Debbie Mandel’s
Turn On Your Inner Light
Weekly Wellness Newsletter
September 12, 2005
www.TurnOnYourInnerLight.com


Affirmation of the Week
 When you chase after happiness,
the biggest hurdle is to know
when you have caught up.
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. The shows are archived for your listening pleasure.
Guest of the Week - Susan Senator

On Sept 13, 2005 - Susan Senator, an advocate for children and the disabled, author of Making Peace with Autism. This is an honest account of daily coping with autism and keeping a family in tact. Click to listen to it NOW via the internet.

Health Tips of the Week

  • Consumers Reports says even the best home air cleaners may not be worth the money when it comes to improving your health. To reduce indoor allergens: Try opening the windows, vacuuming more often, reducing the number of carpets and rugs in the house, encasing pillows, mattresses, and box springs in dust-mite-proof covers and washing your laundry in hot water.
  • Norwegian research trials have announced that vitamin B-6 and folic acid in high doses are not helpful in preventing heart disease. People taking these vitamins need to be careful because they could be harmful.
  • The University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine explains that there is increasing evidence that chemical abnormalities within the brain, too little serotonin, make some women more vulnerable to eating disorders. While there could be a genetic component, eating disorders might also be triggered by childhood trauma or abuse. That’s why some people respond to Paxil and Zoloft along with therapy and others don’t. If it is genetic, even a simple diet could trigger it.
  • The Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine warns that kids model bad behavior early. Whatever you do, a child is watching. If you smoke and drink, a small child is likely to imitate your behavior in fantasy role playing.
  • Our doctors need to be trained in cultural diversity according to JAMA. Because our nation is so diverse, many doctors do not know how to address and deal with patients who are new immigrants or who have health beliefs that differ from Western medicine. Who knows? This increased sensitivity on behalf of the medical profession might ripple down to us.

Article of the Week
Should You Always Tell the Truth?

Almost daily one of our greatest stressors is the degree to which we should be honest: To tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or are there times when the truth does not set us free? We have all been taught to tell the truth along with the conflicting instructions of, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say it.” How many of us when we were small have caught our parents lying on the telephone? When confronted about the contradiction, they smiled sheepishly, “Oh, it’s okay because it’s just a white lie. I didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings. Sometimes it’s kinder not to tell the truth.” Perhaps, we have passed on this contradiction to our own children.

Currently a doctor is being investigated and might even be brought up on charges for offending an obese patient by telling her the truth that she has to lose weight because her health is in jeopardy. Soon doctors will have to read “Miranda rights” and get a signed release from their patients to speak frankly concerning their conditions. Is the truth based on a doctor’s educated opinion something the patient can handle and does the doctor really know for sure how much time a patient has left?

Truth is not an absolute; in fact, the truth is fluid and allusive; mostly it is subjective, our own judgment to prove ourselves right. When we believe that we know the truth, in actuality we are relating our personal interpretation of the truth. The more passionate, entrenched we are in our truth and upset by someone else’s version, the more we need to listen and have compassion for what the other side is trying to teach us about ourselves.

Withholding the truth about our thoughts and feelings is wise during the initial stages of opening our heart to someone in friendship or in love. More

Frank Mikulka's Fitness Tip Of The Week
Calcium & Military Press

I have two little questions to ask you: How important is calcium to my diet and exercise program? And what is a military press? Thank you so much! (Lori, Smithtown) 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