Always searching for answers!  Here we have our intrepid Irish Tour Guide who explains the origins of Fast Food in Ireland!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9C8A2CVUo4

One of the hottest concepts in health in recent years has been the idea of ‘mind-body’ medicine. Usually it refers to the ability of the brain to influence the health of the body, tapping into the power of thoughts and emotions to influence our physical health. For instance studies have shown that meditation can help lower blood pressure, reduce the severity of irritable bowel syndrome, even lower the risk of cancer.

But there’s also an increasing body (pun intended) of evidence that shows that the mind-body connection can also work the other way, body-mind, that the physical activities of the body can influence how the brain feels and how healthy both the brain and the body is.

One of the more unusual, and fun, methods of body-mind medicine is laughter yoga where the simple act of pretending to laugh can boost the health of both the body and the brain. When you practice laughter yoga you mimic the physical act of laughing. It sounds silly I know, but practitioners say by pretending to laugh you often end up laughing long and hard, and even if you don’t the sheer physical act of ‘laughing’ has powerful physical, emotional and mental health benefits.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KIYhP-NisI

They say laughter boosts the immune system, which helps you fight disease, it also reduces how much cortisol is circulating through your body (cortisol is the so-called ‘fight or flight hormone produced when you are severely stressed such as being attacked by a pterodactyl -- which doesn’t happen too often these days -- or watching a Glenn Beck rant, which happens far too often for anyone’s health) and that in turn can reduce how much stress your body is subjected to on a daily basis.

What a cool idea eh! Just by laughing you are doing something good for your body, and your brain, because laughter yoga also helps reduce the likelihood of depression. It’s almost as if this idea is flipping science on its head and instead of thinking that we have to get the brain healthy for us to have a healthy body, we are going the opposite direction, saying to have a healthy brain we first need to get our body into healthy mode.

Think about it. Instead of going through years of talk therapy, psychotherapy, counseling and/or medication -- or all of them -- you could achieve the same by just laughing every day.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to go to see  your family doctor and at the end of the exam have them say ‘take two jokes and call me in the morning”. We might actually look forward to going to the doctor. Better still, we might not have to go at all.

Every once in a while you hear an idea and think, ‘That’s interesting”, and then don’t think much more about it. But then a few days later you hear pretty much the same idea but coming from a different angle or perspective and you think, “Hmm, very interesting.” But it’s not until the third time the same idea comes at you that you really begin to take notice and really start thinking about it in depth.

That happened to me the other day. And it began in the most unexpected of ways, listening to an interview with actress Patricia Heaton. Heaton is best known for playing Ray Romano’s wife in the TV sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond”. Now, I have to say I never saw the show, I saw a few minutes of it here and there as I channel surfed but never a full episode. So when I turned on to a radio show in the middle of an interview with someone I couldn’t immediately identify but who sounded not only interesting but also funny, I was persuaded to stick around.

The act of love

At one point she started talking about a play she was in ‘Off Broadway” where she was playing opposite her husband’s best friend, an actor who was best man at her wedding. She says it’s very odd to pretend to be romantically involved, in love, with someone you have known for years in a very different context. All of a sudden she had to put aside her knowledge of this man and pretend to be in love with him. Every night. Night after night – twice on Wednesdays and Saturdays if you count matinees.

What was even stranger she says is that as the play continued on its long run she began to imagine she really did feel differently about the actor. She started to think maybe she did love him. She says it was almost as if, because she was acting day in and day out that she loved this man, that the actions her body was mimicking were creating a similar, if more real, feeling in her brain. It was as if her brain was following the lead of her body.

Holding hands

I do, I do, I do

Now that could explain why so many actors and actresses fall in love with their co-stars. Not only are you acting out the most intense feelings for each other day after day, you do so in a very physical way – kissing, touching etc. And let’s face it, most of those stars are really rather gorgeous/handsome so it’s not hard to imagine falling in love with them. That might explain why people like Mickey Rooney and Elizabeth Taylor were married multiple times, why Brad Pitt left Jennifer Aniston (Jennifer Aniston for God’s sake!!) for Angelina Jolie. You act like you are in love with someone, and at some point your brain joins in the act.

