By Elizabeth Barker
Hibiscus for High Blood Pressure
Sipping hibiscus tea may help tame high blood pressure, recent research from Tufts University suggests. For six weeks, a group of adults with mildly elevated blood pressure drank three cups of the tart tea or a placebo drink daily. By the end of the study, tea-taking participants had significantly lowered their systolic blood pressure (the top number on a blood-pressure reading). What’s more, those who had higher blood pressure at the start of the study saw even greater improvement than their less hypertensive counterparts. Hibiscus tea’s heart-healthy effects most likely have to do with its high levels of flavonoids, potent antioxidants shown to lower blood pressure in past research, notes study author Diane McKay, PhD.
 Belly Fat and The Blues
Depression may prompt you to pack on more belly fat, a key risk factor for major health problems like diabetes and heart disease. For a new report from Archives of General Psychiatry, researchers measured overall and abdominal obesity in 2,088 older adults, four per cent of whom had depression at the start of the study. At a five-year follow-up, depression was linked to an increase in sagittal diameter (the distance between the back and the highest point of the abdomen) and visceral fat (the fat between your internal organs). However, no such association was found for an increase in overall obesity. It’s possible that chronic stress stemming from depression may spur the release of cortisol (a hormone that causes visceral fat to accumulate), according to the study’s authors.
 Music Makes Your Heart Sing
Cranking up a happy song could bring bliss to your heart. In a recent University of Maryland study, 10 healthy adults experienced beneficial changes to their blood vessels after listening to music that made them feel good. While tuning into songs they considered stress-inducing, on the other hand, study members saw their blood vessels narrow in a manner that could reduce blood flow to the heart.
Music seems to stir a physiological response powerful enough to relax or constrict the blood vessels, partly due to its effects on emotional state, according to principal investigator Michael Miller, MD. “The emotional component may be an endorphin-mediated effect,” he explains. “The active listening to music evokes such raw positive emotions, likely in part due to the release of endorphins, part of that mind-heart connection that we yearn to learn so much more about.”
 Bad-For-You Bosses
Can’t stand your boss? Your heart health may be in jeopardy, according to a new report published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine. After asking more than 3,100 men to rate their managers on certain behaviours (such as consideration for their employees), researchers found that those who gave their bosses “low leadership scores” had a higher risk of heart disease.
A sure-fire recipe for maintaining a top-notch ticker
by Donna Barker
It’s February—the month marked by a sea of red hearts in store windows and skyrocketing sales of cards, flowers, chocolates, and diamonds that whisper, “I love you.” Even women like me, who don’t usually buy into the marketing hype, want to feel acknowledged by our sweeties on Valentine’s Day. Men, it seems, don’t have the same need: our hearts appear to be different in this respect.
Our hearts are also different in another, more important, way: how they develop heart disease. Whereas heart failure in men is usually due to systolic dysfunction (a.k.a. a “floppy” heart), for women it’s generally brought about by diastolic dysfunction (a.k.a. a “stiff” heart). For both sexes, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in Canada.
A floppy heart usually develops due to a weakened heart muscle, which results in the heart being unable to adequately pump blood through the body. A stiff heart develops when the heart muscle stiffens so that the heart cannot fill normally with blood.
Floppy or stiff, if there’s someone in your life whose heart you want beating for many more Valentine’s Days, the wisdom behind cutting the risk of heart disease rings true for both women and men. Besides not smoking, drinking in moderation, reducing stress, and exercising for at least 30 minutes a day, a heart-smart diet can do wonders to reduce the chance of heart failure.
“Many researchers believe that inflammation is at the heart of heart disease and most chronic diseases. So the number one thing to do to maintain your overall health is to follow an anti-inflammatory diet,” explains Desiree Nielsen, a registered dietician and the nutrition operations manager at Choices Markets.
Since plant foods are at the core of an anti-inflammatory diet, that’s not an issue for me, a strict vegetarian for more than 20 years (bacon was my recent downfall). But it’s hard for my meat-etarian partner to swallow.
Nielsen’s advice for people who grab beef jerky over an apple when they feel like nibbling: “You don’t have to stop eating the food you love, just start adding a piece of fruit or a vegetable at every meal and snack.”
She also recommends increasing the amount of legumes (“the healthiest foods that nobody eats”), nuts, and seeds in our diets. Along with fruits and vegetables, these foods are where we find the lion’s share of high-quality, heart-healthy fats.
