Mary Ellen Zung

Tips for Winter Wellness and Immunity Support

It seems that everywhere you turn people are just getting sick, are sick, or getting over a cold or bug.  It's that time of year where a number of perfect storm factors come together resulting in illness.  We are indoors more, the air is colder and dryer, we have more to do with the holiday season possibly resulting in stress and lack of sleep, and we are eating more sugar starting with Halloween and continuing through the holiday parties and Christmas cookies.  Following these holistic health and wellness tips can help prevent us from succumbing to illness. Tip #1 STAY HYDRATED Read More

Mary Ellen Zung

What a Meditation Practice Can Do for You

Establishing a consistent meditation practice, such as a certain time and place each day, has eluded me (so far). That said, I do practice meditation regularly and as a result I believe it has helped me learn to whether storms, keep my cool, accept what is, let go of what no longer serves me, and make better decisions.  Meditation offers all kinds of benefits for both mental and physical health.  Read on to understand these benefits.  Read More

Mary Ellen Zung

We all scream for "Nice-Cream"!

Nice Cream is a healthy substitute for ice cream, and you can easily make it from home with frozen fruit and a high speed blender.  Nice cream contains no dairy, no added sugar, and no added saturated fat.  Of course you could use a frozen avocado for a variation and enjoy the benefits of healthy monounsaturated fat rather than saturated fat found in dairy products. Most nice-cream will always start with a base of banana nice-cream.  Read More

Mary Ellen Zung

What’s the deal with new weight loss drugs?  

It’s become common to find people who are turning to a pill or injectable these days to help with health challenges such as overweight, high blood pressure (hypertension), and high blood sugar (leptin and insulin resistance, prediabetes, Type 2 diabetes).   We are told that to lose weight we should upset the calorie balance by taking in fewer calories (eating less) and burning more calories through exercise (moving more). This is only one part of weight loss which doesn’t consider things like our hunger and satisfaction hormones such ghrelin and leptin or our stress hormone cortisol, or our brain chemicals such as dopamine, serotonin, norepinephrine, beta endorphins, or our balance of amino acids.  You see, it’s complicated! Read More

Mary Ellen Zung

Healthy Spring Season Practices

Happy Spring! Did you know that according to ancient practices in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), each season is associated with specific qualities, elements, organs, emotions, and health recommendations? Perhaps you can pay attention to these characteristics of spring for even better health this year.    In spring, the organs we focus on are the liver and gallbladder.  Why, you may ask! The liver governs the smooth flow of Qi (vital energy) and blood throughout the body. The gallbladder, closely related to the liver, is responsible for decision-making and the courage to make choices.  You may hav heard me talk about eating with the seasons. Now is the time we want to focus on eating fresh green foods that are in season, such as leafy greens, sprouts, and fresh herbs. These foods support liver health and detoxification. Read More

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Mary Ellen Zung

Wellness Coaching at Work

How are your people doing at work?  Are they happy and healthy?  Are they getting enough sleep, managing stress, eating nutritious foods for energy and getting some physical activity in each day?  This is how we need to live for health and happiness in both our personal and professional lives.   Work plays a big role in our lives. Or at least, takes up a lot of our waking time and energy. Our relationship to our work, our colleagues and bosses, and our workplace largely influence our overall well-being. Our overall performance at work is also influenced by our well-being. Large employers may have resources for wellness programs including EAP's (Employee Assistance Programs), an on site gym, and health coaching through their health insurance carrier, but what about the other 99.9% of us who work for small to medium size companies? That's right, in fact about 90% of us work for companies with 20 or fewer employees without health and wellness program support. In comes health and wellness coaching for the small employer!  Wellness coaching is coaching for performance!  Wellness coaching helps you identify and install meaningful and lasting healthy lifestyle habits supporting work-life balance, joy at work and productive and creative flow. Read More

Mary Ellen Zung

Superfoods

Way back when in health coaching school, I learned about the benefits of raw foods and was introduced to some superfoods not so well known in the Standard American Diet (SAD).  You see raw foods or “live” foods contain enzymes which act as a catalyst for detoxification and absorption of nutrients.   Superfoods are a class of the most potent, super-concentrated, and nutrient-rich foods on the planet.  They are the optimum choice for improving overall health – increasing immune system, elevating serotonin production, enhancing sexuality, cleansing, lowering inflammation, and alkalizing the body! Are you using any of these superfoods in your diet? Read More