January 2000

January Seminar: Weight Loss, Spirituality and Exercise

Beginning Jan. 12, I will be offering a four-week seminar at St. John United Methodist Church on weight loss, spirituality and exercise.

Who: All those interested in starting the Millenium with a healthier lifestyle.

Where: The parish hall of St. John United Methodist Church, 550 Mt. Paran Road in Sandy Springs.

How much: $20 donation to the church for all four weeks. The seminar will follow the regular church supper, where adults can eat for $4.50 per plate.

When: Wednesday evenings, Jan. 12, 19, 26, and Feb. 2, from 6:45 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Week 1, Jan. 12: Introduction to weight loss, spirituality and exercise. We’ll be discussing some of the latest research on successful lifestyle and weight management. Many spiritual people focus on serving others, but often forget that whatever God wants us to accomplish must be done through the physical body.

Week 2, Jan. 19. Nutrition. Whether your goals are to maintain or lose weight, discover how to plan a healthy day of eating.

Week 3, Jan. 26, Exercise. All exercise is great, but not all exercise is good for every body all the time. Learn how to tailor an exercise program based on your level of physical fitness and personal goals.

Week 4, Feb. 2. Spirituality and the Healthy Life. Learn how you can lower your own blood pressure, produce your own natural antidepressants, control diabetes and hypoglycemia, eliminate fatigue and reduce food cravings by adopting more spiritual thought processes. When we are in a state of true loving appreciation – a state we can achieve through prayer or through the simple act of loving ourselves and everyone around us – our physical heart produces electrical rhythms that orchestrate a symphony of feel-good chemicals in the body.

To register: Call the church office at 404-255-1384.

Save Money: Work Out

I always say that I save my clients literally thousands of dollars a year in medical bills, chiropractic visits, and prescription medications. Now comes research that suggests that for every day of the week you work out, you save more money on your health care costs.

In a study of 5,689 adults over 40 enrolled in a Minnesota health plan, those who were physically actice had 4.7 percent lower health charges per active day of the week, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association.

It’s expensive to be fat, and the fatter you are, the higher your bills: for every one unit over a Body Mass Index of 25, health costs were 1.9 percent higher.

Brain Gym: Feb. 25-27

Mark your calendars for the weekend of Feb. 25-27, when my partner, Camie Larsen, and I will be teaching the next class in Brain Gym I and II.

In case you haven’t heard, Brain Gym is the amazing mind-body technique that’s one national awards for helping people how to read quickly and easily, that’s been honored every year since 1991 by the White House National Learning Foundation, and that’s used by pro athletes, Broadway playwrights, and teachers in more than 50 countries around the world to help students overcome learning disabilities. My own research and my book, Healing Depression: A Holistic Guide (New York: Marlowe and Co., 1999) has shown how Brain Gym helps many overcome life-long depression.

Cost: $325, or $300 with a $50 deposit by Feb. 7.

I am thrilled to be teaching again with Camie Larsen, who has been involved in education her entire life. Most recently, Camie moved to the Boston area after serving at the Brain Gym international headquarters in Ventura, Ca., as office manager. While in California, Camie was elected to the school board, and won various honors, including 1997 Wal-Mart Public School Volunteer of the Year.

To register or find out more about how Brain Gym can help you – no matter what your profession is – call me at 404-350-8581, or email Daylilly@aol.com.

I Love Dieting

If you’re like the typical American who starts a diet on Jan. 2, only to give up on Jan. 4, look no further than Shaklee’s “I Love Dieting” program. You can order a book and tape from me for $8. Learn how this program has been so successful that Shaklee actually ran out of the products for a short period in 1999.

Who can benefit: Carbohydrate addicts, people who have gone on imbalanced nutritional programs that led to cravings, anyone who has tried to lose weight before but been unsuccessful.

The basics: Through this program, you’ll be getting up and exercising first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, drinking lots of water, and combining the vitamins and minerals you need to stabilize your system.

Many people diet, only to succumb to cravings when the restricted-calorie foods they take in lead them nutritionally depleted. If you have cravings you can’t control, it may be a sign that your body is actually missing something important.

Add fiber, which adds not only a feeling of fullness, but also helps to cleanse the system so you can digest and metabolize your food more easily.

Flexibility, Stability – Then Strength

If you are a new client and wonder why we spend so much time stretching and working on your posture, consider the advice of Paul Chek, one of the top trainers in the country: flexibility first, stability second – then strength.

I am constantly explaining that if I take a weak, tight client and only do strength training with them, that individual will be more than likely to hurt themselves.

By stretching, we can correct muscle imbalances that make you functionally inefficient. When your muscles are even on each side of your body, you can walk and run without pain and improve your speed.

Stability of the core muscles is crucial because many clients come to me with weak or undeveloped backs and abdominal muscles. As we develop these aspects of your fitness, you will grow stronger from the inside out, and can progress more quickly without injuries.

No matter what your age, aches and pains are not normal. Stretch your way out of aging, and feel better.