I woke up this morning to a sunny and clear day, so I was especially excited to take advantage of the day off to start 2016 on a healthy note with a long walk.  I’ve gotten in to the habit of checking the weather forecast on my phone before I head out so that I can attempt to dress appropriately for the temperature and (ideally lack of) precipitation.

Today’s forecast called for “abundant sunshine”.  If you’ve never visited or lived in Seattle, that’s probably not what you’d expect here, especially in January.  But it was completely accurate for today.

Earlier this year, I wrote a post titled "5 Interview Questions for a Potential Health Coach". Because the field of health coaching is currently unregulated, I think it’s helpful to know what questions to ask potential health coaches in order to make sure you’re choosing one who is qualified to help you meet your goals.

Most of us know that increasing our intake of healthy, whole foods will improve our health and make it easier to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.  So why is it hard to increase our intake of unprocessed foods and stick to a healthy diet?

In my last post, I talked about what I’ve learned from setting my own realistic health goals as part of a 31-day walking challenge earlier this summer.  While consistency allowed me to experience many of the physical changes that I had hoped for (increased endurance, improved muscle tone, etc.), I was most surprised by the non-physical benefits that this challenge provided me.

This May, I challenged myself to take a walk every day, for the whole month.  I had several reasons for doing this, but one was to help me become more consistent about exercise.  As someone who regularly works with clients to help them set realistic goals related to health, I followed my own advice and set a goal that was challenging but that I felt (pretty) confident I could achieve.  The challenge was such an eye-opening experience for me that I decided to write a two-part post about effective goal setting and the importance of safely challenging what you think your physical (and emotional) limits are.

I aim to write blog posts and articles on a variety of health-related topics, and this includes healthy food.  So I thought I’d throw in an easy and healthy plant-based recipe this time around.  Plus, I’m about to complete my Rouxbe Plant-Based Professional Certification course and am cooking constantly right now, so food is on my mind.

As an occupational therapist, at least half of my caseload typically consists of clients with elbow, wrist, hand, and/or thumb pain.  Recently, I have noticed an increase in clients with lateral epicondylitis specifically, so I thought I’d write a post on how I help clients with that diagnosis from an ergonomics perspective.

The word “holistic” is a lot like the word “healthy” – it’s somewhat vague, but it’s assumed that the more of it you embody, the better.  The current movement in medicine is toward a more holistic or integrative approach that sees the body and mind as connected and equally important for maintaining good health.  And I think most of us would agree that we want our health care providers to focus on us as whole people, so the more holistic the approach, the better.

Since April is Occupational Therapy Month, I wanted to take the opportunity to promote my profession by sharing my thoughts on the unique and valuable skills that OT’s bring to the health care field. 

More and more people are discovering that they have food allergies, intolerances, and/or sensitivities.  There are several theories as to why this is, but the bottom line is that if you are one of those people, changing what you eat (or don’t eat) can really improve your health.