Cleanses:  Do they really make you “cleaner”?

These days we are bombarded with advertising about cleanses!  Everywhere you look you see headlines about our bodies being full of toxins from chemicals, foods, the environment drugs and many other sources.  It seems as though our only solution for this is to do a cleanse.  Many of us get lured into this million-dollar market by promises of weight-loss, glowing skin, cleaner colons and increased energy.  Juice cleanses, colon cleanses, liquid cleanses, liver cleanses, is one really better than the other??

Several health experts are in agreement that cleanses may provide initial improvements in certain conditions or health problems, but that they are not meant to sustain us long-term.  For example, with a juice cleanse, (which are between 3 and 5 days), you consume concentrated amounts of fruits and vegetables and the nutrients they provide.  However, these juices are often lacking in other key nutrients (protein, fat, calories and fiber) that are also necessary for optimal body performance.  Another important consideration is that these cleanses are often between 800-1200 calories which are low totals for most people.  Finally, the fruit component of juice cleanses can make these drinks carb-dense and high in natural sugars resulting in unstable blood sugar and hunger.  When considering a colon cleanse, remember that our guts are naturally full of ‘good bacteria’ and that by aggressively flushing them out, we are interfering with our bodies natural defense system.  Liver cleanses are also popular and often involve supplements, shakes and 2 weeks to complete!  The options seem endless but the results are often the same:  short-term improvement in health and a rapid return to bad eating habits.

As overwhelming as all this may seem, the facts are fairly simple.  Cleanses may provide short-term reprieve from an over-taxed digestive system, or a break from a diet laden with sugar and processed foods.  Cleanses are a good “kick-start” to break bad habits or to eliminate unhealthy foods from your diet but committing to healthier eating everyday will provide lasting benefits to your health.

 Here is a list of some foods that naturally assist the body in neutralizing toxins:

Water                                   Basil                                       Asparagus                           Beets

Broccoli                                Brazil Nuts                          Kale                                       Avocados

Lemons                                Carrots                                 Onions                                  Turmeric

Apples                                  Garlic                                     Walnuts                               Parsley

So, enjoy eating your way towards better health and naturally ‘cleansing’ your body every day!

What’s in Your Pantry?

If you like to cook, you know the value of having specific items in your pantry.   You know what I’m talking about; a variety of spices, vinegars, oils, canned sauces, legumes, beans and condiments that are just waiting to be used in a new recipe or in a weekly favorite.  To me, there is comfort in knowing that behind the pantry door, there is always the potential to create a variety healthy and flavorful dishes.  I am including my top 20 pantry staples and suggestions on how to use them.  I hope you are as excited as I am about what’s in your pantry!!!

1. Cold Pressed Olive Oil – great for cooking, salad dressings or drizzled overtomatoes or fish.
2. Chicken Broth/Stock – Great for sauces, soups, and a perfect substitute as a cooking liquid for vegetables and quinoa.Look for organic and low sodium.
3. Organic Coconut milk – Perfect for curries, sauces and marinades.
4. Low Sodium Soy Sauce – this condiment adds tang and flavor to anything you put it on.
5. Local Honey – great for using in tea, baking or in dressings and sauces.Some honey has antioxidant benefits.
6. Nut Butter – great as a snack on fruit or celery, or added into a smoothie.

Almond, cashew and peanut can be found at most stores.

1. Avocado Oil – delicious drizzled on salad greens and great for high temperature cooking!
2. Canned Tuna in Olive Oil or Water – Great go-to protein for salad or in a lettuce wrap.Limit eating it to twice weekly.
3. Organic Maple Syrup – Grade B is darker that grade A and contains more micro-nutrients.Try it drizzled over roasted Brussel Sprouts or Squash.

      10. Himalayan Salt- adds a light saltiness to foods and is full of micro-minerals.           

1. Chipotles in Adobo – These canned peppers add great flavor to carnitas, soups, salsas and stews.
2. Dried Spices – Unlimited uses for added flavor in food.Many have added health benefits too (cinnamon, turmeric, oregano to name a few).
3. Dried Quinoa – this quick-cooking seed can be used in soups, stews and salads, but don’t forget to eat it for breakfast instead of oatmeal.
4. Balsamic Vinegar – The older the better.Love it in salad dressings and drizzled over tomatoes or other vegetables.Great as a glaze too!
5. Dried Lentils – These powerhouse legumes are rich in protein and a great option for ‘meatless’ meals.
6. Almond Flour – This protein-packed staple can be used to coat chicken or fish or as a crust for a fruit tart.
7. Organic Canned Tomatoes – one of the most versatile ingredients for marinara sauce, curries, soups and more.I use this item weekly.
8. Sriracha Sauce – This spicy condiment brings life to anything it touches, I love it on eggs and in soups!
9. Canned Beans and Chick Peas – I love eating these on salads or in wraps or for making hummus.I use them in soups to make them more like a meal.\
10. Dijon Mustard – This is my favorite condiment of all!It is a must in salad dressings and I use the grainy version on baked salmon, can’t live without it!

