Debbie Mandel's
Turn On Your Inner Light
Weekly Wellness Newsletter
March 13, 2006
www.TurnOnYourInnerLight.com


The Perfect Gift for Caregivers who are stressed and
need advice on
Affirmation of the Week
 Don’t be so busy with your to-do list
that you never get to do
the things you want to do!
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.
Guest of the Week - Guy Finley

On Mar 14, 2006 - Our guest expert is Guy Finley, best selling author, founder of the Life of Learning Foundation in Oregon and creator of a new inspiring CD series, Secrets of the Unstoppable. Remove the barriers to achieving success.

Click to play this interview. Click archives for directory of past shows.

Health Tips of the Week

  • If you are in a bad mood, try eating omega 3 fatty acids found in fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel and in flaxseed, soybean oil, walnuts, and canola oil. Research shows it’s not just good for your cardiovascular system, but can help you with depression.
  • According to a new study of menopausal women who did weight lifting twice a week and did not diet there was a significant reduction of fat deep within the belly. Abdominal fat is put on more easily later in life and is implicated in cardiovascular disease and disease. Strength training does the trick.
  • From a study in the Journal of Advanced Nursing reciting a positive affirmation is a great stress reliever. Choose your own inspirational quote and use it during an agitated, stressful time to restore you to serenity. It’s quick and easy; because you memorize it, you can take it anywhere.
  • A study at Britain’s University of Birmingham shows that mental and physical exercise immediately before a flu shot enhanced the immune response in young women. There might be a benefit to doing some exercise before a vaccination.
  • From the University of Florida mental stress constricts blood flow to the heart on level with smoking!
  • More late night TV means a lot less sex. Who did this study? A romantic Italian psychologist. So get the TV out of the bedroom.

Article of the Week
Is Being Positive Having a Negative Effect?

Recently, a good friend of mine, an artist, animatedly described the details of her new stone sculptures, curved and connected like three wild women. For this piece she had unearthed some unwanted, difficult and oddly shaped stone, the kind of stone few artists would work with, and she cut and chiseled until the abstract art emerged breathtakingly beautiful. When she finished sketching out the piece for me and began to fill me in about her family, her face changed from soft lines and bright eyes to a pinched taut look; a red flush crept up her neck as she relived the past few weeks taking care of her parents and managing her children who were away at school. From the abrupt contrast in her demeanor I realized that shaping a stone according to our own vision is one thing. Contouring our primary relationships is another. We tend to forget that we do not have artistic control or own the rights to our children and our parents. Perhaps, the talent for cultivating loving relationships is knowing when to give up control and let it be.

Our children are intuitive and not easily fooled when we tell them that they can grow up to be whatever they want to be – as long as what they want corresponds to our expectations for them. They hear our “I see,” and sense our disappointment when they veer from the itinerary we have designed. When we hover over our children like helicopters, advocate for them all the time, we do not let them explore and learn how to improvise. In a sense by boosting their spirit and praising them all the time, we do them a disservice. We give them a false sense of infallibility believing they possess skills they do not have. Sometimes we even undermine their self-esteem because our children wonder why we need to give them inappropriate praise; they conclude that they must be so unworthy that they could not possibly handle the truth!

Then there are our elderly parents who insist on living alone, yet demand that we run all their errands, more
Frank Mikulka's Fitness Tip Of The Week
Toning up Breasts and Buttocks

I enjoyed your website! I am trying to tone up and strengthen my muscles behind/above my breasts and also tone up my hamstrings/buttocks area: Women’s favorite places. I do step aerobics and a good amount of walking. I do have access to a gym at work. What would your advice be to work on these specific areas? Everywhere else on my body is coming along great. (Elizabeth Chapman) 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, and Changing Habits: The Caregivers' Total Workout 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