Archive for 5. TIPS.Mind and Health
Self talk – Communication for your Ears only
Posted by: | CommentsWhat is self talk? How do you use it to help yourself? Is there a right way or a wrong way? What are resources you can use to help you? You can find this out and more on this recorded episode of Ask an Expert recorded live on BlogTalkRadio.com/bruce-bair. Your comments, suggestions and rants on these issues is greatly appreciated. Just go to the comments section and let me know if you think I an crazy or if this makes sense.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Fun – from “A box of crayons”
Posted by: | CommentsI thank Chris Brogan for bringing this to my attention on his blog. It is a YouTube video produced by the company www.boxofcrayons.biz. I believe you can find them on Twitter @boxofcrayons. Enjoy this brief but enlightening video on the 8 rules of Fun.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Accupuncture – an interview with Tamara Cox
Posted by: | CommentsI have never personally experienced accupuncture, but I had my first opportunity to talk to an accupuncturist from Durham, NC. Her name is Tamara Cox
and she attended a 20 year old school in Boone, NC and is now licensed in the state of NC.
She explained to me that in Eastern Medicine, the body and the emotions are both considered when making a diagnosis and deciding on a treatment plan. Though Tamara believes Accupuncture can do much to restore the energy balance within the body, she also believes the patient has to live well by correct principles. Just getting accupuncture and not eating a good diet, getting enough rest, or dealing with stressers in your life is a poor balance and not conducive to healing.
Tamara told me that most of her patients come to her for pain relief. She takes a medical history and tries to understand where energy flow in the body may be blocked or impeded so she can select the correct way to alleviate the symptoms by improving the flow of energy. She explains it much bettter than I can in this podcast of our interview at Peace Tree Village where she is part of the co-op.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Light up Your Life with great Self Care
Posted by: | CommentsI tell my clients over and over that self care is the most important thing they can do. It is also one of the most unselfish. Why this is true and what you can do about it is covered in the three segments I recently recorded. Segment one is attached. Your job is to listen and then tell me via the comments section if you like it and what specifically you liked or disliked. I look forward to hearing from you. To hear more on this topic (segments 2 and 3) visit The Tribal Council Online.
Popularity: 1% [?]
The Spiritual Environment
Posted by: | CommentsBeing a product of our environment is accepted and acknowledged. It is a universal truth. What is also accepted is that we don’t have to be controlled by outside forces. Read Victor Frankel’s book Man’s Search for Meaning. I won’t spoil it for you. Even though it is a thin book, it is intense and best taken in small doses. Frankel makes the point clearly that we are responsible for our own minds. We control what we think. Those thoughts and what we do to enhance certain kinds of thinking is our spiritual environment. I have something to say about it and want you to tell me what you think. I have linked the recording to this post and sent them on over to iTunes.
The Spiritual Environment part 1 [29:53m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download The Spiritual Environment part 2 [21:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadPopularity: 1% [?]
Homeopathic Remedies – Safe or Unsafe?
Posted by: | CommentsHomeopathic “remedies” enjoy a unique status in the health marketplace: They are the only category of quack products legally marketable as drugs. Dr. Stephen Barrett, M.D.
Homeopathy is completely safe. Even babies and pregnant women can use Homeopathy without the danger of side effects. Homeopathic remedies can also be taken alongside other medication without producing unwanted side effects. A quote from the front page of ABC Homeopathy.
Not all homeopathic medicines are as dilute or safe as the ABC Homeopathy site would have you believe. Or,if they are safe then many products marketed as “Homeopathic” do not meet the rigorous standards. One such medication is Zicam. Many of my patients tell me they take this compound when they have viral upper respiratory symptoms we often call a “cold”.
During 2008, the FDA received reports on harmful side effects on over 800 homeopathic products. One of the most serious was the lose of the sense of smell and the homeopathic remedy was Zicam. Though most homopathic remedies are diluted to parts per million, some of the ingredients in Zicam were diluted to only 2 parts per hundred. Zicam was ordered by the FDA to stop producing products that contained Zinc gluconate. These were the nasal gel, the adult and kid-size nasal swabs.
I find it interesting that people who hold me and my colleagues to a very high standard of ethics and practice will use such products and argue about their effectiveness. I think they simply want something they control and don’t have to have a prescription to use. It also seems to me that they want to simplify very complex processes and use a single ingredient to remove uncomfortable symptoms even when those symptoms could be caused by a myriad of processes within their bodies.
One of the main defenses I hear for this is “I know my body better than anyone else.” To me that is like saying they are qualified to repair a car because they can put gas in it and aim it down the road. Neither make much sense to me. Now, I need your opinion. You, or most of you are on the other side of the fence from me. You consume services and I deliver them in medicine. Am I crazy for these thoughts and opinions or do you agree with me? Let me hear from you in the comments section.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Journals – key tools for our health
Posted by: | CommentsUntil I was introduced to Mari McCarthy I did not know that Multiple Sclerosis would ever be described as, “The best thing that ever happened to me.” Mari, who has lost most of her function on the right side of her body, is a 
dynamo of enthusiasm and encouragement.
Mari discussed with me and our live audience how journals and journal writing can be physically and psychologically therapeutic. She is so passionate about it, she founded a company Create Write Now just to teach people how to do it and to encourage them to do more. You can find her on Twitter and on Facebook. Our interview lasted a little over an hour and I recorded in two parts so you can listen to one completely on your run or drive to work.
I would really appreciate your comments and would like to hear about your experience with journals. Mari is offering a couple of extras and you need to visit the links on my webcast page or email here and ask her about her special offer for listeners of my podcast Ask an Expert Anything. You can also find my podcast on iTunes under the name of this blog GettheSkinneyPodcast. You can also listen to our interview in the player in this post.
