Total Health Magazine

Many people who are just starting a fitness program are going to turn to this page, as well as many who already caught the fitness bug and are “in the lifestyle.” The latter group can always remember what it was like when they first got into it, unless they are among the very few who were always fit and athletic, since childhood. We hate you guys. (Just kidding, just kidding…) When you’ve put it off for a long time, you usually feel you have a lot of weight to lose, plus you hate to exercise, plus you’re intimidated by all the choices and don’t want to ask “stupid” questions* on how to get started (*premature footnote: I don’t think there are such things), or you feel some combination of the above. And always, you wish you knew how to start.

In case you haven’t noticed, life has gotten harsh. It starts with jarring alarm clocks and chlorinated showers, where we lather up with stripping detergents and petrochemicals. Once in front of the mirror, we might pass a little harsh self-judgment before brushing our teeth with sodium lauryl sulfate, gargling with stinging mouthwash, applying paraben-laden deodorant to freshly-shaven underarms, and coal tar-derived color cosmetics to freshly-exfoliated skin. With a spritz of great-smelling neurotoxins and carcinogens, we hit the kitchen for our blood-sugar-spiking juice and cortisol-pumping coffee. As we sit down with our newspaper to dwell on the important things, we think: Ahhh, the most relaxing part of my day, as our bodies gasp, What just happened! And what’s going to happen to me when we go out the door?

In a talk to an audience of mothers of daughters, I asked the women to close their eyes and see a simple image in their minds, an image of an every day occurrence, “See that you are looking at yourself naked in front of a full length mirror. Look at your face and body. Are you happy with what you see?” In an audience of over 60 women, only one raised her hand. I then asked, “How many of you dislike what you see?” The rest of the women raised their hands. I was stunned, as I was looking out over an audience of well-groomed, attractive women in an affluent community, women who obviously took the time to exercise and cared about how they looked. I told them, “Your attitude about your own body and sensuality, whether you talk about it or not, is automatically passed down to your daughter. Who you are affects your daughter’s sense of self for the rest of her life.”

The American College of Pathology states that four out of five women who die of cervical cancer had not had a PAP smear in the previous five years. According to U.S. statistics, the highest incidence of cervical cancer and the highest death rates occur in women over the age of 55, a group that often stops having annual PAP tests. PAP smears save lives by discovering abnormal cells, called cervical dysplasia, early enough to prevent loss of life from cervical cancer. All adult women from the age of 18 should have an annual PAP test to ensure that their cervix is healthy. But what can be done when the test comes back abnormal?

The venerated father of modern medicine, Hippocrates, has had many of his wise sayings immortalized over the past two millennia. Most of us know a version of the following: “As to diseases, make a habit of two things—to help, or at least, to do no harm.” However, there is one quote attributed to Hippocrates that has all but disappeared from a list of his most quotable quotes. Hippocrates poised the rhetorical question, “What is Woman?” to which he supplied the answer: “Disease!”

An ancient adage from Chinese medicine says, “A doctor would rather treat ten men than one woman.”Chinese medicine validates what women have always known, we are indeed intricate creatures! Our hormones are in part responsible for this complexity. Their ebb and flow influence all aspects of a woman’s physical, emotional and mental well-being.

When it comes to women’s health, the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine embodies may pearls of wisdom. One of the most well-known sayings is that a Chinese doctor would rather treat ten men rather than one woman! It is no surprise that women are the more complex gender. A woman’s unique physiology gives her extraordinary advantages, such as a longer life span. However, altering the very delicate and finely balanced female hormonal system can also predispose women to a long list of health problems that can compromise her physiological, emotional and mental well-being.

Menopause is the term used to describe the progressive cessation of menstruation in a woman over time. Menopause typically occurs after a woman’s child-bearing years, between the ages of 45 and 50. Some women, however, experience it as early as 35 and as late as 60 years old. The process of menopause can last for two to six years, during which time a woman’s hormone levels change due to the reduction in the production of estrogen and progesterone in the ovaries as they cease to produce eggs. Physiologically, menopause marks the end of a woman’s childbearing capacity and is a part of her natural aging process.

Tomatoes and natural tomato complex may be the ultimate women’s health food

Heart disease, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, skin cancer, endometrial cancer and osteoporosis— what do they have in common? They are all caused by oxidative stress, they attack women and they can all be prevented by tomatoes. The tomato may very well be one of nature’s most perfect foods, containing phytonutrients that help prevent oxidative damage which serves to protect against the leading health problems of women.

Self-Transformation Part II

There are many clicks to the Rubik’s Cube of self-transformation, and most require rethinking and undoing old mind-sets and self-sabotage to find your way back to your true radiant and glowing potential. Before we can find the ultimate path for ourselves, we must first reject the false paths that led us astray and then retrace our steps toward recovery. In the last issue, I appealed to you, through my own example, to reject today’s merry-go-round of short-sighted health and beauty solutions and take a more authentic path to transformation through health (if you missed the last issue, be sure to catch it). This month I offer some crucial first “twists” of the Rubik’s Cube toward recovery.