Community Healthcare Network
Notice of Data Incident (866) 246-8259 My Patient Portal
Community Healthcare Network
(866) 246-8259
Book an Appointment Locations Donate

Category: Blog:

Stephanie Rooker, Sound Healing Instructor www.voicejourney.net

The Medicine of Breath

Breath is our first and most basic medicine. How can breath be medicine, you ask? Because breathing, all by itself, can ease symptoms of many health issues. It can help with anxiety, depression, insomnia (trouble sleeping), post-traumatic stress (PTS), and attention deficit disorder (ADD), among others. Your breath can relieve health problems because so many of them are worsened or even caused by stress. Ancient traditions of yoga and meditation as well as modern-day research agree that controlled breathing helps with stress. Your breath lets you change your stress level and improve your health!

How does it work?

Breathing can help to nourish and restore your whole body. The air you breathe in fuels your body. The air you breathe out let’s go of waste from your body. This is a huge help! Your breath also acts as the undercover conductor of how your body works.

Your lungs and heart work together to give your body oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. They must stay in sync. Our breath reacts to our hearts’ needs. For example, when you exercise or become excited or nervous, your heart rate goes up. You may notice that you start to breathe faster. But your breath doesn’t always have to follow your heart. When you control your breath, you can change the pace of your heart rate.

You can also change your entire nervous system with controlled breathing. It can help with your digestion, how you process food, your immune system, how you fight off germs, and your state of mind. When you slow down your breath and focus on taking long breaths out, you calm your nerves. It helps your body and mind to relax. When you take short, quick breaths and focus on breathing in, your body and mind get stirred up.

Try it out!

You can practice with a technique called “1:2 breathing.” You will breathe out for twice as long as you breathe in. If you breathe in for a count of 2, then you will breathe out for a count of 4. Repeat this 10 times. As you get used to counts of 2 for breathing in and 4 for breathing out, you may want to raise the counts to 3 and 6 or even 4 and 8. This all depends on how fast you are counting!

Luckily, you breathe all the time, so you can practice anytime and at any place. Even if you don’t measure your breaths in 1:2 counting, taking a few deep breaths in and a few slow, long breaths out can make a world of difference!

By: CHN Wellness Team

By CHN Nutritionist: Laura Malick RD, CDN

When it’s too hot to cook over a stove, try some of these tips and recipes to help you make meals without turning up the heat.

Tips:

  • Make a lot rice or pasta at the beginning of the week. Save in the fridge and use during the week.
  • Use the microwave to steam vegetables.
  • Try using some pre-made foods like rotisserie chicken or canned beans (drain and rinse first before you eat them). You could also try canned chicken or tuna (canned in water).
  • Make your own dressings to use over cold vegetables, beans, rice, or pasta.

 

How to Make Easy Dressing

Mix together:

1/2 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 garlic clove, minced

White Bean and Roasted Chicken Salad:

(Makes 5 servings)                                           

You’ll need:

2 cups chopped rotisserie chicken
1 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup sliced red onion
1/3 cup sliced fresh basil
2 (16-oz) cans white beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 garlic cloves finely chopped

 

To make:

  1. Mix first five salad ingredients in a large bowl.
  2. Mix remaining ingredients in a small bowl for the dressing.
  3. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss together.

To learn more about wellness contact the Wellness Department at Community Healthcare Network at (212)-432-8494 or email [email protected].

By: CHN Wellness Team

Ayurveda (pronounced ah-yer-vey-duh) is a natural healing practice from India. The word “Ayurveda” is made of 2 Sanskrit words: ayur and veda. Ayur means life and veda means science or knowledge. A main value of Ayurveda is that what you eat is just as important as how you eat it.

Making and eating meals that leave your mind and body feeling good allow your body to focus more on your digestion (the breakdown of food). Try these five Ayurvedic practices to help boost your digestion to feel more satisfied after meals.

  1. Sit and slow down. Sit down while you eat to help your organs relax and get ready for all the work they will do to help you digest! Take a few deep breaths after a few bites to see how your body is feeling. Focus on each chew and swallow.
  2. Eat only when hungry. Pause before you eat a snack and listen to your stomach. Are you hungry? Or are you stressed, bored, or thirsty? Wait 10 minutes before snacking. Many times, the desire to eat will go away. It is common for this desire to come in the evening. The body craves comfort foods at the end of the day when it wants to slow down and rest. Instead drink a glass of water and check in with yourself again.
  3. Have regular mealtimes. Our minds and bodies work best with routine. When we eat at similar times each day, our stomachs can prepare in advance for meal times. This allows our minds and bodies to relax and focus on our food.
  4. Eat light, or not at all, when angry or anxious. Worry and anger are two feelings that are not good for digestion. When your mind is busy, nothing will digest well! It is best to drink warm liquids and wait until your mind calms down before eating.
  5. Drink warm or room temperature water to keep your gut feeling cozy. While cold water can make it hard for the body to break down food, warm water will keep your gut working well. Warm water rehydrates the body and calms your body!