Ask Mari McCarthy about Create Write Now Part 1 [29:15m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Ask Mari McCarthy about Create Write Now Part 2 [36:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadPopularity: unranked [?]
Fitness, Diet and Life advice from around the Web
Posted by: | CommentsIf you are like me, you are challenged for time. I have some very important goals, several ongoing projects and 
sometimes I forget – a life of my own. I do not believe in or try to mentally multitask but I do believe in doing more than one thing at once. I listen to books or podcasts on my iPod while I walk and I am going to follow Scott Tousignant’s advice and exercise in my office while I work. I have recommended this to others myself and I recommend following the 30 Day Home Office Challenge. Thanks to The Wellness Lady for pointing me to Scott.
Nichole Nichols over at the Daily Spark Blog wrote about another favorite of mine. She got her balance disc for $13, I paid $20 at Target in the Yoga center but I got a DVD on how to use it. It was really worth it! Training the muscles of balance trains the entire core. A few years ago I had become weak enough that I had to sit down to put my pants on. I felt like the blob. I bought one of these (a trainer had introduced me to it once before) and began using it right after work everyday for about 10 minutes. I would just go into the bedroom, take off my shoes, pull out the disc and using the closet doorway for a place to hold, just stand or sit on the thing. I can now stand as long as I like with both feet and am working on doing it on just one foot. It really made my balance muscles much stronger and I was soon able to put my pants and my socks on while standing. I recommend them to my patients who have not exercised in a while. I ask them to stand on it during every commercial of their favorite TV show. Try it, you will be stronger and more fit as a result. Also from The Daily Spark Blog comes this recommendation for dancing as part of home fitness. I really concur with this. Just get moving for 10 minutes to your favorite tunes. If you want some instructions here is a recommendation from Nicole again. It is called 10 Minute Solution Dance Off Belly Fat! It is $14 on Amazon. She likes their Kettle bell work out also. If you need someone to lead you in dancing, you might try this one.
If you like to read you should check out Jimmy Moore’s blog Livin La Vida Low Carb and his post on 27 Books about health and nutrition. I have the two Eat This Not That books on his list and the book by Lierre Keith The Vegetarian Myth is one recommended to me by several people.
The blog About Green Living has a post about how to save water. The tips offered – 12 of them- are practical pieces of advice. My Father has told me for years that is was utilities that were going to cost the most in the future. He certainly has been correct and he has profited from this by investing in the DRIP programs of utility companies that pay a good (4-6% dividend that is tax free in the USA after 18 months of ownership). Anyway this isn’t intended to be financial lesson. Just save some water and read the tips
Popularity: unranked [?]
Time, Passion, Relationships, Walking, Health Care and Procrastination
Posted by: | CommentsBreakfast is an important time. You do not want to skip this meal. I am linking a post from EatRightEatSmart on 56 Breakfast Recipes. I am not a big fan of a grain based diet so I don’t like all of these as regulars in our diet but they look like tasty occasional change-ups. 
It is great to have passion but you have to combine that passion with action that makes a difference. Paula Harvey knows about both passion and action and she writes about it here. Paula does passion parties and I will do a 30 minute workshop virtually when you book a passion party through her and if you do you get a 10% rebate on her price but you have to tell her you heard it here and book us both for the same night.
Rosalie writes about exercise and keeping a clear focus. Her blog is a specialty blog that focuses on walking.
Finding time is a common phrase and the title of a blog by Paula Eder. She writes about using a tool to take on the habit of procrastination in her most recent post.
Kristina VR does not let you off the hook in your relationship troubles. When a partner does not come in for counseling, she tells the one who is there “If you want to make the world a better place, look in the mirror and make the change”. Not exactly, those lyrics are from a 90’s Michael Jackson song but they create the idea she advises in this blog post.
Jimmy Moore of Livin’LaVidaLowCarb has a post about a service provided by a company that has been a leader in medical forms. I think this deserves a cautious look. The interview he refers to won’t be available until Dec 3 but the information is on his blog now. It could make your visits to the doctor much more productive.
Popularity: unranked [?]
Sleep – We vastly underestimate its power and under-utilize it to keep us healthy
Posted by: | CommentsSleep is poorly understood even after all the research that has been done. Even though everyone knows we need it, no one really knows exactly why. We know a lot about it, but our knowledge barely scratches the surface. With all that we know, there is little we can do to change our need.
I have attached two podcast recordings from yesterday on the subject of sleep. You can also find these on iTunes under the name Get the Skinney or Ask an Expert Anything. I discuss many of the most common issues about sleep like: sleep apnea, CPAP, Leptin, Ghrelin, the association between sleep and weight and between sleep and longevity. I talk about our illogical thinking that we can sacrifice sleep in pursuit of some goal and the well documented problems of doing just that.
The podcast covers the Stages of Sleep and talks about Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and NREM or non-rapid eye movement sleep. Did you know that infants spend 50% of their sleep in REM. That may have something to do with their developing brains. Do you know what a Circadian Rhythm is? How about the Brains “Biological Clock” called the SCN. Did you know that a third light receptor has been found in the eye? In addition to those rods and cones you already learned about. Those are hard wired to the SCN or Suprachiasmic Nucleus and influence the Pineal Glands production of Mealtonin. Did you know that there are two kinds of melatonin – the endocrine kind from the pineal gland and the kind produced by other tissue and only used within that tissue? It is a powerful antioxidant in its local role.
These two podcasts are only 15 minutes long and also provide you with information about resources and about the signup contest I am sponsoring this month. I hope you find these useful.
Ask an Expert Anything about Sleep
Ask an Expert Anything about Sleep part2
Popularity: unranked [?]