What was more interesting about Patrician Heaton’s interview was that she started wondering if you could think you fell in love with someone because you were acting it, could you remain in love with someone by also acting it. She says she has been married many years and that after a few years that initial lust and love begins to become a little, well, tired. You fall into a pattern, you start taking the other person for granted, you lose sight of what it was about them, about the two of you, that left you so excited and breathless. So, she started to wonder that if faking it works on stage, maybe it could work off stage as well. Maybe by going through the motions with the person  you really love you could recapture the initial feeling of why you fell in love with them.

Lost Love

Hot or cold

It’s an intriguing idea isn’t it. Just look around you next time you are out and try to spot the couples who are newly together and those who’ve been together a long time, perhaps too long. It’s not hard. Notice their body language. The new couples are all about touching, it’s very physical from the hand holding to just running fingers through hair or gently touching the other person’s face. The gaze lingers long, unblinking. There’s an unmistakable joy in the eyes. There’s an intensity, a physical closeness, an intimacy that is impossible to mistake.

Then look at the other couple. They may have been together 20 years or 20 months, the time doesn’t matter, what does is the distance between them. Not just the physical distance either, it’s the emotional distance. Not only are they not holding hands or touching, they’re making a real effort to keep a physical gap between them. There’s a real coldness that is apparent in every gesture between them, every word spoken. It’s almost as they are just waiting for the other person to make a wrong move or say the wrong thing and they would jump on them.

You’ve seen them in cafe’s, bars, restaurants, on the street or on the bus. There’s a tension between them that makes you want to get away as quickly as you can or if you can’t then to bury yourself in your newspaper and vow that you will never ever be like that.

So why do people become that way? Maybe they really just didn’t have anything in common to begin with and mistook lust for love. Hey, it happens. Maybe they just lost sight of each other over the years, with kids and a home and a mortgage and everything else, they just let what they had slip away. That’s understandable.

To make it you have to fake it

But wouldn’t it be wonderful if they realized what was happening, what was going wrong, and decided to try and change it. But instead of going to a therapist – not that I have anything against therapists, one of my good friends is one, and a darned good one too (I’ll give you Jim’s number if you like) – so, instead of going to a therapist they decided to act as if they were still in love, to do the things lovers do, to be as physical as lovers are, to look at the other person as if they were in love with them, every day, to tell themselves they were in love with them, and slowly to realize they were!

Wouldn’t it be amazing if that instead of our bodies following our brains – or as Woody Allen once said “The heart wants what the heart wants” – our brains followed our bodies.

When I worked in television we always used to joke about the qualities that made a good  TV news anchor or – as we say in the UK – news reader, “If you can fake sincerity, you have it made.” Maybe the truth is the good ones started out trying to fake it, but then later on realized they believed it. That’s what made them so good. They weren’t faking it.

Maybe if we start all faking those feelings we want, and do a good enough job, we will actually believe it.

It’s worth a shot.

As for the two other thoughts that helped reinforce this. I’ll tell you about those later in the week. But one thing I will say now, they’ll have you laughing till it hurts.

Too often we take words for granted. We say a word and think we know what it means. But so many words can mean so many different things. The same word can often mean something completely different depending on the context in which it’s used. And when you match those words and their different meanings with images of those meanings, you can end up with something quite beautiful.

See what I mean?

Click here “Words“

The beauty industry sells us self esteem right?  And everyone wants to have good self esteem, right?  Looking good makes us feel good so why not buy a few cosmetics to look our best?  In fact, the skin care market (that’s facial, skin, and hair products) is a 15.1 billion dollar industry.  And now, there is an ever increasing market targeting aging  baby boomers who have the money and desire to look good and youthful.

Youth and Beauty = Self Esteem?

So if you are fresh faced teenage girl,don’t you already possess what everyone wants?  Well, maybe, but advertisers say that perhaps you could could “enhance” your looks with the right cremes or make-up. It was reported in  Cosmetics by Design, that  teens spend an average of $80 on themselves each week. Young women (ages 12-24) out-buy all other age groups when it comes to haircare, skincare, cosmetics, and fragrances (Source: “Junior League” by Kelley Donahue. American Salon, January 2000).

