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Centered on Good Health: Dina Khader’s Innovative Guidance

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khaderBy Deborah Raider Notis

In 2010, Dina Khader opened the Khader Center in Mount Kisco for health and wellness. Khader, a practicing dietitian and nutrition consultant for more than 26 years, is dedicated to developing personalized regimens to help her clients become increasingly stronger and healthier.

Khader, originally from Jordan, lived all over the world throughout her childhood and she eventually settled in New York. She experienced and learned from many different cultures–witnessing malnutrition first hand in many poor countries. With an incentive to study nutrition to help fight hunger, she pursued becoming a registered dietitian and integrative nutrition consultant.

“I had a serious reaction to the polio vaccine when I was 15 months old,” says Khader, who faced a variety of health issues at an early age. “Originally, no one thought that I would be able to walk, and when I did walk, I walked with a limp.”

When she was 13 years old and living in Abu Dhabi, Khader attended a yoga class during which the instructor told her that eating red meat could be harmful to her joints. Khader did her research and decided to change her diet and exercise routine to strengthen her body and immune system. Realizing the incredible impact that a regulated diet and lifestyle routine could provide, Khader dedicated her life to studying nutrition.

Khader leverages her strong clinical background as a dietitian and nutritionist, her unique knowledge of the effects that specific medicines have on the body, and her healing techniques to help her clients. A graduate of New York Medical College with an MS in Nutrition, she worked in several hospitals and started the nutrition program for the Saw Mill Club in Mount Kisco before opening the Khader Center.

“I do practice what I preach,” says Khader, who is committed to “eating really, really well,” and exercising a lot. After developing her own, personalized health and nutrition plan, Khader started building targeted nutrition strategies for her clients. She works with clients with a variety of objectives, from those focused on weight loss to clients looking for anti-aging techniques to people suffering from cancer or those struggling with hormonal issues. “I incorporate a number of cutting-edge, integrative strategies, individually tailored to the needs of each client.”

Khader’s cutting-edge techniques include a computer software program that helps to determine which organs in a client’s body are most stressed. She also employs epigenetics, a method of genetic testing designed to identify and alter a client’s overall health. Additionally, Khader’s mud-packing technique helps people to heal after injuries or surgical scars. “We address the trauma through a targeted application of specially mixed volcanic clay that is designed to restore the body’s natural electrical circuit. The results have been life-changing as the clay is very effective at addressing toxicity,” notes Khader.

“I can help clients achieve dramatic health improvements without relying on extreme diets or potentially dangerous drugs,” states Khader. Ultimately, her goal is to change lives for the better. And, in the end, isn’t that what we all want?

Deborah Raider Notis is a writer and co-owner of gamechanger, LLC (gamechangernow.com), a free referral service connecting Westchester families to highly qualified, competitively priced academic, athletic, music, and art instructors. In addition to contributing to the Inside Press, Deborah’s writing can be found on suburbanmisfitmom.com.

Women and Finances

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Scott Kahan
Scott Kahan

By Scott Kahan

You get in your car knowing you left plenty of time to arrive at the restaurant for your eight o’clock dinner reservations. Somehow, on the way you manage to make a wrong turn and get lost. Assuming you don’t have a GPS, what do you do? The stereotypical answer, which is probably true more often than not, is that men will keep driving around hoping to find their way. Women, on the other hand, will stop and ask for directions. So when it comes to finances and financial planning, is it any different?

Financial planning is about identifying your goals and objectives. Once this is done, the next step is to come up with the “road map” of how you reach your destination. Studies have shown that women deal very differently with their financial planning than men do.

Women often face more financial challenges than men as a result of lower salaries, prolonged career breaks, and relative longevity. Women tend to have smaller pensions or 401(k) balances, on average earn less than men while working, and are more likely to have part-time jobs with limited retirement benefits. Women also leave the workforce more than men to become family caregivers, further reducing their ability to save.

Whereas men are often more confident that they will have enough retirement income to live comfortably, women tend to be less confident in their knowledge about financial products and services and that they are on the right path financially. So logically this leads women to ask additional questions with the goal to become more knowledgeable about finances.

