Filed under: Friends & Family, Advice, Happiness, How to Be Happy
On her blog and subsequent book, The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin spent years test-driving every possible piece of wisdom, science and popular opinion about how to be happier, from Aristotle to Oprah. Four years after she started, Rubin spoke … Read more
Filed under: Fitness, Healthy Eating, How I Stay Fit
Eight years ago, Carole Carson went on a mission to get healthy. She changed her eating habits, started exercising regularly, lost 62 pounds and felt like a million bucks. She has written four books and is spearheading community weight-loss efforts … Read more
Filed under: Sex, Love & Relationships, Advice, Health
As we increasingly green many different aspects of our lives, there’s one area we sometimes forget about: our sex lives. Stefanie Iris Weiss, author of Eco-Sex: Go Green Between the Sheets and Make Your Love Life Sustainable, says it’s an area that … Read more
Filed under: Love & Relationships, Advice, Happiness, How to Be Happy
Do you find yourself nodding absently and checking your Blackberry as your spouse updates you on his day? Does quality time with your beloved almost always include a laptop? Dr. Edward M. Hallowell, author of Married to Distraction: Restoring Intimacy and Strengthening Your Marriage in an Age of Interruption (co-written with his wife, Sue George Hallowell), explains how screen addictions and working around the clock can destroy otherwise healthy relationships.
Q: What do you mean when you say that modern marriages are often distracted?
A: The world we live in these days, as opposed to even 10 years ago, is so saturated with data and messages and information – they’re distractions. Tom Friedman calls it “the age of interruption.” We forget that without attention, and attention extended over some time, you can’t develop empathy, closeness and communication and the kind of playfulness that ought to be part of love. And as a result you lapse into just kind of getting things done and checking off lists and communicating the basics on the fly.
Q: And how can these changes and distractions sabotage otherwise good marriages?
A: If there’s not good communication and that feeling of empathy and closeness and support, then you tend toward struggles. People start to feel that their needs aren’t being met, and when you feel your needs aren’t being met you tend to be irritable and more in a blaming, arguing or struggling mode. But the good news is that this is very fixable.
Continue reading Can Modern Marriages Survive Modern Technology?
Filed under: Advice, Happiness, Health, Fitness
Most people associate being hypnotized with cheesy stage shows that leave a participant believing she’s a chicken. But did you know that hypnosis – or hypnotherapy – has applications for your health. From quitting smoking to losing weight and building healthier habits, hypnotherapist Carly Cummings, founder of “Hyp-Yoga” explains the power of hypnosis.
Q: What is hypnotherapy and how does it work?
A: Hypnosis is a heightened state of awareness. This means that when you are in hypnosis, you are listening with more of your mind than you usually do. This is because hypnosis opens up the subconscious part of your mind – the part that regulates your metabolism, your heartbeat and your emotions. The subconscious part of your brain keeps busy even when you are not aware of it working. This is why tapping into your subconscious is so powerful: It keeps working on your goals even when you are not consciously thinking about them!
Hypnosis brings us to a place where we are so relaxed that we can use 100 percent of our brain to focus on a task at hand. Sometimes we are so preoccupied with all of our thoughts, our worries, and our “To Do” lists that we cannot concentrate. Our busy lives make it almost impossible for our minds to be completely effective. This is when hypnosis proves useful. We can accomplish so much more through hypnosis and with the full attention of our minds.
Continue reading Can Hypnosis Improve Your Health?
Filed under: Health, Fitness, Healthy Eating, How to Be Happy
Are you sicking of weight loss slogans and miracle diets and are convinced that living a healthy life means more than a number on the scale? Well, Dr. Linda Bacon, author of Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, agrees. Here, Dr. Bacon explains why we should shift the emphasis from a preoccupation with weight to adopting healthier habits – no matter your size.
Q: What is the purpose of the Health at Every Size movement?
A: In general, we’re finding that people are preoccupied with food and weight, and there’s a lot of fat bashing going on. People seem to harbour this idea that there’s something wrong with being heavier and, if they’re not there already, they’re really scared of being there. It’s not helpful in getting people to adopt healthy lifestyle behaviours. We’re trying to get people to transform the paradigm and we want to encourage everyone to start from a place of appreciating their body, which will allow them to take better care of their body by making good health choices.
Q: Do you believe that you can be both healthy and overweight?
