Notes During Covid

Reminders during Covid:

1.Wear a mask the moment you step out of your door. Wash your mask at least 3x a week unless it is disposable.

2.Wash your hands.  Hand sanitizers do not work nearly as well.  Hand sanitizers destroy good bacteria along with the bad. Use warm soapy water, work up a lather so the soap bubbles can encapsulate the bad bacteria. According to recent studies at Emory University, cold water with a soapy lather will work, though not nearly as well as warm water, to encapsulate and kill bad bacteria. Continue reading

Need to Quit Wheat & Gluten?

I just graduated from the top Certified Gluten Practitioner (CGP) program in the world!

I began studying gluten-related disorders in 1985 due to life-long problems with eating wheat (something I did daily in my Dutch-American family the first 29 years of my life). In 2010, research led me to the work of world -renowned gluten specialist, Dr.Tom O’Bryan. Thankfully, Dr. Tom (www.thedr.com) developed a practitioner course to teach doctors and other health practitioners about gluten/wheat sensitivity, celiac disease, and related autoimmune disorders. In this course I learned that many gluten symptoms remain silent for years, that gluten KILLS people, and that gluten is the basis for at least 300 autoimmune diseases.

As a CGP, I can now offer you the newest state-of-the-art blood testing to give you definitive answers to these questions: Am I celiac? Am I non-celiac but still gluten sensitive? I am allergic to wheat but not to gluten? Can I eat wheat? If I cannot eat wheat, can I still eat barley and rye? What is the difference between being allergic to wheat or sensitive to gluten? Can I eat wheat once in a while without harming my body? Do I have intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”)? Continue reading

Got Ghee?

Certifying as a wellness coach and working with M.D.s and researchers in the area of food and supplements has been a great complement to my Pilates teaching. Something that has fascinated me recently is the beneficial use of GOOD dietary fat in my diet to increase my stamina and well being throughout my day!  One of the fats I use is called ghee. Continue reading

Voted among top area P.T. studios

I’m pleased that Van Halsema Pilates was voted one of the Top Physical Therapy Clinics in Santa Monica in the Opencare.com-verified 2015 Patients’ Choice Awards!

Here’s the official award information:

Top Physical Therapy Clinics in Santa Monica

Congratulations to Van Halsema Pilates for winning the 2015 Patients’ Choice Awards in Santa Monica Physical Therapist

Verified by
Opencare.com

Diet Matters

In a study published in The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, scientists at Arizona State University reported that healthy (but formerly sedentary) adult women who adopted a regular exercise routine not only gained weight, but increased body fat (not muscle mass).
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CoEnzyme Q-10: Clearing up the Confusion

Many of us already have heard about Coenzyme-Q10, the natural antioxidant synthesized by the body, found in many foods, and available in supplement form. It comes in two forms: ubiquinol, the active antioxidant form, and ubiquinone, the oxidized form, which the body partially converts to ubiquinol. Continue reading

Stress: Don’t Let It Make You Sick

The ff. is  excerpted directly from Elizabeth Agnvall’s article in the November 2014 AARP Bulletin.  It is worth repeating.

Scientists have long known that stress complicates a host of health problems.  Now they are discovering that chronic stress–a mainstay of modern life–doesn’t merely exacerbate disease, it actually can cause it.
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Nutritional Balancing Science

Hooray,  I have finished my academic studies and graduated with honors as a  certified Nutritional Balancing practitioner!   I am so happy to become a legal nutritional consultant, as I have been unofficially advising some of you about food as far back as 1985.
Along with my own 30-year journey studying food as medicine, I also have my clients to thank for motivating me to study the fascinating science of Nutritional Balancing.  It is an extraordinary program that originated in the 1940s with Dr. Paul Eck from the University of Chicago and is carried on today by Dr. Lawrence Wilson.
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Pilates and Multiple Sclerosis

Pilates is a very popular method of exercise that began in the early 1900s by its founder, Joseph Pilates.  It offers great benefits to individuals with Multiple Sclerosis, since it focuses on controlled breathing, core strengthening,  and smooth flowing movements.
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