Packing School Lunches

Just yesterday we were planning our Fourth of July picnics and in a flash we are starting another year of crazy school schedules and packing school lunches.  Let’s not kid ourselves, packing healthy school lunch’s takes work.  Speaking from experience (packing lunches for 3 kids over the past 20 years), I have learned a few tricks to make that job easier.

 Tip #1 -  SHOP and PREP for school lunches on the weekend.  People, I can’t stress this enough!!!  There is nothing worse on Monday mornings than the mad scramble through your fridge and pantry to “find” healthy items for your child’s lunch.  Stocking up on healthy lunch foods, washing fruits and veggies, cutting up cheese and portioning out snacks (nuts, dried fruit, popcorn), will save you loads of time on weekdays.  Also, have a number of containers on hand that are suitable for packing lunch items.  Some parents like divided containers or Bento boxes that have 3 or 4 sections for different foods and one lid which keeps things really simple for your child (and you).  Here are a few good options for lunch-style containers that you may find helpful:  http://www.easylunchboxes.com/ http://www.lunchskins.com/

Tip #2 – INVOLVE YOUR KIDS.   Poll your kids for lists of foods that they would like to eat for lunch. Use grocery shopping as an educational experience, remember if kids see where food comes from and they help pick and prepare it, they are more likely to eat it!  Get your kids involved by washing fruits and vegetables (great task for the younger kids) and portioning (counting) things like grapes, raisons, nuts carrot sticks, cherry tomatoes, cheese cubes etc. into containers that can be quickly grabbed from the pantry or fridge and stowed into lunch boxes.  Remember to put foods on easy to reach shelves in your fridge and pantry to make them more accessible for kids.

Tip #3 KEEP IT SIMPLE- Remember, most kids like things simple including food.  Pick a variety of fruits and veggies, proteins and snacks that your child has approved and prepare enough to last the week.  Don’t forget that leftovers are golden!  Items such as grilled chicken, cooked vegetables, extra pasta or brown rice are great starting points for building school lunches.   Combining these foods into bowls or rolling them into tortillas topped with avocado and some dressing can be a nice change from a sandwich.

Bonus Tips:

-“Mini” versions of foods are easier for little hands, try mini pitas, mini veggie and cheese kabobs, baby mozzarella cheese balls, mini meatballs, cherry tomatoes…………

-check out these healthy pre-packaged items that can be real time savers

http://lorissaskitchen.com/

http://www.thegoodbean.com/nutrition-snacks/

http://siggisdairy.com/product/blueberry-tubes/

https://www.marigoldbars.com/

-Kids love notes in their lunches, even a post-it with an encouraging message will make their day.

-frozen grapes in a lunch box can double as an ice pack and a cool snack!

Enjoy and we hope everyone has a great 1^st day back to school!!

Cool Treats for Summer Heat

The hot days of summer are here and this sends many of us in search of ways to keep cool.  One sure way to beat the heat is with frozen ice pops.  We all know that adults and kids alike love these colorful icy treats on a stick.  While we may have many store-bought options, most frozen treats are loaded with sugar, artificial color, and flavor.  What many of us may not realize is just how easy it is to make these pops ourselves.  There are many BPA- free molds in all kinds of shapes and sizes available at stores like Walmart, Target, Williams-Sonoma, and of course on-line.  By making your own frozen ice pops, you are able to control the quality of the ingredients and more importantly the amount of sugar that goes into each one.  The other great benefit is that your kids, grandkids, neighbors and friends will all have fun making them too!  You can enlist their help with washing fruit, measuring liquids and placing the sticks in the molds.  I can assure you that these pops are going to taste extra good and be much better for you than store-bought ones.  For great recipes for frozen pops check out these links:

http://people.com/celebrity/jamie-oliver-recipe-for-yogurt-popsicles/

http://neuroticmommy.com/2016/07/27/fruit-fun-yogurt-ice-pops/

Another “cool” trick to add your summer line-up is making fruity ice cubes.  Not only are these cool and delicious but they are also a great way to keep a glass of wine cool or to jazz up a glass of sparkling water!  This is another great recipe to get kids involved and they will love “helping” with filling the ice trays and placing the fruit in each cube.  Check it out here: http://www.pipandebby.com/pip-ebby/2011/6/19/fruit-cubes.html

PS…..this ice cube idea works great with fresh herbs too!

