weight loss & fitness
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Posted: May 07, 2020Categories: Update from Health Journeys
Hello there!
Here are some questions we’ve gotten about menopause. Lest this laundry list of symptoms gets you thinking this phase of life is nothing but the complete pits, let me just insert a reminder that there are two sides to this coin. Yes, there may be hot flashes, night sweats, interrupted sleep; possibly some weight gain, loss of sexual interest, anxiety about aging, depression… (although some will escape all of the above).
But there can just as likely be a sense of liberation, empowerment, renewed creativity, and a redefinition of self: more focus on being a voice to be heard, as opposed to something to look at admiringly.
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Posted: February 03, 2020Categories: Update from Health Journeys
It’s that time of the year, when by some estimates, more than three-quarters of us have given up on our New Year’s Resolutions. Some of the most common changes we aim to make are to quit smoking, eat better and exercise more. Other goals may involve starting (or completing) an important personal project, making more of an effort to get together with friends, and perhaps vowing to set healthier limits with people who take more from us than they give.
We set these goals for ourselves because we believe that they will make us better in some way – happier, healthier, more productive, and so forth. And yet, most of us quickly get discouraged and slip back into familiar patterns that feel easier in the short term but prevent us from getting to where we really want to go.
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Posted: September 30, 2019Categories: Ask Belleruth
I’m 65, just took up golf, and everyone plays better than I do. This is rough on my concentration and confidence. What do you suggest?
Dear BR,
Do you have something for a golfer who took up the sport at 65? I am nervous when playing with better players and that keeps me from playing as well as I can. -M
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Posted: August 20, 2019Categories: Update from Health Journeys
I first met Traci Stein in the late nineties when she was Mehmet Oz’s point person for mind-body research & evaluation at Columbia Presbyterian.
In those pre-TV show days, Mehmet was trying out various techniques like guided imagery, when not inventing valves out of esoteric pig parts or doing CABG surgeries on beloved NY luminaries like Joe Torre, manager of the Yankees.
Traci was amazing to work with from the very start – smart, diligent, accommodating, responsible, considerate, and insanely productive.
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I’m a bloated, fatigued, moody, peri-menopausal mess too much of the time! What do you suggest for this situation??
Belleruth,
I am currently in perimenopause and have severe hormone fluctuations .... even with Exercise and a very healthy diet, I still feel so bloated, fatigued, moody and awful during certain times of the month ... what meditation/hypnosis would you recommend for this situation?
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Posted: January 15, 2019Categories: Health Journeys Contributors
Year after year, the top New Year’s resolutions in the United States are consistently some variation of “Exercise More” “Go on a Diet” or “Lose Weight”. If your goal is to be healthier, that’s great! But it’s important to remember that your healthiest weight may not be the smallest number on the scale.
Nor is it always your best look, for that matter. I have an athletic friend who was naturally stocky and well-muscled, who was so obsessed with having the smallest number dress size possible, that on the two yo-yo occasions that she achieved her goal (an unnatural size 8), her normally round, pretty face became gaunt, lined, discolored, and positively haunted looking. She looked sick.
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Dear Belleruth,
I sent you a note not too long ago re: my weight loss of 40 lbs with the guided imagery. I was going strong, feeling good, thought I was FINALLY addressing the core of my obesity....
I was feeling better about shedding some weight... feeling safer in the world.
Then "out of the blue" comes some inappropriate behavior from a man. I could feel the switch inside me, but felt powerless to stop it.
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Posted: April 07, 2018Tags: weight loss & fitness
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Posted: March 16, 2017Categories: Hot Research
Researchers from the University of Athens examined the effectiveness of an eight-week stress-management intervention program, which included progressive muscle relaxation, diaphragmatic breathing, guided imagery and cognitive restructuring, in overweight and obese children and adolescents.
Forty-nine children and adolescents (mean age ± SEM: 11.15 ± 1.48 years) were recruited to participate in this randomized controlled study. Of those, 23 participants were assigned into the intervention group, while 26 participants represented the control group.
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Posted: February 24, 2017Categories: Inspiring Stories
We got an email from a 37-year-old man who began using guided imagery after reading a review on Amazon about mind-body approaches. He started using David Illig’s Weight Loss audio, alternating it with Martha Howard’s Freeing Yourself of Excess Weight, and BR’s Weight Loss imagery.
He combined that with a serious uptick in weekly exercise, and after five months, lost 45 pounds.
Here is the ancient review from Amazon that motivated him:
I began a weight loss program on May 20, 2002. I purchased the Naperstek (sic) tape and began listening to it two weeks prior to starting my diet and exercise program. I don't know how it happened, but truly this tape helped me re-direct my subconscious mind from negative/guilt thinking to a positive/self-esteem mindset.