Getting Your Brain (and Memorization Skills) in Gear

B'SD

18 Av 5768

Medical crises challenge our already stressed-out brain cells. They're struggling to remember hard-to-pronounce words, changing plans, how to deal with upsetting news and the reactions of loved ones and, well, you name it!

I've offered advice in my book and on this blog about how to cope with the rush of details and unwanted news. Today I'll let you in on a newly understood mystery of the brain: it stores different kinds of memory in vastly different areas. Ahhh, that's why we find it challenging to remember lots and lots of details! We need to look in the right storage area!

Johns Hopkins researcher Susan Courtney, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at the Zanvyl Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, learned that the RULES which people must actively remember - stuff that's NOT part of our everyday habits - are controlled primarily through the prefrontal cortex, which is in the very front of the brain, beneath the forehead.

A different part of the brain - the parietal cortex, which is near the back of the head - becomes more active when people need to memorize FACTS (including rapidly changing facts).

"This discovery may eventually lead to enhanced understanding of... conditions in which a person's ability to remember and change such rules is impaired," said Courtney, lead author of a paper in a recent issue of Neuron. "... different parts of our brains store different kinds of memories and information." That, she said, "provides clues about how the human brain accomplishes complex, goal-directed behaviors that require remembering and changing abstract rules, an ability that is disrupted in many mental illnesses."

Caroline Montojo, a graduate student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, co-authored this study. Learn more about it when you CLICK HERE.

Don't whirl around in circles seeking the part of your brain that stored some fact or other. Read my book to learn coping strategies for keeping your medical and other details straight. CLICK HERE TO BUY YOUR COPY TODAY!

Get it FASTER when you order from my publisher ;^ )

To your good health and memory,

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life.

Food for a Healthier Body

B'SD


My dear friend Rabbi Lazer Brody has this terrific video on his site, today. It beautifully illustrates some nutritional and GODLY wisdom. Bear in mind that GOD made foods look appealing so we'd be tempted to eat them - according to His rules ;^ )




Having read my book and by visiting this blog, you're aware that in 2005 I learned of the Petroclival Tentorial Meningioma, a benign skull-based tumor, crushing every nerve entering my head from my spine. Only one doctor in Israel was courageous, qualified and skilled enough to remove the life-threatening growth without killing me on the operating table.

But he was concerned that the remnant of a second tumor (discovered during surgery and a surprise to all concerned) that he'd intentionally left inside, and the trauma of the entire episode, could harm me with decreasingly poor vision and declining health lifelong (total removal of that unexpected 2nd tumor would have immediately ended my life) .

Some specialists feared I would go irreversibly blind within months of August 2005 surgery, despite the total removal of the first tumor and removal of most of the second tumor.

So, I endured a three-year-long series of follow-up exams by various specialists. Those doctors are baffled at my recovery, let alone my achievements, but reluctant to discuss them with me. Why?

They're aware that I became an organic RAW FOODS vegetarian who also dines on what are known as "Super Foods" (Maca, Camu Camu, Goji Berries, Spirulina, etc.), herbal teas, natural juices without added sugar, and lots of pure water.

My post-surgical Raw Foods diet and Natural Lifestyle resulted in the almost complete loss of my lifelong nearsightedness and astigmatism, and of my surgically-induced double vision. My eye doctor, a teaching professor, says that I am literally LOSING my need for glasses!

The phenomenal healing of my scars is another story. The surgeon can't detect the surgical site on MRI or with his hands! More exciting than that, I do not suffer cognitive deficits despite horrific damage from the tumors and their surgical removal. The damage healed against medical expectations (they're still looking on the MRI's for my 2nd tumor, which was probably destroyed as I healed overall). When we spoke at my most recent neurological exam this past week, my neurosurgeon said, "You've healed amazingly well. Amazing..."

Surgery on my dominant arm in January 2008 repaired damage from a fracture following an accident. The lead surgeon later informed me that the whole surgical team was SHOCKED to see the healthy condition of my other bones and muscles once they'd opened my arm! They sent for a nurse acquainted with me, to run a facial-identification check IN THE MIDDLE OF SURGERY, to make sure they weren't operating on the wrong patient! BTW, the doctor told me that my bones and muscles are in the condition of a woman HALF my age! No way am I at risk for osteoporosis!