Furthermore, Nielsen suggests taking 1,000 IU of vitamin D every day. Although she has a “food first” philosophy for increasing vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in our diets, she says that we have only recently realized how important vitamin D is to managing chronic diseases like heart disease and cancer. As there are very few natural food sources for vitamin D, and most of us probably don’t spend enough time in the sun, researchers suspect most of us are vitamin-D deficient.
“While you’re at it, if you aren’t eating salmon and other fish on a regular basis, take a fish oil supplement that contains EPA and DHA, two omega-3 fatty acids that help with heart health,” Nielsen recommends. She warns, however, that people taking blood thinners should check with their doctor before adding fish oil supplements to their diet.
So, to say “I love you” this Valentine’s Day, why not prepare a heart-healthy dinner with your lover? Lee Stevens is a personal chef (leestevens.ca ) who specializes in helping clients make the transition to eating healthier foods.
“I support many clients with heart disease by preparing 20 heart-healthy meals for them to freeze and eat over a month, so they can stay true to the diet their doctor is recommending,” she explains.
Stevens offers a delicious, heart-healthy, and fun menu for Valentine’s Day. (If you want the actual recipes, send her an e-mail [lee.stevens@shaw.ca]. She’ll gladly share her secrets with you!)
To start, baby organic greens with toasted almonds and citrus poppyseed dressing. For the main course, heart-shaped salmon papillotes with caramelized onions and currants with a side of steamed asparagus. And for the ever-important dessert: chocolate mousse, made heart-smart by using silken tofu.
Throw in a bottle of wine, a couple of candles, and some Latin love songs. That should be enough to firm up any man’s floppy heart for the night. Or soften any woman’s stiff one!
Don’t Be Hard-Hearted
While doctors are good at diagnosing heart failure in men, they are not as good at recognizing it in older women. In an effort to help both women and their doctors better understand how heart disease (and stroke) affect the fairer sex, the Heart & Stroke Foundation launched the Heart Truth website. It gives women the information they need to evaluate their risk and to adopt a healthier lifestyle. thehearttruth.ca
Donna Barker Although she eschews cards and gifts for Valentine’s Day, Donna Barker enthusiastically accepts them for her birthday, which is also in February.
by Elizabeth Barker
 Lift Your Spirits
Spirituality may shield you from depression, recent research from Temple University suggests. In a study of 918 people, scientists found that those with high levels of “existential well-being” (or a solid sense of purpose in life) were 70 per cent less likely to have had depression than those who lacked existential well-being. On the other hand, people who attended religious services were only 30 per cent less likely to have experienced depression than those who didn’t go to church. “People with high levels of existential well-being tend to have a good base, which makes them very centred emotionally,” explains study author Joanna Maselko, Sc.D. “People who don’t have those things are at a greater risk for depression, and those same people might also turn to religion to cope.” Indeed, the study also showed that participants with higher levels of “religious well-being” (characterized as a strong relationship with a higher power) were 1.5 times more likely to have had depression than those with lower levels.
 Chicken Soup for the Heart
Chicken legs—a soup staple in certain cultures—may be packed with proteins that help ease high blood pressure, according to new research from the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Working with rats, scientists found that collagen sourced from chicken legs had effects similar to ACE inhibitors (medications commonly used to treat hypertension) and delivered a significant, prolonged reduction in blood pressure.
 Açai’s Antioxidant Power
After years of being touted as an anti-aging and cancer-fighting natural remedy, açai has proven successful at pumping up antioxidant activity in humans. In a study recently published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists showed for the first time that, when consumed in pulp or juice form, the Brazilian berry can raise levels of anthocyanins (pigments with powerful antioxidant effects) in the blood.
(Hint: it’s all in the way you feel)
by Donna Barker
Three Graces,
by Peter Paul Rubens, ca. 1639
This month I have to renew my driver’s licence and, in so doing, share personal information about my body with bureaucrats. Hair colour: brown. Height: 178 centimetres. Weight: 59 to 68 kilograms, depending on the time of year.
Truth be told, I’ve never owned a scale and don’t weigh myself often. But I do know that when I feel sexy in short skirts and tight T-shirts, I’m at the low end of what I consider my normal weight range. And that when my belly flab hangs over my belt, I’m at the high end. When I think my body looks best in clothes, I find my naked reflection scrawny with pointy edges: a breastless Twiggy. And when I hate how my size 13 jeans fit, I love the way I look naked: a Rubenesque beauty, baby!
