fitcity-admin, Author at Fit City Magazine

o Read a book about mindfulness

o Eat an entire meal in silence — pay attention to the act of eating and to the taste of the food

o Go for a walk — with no iPhone, no music…. just pay attention

o Get a mindfulness coloring book and spend an afternoon coloring

o Start a gratitude journal — and write in it once a week

o Try a 45-minute meditation session

o Take a 24-hour technology detox no phone, Internet, TV, etc.

o Forgive someone for something (maybe yourself?)

o Take a class — art, drumming, dance, tai chi

o Make a list of the things you love about yourself

o Declutter an area in your house that’s driving you crazy

o Watch a sunrise

o Add a “good news only” outlet to your Facebook feed (like HuffPost Good News).

Photo: Vicko Mozara

When the word “summer” is brought up, almost immediately the words that come to mind are sunshine, and watermelon! To me, watermelon is one of the most iconic summer foods and I can hardly get enough. Going beyond taste, watermelon is very hydrating due to the high level of water and minerals it contains making it the perfect snack for a hot summer day. So, to use this beloved fruit, I created a recipe that will not only wow the adults at your next summer gathering, but one the kids will be asking for time and time again!

INGREDIENTS

1 watermelon, cut into 1 in x 2 in square blocks 1 log of goat cheese
1 large bunch of basil, cut into slender pieces
1 cup balsamic vinegar
1⁄4 cup honey
Coarse ground sea salt
Sliced basil and sea salt
Drizzle with the balsamic/honey reduction

PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS

Over medium heat, combine the balsamic vinegar and honey until the mixture comes to a slight simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for around 15-20 minutes or until the vinegar is reduced by around half.

While the vinegar/honey reduction is cooking, wash and cut the watermelon into 1 in x 2 in blocks so that two or three blocks can be stacked on top of one another.

Slice the basil into thin strips and set aside.

Take one block of watermelon and a small amount of the goat cheese and coat it as if you were buttering toast. Do this until you are 3 watermelon blocks high.

Sprinkle the basil and ground sea salt on top of each stack.

Lightly drizzle with the balsamic/honey reduction and enjoy!

If you are looking for a more casual presentation of this recipe, here are instructions for making this into more of a fruit salad.

Recipe:
Christine Forsythe RD, LD

Photo: Elena Koych

A Missouri native turned Okie for life is determined to improve the lives of Oklahomans through educating the state’s population on the power of supplements.

Contributor: Nazarene Iqbal Harris
On any given day twenty-six-year-old Kevin Wilhite is doing what he loves most – working out, eating well and educating Oklahomans on health and fitness. Wilhite is one of many Sooner State residents determined to improve upon statistics that year after year rank Oklahoma as one of the least healthiest places to live, work and raise a family. A 2017 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention placed Oklahoma among the top five states in the nation with the highest percentage rates for adult obesity.

“I think there’s a movement in Oklahoma right now to change these statistics,” Wilhite said. “We’re beginning to realize the impact our health has on our lives and on our communities.”

A 2018 study published by publichealth.org, revealed that one in three children in the United States is now considered overweight or obese.

“The long term consequences of this childhood obesity epidemic are devastating,” the study’s authors stated. “Today’s children may be the first generation in U.S. history to lead shorter and less healthy lives than their parents.”

The study revealed several health problems associated with obesity and poor diet, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, depression, respiratory disease, cognitive health issues and musculoskeletal disorders.

A healthier Oklahoma, Wilhite said, has to begin with education.

“We kind of live by this motto: Our customers are our friends first,”
Wilhite said. “So we don’t just want to sell customers products, we want to get to know them, and we want to educate them on how supplements can make a difference in their lives.”

In 2015, Wilhite, a Missouri native who attended Missouri State University was working at a Supplement Superstore, one of a nationally recognized supplement store chain. He decided to leave the Show-Me State with two friends and traveled southwest to open their own supplement store in north Oklahoma City. While the trio remain good friends, Wilhite said, he is now the sole owner of Triad Fitness + Supplements + Nutrition located at 14201 N. May Avenue.

“We were open to moving to literally anywhere in the U.S for our business,” Wilhite said. “Oklahoma City really stood out because the market for health products here is so unsaturated yet at the same time the city is growing rapidly.”

Products at Triad Fitness + Supplements + Nutrition include everything from multivitamins to protein powders.

