Physical Fitness

2016 A New Year for a New You!

Research and practice have shown the immense impact that lifestyle can play on our body as well as overall health. Many people feel that they lose control of their health when they are not feeling well or when life becomes busy or stressful. For this reason, the Stram Center believes it is essential to embrace a healthy lifestyle and allow people to take control of their health.

The coming of the New Year is a great time to work towards improving your lifestyle. Follow these 3 tips to become successful with your lifestyle transformation in 2016. Learn more about the Stram Center's New Improved Weight Loss and Lifestyle Transformation Program.

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NIA Focus: Feet and Heel Lead

Between the ages of 5 and 21 I took ballet and modern dance classes. When I walked, my feet were in habitual turn out. This was My Body’s Way of walking.I was proud of my ballet feet but eventually this caused me to have problems with my back.

It wasn’t until I started taking Nia in 2009, that I was shown that the body’s natural way of walking was in parallel.The healthy skeleton is built with the feet parallel directly under the pelvis.The Body’s Way of walking is the heel leads and then the whole foot comes down.If the foot is in turn out, the heel lead comes down on the side of the heel, throwing the pelvis, hips and spine out of alignment.This could cause eventual knee, hip and back problems.

I still catch myself walking with a slight turn out but quickly adjust my walk.When I walk now, my mantra is “heel lead, whole foot, heel lead whole foot, heel lead whole foot….”

Read more about the Stram Center Nia Classes

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The Weight Loss Puzzle


Most everyone wants to lose weight and many people are successful at losing some weight. But the difficulty often lies in keeping the weight off, or losing some weight, but not reaching your overall goals.

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Multi-Vitamins ? Are They Safe?

While a recent NBC News article and recent studies have been promoting the concept that multi-vitamins (MVI) are not safe or appropriate to take, MVI do show promise in being a useful part of an optimal health plan.

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Understanding and Managing Your Stress

Stress is the body and mind’s response to the demands of life. In a biological sense, stress can enhance survival (our reaction to meeting a bear in the woods, for example). In small amounts in everyday life, stress can be positive, such as when it helps you conquer a fear or provides extra endurance or motivation to complete a difficult task. Prolonged or intense stress however, can contribute to serious health problems (such as heart disease, obesity, depression, insomnia, high blood pressure and diabetes) through the release of hormones that were meant to protect us against threats.

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The Challenges of Weight Loss, Part 1

As drugs for weight loss are currently seeking approval by the FDA, one has gone the way of Fen-Phen and has been pulled off the market. The drug Meridia has been on the market since 1997 and boasted claims of at least 5 percent weight loss over placebo. However, Abbot Laboratories, the maker of the drug, voluntarily pulled the drug off the market due to clinical trials showing increased risk of heart attack and stroke.

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The Challenges of Weight Loss, Part 2

As we explored in part 1, diet and exercise remains a key factor in weight loss. But what happens when these are not enough? When what has worked in the past is no longer working? There could be other factors involved that could be hindering your ability to lose weight.

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Qi Gong for Spring

Qi gong is roughly translated as “skill and understanding of qi through practice and work.”  Qi itself is difficult to define, but can be thought of as the movement of life: from the movement of breath, to kissing a child goodnight.  It is both esoteric and obvious.

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Exercise 7 Hours Per Week?

Recently there was a study published in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) that concluded that women need to exercise 1 hour per day 7 days per week  to MAINTAIN weight, let alone lose weight. I have since heard on multiple T.V. and radio broadcasts about the study, and the reaction from women has not been positive, for obvious reasons. Women lead very busy lives and finding the time for 1 hour of exercise every day sounds more like burden than anything else.  So I’m writing this blog to shed some light on this study, and to clarify what the study actually concluded.

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