Whenever I broach the topic of my natural healing strategies with my medical team, the chatty doctors become oddly silent. They're confused between what they learned at medical school and the evidence of my recovery.

I'm one of an increasing number of people healing against the odds thanks to HaShem's (GOD) natural pharmacy: pure food and water, adequate rest, optimism, tefila (prayer) and sunshine. The day will come when the Western medical world will acknowledge the healing power of natural strategies. The Tuv HaBorei (Compassionate Creator) provided them. And they're healing far too many people to be overlooked. You could become one of them!

Have a healthier rest of your life when you indulge in the nutritional treats for body and soul in the above video, and other body-building, body-healing foods.

OH - Be sure to thank GOD for them ;^ )

Yocheved

Commit Focused Acts of Kindness

B'SD

13 Av 5768

One of my friends asked me to share the following thought with you because she and other people feel inspired when I share it aloud every so often: I'm healing because I'm doing good things for myself.

Yes, I've become an organic foods diner. Yes I work out increasingly harder as my body permits. Yes I receive Cranio Sacral Therapy.
Yes I do EFT work. Yes I practice what I preach in terms of good mental health. Yes I pray incessantly. Yes I reach for friends and YES I do favors for them, too. And I work at smiling all day long. It cheers up whomever sees me grinning, and I feel better for it, too.

And NO, I cannot pin down my healing/coping successes on one particular strategy. ALL my strategies work as One BIG Strategy combined!

Unlike that once-popular slogan asking people to "Commit Random Acts of Kindness," I practice Focused Acts of Kindness: On myself, and on others.

Randomness is not a virtue. Focus is a virtue and it pays worthwhile dividends. Aim your mind at your medical challenges and practice coming up with solutions to them. Consider how you can ease the pressure on those around you, especially on the people caring for you in many different ways.

There's a reason that I'm welcome whenever I visit with friends or run into them by chance. People know that I'm aiming for better than my present situation and/or theirs. And I constantly try to put everyone concerned at ease.

Opera singer Beverly Sills once explained to a reporter she retained her beautiful smile despite many hardships in her life, "I have a cheerfulness habit. Even if I don't feel happy inside, I can behave pleasantly on the outside."

Imagine how well that attitude served her as life dished out its hardships. The same attitude can do wonders for you, too.

I heard Miss Sills say the above on radio, when I was a girl. It launched my lifelong drive to remain pleasant no matter what I have to face. And I've faced lots of hardship with my medical history.

So do you.

Mimic me and many of the tricks of the cheerfulness trade that I've learned over time. Read my book and learn all about them. Some tips will make you shake with laughter, others will prompt you to sit quietly and contemplate a bit of profound wisdom. The quotes in my book cover centuries' worth of good attitudes from diverse public figures.

I might just include some of the marvelously intelligent remarks by recently deceased Professor Randy Pausch in my next book (in progress for months). CLICK HERE

for a focused look at his life.

To your improving mindset,

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life.

Book Me NOW for My Author's Tour - I'm Running Out of Dates!

B'SD

Be sure to book me to speak in your community during my overseas tour December 10 2008 through January 11 2009. My schedule is rapidly filling up. Few dates are left.

Contact me at giveretgolani@gmail.com

Looking forward to meeting you and signing your copy of my book,

Yoji

Body Surfing

B'SD

12 Av 5768


Yesterday I tested my recommendations for going outdoors, getting sunshine and moving around. I wanted to be sure that a particularly fun activity can be accomplished with readers who cannot easily move by themselves.

I went body surfing.

It was fun. And to make sure that someone with limited to no range of motion can do it, I tested out some equipment and the willing hands of friends. It is indeed safe and doable to enjoy gentle waves when trustworthy people secure you atop an inflatable water mattress, sturdy inner tube (flotation ring) and inside an inflatable air flotation vest.

The safety precautions above are absolutely necessary. So are strong, trustworthy people who will hold onto the floating person and the device they're using.


Stay in GENTLE SURF only. Strong waves can knock over anybody, let alone someone with limited movements. And a faceful of salt water can be intimidating if not dangerous to anyone with breathing problems.


Ask your physical/occupational therapists for more sun and surf coping strategies. Inform the lifeguards of what you're doing, and seize the day. If you can, watch the sun rise or set from shore. The scenery can energize you!