This way, when making financial decisions, having the information allows you to be more confident in that decision. When it comes to financial planning, being more confident with your decision making process allows you to stay the course and not panic with every headline or market drop.

So the next time you are lost and need help, stop and ask questions. Of course make sure the person you are asking is knowledgeable. By doing this, you have a much better chance of reaching that goal, whatever it may be.

Scott M. Kahan, is a Certified Financial Planner® professional and President of Financial Asset Management Corporation, a fee-only wealth management firm located at 26 South Greeley Avenue in Chappaqua. Call Scott Kahan at 914-238-8900 or write to skahan@famcorporation.com.

What Makes a Dining Experience Memorable? What Doesn’t?

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Members of a gourmet dining group–which includes our author–share their thoughts. (L-R): Karen Talbot, Art Nagle, Paige Nagle, David Talbot and Wright Elliott
Members of a gourmet dining group–which includes our
author–share their thoughts. (L-R): Karen Talbot, Art Nagle,
Paige Nagle, David Talbot and Wright Elliott

“An ardent or refined interest in the dining experience,” defines a foodie and surely applies to the membership of our gourmet group, who I recently surveyed to get their opinions. Wright Elliott has brought a sophisticated palate and passion for food from his native New Orleans. Wright’s many talents include a recipe for jumbo lump crab cakes honed to perfection over many years from when he owned a house on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Art Nagle brings expertise in finding the freshest and highest quality ingredients, and on the visual aspects of food presentation, he is most certainly a perfectionist.

Eating out is indeed a special occasion for these men, because they have high standards when cooking at home. Both believe that restaurant food should be original and memorable, prepared by a chef who takes a personal interest in customer satisfaction. Farm-to-table ingredients and quality (or the seafood equivalent) are high on their list, and they tend to seek out restaurants that are building this concept into their menu options.

Service is very important too. Beautiful food, beautifully served is 90% of a “memorable dining experience” in Wright’s opinion, and Art adds that he also wants the host or hostess to be friendly, along with the wait staff. As wine connoisseurs with large personal wine cellars, both Art and Wright look for moderate to expensive offerings, as well as esoteric wines from different areas like Sicily or Greece, if these selections seem more appropriate. They like to be able to consult a sommelier or resident wine expert, as restaurant wine lists rarely provide sufficient detail about their choices.

To sum up a positive dining experience, both men like to go first class, and don’t mind paying a premium for good food and service. The two ladies from our group, Judy Foley and Paige Nagle, are excellent cooks in their own right, and have high interest in seasonal menus with a good balance of flavors. They too look for creativity and, even if premium priced, the menu has to have a Wow factor to it.

Judy and Paige both stress service, cleanliness and ambience to make for a “memorable dining experience.” They like it when the chef comes out at the end of a meal to inquire how your dining experience was, and a warm and inviting atmosphere with pretty flowers and tablecloths on the tables is a plus.

Here are ways a dining experience can fail to impress:

  • Poor acoustics and noise top the list, as all of them want to be comfortable and able to carry on a conversation with their fellow diners.
  • Hovering service or, on the other hand, slow service, are frowned upon. No one enjoys that moment when the second you put your fork and knife down, the plate is whisked away; you feel like you are being deliberately rushed.
  • Overly large portions is a no-no, especially with the ladies.
  • Overly small servings of wine are not a very hospitable gesture and can be especially annoying.
  • Another pet peeve is a “No Reservation” policy -– no one wants to run the risk of a lengthy wait the next table. Restaurants should take reservations no matter how many people arrive with the party of diners.

To create a positive dining experience for his customers and to attract new customers, a local restaurateur hired a new chef and added high quality seafood at affordable prices with great success. He believes that cleanliness and ambience are the ultimate expression of hospitality.

Karen Talbot is a Westchester-based personal shopper and restaurant reviewer. The love of cooking runs in her family! Karen’s son Alex and his wife Aki Kamozawa have just opened “Curiosity Donuts” in the Stockton Market in Stockton, New Jersey.

Dr. Maria Briones: Transforming Lives One Pound at a Time

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By Miriam Longobardi

Anyone who has ever struggled to lose weight knows how difficult and frustrating it can be, both losing the weight and keeping it off. Those who have significant weight to lose –beyond a few extra pounds after a vacation–face a greater challenge. Enter Dr. Maria Briones, owner of Dr. Briones Medical Weight Loss Center located in Mt. Kisco.

Photo by Carolyn Simpson/Doublevision Photographers
Photo by Carolyn Simpson/Doublevision Photographers

Dr. Briones began her career as an internist in New York City in 1994 and in addition to her weight loss clinic works at Burke Rehabilitation Center in White Plains. During her career she has always been concerned about obesity and its related diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and stroke as well as some cancers. At Burke she also noted that some of her patients who had undergone hip and knee replacements needed the surgery as a result of obesity. “I want to help people before obesity takes a toll on their health and body and possibly avoid surgery and some of the diseases connected to obesity.”

At her weight loss center, Dr. Briones assists patients far beyond helping them develop healthier eating habits to lose weight. Her approach is very personal and addresses the many psychological effects of obesity. “In addition to the effects on the body, being obese changes how people feel about themselves. The most common are loss of self-esteem and depression. As I help them lose weight I didn’t have to use any medication.”

All patients must undergo a health evaluation and obtain medical clearance to participate in the diet plan. After that, patients come for weekly visits to be weighed and spend time being counseled by Dr. Briones. “They need to change the relationship they have with food.” She helps them develop a plan which they must be disciplined enough to follow. Part of her plan involves using Optifast, a meal replacement program that must be medically supervised. “With Optifast patients can see results similar to surgery sometimes in as little as six months,” Briones reports. Depending on the amount of weight to be lost, patients begin with the Optifast meal replacements very strictly for approximately four to six months. “It’s like people that want to quit smoking –they have to really be ready for it and commit to following the program.”

Elysa Belessakos, a patient and one of Dr. Briones’s many success stories, says that working with Dr. Briones changed her life. “The woman is brilliant,” said Belessakos. “She completely devotes herself to her patients and gives us one-on-one personal attention.” While some people relate to group support such as Weight Watchers, Belessakos feels the emotional support she receives from Dr. Briones helped her sort through emotional eating issues that in the past always caused her to gain back weight she had lost. “A lot of people dealing with obesity don’t want to sit in front of a group and talk about their weight loss struggles,” says Belessakos. Through a combination of the Optifast meal replacements, Lipo-Light, which is a machine that burns fat cells in targeted areas of the body, and Dr. Briones teaching her about nutrition and talking her through strategies to avoid emotional eating, Belessakos is down 40 pounds. “I get so many compliments!” she enthusiastically reports.

After sticking closely to the Optifast plan, which also offers nutrition bars and soups in addition to the meal replacement shakes, transitioning back to mainstream food can be challenging. Dr. Briones is considering adding a nutritionist to her staff but Briones helps her patients with meal planning, food shopping and menus to help them keep the weight off and follow up with her for maintenance.

Belessakos says that it is the level of devotion she and the other patients receive from Dr. Briones that gives them the support and encouragement they need to maintain their weight loss. “It’s her personality that sets her apart from other doctors. So much of weight loss is psychological and you get one-hundred percent of her attention. She listens, gives you feedback and is so warm and encouraging that nobody wants to stop seeing her.”

A wife and mother of three children, Dr. Briones continues to learn and explore new medical breakthroughs through professional associations and by attending conferences regularly. She recently added anti-aging and skin care products at her center. Belessakos adds, “She absolutely loves what she does and genuinely cares about each of her patients with compassion.”

Dr. Briones feels that in addition to being healthier physically, one of the greatest accomplishments she sees in her patients is their attitude toward life. “Not only are they active and have more energy but their social and intimate lives improve. It’s amazing the effect weight loss can have on a person’s life.”

For more information, visit http://www.brionesweightloss.com/.

Miriam Longobardi is a freelance writer, fourth grade teacher and single mother of two daughters living in Westchester. A breast cancer survivor, she volunteers for the American Cancer Society, has completed four marathons and travels the world. Follow her on Twitter @writerMimiLong.