To learn more about wellness contact the Wellness Department at Community Healthcare Network at (212)-432-8494 or  email [email protected].

By: CHN Wellness Team

Cooking and making food can be fun, and even restorative. To enjoy cooking most, practice food safety.  Keep your kitchen clean to keep you and your loved ones from getting sick. Here are some tips to keep your kitchen and your food clean and safe.

  1. Defrost meat in the refrigerator overnight. For larger meats, you might need to defrost them for 1 to 2 days.Defrosting on the countertop lets bacteria grow that can make you sick. Even cooking can’t kill them!
  2. Wash reusable shopping bags often. Raw foods like meat, chicken, and eggs can leave harmful bacteria inside these bags. Those bacteria can then cling to fruits and veggies. Toss cloth bags into the washing machine or clean by hand. Wipe down plastic bags with warm water and a small amount of vinegar.
  3. Check if food is good by the way it looks or smells. If the food doesn’t look or smell right, don’t taste it. You could be eating bad bacteria that could make you sick. If you’re unsure, toss it!
  4. Clean your sponges. We sometimes wash dishes with the same sponge we use to clean countertops. These sponges can carry bacteria from one surface to the next! To kill germs that can live on your sponge, wet your sponge and microwave it for 2 minutes.Then allow it to cool. You can also run sponges in the dishwasher with your dishes.
  5. Label your cutting boards.You should have one for raw meat, and another for fruits and veggies.Cutting fruits or veggies right after cutting raw meat, chicken or fish can make you sick.

Next time you are making food, try these tips to keep you and your loved ones healthy.

 

To learn more about wellness contact the Wellness Department at Community Healthcare Network at (212)-432-8494 or email [email protected].

By: CHN Wellness Team

By CHN Nutritionist Michelle Brenseke, MS, RD, CDN, CLC

Garlic is not only tasty and good for you, but it is also easy to grow! Here are some tips to help you plant your own garlic this Spring:

  1. Buy bulbs from garden center (not the supermarket). Try “Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon” also called hardneck garlic.
  2. Put the bulb in the refrigerator 3 weeks before planting.
  3. Pick a pot that is at least 18 inches deep and 12 inches wide. Fill with “soilless potting mix”. Leave room at the top.
  4. Dig holes in dirt that are 3 inches deep. The holes should be 2 inches from the edge and 5 inches from each other.
  5. Break bulbs apart, but keep papery husks on the cloves.
  6. Plant one clove per hole, with the flat side down and the pointy end up.
  7. Fill the hole with soil, making sure that the tip of the clove is about 1 inch under the surface.
  8. Water well and place the container in a spot that gets light.

For outdoor gardens: plant in early November for more garlic in the spring!


Basil Pesto Recipe

Makes 2 cups

You’ll need:

2 cups fresh basil leaves (no stems)
2 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts
2 large cloves garlic
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup freshly gratedparmesan cheese

To make:

  1. Mix basil leaves, nuts and garlic in a food   processor and blend   until very finely minced.
  2. With the machine running slowly, dribble in the oil and mix until the mixture is smooth.
  3. Add the cheese and mix very briefly, just long enough to combine. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Lettuce Share!

  • So far, 600 patients have enrolled in the Healthy Savings Program!
  • CHN patients enrolled in the program have reached $3,553 in total savings in fresh fruits & veggies.
  • If you know a CHN patient who lives in the Bronx and wants to join, please call: Anna Rickards ( 718-731-2209) or Claudia Castaneda (718-320-4477)

To learn more about wellness contact the Wellness Department at Community Healthcare Network at (212)-432-8494 or email [email protected].

By: CHN Wellness Team

Do you find yourself rushing through each meal? Do you forget what you had for dinner last night? Instead of rushing through your next meal, try practicing mindful eating. Mindful eating is when you pay attention to your food as you eat. Mindful eating can help you listen to your body about hunger and feeling full. Eating this way can help you enjoy your food and stay at a healthy weight.

Eat mindfully using the 3 S’s:

1. Savor your food. Notice what you are eating. Notice the cold crunch of a raw carrot. Notice the color of a tomato or the taste and smell of a juicy peach. Notice how your mouth reacts. Notice how your food feels on your tongue as you chew.

