Life Enhancement Forum

HEALTHY EATING, HEALTHY LIVING, & HEALTHY AGING

Key Biscayne Community Foundation's

LIFE ENHANCEMENT FORUM

Our mission is to enhance life of residents through opportunities to learn from a panel of doctors, researchers, and practitioners. The programming entails: (1) lectures from doctors, researchers, and practitioners on best practices for food and diet; (2) scientific reports and news on combating chronic illness through diet and exercise; and, (3) opportunities to participate in evidence-based exercises like matter of balance, enhance fitness, and Tai Chi.

Our partners include the Key Biscayne Community Foundation, the University of Miami’s Integrative and Complementary Academic Medicine Program (iCamp), the Key Biscayne Community Center, the Key Biscayne K-8 Center PTA, Wellness in the Schools, and Rezilir Health.

HEALTHY AGING

The Key Biscayne Life Enhancement Forum encourages a balanced and self-determined model for healthy aging. The Life Enhancement Forum makes seniors agents in their own aging process through mental, physical, social, and emotional wellness interventions.  Through the guidance of our advocates and experts, the Healthy Aging initiative incorporates findings from current research on aging, cognitive functioning, lifestyle, and diet to promote health and wellness for the senior population of Key Biscayne.

HEALTHY LIVING

Given the aims of the Healthy Aging Initiative, there is a natural overlap between the Healthy Aging and the Healthy Living programs at the Key Biscayne Life Enhancement Forum. Evidence suggests that a key to aging healthfully and mitigating related cognitive decline is an engaged, active, and stimulating life- socially, mentally, and physically. Healthy Living provides programs and lectures that enable residents to engage in evidence-based activity to support mental, physical, and emotional wellness, at any age.

HEALTHY EATING

The Healthy Eating program promotes healthier food environments, not just for the nutritional benefits, but also for the behavioral and emotional benefits of a balanced, healthy diet. Through the Wellness in the Schools program, Healthy Eating inspires healthy eating, environmental awareness and fitness as a way of life for kids in public schools. Wellness in the Schools is creating healthier environments for children to learn and grow at Charles R Drew K-8 Center and Key Biscayne K-8 Center.

NATALIE GARDINER, M.D.

Dr. Gardiner received her medical training at the Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem and completed her residency training in internal medicine at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida. She has also worked as a researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Her further education and credentials include fellowship in Integrative Medicine through the University of Arizona, a program founded by Dr. Andrew Weil. She is one of the first medical doctors in the country to achieve integrative medicine Board Certification from the American Board of Integrated Medicine, as part of its Inaugural Class of Specialists. Dr. Gardiner practices internal, integrative, functional medicine, and several healing modalities. She has a private practice in Miami Beach, is affiliated with Mount Sinai Medical Center and is a voluntary faculty member at Miller School of Medicine. Dr. Gardiner is passionate about healthy nutrition.

KAREN KOFFLER, M.D.

Karen Koffler, M.D. works with patients on a consultative and longitudinal basis to provide Integrative Care. She is currently leading the development of Rezilir™’s cognitive health program that utilizes the Bredesen Protocol in collaboration with MPI Cognition.  This is a cutting-edge program for patients with early Alzheimer’s disease.

She received her medical degree at the University of Miami and did her training in internal medicine in Chicago and at the University of Colorado. She began her career as an emergency room physician in a variety of settings and helped to develop the first hospitalist program for Kaiser Permanente in Denver.

DR. JANET KONEFOL, PH.D.

Dr. Janet Konefal, Ph.D. is the Director of iCamp, the Integrative and Complementary Academic Medicine Program at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Recently, she collaborated with the Institute for Functional Medicine to develop a Clinical Nutrition Training Program supported by the Wolfson Foundation. One of her primary areas of expertise is in mind-body medicine, including the application of acupressure for improving cognitive abilities and reducing negative psychological states. She is community-oriented and focuses on team building as the process for building a better health care system. She can be seen practicing what she teaches as she jogs, rebounds and eats her veggies.

HOLLY ROBINSON MSN, RN

With an emphasis on holistic health practices, Ms. Robinson has been a popular wellness coach and consultant partnering with both individuals and organizations for optimal health acheivement for over a decade.

She has been a nurse since 1989 serving in various capacities in the healthcare field and healing modalities over the years.

Holly has her Masters of Science in Nursing with a focus on education, is a certified Hippocrates Health Educator and nationally certified Health Coach, and is currently finishing the last of her post-masters Family Nurse Practitioner certificate training.

CARMEN ORTIZ-BUTCHER, M.D.

Dr. Carmen Ortiz-Butcher graduated from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in 1982. She works in Key Biscayne, FL and specializes in internal medicine and nephrology.

Her care philosophy is that active partnership with patient for lifestyle modification optimizes health and delays disease progression.

Dr. Ortiz-Butcher spent 15 years as a professor at University of Miami and is past chief of the outpatient clinic at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

MARIUS ROBINSON

Marius Robinson is the founder of the Key Biscayne Life Enhancement Forum and an advocate of Healthy Aging. He studied biology at Stanford University, receiving a BA in 1955.  He has been involved with the Marine Biological Laboratory beginning in 1953 and has made several investments in biotech companies while at Woods Hole.

Marius has made his career in finance and earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 1967.  He started a successful investment partnership, which closed in 2010 after 35 years. He has studied Tai Chi Chi Gong from different masters since 1969. He co-leads the weekly Tai Chi Chi Gong class on the Village Green.

