Category Archives: Health & Wellness

One Woman’s Grassroots Approach to Eradicating Vitamin D Deficiency

Carole Baggerly is on a mission to spread the word about the importance of Vitamin D for optimal health.  She’s neither a physician nor scientist. Rather, she’s a breast cancer survivor who, after undergoing treatments including breast removal, chemo and radiation, thought “there has to be a better way.”  As if that wasn’t enough, Carole was then diagnosed with Osteoporosis, which her doctor thought could have been the result of her low vitamin D level.  Around the same time, a physician-researcher at the University of California, San Diego had published authoritative data showing the risk for breast cancer could be reduced by 50% with adequate levels of Vitamin D!  That was all she needed to hear.  She left her career in the software industry and devoted the next chapter of her life to learning all she could about “the sunshine vitamin.”   … [Read more]

Recommended Reading: What You Can Do To Age Well

Jonny Bowden, a board-certified nutritionist and author of several books on nutrition and health, has nicknamed the four dangerous processes that age our bodies “the four horsemen of aging.”  He explains in his newest book, The Most Effective Ways to Live Longer: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What You Should Do to Prevent Disease, Feel Great, and Have Optimum Health and Longevity that together, they are probably responsible for the bulk of what happens to our bodies when they break down.  He writes: “Anything that’s happening in your body that you wish were not happening, from the beginnings of disease to the breakdown of systems to the loss of functionality, is being driven by the engine of these four processes.” So here they are with a brief explanation and advice from Bowden for mitigating their harm: … [Read more]

Is Your Anti-Aging Cream Doing More Harm than Good?

When you consider how many health and beauty products you use daily – from toothpaste to deodorant, it’s easy to understand the importance of reading labels and using only the highest quality, chemical free products.  After all, whatever you put ON your body ends up IN your body, and according to the Environmental Working Group’s Shoppers Guide to Safe Cosmetics, cosmetic companies are not required to do any safety testing, so they can use almost any chemical they want. … [Read more]

RX for Living a Long Life

Recent research on aging suggests that by controlling certain factors in our lives, living to the ripe old age of 100 is not too far fetched.  In fact, Danish experts predict that most babies born in rich countries this century will eventually be centenarians. This chart below suggests 11 factors that could influence your own longevity, including be outgoing, floss more, and my favorite, take more holidays. Of course, all this is debatable, but there is compelling research showing the impact that certain lifestyle and environmental changes can have on your health now and in the future.

An Online Series that Will Nourish Your Soul

If you have 90 minutes that you can devote to yourself every Saturday for the next four weeks, tune in to Hay House Radio’s “I Can Do It!” conference series featuring some of the leading experts in personal development, mind-body medicine and spirituality including;  Dr. Wayne Dyer, Dr. Christiane Northrup and Marianne Williamson.

Two 90-minute sessions are scheduled each Saturday on the Hay House Radio website; the first begins at 9 am (pacific time);  the second at 11am.  This Saturday’s program will begin with Wayne Dyer, Ph.D., on Changing Lifelong Thinking Habits;  followed by  Dr. Christiane Northrup, whose topic is  Creating a Life of Unbridled Joy.

The cost to tune into all eight programs is only $20, a fraction of what you would have paid to attend the San Diego “I Can Do It” conference where these sessions were originally recorded.  When you register for the first lesson, you are automatically enrolled in the rest of the series.  So it pays to register early. To see the complete event descriptions, and log-on information, visit the Hay House Radio website.

Your BMI Score: Are You Fit or Just Acceptable?

Do you know that you don’t have to be overweight to have too much body fat? You can weigh in at what you think is your ideal range and normal body size, but still be considered obese and thus, at risk for future heart problems. This phenomenon of “normal weight obesity” is the focus of a report by the Mayo Clinic, whose authors estimate that as many as 30 million Americans fall into this category.  An informative feature story about this appeared in the Wall Street Journal’s HeartBeat Column this week.

Apparently, what’s most critical in evaluating whether you’re really fit or just acceptable is not your BMI score, the traditional measure for obesity,  but how much body fat you’re carrying around. … [Read more]

Why Monitoring Your Cholesterol Levels Is So Important at Menopause

There are two facts about cholesterol that mid-life women should be concerned about: the first is that too high a level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) Cholesterol (the bad kind) in your blood stream increases your risk of heart disease; and second, a woman’s LDL cholesterol rises markedly – as much as 10 percent – during the year before and after menopause begins.  In today’s “Heart Beat” column in the Wall Street Journal, reporter Ron Winslow writes about a “provocative” research study that’s exploring the connection between declining estrogen levels and rising LDL markers.  The article underscores the importance of;

• Knowing your numbers when it comes to cholesterol (LDL under 100 is optimal)
• Getting enough aerobic exercise (it is a crucial weapon in responding to the impact of menopause on heart risk)
• Eating a low-saturated fat diet (high in fruits and vegetables) and,
• Monitoring your blood pressure(120/80 is ideal).

This is a good article to read and take to heart!

Tired? Depressed? Craving Sweets? Check Your Thyroid!

Fatigue, hair loss, depression and joint and muscle pain are just a few of the symptoms of a low thyroid (or hypothyroidism)- the gland that controls our metabolism.  It’s not uncommon for women experiencing hormonal fluctuations – whether during pregnancy, perimenopause or menopause, to have a low-functioning thyroid.  An explanation of why this happens can be found in an excellent series of articles on the Women To Women website.

Functional Foods That Could Help You Stay Healthy This Winter

Recently, while at a friend’s home, I helped myself to some delicious wrapped chocolate pieces.  I had three of them before I asked her where she purchased them. I found out that they were calcium chewies and I had just ingested 1500mg of Calcium plus vitamin D.   I purchased three bags the next day and I no longer forget to take my calcium twice a day!

Calcium chewies are the best known product in a growing category of “functional foods,” or nutraceuticals, which contain nutritional supplements and bioagents of foods such as anthocyanins (from berries) or beta-carotene that some research has shown to prevent or treat disease or illness.  We’re all accustomed to taking daily supplements like fish oil or calcium.  But there’s a growing industry of manufacturers that are wrapping these beneficial ingredients with delicious-tasting chocolate or concentrated fruit making them more appealing and convenient to consume.  Some claim to prevent urinary tract infections, while others are supposed to help ward off respiratory tract infections.  I don’t know if there’s any conclusive evidence to support all of the claims, but since they’re like small treats, I don’t think you’ll mind doing your own research to see if they work for you.  Here are a few products that you might want to try:  … [Read more]

A Urologist Suggests Ways To Control or Prevent UTIs

A urinary tract infection is one more thing that you can blame on menopause – or more accurately- the lack of estrogen in your body.  The decrease in estrogen, explains New York City-based Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler, causes the bladder to become less elastic, triggering an inability to empty the bladder completely. “Ultimately, not being able to empty the bladder completely can create a breeding ground for bacteria to multiply, leaving menopausal women at risk for developing a UTI.” … [Read more]