Happy Summer!

Eating Too Much Sugar:  Is It Worse Than We Thought?

You don’t have to look very far to locate information on sugar consumption in America.  Newspapers, magazines, science journals, and medical research regularly contributes alarming statistics on how much sugar we are consuming every day.  Should we be worried? – the answer is yes!!!  The latest estimates suggest that on average, Americans are consuming 130 lbs. of sugar each year.  You may find it difficult to imagine eating that many donuts or chowing down on that many candy bars but the reality is most of us are getting the majority of our daily sugar from beverages.  Many of us rely on our ‘favorite’ coffee drink from our ‘favorite’ coffee store to get us going in the morning and are blissfully unaware that at least half of the drinks on the menu exceed 60 grams of sugar!!!  How does this stack up against the daily recommendations for sugar consumption??? Well…..many health agencies are recommending no more than 36 grams of sugar per day for men and 24 grams of sugar per day for women.  Currently, the average American male consumes 128 grams of sugar per day and women are consuming 88 grams per day.  Also, worth mentioning; sugar has no nutritional value, no vitamins, no minerals, no enzymes and no fiber.

You may be asking:  What exactly is the harm in consuming all of this sugar??  Sugar is addictive and triggers parts of our brains that leaves us wanting more each time we eat it.  Excess sugar in the body causes inflammation.  Sugar is known to contribute to: obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, joint pain, headaches, acne and many other health problems.   So, the answer to the question in the title of this post is loudly YES, the effects of sugar are worse than we thought and we must make every effort to reduce our sugar intake if we have any hopes of avoiding health problems that could potentially shorten our lives.

Good for Your Bones and So Much More

Lately, there has been a great deal of conversation about bone broth.  This ‘magic’ elixir has been credited with everything from decreasing the appearance of wrinkles, lubricating our joints, to healing the lining of our guts.  Clearly there appears to be multiple benefits to drinking bone broth on a regular basis. So, what exactly are we getting when we drink bone broth?  First you have to consider what goes into making bone broth in order to understand where the good stuff comes from.  Bone broth is literally made from ‘bones’, along with vegetables, water and salt.  So, if bone broth is made from bones then naturally we should not be surprised to learn that bone broth contains calcium, phosphorus and magnesium, all components of bones.  Along with those great things, bone broth is also rich in collagen, amino acids, glucosamine, chondroitin and glutathione. This profile of nutrients, vitamins and minerals provides a pretty compelling argument as to why we should consider adding bone broth to our diets.

But, it sounds like work to make right?  Wrong!!  After doing some research I came across numerous recipes for making bone broth in the crockpot!!!  I was so excited!  No slaving over the stove for hours to cook this wonderful liquid.  How did I do it?  I saved up a bunch of bones in the freezer from chicken that I had previously cooked, but I didn’t think I had enough for my crockpot, so I roasted off some organic chicken necks and backs in the oven and threw all of the bones (freezer ones too!) into the crockpot with a few veggies and some filtered water and salt – pretty easy so far right?!  I turned the pot on low and let it cook overnight.  By some wonderful culinary miracle it was ready the next morning and all I had left to do was strain it, cool it and package it up for the freezer!!!  Unbelievably easy!!!  I really was impressed by how little time and effort it took to create something that is so healthy and good.  I would like to add, that in keeping with making healthful decisions concerning food, I recommend using organic ingredients if you are able, that way we are avoiding pesticides and additives that we are trying to keep out of our bodies.  So, it’s time to dust off that crockpot and put it to work making some bone broth, you’re going to love it!

Happy Spring! The weather is great and everything is in bloom! This means summer is just around the corner. There is no better time than now to prepare yourself for the summer months. Who wants to look years younger without going under the knife? We are all looking for a natural, gradual, noticeable result for skin tightening. At Woodlands Wellness this month we would like to focus on our Ultherapy treatment. Ultherapy uses the power of Ultrasound to work deep below the skin’s surface to create new collagen giving you tighter, more refreshed natural looking skin.