CLICK HERE to buy my book. Learn how to have other safe forms of fun that refresh the body and the spirit. You need both to help you to cope with medical crises and challenges ;^ )

To your growing sense of happiness,

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life.

Body Size and Your Health

B'SD

11 Av 5768

Big news from today's edition of Archives of Internal Medicine: body size is not necessarily a good indicator of how healthy someone might be. Good living habits help a lot!

Here's what is likely to be confusing news for many of my readers: A new study concluded that overweight and obese adults in the "healthy" category tended to have smaller waists than people with at least two risk factors. But hang on, the news gets cheerier...

What are those risk factors the scientists are concerned about? Elevated blood pressure, cholesterol and other "unspecified" factors.

Those "risk factors" can be tamed, even ended, rather simply. Read on.

Those risk factors were more common for study participants with healthy weight AND with larger waists or potbellies than folks in the other group. Bigger bellies often signal internal fat deposits surrounding abdominal organs. Previous research has shown that to be especially risky.

If you're on the heavier side of the scale but not experiencing high blood pressure or high cholesterol and other "unspecified" risk factors, you're likely to be in better health than your neighbors in different circumstance.

Want to stay Heart Healthy? The study showed that in all weight categories, risk factors for heart problems were generally more common in older people, smokers and inactive people. Among obese people ages 50 to 64, just 20 percent were considered healthy compared with half of younger obese people.

Please. Take the advice I've been offering recently: get outdoors for limited amounts of time, lose some weight (only a pound at a time. Don't make this harder by forcing unrealistic expectations into your diet plan), and move around. Climb stairs instead of using elevators, talk pleasant strolls, do some windowsill gardening if you can't start an outdoors garden, and stop smoking (get professional help if necessary).

Making changes in your health habits takes Commitment, Discipline and Consistency (take that redux of your initials, Centers for Disease Control!). My book can certainly help you with that!

World-famous psychiatrist Dr. A. Twerski tells me that "Addicts and people on chemotherapy need [him] less" after he gives them copies of my book. "They simply do better after reading It's My Crisis! And I'll Cry if I Need To: A Life Book that Helps You to Dry Your Tears and to Cope with a Medical Challenge!" he says.

Buy YOUR copy today! CLICK HERE.

To your good health,

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life

Get Some Sunshine!

B'SD

10 Av 5768

The big news in the medical world today is that YOU need Vitamin D! Without enough, your risk of death rises 26 per cent!

Keep your hard-earned money in your wallet - DO NOT rush out to buy Vitamin D supplements. Simply get out in the sunshine for 15 minutes or so daily.

Want other sources of natural, affordable Vitamin D?

DARK GREEN VEGETABLES are brimming with Vitamin D (and iron, too!).

FISH from ALASKAN or NORWEGIAN waters (rather than fish from other waters, to minimize the chances of swallowing parasites or their eggs - they can survive the cooking process. READ MY BOOK to learn about how I rid myself of that yukky problem. sigh... it's one of the less glamorous parts of being a professional writer...)

and LIVER (I recommend meats from organically grown/fed animals for the same reason).

How good is Vitamin D for human bodies? It can PREVENT osteoporosis, depression, prostate cancer, and breast cancer. Vitamin D even improves the health of people with diabetes.


Obese (severely overweight) people and anyone with hypertension (high blood pressure) needs Vitamin D, too. Why? Their bodies seem to destroy Vitamin D reserves, causing a nasty downward cascade reaction for increasingly poor health.

OK EVERYBODY, GET MOVING!

Dr. Michal Melamed, M.D., M.H.S at Johns Hopkins says that our levels of Vitamin D "fluctuate in direct proportion with daily physical activity."

What's he worried about? That you sit too long at your computer, hand-held game or TV or have someone else run your errands. What's the solution? Do things you enjoy and aim to increase your activities. Swim, walk (watch how well and how fast a pair of good sneakers trim your belly!), take the stairs (whoa - that will improve your cardiovascular health. Your heart, lungs and veins will thank you!).

Learn more about Vitamin D when you click on US News and World Report.

To your good health,

Yojeved Golani
Coping with a Medical Crisis?
Make the Changes You Need in Your Life