In the interactive Gingerbread Adventures exhibit at the New York Botanical Garden, children learn about the different plant parts used in creating one of their favorite holiday snacks, gingerbread. The Everett Children’s Adventure Garden is home of Gingerbread Adventures, through January 10, 2010.Vibrant vignettes of a gingerbread town deck the halls of the Discovery Center. A gingerbread jazz band, ice skaters and a gingerbread farmer are among the colorful characters displayed in the exhibit.

Youngsters will experience that cinnamon comes from the bark of a tree and ginger is derived from an underground stem, as they explore these and other plant ingredients that go into the classic gingerbread recipe. Children are invited to grind and examine gingerbread ingredients under a microscope and develop a field research notebook about their visit. Less research-oriented children may also enjoy decorating pots with faces and planting wheat seeds that will quickly sprout into miniature heads of wheat, once the pots are brought home to root on sunny windowsills, a lasting reminder that flour (a key ingredient in gingerbread) comes from a plant.

Gingerbread Adventures also features a whimsical display of gingerbread houses. Some of New York’s most imaginative bakers have prepared unique gingerbread creations, certain to capture the imaginations of both children and adults, while evoking the wonder and delicious joys of the holiday season. This year the bakers creating the fairy-tale themed confections are Jill Adams, The Cake Studio, Brooklyn; Kate Almond, Sugar and Spice Bake Shop, the Bronx; Liv Hansen, Riviera Bakehouse, Ardsley; Kate Sullivan, Lovin Sullivan Cakes, Manhattan; and Mark Tasker, Balthazar Bakery, Manhattan.

For more information visit: nybg.com.

Popular Medium Now Available in Manhattan for Private Sessions and Appointments
For fifteen years, internationally renowned psychic medium Glenn Klausner has reunited thousands of people from all walks of life with loved ones who have “crossed over.”

Glenn’s passion for his work, his down-to-earth personality, and his accurate and detailed messages have earned him a vast and loyal following. Bob Olson, Editor from OfSpirit.com Magazine writes that Glenn’s sincerity and popularity will help him follow in the footsteps of psychic mediums James Van Praagh and John Edward. Glen has appeared on ABC, CBS and NBC News (in a documentary entitled After Death Communication: Fact or Fiction), and on various radio programs throughout the United States.

He’s also hosted his own show on Contact Talk Radio, and is a regular guest contributor on internet programs for Hay House Radio and Blog Talk Radio. Glenn is available for private sessions and consultations.

To contact Glenn Klausner and learn more about his work, call 
212-496-3151 or visit glennklausner.com.

Integrated Medicine & Nutrition Brings Concierge Practice 
to NYC

Dr. Michael B. Wald and Dr. Nilay Shah of Integrated Medicine of Mount Kisco have additionally brought their practice to New York City with the opening of new offices at 48 West 68th Street. Integrated Medicine & Nutrition offers Concierge Medicine to their patients. Concierge Service is relatively new in the U.S. and offers unique services to patients.

Dr. Wald and Dr. Shah appreciate the balance of traditional medical and complimentary medical approaches for the prevention and treatment of all varieties of health issues. Their mission is to be their patients’ trusted source for wellness. To accomplish this goal, they see fewer patients, maximizing time spent with each person.  Individualized attention is an extremely rare commodity in health care today and the Integrated Medicine & Nutrition Physicians ensure each patient has enough time to fully express health concerns and goals. They also provide lifestyle education in a practical and individualized style, always with the goal of teaching their patients how to get and stay healthy.

As Director of Nutritional Services, Dr. Michael B. Wald provides detailed and highly specific consultations and recommends appropriate tests to assess nutritional needs. Dr. Wald’s training allows him to incorporate medical health history, nutritional tests and dietary recommendations into a holistic, comprehensive program that addresses each person’s health concerns.

Dr. Nilay Shah, Director of Medical Services, combines traditional medical training with a ‘nutritional and holistic spin,’ ensuring his patients receive a wide range of health care options – including those from both natural and conventional medicine.

Appreciating the diverse needs and schedules of New Yorkers, Integrated Medicine & Nutrition has 24-hour accessibility for scheduling and rescheduling and can arrange special appointments on off-hours or weekends and will even come to your home, for an additional fee.  Dr. Shah and Dr. Wald look forward to becoming New Yorker’s gateway for internal medicine, neurologic and nutrition expertise.

To celebrate their NYC launch, Integrated Medicine & Nutrition is offering complimentary 15-minute consultations. For more information about services or appointments call 914-242-8844 or visit their website: intmedny.com.

Every December, parents like me lament the “gimme” culture that so easily overtakes the holidays. But with environmental and social justice issues gaining ground and everyone rethinking economic priorities, introducing your child to opportunities for alternative giving can make a world of difference.

Even little changes—such as adding a charity to the family’s giving tradition—can have a profound impact on how a child approaches the holidays. The idea is not to make a child feel bad about wanting stuff or be guilted into giving to others. Only cheerful giving makes a lasting difference. The following tips will help everyone tap into a deeper joy this holiday season by embracing altruistic and Earth-friendly gifts.

