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Our mental and emotional diets determine our overall energy levels, health and well-being more than we realize. Every thought and feeling, no matter how big or small, impacts our inner energy reserves. Doc Childre

It may be possible to incorporate laugher into daily activities, just as is done with other heart-healthy activities, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. The recommendation for a healthy heart may one day be exercise, eat right and laugh a few times a day.Michael Miller, MD,

Asana (yoga pose) of the Week: Camel Pose --- Open your heart and let it shine.

Fitness/Health Tip of the Week: Keep your Liver and Gall Bladder Healthy to help your heart!

Maintaining gallbladder health is the best way to avoid surgery and can be achieved by adhering to the same principles of health we talk about all the time at Women to Women: a healthy diet, exercise and stress reduction.
Probably the most important thing is simply a “good” diet, which means eating a balance of protein, healthy fats — yes, fats — and complex carbohydrates. Plant foods are especially important when it comes to the gallbladder. A series of studies dating back to the 1980’s clearly show that a diet high in vegetable protein and vegetable fats reduce the risk of symptomatic gallstones.
A diet high in good fats — those that are not highly processed or from animal sources — is also key to keeping the gallbladder and liver happy. The body needs fat to supply building blocks for cholesterol and to keep the gallbladder working. High cholesterol in the blood does not contribute to gallstones nor does it have any direct association to gallstone activity. Not surprisingly, with all the emphasis on low-fat diets, we have not seen a reduction in gallbladder attacks. And unfortunately, cholesterol-lowering drugs, which are being given out now like M&M’s, actually increase the cholesterol secreted by the liver and thus the risk of gallstones.
Eating overall fewer processed foods and more fiber, more fresh fruits and vegetables — and particularly more nuts and seeds — is all part of a gallbladder-healthy diet. In a subset of over 80,000 women from the Nurses’ Health Study, researchers at Harvard recently noted a lower rate of gallbladder problems in women who ate at least five ounces of nuts a week — including peanuts. Simply put, nuts and other plant foods contain compounds that may protect us against gallstone disease

Aminda’s Musing:
Your thoughts make you. You make your thoughts. Which came first? Who cares it doesn’t matter, they are there…release the blame, it doesn’t matter if your father put that negative thought there, or you teacher, or your school mates…seriously it DOESN’T matter…it’s there so let’s uproot it and change it. Look at it like this…back when I was in school we learned certain information about dinosaurs…and by the time my children were in school there were new dinosaurs and new names and rules...boy was I confused. But I didn’t sit around thinking about what teacher had taught me that old info…I didn’t worry about what school I was in, I just knew that NOW I have NEW information. It wasn’t easy at first because my brain had a hard time letting go of the “original” information. But with repetition I learned the NEW info…and now? It’s even hard for me to remember what I learned the first time around. It’s like that with everything…you may have told yourself for YEARS that you don’t like to exercise, someone along the way made it miserable for you and it stuck…does it matter who? When? How? Why? I don’t think so…what does matter is shifting that, replacing it with new information until one day you don’t even remember the old. How does this apply to heart health? Your heart, your body is story whatever negative thoughts you are carrying around, you may try to NOT THINK THEM…and by doing so you simply think about them more…what if instead we REPLACED them with new happier healthy thoughts? Trust me you aren’t weak or impossible to teach you just need a new way to go about it…New thoughts overwrite the old ones and voila no will powered needed. But it takes repetition, and sometimes help and guidance. Workout with a buddy or a trainer can ingrain new habits. Yoga can help you find new positive thoughts to build on, life coaching can guide you to your happy place, hypnotherapy can speed up the repetition, nutrition can help your mind and body work better to hold onto new ideas and reinforce behaviour. Whatever you are trying to do, make more money, weigh less, build muscle, smile more, sleep better…doesn’t matter these tools will work for any and all…see you at the gym!