5 Healthy Ways to Prevent Valentine’s Day Blues-Dr. Anthony Youn, CNN.com…

According to Dr. Youn, “Valentine’s Day is great if you’re in a relationship, but can be depressing if you aren’t.  For twenty-six years I hated Valentine’s Day.  Every Feb 14^th was a reminder that no one wanted to date me.  I couldn’t stand going to restaurants on Valentine’s Day and seeing all the lovey-dovey couples and their romantic bliss.  Some people escape from the Valentine’s Day blues by binge drinking, overeating, and self-medicating.  These unhealthy behaviors usually result in feeling even worse the next day.So what are some healthy ways a single person can prevent the Valentine’s Day blues?

Here are five suggestions:

1. Exercise.  Studies show the endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine released during working out can improve your mood.  Not only will you feel better, you’ll look better and be healthier.  Feeling and looking better may also help you in your quest to find a valentine.
2. Volunteer for the needy – Several studies have shown that volunteering for the less fortunate has beneficial effects on mood, health, and even life span.  These effects can also be immediate, as a study published in Psychology Todaydescribed the “Helper’s High,” a euphoric sensation experienced by over half of volunteers surveyed.
3. Go to a funny movie.  Psychiatrists have proven that emotions are contagious, via a phenomenon called “Emotional Contagion.”  Watching a humorous movie, television show, or even standup comedy act is a great way to stay happy on Valentine’s Day and forget that you’re alone.
4. Travel somewhere sunny.  Heading to the sunny Southwest is a great idea for single people on Valentine’s Day.  Nearly 10% of Americans suffer from Seasonal affective disorder (SAD), or the winter blues.   For many people February is the worst month for SAD, just in time for Valentine’s Day to make it even worse.  Sunlight can boost levels of serotonin in the blood, counteracting seasonal affective disorder and improving mood.  Just having the sunshine on your face may be enough to make you forget you don’t have a valentine.
5. Adopt a pet from a shelter.  Several studies show that people with pets live longer, happier, and healthier lives.  If you’re looking for unconditional love, this is a definite way to get it, and save an animal’s life in the process.

Dr. Anthony Youn is a frequent guest on The Rachael Ray Show and The CBS Early Show and has appeared on The Doctors, The O’Reilly Factor, Fox and Friends, Manswers, and in specials on VH1 and E! He’s written articles for CNN.com, RADAR magazine, and CBS. The paperback release of his memoir IN STITCHES will be February 14 by Gallery Books and has be praised as “laugh out loud,” (USA Today) and “brilliant and bouncy,” (Dr. Drew Ordon, host of The Doctors).

IN STITCHES by Dr. Anthony Youn is available at Amazon.com

Herbal Balm for the Body and Soul: Ten Healthy Teas by Valerie B. Lull… Valerie B. Lull’s introduction to the adventure of tea is a primer to the pleasures of tea and an informative overview of the benefits to the body and  he soul of a perfect cup of tea, quietly sipped, by oneself or with family and friends.

Author and herbalist Valerie B. Lull announces the release of Ten Healthy Teas. Lull’s simple introduction to ten tantalizing teas and simple recipes from them is a perfect guide to people on the go who want to reap the benefits to their health and to gain the instant, calming peace of mind that these teas can provide.

“If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.” So says an anonymous Japanese proverb, and it seems true, too, that the man with no tea in him will also have more colds, a weaker heart and a little more nervousness than is comfortable while getting through his day.

Lull’s introduction to these ten easy-to-find and easy-to-brew teas remedies those things. The author covers such conventional brews as green tea and black tea as well as the generally familiar chamomile and peppermint herbal teas, and she lists the potential health benefits to each, some of which are known, some of which are surprises.

Lull also covers the advantages of less familiar herbal drinks such as garlic tea, which was called “Russian penicillin” in World Wars I and II because of its apparent prevention of gangrene. Goldenseal tea is another new recommendation for most people. It was a favorite tea of the Iroquois and Cherokee, among whom it achieved a reputation for stellar antibiotic properties.

The author herself learned of the pleasures of tea time when as a young child she visited relatives in Canada who celebrated the leafy brew. Later on she and her mother would put a kettle on the old wood stove in their Vermont country home and sip tea through an afternoon of Scrabble or checkers. Now Lull is studying to be a Master Herbalist, but the information she provides in this concise volume is more than sufficient for anyone who wishes to simply enjoy a cup of hot, healthy tea.