Reframe the List
Rather than instituting a blanket prohibition on traditional gifts, consider asking your child to name the two or three items he or she most wants to receive. Then, gently turn the focus outward by generating a new list, asking, “What do you love the most?”

Aside from the obvious (“Cookies!” “My iPod!”), try to capture your child’s fondness for certain things: animals, people, places or hobbies. Then ask, “How can we give a gift to that?” For example, if your daughter says “Bears,” ask if she’d like to give money to help protect panda or grizzly habitats. Play up your son’s fondness for tree forts by donating to a tree-planting group. There are endless ways to creatively encourage giving to a cause that matters to a child.

Go Eco
When nothing but a tangible gift will do, scour natural shops, where you’ll find high-quality items made with personal and planetary health in mind. Options abound: adorable, organic, stuffed animals and nontoxic wooden toys make babies and toddlers smile. Even picky teens might appreciate a sustainable-harvest bamboo skateboard (reportedly stronger than conventional decks), or trendy, organic-fiber apparel.

Also consider scouting high-end consignment stores for barely used and cost-conscious clothes and toys. Then, encourage low-impact wrappings, such as cloth napkins, kitchen towels or an old standby, the Sunday comics.

Give and Do Good
When shopping, look for fair-trade items, which means that producers were paid honest wages for their wares. Jewelry, chocolates, toys and more can be sourced from such fair-trade companies as those found at WorldofGood.org and BeadforLife.org.

The nifty, solar-powered BOGO (Buy One/Give One) flashlight at BogoLight.com does more than illuminate your keyhole; for every light purchased, another is donated to a grateful community in the developing world. When you buy the UN World Food Programme’s reversible burlap and muslin FEED bag, proceeds feed one impoverished child for one school year; it’s available at Amazon.com.

Volunteer
Return to the list you generated with your child and pick something you can do together in your town as a gift to your family’s place in the world. Do your kids love outings near the water? Spend an hour picking up trash along a local shoreline or creek. Do they enjoy the company of other kids? Have them box up gently used or new clothes, books and toys and deliver them to a family shelter housing homeless children. Whatever you do, make it your child’s choice. You’ll likely find that altruistic giving is a lot like cooking: Once kids get involved, they eat it up.

We can recognize the solstice as a powerful moment of annual turning by lighting a candle or burning a Yule log, in keeping with ancient traditions. It’s a time to seek warmth by surrounding ourselves with friends and family dear to our hearts. It’s a time to bring mistletoe, holly, ivy and piney evergreens home, gather around the table, laugh over shared stories, read poetry and renew our spirits with photographed memories of recent vacations.

Solstice brings a time of stillness and reflection. Placing seeds such as acorns into an offering bowl serves as a gentle reminder of nature’s empowering renewal of life through rebirth. Children will enjoy venturing outdoors to look at the stars through a telescope. Stargazing on a clear night is a humbling experience that can shift and lift our mood and perspective.

Source: Adapted from Shambhala.org.

Nuts Over Pistachios

Green—a theme of this holiday season—can benefit us even more when packaged in the form of pistachio nuts, say researchers at Penn State University. Pistachios, the researchers note, contain both beneficial plant sterols and fiber and an important enzyme involved in the body’s synthesis of fatty acids, especially cholesterol. They see the nuts as a valuable addition to any healthy diet aimed at reducing the risks of cardiovascular disease.

In this new, first study considering the cholesterol lowering effects of the heart-healthy party favorite, participants ate a general cholesterol-lowering diet that included pistachios in meals and as snacks, as a substitute for other fats. The control group ate the cholesterol-lowering diet only, with the same fat content, but without the nuts. In comparison with the control group, the pistachio group lowered their LDL, or bad cholesterol, by about 12 percent.

The Green Healer

It turns out that broccoli is a super way to green holiday menus. This wonder veggie, which has been found to lower the risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer, now has been found to even reverse damage done to heart vessels as a result of diabetes, according to UK researchers.

People with diabetes are evidently up to five times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease than others. With diabetes on the rise, we have good reason this season not to shy away from having seconds of the green stuff.

SOURCE: MEDICAL NEWS TODAY

GREEN LIGHTS
New energy-saving LED holiday lights 
use 90 percent less energy than conventional 
bulbs and can save up to $50 on the household
 energy bill through the holiday season.   Source: SierraClub.org

Eco-Libation

According to wine writer Tyler Colman, Ph.D., who blogs at DrVino.com, upwards of 90 percent of American wine is produced on the West Coast, and then shipped to the East Coast, where the majority of wine consumers live. He notes that almost half the weight of an ordinary case of wine is from the bottles, whereas 95 percent of the weight of a case of boxed wine is the liquid. Colman concludes that switching to wine in a box for the 97 percent of wines that are made to be consumed within a year would reduce associated greenhouse gas emissions by about 2 million tons, the equivalent of removing 400,000 cars from our roads.

