Tag Archives: what is health

Gut Health – Our Second Brain

January 5, 2016employee performance, well-beingbelly brain, colon cancer, corporate coaching, Corporate wellness programs, digestion and absorption, digestive health, employee health issues, employee productivity, employee wellness programs, gastric bypass surgery, GI Tract, GMOs, good sources of fiber, gut health, health coaching, IBS, Leaky gut, Michael Gershon, neurotransmitters, peristalsis, popping antacids, second brain, serotonin production, vitamin supplementation, weight loss, well-being, what is healthBestinCorporateHealth

Gut Health – Nourishing our Second Brain Our Belly Brain

Gut Health? Really conjures up some not so corporate images.

Gut Instincts? That’s Your Belly Brain Calling You!

The gastrointestinal system is probably the most taken advantage of and under appreciated part of the body. It merits respect – it is the 2nd brain, and Hippocrates said “all disease begins in the gut”.

The digestive tract is the ultimate mirror of lifestyle habits – our personal sewage system. Not a very glamorous topic, but the truth is it holds the answer to many of our undiscovered medical ailments.

Our belly brain – more scientifically respected as the enteric nervous system is the reason why we get emotionally “sick to our stomach” or have a “gut feel” or “gut instinct”. Serotonin, is our “happy hormone” (key to our focus as well), and thanks to the incredible research of Dr. Michael Gershon, we now know 90% of the body’s serotonin is produced in the stomach, not the brain as assumed. The enteric nervous system can send and receive impulses & secretes neurotransmitters just like our central nervous system. Our belly brain needs care, but more often gets abuse. It needs great nutrition – especially loads of fiber, micro and macro nutrients to strengthen. -And exercise, to promote peristalsis – the passage of all we have ingested through the digestive tract, keeping proper blood flow and nutrient supply, digestion and absorption. When our GI tract is not optimized, nor are we. It means we are not absorbing the nutrition from our food properly & just passing out the internal sewage to the external sewage system. ….yeah you get it. We can have numerous unexplained symptoms and we just can’t seem to find the cause…..the answer is probably lurking in the stomach, somewhere through to the intricate coils of the colon.

Still skeptical about the belly brain? Gastric bypass surgery, where a large percentage of

Gut Health optimized as prescribed by Hippocrates in all Best In Corporate Health Programs

the stomach is removed for weight loss purposes. There, unfortunately, is a very common side effect of these surgeries of psychiatric issues – from depression, alcoholism – because of the loss of production of serotonin. It is commonly accepted people after gastric bypass surgery need careful vitamin supplementation, not just with any vitamins – with those that have a very high bioavailability – the body is now seriously compromised for absorption. Included in this is the amino acid tryptophan – which is key to serotonin production. The stomach is not just the garbage bin at the bottom of the chute – it is a vital organ, to every organ system, not just digestion.

In our world of poor food choices, lack of physical activity, GMOs, toxins and bacteria entering our compromised guts – popping antacids recklessly destroying our precious HCl, constant stress released hormones, no wonder disease is rampant.

Optimizing gut health must be a central part to a corporate health program. Our gut health is our physiological and psychological well-being.

I feel compelled to mention some great sources of fiber – that are also nutritionally gifted: celery, oatmeal, brown rice, avocados, raspberries, beans, onions….. and please be acutely aware of those fiber impostors. Many breakfast cereals claim to be “good sources of fiber” when they are not. If a cereal does not have a minimum of 5g of fiber – Yes, drink water – in between meals is best. Too much water with meals dilutes those precious digestive enzymes, HCl that are critical to digestion & absorption.

Colon cancer is our #2 killer cancer & the most preventable form of cancer. IBS, Leaky Gut are rampant, and unfortunately the majority of medical doctors are lacking in the many lifestyle, naturopathic methods of dealing with these common issues. It is thought that 80% of the population have some form of leaky gut.

Health coaching, corporate coaching, Optimizing digestive health, building our belly brain – goes hand in hand with our cell-being.

