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A hectic holiday season can leave you feeling stressed, overwhelmed and completely run-down.

But taking time to restore and rejuvenate doesn’t have to mean an expensive new gym membership, crash diet or steeply priced spa jaunt.

We spoke to leading physicians, trainers, and health and beauty experts to find the 10 easiest ways you can calm and center yourself right in the convenience of your own home, at little or no cost.

With these tips in tow, you’ll feel refreshed, relaxed and perfectly primed to conquer all of those New Year’s resolutions — and actually keep them. Read more:

Visiting friends and family over the holidays? Sounds fun. But getting there? Not so much. Find out how to stay healthy on the road…

Traveling during this busy season can be especially stressful – and not just because of crowds, canceled flights and airport security lines.

“Disruptions in sleep, exercise and routines add stress to your body and cause hormonal imbalances,” says Susan Blum, M.D., assistant clinical professor of preventive medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and founder of The Blum Center for Health in Rye Brook, NY.

“This can cause weight gain, depress your immune systems and make you sick,” she says.

But that doesn’t mean you have to stay home. Here are some healthy holiday travel tips.

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As an expert in “functional medicine,” Dr. Susan Blum, founder and director of The Blum Center for Health, helps her patients get to the root cause of what’s ailing them by addressing them as a whole person rather than a symptom here, a symptom there. Often, the women streaming through her clinic’s doors – many of whom are suffering with chronic illnesses such as IBS, migraines and autoimmune disease – are at their wits’ end. “They are in pain, exhausted, and beaten up by the traditional healthcare system,” she says. “They feel ignored and unheard; therefore, I am amazed and grateful every day when I can help facilitate their healing through the magic and efficacy of this type of medicine.”
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We won’t beat around the guava bush: Juice cleanses are crazy hot right now. But are they really as good for us and our over-worked digestive tracts as they sound? Or is it a tad more complicated than that? We asked a handful of New York City wellness experts to weigh in. Read more:

Have you ever heard the phrase, “Treat the cause, not just the symptoms”? Functional medicine practitioners are aiming to do just that. “Functional medicine is a whole-person approach to health, focusing on optimizing the body’s function to not only prevent and treat disease, but to help you live strong and age well,” says Susan S. Blum, MD, MPH, founder and director of The Blum Center for Health, in Rye Brook, NY, an integrative wellness center. Read more:

A natural solution.

I recently wrote about Blum Center for Health, a new wellness retreat that opened in Rye Brook, New York.

The news continues to buzz around this advanced center for healing primarily due to its emphasis on the “whole body”- body, mind and spirit.

Most recently Dr. Blum was interviewed on ABC News. Don’t forget, call for a cooking class with the culinary expert Marti and just say you are a My Beautyberry reader and you’ll get 50% off! Read more:

Over the past decade there has been a significant increase in both childhood and adult food allergies and sensitivities. Fortunately, living with these conditions has become less challenging, thanks to the availability of a greater selection of foods that meet the needs of people with dietary restrictions.

Dr. Susan Blum, an Armonk resident and a Functional Medicine practitioner in Rye Brook, has worked with an increasing number of patients complaining of symptoms resulting from eating particular foods. “The first thing we need to do is define a food allergy and a food sensitivity. A food allergy is an immune system reaction to a food that occurs shortly after eating the food. It can manifest itself in reactions such as hives, rashes, difficulty breathing, abdominal cramps and tongue swelling. On the other hand, food sensitivity is defined as an intolerance or reaction to food that does not produce this kind of response. In my practice, we see many patients with both conditions,” said Dr. Blum. Read more:

With the Oscars just days away, Hollywood’s juicers and blenders are undoubtedly working overtime this week. Celebrities are known to embrace the ubiquitous “juice cleanse” with the same amount of zest and zeal used to commit to that next great role. But are strict Detox regimens really healthy for us? Award-Winning Preventive Medicine Doctor, Susan Blum, M.D has successfully been using her personalized Medical Detoxification program with her patients for years, and therefore, weighs in with a medical perspective on what’s healthy and what’s not: Read more:

Overworked, underpaid, overwhelmed, confused and lacking sufficient money, time and social entertainment. This is how most Americans feel amid a slow recovery from a damaging recession. We work more than most residents of developed nations and yet most Americans are often sick and broke. There is a need for an overhaul of our food and financial systems and yet most of us have insufficient time to churn through our never ending to-do lists, let alone conquer any other cause. So we carry on and we often get sick, because of a lack of sleep and poor nutrition. This often leads to dermatological issues, mainly, premature aging and a general ruddiness thanks to big pores and dehydrated skin. We continue to search for the quick fix, but perhaps, we are searching for the wrong solution. In the West, we often look to treat symptoms, but as many tire of the quick fix, such as antibiotics or skin peels, some suggest that dealing with internal issues may help both immune problems and external issues, such as blemishes and redness. One answer might be a burgeoning class of supplements called adaptogens.
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