Instead of saying someone is “lactose intolerant” as if it’s a defect in their body, it’s actually a lot more reasonable to say that the other quarter of the population is the real aberration.

(Fun fact: Scientists now think that the reason a quarter of the population is not lactose-intolerant is because of genetic adaptations that took place in northern European dairy farmers a few centuries back. Those genes continue to exist in their descendants. All of which makes sense: If your population is trying to stay alive and most of what you have available to eat comes from cows, then the genetic population is going to steer heavily towards those with the genes that allow for dairy to be consumed without system-wide failure.)

This is all strong evidence for the idea that we should not be consuming dairy. Put simply, it’s pretty obvious that milk doesn’t do our system much good.

But it’s not just the fact that it doesn’t do us any good. It’s also that dairy products do a great job messing up our internal systems.

For example…

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D-galactose

Here are a few facts about our friend D-galactose here:

D-galactose is is a monosaccharide sugar that is less sweet than glucose and fructose.

D-galactose is found in all dairy products (although in smaller amounts in fermented dairy products like yogurt and sour cream.)

When scientists are running experiments on mice and want to drastically age them prematurely, cause their systems to run rampant with inflammation, damage their neuroplasticity, and—in general—just mess them up, what’s the go-to substance to accomplish all this? Answer: D-galactose.

And what’s even more terrifying is that the volume given to these mice to get the wrecking job done is the equivalent (meaning, if they were the same size as us) is just two glasses of milk.

Two. Glasses.

If that doesn’t scare you away from that carton of Breyer’s in the freezer, I don’t know what will.

Bad to for the Bone(s)

But, okay, sure. There are some bad things about milk. But nobody’s perfect, right? Shouldn’t the benefits of dairy outweigh the detrimental stuff?

Actually, no.

Primarily because there are no health benefits of consuming dairy that you couldn’t get (often in more easily digestible forms) from a plant-based diet.

For example, for years and years (and years) our doctors have been telling us to drink milk because it’s good for our bones.

Which is to say: For years and years (and years) our doctors have been either inadvertently giving us terrible advice, or outright lying.

The data now shows that not only are milk and other dairy products not GOOD for our bones, they’re actually actively BAD for them.

First off, the type of calcium found in cows’ milk isn’t the kind that can penetrate our bones in the first place. Which means that it’s not providing building material for the bones at all.

Secondly, the calcium that our body does take in from dairy actually makes our bones weaker.

Here’s how it works. When you consume dairy (or any animal by-product for that matter) the proteins acidify the body’s pH. To regain balance, the body needs to neutralize the acids. The best way to do this is by increasing the calcium in your system. And where’s most of your calcium stored? In the bones.

The calcium comes out of the bones, weakening them, and then gets flushed out through the digestive system. You now have less calcium in your body—simply because you consumed what doctors have been telling you your whole life is the best source of calcium!

So if calcium from milk isn’t cutting it, where should you get your calcium?

Good question.

Here’s a short list of just some of the foods that can easily help you get your calcium:

• Kale (90 mg per serving)
• Sesame seeds (280 mg per ounce)
• Almonds (80 mg per ounce)
• White Beans (100 mg per half cup)
• Figs (Dried, 27 mg each)
• Turnip Greens (200 mg per cup)
• Arugula (125 mg per cup)
• Broccoli (180 mg per cup)
• Sunflower Seeds (50 mg per ounce)

So, What Now?

Giving up dairy for good would be a..well… good thing to do for yourself.

But it’s also a daunting task. I know from personal experience. Even after going full vegan years ago, I’m still a recovering cheese addict. So, don’t take anything laid out in the article as judgement. In fact, a lot of the data on what dairy products actually do to your body is relatively new. Try a google search on “health benefits of dairy” and you’ll still see a lot of information being presented that we know now simply isn’t true. A lot of doctors don’t even know this information. We are all marketed by the dairy industry.

So, no judgement. I get it. The very idea of getting out the trashcan and rooting through the fridge for any and all foodstuffs that contain dairy is not a light-hearted proposition.

Fortunately, there are a lot of healthy substitutes for milk these days. Almond, Soy, Rice, and Hemp milks are pretty standard fair even at the smaller grocery stores across the country. Nut cheeses are very good. There’s even dairy-free ice cream available from a number of brands, all of which are super tasty.

And to be honest, the best way to start is to start slow. Find something you can replace and replace it. Then do that again a few days or weeks later. Then just repeat the cycle until you are off the moo-juice entirely (and feeling a ton better because of it).

If you’re interested in taking that step but don’t think you can do it alone, I would encourage you to register for our Wellness Training Institute Dinner. It’s free, we have a couple every month, and it’s a great way to eat a healthy meal with us and learn about how to make this stage of life the best one yet!

