Essential Practices for Optimal Health


Online, 9-week live, instructor-led course


Do you strive to live a balanced life? Do you spend most of your days eating nourishing meals, moving your body, practicing kindness, getting restful sleep, and reducing chronic stress? This is a path that many of us are on, but to achieve lasting wellness requires consistency, intention, and practice.

That’s exactly what our 9-week course is designed to help you achieve. We’re focused on the essentials that will help you reach your best, so that you can decrease your risk of chronic disease, strengthen your immune system, achieve a healthy body weight, and more. These interactive classes will help you build confidence and awareness, with an emphasis on implementing effective change. By the end of the course, you will have the motivation and tools to make wellness the cornerstone of your everyday life.

A woman enjoying a plant-based meal

Understand the connection between lifestyle and chronic disease.

Implement wellness strategies and techniques to improve overall health and longevity.

Prepare a variety of nutrient-dense whole food, plant-based meals.


Program Costs: $379

Engage:

in a live, instructor-led interactive group setting

Learn:

from lifestyle experts and plant-based nutritionists

Connect:

with a community of likeminded individuals

Week 1: Your Wellness Journey Starts Now

This introductory class sets the foundation for your journey. We will take a look at the emerging field of lifestyle medicine, and you will learn about the six focus areas that have the greatest ability to improve health and longevity. We will explore the lifestyle habits of centenarians and reveal the commonalities of people who live in the Blue Zones, so that you can build on well-documented patterns of success.

Week 2: Optimal Nutrition: Building a Better Plate

America is overweight, and the standard American diet plays a significant role. To make matters worse, there’s so much conflicting information about nutrition. It’s no wonder confusion abounds. This class will address that confusion. You’ll explore the evidence on fad dieting, related myths about food, and the science supporting a whole food, plant-based lifestyle. You will learn how to define and identify ultra-processed foods and explore how they are connected to chronic inflammation.

Week 3: Getting Started in the Kitchen

Adopting and maintaining a whole food, plant-based (WFPB) lifestyle is going to be so much easier for you if your environment is organized for a successful journey. This includes cleaning out your refrigerator and freezer, clearing out the unhealthy foods in your cabinets, preparing your space for cooking, and incorporating the practice of mise en place in your kitchen. In addition to getting your kitchen prepared, you will also need to navigate the supermarket and read food labels properly. Finally, once you’re back in the kitchen, there are a number of skills that will make food preparation much easier, including knife skills and oil-free sautéing techniques.

Week 4: Optimal Nutrition & Gut Health

There are trillions of bacteria that live in your digestive tract, and each plays a role in maintaining (or disrupting) your health. Building upon the foundation of a WFPB diet, we will focus on nutrient density to ensure the right balance of carbohydrate, protein, and fat intake. Learn how to optimize your good bacteria to boost your mood, achieve a healthy body weight, and strengthen your immune system.

Week 5: Meal Prep 101

Meal prep is an important concept in plant-based cooking. Dr. Evelisse Capó will share with you tips and techniques to help you save time and your sanity. Meal prepping is a very efficient way to make sure you have some or all of your food cooked, prepped, and ready to go for the week. Think of it like creating your own “fast food” restaurant at home so that during the week, you have quick and easy meals. She will also help build a meal plan around a few favorite staples.

Week 6: Simple Solutions for Better Sleep

Restorative sleep is a key component of optimal health, yet many people are unable to fall or stay asleep. Poor sleep habits undermine our physical and emotional well-being. In this class, you’ll learn the importance of healthy sleep and its link to improved brain and cardiovascular health. We’ll also cover a variety of practical strategies and solutions to help you achieve a better night’s sleep.

Week 7: Decrease Stress & Increase Movement

Persistent, unaddressed stress is linked to numerous chronic health conditions. Learn the importance of our body’s fight-or-flight response and the rest-and-digest response, specifically as they relate to calming the central nervous system. You’ll learn a variety of stress reducing tips and techniques. We will also explore the benefits of strengthening and moving your body, getting out into nature, and mindful movement.

Week 8: Meal Prep 102

In this second installment, we will show you different strategies for meal preparation, including batch cooking and tips for smaller households. We’ll focus on how you can adapt batch cooking strategies to fit your preferred tastes and level of variety. Chef Del will show you how to build a meal plan around a few versatile staples so that you can increase your efficiency in the kitchen without sacrificing variety.

Week 9: Putting the Essentials into Practice

This final class will emphasize the importance of connecting with community and building social support. Humans are social creatures, and finding a safe and trustworthy support network is critical to your wellness journey. We will finish the course by reviewing our personal goals and understanding our intentional practices.

Required Materials: Journal or notebook and something to write with