All this got me to wondering what my perfect body weight should be.
According to Kelly Howatson Keay, weight trainer and group fitness leader, there is—but there isn’t—a perfect body weight. “When I say ‘perfect body’ I’m thinking of reference charts and the Body Mass Index. These calculations provide an ideal weight for an imaginary male and female body, but they’re not realistic or accurate for any unique individual. For instance, people who are fit and very muscular can rate ‘obese’ on the BMI since muscle is heavier than fat,” says Keay.
Vince Ziccarelli, a registered dietician, holistic nutritionist, and founder of Nutrition Wellness Center (nutritionwellness.ca), adds, “We all have different genetics, body structures, and family histories, so the best way to determine your own perfect body weight is to identify the weight at which you feel your best.”
Ziccarelli says that nine out of 10 of his clients can easily tell him how much they weigh when they have their highest energy levels, when their immune system is working well (so they don’t catch colds easily), when their stress levels are easily managed, and when they just have an overall feeling of well-being. This, he says, is how to determine your natural, genetic weight, which will be your healthiest body weight.
Based on that approach, I should be striving to maintain 63 kgs. Given that it’s winter, my “stay cozy inside and eat comfort food” season, my size 13 jeans are feeling snug and my energy is low, so I know I’m above my healthiest weight.
Keay recommends I do 20 minutes of cardio every day. “The goal for a beginner,” she says, “is to get your heart rate raised to 50 per cent of its maximal.” To determine your maximal heart rate, take your age and subtract it from 220. Then multiply that number by your desired exercise intensity. For a beginner that’s 50 per cent. After 20 minutes of exercise, check your heart rate by taking your pulse for one minute.
In my case, 220 minus 42 (my age) times 50 per cent means I should count 89 beats in those 60 seconds. I can do that just by dancing in my living room for 20 minutes. When 20 minutes no longer gets my heart really beating, I can either add five minutes to my daily exercise or dance harder to make sure I’m still working on getting back to my healthy weight.
Ziccarelli also advises eating nutrient-rich foods. “Nutrients regulate your appetite, boost your metabolism, help burn fat, prevent disease, and slow down aging.” He points out that our genetic diet, the Paleolithic diet, included 20 servings of fruit and vegetables and 50 to 100 grams of fibre each day. “Today, we eat five to 15 grams of fibre and have seen a correlation to increased digestive disorders, cardiovascular disorders, and weight management issues.”
Keay and Ziccarelli agree that it’s critical to set realistic goals and to stop comparing our bodies to anyone else’s. That’s not easy when you’re standing in line at the grocery store looking at magazines that celebrate perfect Hollywood bodies and chastise celebrities who let the world see their cellulite at the beach.
Using words from Ziccarelli, I’ve developed a checkout mantra that I’ll repeat as I unload fresh fruit, vegetables, and whole-grain foods onto the conveyor belt: “I am the best me I can be. I will strive for my goals, and I will be happy with what I achieve.”
And, to stay happy when my body is heavier than what feels healthy, I’ll just spend more time in my most natural state: naked!
At 42 years old, Donna Barker has decided that bathing suits with skirts are actually kind of cool.
Live longer with dark chocolater, juicy portobellos, and pure happiness.
by Elizabeth Barker
 Pass the Portobello
Choosing mushrooms over meat could go a long way in cutting your calorie intake, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Weight Management Center. For four days, study members ate lunch entrees loaded with meat, then switched to mushroom-based meals the following week.
Even though the meat-heavy lunches were far heartier—containing 420 more calories and 30 more grams of fat per meal—participants “seemed to accept mushrooms as a palatable and suitable culinary substitute,” notes study author Lawrence Cheskin. What’s more, study members didn’t make up for the lower-calorie mushroom dishes by eating more food later in the day.
Past research shows that by swapping hamburgers for portobello mushrooms for a year, men could cut more than 18,000 calories and 3,000 grams of fat.
 A Chocolate Cure for Inflammation?
A small square of dark chocolate a day could help shield you from heart disease, a new study from the Journal of Nutrition suggests. Sizing up data on 4,849 healthy adults, researchers found those who regularly ate modest amounts of dark chocolate had 17 per cent lower blood levels of C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation). That reduction might be significant enough to slash heart disease risk by a third in women and a fourth in men.