“We have a pretty wide range of customers as well,” Wilhite said.

“We have athletes who come in wanting to know what products they can use to get the most out of their workouts and we have busy moms who come in wanting to know how they can increase their energy.” Every so often, Wilhite said, a customer will come into the store with a doctor’s note in hand.

Full disclosure

Unlike medical prescriptions, Wilhite said, nutritional supplements remain a genre of products unregulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration. The lack of oversight has resulted in too many instances of gimmick products that have left potential buyers understandably cautious.

There are two ways to ensure that products are legitimate, Wilhite said.

“While product owners can’t offer FDA regulated supplements, we can ensure that our products are manufactured in facilities that are FDA regulated,” Wilhite said. “Any product you buy should be manufactured in an FDA regulated facility and should also list all ingredients on the package with a full disclosure label.”

Wilhite said he warns his customers not to go for supplements that boast a “proprietary blend” of ingredients instead of listing each ingredient individually.

When customers come into Triad Fitness + Supplements + Nutrition with health concerns, questions or even a diagnosis, Wilhite’s team is prepared to answer questions and to educate. Every sales associate, the business owner said, has to become certified in personal training and health through an intense educational process before they can meet with customers.

A Successful Foundation

While not every Oklahoman is looking for a specific supplement, Wilhite said, nearly every individual could benefit from adding at least three to their diet.

Every day, Wilhite said, we consume macronutrients – which we get from proteins, carbohydrates and fats – and micronutrients – which we get mainly from fruits and vegetables. A lack of micronutrients, Wilhite said, is responsible for most nutritional deficiencies.

“With our modern diets and the foods available to us today, there really is just no way to get the amount of micronutrients our bodies need by consuming food alone,” Wilhite said.

The remedy, the young entrepreneur said, can be found in a simple multivitamin. Wilhite recommends taking a multivitamin, a probiotic and fish oil daily. The three supplements combined, he said, heal nutrient-
deprived bodies and serve as the foundation for a healthy lifestyle.

Wilhit’s team includes supplement consultants Alfonso Lopez and Zach Junker, administrator Alyssa Marconi, assistant operator Trace Thews, and Anthony Hust, a supplement consultant in training.

“I wasn’t born and raised in Oklahoma but I plan on staying here for life,” White said proudly. “I can honestly say I love getting up every day and going to work because for me, it doesn’t feel like work, it feels like I’m making lifelong friends and a difference in their lives while I’m at it.”

To learn more about Triad Fitness + Supplements + Nutrition visit triadfsn.com.

The CBD/medical marijuana store owned by mother and son team, Miranda Mitto and Talon Hull, provides community members with health and happiness.

Contributor: Nazarene Iqbal Harris and Erika Oliveira

Located in the heart of the Western Avenue District, Sage Wellness is a boutique cannabis dispensary where you can find anything from CBD pet treats and stimulating bath bombs to a plethora of cannabis products. Although Sage carries top of the line products such as Kush Queen and Herb Essentials, it’s their outpouring of love for the community and “like family atmosphere” that keep people coming back for more.

In an industry that’s overrun with large franchise dispensaries, Sage Wellness is unique in the fact that it is family owned and run by mother and son team Miranda Mitto and Talon Hull.

“We are Okies through and through,” Mitto said.

“Sage Wellness is family business where we know you and even your dog by name.”

“Seeing what we are doing for children with autism, brain injuries, epilepsy and attention disorders has brought tears to our eyes on many occasions,”

Before Talon Sage Hull was born he felt the magic of the historic

community marketplace at 4200 N Western Avenue in Oklahoma City. Still in his mother’s womb and possibly enjoying a sugar surge, Hull was first introduced to the iconic building when it housed 42nd Street Candy Co. where Hull’s mother, Miranda Mitto, had Talons baby shower two decades ago.

Last year when Hull proposed opening a CBD/THC store and medical

marijuana dispensary, 4200 N Western was the prime real estate Mitto set her sights on. Forty-Second-Street Street Candy Co. had gone out of

business after 39 years and, in May of 2018, Sage Wellness was born taking the candy store’s former spot.

The store is both retail and dispensary, Mitto said, selling both CBD and THC products while dispensing medical marijuana to those legally

authorized to purchase the product.

