Committed to Taking an Integrative Approach to Total Wellness

About IntegrativeAPN

My name is Jen Abitabilo. I am a proficient and compassionate family nurse practitioner with over 15 years hospital experience in Emergency Medicine and Cardiovascular care. My focus has always been on total body wellness.

In 2017 I completed a two year fellowship at the Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine, the leading center for Integrative Medicine. Having this formal training has allowed me to bring evidenced based integrative care to my daily practice. I have a passion for helping people stay healthy by achieving optimal wellness.

It is imperative to not only focus on illness treatment but more importantly, disease prevention and health promotion. The presence of inflammation plays a significant role in illness and we are learning about the destructive nature of this process more and more each day. Chronic Inflammation is the root cause of a variety of diseases, including but not limited to cardiovascular disease, autoimmune illness, certain cancers, and even digestive disorders.


When we talk about being healthy, usually we’re talking about eating well and maybe doing a little exercise during the week. What we should be should striving for is whole body wellness. Aside eating and diet, we should also be factoring in how we sleep and how we deal with stress. By focusing on four pillars of health: Diet, Exercise, Stress Management and Sleep Hygiene we are able to mitigate the inflammatory cascade and ultimately create a healthier(and happier) you!

Four Pillars of Health

  • Foods can be pro inflammatory or anti inflammatory. The saying “you are what you eat” couldn’t be more true. By incorporating whole, nutritious foods into your diet, you can not only can lose weight, but also feel better, improve mental clarity and, get relief from digestive disorders. For those of you who need a dietary reboot I often recommend a short but effective clean eating detox. This allows just enough time to rid the body of toxins and introduce healthy nutritious foods. So many of us don’t recognize how food makes us feel: the good and the bad effects. .

  • It’s so important to get moving! Exercise has so many amazing benefits, from helping to maintain a healthy weight to improving blood pressure. Getting active increases energy, boosts mood, even helps you sleep. For those with heart disease exercise is crucial. A recent study on exercise, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that even small amounts of exercise decrease mortality rates, so get moving and live longer!

  • Chronic stress leads to chronic inflammation and that causes disease. It’s vital to adopt healthy ways to deal with stress. Whether it’s mindfulness, engaging in guided imagery or practicing yoga. Stress has a way of building up and the cumulative effect can be detrimental to your health. Find a method that works for you and make it part of your routine.

  • Sleep is not just a time to rest, it’s a time to heal. Unfortunately with all the technological advances and need to be “connected” all the time, our sleep habits have suffered. Blue light is disrupting melatonin release and negatively affecting our circadian rhythm. What’s worse is lack of sleep might also accelerate disease. There are a number of other factors that could be contributing to difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, luckily there are numerous options to help you get a better night’s rest.