There are two types of people in the world: Those who make New Year’s resolutions, and those who can’t wait for the resolution questions to diminish with time. Whether your yearly routine is to march gung-ho towards new goals or to quietly consider changing your lifestyle – or even to not make a change at all – January does present a clean slate with a new year and an opportunity to take a new lease on life with a fresh attitude. So much of our attitude is dependent on health and overall wellness, which makes this month a perfect time to check in on just that.
Local experts in health, beauty and wellness offer insights into various aspects of our presentation and lifestyle choices, from dietary choices, exercise and medical care to skin brightening creams, moisturizers and treatments for looking as young as you feel.
Start With Your Diet
Nutrition and dietary changes, along with exercise, often top the resolution list, and Touro wants to help the community achieve weight loss goals in a few different ways. On January 7, Touro offers “Weight Management: Diet Trends and Goal Setting,” a free event from 5:30-7:30 p.m. that includes weight, BMI and body mass screenings as well as a five-minute consultation with a dietitian. The website Touro.com/events offers a complete list of upcoming events while the Touro blog, Living Well (Touro.com/LivingWell), offers timely health information.
Julie Fortenberry, RD, LDN, Wellness and Lifestyle Nutritionist with Touro Infirmary, stresses the importance of preparing oneself for setbacks: “Know yourself and your limits. Give yourself some (but not unlimited) slack. The key is finding the balance that works for you.” According to Fortenberry, the first step in making a change is being aware of your habits – knowing what you eat and when you eat it. She stresses eating “real food” – not from a box or package – at least once a day and getting quality sleep, which can be just as important as eating well and exercising.
“Nutrition plays a huge role in lowering cholesterol levels, controlling blood pressure and diabetes and maintaining or losing weight,” says Fortenberry. “By seeking a trained professional to work on a plan that fits your needs, you can ensure you are doing what is personally best for you.”
In addition to a nutritionist, there’s another trained professional that many people today overlook as part of their healthcare regimen. In today’s world of available urgent cares, many people forget the importance of a primary care physician. At CrescentCare, one of the city’s newest Federally Qualified Health Centers, primary care services are key in providing quality care.
According to Marketing and Public Relations Specialist Jacob Windham, not only is primary care the frontline of diagnosis, it builds a necessary relationship between patient and physician for appropriate care consistent with patient needs.
Windham suggests that people looking to make dietary changes and those taking exercise supplements should check in with their primary care physician regarding any long-term or short-term medications they are on and any possible side effects they may experience.
“Open enrollment ends on January 31, and we have employees ready to assist anyone through the online enrollment process at our CrescentCare Health and Wellness Center,” he says.
Aside from dietary changes, getting fit and quitting smoking are also top resolutions, and Ochsner Health System offers solutions for both. Smoking presents innumerable health risks, and Ochsner offers a comprehensive smoking cessation program for those smokers who want to kick the habit. The program is free for anyone who qualifies through the Smoking Cessation Trust (Ochsner.org/StopSmoking).
Work On Your Workout
Across five locations, Ochsner’s Elmood Fitness Centers host a variety of programs to help people reach fitness goals. In addition to both high intensity and low intensity group classes (everything from Olympic Strength & Speed to Water Aerobics), Elmwood Fitness also offers personal training.
“Personal training is typically done in a one-on-one setting and is tailored to the client’s specific goals and needs. Personal training can also be offered in a group setting and through programs such as biggest loser, holiday fitness camps, weight loss camp, boot camp, and our new addition in January, ‘New Year Fitness Challenge,’” says Colin Brunet, NCCPT and Personal Training Coordinator.
There are a lot of factors to consider when choosing a fitness routine that is right for you, and if you have questions about a certain program or practice, don’t be afraid to ask.
Yoga is one practice (with many styles and levels) that people often find intimidating, but according to AC Lambeth, Certified Yoga Instructor at Wild Lotus Yoga, essentially, if you can breathe, you can do it.
“The great thing about yoga is that it meets you where you are. People at any age and at any level of fitness can start a yoga practice. You don’t have to wait until you’ve lost weight or become flexible or learned a specific move,” says Lambeth. “Most of all, yoga is versatile; you can start it anytime, do it anywhere and practice it for life.”
Part of what makes yoga such a popular practice is its range of benefits: greater strength, increased flexibility, lower blood pressure, increased self esteem, significant improvement in circulation, balance, digestion, sleep, immunity, metabolism and overall vitality, as well as a reduction of stress, anxiety and depression.
“There are many different styles of yoga, and the best way to know which is for you is to talk to the studio staff, tell them what you’re looking for from a yoga practice and inform them of any health issues you have,” says Lambeth.
Nothing quite helps you get motivated to look good like looking good while you work out, and active area women will be happy to hear that premier fitness apparel brand Athleta has arrived in the metro area. Now inside of Lakeside Shopping Center, Athleta’s 3,300-square-foot store will offer free in-store fitness classes, complimentary hemming and fit styling appointments.