Continue reading Be Healthy at Any Size (and Stop Worrying About the Scale)
Filed under: Sex, Love & Relationships, Advice, How to Be Happy
In need of some sex or relationship advice? Look no further! Advice columnist David Eddie, author of Damage Control, explains his thoughts on courtship, marriage, sex and how to apologize properly.
Q: If you had to generalize, what would you say … Read more
Filed under: Advice, Fitness, Healthy Eating, How I Stay Fit
Think you need to have a perfect diet and exercise regime to be healthy? Dr. Sarah Cohen, a chiropractor and personal trainer, disagrees. While her fitness regiment is rigid, she admits that her eating habits need a little improvement. (Experts: … Read more
Filed under: Happiness, How to Be Happy
Are you having a tough time dealing with getting older? You’re not alone — and, according to Dr. Vivian Diller, you don’t have to feel bad about caring that your eyelids are starting to droop. Dr. Diller, author of the new book Face It: What Women Really Feel As Their Looks Change, explains why women often have a tough time embracing the changes that occur with aging, and how you can make the transition easier.
Q: Why do women often have a tough time accepting the changes that occur with aging?
A: There is a generation of women who didn’t expect that they would be having such a tough time, which is why I wrote this book. My generation — and I’m 56 — grew up with the belief that our looks would take a back seat to other aspects of ourselves and our identity. The women’s movement broke those barriers and said that looks were not supposed to matter. But we’re living in a youth- and beauty-obsessed culture, and as our looks change, we’re feeling all sorts of complicated feelings.
The interesting thing I’m trying to bring to this is that it’s not a superficial issue. We’re trying to give women of stature and accomplishment permission to allow themselves to be shaken by this experience, but also to take care of their looks without feeling like it’s a betrayal of all they grew up believing. That experience for women may start on the surface, but it runs much deeper. It sets off all sorts of complicated, existential issues of “What am I about and why does this matter?” and “How have I been convinced that my looks shouldn’t matter, when of course they do?”
Continue reading Happy Women Embrace Aging: How to Accept Your Wrinkles
Filed under: Sex, Love & Relationships, Advice, Happiness, How to Be Happy
Can group therapy save a marriage? That’s the question Laurie Abraham set out to answer when she spent a year in a therapist’s office with five struggling couples while researching a book, The Husbands and Wives Club: A Year in the Life of a Couples … Read more
Filed under: Advice, Happiness, Health, Fitness, Healthy Eating, How I Stay Fit
Ever wondered how a yoga instructor stays in such great shape? We asked Leonor “Leo” Mowry, owner of Village Yoga in Toronto, to share some of her health habits and advice. Q: What does your exercise routine look like? A: The only thing that’s … Read more
Filed under: Friends & Family, Happiness, How to Be Happy
You might think that steering clear of heavy conversations – Is there a God? What is the meaning of life? Is dry cleaning really worth the money? – and focusing on life’s lighter side will make you happier. It makes sense, right? By dwelling on … Read more
We spend so much time thinking about what we put into our mouth, but what about the stuff we smear across our body? Nutritionist and holistic lifestyle consultant Meghan Telpner, who is hosting an upcoming workshop on natural beauty products, explains why we should use natural beauty items and offers a few of her favourite recipes.
Q: Why do you recommend natural body products?
A: What we put on the outside our body will end up inside our body. There is not much sense in spending so much time being concerned with what we are eating if we fail to also take into account what we are absorbing through our skin. There are loads of toxins in our environment that we can’t control, so why not be a little more careful about the things we can control?
We have a layer of fat that surrounds our body, just below the skin’s surface. These fat cells serve to insulate us and lend a little padding and protection for our internal organs. Toxins collect and store in the fat cells. When products absorb through our skin, those fat cells are the first places the toxins will land and that will ultimately affect the appearance of health on our skin’s surface over time.
Q: How can making our own body products at home improve our health?
Continue reading Are Natural Beauty Products the Best for Your Bod?
Filed under: Advice, Happiness, How to Be Happy
Are you putting your needs last and sabotaging your happiness? You’re definitely not alone. Kristen Houghton, author of And Then I’ll Be Happy: Stop Sabotaging Your Happiness and Put Your Own Life First, explains how she finally figured out how to put herself at the top of her list.
Q: What is the Goldilocks Syndrome?
A: The Goldilocks Syndrome is a phrase I coined in my workshops. Like Goldilocks, who wasn’t satisfied until she found the right porridge to eat, the right chair to sit on, and the right bed to sleep on, some women postpone their happiness until everything in their lives is “just right;” family, work, their weight, etc. Being happy shouldn’t wait until everything in life is perfect. Not everything will ever be “just right” at the same time.
