A Holistic Approach to Health
By Louise Continelli
Even with a “new” nonprescription diet pill available this summer, award-winning nutritionist Sharon Lawrence believes in a holistic approach to dieting.
That means making “a decision to create a new you — a vibrant, energetic, healthy person who takes control of their health and life,” she said.
“I’m extremely lucky,” she added. “I found a way to achieve my personal mission of educating, motivating and empowering individuals.”
She spends most of her time traveling around the country, educating consumers in medical offices, hospitals, corporations and schools. “I end every seminar the same way by requesting that each participant strive for optimum health,” Lawrence said.
She’ll speak on nutrients at an all-day, anti-aging conference in April at Westwood Country Club in Amherst.
Long before she helped create Nutrition Dynamics in the area, she experienced the common plight of overweight kids.
Lawrence suffered from low self-esteem and kept to herself, comparing herself to her lovely, gifted and smart older sister. For consolation, she would gorge on Oreo cookies and peanut butter in her room. She didn’t join the other kids riding their bikes and clambering up trees.
Her sister’s departure for college was Lawrence’s turning point. She was able to make friends, dropping the excess pounds and becoming an honor student. A friend’s death in a drunk-driving accident gave her insight into the link between happiness and a healthy body, mind and spirit. That propelled Lawrence toward a degree in nutrition from Buffalo State College.
She shared her dietetic knowledge in places like Buffalo’s Veterans Affairs Medical Center, but Lawrence still had not controlled her weight. She’d go up and down on the scale, sometimes putting more than 60 pounds on her 5-foot, 8-inch frame.
When she hit 190 pounds, the irony of her situation — urging vets to lose weight while she herself was overweight — finally helped her to lose the excess pounds for good, over a year’s time. She created a lecture series for Mended Hearts at the hospital, and programs for supermarkets and other area organizations. Today, Nutrition Dynamics offers counseling, consumer and corporate wellness seminars and professional training throughout the United States and Canada.
“She offers advice, information, and nutritive wisdom,” notes Christina Abt, owner of Eden’s Crystal Hill Farm, in her local cookbook and essay collection, “Chicken Wing Wisdom.”
Lawrence gives the following tips for keeping the weight off:
*Visualize yourself as a healthy, happy person, in love with your life.
“Several times each day, sit down and imagine yourself laughing and smiling as you go through your daily activities.”
*Fire up your metabolic engines.
“It’s easier to reach and maintain optimum weight if you eat five or six small meals each day instead of three squares.”
Have an idea about a local person whose life would make a good profile or a neighborhood issue worth exploring? Write to: Louise Continelli, The Buffalo News, P.O. Box 100, Buffalo, NY 14240, or e- mail lcontinelli@buffnews.com
(c) 2007 Buffalo News. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.