You can learn more here.

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]]> https://www.wellnesstraininginstitute.com/the-4-reasons-you-should-stop-eating-all-that-dairy/feed/ 0 https://www.wellnesstraininginstitute.com/why-you-cant-get-healthy-alone/ https://www.wellnesstraininginstitute.com/why-you-cant-get-healthy-alone/#respond Fri, 30 Sep 2016 04:00:00 +0000 https://www.st40.com/demowellness/why-you-cant-get-healthy-alone/ The hardest part about getting healthy is, for a lot of people, knowing where to start. And the hardest part of knowing where to start is the fact that every time you look into some health tip, you find a countering opinion...

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]]> By Nicole Martin

September 30, 2016

“For he who has health has hope; and he who has hope, has everything.”– Owen Arthur

The hardest part about getting healthy is, for a lot of people, knowing where to start.

And the hardest part of knowing where to start is the fact that every time you look into some health tip, you find a countering opinion. You have so much information at your finger tips— Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Youtube, Pintrest— but what is true? What will work? So, you start researching, hoping that you’ll find the right information to get you started.

But instead of finding a solution, all you find is information.

And there is A LOT of it. Much of which contradicts itself.

For example: Bananas are good. Also, they are bad.

Or: An apple a day keeps the doctor away… or does it?

Or: Grains are good. But they are also the opposite of good.

Or: Fats make you fat. And… they make you thin.

It’s enough to make your head explode.

And that’s just the beginning of the pain a solo journey down the path toward wellness is going to bring you.

Not to add to your confusion unnecessarily, but here are a number of other obstacles you are probably going to encounter in just trying to figure out where to even begin.

Want more great information about the foundations of a healthy life? Download the first installment of our NEW 7-part eBook series The 7 Habits of Highly Healthful People for FREE right now, right HERE!

Labels

Labels are hard to read. (And that’s not by mistake.) So, even if you’re attempting to begin eating better by choosing low-fat or reduced-sodium processed foods (don’t do this, btw), you’re still fighting an uphill battle with information.

For example, look at this label for cornmeal:

All of that seems pretty okay, right? You have corn, the word “whole grain” (which is supposed to be good, right?), a little plant oil, some salt, and then… what is this TBHQ business?

Well, the answer to that question is this: TBHQ (or Tertiary Butylhydroquinone) is a petroleum-based preservative. It’s there to lengthen the shelf life of the cornmeal. It also increases your risk of cancer. It’s also a neurotoxin. And, oh yeah, consuming more than five grams of it at one time may possibly kill you outright.

And that’s just one example. Figuring out what you’re actually eating when you choose processed foods—even the ones that claim they’re good for you!—is almost impossible without at least a doctorate in biochemical engineering.

Marketing

When was the last time you saw a commercial for a vegetable?

Probably never.

And there’s a very simple reason for that: Vegetables aren’t good business in the same way that soft drinks or breakfast cereal are. The reason why is because vegetables can’t sit on a shelf for months at a time in the market, don’t offer very good margins for the corporations themselves, and aren’t filled with addictive substances designed specifically to get you to buy more and more (and more) of them.

Advertisers know this. And so, they aren’t going to waste their time trying to get you to consume them.

Which is why it’s so hard to try to eat healthy. You are constantly bombarded with messaging telling you to eat things that will eventually kill you. And even if you know this, it’s still so hard to fight against that level of psychological warfare.

When you’re a single target, it’s hard to keep from getting shot up with arrows at every turn.

Everyone Else is Eating Junk

This is probably one of the most powerful adversaries you have when attempting to fly solo on your health journey. By nature, humans are communal when it comes to food. Sunday dinners with grandma. First dates out at an Italian bistro. Thanksgiving dinner.

We eat together.

So, when you drive past a McDonalds at noon on a Tuesday and the parking lot is filled beyond capacity, it’s easy to sort of make up your mind that yeah, McDonalds is terrible for you, but still… everyone else is doing it.

In working with our members at the Wellness Training Institute, this issue of community is far and away the biggest hurdle we have to tackle. So many of our members come into the program attempting to get healthy, but have little to no support back home with their friends and family. Misery loves company, and that applies to food as much as it does to anything else.

For all the reasons I gave above why getting healthy alone is such a hard—if not impossible—task, this one is probably the most revealing why.

I’ve had countless members come to me, right before they graduate, and say how they never would’ve accomplished their wellness goals if it hadn’t been for the community they found in our Healthful Evolutions program. They found the necessary support with the other members of the program—people with similar goals, encouraging and celebrating with each other—that they didn’t have back in their regular lives.

