Debbie Mandel's
Turn On Your Inner Light
Weekly Wellness Newsletter
December 5, 2005
www.TurnOnYourInnerLight.com


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Affirmation of the Week
 What I see
is what I get.
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 - Nava Atlas

On Dec 6, 2005 - Nava Atlas is the author of Everyday Traditions: Simple Family Rituals for Connection and Comfort. It’s time to transform the holidaze into happy days.
Click to listen to it NOW via the internet.

Health Tips of the Week

  • From the British Medical Journal: Swimming with dolphins can ease mild to moderate depression in about two weeks. Don’t have a pet dolphin? Try another pet because animals and nature have been found to have therapeutic value.
  • New research from Italy’s Torino Medical school says that the power of expectations, have physical - not just psychological – benefits on health. If doctors talk up a medication to their patients, many will physically actualize the placebo effect. Doctors are beginning to learn about how to harness this power.
  • Poisonings from acetaminophens are on the rise. Thinking that they are relatively safe, people are taking more than the recommended dosage, or getting hooked on them when they are mixed with alcohol or opiates. In addition many over the counter products like Theraflu, Alka-seltzer plus and Nyquil contain acetaminophen too. Someone with the flu might be eating very little, taking Extra StrengthTylenol and Theraflu and is literally overdosing. Damage to the liver could be severe.

Article of the Week
It’s Time to Take Care of Your Self

Changing Habits coverDear reader I am excited to share with you the debut of my new book, Changing Habits: the Caregivers’ Total Workout. I wrote it with great passion from deep inside my heart as a response to my own struggles as a caregiver as well as by listening intently to the stressors of others who are sandwiched between children, aging parents and work. Striving to be the “sunshine girl,” maintaining good cheer in the face of adversity, is draining and comes at the expense of physical and emotional health. In Changing Habits you will find my best concrete strategies and most uplifting and unusual stories to help you simplify and reconnect to your essential happiness. I present you with the breathing room to live fully and optimistically.

Not only is stress-management my mission, but I was a caregiver to two parents with Alzheimer’s disease while I was raising my three children and working as a full-time teacher. I know first hand about being extremely busy to avoid being alone with me and having time to think and feel. I also know about the inexplicable guilt of not doing enough for my family! I learned a powerful lesson from Alzheimer’s the ultimate disease that forces you to let go: To let go of anger and disappointment to live fully in the moment – nothing less and nothing more. Even though I have a dishwasher, sometimes I wash dishes to come back to myself, cleaning one plate at a time, to clean out my mental clutter, my rational lies. I use this simple physical action to release my suppressed emotions.

So if you feel overwhelmed with responsibilities and wake up on a beautiful morning with sunlight streaming into the room yet feel a vague sense of sadness, then it’s time to take care of your self! Shed your old, worn out skin to reveal a fresh vitality underneath. Changing your habits to make your own needs a priority and to feel passionate about life is within your grasp. Just make a series of micro-changes to benefit your health and well being. Evaluate how that feels. See the whole context of your life to rediscover your true identity and to fulfill your private dreams.

That’s the guiding light behind Changing Habits. This is the first comprehensive health and fitness program focused on the needs of caregivers from ages 18 and up relating how to energize, get fit, eat right, shed stress and enjoy life. A series of small, defined changes can lead to sustainable happiness. Each chapter demonstrates how to restore balance physically, emotionally and spiritually. At the heart of the matter Activity Alleviates Anxiety.

Changing Habits will give you practical and scientific tools to turn back the clock and enhance your vitality – aging in a youth oriented society is a big stressor. Make small changes, get giant gains in self-care. The secret to success is getting started and then sustaining motivation. What are you waiting for? If you are not a caregiver in need of personal empowerment, you surely know someone who is. The holidaze are coming. Give yourself or a friend the gift of healing and optimism.

Available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com or on turnonyourinnrlight.com
Frank Mikulka's Fitness Tip Of The Week
Proper Way to Do a Squat

I read that a squat would strengthen and firm up my legs and glutes (which I have noticed are not firm). Could you please give me some more info on this exercise? (Jamie, West Babylon)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