Monday's Kaizen Healthy Lifestyle class involved everyone in reviewing common food choices and identifying at least one nutritionally superior alternate.  The alternate had to be similar and tasty...no sense pretending you would just as soon eat cottage cheese as vanilla ice cream.  Many pairs were discussed - one item to Choose, one item to Lose.  For example, when looking at sugar content, their is no contest between orange Crystal Lite (choose) and carton orange juice (lose).  Significantly lower in sugar and calories are Emerald's Cocoa Roasted Almonds vs. peanut M & Ms.   Lose a lot of saturated fat by choosing olive oil over butter. Lose a ton of sodium by choosing low-sodium chicken broth over bouillion cubes.  Add fiber and a healthier carb by choosing rolled oats instead of bread crumbs in your recipes calling for filler.   You may have seen the book series 'Eat This - Not That', which is the same concept.  The problem with those books is they are NOT presenting a truly healthy choice with each 'Eat This' recommendation. They are simply saying one of the pair is better than the other... but it is often the lesser of two evils.  The Kaizen Healthy Lifestlye class is much more discerning.  Handouts from the 'Choose It-Lose It' class will be free to visitors at the upcoming Love Your Life Health Expo March 26 at Kaizen Total Wellness center in Lakewood Ranch.

We are very proud to sponsor a community-wide health fair, the first annual Love Your Life Health Expo, on Saturday, March 26th, 2011 from 10 am to 3 pm at the Kaizen Total Wellness Center located at 11505 Palmbrush Trail, near the intersection of Lakewood Ranch Blvd. and Hwy 70.

Free and open to the public, “Love Your Life 2011” will feature a wide variety of health care, safety and educational booths, each of which will focus on one of the many ways a person can protect their family,health and home.

Kaizen Total Wellness will have a full schedule of brief classes every half-hour featuring speakers Dr. Harvey Mishner, Marissa M. Brattole, Ph.D., and Sue Fox, a representative with Alzheimer’s Association, to name just a few. Topics to be addressed include Kaizen‘s Total  Wellness Plan, ways to improve self-esteem and body image, dealing with mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease and several other vital healthtopics.