Cell-Being Well-Being Corporate Being, Employee wellness programs based on your group – Your company is the template!

I had the pleasure of Interviewing Dr. Gershon back in 2011 – please listen, learn enjoy!

Our corporate wellness programs: email Shira@BestinCorporateHealth.com to enrich your people’s lives with health, wellness, happiness, prosperity and Joie de vivre!

Cost of Smoking Employees Micah Berman

January 1, 2016employee performance, well-beingcorporate health, Corporate wellness programs, employee health issues, employee productivity, employee wellness, employees who smoke, health costs, Micah Berman, productivity, quit smoking, smoking employees, smoking related policies, The cost of smoking, what is healthBestinCorporateHealth

Cost of Smoking Employees A Quantitative Study by Micah Berman

The cost of smoking – very few actually crunch the numbers so Micah Berman has done it for you. You will say – time to implement an quit smoking program.

A June 2013 study by our guest Professor Micah Berman of Ohio State U reveals the costs of employees who smoke is far greater than estimated by the CDC years ago. The average cost burden of a smoker to the employer is approaching $6,000/year greater than a never smoked employee. Professor Berman’s data is crucial to companies considering implementing a smoking cessation program. Professor Berman will be delving into the data with us, and discussing the legalities & intricacies of encouraging smoking cessation programs, or choosing to not hire employees that smoke.

Beginning this summer, Micah Berman is joining the faculty of Ohio State University as an assistant professor with a joint appointment in the College of Public Health and Moritz College of Law. Prior to joining Ohio State, Micah taught law school at New England Law | Boston, where he founded the Center for Public Health and Tobacco Policy. The Center provides legal and policy support to state and local public health programs in New York State and Vermont. Previously, Micah established and directed the Tobacco Public Policy Center at Capital University Law School, which worked with Ohio’s tobacco control program. In addition to working with state and local governments, Micah has served as a senior advisor to the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products and as a member of the NIH Director’s Council of Public Representatives. Micah received a J.D. with distinction from Stanford Law School and a B.A. in Public Policy from Brandeis University

Bottom line:
Companies Pay Almost $6,000 Extra Per Year for Each Employee Who Smokes

Ouch
SO I know this could start a brawl – but it does beg the question – why would companies hire smokers? – yes it is an addiction – but it is still a voluntary behavior. Businesses are increasingly adopting smoking related policies, everyone of us knows the challenge of meeting budgets….so I think we can all understand why this is such an important study with profound impact.

Best In Corporate Health….quit smoking part of our corporate wellness programs. Let us look after employee wellness!

Coupling: Importance of Supportive Spouses

December 24, 2015employee performance, well-beingbehaviour change, camaraderie, cell-being, corporate health, employee health issues, employee productivity, functional coupling, happy at home, happy place, marital discord, stressed out, unhappy marriage, what is healthBestinCorporateHealth

Coupling at Home: Cell-Being to Corporate-Being

Coupling is a skill that affects workplace wellness just as a functioning family.

Family life, roles have changed drastically over the last couple of generations.

The two most significant work trends affecting American businesses and families in recent years:

The exponential growth of two-income families

and

increasing levels of job stress

The #1 failure of a corporate health process is not including spouses in the process

Having one stressed-out spouse can harm couple’s work and home lives — but what about when it’s both?…and then there is coming home and dividing up in home chores, children wanting attention…..Our roles as spouses have flipped and flopped, leaving most people stunned, confused, often resentful bickering over what’s fair, and stressed beyond manageable limits.

According to statistics, most people are not happy at home:

we know the divorce rate is over 50%
A 2013 study found over 60% of individuals are stuck in an unhappy marriage but will not walk away for fear of financial or emotional hardship

There are going to be health consequences for both the individual, and the workplace.

The corporate happy place, needs its roots at home with functional coupling.

As always – let’s listen to the data

The 2015 UK study of “changing together” published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA):

Behaviour -Change programs are more successful if they were aimed at couples rather than individuals.Couples who work together to change their unhealthy habits appear to have more successful outcomes.