LEONARD SMITH, M.D.

Leonard Smith, M.D. has been a medical advisor & lecturer for the Division of Integrative Medicine at University of Miami for eight years as well as being on the volunteer faculty of the Department of Surgery at U.M. At U.M., he has lectured to the third-year medical students on health and nutrition.  Dr. Smith also served as the medical advisor, co-author of five books, and in product development for Renew Life Formulas, Inc. from 1997 through 2016.

Dr. Smith practiced gastrointestinal and vascular surgery, and also instructed his patients in the areas of diet, lifestyle, stress management, exercise and nutritional supplementation for more than 25 years.

Dr. Smith has studied countless holistic therapies, including those focusing on functional nutrition, exercise, chelation, stress management and the powerful mind-body link as it relates to healing.

THE LIFE ENHANCEMENT FORUM'S LECTURE SERIES IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE VILLAGE OF KEY BISCAYNE, HIMAN BROWN CHARITABLE TRUST, AND KEY BISCAYNE COMMUNITY FOUNDATION.

Learn more about the Life Enhancement Forum’s partnership with Himan Brown Charitable Trust here.

Life Enhancement Forum

FOCUSED ON OUR COMMUNITY, FOCUSED ON OUR WELLNESS, & FOCUSED ON OUR HEALTH

Life Enhancement Forum

COMMUNITY PROGRAMS

Under the Life Enhancement Forum’s umbrella, various community programs have been developed and launched. Each of these programs follows our goals of inspiring & educating all members of our community about the benefits of a healthy diet and active lifestyle.

HEALTHY AGING

The Key Biscayne Life Enhancement Forum encourages a balanced and self-determined model for healthy aging. The Life Enhancement Forum makes seniors agents in their own aging process through mental, physical, social, and emotional wellness interventions.  Through the guidance of our advocates and experts, the Healthy Aging initiative incorporates findings from current research on aging, cognitive functioning, lifestyle, and diet to promote health and wellness for the senior population of Key Biscayne.

The Healthy Aging lecture series brings this cutting-edge research to the masses and provides residents with the resources they need to make positive changes in diet, exercise, and mental activity. Recent lectures by both Dr. Karen Koffler and Dr. Janet Konefol have highlighted how stress management, sleep, exercise, and food can be your medicine when it comes to age-related physical and cognitive decline.

Our lecture series merges a medical approach to understanding and tackling aging with a more holistic, lifestyle-oriented approach to aging and health in order to provide as wide a spectrum of residents with information and resources as possible.  In conjunction with the lecture series, Healthy Aging provides activities for aging Key Biscayne residents that enable them to enact some of the strategies promoted by the experts.

Learn more about our programs.

MATTER OF BALANCE

Many older adults experience a fear of falling. This fear of falling causes many people to limit their activities which results in physical weakness, ultimately increasing their risk of falling. Over the course of an eight-week program, Matter of Balance increases the strength and balance of older adults and in the process reduces their fear of falling and increases their general activity levels.

ENHANCED FITNESS

Enhanced Fitness is an evidence-based program led by a certified instructor to provide accessible, fun, and strengthening activities for older adults. The program focuses on cardiovascular exercise, strength training, flexibility, and balance. The program also brings older adults together through activity and provides a fun, social, healthy outlet for residents.

HEALTHY LIVING

Given the aims of the Healthy Aging Initiative, there is a natural overlap between the Healthy Aging and the Healthy Living programs at the Key Biscayne Life Enhancement Forum.

Evidence suggests that a key to aging healthfully and mitigating age-related cognitive decline is an engaged, active, and stimulating life- socially, mentally, and physically. Healthy Living provides programs and lectures that enable residents to engage in evidence-based activity to support mental, physical, and emotional wellness at any age.

HEALTHY EATING

Food is medicine. The Healthy Eating program promotes healthier food environments not just for the nutritional benefits but also for the behavioral and emotional benefits of a balanced, healthy diet. There is a strong body of research supporting the role of food in improving the negative symptoms of ADHD and autism, among other conditions. The notion that many disorders we have long considered to be connected to the mind and brain are in fact “whole body disorders” is increasingly relevant in both the understanding of these disorders and the approaches to treating them.

There is increasing evidence that gut health is intrinsically connected to mental health and the Healthy Eating Initiative sets the stage for lifelong habits of healthy, conscious food choices.

Through the Wellness in the Schools program, Healthy Eating inspires healthy eating, environmental awareness and fitness as a way of life for kids in public schools. Wellness in the Schools is creating healthier environments for children to learn and grow at Charles R Drew K-8 Center and Key Biscayne K-8 Center.

Through meaningful public-private partnerships, we work with schools to provide healthy, cooked-from-scratch meals, active recess periods, and fitness and nutrition education. Our partnership approach drives systemic, long-term change, shifting the entire culture of schools.

Learn more about Wellness in the Schools.

Life Enhancement Forum

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Ketogenic Nutrition Emerging Applications for Chronic Diseases

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Get In Touch With Us

CONTACT LIFE ENHANCEMENT FORUM

Interested in learning more? Have a question for us? The Life enhancement Forum  is operated by the Key Biscayne Community Foundation, and we are happy to field any of your questions or comments. Just use the contact form below, or contact us via our contact information here.

LIFE ENHANCEMENT FORUM

240 Crandon Blvd, Suite 108
Key Biscayne, FL
33149
(305) 361-2770
9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
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