Sources: Emagazine.com; BetterWinesBetterWorld.com (lists bag-in-box brands).

Donated Dollars
Charity Navigator Guides Intelligent Giving
’Tis always the season for lending a helping hand, and it’s vital that we place our hard-earned financial support with worthy causes who use our dollars wisely. Charity Navigator is a good first stop. It’s the nation’s largest and most popular guide to the objective evaluation of more than 5,300 American charities. At CharityNavigator.org, we’ll find user-friendly assessments of an organization’s financial health, insightful articles on industry trends, and tips for effective giving. Their findings clearly signal who is doing a good job and who is not.

The researchers have done a good chunk of our homework for us; they even verify each charity’s commitment to keeping donors’ personal information confidential, to help them avoid becoming victims of mailing list appeals. Check out their “Top 10 Best Practices of Savvy Donors.” The site is easily navigable by charity name, location or type of activity.

Integrated Medicine & Nutrition Brings Concierge Practice 
to NYC

Dr. Michael B. Wald and Dr. Nilay Shah of Integrated Medicine of Mount Kisco have additionally brought their practice to New York City with the opening of new offices at 48 West 68th Street. Integrated Medicine & Nutrition offers Concierge Medicine to their patients. Concierge Service is relatively new in the U.S. and offers unique services to patients. Dr. Wald and Dr. Shah appreciate the balance of traditional medical and complimentary medical approaches for the prevention and treatment of all varieties of health issues.

Their mission is to be their patients’ trusted source for wellness. To accomplish this goal, they see fewer patients, maximizing time spent with each person.  Individualized attention is an extremely rare commodity in health care today and the Integrated Medicine & Nutrition Physicians ensure each patient has enough time to fully express health concerns and goals. They also provide lifestyle education in a practical and individualized style, always with the goal of teaching their patients how to get and stay healthy.

As Director of Nutritional Services, Dr. Michael B. Wald provides detailed and highly specific consultations and recommends appropriate tests to assess nutritional needs. Dr. Wald’s training allows him to incorporate medical health history, nutritional tests and dietary recommendations into a holistic, comprehensive program that addresses each person’s health concerns. Dr. Nilay Shah, Director of Medical Services, combines traditional medical training with a ‘nutritional and holistic spin,’ ensuring his patients receive a wide range of health care options – including those from both natural and conventional medicine.

Appreciating the diverse needs and schedules of New Yorkers, Integrated Medicine & Nutrition has 24-hour accessibility for scheduling and rescheduling and can arrange special appointments on off-hours or weekends and will even come to your home, for an additional fee.  Dr. Shah and Dr. Wald look forward to becoming New Yorker’s gateway for internal medicine, neurologic and nutrition expertise.

To celebrate their NYC launch, Integrated Medicine & Nutrition is offering complimentary 15-minute consultations. For more information about services or appointments call 914-242-8844 or visit their website: intmedny.com.

Santa’s Reindeer
Vast Antlered Herds are Fast Growing Thin
Disruptions in climate and its consequences in diminishing food sources and rising pest populations are believed to be behind precipitous drops of caribou herds circling the planet’s arctic rooftop from Alaska and Canada to Siberia.

A global survey by researchers at the University of Alberta, published in Global Change Biology, reports that 34 of 43 monitored herds have declined an average 57 percent from maximum numbers of recent decades. Human populations who rely on the migrating animals as a primary food source are also in jeopardy.
This year, the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society launched a public video campaign to fight logging and road-building that is further threatening woodland caribou in Quebec, Manitoba and Ontario.

Canadian citizens are making their voices heard via a companion letter campaign at CaribouAndYou.ca.

by Judith Fertig

Living simply is not a new idea. The Shakers, a celibate sect founded in the 18th century, believed that, “Tis a gift to be simple.” In the 19th century, Henry David Thoreau went back to basics on Walden Pond. “Less is more,” proclaimed Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the renowned post-war minimalist architect, a century later.

The urge to simplify is timeless. What is new is recognizing the ripple effect when we choose a smaller life, explains Duane Elgin, in his new edition of Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That Is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich. “Contrary to media myths,” observes Elgin, “consumerism offers lives of sacrifice, while simplicity offers lives of opportunity. Simplicity creates the opportunity for greater fulfillment in work, meaningful connection with others, feelings of kinship with all life and awe of a living universe.”

In 1977, Elgin was part of a think tank group at Stanford Research Institute that studied the voluntary simplicity movement. Each of the movement’s values identified by Elgin’s group—human scale, material simplicity, environmental awareness, self-determination and personal growth—build on each other. When an individual first chooses to live on a smaller, more human scale, the other values seem to fall in line.

Human Scale
Human scale means that we easily fit with our surroundings, our schedule and our stuff. When that isn’t happening and we realize we’re overwhelmed by the demands of a too-much life, we ask, “Is this really all there is?”

