What are Wellness Programs?
Wellness programs help people learn to take control of their health and habits. For example, people may learn: how to change habits, lose weight, lower cholesterol, reduce heart disease risk, mend a problematic gut. The goal is to reach optimal health through diet and lifestyle. We offer: 1) custom wellness programs, 2) the Healthy Heart Habits program, and 3) The Permanent Weigh Down program. The programs are for individuals or groups.
Be Well! “Complete vitality and a long, disease-free life is within everyone’s reach if we choose a healthy diet, stay active, and minimize our stress. Health promoting lifestyle habits can be learned and enjoyable!” Teri Underwood, Founder Sustainable Diets
Custom Wellness and Nutrition Programs
We offer online individual and group education. Custom programs can be developed as: interactive-live sessions, webinars, or videos. Sample Past Topics:
- Eating for High Level Health: What is High Level Health and how do you achieve it?
- Protein and Health: How much do you really need to stay well?
- Vitamins and Minerals and Health: Do you need to take supplements?
- Gluten Free Cooking and Shopping
- Other Topics areas: Healthy Cooking, Recipe Demonstration, Functional Medicine Nutrition Therapy, Gut Health, Cardiovascular and Metabolic Fitness, Wellness, Weight Loss, Behavior Modification, Supplements, and The Diet-Environment Connection. Cooking demonstrations or healthy food samples/recipes are also available.
The Permanent Weigh Down Weight Loss Program
The Permanent Weigh Down weight loss program developed by Teri Underwood, RD, MS, CD, founder of Sustainable Diets is a program that guides participants through the process of change in a comfortable, enjoyable, and healthy manner enabling you to make controlled lifestyle changes that lead to permanent change and weight loss. The program includes nutrition education, practical information, and habit change techniques developed by Teri, that have been proven successful.
Topics covered in the Permanent Weigh Down weight loss program:
- Learn to eat a balanced diet that is right for you, tastes fantastic, is enjoyable, maximizes your energy level, promotes high level health, and leads to weight loss.
- The latest research about diet, metabolism, genetics, and what you can do to maximize fat loss.
- Everything you need to know to navigate the complex food environment in the grocery store.
- Planning menus that are simple, nutritious, and tasty.
- How to plan a personalized exercise program just for you. One that burns fat, builds muscle, and is fun and easy to incorporate into a busy lifestyle.
- How to take control of emotional and out-of-control eating for good!
- Habit and behavior change techniques that are enjoyable and work.
- Techniques to stop sugar and carbohydrate cravings.
- How to motivate yourself to do all the above.
- Food ideas, recipes, simple cooking and meal preparation.
- Guidelines on dietary supplements; choosing the right one to meet your nutrition needs.
Research on Healthy Heart Habits and the Permanent Weigh Down Behavior Change Programs.
In 1989 Teri Underwood developed and conducted a research study on a program for heart health and weight loss called “Healthy Habits.” Three groups were evaluated: a control group with no intervention, a group with nutrition education alone, and a group with nutrition education and behavior modification techniques. Teri’s award-winning research found significantly more weight loss in the program with behavior modification techniques. In the 1990s, she expanded Healthy Habits into two different programs. Since then, Teri has continued to teach and improve these programs and update them with cutting edge nutrition and wellness information and proven effective behavior change techniques.
Healthy Heart Habits Program
This program is focused on heart disease prevention and reducing dangerous blood lipids through diet and lifestyle changes.
The program targets high-risk health problems such as metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance, type two diabetes, high blood pressure, and elevated blood fats.
The Healthy Heart Habits Program includes many of the topics found in the Permanent Weigh Down Program, but the focus is on preventing or reversing heart disease.
Topics covered in the Healthy Heart Habits program:
- Diet: Learn to eat a balanced cardiometabolic diet that meets your nutrition needs, tastes fantastic, is enjoyable, maximizes your energy level, promotes high level health, and reduces heart risk factors or reverses atherosclerosis.
- Physiology and the latest Nutrition Science on Coronary Heart Disease and Atherosclerosis, Diabetes, Inflammation, Insulin Resistance, and Weight loss.
- Understanding: Fats, cholesterol, carbohydrates, protein, vitamins, minerals, water, salt, and heart disease.
- Diabetes, prediabetes, glycemic index, sugar, fiber, carbohydrates.
- The latest research about diet, metabolism, genetics, and what you can do to maximize cardiometabolic health.
- Everything you need to know to navigate the complex food environment in the grocery store.
- Planning menus that are simple, nutritious, and tasty.
- How to plan a personalized exercise program just for you. One that burns fat, builds muscle, and is fun and easy to incorporate into a busy lifestyle.
- Habit and behavior change techniques that are enjoyable and work.
- Food ideas, recipes, simple cooking and meal preparation.
- Guidelines on dietary supplements; choosing the right one to meet your nutrition needs.
Background: Heart Disease and Diet
Heart disease is the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common type of heart disease. CHD is caused by atherosclerosis, a disease process where fat and cholesterol and other substances build up in the walls of the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart muscle. The arteries become narrowed, and the blood flow is diminished.
“The high-fat, high-cholesterol, processed-food Standard American Diet (SAD) is robbing too many Americans of their health and quality of life. I am passionate about helping to spread the word about how to prevent atherosclerosis through nutrition and lifestyle changes like stress reduction and exercise.”
Teri Underwood, Founder Sustainable Diets
CHD reduces the quality of life for many Americans. Every year 1.5 million Americans suffer heart attacks; that’s over 3400 people per day. Over 40% die before they reach the hospital. Heart disease is the leading cost of social security disability benefits and in direct and direct healthcare expenditures, lost wages, and productivity—costs our nation over 100 billion dollars per year. Of striking concern is the fact that CHD claims lives prematurely. One third of all deaths from CHD in males occur before the age of 65.
Worldwide studies have identified CHD as a “disease of affluence.” It is known to occur in high rates in societies that eat the western diet (highly refined, high in animal foods, fats, sugar). Other lifestyle factors such as stress, lack of exercise, and smoking influence heart disease development. Heart disease is not something we are doomed to inherit from our parents. It is preventable by making changes to diet and lifestyle.
Painting of atherosclerosis, by Teri Underwood
This is a disease of the arteries that starts in childhood and advances throughout life. It can be prevented by diet and lifestyle practices.