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Road to Wellness, Week 4

<b>A Change In Lifestyle</b>

"So how is your diet going?" wrote David, my best friend from grade school, who pops up on iChat for a conversation every day or two.

Thinking Abundantly

To get love, you have to give it.

Nature abhors a vacuum. Start with a hole and sure enough, something comes along to fill it, whether that's water from a storm, leaves from the trees or an enterprising rodent looking for a safe hiding place from a cat.

Not the Usual Self-Help Book

I am generally not one for reading self-help books, but I loved this one. The book cover for "The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun" (Harper, 2009, $25.99) and its subtitle grabbed my attention.

The Scarlet H

The sign,"!Stop! HYSTERECTOMY DAMAGES WOMEN," strapped to the side of a royal-blue Subaru parked in front of the University Medical Center, caught the attention of many Jacksonians the first week of April. Standing near the car on State Street was Nora Coffey of Philadelphia, Penn., the president of Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services, which she refers to as HERS.

Dr. Weil Answers Daily Questions

A good source for health information from both a holistic and medical approach is the Web site of Dr. Andrew Weil. He answers a new question daily, as well as has lots of info on his site and hints on how to achieve wellness: that is, a healthy combination of mind, body and spirit.

My Inner Buddha

A smell so offensive and overpowering that I could only refer to it after as the "R incident," is what forced me to "Come To Jesus," or rather, to seek my inner Buddha.

A View From the Broom Closet

I am a witch. No, not the fairy-tale type with green skin and a huge crooked nose or the sexy, raven-haired teenager with dark make-up from the latest thriller.

Getting Your Zen On

Curious about this whole mindful, compassionate, in-the-moment thing? Here are books to inspire you to focus and meditate and let the stupid stuff go, regardless of your religious faith.

Women and Girls HIV Community Event at JSU Tomorrow

The event will raise awareness about the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among women.

[verbatim] Jackson State University's Southern Institute for Mental Health Advocacy, Research and Training (SMHART) and the Jackson-based HIV/AIDS organization Building Bridges, Inc., will sponsor the "National Women and Girls HIV Community Event" from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. March 11 at the Jackson Medical Mall, 350 W. Woodrow Wilson Drive in Jackson, Miss.

The Road to Wellness: Week 1

Ah, the South. The smell of the pine trees, the thrill of a cool evening after a storm, and … the fried food. I like to joke with friends in other parts of the country that even the vegetables are chicken-fried. The unfortunate part—for the weight conscious, at least—is that it isn't much of a joke.

Learning to Change

JoEva Flettrich turned off the fluorescent lights in her office after 23 years on the job. The lights are an external manifestation of the change she wants to see in her personal life—like a haircut or sitting in a different seat at the dinner table.

The Road to Wellness, Week 7

<b>: Fruits For Our Labors</b>

Ms. D is a fan of the book "The Healthy Hedonist," by Janet Bridgers, which, while it may have a title that scares off some of our fundamentalist-leaning friends, need not be feared. The "hedonism" here is simply an approach to a lifestyle that says you don't have to be on a strict diet in order to be healthy. Chocolate, an evening drink and even guacamole are allowed as occasional indulgences. In fact, the book's approach—that getting healthier should be a bit more fun—is the approach I need this week.

The Road to Wellness, Week 9

<b>Getting Well Again</b>

This past week has been a challenge for wellness—both Ms. D and I have been under the weather, she more so than I. That's meant relatively little exercise and, while we continue to try to eat healthily, the focus has turned to managing and recovering from our illnesses.

I Can See Clearly Now

"Don't put those on, they'll give you a headache," my mother would tell me when I was little. She was referring to her coke-bottle glasses that she only wore at night after taking off her contacts.

Present to My Presence

"It's a lot easier to ride a horse in the direction that it's going," I said to the seven people sitting across from me. It was my regular Wednesday night gig at Butterfly Yoga on State Street, and all eight of us were on the floor, cross-legged on yoga mats at the beginning of class.

This Thing Called Cholesterol

When I casually mentioned to my brother that I was doing a column on cholesterol, his response was, "Oh! Cholesterol's delicious!"

Essential Healing

I sat on my bed, worn out from arguing with my son. Tears streamed down my face as I replayed the scene in my mind, which seemed like the part in "The Exorcist" where Linda Blair's head spins round and round.

Beauty All Over

On Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008, the superintendent of Nicole Marquez' apartment building in Harlem found her unconscious and bleeding on the bottom of the structure's airshaft. Barely alive, Marquez had broken her neck, her lower back and pelvis, and all the ribs on one side of her body.

Sexy Fitness

This was the moment I had been waiting for: my first session of i to Pole Fitness. I was excited and intrigued by what I would see and learn.

Lose the Chemicals!

The The Georgia Straight helps you figure out how to purge your home of household toxins: "Just as not smoking can reduce the risk of lung cancer, not using harmful chemicals to clean your countertops could help decrease the chance of acquiring other forms of the disease. According to the Vancouver-based Labour Environmental Alliance Society, the link between human health and the environment is commonly overlooked. To help people better understand what's in the products they buy--and help them find safer options--the organization recently published the CancerSmart Consumer Guide."