Debbie Mandel’s
Turn On Your Inner Light
Weekly Wellness Newsletter
January 2, 2005
www.TurnOnYourInnerLight.com


Affirmation of the Week
 If you are at peace with yourself,
then there is at least
some peace in the world
Weekly Wellness Radio Show

The Turn On your Inner Light Radio Show airs Tuesday evenings 7:00 to 7:30pm, on WGBB 1240AM in Long Island. Listeners outside the Long Island area can listen to the show live by going to WGBB Live. The shows are archived for your listening pleasure.

Guest of the Week - Marilyn Innerfeld

On January 4, 2005 - Marilyn Innerfeld, author of Healing Through Love. Learn what makes us vulnerable to illness.

Health Tips of the Week

  • Cherries may one day become part of diabetes management. Both the sweet and tart versions of the fruit contain chemicals that boost insulin, which helps control blood sugar levels.
  • High blood sugar levels can hamper thinking. The pattern was seen in a study of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Keep that in mind the next time you need maximum brain power. For instance, students taking final exams might not want to rely on sugary foods and refined carbs for fuel. Loading up on carbohydrates may be counterproductive, causing fuzzy thinking.
  • While on the subject of sugar levels, depression in middle-aged women is associated with higher levels of insulin resistance, which often precedes diabetes. Researchers say the findings may help explain why depression is twice as common among people with diabetes as compared to the general population. By the way depression is also associated with poor diabetes management.
  • Dreams really appear to offer solutions, researchers conclude. The dream world apparently works quickly, presenting insights and advice the night after a problematic situation, and up to a week later. Dreams serve social and emotional functions. By the way more women find solutions in dreams as opposed to men. Maybe men don’t admit to it.
  • The latest study claims that an herbal extract may help many migraine sufferers reduce the number of attacks by nearly 50%. Butterbur is a traditional herbal treatment for migraine prevention and butterbur really does reduce the frequency of migraine attacks, so it's a welcome addition for migraine sufferers.

Article of the Week
Tsunami Lesson – How to Deal With Life’s Setbacks

The New Year always begins with good intentions: resolutions filled with dramatic goals, bright, fresh new beginnings and promises to finally release past hurts and grudges. Although I am no psychic, I can predict that next year we will begin the process again with these very same noble intentions. However, this year instead of making New Year’s Resolutions, try making New Year’s Evolutions: Small manageable changes that have no time limit and get implemented because we are motivated by how much better they make us feel about ourselves. 2005 is different from all other years. We will work on ourselves to feel better, live better and love better. The process began when a powerful natural force, a Tsunami, inundated and washed away thousands of lives and homes in the Eastern part of the world.

When the Tsunami hit, we in the West realized how connected we were, how much we cared about people whose faces we did not recognize, whose names we did not know. First, we empathized with the plight of the victims and then we took compassion to the next logical level: decisive action to help. A tidal wave in a distant part of the world set off compassionate after shocks in our part of the world reminding us of our similarities instead of our differences.

While we celebrated the arrival of the New Year, we also remembered and honored those innocent victims who were swept away. Why did some who could not even swim survive while others who were more powerful drowned? The meaning of opposing forces, death and rebirth, reached a crescendo on New Year’s Day. We have no choice but to accept the devastation, to learn from it and move forward to rebuild. One cannot accuse or blame an earth quake. We have to prepare and implement better warning systems. We have to do all that we can now to arrest disease and contamination as we bring humanitarian relief to devastated countries. That’s a good parallel lesson for us to learn when we get hit by an emotional tidal wave in our personal lives. More

Frank Mikulka's Fitness Tip Of The Week
I’m 47 years old and enjoy training, but notice that I have varicose veins. If I exercise hard, will I lose them or is it hopeless? (Joanne, Freeport) Answer

Send your fitness question to: fitness@turnonyourinnerlight.com

Debbie Mandel, MA is the author of Turn On Your Inner Light: Fitness for Body, Mind and Soul, a stress-reduction specialist, motivational speaker, a personal trainer and mind/body lecturer. She is the host of the weekly Turn On Your Inner Light Show on WGBB 1240 AM in Long Island and has been featured on radio/ TV and print media.

To learn more: www.turnonyourinnerlight.com