Dark chocolate is rich in potent antioxidants that may help fight inflammation, which is considered a major risk factor for heart disease (as well as cancer and diabetes). To make the most of the sweet stuff’s heart-protecting effects, the study’s authors recommend eating 6.7 grams a day (or about half a chocolate bar each week).
 C’mon, Get Happy
When it comes to living long, happiness may be as powerful as abstaining from smoking. Analyzing 30 studies on health and happiness, a research team from Rotterdam’s Erasmus University discovered that—although it may not increase longevity among the seriously ill—happiness can substantially lengthen the lives of healthy people.
So stay warm, avoid stress, and nix chemicals.
by Donna Barker
 When I was a kid there were four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. I don’t recall when it was added, but for years now, as soon as Rita MacNeil’s holiday concert ads hit the TV, so do messages about the fifth season—cold and flu.
We have Don Cherry shilling for Cold fX, public health departments encouraging us to get a flu vaccine, and news stories predicting the gravity of this year’s viral and bacterial strains.
As much as I want to believe the cold and flu season is a marketing ploy by pharmaceutical companies, I must admit that when I worked in an office, almost everyone came back from the Christmas break either hacking or telling tales of how sick they’d been.
Dr. Heidi Rootes, a naturopathic physician with Vitality Clinic (vitalityclinic.ca), confirms that, indeed, being under the weather has a lot to do with the weather. As the temperature outside falls, she says, the body must work harder to maintain a healthy internal temperature. When the body temperature drops, immune function is compromised.
“Just consider how our body responds to acute illness: we mount a fever. The purpose of a fever is twofold. First, the immune system functions optimally at temperatures above 100 degrees. Second, at elevated temperatures, viruses and bacteria don’t replicate as easily.”
Instead of waiting to get sick so we can figure out how to get healthy again, Rootes suggests focusing on building and maintaining a healthy immune system. She advises her patients to keep warm, and discusses diet, lifestyle, and health history with them to determine a treatment plan. The plan involves an intravenous containing high doses of vitamins (vitamin C and B vitamins) and minerals (including selenium, magnesium, and zinc), all essential building blocks to support the immune system.
Rootes also can’t stress enough how much of a role stress plays in the functioning of our immune system. When our stress levels go up, so does the production of cortisol, our body’s natural stress-fighting and anti-inflammatory hormone. Contrary to what you might think, high levels of cortisol actually suppress immunity.
It suddenly makes sense why so many of my co-workers came back sick after the holidays: they suffered the emotional stress of big family gatherings and the physical stress of not getting enough sleep, drinking too much holiday cheer, and forgoing fresh fruits and veggies to fill up on holiday comfort foods.
It isn’t news to any of us that eating too many holiday sweets is unhealthy. But when Rootes explained exactly how all that gingerbread and pumpkin pie clobbers our immune system, I put down my rum and eggnog and nearly spat out my mincemeat tart.
“White blood cells are the cornerstone of our immune system, responsible for fighting infection. Studies have shown that 100 grams of sugar in the form of carbohydrates, such as bread, fruit, juice, honey, and refined sugar, starts suppressing our white blood cells’ ability to destroy bacteria within 30 minutes of consumption and will continue to suppress it for up to five hours.”
So, for five hours after gorging on goodies, it’s best to avoid kissing cousins or cuddling with runny-nosed nieces and nephews. Good to know.
But wait—what about those of us who bundle up before we go outside, take our vitamins and minerals, and don’t celebrate the winter holidays with overeating, overdrinking, and overpartying? Why is it that almost everyone I know finds themselves feeling lousy as soon as the winter rains set in?
Tracey Mann, the Toxic Smart program coordinator at the Georgia Strait Alliance (georgiastrait.org), says the winter sniffles may have nothing to do with cold and flu.
“In colder months, we like to keep our homes warm, so we don’t open the doors and windows for fresh air as much as we do in spring and summer. Without realizing why, people will start to feel under the weather with symptoms that appear to be a cold or the flu—nausea, headaches, runny nose, and irritated eyes. These are also the symptoms of chemical reactions to many common household cleaners.”
The worst offenders, Mann says, are commercial air fresheners and deodorizers, products containing chlorine, and products containing ammonia—all of which can irritate eyes, nose, throat, and lungs.
As for me, if I feel the sniffles coming on, I’ll take Rootes’ advice and get my body temperature up to over 100 degrees by taking a nice, hot bath and skipping the fever suppressors. When I want my house to start feeling a little bit like Christmas, I’ll eschew holiday-scented candles and throw some cinnamon sticks into a pot of boiling water instead.
And if I’m feeling both under the weather and feeling the urge to increase my holiday spirit, I’ll just throw the cinnamon sticks right into my bath.
Donna Barker is thrilled to be able to use “I’m keeping my feet warm so I don’t get sick” as a legitimate excuse for wearing Dayton boots, not high heels, with her fancy New Year’s dress.
Artichoke For a Healthy Heart
by Elizabeth Barker
 Artichoke For a Healthy Heart
An extract of artichoke leaf—typically used to soothe indigestion or irritable bowel syndrome—may help keep your cholesterol in check, recent research from the University of Reading indicates. For the study, 75 otherwise healthy adults with slightly high cholesterol levels took either a placebo or 1,280 mg of artichoke leaf extract (ALE) each day. After 12 weeks, those taking ALE had significantly lower total cholesterol.
It’s possible that regular intake of antioxidant-packed ALE could help reduce risk of developing heart disease without the need for cholesterol-lowering drugs such as statins, according to the study’s authors.
 Sweat and Sleep
Searching for sounder sleep? Try adding some moderate aerobic exercise—such as walking or leisurely cycling—to your daily routine. In a study recently presented at the Associated Professional Sleep Societies’ annual meeting, a group of insomnia-wracked adults increased their total sleep time by more than a third after engaging in a modest workout. Moderate exercise also helped ease anxiety in study members, but more vigorous aerobic activity failed to have a calming—or sleep-promoting—effect on the insomniacs.
For truly restful slumber, try not to exercise before hitting the sack. Since working out raises body temperature— and thus discourages sleep—the National Sleep Foundation recommends wrapping up your fitness sessions at least three hours before bedtime.
 Breakfast of Champions
Feasting at breakfast but eating a light lunch and dinner could go a long way in helping you slim down, finds a new study presented at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting. Among a group of 94 obese women, those on a “big-breakfast diet” lost 21 per cent of their body weight after eight months. Women on a low-carb diet, meanwhile, shed just 4.5 per cent of their pounds after eight months of eating a 290-calorie breakfast (and 1,085 total calories) each day.
The big-breakfast dieters took in 1,240 calories daily, with 610 coming from their carb-rich breakfast. Although the low-carb dieters had a greater weight loss at the study’s four-month mark (lightening up by an average of 28 pounds, compared to 23 pounds in the big-breakfast group), they ended up gaining back 18 pounds on average by the study’s end.
It’s likely that a low-carb diet “exacerbates the craving for carbohydrates and slows
metabolism,” explains lead study author Daniela Jakubowicz, MD. “As a result, after a short period of weight loss, there is a quick return to obesity.” The big-breakfast diet, on the other hand, may help control appetite and prevent those cravings for sweets and starches, Jakubowicz adds.
 Cut Calories to Slow Aging
Cutting back on calories by about 300 to 500 calories per day might help slow the aging process, reports a new study from Rejuvenation Research. Results suggest that calorie restriction may decrease levels of a thyroid hormone called triiodothyronine, which could in turn thwart age-related tissue deterioration.
Avoiding mid-life madness by being 'good selfish'
by Donna Barker
If you’re over 45, odds are you’ve had a conversation that goes something like this:
Jane: “Did you hear Joe left his wife, bought a Ferrari, and got hair implants?”
Sarah: “You’re kidding! Did you know Mary quit her job, became a belly dancer, and took up with a man half her age?”
Well, maybe you haven’t had a conversation quite like this. But now that I’m in mid-life, tales of friends, family, and co-workers seemingly diving off the deep end are becoming more frequent.
The existence of the mid-life crisis has been hotly debated since the term was first coined in 1965 by Canadian psychologist Elliot Jaques. In 2006, two economics professors undertook the first in-depth review of data to determine whether happiness in mid-life really does drop. Their report, “Is Well-being U-Shaped over the Life Cycle?” concluded that indeed, “mental distress tends to reach a maximum in middle age.”
This mental distress (and accompanying unhappiness) can trigger the need to make great changes. Julia James, a certified life coach, sees this situation regularly. According to James, mid-life is when many of us face the largest number of stress factors: we’ve got kids and all the financial, emotional, and time challenges of raising a family; we have aging parents who need more and more from us; and we’re in the busiest time of our careers.
“When people are being pulled in all directions, the first thing they drop is quality time for themselves—time to recharge and rejuvenate,” she says. “People begin to operate like robots, falling out of touch with their humanity, with what matters to them, with their core values.”
To avoid this situation, James recommends taking the time to engage in things that are meaningful to you. “Be ‘good selfish,’” she says, “by putting yourself and your needs first to do things that bring you joy.”
To be clear, although they may elicit something that feels like joy, having an affair, buying a sports car, and going all Gucci are the wrong kind of selfish acts. This type of selfish is based on feeding addictions and often represents a distraction from one’s pain. The ultimate outcome of “bad selfish” will typically be feelings of regret—not of joy.
James offers a question to help mid-life crisis sufferers get in touch with their deeper selves: “If time and resources were of no concern, what would you most want to do with your life?”
James suggests recapturing one activity you love—even if it’s just for a few minutes a day. If dancing used to bring you joy, put on your favourite CD and boogie to the music in your living room. If you always wanted to write a book, take 30 minutes each day to put your story ideas on paper. If you love travelling, start planning weekends away.
Dr. Gayle Way, a registered psychologist and co-founder of Energetic Self-Manifestation (ESM)—a philosophy of life and treatment process involving talk therapy and energy work—agrees that engaging in acts that bring you true joy is key to avoiding the mid-life blues.
But Way says the mid-life crisis is no different from any other life crisis people face when they operate from a place of fear rather than a place of wisdom.
“We can either create our life from a place of innate wholeness—from our spiritual/energetic/quantum core of wisdom and love—or we can create from a place of our fears, which represent self-limiting beliefs,” she explains. “When we eliminate our negative beliefs (‘I’m a screw-up,’ ‘I’m too old to change,’ ‘the best part of my life is behind me’), we can move on to life-enhancing beliefs to create the life we want with joy.”
Way advises people to stop beating themselves up and to release any feelings they have of shame and blame.
“Acknowledge and allow the feelings of regret to live in you as you move towards acceptance of what was and what is. Then you’re ready for the process of rediscovering and reacquainting yourself with your own truth.”
With this advice, I hope to avoid the humiliation that would come from trying to revisit the happy, head-shaved punk-rocker I was in my 20s. Instead, I’m trying to be “good” selfish and balance how much I give of myself to work and family with how much I keep for myself.
This way, the water-cooler talk will never turn to: “Did you hear that Donna got a full-body tattoo and is belly dancing on Granville?”
Driving north on the Sea-to-Sky Highway every Friday afternoon brings Donna Barker great joy.
Unblock your pathways and kiss fatigue goodbye.
by Donna Barker
We’re a society of people who work hard, play hard, and ultimately, collapse hard. If there’s one thing most of us wish we could have more of, it’s energy. Certainly, the $5-billion (and growing) energy drink market attests to this, as do the number of coffee shops around town. Even those of us who try to eat well, get enough sleep, and take weekends to relax often find ourselves melting into a puddle at the end of most days. (I am no exception to this. My son, however, loves those evenings since it means Cheerios for supper and no homework-haranguing from me.)
So what gives? Why are we so tired?
Michael D’Alton, director of Michael D’Alton’s School of Bio-Energy Healing, has treated more than 10,000 people in the last 14 years; he says lack of energy is the most common complaint he hears from new patients.
“I find that even tired people have loads of energy, but that it’s all congested like a traffic jam, blocked up in their body. And if energy can’t move, the result is a feeling of fatigue.”
Blocked energy, says D’Alton, is most often due to chronic pain. We lose energy both to pain and to keeping the pain suppressed. “Many people have recurring episodes of pain. Perhaps once a year your back will hurt so badly you’ll seek help to fix it. The recovery will take four to six weeks, and within a year, you’ll need treatment again. Because even when it’s suppressed, the source of the pain is still in your body. That pain is often just blocked energy.”
Bio-energy healing works on the principle that everything is energy. Using a series of hand movements around the patient’s body, D’Alton works to release the energy block that was the original cause of the recurring problem.
“I trigger and create the space for energy to flow so the body can heal itself. And once energy is flowing, your pain is released and you don’t feel as tired.”
Leoncio Ventura, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and registered acupuncturist at Etznab Natural Healing, has many patients who have not found relief from chronic health issues in the mainstream medical system. He says most health problems are related to the amount and flow of energy (or chi) in our bodies.