Architect Sarah Susanka asked herself that question when, as a managing partner in a firm of 45 people, she realized she was “asleep at the wheel, while barreling down the road of life on cruise control.” She was working long hours and doing well, but not doing what she had wanted to do since childhood. “Often, the things we were passionate about as children are good indicators of natural proclivities that may have fallen by the wayside as we’ve moved into adulthood,” she observes.

One thing Susanka felt was not working for her anymore was the pace at which she raced through her days. “We’ve become incredibly productive in recent decades,” she remarks, “and our successes are measured by income and by acquisitions.” But what Susanka wanted was not a bigger house or a new car—she wanted time to write.

“Our culture is grappling with time,” Susanka reflects. While we can get multiple things done with a press of a button, we can’t seem to allow ourselves the slow, unstructured time to just be present with our own thoughts. Trading superhuman self-perceptions for simply human views allowed Susanka the time to recollect herself and begin to write. The process of simplifying her life in order to pen The Not So Big House became the subject of her next book, The Not So Big Life.

Linda Breen Pierce experienced a similar self-revelation. In 1991, she downsized her six-figure income as a Los Angeles attorney, moved to a smaller house in a quieter community, and has since been living and writing about the simplicity movement until recently retiring to Mexico. “We are living the American dream gone amuck,” she writes in Simplicity Lessons: A 12-Step Guide to Living Simply. But now, we are learning that, “A fast-paced lifestyle prevents us from living mindfully.”

Material Simplicity
When life seems overwhelming, it’s time to take a good look at where we are, figure out where we want to be and eliminate obstacles. Do we want a smaller dwelling? Less to keep organized? More time for ourselves?

“If your goals aren’t clear and your thinking isn’t focused, you can’t break the habits that stand in your way,” states psychologist and author Peter Walsh, who appears regularly on The Oprah Winfrey Show. “So many of my clients seem to have lost focus in their lives.”

Walsh’s main refrain is that in accumulating more things than we really need or want, many of us have been trying to meet a need for something more. Sometimes, he says, “There is an element of boredom, combined with a simmering sense of frustration, even anger.” Either way, the hope is that material things will bring meaning and fulfillment. In his experience, “It never works.”

In deciding how we can best simplify our lives, Elgin encourages us to ask the following questions: “Does what I own encourage activity and independence—or the opposite? Does what I buy satisfy or not? How tied is my present job to keeping up a large  lifestyle?”

An even simpler approach is to heed the words of William Morris, a leader in the 19th century Arts and Crafts movement: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” Simplicity involves not only clearing out the physical and emotional clutter and replenishing mindfully, but also clarifies our view of how our actions have a wider impact.

Environmental 
Awareness

“Reduce, reuse, recycle” is a philosophy that Zoe Weil has lived for years. As the author of Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and Meaningful Life, Weil understands that most of us have lived at least part of our lives looking through a single lens, focused on “what’s good for me.”

Weil challenges us to look through multiple lenses that see beyond personal interest, to embrace what’s also good for other people and animals and the planet. It can start with a simple act, such as choosing to refill a stainless steel bottle with filtered water, instead of consuming plastic water bottles that can languish for generations in landfills or require recycling.

Her mantra, “most good, least harm,” means considering the big picture to arrive at a better solution. For example, we might choose to buy fair trade coffee. Or we can seek out local produce to serve at meals and help independent farmers, even though we have to drive farther to the store. We might even decide to grow our own produce to cut the carbon emissions of the drive.

We can choose to use green cleaning products that don’t relay toxins into our bodies and our environment, even though they cost more. We can shop for cage-free eggs and free-range chicken, because these foods come from animals raised in a more humane manner, even if they’re harder to find.

The benefits are twofold: Making our lives simpler yields the time to make more thoughtful choices, and making thoughtful choices can make the world a more desirable place in which to live.

Self-determination
According to Pierce’s research, simpler living results in “more time, personal freedom, reduced stress, a slower pace of life, control of money, less stuff to maintain, fulfilling work, passion and purpose in life, joyful relationships, deeper spirituality, better health and a connection with nature.”

She has observed that while many people approach a simpler life with an interest only in these self-directed values, they soon develop other-directed values. People who have a simpler life also have the time, energy and passion to turn their talents towards the betterment of the community, the environment and the planet.

Personal Growth
What it all boils down to is this: Living simply can make us happy. “Happiness studies through the years show that what makes us happy isn’t stuff,” concludes Elgin.
“That can be a revelation,” adds Susanka, “because for so much of our lives we’ve been oriented toward the accumulation of things to prove that we’re getting somewhere or making it ‘up’ some sort of hierarchy. What is critical is companioning with that which is most significant to you.”

For more information and inspiration, contact: Duane Elgin at AwakeningEarth.org; Sarah Susanka at SarahSusanka.com and NotSoBigLife.com; Linda Breen Pierce at GallagherPress.com; Peter Walsh at PeterWalshDesign.com; and Zoe Weil at ZoeWeil.com.