2. Slow down. Pace yourself by putting your fork or spoon down in between each bite. Take small bites and chew each mouthful slowly. Take a deep breath between each bite. This will help you be more aware of your food, not eat too much, and feel more satisfied during your meal.

3. Stop when you are satisfied with your food. Pay attention to your body’s signs of being full. While you eat, focus on how your stomach feels throughout your meal. As soon as you become full, stop eating to avoid feeling stuffed. Relax in front of your plate for a few minutes to see if you are still hungry. Put away your food after you’re done eating. This will stop you from picking at your food. Take a short walk around the block to help you break down food.

To learn more about wellness contact the Wellness Department at Community Healthcare Network at (212)-432-8494 or email [email protected].

By: CHN Wellness Team

Why do we have bad habits even when we know they are not good for us? Why is it so hard to start a healthy new habit? It can be hard to get habits under control. Don’t worry, we’re here to tell you how you can kick those bad habits and replace them with good ones.

Try these tips to help you break bad habits:

  1. Know about your habit.Do not brush it off, but don’t judge yourself for doing it. Facing your bad habit may bring up a lot of feelings, but this will help you notice it more when you do it in the future.
  2. The next time you take part in your bad habit, think about how you felt before. Were you angry, worried, stressed, or bored? Were you craving something? Where were you? How did you feel after? We often feel even worse after engaging in our bad habit than we did before.
  3. Start small. Make small changes.Set small goals to help you reach your one big goal. Picturing your life without the bad habit will also help.
  4. Use “If-than”. Such as, if you are trying to eat healthier, make a grocery list and tell yourself:
    • “if I go to the grocery store, than I will only buy the foods on my list.
    • “if I walk home, thanI will not walk by the bodega where I buy snacks.”
  5. Plan to fail a few times. You might slip up. That is okay. Just keep trying!

Follow these tips to help you form andstick to new, good habits:

  1. Think about whyyou want to form a new habit. Sometimes we form a good habit to replace a bad habit. Sometimes we form a good habit to make us feel healthier. What will you gain by forming a new habit?
  1. Figure out how your new habit will impact you day-to-day. Will you have to change your routine?
  2. Set small goals. Do something small each day that will lead you to your goal.
  1. Commit to a plan and tell others. Once you have made your plan, stick to it. Tell your loved ones that you are starting a new habit. You will be more likely to stick with your good habit if you have the support of people that care about you.
  2. Ask for help. You do not have to be alone while forming your new habit. Get a gym buddy, ask your family to cook and eat healthy with you. Each goal is simpler with the support of others.

To learn more about wellness contact the Wellness Department at Community Healthcare Network at (212)-432-8494 or email [email protected].

By: CHN Wellness Team

Stress can be a good thing if it is in small amounts. When you go through short moments of stress, it can help give you energy to get things done. But sometimes stress can last for long periods of time. When this happens, we can get anxious or overwhelmed and even worse, our health might get worse. If you are feeling stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, try these tips to help you feel better: Stress can lead people to get addicted to drugs or alcohol and it is important to get Drug Rehab Los Angeles help if one is addicted to drugs. There is also the Rehab Near Me that has various ways to help reduce anxiety and withdrawals while on the path to a clean life.

      • Think about what makes you stressed. People who treat patients in Methadone Clinic Clearwater for clinical stress and anxiety suggests people to write down why you feel stressed.  Write down what happened to you before you started feeling stressed. Try to notice patterns. This can help you learn how to get ready for stressful times and to keep you from feeling overwhelmed.
      • Take deep, slow breaths. Breathe in for a count of 4. Hold your breath for 7. Then breathe out for a count of 8. Repeat this a few times until you start to calm down. This will help you relax and lower your heart rate before acting on something.
      • Cut back on caffeine and alcohol. Caffeine can help you feel more awake. But it can also raise your heart rate and blood pressure. Caffeine can also make it harder for you to calm down or relax. Alcohol can make you feel moody and on edge. It may help you relax in the moment, but when it wears off, you may feel even more anxious than before. Don’t fall victim to any other addictions and go to a New York Recovery Center if you find yourself in such a situation.
      • Work out often. When you work out, your brain makes you feel happy. This can help you do better in stressful times.
      • Eat right at the right time. Eating unhealthy foods can make you feel more moody. Even eating at different times each day can make you feel on edge. Eat small, healthy meals every 3 hours to keep your energy levels up.
      • Sleep 8 hours each nightto not feel grumpy or sluggish. If your thoughts are getting in the way of sleeping, focus on your breathing. Listen to yourself breathe in and out and notice how that feels. Sometimes certain foods or parts of food can help you sleep better. Talk to your CHN nutritionist or doctor to find out more.
      • Talk to a therapist. It can be hard to talk to your loved ones about what’s bothering you. If you feel stressed, CHN has therapists at each health center. Call (866) 246-8259 to find out more.
      • Take a wellness class like yoga, meditation, reiki, or sound healing. These classes focus on calming your mind, helping you relax, and lowering stress. CHN has free classes at locations around New York City.