Sweet Acceptance Versus Bitter Resistance (Booklocker) is revolutionary book for people who suffer from addiction, contend with bad habits, possess negative thinking patterns, or are held captive by an addictive personality. Author Dr. Peter Andrew Sacco can help readers transform their lives with his practical and theoretical knowledge for overcoming addictions, along with a revolutionary 3-tier approach of psychology, spiritualism and law of attraction.  This book teaches that addictions do not discriminate, but people do!

Once the principles in Sweet Acceptance Versus Bitter Resistance are applied, readers will definitely be on the road to recovery and find the self that they had been seeking.  Using cognitive behavioral therapy techniques along with the 8 Beatitudes from the Holy Bible, this book breaks new ground in combining psychology with spirituality for overcoming addiction.  Furthermore, it employs the principles from the law of attraction, teaching individuals how to become what they most want to be, as well as showing them how to receive what they want.

Sacco is an author, psychology professor, and former private practitioner/Hypnotherapist.  He is the author of many international popular selling books.  He is also former Editor-in-Chief of Vices: The Magazine for Addictions, Habits and Well-Being, and author of more than 400 magazine articles.  Sacco lectures at universities in the USA and Canada.  He specializes in relationships, criminal psychology, addictions, sports psychology, and mental health.  He has received the Award of Excellence in Teaching.  He is also a regular resident expert on several television programs and has hosted the show Mental Health Matters for 2 years.  He calls home one of the most picturesque regions of the world, Niagara Falls, Canada.

Sweet Acceptance Versus Bitter Resistance will be available in bookstores in the USA and the United Kingdom, as well as online at the first of the year.  Learn more about this inspiring figure athttp://www.petersacco.com.

A Princess and Her Garden: A Fable of Awakening and Arrival by Dr Patricia Adson… From her spouse or significant other, to a demanding boss, to her children or her parents, the modern woman is excellent at taking care of other people.  But the one thing she probably forgets?  How to take care of herself.

She’s likely feeling the effects of all that overextension: The 2010 Stress in American Survey (American Psychological Association) reports that almost half of all women (49 percent) surveyed said their stress has increased over the past five years.  So how can she set some boundaries, and nurture the one person she’s been neglecting?

In A Princess and Her Garden: A Fable of Awakening and Arrival (Center for Applications of Psychological Type, December 2011), psychologist and author Patricia Adson, Ph.D. guides women through the self-care process, equipping them with tools for growth and emotional healing.

Using the fable of a princess who tends to everybody else’s gardens at the expense of her own, the book illustrates the conundrum so many women find themselves in.

“I wrote this story for a women’s support group I was leading many years ago,” says Adson.  “The goal was to give them a vocabulary for their emotional work, without all the psychopathology talk.  When I saw the tremendous impact this story had on their healing process, I decided to make it available to more women who might need it.”

A welcome gift book or book club selection, A Princess and Her Garden includes the interactive guided journal “Becoming the Queen of Yourself,” which helps the reader move beyond being the “Princess of Other People.” Journal sections include the gardens of “Then” (growing up, lessons and conditioning from your family), gardens from “The In-Between” (leaving home, people you met along the way, victories as well as painful disappointments), and gardens of “Now” (caring for yourself).

PATRICIA ADSON, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist, certified coach, educator and author.  In addition to a private coaching practice, she is a mentor coach and member of the Leadership Team at Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara, where she won the 2009 Excellence in Coaching Award.  She is well-known for her work in the areas of personal balance, women in transition, and life purpose, and she is the author of Finding Your Own True North & Helping Others Find Direction in Life (1999), Depth Coaching: Discovering Archetypes for Empowerment, Growth, and Balance (2004) and A Princess and Her Garden (2011). Learn more at aPrincessAndHerGarden.com.

Millions of people have fallen in love with the Marcel the Shell With Shoes On video.

Now the tiny shell with shoes and a big heart is transitioning from online sensation to classic picture book character, and readers can learn more about this adorable creature and his wonderfully peculiar world.

From wearing a lentil as a hat to hang-gliding on a Dorito, Marcel is able to find magic in the everyday. He may be small, but he knows he has a lot of good qualities. He may not be able to lift anything by himself, but when he needs help, he calls upon his family. He may never be able own a real dog . . . but he has a pretty awesome imagination.

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On: Things About Me available at Amazon.com

Overcoming the Nevers: By Gardening Your Life and Nurturing Seeds of Truth by Teri Johnson.