November is: National Diabetes Awareness Month
and Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month

BROCCOLI HELPS KEEP PROSTATE CANCER AT BAY

An Institute of Food Research study now shows that eating one or more portions of broccoli every week can reduce the risk of prostate cancer and prevent localized cancer from becoming more aggressive. It turns out that broccoli, as well as other cruciferous vegetables, such as Brussels sprouts, affect genes by changing cell-signaling pathways, thereby reducing the risk of developing and spreading cancer.
 

The study of 400 men at risk for developing prostate cancer took place over the course of 12 months. Participants ate either 400 grams of broccoli or 400 grams of peas each week, in addition to their normal diet. Based on before-and-after tissue samples taken from their prostate gland, researchers found more changes in gene expression in the men who ate the broccoli than in those eating the peas.
Source: Public Library of Science, 2008

We Are What We Drink
When it comes to weight loss, what we drink may be more important than what we eat. Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health who examined the relationship between beverage consumption among adults and weight change, found that weight loss was positively associated with a reduction in liquid calories. They further concluded that calories from beverages had a stronger impact on weight than calories from food.

Experimenting with several categories of beverages, based both on calorie content and nutrition, they discerned that sugar-sweetened beverages were the leading source of liquid calories contributing to unwanted weight gain. These are the same beverages reported to play a significant role in the obesity epidemic currently affecting two-thirds of American adults.

Sleep Alert
New research reveals that insufficient sleep of six hours or less, a common shortcoming of our Western lifestyle, may contribute to the development of insulin resistance and reduced glucose tolerance, which in turn may increase the long-term risk of developing diabetes. The link was noted in a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Source: The Endocrine Society, 2009

Smell Stress Away
When feeling stressed and tired, take a restorative whiff of bracing lemon, enlivening rosemary or soothing lavender—or any other plant that has a pleasant scent. Scientists in Japan have reported the first scientific evidence supporting the idea that inhaling certain fragrances alters people’s gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that reduce stress.

The effects are attributed to linalool, a fragrant substance present in many plants and plant oils. When inhaled, linalool reduced stress-activated neutrophils and lymphocytes (two types of white blood cells) in the body to near-normal levels and restrained the activity of more than 100 genes that go into overdrive during stressful situations.

In their study, researchers noted that people have inhaled the scents of certain plants since ancient times to help reduce feelings of anxiety, fight inflammation and depression and induce sleep. Today, aromatherapy, or the use of fragrant oils to improve mood and health, is a popular form of alternative medicine. These findings could form a new basis for identifying the best fragrances to smell to dispel stress.

Source: American Chemical Society, 2009

MORE KUDOS FOR NUTS AND MEDITERRANEAN DIET
According to a report in The Journal of the American Medical Association, a Mediterranean diet, with an additional daily serving of mixed nuts, can be helpful in managing some metabolic disorders in older adults. Research focused on metabolic syndrome, a set of metabolic disorders such as abdominal obesity, high cholesterol and high blood glucose levels, all of which increase the risk of chronic disease.

by Sharon Jayson

The Millennial Generation, or Gen Y, ranges from people in their 20s to those still in grade school. What they all have in common is the knowledge that the current recession has in some way rocked the world they thought they knew. Depending upon how long the downturn lasts, historians, economists and psychologists say it could shape this generation’s values and attitudes in much the same way the Great Depression shaped the widespread frugality of their grandparents and great-grandparents.

Today, young people are reordering their values. “It is their version of the American Dream,” advises Michael Bradley, a Philadelphia psychologist who specializes in adolescent development. “They talk more about having autonomy and freedom and in so doing, not being as enslaved to material goals that they perceived their parents being caught up in. They do talk about life happiness, [but] not based on economic success or achievement as much.”

The New Frugality
The virtues of simple living now coming into vogue especially strike a chord with Millennials, whom pollster John Zogby describes as more socially conscious, environmentally aware and demanding consumers than previous generations.
“This is the time [of life] when a lot of their attitudes are set. The long-term is still in question, but it has the potential to have a big impact and change the views that they’ll have throughout their lives,” says economist Richard Curtin, who directs consumer research surveys at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor.

He believes that Millennials will be “more oriented toward economic security and relationships, more toward savings and less toward spending.”James Burroughs, an associate professor of commerce who studies consumer culture at the University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, has seen a shift in student attitudes in his classes since the economic downturn. “It wasn’t necessarily that they weren’t going to consume,” he says, “but they were giving a lot more thought to consumption.”

Anthony Durr, 21, of Columbus, Ohio, says the recession has influenced how he views money, especially since his grandmothers, both raised during the Depression, are preaching caution. “Their generation—they were all about saving money. They understood the value of every single dollar,” says Durr, a senior at Case Western Reserve University, in Cleveland. “I would like to believe that with my generation, it’s going to definitely come to that point. Even if you’re very successful with your company, there’s always that chance of losing your job, and then what?”