That’s really the moral of the story. You can’t go it alone. If you want to get healthy, you have to surround yourself with others who want the same thing—both for themselves and, just as importantly, for you.

So… where are you on your health journey? What are your goals? What are your struggles? Share them below in the comments!

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]]> https://www.wellnesstraininginstitute.com/why-you-cant-get-healthy-alone/feed/ 0 https://www.wellnesstraininginstitute.com/4-things-you-can-do-nutritionally-right-now-to-improve-your-life/ https://www.wellnesstraininginstitute.com/4-things-you-can-do-nutritionally-right-now-to-improve-your-life/#respond Tue, 27 Sep 2016 04:00:00 +0000 https://www.st40.com/demowellness/4-things-you-can-do-nutritionally-right-now-to-improve-your-life/ Very few people have ever decided that they are going to just throw up their hands, decide that whatever happens happens, and just choose to stay sick and broken down and headed for an early grave. But at the same time, the evidence is there...

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]]> By Nicole Martin

September 27, 2016

Very few people have ever decided that they are going to just throw up their hands, decide that whatever happens happens, and just choose to stay sick and broken down and headed for an early grave.

But at the same time, the evidence is there that a big chunk of our culture has done just that.

We eat terribly. We’re addicted to distraction. We spend enough of our lives not moving around to the point that movement becomes difficult—if not impossible—later in life.

And, any commercial break during any TV show at any time of day shows how much encouragement we are getting from the corporations intent on selling us more and more of this lifestyle that’s killing us quicker than we could ever hope to manage on our own.

So, how do we fix it? How can you, today, start making better nutritional choices to feel better, live better, and simply be better?

I’m glad you asked. It’s not nearly as hard as you might think.

1. Look at What You’re Eating

The best way to get as many calories (and toxic chemicals, empty carbs, and stuff that isn’t even food to begin with) through your mouth and down into your body is to just shovel it mindlessly in.

It’s like the old adage: If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. In this case, if all you’re eating is food from a bag or a box, then everything looks like food.

Which, of course, it isn’t.

Instead, if you choose your food mindfully—and then eat it in the same way—you are quickly going to become aware of what, exactly, it is that you’re eating.

And with everything you eat, ask yourself this question: Is this helping my body or hurting it? People know a Double Whopper with bacon-flavored cheese isn’t good for you. But, what if you thought about it in this way: If I continued to eat this, every day, would it help me or hurt me?

The answer is obvious. And if you keep that question in mind when both choosing and consuming food, you’ll be a lot more enlightened about what exactly is going into your body.

Just shovel it in. Seriously. Whatever it is, just eat it.

2. Eat Plants.

It’s really that simple. Plants are healthy. They have almost all the nutrition inside them that you will ever need. Vitamins. Minerals. Fiber. A whole array of nutrients.

And the best way to start introducing more plants into your diet is to do just that. Introduce them.

Don’t take anything else out of your diet. Eat what you’re eating now. But add in two servings of vegetables to every meal. For those of us who aren’t keen on counting, think about it this way: For every meal, half your plate should be vegetables. You like Twinkies? Fine. Keep eating Twinkies. But also add in some broccoli, or carrots, or (if you want to get fancy) a rutabaga. Whatever.

Just fill up half your plate with whatever vegetable you choose.

After a while of not feeling so horrid from dawn until dusk, you’re body is going to adapt. It’s going to want those vegetables. Like a truck you’ve been filling up with maple syrup for the past decade that now has a taste of what it feels like to run on premium gasoline, you’re going to be surprised at how much you won’t miss the garbage.

Don’t eat them. Don’t think about them. Don’t even look at them. Pretend they are all poisonous. (Because let’s face it… they are). 

3. Quit Frying things.

Seriously. Just stop it. No more frying your food.

Oil just adds calories. You can still use your frying pans, but use them for steaming or sautéing. Or, if the temptation is too much, take all your frying pans and make decorative planters out of them. Or give your cat a little treat in the form of a much wider, slightly shallower, and be-handled new watering dish. Or fill them up with soil and start growing sprouts for all the salads you are going to look forward to eating in the future once your veins de-grease themselves and your body is more animal than off-shore oil well.

4. Understand Why You Eat What You Do

This is a big one.

A lot of why we eat isn’t from nutritional deficit, but instead because we feel a certain way.

Happy? Grab an Oreo.

Sad? Grab a Double-stuff Oreo.

The food we eat often has very little to do if we’re hungry or not. A lot of people (and I used to be this way, so don’t accuse me of getting preachy on you) just eat out of simple boredom.