CBD and THC are sold in a variety of forms including hygiene, skincare, edible and smokable products as well as through intimate items and even pet items.

Sage Wellness may be a dispensary from the outside, but on the inside it’s a place to gather, laugh and take a break from life. “We love this community,” Mitto said.

The family receives the most satisfaction, they said, from witnessing the health benefits medical marijuana has on their customers. “Seeing what we are doing for children with autism, brain injuries, epilepsy and
attention disorders has brought tears to our eyes on many occasions,” Mitto said. “Seeing what we are doing for adults with the same ailments as well as arthritis, cancer, migraines, fibromyalgia, sleeping disorders,
anxiety, chronic pain and inflammation is incredibly rewarding.”

Both Mitto and Hull believe that being able to provide healing and relief for their neighbors, friends and loved ones is more than a dream come true – it’s magic.

To learn more about Sage Wellness visit sagewellnessokc.com or swing by their location and say hi!

Owners of the fastest growing healthcare franchise in the country bring their business to Oklahoma and make healing Sooner residents their priority.

With more than 76 million people living with chronic pain in the United States and with Oklahoma leading the nation in opioid use, it’s no wonder Sooner residents are turning to alternative healing methods, like physical therapy, like never before.

Among the many physical therapy businesses in Oklahoma City, physical therapist, Lauren Peterson said her business franchise, Fyzical Therapy and Balance Centers, is the fastest growing healthcare franchise in the country.

A native Oklahoman, Peterson opened Fyzical Therapy, located in Oklahoma City at 7415 N May Avenue, last year, after earning a doctorate degree in physical therapy and starting a family with her husband and business partner, Sean Peterson. Together, the duo have begun healing Oklahomans with a franchise that is headquartered in Florida but spearheads healing in multiple states across the nation.

“It’s a dream come true to be helping Oklahomans,” Lauren Peterson said. “I’ve worked and lived in other states, and there really is no place like home.”

Once a classically trained ballerina, Peterson’s reality shifted after she was injured while practicing the sport.

“Healing the body through movement became a passion of mine,” she said.

Through education and practice Peterson began realizing that many ailments typically treated through medication can actually be healed and even prevented through proper use of physical therapy.

One example, Peterson said, is the treatment of vestibular balance issues.

Balancing properly becomes exceedingly more difficult as we age since proper balance is attributed to good eyesight, hearing and somatosensory pathways of the ankles and feet, all of which can lessen in quality with age, Peterson said.

Another example is the onset of vestibular balance issues.

As the organs in the ear degrade with age, maintaining proper balance

becomes a struggle.

“If I were to tell someone that a buildup of very small crystals in their ear was making them dizzy, they would think I was crazy, but the reality is that’s what happens with age,” Peterson said.

The medication the geriatric community is typically prescribed by traditional doctors to remedy the dizzying sensation that comes with hearing loss and the aging process only cures the symptoms, she said.

By utilizing proper physical therapy maneuvers, the need to take medicine for vestibular balance issues is often eliminated altogether and BPPV, or the buildup of calcium carbonate crystals in the ear canal, is healed through movement instead of medicine.

While Fyzical Therapy and Balance Centers is known for helping
individuals with balance issues and with pelvic pain, a plethora of other services are provided, including exercises that heal and prevent cardiovascular issues, sports injuries, chronic back and neck pain, arthritis, joint replacements, knee injuries and carpal tunnel syndrome.

To learn more about Fyzical Therapy and Balance Centers in Oklahoma City visit: fyzical.com/oklahoma-city

Former Oklahoma City professional fitness competitor, Sarah Van Ahn, launches meal prep business to help women look and feel their best

Like many women, Sarah Van Ahn had mixed emotions about turning the often dreaded big 4-0. The year after Van Ahn turned 39, she suffered through the sting of a divorce while watching her slowing metabolism take hostage of her energy and emotions.

Her fortieth birthday was turning point for Van Ahn, a former dental assistant and mother of three who had sacrificed career for family for over a decade. Van Ahn’s divorce left her questioning how she would take care of her family’s finances, health and wellbeing and somehow not lose herself in the process or surrender to what seemed like the threshold for middle age despair.

“I developed a huge heart for women in their 40’s,” Van Ahn said. “If the struggle isn’t real for women before they turn 40, it’s undeniable after. Women in their 40’s are dealing with so much – our children growing up causes us to reexamine our identities while our metabolism takes a
nosedive and our hormones go on hiatus.”