Downsizing Expectations
“I just think we’re having to get used to living a little less luxuriously than when we grew up,” says Dan Appel, 21, a psychology student at Montgomery County Community College, in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania.  Angela Trilli, 26, of Kendall Park, New Jersey, concurs. “I don’t know if our generation—from my perspective—needs as much.”

Laurisa Rodrigues, 18, a freshman at the University of Puget Sound, in Tacoma, Washington, believes the recession will have longer-term effects on her financial future. “A lot of us have seen our parents live paycheck-to-paycheck,” says this Pueblo, Colorado, high school graduate, “and we don’t want that for us. Our generation is learning, but I don’t think we’re learning quite as fast as we should.”

“Growing up, I felt like if you have a job and contribute to a retirement plan and save here and there, you’ll be okay. That was the mindset of many people my age from seeing their parents,” explains Mike Woodward, 23, of Fredericksburg, Virginia. “But now… I have to have a different way to do things. I feel like I need to be more creative and pay more attention to how I use and manage my money.”

A Change in Direction
Woodward, a 2008 bioengineering graduate of Stanford University, in Palo Alto, California, is living with his parents while he launches a nonprofit business to train the homeless, the unemployed and nonviolent offenders in construction techniques to help rebuild New Orleans. He had planned to go to medical school, but the recession piqued his interest in the new economy.

“I think people are going to shift what they go after, because they have to,” observes Woodward. “However, I think that sparks creativity. We will have people who are going to rise to the occasion and look for creative solutions.” Jim Cullen, author of The American Dream: A Short History of an Idea That Shaped a Nation, expects that such attitudinal changes will take hold long-term, prompted by what he calls, “structural changes in the global economy.”

“We will see recovery,” he says, “but in some sense, I feel like the hard work of changing our values has barely begun.”Yet Trilli, like many others, hasn’t given up on her dream: “I want to own a restaurant one day, and I still think I can.”
 
Sharon Jayson is a writer in Austin, Texas.

by Amber Lanier Nagle

Most of us are oblivious to our breathing habits. It’s simply something that we do thousands of times every day without thinking about it, breathing in life-giving oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide. Unfortunately, most of us do not breathe correctly. We tend to take 10 to 12 shallow, staccato breaths per minute, instead of the slower, deeper, oxygen-rich breaths that our bodies crave.

For centuries, specific breathing techniques have played an integral, healthful role in Eastern mind-body practices, including many forms of yoga and martial arts. Today, the element of disciplined breathing associated with those arts are drawing the attention of Western medical research. Studies are showing that while poor breathing has a negative effect on an individual’s health, deep, optimal breathing can measurably improve body functions.

Dr. David Anderson, a senior investigator at the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging, says that slower, deeper breathing may even help some people with hypertension lower their blood pressure, although he’s not yet sure exactly how it works. “We know that slow, deep breathing relaxes and dilates blood vessels temporarily,” he states, “but we think that it also helps our kidneys eliminate salt more efficiently, which would explain the drop in blood pressure.”

In his ongoing study, participants are asked to breathe in sync with tones generated by a special device. “The device trains them to breath slower and pace breaths until they reach six to eight breaths per minute,” explains Anderson.
Other studies are also showing that varying our breathing techniques can be an effective tool in handling and managing depression, anxiety and stress-related disorders.

Medical doctors Richard Brown and Patricia Gerbarg have studied the effects of various breathing practices on the stress levels of tsunami victims, Australian Vietnam veterans, emergency responders and other groups that suffer from post traumatic stress syndrome. “We started out by looking at specific yogic deep breathing techniques, such as Sudarshan Kriya yoga, qigong and others, but soon realized that combining elements of several of these techniques yielded optimal results,” remarks Gerbarg.

She adds that professional breathing instruction is necessary to achieve their results, yet, “skillful control of breath patterns can be used to calm emotions, eliminate anxiety, stop obsessive worry, reduce stress over-reactivity and induce greater mental clarity and focus. ”The road to better health may well be just a few breaths away.

Amber Lanier Nagle is a freelance writer based in Adairsville, Georgia. Connect at AmberNagle.com.

BREATHING EXERCISES
Because breathing is something we can all control and regulate, it makes a useful tool for achieving a relaxed and clear state of mind. Dr. Andrew Weil recommends these three breathing exercises to help relax and reduce stress. Try each one to see how it affects your stress and anxiety levels.

The Stimulating Breath (or Bellows Breath)
The Stimulating Breath is adapted from a yogic breathing technique. Its aim is to raise vital energy and increase alertness.

Inhale and exhale rapidly through your nose, 
keeping your mouth closed, but relaxed. Breaths 
in and out should be equal in duration.

Try for three in-and-out breath cycles per 
second. This produces a quick movement of 
the diaphragm, suggesting a bellows. Breathe 
normally after each cycle.

Begin with a maximum of 15 seconds. Increase 
subsequent practice sessions by five seconds or 
so, until reaching a full minute. Done properly, this exercise brings a feeling of invigoration comparable to the heightened awareness achieved after a good workout.

