We all have a tendency to ignore the messages that our body’s give us. Try taking a day to just do whatever your body is telling you to do. Do you feel tired? Sleep as much as you want? Are you stiff? Take a walk. Make love. It’s easy to get distracted. Just remember that you are taking a day to do this. Try it. It will give you a feeling of inner peace.

Keep your skin well moisturized and eat the right foods. Moisturize with cocoa butter and vitamin E.  Eat plenty of flax (seeds or oil), sesame, sunflower, and pumpkin seeds (my personal favorite). These seeds will boost your intake of essential fatty acids and zinc.

I read this tip in Michael Pollan’s book Food Rules but it’s been said many times before. Bigger portions equals more food. More food equals more calories. People tend to clean their plates. If you put less food on your plate and stick with eating just that plate food, you’ll eat less. Do this all of the time and you’ll lose weight. Using smaller plates and glasses is a better way to go than just putting less food on a big plate or less liquid in a big glass. Psychologically you’ll be happier seeing a full portion than part of a portion. Even though it’s the same amount of food, if it looks and feels like less food, you’ll have trouble sticking with this way of eating. This method really works. If you make no dietary changes and you just start eating on smaller plates, you will lose weight.

“Eat Only Foods That Will Eventually Rot”. This is another rule from Michael Pollan’s book Food Rules. The more processed the food is, the longer the shelf life, and the less nutritious a food typically is. Real food is alive and will eventually die. (There are exceptions to this rule. Honey will last for centuries.)

Michael Pollan is the author of two of my favorite books about food and eating (In Defense of Food and Omnivore’s Dilemma). A few days ago, I picked up a book another Michael Pollan book that camee out in 2009 called Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual. This book is fantastic because it’s simple. At top of each page is a food rule, written in big letters and in one sentence. Beneath it is a deeper explanation of the rule. I highly recommend this book. Here’s a a great rule to remember when you need to quickly make a decision about what to eat.

“Eating what stands on one leg (muchsrooms and plant foods) is better than eating what stands on two legs (fowl), which is better than eating what stands on four legs (cows, pigs, and other mammals).”

According to Bella Blisett in her book Ask. The 1000 Most Asked Questions About Beauty, Artefill, or Artecoll, is a natural collagen filler that, umlike Botox, has the advantage of not being absorbed by the body. Its effects are immediate and you’ll probably need only one or two shots to work in the long term.

This is great news since Botox usually lasts just three to four months. I don’t know about the cost of Artefill but it sounds liks something to look into.

Happiness has become one of my favorite topics. I’ve become obsessed with the topic ever since I found out how much of our own happiness is within our control. Here are the stats.

10% life circumstance

40% Controllable

50% Genetics

This is such great news. This means that only 10% of your happiness is affected by things that are happening outside of yourself. In other words, happiness is in your head. This explains why people can remain happy in spite of terrible tragedy. It also explains why money can’t buy happiness. The other bit of good news is that 50% has to do with genetics. If your parents were depressed, you can still be happy in spite of that.

My latest favorite book on this topic is The Happiness Prescription by Deepak Chopra. You can find it by going to the Reading Annex pages of this site. I just added a Happiness category to the Annex so that you can easily find books devoted to this topic.

There are things you can do to live a happier life. If you’d like some help in this area, please email me or give me a call. Coaching is a fantastic way to get on track. It worked for me.

My nails used to always split, crack, or break. I’ve never been able to grow my nails. Then I discovered Biotin. I take 5000 mcg. A high dose of Biotin is what does the trick. You will notice a difference in a week. In 6 weeks, you will have beautiful, strong nails. If you have a question about any supplements, please ask your doctor.

To help prevent premature aging and maintain healthy hair and skin, Selenium is the mineral to take. It is often referred to as the beauty mineral. A great way to get selenium into your diet is to eat 3 or 4 Brazil nuts a day . (No more. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing.). Make sure the nuts are raw!

Stay tuned for more health and beauty posts.

I’ve noticed that my dog, Cindy, only enjoys playing with big dogs. She’s a 12 pound apricot mini poodle. She looks like a stuffed animal. If you saw her you’d think she could only handle herself with little dogs. Apparently the little dogs bore her. The big dogs challenge her. The big dogs never overtake Cindy. She’s able to hold her own with them. Cindy is definite proof of one of my favorite quotes. “It’s not the dog in the fight, it’s the fight in the dog.”