SWIHA Blog

It’s no secret: Our society is saturated with unhealthy, unbalanced options for food. In fact, many households spend over three-thousand dollars--or 10% of the average income--eating out per year; the United States fast food industry is forecasted to make 223 billion dollars by 2020.

The Standard American Diet (S.A.D) is causing an epidemic of diabetes, cancer, heart disease and a slew of other ailments to affect ourselves, friends, family and loved ones. According to the U.S Department of Health & Human Services and the Center for Disease Control:

Anthony Oliver has always loved science, nature, psychology and helping others, though he wasn’t always sure how to merge all of those things into a profitable future.

“The thing that led me to SWIHA was my mother, Veronica Oliver, because she had completed the Mind Body Wellness Practitioner program and is now a certified Clinical Hypnotherapist,” he tells us, “She told me that I should consider taking nutrition classes through SWIHA, and intuitively it felt right to me.”

Anthony recently graduated from the Holistic Nutrition Wellness Practitioner program and is awaiting examinations for his Behavior Modification Specialist and Fitness Nutrition Specialist certifications. He says that SWIHA significantly changed his life in a multitude of ways: “I value myself much more than I did before because I know I have credentials now that make me marketable and I am more knowledgeable about holistic methods of healing.”

Herbs and spices have been an integral part of cuisines around the world since the days of hunter-gatherers; and not just for their taste! Early Egyptians, Indians and Greeks are just a few cultures who have documented the use of herbs and spices for medicinal purposes and passed down their knowledge from generation to generation.

In the present-day, modern science has uncovered some fascinating properties to these tasty additions, reaffirming some ancient knowledge and discovering new ways of thinking about what we put in to our meals. As the great thinker, Hippocrates, advised us: “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”

Today, we’ll be looking at some super seasonings and their studied health benefits!

More than ever, consumers are paying close attention to what they put in their body, avoiding unbalanced fast food in favor of organic whole foods. This shift toward a wellness-conscious mindset is changing the landscape of the health industry and fueling an increased demand for reputable, knowledgeable authorities on Holistic Nutrition.

We at Southwest Institute of Healing Arts witness firsthand the amazing transformations that passionate Nutrition Coaches facilitate, and we love supporting our graduates as they embark on their journey of becoming conscious, successful wellness pioneers! Our graduates have become motivational speakers, opened restaurants and catering businesses, written wellness blogs and cookbooks, and created successful coaching businesses. The one thing they all have in common? They began with a passion for healthy food!

My personal favorite quality of Janet Lee’s, a Holistic Nutrition instructor at SWIHA, is that she can make a heavenly cheesecake--and it’s all nutritious, raw vegan ingredients! A close contender is her ability to deliver her wisdom and knowledge in a relatable, engaging way. Each interaction, you’ll come away with a fascinating food fact or thinking: “Wow! I didn’t know I could do that with my veggie scraps.”

“I’ve always enjoyed hearing about people’s journeys,” she explains, “and I thought [Life Coaching] would be a nice compliment to my interest in nutrition coaching.”

‘Tis the season! Holidays are a time of joy and generosity filled with friends and families gathering to celebrate in their own unique ways.

However, it’s easy to get caught up in the holiday hype and forget to be mindful amid the shopping sprees and ample sugar. Today we’re diving in to the Spirit of the Season and sharing some healthy holiday tips to celebrate consciously!

The brain is such a complicated machine that we’ve barely scratched the surface of its mysteries. In the last five years, however, many researchers have focused heavily on how our minds are affected by things such as nutrition, environmental pollution, screen time and multi-tasking. They’re exploring beyond mental health and now observing brain health—the ways in which the organ is physically responding to our fast-changing lifestyle.

With every new study, science uncovers a facet of the relationship between our body and our body. Optimal brain health will be at the forefront of wellness in the upcoming years, so today we'll look at some ways that holistic healing can help support mind, body and spirit.

‘Tis the season! Holidays are a time of joy and generosity filled with friends and families gathering to celebrate in their own unique ways.

However, it’s easy to get caught up in the holiday hype and forget to be mindful amid the shopping sprees and ample sugar. Today we’re diving in to the Spirit of the Season and sharing some healthy holiday tips to celebrate consciously!

Kelly St. Claire was enjoying her life as a mother of two with a successful career as a hairstylist when she suddenly felt as though something was missing from her life.

“I love beauty. However, my passion also lay in holistic and energetic healing,” Kelly explains, “I didn’t know the term ‘multi-passionate’ at the time. I just thought I was flighty and that in order to get into my holistic health work I’d have to leave my beauty work. I struggled with it for a long time.”

The urge to expand in to healing eventually led Kelly to take many holistic workshops in order to stretch her knowledge base and get inspired. That’s how she found Southwest Institute of Healing Arts!

If you love the idea of improving lives, educating others and creating meaningful work for yourself, then you’re already in the mindset of a holistic entrepreneur—and you’ve come to the right place!

Southwest Institute of Healing Arts offers a plethora of holistic wellness education, and has helped thousands of individuals take their gifts out into the world in a loving and profitable way.

Today, we’ll explore one of our most in-demand programs: our 200-hour Holistic Nutrition certification, available online and on campus. In fact, the food featured in this blog was created by SWIHA Holistic Nutrition student, Roman Massey and his classmates!