At Best in Corporate Health we encourage full participation of spouses in our health processes at the same cost..the truth is for long term sustainability….health is a family affair.

If marital discord is an employee issue – we have relationship coaches to help.

We all agree how important employee health is to performance, productivity….but spousal support can be the great determinator of success or failure of a health process.

The Web of influence of the supportive partner for effective coupling:

The state of the marriage…how it affects personal performance in the workplace

Supporting each other in a healthy lifestyle..the reality of embracing healthier choices

A 2012 study conducted by Florida State University professor Wayne Hochwarter concluded:

Those who reported high levels of stress but strong spousal support — as compared to stressed-out employees without such support — experienced the following positive benefits:

•50 percent higher rates of satisfaction with their marriage;

•33 percent greater likelihood of having positive relationships with co-workers;

•30 percent lower likelihood of experiencing guilt associated with home/family neglect;

•30 percent lower likelihood of being critical of others (spouse, children) at home;

•25 percent higher rates of concentration levels at work;

•25 percent lower likelihood of experiencing fatigue at home after work;

•25 percent higher rates of satisfaction with the amount of time spent with their children;

•20 percent higher views that their careers were heading in the right direction; and

•20 percent higher level of job satisfaction.

Effective Coupling is a vital part of our Cell-Being …..

Cell-Being All the way to the Corporate – Being.

Cell-Being: True Health and Wellness

December 14, 2015employee performance, well-beingaging, alcohol, Best in Corporate Health, camaraderie, cancer, carcinogens, cell health, employee health issues, employee productivity, food choices, GMO, health process, healthiest lifestyle, heart disease, mood disturbances, oxidative stress, smoking, stress management, webinars, what is healthBestinCorporateHealth

Cell-Being: Think of Cell Being as the ultimate conductor of life. Our cells confront the daily cacophony of life, and orchestrate the musicians, our cells, into the symphony of life.

Cell-Being to Well-Being….the path to health, the path to providing employees what they need to perform at their very best. Stress management needs to come from the cell, not preaching to people what to do and how to think.

When we talk about true health – we need to go right down to the very center of our being – cell health, our cell-being…all 70 trillion!!

Our Being: Our Raison D’être, the essence of a person.

Cell health has been the focus of our health and being from ancient Chinese Medicine and the flow of Qi, meditation, Yoga…..this symphony of life is critical to being. Our current world literally throws thousands of assaults daily, it is not at all conducive to cellular function…health needs to be respected at this deepest, most central level.

With all the wonderful intentions of eating right, exercising – we still live in a world which bombards us with oxidative stressors.

What is oxidative stress? Damage to the cells that causes an imbalance, causing the cell to not function at its full potential, or even worse – malfunction and start reproducing incorrectly, out of control, destroying healthy cells …aka….cancer.

There are more fads out there claiming to be the healthiest lifestyle. Fads come and go. The truth is a life to prevent cancer is the healthiest life of all. Nurturing our cell-being protects us from the harshness of ageing, disease, stands up against viruses and bacteria and the many bombardments from today’s world…that is the art and science of cell-being.

Cell Being…..Oxidative Stress….The Real Cause of Stress....

Oxidative stressors attack relentlessly through out the day. What we perceive as “stress” is a by product of physiological, oxidative stress. How we react to stress often further oxidatively stresses our cells:

Alcohol: One of the very worse oxidative stressors of all. It is just not true…”a glass of wine a day is good for you”….just not true. A glass+ of alcohol is chosen as stress relief – when in truth – that glass of alcohol is an oxidative stressor. Does this mean we have to stop drinking all together? No. However, coming up with a balance, is part of a cellular health program.

Smoking: I have heard people rationalize smoking is good because it relaxes them, or it stops them from eating too much – it is NEVER good to smoke.

Over exercising: Exercise and physical activity power the cells, no question. However, doing the wrong exercise can be a serious oxidative stressor.