“In Western medicine, the concept of energy does not exist. There is no lab test or X-ray to see how your chi is doing. So you have a blood test, the result is normal, the doctor sends you home without treatment, and you continue to suffer from fatigue or pain.”
In Chinese medicine, chi can be either stagnant or deficient. If it’s stagnant, acupuncture and massage will help get it flowing again. If the problem is a deficiency, patients ingest herbs to increase their chi.
In both situations, the digestive system plays a critical role, says Ventura. “The body is designed to create energy every second of the day through food, water, and air. If your digestive system is overworked, it gets tired. Then your immune system becomes compromised and you start to have allergies and energy problems.”
Many complaints that we simply dismiss by taking an antacid or laxative or by burping and passing gas can be hints that our digestive system is not functioning at its best. (Having won the “burpiest, fartiest mom” award several years running, this information gives me hope that I may one day relinquish my crown.)
Meanwhile, Julia Watson, a certified Lightwork meditation teacher (lightwork.ca ), says our energy can get “muddied” by the energy of other people (if, for instance, you have a charged conversation with someone, and you still feel charged after you’ve said goodbye, odds are you’ve taken on some of that person’s energy, Watson explains). When that happens the flow can reduce to a trickle.
“We know how important a clean body is to maintaining good health and so we shower daily,” says Watson. “Cleansing our energy system by running our energy every day is equally important to our wellness and can be done through meditation.”
All three practitioners agree that ensuring our energy is flowing freely plays a key role in our overall health and well-being. They also agree that they are simply facilitators in the process.
Understanding that my energy is my responsibility, and that I can manage and control it through energy work, diet, herbal medicines, and meditation, I, for one, am going to stop pointing my fatigued finger at all the people and situations that sap my energy and start pointing it inward.
To maintain good health and keep her energy balanced, Donna Barker works from home and spends weekends in the country.
Brain boosters, mood elevators, and more.
by Elizabeth Barker
 Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Caffeine may get all the credit for coffee’s pick-me-up effect, but the brew’s aroma alone may have energizing effects. For a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists allowed sleep-starved rats to inhale the sharp scent of coffee beans. In the brains of coffee-sniffing rats, activity in more than a dozen genes was altered. Those changes helped boost brain cells’ antioxidant activity, which could in turn ease the stress of sleep deprivation, according to study author Han-Seok Seo.
 Cut Cholesterol, Boost Your Brain
Cutting back on cholesterol and saturated fat could help save your brain as you get older, a recent study from the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease shows. Among rats fed a diet rich in cholesterol and saturated fat, researchers detected significant weakening in working memory. That memory loss was linked to inflammation, which may be triggered by high intake of cholesterol and unhealthy fats, according to the study’s authors.
Previous research in humans suggests that sticking to a Mediterranean-style diet may protect the aging brain and defend against Alzheimer’s disease. Low in both cholesterol and saturated fat, the Mediterranean diet is loaded with fruits, veggies, legumes, and whole grains and includes some fish and alcohol.
-1008.jpg) Snack Attack on Sleep
Those midnight munchies might mess up your sleep patterns, suggests a new study presented at the annual meeting of Associated Professional Sleep Societies. In an experiment involving about 50 adults (ages 20 to 45), researchers found that late-night snacking could lead to fragmented sleep and throw your metabolic system out of whack.
 Low Serotonin= Sore Losers?
Running low on serotonin—a neurotransmitter that helps control your mood—may make you more hostile when dealing with others, according to a recent University of Cambridge study. To see how the brain chemical affects “social decision-making,” scientists gathered a group of healthy volunteers and reduced their serotonin levels by manipulating their diet. During a game played while serotonin levels were low, the volunteers reacted much more aggressively to what they perceived as unfair behavior.
Other tests ruled out the possibility that the study members were simply sore losers.
Since carb-rich meals and foods like chocolate and chicken can help raise serotonin levels, the study findings could explain why we’re more likely to get cranky and combative when we haven’t eaten. What’s more, the study suggests people with depression (a disorder marked by low serotonin levels) may benefit from therapies that focus on regulating emotions during decision-making, the authors note. James S. Gordon, MD, author of Unstuck: Your Guide to the Seven-Stage Journey Out of Depression recommends getting 30 to 40 minutes of daily exercise to boost your serotonin levels.
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