Van Ahn saw her fortieth birthday as a defining moment of sink or swim, fight or flight. Equipped with her faith, family and a passion for fitness, Van Ahn decided to fight.

Determined to not “surrender to simply buying bigger jeans after 40,” Van Ahn began training for, and eventually competing in, fitness competitions. She learned the art of clean eating and meal prepping while focusing on self love like never before.

Last year Van Ahn launched her meal prepping and life coaching business, F[RE]SH, standing for [re]imagining, [re]newinig and [re]loving the [re]al you.

Because proper nutrition accounts for 70 percent of weight loss, Van Ahn said proper meal prepping alone can help her clients shed pounds in addition to improving their overall health.

For under $200 a week, Van Ahn’s clients receive three meals a day made and delivered by her, along with individualized fitness coaching and meal prepping instructions.

While meal prepping is not a new practice, Van Ahn pointed out it is relatively new to the Sooner State and is sweeping down the plains, swooping up fans along the way.

“It hasn’t always been easy for me to be this vulnerable about my life,” Van Ahn said. “If I thought other women couldn’t relate, I think it would be harder for me to be so open. I know there are a lot of women out there like me, and I want to inspire them to believe that 40 is not the beginning of the end but rather a chance to renew.

To learn more about F{RE}SH visit www.sarahvanahn.com

Contributor: Skinlab Injectables – Oklahoma City Aesthetic Injectables

WHAT IS DRIP THERAPY?

Drip Therapy, also known as hydration therapy, consists of a custom blend of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants delivered intravenously (IV). With drip therapy, hydration and nourishment occur at the cellular level (hydration from the inside out!), allowing for greater absorption and larger doses, not otherwise achieved orally.

WHAT IS HYDRATION THERAPY USED FOR?

It quickly remedies a variety of conditions, leaving you revitalized and refreshed.

Boost immunity
Improve energy levels
Hangover therapy
Maintain optimal wellness
Headache/migraine management
Detoxify for improved complexion
Athletic performance
Improves jet lag

WHERE CAN I SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT?

Skinlab Injectables offers Drip Therapy at both Nichols Hills and Norman locations. To schedule an appointment call or text 405.436.1000, find them on Instagram and Facebook @skinlab_injectables or visit them online at skinlabinjectables.com.

Treatments range from $120 – $160 per session.

1 orange peeled and cut into segments

2 granny smith apples cut into quarters

2 honeycrisp apples cut into quarters

½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

3 cinnamon sticks (or ½ tablespoon ground)

1-2 tablespoon honey (for a touch of sweetness…not necessary though)

Place all ingredients in a small slow cooker or medium saucepan and cover with water. Set slow cooker on low for about 8 hours (simmer on low stove for about 5-7 hours).

Remove cinnamon sticks and mash up fruit. Continue simmering for one more hour. Strain and mash out fruit into pitcher. Serve warm or keep in fridge for a week. Heat up in microwave for about 30 seconds.

Contributor: Justin Smith – CPT and FNS
Photography: Jordan Mobley

We all have great intentions. If you are like many people, you set a new year’s resolution or goal to lose weight, hit the gym more, get stronger or run a half marathon. While the intent is pure, these resolutions often fade quickly and give way to job demands, house responsibilities, relationship development, schoolwork, and parenting, among other duties. According to Forbes, after 30 days only 25% of people are still committed to their resolutions, and a mere 8% of people follow through consistently on their resolutions throughout the entire year.

With the arrival of spring, we often feel a sense of doom if we are among the 92% that don’t fully follow through on
these great intentions from January 1st. This feeling of
trepidation can be exacerbated when we begin seeing our friends’ beach pictures on Facebook/Instagram and they’re looking toned and curvy in their bikini or muscular and ripped in their swim shorts.

Spring is an energizing time of year. Snow, ice and 30-degree
temperatures give way to warm sunny days and brisk evenings.
Daylight hours increase, outdoor events and charity runs become pervasive and vacations with friends and/or family are ubiquitous. The combination of warm weather and vacations can cause us to avoid going to the gym. However, being away from your normal routine at home doesn’t mean you need to forego your workouts. Whether you are preparing to look your best for spring break, want to be outdoors more, or want to continue to workout while on vacation, here is a list of exercises: