by Jennifer Farnsworth

For Ryan Carpenter, the kettlebell is more than a fitness tool. As the owner and founder of Simple Strength and Conditioning, a kettlebell gym, Carpenter has found that it has given him direction both physically and mentally.

The former U.S. Marine said his fitness operation, at 110 Main Street, Midtown Plaza in South Glens Falls, has been met by the public with an enthusiasm that helps to keep him inspired and driven.

He said when he left active duty with the Marines he struggled to connect with a fitness program. When he found himself making poor nutritional decisions, he decided it was time to focus on his fitness and his diet. It was during that time that he found the kettlebell.

“I started in 2015. I was 335 pounds … I knew I needed to change, so I started slowly by just refining my diet and doing easy simple workouts. As I started to lose weight, I branched out with my workouts and was introduced to kettlebells,” said Carpenter.

Carpenter credits his mentor Chris Abbott,  a gym owner who he said gave him the opportunity to become a coach and prepared him for certification. Once COVID hit, Abbot had to close his gym, Kettlebellworks, and it was then that Carpenter made the decision to open a location in South Glens Falls. Since first opening in July, Carpenter, a Strong First certified trainer, said he has worked with people from all different backgrounds, something he loves doing.

By Mary Beth McCue, RD, CDN, IFNCP

Being conscious of choosing healthy lifestyle practices has probably never been as critical as it is today. Eating “clean” is commonly promoted in mainstream media; but what does this mean and why is it important?

Eating organically raised foods, free of contaminant’s and pharmaceuticals is foundational for “clean eating”. Based on the science published on sustainable farming, and on regenerative, holistic medicine; eating clean foods may be the most critical lifestyle choice for people to live their healthiest and most successful life.

Like integrative and functional medicine, the organics industry is mainly consumer driven and in rapid growth. Humans are literally at the verge of new life everyday, at every meal and every thought. How is this so ? Our choices determine the state of potential new life, renewed health, because our cells are constantly turning over and renewing. What we feed ourselves will determine “everything”.

No matter what personal health challenges or goals one has, eating clean needs to be part of the ongoing process. The most nutritionally dense, safe, toxin-free foods that support the lowering of inflammation and stress in the body PLUS support a healthy immune and digestive system come from clean foods.

These factors are all focal points for maintaining health, and vitality.and are critical to the recover from any chronic condition from losing weight (toxins store and hold in fat stores), to those with anxiety/depression, cardiovascular, immune, diabetes, GI conditions and more.

By Christine Graf

Local mental health practitioners are struggling to meet the tremendous demand for services that has been triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. The need encompasses all age groups, and pediatric health experts have labeled the mental health crisis among children as a national emergency.

Licensed psychologist Dr. Debra Pietrangelo, founder of True North in Glens Falls,  has been practicing for more than thirty-five years and describes the current need for mental health services as “unbelievable.”

“We are turning people away every day,” she said. “Sometimes 20 to 30 a day. We’ve always had to turn people away, but it’s worse than ever before. I have ten clinicians, and wish I had space for more. There are not enough practitioners out there to meet the need.”

According to Dr. Erin Christopher-Sisk, Ph.D., founder and clinical director of ECS Psychological Services in Saratoga Springs, the need has never been greater.

“In my almost 20 years of being in practice, I have  never seen the volume of need that we see and have seen over the past year-and-a-half. Every provider I know is booked solid. Our mission has always been to keep up with needs of community, so we just continued to try to hire therapists and expand staff. We were at  seven or eight full-time staff members before the pandemic, and we are now at 20.”

The need is so great that Dr. Catherine Ushchak opened a private practice in Saratoga Springs in August. Although new to private practice, she has been practicing as a general psychiatrist and child and adolescent psychiatrist for 25 years. Many of her school-aged patients have had difficulty returning to in-person learning.