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Written by Brenda on Sunday, May 1st, 2011 at 7:10 pm
 Dedicated in honor of Tracy Fletcher Ellis– and the large army of women she represents
There are warriors and then there are warriors. The term Amazon literally means “without breast” and legends of removing the female warrior’s right breast to better handle weaponry spread throughout the ancient world. While it appears to be just that—a legend—female warriors earned their place in history. From naked Celtic conquerors (consider Boudicca—taller than many men, flaming red hair to the knees, adorned with sparkling armor and a spear–the sight might give new meaning to the word awesome… step aside Laura Croft!) to the entire female army of Dahomey (now Benin) during the 1700 and 1800s–the idea of woman as warrior is nothing new.
The battle being fought today by my friends, family, colleagues and clients, while more insidious, often requires the sacrifice of a breast. But more than that is at stake. While ancient warrior women weaved war...
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Tags: alternative medicine, Amazon, Beating Chronic Illness, breast cancer, challenge and control, Gratitude, Happiness, Integrative Oncology, mammograms, mind-body connection, Resilience, stress management, Survivorship, Telomeres
Posted in Beating Cancer, Book: You Can Beat the Odds, Creativity & Health, Happiness, Science You Can Use, stress management, Turning Stress Into Strength | No Comments »
Written by Brenda on Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
 Forty-two lactating women gathered in a laboratory at the the University of Virginia to watch TV. Half viewed an episode of Oprah involving a rehabilitated gang member while the others watched Seinfeld. Mark Matousek (Ethical Wisdom–What Makes Us Good) shares what happened next: “The Oprah-watching moms overwhelmingly leaked milk into their pads (the sign of oxytocin lifting them up) and nursed their babies afterward. Hardly any of the Seinfeld watchers so much as wetted a pad…” Just more evidence of mirror neurons at work–nerve cells that fire both when we engage in an activity and when watching someone else–forming the body’s template for ‘catching’ another’s emotional state. And that state has powerful chemical correlates that affect every nerve, cell and fiber of our being.
We’ve...
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Tags: alternative medicine, Beating Chronic Illness, CFS, challenge and control, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Happiness, Lyme Disease, Mark Matousek, ME, mind-body connection, Mirror neurons, Oprah, Oxytocin, Prevention, stress management
Posted in Beating Chronic Illness, Creativity & Health, Guest Bloggers, Happiness, Prevention, Science You Can Use, stress management, Wellness | 2 Comments »
Written by Brenda on Friday, April 8th, 2011 at 5:22 pm
 Recently I joked with those in attendance at a presentation about our “quarterly newsletter that comes out twice a year!” While we fall behind on that goal we stay current posting compelling links and recent findings on Facebook and in our blog. We invite you to join the conversation by subscribing to either and share your own insights and resources with others.
In the meantime, one of the most important ways to take charge of your health in 2011 is by downloading this free guide and sharing it with friends and family. It provides a list of the labs you need to stay abreast of new thinking in health and medicine along with an annual plan based on your age. Bring it with you to your primary care physician to ensure you stay ahead of the curve. Follow this link to download...
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Tags: ALCL, alternative medicine, Beating Chronic Illness, blood transfusions, Bowel Cancer, Bowel Polyps, breast cancer, Breast implants, challenge and control, Cisplatin, colon cancer, David Vesely, Depression, EN-2, Estrogen, Fatigue, Francisco Contreras, free radicals, glioblastoma, healthy living, Heart failure, inflammation, Integrative Oncology, Iodine, IPT, Joanie Greggains Show, Low dose chemotherapy, mind-body connection, Nerve damage, Oasis of Hope, optimum immunity, Placebo, Prevention, Prostate Cancer, PSA, Radiation treatment, Renal failure, stress management, Tamoxifen, Vessel Dilator, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Vitamn A, Wellness
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Written by Brenda on Friday, April 1st, 2011 at 1:03 pm
 As geneticist Bruce Lipton reports, DNA is not destiny! Since our body is engineered as a “conversation” the way our genes are expressed depends on the cues picked up from our environment. These include our thoughts, feelings, air, food and water quality, to name a few. Why, laughter alone has been shown to influence the expression of 23 different genes in Type 2 diabetes! This new understanding is changing not only the way we treat illness but the way we look at prevention and anti-aging strategies. Psychobiologist Ernest Rossi explains that the sense of mystery and majesty that accompanies an appreciation of beauty affects the very architecture of the brain and...