How does Ultherapy work?

The Ultherapy® procedure is the only non-surgical, non-invasive treatment that uses ultrasound and the body’s own natural healing process to lift and tighten loose skin on the face, eyebrow, neck, under the chin, and chest. Ultherapy uses the safe, time-tested energy of ultrasound to stimulate the deep structural support layers of the skin—including those typically addressed in a surgical facelift—without disturbing the surface of the skin.

This energy triggers a natural response under the skin, jumpstarting the regenerative process that produces fresh, new collagen.

How many treatments will it take?

Just one single non-invasive Ultherapy® treatment helps counteract the effects of time, gravity, and sun exposure without downtime.

What areas can be treated and what kind of results can I expect?

Ultherapy is the only FDA-cleared procedure to tighten skin on these hard-to-treat areas:

• Full Face
• Neck
• Chin
• Brows
• Décolletage

Some patients see an initial effect right after their treatment, but the real results appear over 2−3 months as new collagen works to lift and tighten skin.

Non-invasive, no downtime, and done in just an hour or two.

What’s not to love about our Ultherapy treatment!

Beauty is being the best possible version of yourself "beautiful inside and out" so take control of your age and let one of our experts here at Woodlands Wellness consult with you to see if you are a candidate for this amazing treatment!

Let Woodlands Wellness take care of your Mother stop by to grab your gift card for Mother’s Day. With the purchase of a gift card $100 or more we will give you a swag bag of goodies for Mom!

Book your complimentary consultation today to start your treatment for a younger you!

For more information regarding Ultherapy or any of our Wellness and Cosmetic services call us at (281)-362-0014

Do you Love it???

Laser Tattoo Removal!

What you once LOVED……..Doesn’t have to last forever.

Did your tattoo seem attractive in your 20s but not so attractive today? Or is your tattoo a permanent reminder of what was just a temporary feeling? You are not alone, did you know there are more than 5 in 6 Americans that have tattoo regret!

Woodlands Wellness has the most advanced laser technology in the market so let our expert Medical Laser Aestheticians help you remove that unwanted tattoo.

How does Laser Tattoo Removal work?

 Tattoos are removed by lasers that emit short pulses of intense light that pass through the top layers of the skin to where the ink is located. The light breaks the ink into tiny, dust-like particles that are readily absorbed by your body, and eliminated through its natural processes. Most of our patients experience redness and swelling immediately following the treatment. These side effects are temporary and patients can return to regular activities following the treatment.

How many treatments will it take?

Most tattoos require several treatments for effective removal, depending on a number of different factors including your age, your tattoo’s age and location, quality of ink, ink colors, your skin color, location of your tattoo and overall health. On average, a patient will need between 3 and 6 treatments for complete removal of all ink colors.

What are the advantages of the Enlighten Laser?

Enlighten is the world’s first dual wavelength and dual pulse duration technology for tattoo removal, pigment, and skin revitalization.  It uses a much faster, more advanced, cutting edge technology called Pico technology which delivers greater laser energy at an incredible speed of trillionth of a second; 1000x faster than Nano-technology.

Depending on the ink colors and the size of the tattoo, it normally requires only 1/2 the amount of treatments with the Enlighten Laser. The Enlighten Laser's picotechnology generates heat 1000x faster, separating tattoo pigment into much smaller Unwanted tattoos could now truly be removed more efficiently with less chance of scarring, less pain and shorter recovery time.

That change of heart, or feeling of regret, is the #1 reason why people seek tattoo removal. Fortunately, de-inking has progressed to a much faster, safe and effective method. Finally, your unforgettable tattoo can be forgotten with our most advanced laser tattoo removal technology! Book your complimentary consultation today to start your treatments for that unwanted tattoo.

For more information regarding this test or any of our Wellness and Cosmetic services call us at (281)-362-0014

Save the Date!

Woodlands Wellness 12th Annual Open House

Instead of an article this month Woodlands Wellness wanted to focus on getting the word out for our 12th Annual Open House.

Save the date February 9th we will have 2 sessions 10am-2pm and 5pm-7pm. It's a great time to take advantage of exclusive savings!

Mark your calendars and plan on joining in the FUN!

If you are interested in learning more about our Wellness or Cosmetic services please call our office
 Ph. # 281-362-0014 or you may also visit www.woodlandswellness.com