Sharing Dance: A Tribute to Kathleen Fitzgerald’s Extraordinary Career

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Kathleen Fitzgerald
Kathleen Fitzgerald

By Matt Smith

“Since my first class, I have loved dance, and I want to share that with everyone.”

While she presumably meant those words to be a wish for the future, by the looks of it, Kathleen Fitzgerald, speaker of the above, seems to already have the “sharing” covered. So much so that the Mount Kisco resident was named Gala Honoree during the Steffi Nossen School of Dance’s 79th Annual Benefit Week, held earlier this year, from March 31-April 2.

As is tradition, the yearly Gala serves to benefit the Steffi Nossen Dance Foundation, a not-for-profit dance advocacy and community outreach organization within the school, while at the same time honoring one of their own for his or her Outstanding Contributions to SNDF. As a special treat unique to Fitzgerald, this year’s event included a performance of a new work, danced by nine graduating seniors of SNDC and choreographed by Steffi Nossen Dance Foundation Artistic Director–and Annual Benefit producer–Jessica DiMauro, which served as a tribute to Fitzgerald’s life and career. “I’m flabbergasted,” she says of receiving the honor. “I’ve worked behind-the-scenes for so long now that I was just not expecting it. I’m uncharacteristically speechless.”

While she may not have been expecting it, the honor is certainly deserved–dancing’s clearly in her blood.

Fitzgerald began dance training at age eight, as a way to augment the “complete lack of coordination” that resulted from poor vision. Nonetheless, regardless of the reason, it was clear she was hooked from that very first day. “I got in the car after [the class] and said, ‘Mommy, I’m gonna be a dancer,’” she recalls. “That was really all I ever wanted to be.”

Her first foray into the professional dance world came at age fifteen, when she auditioned for “new state-supported performing arts school” North Carolina School of the Arts… as #13, no less, which Nossen herself always considered a–a telling sign of what was soon to come.

Kathleen Fitzgerald in Jiří Kylián’s “Ariadne”
Kathleen Fitzgerald in Jiří Kylián’s “Ariadne”

Subsequent to graduation, and prior to joining the Steffi Nossen family, Fitzgerald was a principal dancer and Company Ballet Mistress with Ballet Frankfurt, where she worked under choreographer William Forsythe. Preceding that, she was a soloist with Netherlands Dance Theater I, before Jiří Kylián took her on as Assistant Director of Netherlands Dance Theater II. “I can’t say enough about how great it was,” she says of those experiences. “We toured all over the world. We toured with live orchestra, with live singers and choirs and incredible lighting designers and costume makers…It was everything you could possibly want to experience.”

After following Ballet Frankfurt with work for Johann Kresnik’s radical dance theater group, Bremer Tanztheater, Fitzgerald moved to Mt. Kisco–for the sake of her daughter, Jessica Rose, who has special needs and requires intensive therapies. Thanks to some guidance from an local librarian, she found herself an all-too-perfect position at Steffi Nossen School of Dance, and she’s been with them for 16 years. Fitzgerald began first as a core curriculum teacher in 2000, then as School Director, a position which she held from 2004-2015. Today, she continues to lead the Ballet Program at SNSD, and serves as Production Manager for the Copland House concerts at Merestead. She has also been extensively involved with the outreach programs, one being the 13-year-old Wheels and Heels intensive dance program for disabled performers, one of the programs this very benefit helps to fund.

In accepting her honor, she acknowledges the work of the “fantastic” students at SNSD and takes note of “the incredible camaraderie of the Steffi Nossen faculty.” (“You don’t find that everywhere,” she adds, with a smile). “I feel that I’ve found a home at Steffi Nossen, an organization that stresses the importance of family, community, and mentoring. And I feel very lucky to have had this incredible performing career, and to have [done] such meaningful work within the arts.”

Steffi Nossen School of Dance is located at 216 Central Avenue in White Plains. Fitzgerald notes the company has several satellite locations throughout Westchester, including one in Chappaqua at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin. For more information, visit steffinossen.org.

Matt Smith is a writer and regular contributor to the Inside Press. For more information, please visit www.mattsmiththeatre.com.