Food choices: We may have the very best intentions of food choices, however many “healthy” food choices are ultimately endocrine disruptors or various other disguised oxidative stressors. We live in a world where are off supply is tainted by hormones, and now we have the invasion of GMOs – Genetically Modified Foods.

Or, we deprive ourselves of certain foods, thinking they are hurtful, when the truth is they are a superb source of the many vitamins, minerals, essential amino acids our cells need for defence and repair.

Besides the potential oxidative stressors listed here, the truth is there are many more. Cancer, aging, heart disease…mood disturbances….many of these are the product of a disturbance to our cellular health. The functioning of our cells are are affected by the constant bombardment of viruses, toxins, mutagens, carcinogens, bacteria and we are at the mercy of having a strong inner ecosystem (immune system, circulation, digestive system….) to keep us our of cellular stress. What we need to do is discover what oxidative stressors we have in our lives, that are sabotaging our best efforts.

It is often said ” life causes cancer”. Yes, there are those awful cases, someone could have been exposed to mutagens before birth or at a very young age. Cancer is thought to be only 8% hereditary, the rest is environmental exposures.

We often wonder why we think we are doing everything to live a healthy life – yet our biomarkers don’t reflect our efforts. So very often medicine is prescribed. Yes, there are times when medications are necessary, but every medication comes with a list of potential side effects. Lets get down to the cell. Strengthen the cell, strengthen our health. If our cells are misfiring, every aspect of our being is in jeopardy.

Now lets talk about our cells on another level: Our outer cell. Think of each of us at the center of a cell -we are the nucleus of our own cell. The cell we build around us is our family, work, our environment…all of these components of the outer cell deeply influence our inner being – our cell being.

Cell Being creates a rewarding environment. It is not a restrictive prescription of misery and sacrifice, which is why people often go “off and on” a health program. With cell being comes an inner reward – this is working, a liberation – “I feel better” – the wish list of a health process is now attainable: focus, energy, productivity, health….Inner reward is the path to compliance and sustainability

At Best in Corporate Health, we factor into all of our health processes the cell-being, systemic-being and well- being of every employee. This is why we strongly encourage spousal/partner participation. Our health is the union, the interdependence of these two beings – and ultimately how they flow as one.

Shira Litwack, Corporate Program Designer — Shira Litwack, medical fitness professional, Cancer Exercise Specialist , Medical Exercise Specialist, Holistic Nutritionist

Chief Health Enthusiast – Best In Corporate Health

Shira is regularly consulted by Naturopaths, oncologists, health coaches on cancer exercise and exercise adherence.
Has assembled over 20 health and fitness professionals with varying specialties to bring to corporate wellness programs
Platforms include: Speaking, One-one/group health coaching, Retreats, Course development for in house delivery, Metrics to measure success available, Partners always included
Now offering live interactive webinars, just as if each participant has a personal health coach – making corporate wellness programs affordable to all.
Shira has been interviewed & published in hundreds of resources over the last 12 years:

Articles featured in: ezines, ArticlesInk, European Registry of Exercise Professionals, The National Post, Investment Executive Magazine, Directory of Greater Toronto, Canadian Leukemia & Lymphoma Association, Prostate Cancer Canada, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Anytime Fitness, Today’s Black Woman, Today’s Seniors, Medical Fitness Network, FORCE (Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered), Willow (Breast & Hereditary Cancer Support), Cancer Exercise Training Institute, Urban Poling for Breast Cancer, ROW – Recovery on Water for Breast Cancer

Shira Litwack, Medical fitness professional |Cancer Exercise Specialist Personal & Corporate Health Coach | Fitness For Disease Recovery| Industry Expert Cancer Exercise

Director of International Relations Cancer Exercise Training Institute Master Trainer

Radio talk show host/Guest/Producer Health & Fitness Radio

BSc Psychology & Chemistry

Medical Exercise Specialist

Holistic Nutrition| Addiction Recovery

Total of 18 exercise designations