The beauty industry has hoodwinked us into thinking we need to look like the models we see.  Well, my friend Lynn, sent me a startling video put out by the “Dove Self Esteem Fund” , check it out.  It’s really quite amazing.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U

But Wait!  There’s More!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-kSZsvBY-A

When George ‘Dubya” Bush was holding the first Cabinet meeting of his administration Secretary of State Colin Powell, one of the most highly respected members of his administration, was running a little late. The fact that Powell was a decorated war hero cut little slack with the President. When he saw that Powell was late for the announced start time of the meeting he told his assistants to not only close the door but to lock it.

A few minutes later Secretary Powell came hurrying down the corridor and turned the handle to open the door to the Cabinet room. Can you imagine how he felt when the door wouldn’t open. Instantly he must have thought “oh crap”. But also imagine how everyone in the room, with the exception of the President felt. It was a powerful demonstration of naked power, saying to everyone, “I start meetings on time. Be here.”

You can bet no Cabinet member was ever let for a meeting ever again.

Running late

I was thinking about that the other day as I headed, a few minutes later than I’d wanted, to a meeting at a location half the way across San Francisco. I knew where I had to be. I knew when I had to be there. I knew why I had to be there. I knew when I had to leave my office to get there. But that last bit was the problem.

I had so many things to do I kept saying “I’ll just take care of this before I go.” or “I’ll just answer this email before I leave” or “I’ll just return this phone call” . Whatever the reason, the end result is I left a couple of minutes later than I planned so of course all the way over there I was thinking, “gosh darn it, running late again” (ok, so those probably weren’t exactly the words I chose but they convey how I felt).

Enough stress already

Why do we do that to ourselves? Life and certainly work is already stressful enough without adding more stress to the mixture. We have more things to do than we have time for. We have more work than we can handle. Yet we add an extra dollop of stress by constantly running late.

You see it all the time. People rushing down corridors to get to a meeting that was supposed to start five minutes ago. People driving too fast because they didn’t manage to get out of the house as early as they had planned (and then of course they get frustrated at every driver in front of them who is not equally in a hurry)

Take the time to be on time

So why don’t we take some of the pressure off ourselves, some of the stress out of our lives, and just leave a few minutes early?

First of all, it’s just good manners. If someone expects you to be somewhere at a given time why wouldn’t you show up then? It’s just rude not to and your mother taught you better than that.

But secondly, why not just give yourself a little extra breathing room. Be on time. Better still, be early. Think of what you could do with a few extra minutes. You could take the time to chat to other people who are also early. You could catch up on reading the newspaper or that wonderful book you have or some really trashy but fun magazine article you have been dying to get into. You could call your mum. You could call your  husband/wife/partner/lover/sister/brother etc.

Or you could just take a few minutes and sit there quietly, thinking about what you want to say in the meeting, what you want to get out of it.

The end result is less stress on you, and more results from life.

Why would you want anything less for yourself.

We’re always looking for ways to help you stay healthy and in good shape.  So once a week we bring you an exercise you can do without going to the gym.  Today’s exercise is brought to you by Fina and Nina.  They have been dancing all their lives and believe me, these gals are in shape!  I’ve decided to workout with them…and when Kevin gets home, he can do these moves too!  I can’t wait to see him.  Don’t worry, I’ll record the session and get back to you.  In the meantime enjoy!  Really, try it.  The moves are simple and the gals really do a good job of explaining the technique!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOMtF6irGNg

We are surrounded by information and advice and suggestions about how to lead a better, healthier, happier life. And yet so many people are not only overweight but also miserable. So, maybe it’s time we tried a different approach. Here is an alternative prescription for a “better” life – courtesy of myunusual.com -   So maybe we should give up on offering people “good” advice and just give them advice they want to hear!

Q: I’ve heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true?

Heart healthy

A:   Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that’s it…  Don’t waste them on exercise . Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that’s like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster.   Want to live longer? Take a nap.