Q: How do women commonly sabotage their own happiness?
Continue reading Are You Sabotaging Your Happiness? Don’t Put it on Hold
Filed under: Advice, Healthy Eating, Eat This
Over at the Dietitians of Canada (DoC), March is Nutrition Month and they’re using the opportunity to spur Canadians to make positive changes when it comes to their diets. Here, DoC spokesperson Mary Bamford weighs in with some advice on how Canadians can make the most of their food choices.
Q: It seems like the idea of holistic eating used to be a bit fringe, but is increasingly coming into the mainstream.
A: In my mind, it’s always been mainstream. Eating whole foods has never been on the fringe. For me, personally, I tasted margarine for the sake of it and thought, why in the world would you eat this? Look at how this stuff is made. It isn’t food. Why not learn how to use appropriate fats in moderation? Why not put olive oil on your vegetables? There are some definitely clinical places where I would suggest margarine – like if someone really wants a spread on a sandwich but has heart disease or diabetes. The margarine thing is my personal take, but DoC has always encouraged whole foods. But we have to work with what’s out there and encourage people to buy whole foods.
Continue reading A Dietitian on Canada’s Food Guide and 8-10 Servings of Fruit and Veg
Filed under: Love & Relationships, Advice, How to Be Happy
After a breakup, or following a reorientation of any kind of relationship, it can be tough to know what to do with the big jumble of emotions filling your head. Where do you start to move forward and how can you accept these big new changes? We asked Lissa Coffey, author of Closure and the Law of Relationship: Endings as New Beginnings, to explain what closure is and how you can use affirmations to move forward without anger.
Q: What is closure?
A: Closure is resolution. It’s tying up any loose ends. It’s replacing resentment or anger or any ill feelings with gratitude. It’s that feeling that there are no unanswered questions, and that you’ve learned from the experience and are a better person for it. We know we have closure when we have gratitude for all of it, no matter what has happened.
Continue reading How to Stop Being Angry and Get Closure: Five Steps
Filed under: Health, Healthy Eating, How I Stay Fit
You might think your fridge and pantry are stocked with healthy items, but are you eating enough “real food.” We asked Dana Joy Altman, founder of the blog Real Food Rehab, to explain how eating real food changed her life and to dispense some advice on how to eat better.
Q: Why did you start Real Food Rehab?
A: I started Real Food Rehab with a desire to help people make a pleasurable transition from processed foods back to real foods and do it in a way that didn’t feel oppressive. I wanted to approach it without judgment and without “shoulds.” I also had a strong desire to write in my own voice. I had been doing PR and writing branding copy for years – essentially furthering other people’s creative projects, when what I really wanted to do was further my own. It was liberating to finally be able to do that. Over time, I also decided it was important for me to write about my own process in discovering how to be the most authentic version of myself that I could be, so I incorporate lots of ideas on how to live a richer and more fulfilling life.
Q: What do you mean when you say “real food”?
Continue reading Are You Eating Enough ‘Real Food’?
Filed under: Happiness, How to Be Happy
Even when things are going great, do you find that you get bogged down by the imperfections of life? Turns out you’re not alone. Lots of women have a tough time ignoring that nagging voice that tells them they need to fix every little problem before they can be happy. In a new book, The Nine Rooms of Happiness: Loving Yourself, Finding Your Purpose, and Getting Over Life’s Little Imperfections, Lucy Danziger and Dr. Catherine Birndorf use the metaphor of a house with nine rooms that each represent an area of a woman’s emotional life. Here, Dr. Birndorf explains how even trivial negative self-talk can hold you back and how to start to turn things around.
Q: Why did you use the metaphor of a house?
Continue reading How to Get Over Life’s Imperfections and Start Being Happy
Filed under: Health, Healthy Eating
Big, industrialized agriculture is hardly a new target. We’ve heard a lot over the past few years about how we’re losing food taste and quality, how we’re being poisoned by hormones and antibiotics, and how food is being genetically modified to become virtually unrecognizable – and how it’s all driven by the demands for bigger and bigger profits. But a recent film, Food Fight, directed by Chris Taylor, describes a short history of how politics and business converged in the United States (where so much of our food comes from) to create the current situation of barely edible food and an increasingly problematic obesity epidemic.
Continue reading Food Fight Documentary Implores Us to Eat Local and Organic