By Jennifer Farnsworth

Despite supply chain issues and COVID concerns, small business owners are saying local holiday shopping has been strong.

Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, said all businesses benefit when shoppers support local businesses and the local economy.

His organization is running a promotion wherin people who spend $20.21 or more at any local shop, restaurant, salon, florist, fitness studio, nonprofit organization or any other business in Saratoga County are entered into a drawing for the chance to win a $100 gift card. The campaign runs through Dec. 31.

“Shopping locally is important. Whether you are eating out, shopping for the holiday shopping season, hiring a local contractor, or signing up for a gym membership, we want our local residents and out-of-town visitors to support local businesses,” he said.

“We need to have their back and show our support as consumers. That’s why the Chamber created the Save Our Locals $20.21 campaign. We all benefit when we support our local businesses and the local economy.”

Times Square Clock Shop in Clifton Park is another  place to find interesting gifts. Owner Peter Judd said they have a new line of clocks that he describes as one of their all-time best sellers.

By Christine Graf

Malta resident Brandi Tyler has taken her love for CrossFit training and turned it into a career. The first-time business owner opened her own CrossFit gym, Unbroken Athletics, in September.

Located at 146 Raylinsky Road in Malta, the gym offers a range of classes to suit any fitness level. Tyler, a Level 2 CrossFit trainer, also offers individual coaching. Unbroken Athletics is one of more than 13,000 CrossFit-affiliated gyms throughout the world, she said.

A former personal trainer, Tyler was introduced to CrossFit about five years ago. It is a high-intensity form of functional training that combines strength and conditioning and utilizes movements that are performed in day-to-day life—things like squatting, running, jumping, throwing, and pulling.

The workouts are particularly effective because they combine elements of load, distance, and speed and can be modified for individual of all ages and experience levels.

“I once saw a 90-year-old woman deadlift her own weight,” said Tyler.

She began to consider opening her own gym at a time when fitness centers were shuttered due to the pandemic. During that shutdown, she coached several clients in her home’s garage. The response was so positive that she decided to move forward with establishing her own business despite having no prior business experience.

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.

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.”

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.”