Athleta
“With female athletes as its designers, Athleta creates versatile and fashionable performance and lifestyle apparel for the fitness-minded woman who lives life on the go,” says Andrea Hicklin, Senior Manager of PR. “Athleta offers apparel and gear for a range of activities from yoga and spin to strength training and running, as well as seasonal sports, including ski and tennis,” she says.
Specific to yoga, Hicklin is excited about their product offerings, including the high-rise bottoms: “They offer a triple dose of performance – keeps everything tucked in, has your ‘down dog’ covered and offers a super slimming, stay-put fit.”
Treating the Cosmetic
While slimming down or toning up are obvious tactics for looking and feeling good, there are also a number of cosmetic improvements one can make, whether it be through simply exfoliating and moisturizing skin, or by undergoing treatments to improve skin health or to improve problem areas that are stubborn or difficult to fix on your own.
At About Face of New Orleans clients typically want to see major results, so their most popular products and services are serums and chemical peels, which, according to Licensed Esthetician Jaime Schultz, are the ideal plan of attack against hyperpigmentation, acne, fine lines and skin in need of a smoother texture.
About Face of New Orleans offers a variety of products, and Schultz’s current favorite is the luxury line Cyto-luxe.
“The cleanser is creamy, has an amazing lather and has lactic acid, which makes it mildly exfoliating. Their eye cream is heaven! It will increase collagen and elastin, which means smooth, even skin around your eyes,” says Schultz. Her biggest recommendation, though, is the Hydration + Serum, which she suggests can benefit everyone.
About Face
“This serum has two forms of hyaluronic acid in it. This ingredient holds 1000x its weight in water. It pulls moisture from the air into the skin,” says Schultz.
New in 2016, About Face of New Orleans will begin offering dermaplaning, a procedure for exfoliating the skin and removing “peach fuzz.”
Healthy skin is also the focus of at Audubon Dermatology, where Drs. Deidre Hooper and Sarah Jackson continue to expand offerings with the new Cutera Enlighten laser, the first-ever dual wavelength laser that treats stubborn discoloration and unwanted tattoos from any skin type with minimal pain.
Also at Audubon Dermatology, CoolSculpting is a popular procedure for removing fat. The procedure doesn’t shrink fat cells (like dieting) but rather freezes them, causing them to disappear for good.
“A good candidate for CoolSculpting is someone who wants to treat that stubborn area of fat that they can’t seem to lose. If you can pinch it, we can freeze it,” says Dr. Hooper. “CoolSculpting uses controlled cooling technology to safely target and freeze fat cells, which are then naturally eliminated through your body’s lymphatic system. Results from CoolSculpting can be seen as soon as three weeks after treatment, with the most dramatic results seen two to three months after treatment,” she says.
Other ways of securing dramatic results include surgical options as well as minimally or non-invasive procedures, which are the expertise of Dr. Stephen E. Metzinger of Aesthetic Surgical Associates. Sought for his experience in breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, eyelid surgery, facelifts and tummy tucks, Dr. Metzinger also offers a number of non-invasive treatments and procedures such as Botox, fillers such as Juvederm and Radiesse, lasers, chemical peels and Ultherapy.
Aesthetic Surgical
For a non-invasive lift, Ulthera is an FDA-approved option for lifting the forehead, cheeks, lower eyelids and neck.
“Good candidates for Ulthera are men and women age 21 to 100 who want subtle but effective muscle skin soft tissue envelope tightening with no downtime and minimal bruising and swelling,” says Dr. Metzinger. Aesthetic Surgical Associates is now offering Kybella, an injection to dissolve fat in the submental area (under the chin). According to Metzinger, when combined with Ulthera, the new a procedure produces a more immediate result.
It is important to remember that results take time, no matter what improvements you pursue. Realistic expectations and goals are key to keeping your attitude fresh and making progress in your overall health and wellness. Whether you officially resolve to make the change or just know you need it, achieving results is completely within reach.
Touro Infirmary
1401 Foucher St.
897-7011 • Touro.com
CrescentCare Health & Wellness Center
3308 Tulane Ave.
207-CARE (2273)
CrescentCareHealth.org
Ochsner / Elmwood Fitness Center
New Orleans, Metairie,
Kenner, & Harahan
ElmwoodFitness.com
Wild Lotus Yoga
Uptown: 4842 Perrier St.
Downtown: 2372 St.
Charles Ave., Suite 200
899-0047 • WildLotusYoga.com
Athleta
(Inside Lakeside Shopping Center)
3301 Veterans Memorial Blvd.
Metairie
833-6808 • Athleta.com
About Face of New Orleans
701 Metairie Road #1B 106
Metairie
304-1556 • AboutFaceNOLA.com
Audubon Dermatology
3525 Prytania St. #501
895-3376
AudubonDermatology.com
Aesthetic Surgical Associates
3223 8th St., Suite 200
Metairie
309-7061 • AestheticSurgical.com