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Q:   Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and  vegetables?

Moooo

A:   You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn. And what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100% of  your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products.

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Q:   Should I reduce my alcohol intake?

A:   No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine, that means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up!

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Q:   How can I calculate my body/fat ratio?

A:   Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc.

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Q:   Aren’t fried foods bad for you?

A:   You’re not listening….Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they’re permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you?

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Q:   Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle?

A:   Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach.

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Q:   Is chocolate bad for me?

A:   Are you crazy? HELLO Cocoa beans! Another vegetable. It’s the best feel-good food around!!

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Q:   Is swimming good for your figure?

Sperm whale

A:   If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales.

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Q:   Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle?

A:   Hey! ‘Round’ is a shape! !

It’s one of the biggest conundrums in public health: we have more information about how to lead a healthy lifestyle than ever, more information about how to lose weight or eat a healthy diet, and yet more and more people  are fatter than ever and eating worse than ever. So why is that?

The only choice

Well, part of it is obviously that we have more options now. Growing up in England there were two choices of salad dressing at the local supermarket: mayonnaise or nothing. Today, the average grocery store has so many options you could spend a week trying to decide what to put on your lettuce. And the same applies for pretty nearly every other food group. We’re spoiled for choice and often do a bad job of making good choices.

Making the right choice

Part of it is that even when we make good choices, such as choosing a low-fat version of a product, we undermine that by eating too much of it. I have seen people eat a whole non-fat cake just because they thought that the lack of fat meant an equal lack of calories, forgetting to notice that the manufacturer had added a ton of sugar to make it taste ok.

Dr. Teresa Quattrin, the Chair of the Pediatric Department at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine, noticed a similar thing in a recent study she did with children 2 to 5 years old. She found that seven out of ten of those children were eating too many calories, in some cases far more than the recommended 1,200 calories a day. In addition they weren’t getting as much activity as kids that age needed. Even at that age we are leading more sedentary lives than in the past.

Even healthy options can have a downside

Quattrin said that even children whose parents were giving them healthy foods were overdoing it. For instance, there were children who ate a whole carton of strawberries in one sitting and their parents thought that was fine. But, as Quattrin points out, even healthy food can have a downside if you are eating too much of it. And of course, if you are eating too much of a healthy food the chances are you might also be eating too much of other, much less healthy foods.

Shirley says her mum once decided that carrots were really good and she should eat more of them. A lot more. She ate so many that her skin started to turn orange. True story.

Not always a healthy choice

Quattrin says the most important thing when trying to lead a healthy life is to surround yourself with healthy options, and limit the number of unhealthy ones. For instance, have lots of fresh fruit and vegetables in the house and refrigerator, but very few so-called “treats” such as cookies and cakes and chips and candy. If children are surrounded by healthy food options they will grow up thinking that is the normal way to eat. Good habits are important things to develop from an early age.

Banish temptation

And let’s face it, the same thing applies to grown ups. If we have fresh fruits around us we are more likely to snack on them. If we have fresh fruit, plus cakes and candy and cookies, guess which things win out first.

That’s one of the reasons why I don’t have chocolate bars in the house. I know that, like Oscar Wilde, I can resist anything except temptation!

Do you ever feel like “Wow, it’s been a crazy week at work.” Where every day feels like it is one day further away from the weekend. I think we all know that feeling.

So there comes a point where you say “I need a break”. But, you have things to do, you have used up all your vacation time, you have maxed out your credit cards (I hasten to point out here that these are all hypothetical examples and not real life ones, honest!) so you need something to transport you back to a time when things were calm and serene and lovely.

That’s when I turn to this video.

It was shot in Glendalough in County Wicklow, Ireland.

I’ve been going to Glendalough for many years, ever since I was a kid but this was the first time I ever saw it in the spring, in sunshine. Normally it’s overcast,  or wet. It’s beautiful but with that kind of weather the beauty has a melancholy tinge. On this day it was simply divine. That’s why I love this little shot of a stream through the hills. It reminds me of a time that was more peaceful, and of a future time that will be so again.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPx3nTPOs4Q