    To learn more about wellness contact the Wellness Department at Community Healthcare Network at (212)-432-8494 or email [email protected].

Say your best friend or partner is stressed but they haven’t told you. Sometimes you can just tell they’re stressed just by looking at them. Understanding your feelings and noticing the feelings of other people is known as emotional intelligence. People with high emotional intelligence can see how someone else is feeling and help. Not all people have emotional intelligence. Here are ways to make your emotional intelligence better:

  1. Tune in to your feelings.Notice your feelings during the day. If you know how you feel, you can learn how your feelings change your actions.
  2. Actively listen when talking with someone. Don’t let your mind wander. Look people in the eye. Turn your body toward theirs. Notice not only what they are saying but how they are saying it. What is their tone, what is their body language telling you?Try not to stop or get distracted. Let them feel comfortable expressing themselves. Focus on what others are saying, not what you are planning to say next.
  3. Don’t judge.Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Try to think about what they have lived through that may shape who they are. This may help you grasp why someone is acting a certain way.
  4. Respect other people’s feelings.Focus on why they feel a certain way, even if you don’t agree with them. This can keep your own feelings in check if someone says something that bothers you. Instead, look at this as a chance to work out differences and build trust.
  5. Think before you react.Express your feelings in a supportive way. If a strong feeling takes over, take a step back and deep breath. Think about what you say. Think about how your words will be received. And think about how you can talk about the problem in a calm way that helps you and the person you are talking with.
  6. See the silly side.Laughing helps ease stress and brings people together. Try to see the humor in things to make others smile and feel relaxed.

To learn more about wellness contact the Wellness Department at Community Healthcare Network at (212)-432-8494 or email [email protected].

By: CHN Wellness Team

We all want better health. If we have it, we want to keep it. If we need it, we want it badly, and then too, we want to keep it.

Better nutrition fuels better health. So we seek and we share information. And then we seek and we share more information. This can lead us to become overwhelmed with too much nutrition information, a condition that I call INFObesity.

To be clear, information is not the problem and not all information is bad or wrong. In fact, much information today is good quality. Like the fats we eat, some information is needed as it helps promote optimal functioning. However, like fat, too much information can be unhealthy. It overwhelms, weighs down, and interferes with our body’s optimal functioning by distracting our mind. This is why being exposed to too much information can threaten your health.

So what can you do about it?

Stop overwhelming your mind and body with too much health information with this exercise:

  1. Grab a piece of paper.
  2. Draw a bull’s eye with five circles (like a dart board).
  3. In the center circle, write “Me Today”. This circle represents for who you really are right now. Write down your likes, dislikes, lifestyle, health status, choices, and resources.
  4. In the next circle, write “My Health – Top 5”.  This circle represents who you are based on the top 5 things that are most important to your current health status and health goals.
  5. In the next circle, write “Me, Myself, and I”. This area represents the roles you play in your life currently like friend, spouse, ballerina, and more.
  6. In the next circle, write “You Don’t Really Know Me”. This area is how a company would target you if they didn’t know you on a personal level (so by your age, gender, where you live, your household role, your work).
  7. In the final circle write “You Don’t Know Me at All”. The outer circle is not targeted to you at all.

Now on a separate piece of paper, jot down all the sources of nutrition and health information that you encounter in a week. Your neighbor, your guardian, a tweet, a magazine article, a TV commercial, a package of food, a yoga instructor, a dietitian or doctor’s advice.

Now assign each of the sources to a place on your bull’s eye.

When most of your information comes from sources in the first two circles (the bull’s eye and the next circle) you do better at maintaining your health. You can still have too much information, but at least you are getting information specific to who you really are right now and to your personal health goals.

Look at the rest of your bull’s eye. How on track are you for getting information targeted specifically to who you really are each week? Are there sources that you could let go or even block? Are there sources that you need?

To better control the information you receive, assess who you are right now. Keep what is working, and take a second look at all the sources you come in contact with.This will help ensure that you have real support and better tools to guide your choices with regards to your health.

By Ashley Koff RD, founder of the Better Nutrition Program

Email Ashley to get her FREE Better Nutrition Guide at [email protected]