An Oreo in our culture is legitimately just something to do.

Being mindful about WHY you eat, on the other hand, puts the nutritional factorial back into the equation. If you are upset and start reaching into the snack cabinet, take a breath, and ask yourself why your hand is currently wrapped around a Ho-Ho. Are you hungry, really? Or are you eating out of emotion?

Eating mindfully is one of those habits that can make a big difference very quickly. We have members that come into the program that have legitimately never once thought about WHY they eat what they eat. And once that lightbulb goes on above their heads, you can see the change almost visibly in their faces.

Once you get it, you get it. And then, combined with the other steps on this list, eating starts becoming something life-giving and rewarding, and not a mindless exercise in chewing.

What steps do you want to take to begin eating better? Let us know in the comment section below!

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]]> https://www.wellnesstraininginstitute.com/4-things-you-can-do-nutritionally-right-now-to-improve-your-life/feed/ 0 https://www.wellnesstraininginstitute.com/the-power-of-getting-quiet/ https://www.wellnesstraininginstitute.com/the-power-of-getting-quiet/#respond Thu, 22 Sep 2016 04:00:00 +0000 https://www.st40.com/demowellness/the-power-of-getting-quiet/ Do you feel good? Right now, at this moment, do you feel good? As a cardiologist now halfway through my third decade of practice, I've noticed two things about the possible answers to that question...

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]]> By Michael Dangovian

September 22, 2016

Do you feel good?

Right now, at this moment, do you feel good?

As a cardiologist now halfway through my third decade of practice, I’ve noticed two things about the possible answers to that question.

The first: Most people don’t feel good.

The second: Sadly, most people don’t even know what feeling good feels like.

Living in this toxic culture, eating what we eat, racing through our day, and rarely stopping to take inventory of what out bodies are telling us—most people I’ve talked to over the years have been miserable for so long that they have no idea what it means not to be miserable.

It’s sad. Heartbreaking, really.

And although there is no one cure for this problem, there are some systematic steps you can take to at least begin to understand what feeling good is like.

The good news here is that once you understand that feeling, you’ll want to preserve it. You’ll want to keep feeling good.

Here are two of the things we teach our members at the Wellness Training Institute. They are steps in a larger process, but they really all fall under one category: Getting Quiet.

Awareness

I preach awareness constantly. And there’s a reason for it.

Health is built upon the integration of the body, mind, and soul. If all of those things are working together, then you are healthy. It’s as simple as that.

One of the best ways of getting those things working together is through a practice of mindfulness… about everything you do.

It makes a lot of sense: To do something, or make something, or even consider choosing one thing over another, it takes a certain amount of concentration. It takes information. It takes awareness. You have to know that something is there, or that there’s even the potential of a choice.

The way to do that is to become quiet. To sit inside an individual moment. To understand where your body is in relation to the rest of the universe. To watch and listen for what’s actually going on inside your body.

It’s also about documenting what you do. We use a gratitude journaling exercise with our Wellness Training Institute members. It’s a highly effective way to force someone to pause, to look for the positives in their lives, and it sets them up to find more positive things throughout their day.

It’s about getting the mind quiet, calm, and ready to choose life over death, one minute after the next.

Want more great information about the foundations of a healthy life? Download the first installment of our NEW 7-part eBook series The 7 Habits of Highly Healthful People for FREE right now, right HERE!

Elimination Diet

An elimination diet is used, first and foremost, to quiet the gut. What I mean by that is this: By taking out potentially reactive foods from your diet (foods that might be causing problems, either by themselves are in a cross-reactive way with other, non-problematic foods), we can get your body to a place where it can just work the way it needs to.

A good example of this is gluten. For a lot of people, gluten doesn’t cause much of a problem. But for those whose bodies react to it, that reaction is usually pretty extreme.

So, by removing gluten from the diet for a little while, the body—the gut—can quiet down and get on with the business of doing its job.

Just like cultivating awareness, an elimination diet allows things to reset, to quiet down. It also allows you to understand what your body needs—as well as what it doesn’t.

It’s probably not an accident that in most cultures (but not ours, for the most part) there’s a time of fasting. For some, it’s a day. Or a week. Or, like Ramadan, a month.

They seem to know something that we don’t here in our culture. There’s power in putting the brakes on constant consumption. There’s power in letting things get still to the point where we can sense things, hear things. There’s power in just shutting things down for a time—for the body, mind, and soul—and just getting quiet.

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So, how do you feel? If you feel great, then great!

If not, I would encourage you to come to our FREE Wellness Dinner Seminar. We’ll eat a good meal together, and we will give you a ton of great information about how you can get quiet and take that next step to getting healthy and staying that way!

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