Change habits and regain good health

By Heather Killen

Spectator

NovaNewsNow.com

The New Year is the best time to change habits and tip the scales to benefit a healthy lifestyle.

Sandra Briand Quinn, owner of The Healing Herb Nutrition and Lifestyle Centre in Lawrencetown, is a registered holistic nutritional consultant who offers individual consultations, group workshops, and weekend retreats on various health-related topics including nutrition, breast health, personal transformation, and lifestyle changes.

Sandra first became interested in holistic health while she was in her early 20s. She'd been seriously ill and doctors were unable to help her. Instead of giving up, she decided to take responsibility for her own wellbeing and began looking at how she could regain her health. "I began studying nutrition and turned to food as a means to healing myself and making changes to my lifestyle," she said. "People can have a direct effect on the quality of their health and we can educate them on how to do this."

Originally from Halifax, she traveled extensively before settling in Toronto. When she turned 50 years old, she decided that she wanted to shift her focus during the second half of her life. “I wanted to give something back,” she said. “I wanted to make a contribution through one of my two loves -- art and food.”

She enrolled in a two-year program to study holistic nutrition. She said that the body isn't designed to process the overwhelming amounts of chemicals the average person is now exposed to during a lifetime of pesticides, paints, perfumes, preservatives, and cleaning agents.

Because the body can't process these chemicals, circulatory systems can become clogged and eventually the body develops symptoms of common conditions such as allergies, asthma, high cholesterol, and diabetes.

Also the hectic pace of everyday living and fast food can throw the body out of balance. "The symptoms most people exhibit are diseases of deficiency and excess and most of us have one or the other," she said. "The key is learn how to balance our lives by restoring our physical well being through proper nutrition, and regaining our spiritual balance."

The body is capable of restoring itself naturally when given wholesome foods, a healthy boost with nourishing herbs, and homeopathic drainage, according to Briand Quinn. She and her husband Kenneth Quinn offer comprehensive workshops that assist individuals to make healthy lifestyle choices starting at the kitchen sink.

They offer off-site pantry purges where they transform their clients’ cupboards from junk-food-junctions to healthy whole-food-havens. Processed foods often lack nutritional value, so that while people may eat healthy portions of food, they are actually malnourished because they are missing the essential nutrients.

Also chemical preservatives affect the mind and the body. While many multi-tasking people often depend on prepackaged meals to save time, a little know-how can easily replace the old mainstays with wholesome alternatives.

The pantry purge is aimed at supporting people to make that first step towards changing their lifestyles, by encouraging new eating habits from the countertops up.

The couple practice Ayurveda, an ancient East Indian 'science of life' that promotes natural healing by balancing the body's own elemental constitution. This view recognizes that individual health can be affected by seasons, the person's activities, and the properties of the foods she eats.

Cooking workshops, led by Quinn who has 35 years of experience as a vegetarian chef and caterer, aim to provide a bounty of recipes for meatless meals. These cooking classes will be held onsite using seasonal organic vegetables straight from the Quinns' garden.

Kenneth also specializes in planning and preparing plant-based allergy-specific menus and recipes, so individuals can benefit from his extensive background in preparing special meals.

Other workshops focus on nutritional avenues that will naturally aid digestion, maintain a healthy weight, boost the immune system, and promote healthy bones. These seminars will be held at various times, and also by request.

Nutritional consultations, weekend retreats, and personal transformation workshops are among the other services they offer. The personal transformation workshops encourage individuals and groups to develop a healthy self-identity through a variety of techniques including meditation, journaling, and self-reflection.

Briand Quinn also offers healthy breast workshops aimed at educating women about the nutritional, physical, environmental, and emotional issues surrounding breast cancer prevention. Various risk factors and diet will be considered, and the role that assertiveness, anger, and joy plays in breast health.

Regular bra fitting clinics will be offered throughout the year. Briand Quinn carries a special line of custom-fit bras that are designed to promote support and enable proper circulation to improve breast health for women of all ages and body types.

The first Bra Fitting clinic of the New Year will be held Thursday, Jan. 8, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Lawrencetown. Ladies can call for an appointment time and directions. A post-holiday detox workshop will be held Sunday, Jan. 4 from 2 to 4 p.m.

To arrange an appointment or for further information, call 584-3181. The Healing Herb Nutrition and Lifestyle Centre is located on the Carleton Rd. in Lawrencetown, or online at www.The HealingHerb.com