A part of living is enduring challenges and confronting unexpected situations. The “negative NEVERS,” which stem from our list of disappointments somehow find a way into our lives regardless of our intention. When we experience the “negativeNEVERS” that life inevitably throws at us, they leave lingering feelings of shame, embarrassment and resentment. These toxic feelings can manifest in our lives causing insecurities and fear—for some of us even depression and anxiety. Often times we start to believe lies about who we are, and seek approval from others.

Teri Johnson has been there.  She had gotten to a place of hopelessness, a place in her life where she NEVER thought she would be. Teri was stuck, and longing for freedom, restoration, and life. Through her journey, Teri discovered that it takes intentional action to restore and recover from this place, and a willingness to overcome.

Are you stuck? If so, you must read this book. Teri Johnson is honored to share with you the tools that she’s learned and how to practically use them in your life to overcome your worst NEVERS.

Overcoming the Nevers by Teri Johnson available at Amazon.com

Super Immunity by Dr Joel Fuhrman: The Essential Nutrition Guide for Boosting Your Body’s Defenses to Live Longer, Stronger, and Disease Free

Super Immunity is a compelling, yet easy-to-follow approach that gets the body’s immune system working to its fullest potential which promotes the body’s strongest defense.

Based on the latest scientific research, Super Immunity reveals how to become almost totally resistant to colds, influenza and other infections. If we do “catch” something, ‘super immunity’ provides us the ability to bounce back to wellness quickly, often within 24 hours. This means that we can prevent the complications of viral and bacterial exposures and stop them from evolving into more dangerous infections.

Super Immunity contains a wealth of information for better health, including the latest science on foods including soy, olive oil, nuts, and many other foods; the latest anti-cancer research; a list of super foods for super immunity; a two-week daily menu planner; and 85 delicious recipes. Dr. Fuhrman helps readers put the latest nutritional science into practice for improved health, increased longevity, and a powerful immune system.

Super Immunity by Dr Joel Fuhrman available at Amazon.com

Eat Local: Simples Steps to Enjoy Real, Healthy & Affordable Food by Jasia Steinmetz… 

Consumers, grocers and restaurateurs at all levels of our nation’s culinary food chain are heading to farmer’s markets, pick-your-own organic food farms, and otherwise utilizing community supported agriculture resources in droves.  This as awareness escalates that high value, locally farmed food is good for our health, communities, local farmers and farmland; is economical (often less expensive than the grocery store), convenient, and fun to source; and that it tastes great. For these reasons and more, championing the local foods movement is University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point food and nutrition professor and registered dietitian Jasia Steinmetz, author the newly released title “Eat Local: Simples Steps to Enjoy Real, Healthy & Affordable Food” - a simple, step-by-step roadmap for improving diet and nutrition with local, sustainable and organic food choices.

With the extraordinary amount of interest in local foods (see statistics below) comes an inevitable array of questions and even concerns amid a marketplace hungry for information and insight.  Among other tasty tidbits, Steinmetz is available for interview and editorials on an array of timely and compelling “local food” topics also synergistic with her book and otherwise, including, but not limited to, the following:

• Economics: budget savvy local food shopping tips that save money
• Convenience: How purchasing local foods can be far more convenient than you think
• Children’s Health: How locally grown foods can be integral in the fight against childhood obesity, while also better promoting family traditions
• 10 ways local foods promote health and wellness
• Key benefits of local foods – health, economic, environmental, and otherwise
• Myth-busting – debunking concerns and challenges regarding sourcing, procuring and preparing local foods
• Step-by-step guidelines for finding and using local foods
• Seasonal local food eating strategies
• Local food cooking & preparation tips
• Menu transformations: top tips for making holiday and other family dinners a bounty of fresh, healthy foods with local, sustainable food choices
• The why’s and how’s of finding, purchasing, preserving and using local foods grown near your community
• Ways to change and improve our “runaway food system” for future generations, such as supporting school gardens or farm-to-school programs and hunger projects, farmland protection, etc.
• How to properly pick local produce and important questions to ask the farmer, grocer or other food purveyor

Just last month the U.S. Department of Agriculture revealed a whopping 17% annual growth for the U.S. farmer’s market trade, alone, with its 2011 report citing, “more farmers are marketing their products directly to consumers than ever before.” Findings also reveal that several states have experienced rapid farmer’s market growth since 2010, with some states realizing a staggering 46% growth rate in one-year alone. Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan underscores the implications and significance of this increase, noting, “The remarkable growth in farmers markets is an excellent indicator of the staying power of local and regional foods.  These outlets provide economic benefits for producers to grow their businesses and also to communities by providing increased access to fresh fruits and vegetables and other foods. In short, they are a critical ingredient in our nation’s food system.”
Steinmetz notes, “The way we produce food today has radically changed, and  we are increasingly becoming disconnected from our food supply. As well, resources such as soil and water are diminishing at alarming rates, compromising our future food supply. The good news is communities and citizens can partake in local foods and, in doing so, help reclaim control of our collective food system to make it safer and more dependable for ourselves and future generations.. My book, “Eat Local: Simples Steps to Enjoy Real, Healthy & Affordable Food,” is the first-of-its-kind, offering a simple, easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide on finding and purchasing local foods, which benefit our food system, bodies and budgets.”