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Tags: abstract art, alternative medicine, Alzheimer's Disease, Beating Chronic Illness, better doctors, Bruce Lipton, Cleveland Clinic, Creativity, Dementia, Duke University, Happiness, Harbor View Medical Center, healthy living, holistic health, Integrative Oncology, Journaling, Luciano L'Abate, Museum of Modern Art, music, Narrative Medicine, National Center for Creative Aging, NK cells, Prevention, self-esteem, Society for the Arts in Healthcare, stress management, Stroke, T cells, The Artist's Way, the arts in hospitals, The Literary Arts Program, The Writing Cure, Turning Stress Into Strength, University of Maryland Medical Center, Wellness, Writing
Posted in Beating Cancer, Beating Chronic Illness, Brain health, Creativity & Health, Happiness, Prevention, Science You Can Use, Wellness | No Comments »
Written by Brenda on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
 A Busy Mind: A Prescription for Unhappiness?
I could be accused of this. And that’s not good. Near an entrance to a Washington, D.C. subway station world class violinist Joshua Bell played a selection of “what he considered the most beautiful pieces of music ever written.” He played for hours while the reactions of commuters were captured on video. While most adults didn’t notice him at all children could be seen tugging on their parents’ arms, trying to stop and listen while being dragged away. Pondering the response in her latest book Seeking Peace, Mary Phipher writes, “Of course, no one was expecting him [Joshua Bell] in a subway…Still, they missed an opportunity for transcendence. Since I read about this experiment, it has become a metaphor for me. I have asked myself, “Do I want to rush past Joshua Bell?”
Statistically speaking, most of us could be caught on camera doing just that. According to a recent...
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Tags: alternative medicine, auditory cortex, Beating Chronic Illness, cognitive behavioral mindfulness, Creativity, Happiness, Harvard study, healthy living, imagination, iphone app, Joshua Bell, Limbic system, Mary Pipher, meditation, mind-body connection, Mind-wandering, Multi-tasking, Prevention, relaxation, Science You Can Use, Seeking Peace, sensory cortex, stress management, Turning Stress Into Strength, visual cortex, Wellness
Posted in Beating Chronic Illness, Book: You Can Beat the Odds, Brain health, Happiness, Prevention, Science You Can Use, stress management, Turning Stress Into Strength, Wellness | No Comments »
Written by Brenda on Monday, March 21st, 2011 at 7:43 pm
 If you are old enough to remember the 1970s show “Hee Haw” you just might recall the two hill billies’ mournful lyrics, “If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all, gloom, despair and agony on me.” But today we know the way we respond to “bad luck” can be a make or break process when it comes to health. In “Heartbreak and Heart Disease,” my favorite cardiologist, Stephen Sinatra, links psyche and soma with irrefutable evidence. But now he has released his latest paradigm-buster, this time taking a hard look at staples of the profession such as statins.
While there are cases, of course, where statins are absolutely appropriate, more often than not they may be creating problems where you didn’t have any. In “Metabolic Cardiology,” Sinatra shows us where we lost our way in the war on cholesterol and...
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Tags: alternative medicine, Beating Chronic Illness, Blood sugar, C-Reactive Protein, C-rp, Cardiology, Cholesterol Cancer, diet, Fish oil, healthy living, Heart Disease, Heartbreak, holistic health, inflammation, Insomnia, mind-body connection, optimum immunity, Statins, Stephen Sinatra, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Weight gain
Posted in Beating Cancer, Beating Chronic Illness, Brain health, Nutrition, Prevention, Science You Can Use, Wellness | No Comments »
Written by Brenda on Thursday, March 10th, 2011 at 9:39 pm
 My article, “The Healing Power of Laughter & Play,” was first published in Live Living. Enjoy–laugh loud and long!
For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.—Proverbs 15:15, The New Living Translation
Being fully engaged with life means packing in plenty of laughter and play. Humor not only feels good—activating regions of the brain associated with happiness and euphoria—but can give us a valuable edge when we want to boost, improve, or maintain our health. Tracking the effects of laughter, Dr. Lee Berk of the Loma Linda University Medical School in California, a pioneer in psychoneuroimmunology, verifies that hearty giggles and belly laughs enhance the immune system, increase natural disease-fighting killer cells, and ward off stress-related illness1.
Laughter Increases Natural Disease-Fighting...