Breath Counting
Breath counting is a simple, yet challenging, technique used in Zen meditation.

Sit in a comfortable position with the spine straight and head inclined slightly forward. Gently close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Then, let the breath come naturally, without trying to influence it. Ideally, it will be quiet and slow, while depth and rhythm may vary.

To begin the exercise, count one to 
yourself as you exhale.
The next time you exhale, count two, 
and so on, up to five.
Begin a new cycle, counting one on the next 
exhalation.

Never count higher than five, and count only when you exhale. You will know your attention has wandered when you find yourself counting up to eight or higher. Work up to 10 minutes at a time.

Source: DrWeil.com.

Formaldehyde is a probable cancer-causing chemical, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But because the federal Food and Drug Administration does not review or approve cosmetic ingredients, it is also found in nail polish, insect repellant, liquid hand soap and sunscreen, notes the Environmental Working Group’s Cosmetic Safety Database. A 2004 EWG report further found that one-third of all cosmetics contain one or more ingredients classified as possible carcinogens, with links to birth defects, cancer and reproductive harm.

Cosmetics Savvy
Today, Whalen continues to be a committed cosmetics user, but now she’s a different kind of consumer. Like most teens, she says she used to routinely buy mascara, eye shadows and skin care products from drug store racks and department store cosmetic counters without checking ingredient labels. That has changed since she joined the nonprofit group Teens for Safe Cosmetics, now called Teens Turning Green, three years ago.

Whalen is now one of the group’s 500-plus teens doing their bit to save Mother Earth. Over the past few years, they have launched chapters in Dallas, New York City and Pittsburgh. Plans call for new chapters in Denver, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro and Australia. The California-based organization investigates chemicals in consumer products, advocates for policy changes and educates youth and adults about how to buy products that don’t harm their bodies or the environment.

As a result, Whalen’s overall eco-consciousness now extends to everything from organic tomatoes to chemical-free face wash and recycled paper. “Whenever I buy new stuff, I try to go as green as I can,’’ she says.“Every part of your life can be green,” agrees Carly Wertheim, 17, of Marin County, who was using chemical-laden deodorant and mascara when she joined the local group three years ago and “knew nothing.”

She likes the fact that when teens like her get involved in this campaign, they immediately start doing research and learning how to read ingredient labels. “Now,” she advises, “if I can’t pronounce it, I don’t want to be using it.”

Last year, teens in Marin County and New York collaborated with several organic beauty companies to create and launch the first-ever line of organic skin and body care products specifically for teens. Named after the group, the Teens Turning Green brand offers hand sanitizer, face wash, body lotion and other skin care products that contain no toxins or other chemicals believed to cause cancer or reproductive harm, according to Executive Director Judi Shils.

Everything in the teen line is organic and packaged in glass jars, without extra paper or cardboard packaging. Initial sales have been good via the group’s original distribution through Whole Foods Market’s independent stores, reports Shils. Now, the group is gearing up to provide their products through other outlets, as well.

Whole Life Choices
Teens Turning Green recently added a whole new dimension with Project Green Dorm, because, “We have moved into all aspects of a teen’s lifestyle, 24/7,’’ says Shils.
To set up a prototype green dorm, the group rented space in a Marin County shopping mall and convinced more than 100 eco-friendly companies nationwide to sell their products at wholesale prices. They opened their first retail shop this past July.

All items are made from either recycled or organic materials, including glass containers (no plastic) for packing a school lunch; organic cotton bed sheets; banana fiber notebook paper; fair trade sports equipment; and shirts made of silk, harvested using sustainable methods. Under the plan, Teens Turning Green will keep 50 percent of the proceeds, reports Shils.

Many of the items are also for sale online at ProjectGreenDorm.org, along with back-to-school resource guides, tips on going green, illustrated product recommendations and other advice. Shils notes that the group’s basic ($50) and premium ($100) care packages provide what a college student needs to live a green life. Members of Teens Turning Green say that, along with living a greener life themselves, they want to convince others to do so, as well. “To be able to help people change their lifestyles and have healthier options is really rewarding,” says a smiling Whalen. “When people appreciate what we are doing, that is what drives me to continue the work.”

It is work that is much needed. Americans ranked dead last in a 2009 National Geographic poll evaluating environmentally sustainable consumption among 17,000 people in 17 countries. Thus, Teens Turning Green members are also active advocating for improved legislation. In 2005, these teens lobbied for successful passage of the California Safe Cosmetics Act. In 2007, they helped pass the California Toxic Toys Bill to ban phthalates from children’s toys and baby bottle nipples. Members have even spoken at California legislative hearings to support nail salon workers exposed to toxic chemicals on the job, and to ban lead in lipstick.

Kristin Bender is a San Francisco Bay Area freelance writer. Connect at KristinBender@comcast.net

by Dr. Peter F. Ullrich, Jr.

The spine’s many nerves, muscles and ligaments serve 
as connections to areas throughout the body, so keeping your spine in top condition is one of the best things you 
can do for both your back and overall health.


