Ok, it is now warm and time for the beach…right? Here is something you can do BEFORE you settle in for your sun and relaxation. You can do this in your bare feet, but having something to protect them is a good idea (water shoes). If you have some old ones you don’t mind getting wet, use those.

Whether it runs or flies, game dishes can be rather intimidating to try, much less prepare for yourself. Luckily, Savannah boasts a top-notch selection of fine restaurants and bistros whose owners and chefs are quite passionate about bringing the wild onto our plates and into our otherwise domestic palates.

It’s hard to beat Savannah for a nice, long run. Our city has everything a runner needs with good weather, beautiful scenery, great athletic resources, and a list of races to choose from almost every weekend. And now Savannah runners have what they’ve dreamed of for a long time: a marathon to call their own!

The fountain of youth may only be a myth, but there are a few tricks that can help vastly improve the quality and length of your life. These Savannah locals are living proof that age doesn’t define or determine your state of health – dedication does. And they’ve decided to share their secrets, so listen carefully.

Get moving with these hot picks for some of the area’s most popular dance classes.

Essi’s Dance Studio

Since 1975 Ebi Ilami has been teaching Savannah the elegant technique of ballroom dancing, cultivating a large stake in the area’s professional ballroom community. 912.927.2920   www.essisdancestudio.com

It’s not really a shot in the dark to say we would all classify living highly stressed lives. From work to family to home projects, we find ways to skip healthy meals for a fast fix. We also convince ourselves that these quick fixes, i.e. fast food, microwave meals, or anything that requires poking a hole for ventilation, is not that unhealthy if we only eat it a few times a week. However we don’t realize that anywhere from 50% to 70% of our daily fat, calories, cholesterol and sodium and can be consumed in just one fast food meal. We don’t really need to get into what that does to our bodies, energy or appearances, but you can imagine.

So why wouldn’t you want to eat organic when it’s just so easy in the Coastal Empire? Health benefits aside, organic food tastes better and it’s not hard to find around here. Check out these local resources and start enjoying food the way it’s supposed to be enjoyed!

Does Christmas shopping make you anxious? Have all those parties and goodies at the office caused you to put on a few extra unwelcomed pounds? Is there no time left in your busy day to exercise? Does having all those family members gathered together under one roof cause added stress in your already hectic life?

Then it’s time to get away from it all and treat yourself to the gift of health this holiday season! Simply book a 3 Day Getaway or 1 Day Pass to one of the “Top 5 US Health Spas,” the Hilton Head Health in Shipyard Plantation. The island is only a short 30-minute drive from “bridge to bridge.” From the minute you set foot in the facility, you feel like you’ve been transported to a special oasis designed to help you re-focus your priorities and re-energize your life.

Three generations, one studio: why Savannah families keep coming back to this haven of health and heritage.

Forty years ago, a Radio City Music Hall Rockette started the Gretchen Greene School of Dance. Today, her daughter, Trina Dodd Stafford, carries on her mother’s theatrical legacy. South spoke with Stafford about continuing the tradition and keeping future ballerinas on their toes.

South magazine: How did your family end up in this industry?

Trina Dodd Stafford: Well, both my grandparents were in show business; they were musicians in local jazz bands. My mother, [Gretchen Greene], basically grew up in a dance studio where her mother was the class pianist. (You know, back then they used live pianists in dance classes.) I think that was a huge influence on her. As soon as she was old enough, she dyed her hair blonde, hopped on the first plane to New York and was a Rockette within a month. It was 1968 when she decided to move back to Georgia and open the Gretchen Greene School of Dance, where she still teaches classes today.

15 ways to reach health Nirvana—without leaving Savannah.
Perfection, a state of existence void of all error, flaw or deficiency: No matter how you slice it, it’s a lofty goal. Regardless of whether it’s physical, spiritual or intellectual Nirvana, it’s an intimidating concept potent enough to send normally sane people into bouts of sleeplessness and lunacy as they attempt to measure up to the idea.

But that’s not to say we all shouldn’t strive to inch just a little bit closer to that supreme idea of being the very best version of ourselves. Luckily, Savannah boasts hundreds of ways to enhance both the yin and the yang, the spiritual and the physical, the active and the contemplative. The possibilities for a mind or body boost are virtually endless. With that, South presents its first ever guide to becoming the best you—in the best city in the South.

Could the secret to happy aging lie in hormones?

Val Beaudreau was only 43 when her symptoms started. “I thought I was having anxiety attacks,” she remembers. “And I’d cry, just cry. I’d hear a sad song, I’d cry. I’d see a commercial, I’d cry.” She also started gaining weight, struggling with insomnia, having debilitating hot flashes and losing her interest in sex. “I was up, I was down, I was around and around,” says Beaudreau. “I’d tell my girlfriends, ‘Oh my God, I think I’m going nuts!’”

Her doctor prescribed her an antidepressant, but it didn’t relieve her symptoms. “I was on it for about eight months and then I thought, ‘No, I’m not doing this,’” recalls Beaudreau. “That’s when I started being my own health advocate.

She hit the books, and in her research she came across a copy of Suzanne Somers’ bestseller Ageless. In the book, Somers describes symptoms similar to what Beaudreau was experiencing—symptoms related to the inevitable loss of hormones that goes along with aging. Somers also carefully documents her treatment through the controversial use of bioidentical hormones.

But first she needed to find someone who was trained in bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) and willing to administer it. This was harder than Beaudreau ever could have imagined.