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Tags: alternative medicine, Anxiety, Beating Chronic Illness, Creativity, free radicals, Happiness, healthy living, holistic health, Hope, Humor, Integrative Oncology, Interleukin-6, Laughter, Lee Berk, Loretta LaRoche, mind-body connection, optimum immunity, Pain, Prevention, relaxation, Rheumatoid Arthritis, stress management, Tension, William Fry
Posted in Beating Cancer, Beating Chronic Illness, Prevention, Science You Can Use, stress management, Wellness | 1 Comment »
Written by Brenda on Thursday, March 10th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
 Blueberries for Your Brain
A recent study found blueberry juice can improve learning, memory recall, decrease symptoms of depression and even lower blood sugar levels in as little as 12 weeks. Robert Krikorian, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Cognitive Disorders Center at the University of Cincinnati, documents positive effects even in participants with memory decline. While blueberries contain an abundance of plant compounds researchers have zeroed in on anthocyanins (meaning “blue pigment”) that have been associated with improved neuron communication, memory enhancement and blood sugar control. In this study, participants consumed wild blueberry juice from
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Tags: alternative medicine, Alzheimer's Disease, Autism, Beating Chronic Illness, Blood sugar, blueberries, Brain health, Cochlear implant, Cognitive function, Dementia, Depression, diet, Education, healthy living, holistic health, Homocysteine, inflammation, Krikorian, Learning, Learning disabilities, Memory, Merzenich, mind-body connection, Nutrition, optimum immunity, Oxytocin, Plasticity, Prevention, Sinatra, stress management, Stroke
Posted in Beating Chronic Illness, Brain health, Nutrition, Prevention, Science You Can Use, Wellness | 2 Comments »
Written by Brenda on Thursday, March 10th, 2011 at 4:37 pm
Growing New Nerve Tissue
Evidence pinpoints several substances that stimulate the growth of neurons, in particular the synaptic membranes and dendritic spines. Long term intake of 3 substances: DHA (from fish oil), Uridine (brewers yeast is one of the most concentrated forms), and Choline (the best source is phosphatidylcholine) have been shown to increase the production of PC which is involved in cell wall production and leads to the increase in dendritic spines and synapses mentioned above. While each of the above 3 substances alone can lead to an increase in PC, taking all 3 together increases the effect dramatically. — Alzheimer’s Disease. 2008 Jan; 4 (Supplement 1). Another substance has been shown to act just like Nerve Growth Factor in the brain: Acetyl-L-Carnitine Arginate. After just 5 days of use there was an increase of almost 20% in neural connections.
Homocysteine and Alzheimer’s
A study following women in Sweden for over 35 years found...
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Tags: Adrenal Exhaustion, alternative medicine, Alzheimer's Disease, Beating Chronic Illness, Brain health, Dementia, diet, Exercise, Gaming, healthy living, holistic health, Homocysteine, inflammation, Interval Training, Lead, LIfe purpose, Meaning, Memory, mind-body connection, Neuroplasticity, Prevention, stress management
Posted in Beating Chronic Illness, Brain health, Nutrition, Prevention, Science You Can Use, stress management, Wellness | No Comments »
Written by Brenda on Monday, February 14th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
 Inflammation is the common denominator in most degenerative diseases; it’s the thing diseases seemingly as unrelated as cancer and autoimmunity have in common. So anti-inflammatory foods and supplements can be good preventive medicine for all of you! Of course, not all inflammation is bad. Inflammation is a natural and healthy process. For example, after cutting your finger your body swoops to the rescue beginning a specialized, inflammatory process that quickly neutralizes harmful microorganisms, repairs the wound, and cleans up the debris. But when inflammation becomes chronic the surging free radicals overwhelm your system, and create DNA damage resulting in a host of health problems.
So how to reduce chronic inflammation? First, get plenty of uninterrupted sleep each evening since sleep deprivation spikes inflammation. Second, practice...
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Tags: almonds, alternative medicine, anti-inflammatory, Beating Chronic Illness, blueberries, breast cancer, colon cancer, CRP, diet, free radicals, healthy living, holistic health, inflammation, Integrative Oncology, Lance Armstrong, optimum immunity, pomegranate juice, salmon, super foods, Vitamin D
Posted in Beating Cancer, Beating Chronic Illness, Brain health, Nutrition, Prevention, Science You Can Use, Wellness | No Comments »
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