Let the spine really rest while sleeping.
While you’re sleeping, the structures in your spinal column that have worked hard all day finally have an opportunity to relax and rejuvenate. Using the right mattress and pillow will support the spine, allowing the muscles and ligaments to become stress-free and refreshed.

Choose your shoes carefully.
Whether walking for exercise or just to get where you’re going, the shoes on your feet have a big effect on your back. Shoes should be well-balanced, flexible and comfortable. Providing not only protection for the feet, but a supportive base that helps the spine and body remain in alignment, the right shoes, plus inserts for added balance, if needed, can help avoid muscle strain and possible injury.

Enjoy the benefits of a massage chair.
A massage feels good because it relaxes your muscles and relieves stress, but therapeutic massage does more than improve flexibility and decrease tension. Massage chairs also can improve blood flow and increase the level of endorphins, natural chemicals in the body that make you feel good, in your bloodstream.

While it’s not the same as experiencing treatment by a massage therapist, using a massage chair at home can be a practical, easy way to feel some of the benefits of a Shiatsu or Swedish massage.

Sit up straight, with support.
Loading on the discs in the lower spine is three times greater while sitting than standing, so it follows that long periods of sitting can create or aggravate a painful back condition. Problems can also occur from sitting incorrectly or in an uncomfortable chair.

For example, while sitting in an office chair, many people slouch and lean forward; this poor posture typically leads to muscle tension and pain in the lower back and legs. That is why having the right office chair is key to promoting good posture and supporting the back’s natural curves. Because a prolonged static posture is stressful for the structures in the spine, most experts recommend that you get up to stretch and walk around every 20 to 30 minutes.

Specifically exercise abs and back.
One of the most important components of good spine health is exercise. If back and abdominal muscles are not in good shape, it puts additional pressure on the spine, already under the stress of supporting the entire body. Performing abdominal and back exercises (which don’t get much exercise from daily activities) as part of a daily routine will go far in maintaining a healthy spine. When abdominal and back muscles are well-maintained, they help support the spine and minimize the chance 
of injury.

Dr. Peter F. Ullrich, Jr., is a practicing physician and the co-founder and medical director of Spine-Health (Spine-Health.com), a leading educational online resource for people with neck and back pain.

Source: © 1999-2009 Spine-Health.com, all rights reserved. Always seek 
the advice of your physician.

Guidelines for Buying Walking Shoes

by Dr. Ted Forcum and Dr. Thomas Hyde

Three essential factors should be taken into consideration before 
purchasing a new pair of walking shoes. These are:

1)  Stability ~ Test for a balanced and secure feel throughout a normal range 
 of motion.

2)  Flexibility ~ Allow for a good degree of give at the base of the toes, allowing 
    smooth motion.

3)  Comfort ~ The best walking shoes comprise contours and padding conformed
    closely to the foot, providing a snug fit at the heel and mid-foot, with ample
  room in the forefoot.

Examine these following four specific areas of any walking shoe:

Heel counter ~ This area of the shoe holds the back of the heel, just under-
    neath the Achilles tendon. Look for it to be snug, but not tight, comfortably
    cupping the back of the heel. A good heel counter will help prevent the feet 
    from over pronation or supination (rolling to the inside or outside edge of 
 the foot).

Midsole ~ Between the tread and cloth or leather upper of the shoe, the 
    midsole is the most important component of footwear. Made of a variety of 
    materials, it gives a shoe a greater or lesser degree of cushioning, support 
 and flexibility.

Insole ~ Located inside the shoe, on the bottom, where the sole of the foot 
   contacts the shoe, the insole should contour comfortably to the foot. A good
   design reduces shear forces between the foot and the shoe and provides  some shock absorption.

Toe box ~ Be sure the area surrounding the toes provides adequate room 
 for toes to move freely; wiggling and bending the toes at the joints should 
 be unrestricted. Conversely, too much space will cause shifting and discomfort. There should be approximately one-half to a full thumb’s width between
  the end of the longest toe and the end of the toe box.

Here are general guidelines to consider when getting fitted for a new pair of walking shoes:

Have the salesperson take dimensions of both feet, as there may be differences. Take measurements while standing, because feet expand when
 bearing weight. Base the current shoe size on these measurements, not on 
a previous shoe size.

Measure feet at the end of the day. They tend to swell through out the 
    course of the day.

Try on and lace up both left and right shoes while wearing regular socks. Stand up and walk around to make sure the fit is correct.

Never buy walking shoes that immediately feel too tight. Although they will go
    through a break-in period, if walking shoes initially feel tight, they are too small.

Finally, keep in mind that arch supports, or orthotics, can supplement the 
original shoe to help attain the best fit.

Ted Forcum, a doctor of chiropractic in Beaverton, OR, is a contributing author for 
Spine-Health.com. Thomas Hyde, a doctor of chiropractic in Aventura, FL, is a member 
of the medical advisory board for Spine-Health.com.