Learn more about Steinmetz’s new book, “Eat Local: Simples Steps to Enjoy Real, Healthy & Affordable Food,” online at www.EatLocalSimpleSteps.com.

Find more information about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 2011 National Farmers Market Directoryfindings online at http://tinyurl.com/DOAFarmersMarket.

Eat Local: Simples Steps to Enjoy Real, Healthy & Affordable Food by Jasia Steinmetz available online at amazon.com 

Raymond Francis, a chemist and graduate of MIT, is an internationally recognized leader in the field of optimal health maintenance. He “gets” that the health of the American people is in a long-term downtrend. Cancer, heart disease, diabetes and obesity are out-of-control and we are in the midst of an unprecedented epidemic of chronic and degenerative disease. But it doesn’t have to be this way!  We can end this epidemic tomorrow with the knowledge we have today – we just need to educate ourselves and be willing to take personal responsibility for our health.

In Never Be Sick Again (Health Communications, Inc.), Raymond outlines the Beyond Health Model™ – a model that is so simple yet produces such significant results people around the world are using it to cure incurable diseases and physicians are changing the way they practice medicine. As president of Beyond Health International, a supplier of highly advanced health education and world class health-supporting products, it is his objective in life to educate people on making health a choice and end the epidemic of chronic disease in our lifetime, emphasizing that ‘health is a choice that has not yet been chosen.’

Over the past several decades, biological sciences have advanced while conventional medicine has remained stuck in its outmoded drug and surgery paradigm. Even the U.S. government is doing its part in ruining the health of Americans with laws that require vaccinations for children and fluoride to be put in the drinking water, yet when it comes to vitamins (that have never killed anyone, unlike drugs), the government promotes drugs and continues to look for ways to further regulate the vitamin industry. Speaking from personal experience, he knows it was biochemistry not conventional medicine that saved his life years ago when he was diagnosed as terminally ill.

Raymond suggests there are two causes of disease – deficiency, which is when you don’t give the cell what it needs and toxicity, which is when something interferes with the cell. Poor diets, exposure to toxins in the environment, and stress can negatively affect our system. He believes it’s time to restore our health and demand an effective alternative to prevent and reverse these diseases that range anywhere from arthritis and asthma to cancer and diabetes. That effective alternative is the Beyond Health Model™ – a model that has been hailed as a breakthrough in our understanding of health and disease and reduces complex technology to a simple tool that anyone can use in their daily life, and he has outlined it all in his revolutionary book, Never Be Sick Again.

In his early career, Raymond was president of a consulting firm that specialized in corporate turnarounds for major Fortune 500 companies, the U.S. Department of State, the United Nations and various foreign governments, and it is this knowledge that served as the template to change the face of the health industry. Raymond is also the founder and president of The Project to End Disease (TPED), a non-profit organization that is providing the answers needed to revolutionize healthcare as we know it.

An in-demand speaker who has addressed health conferences worldwide, he was the host of the syndicated’ Beyond Health Radio Show’ and has made guest appearances on over 2000 radio and television shows.

We know the growing cost of healthcare in our country is bankrupting us. We also know we have an epidemic of chronic disease that is crippling us. We now have the necessary knowledge and tools to reverse this tide – we just have to use them! For more information please visit Raymond Francis on his informative website at www.beyondhealth.com where he also makes free health reports available to the public.

Never be Sick Again by Raymond Francis is available at amazon.com

The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes is a delightful and yet heartfelt slice of life of the residents living in a Dublin town home. Weaving a tapestry of characters whose lives interconnect, Marian provides readers with a page-turning novel that has the lilt and voice of the this Irish city.

About the Author:
Marian Keyes lived in London for ten years before returning to her native Dublin. After receiving a law degree and studying accounting, she began writing short stories in 1993. She is the author of three previous novels–Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married, and Rachel’s Holiday–all major bestsellers around the world.

The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes is available online at Amazon.com