In our society we are constantly bombarded with images of perfect men and women with fast cars, perfect homes who never seem to age. The obsession in our culture with appearance is a multi-billion dollar industry with marketing geared toward keeping sales of diet and beauty products soaring. We become preoccupied with looking like the models we see in the media and lose sight of what is really important in our lives.
Old Business
Getting Old Business finished is one of the best ways to start a new year. When you have things that are unfinished, whether you are aware of it or not, you are always carrying them in the back of your mind. Think of them as a backpack; you can?t see it but you know it is there. Once is a while, you become aware of the weight of it, but since life is busy you just push old business out of your mind and don?t deal with it. This not only takes up mental energy that you are using to hold the business, but it takes physical energy. When the body has been using up energy for too long, it wears down.
Change Your Relationship With Food
Perhaps you recently walked by the newsstand and noticed the magazine covers with the model-thin women on the cover that read, “Lose 10 pounds this month” and “Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes.” Does this sound like a mass of contradictions? It is! The mixed messages about food in our society suggest that decadence and total health can happen in the same package. Well, maybe they can and maybe they can’t but there is definitely room in the middle for a wonderful relationship with food.
Power of Chocolate to Create Wellness: How it REALLY works
The “chocolate cure” for emotional stress is getting new support from a clinical trial published online inACS’ Journal of Proteome Research: Gut Microbiota, and Stress-Related Metabolism in Free-Living Subjects. It found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in the bodies of people feeling highly stressed. Everyone’s favorite treat also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances.
Is TV Harming Your Kids?
Breezy Mama turned to two experts – Nancy Mramor Ph.D., an educational, health and clinical psychologist, and Media Resource and Dr. Elaine Fogel Schneider, an award-winning licensed speech and language therapist – to get the truth about television watching and kids.
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Call Me Jen – Facebook Status and Tweens
Alive! with Jen Watkins
In a recent article regarding “Facebook Status and Tweens,” Health and Media Psychologist Nancy Mramor, PhD, said changing the relationship status suggests that you already had your status on your page in the first place – something she says is the beginning of the issue. By Jen Watkins for the websiteAlive!
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The Happy Hour Effect – Change the Channel, Change Your Life: TV for Stress-Relief
The Happy Hour Effect, Kristen Brown
Television can be a release at the end of a long day, an outlet to balance us out or a destructive stream of imagery that sucks our productivity and changes our outlook. But we have a choice in how we view television. Dr. Nancy Mramor is an award-winning author, trainer and psychologist who specializes in health and education issues with a focus on body, mind and spirit. She will teach us to follow our gut so we make better choices for ourselves and our children in what we choose to watch on TV.
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Interest in Pinterest: Members organize all their favorite things
By Kellie B. Gormly, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, March 26, 2012
In recent conversations, one word that Kelly O’Brien keeps hearing is “Pinterest.” Over and over again.
“I feel like that’s all anyone is talking about,” says O’Brien, 33, of Mt. Washington.
And it’s no wonder, says O’Brien, who has become a devotee of the Internet sensation. The public-relations professional uses Pinterest to promote clients and for personal benefits. In her Pinterest account, she has a food board she calls “Yummy Smart Cookie.” Here, she stores recipes that otherwise would pile up as kitchen clutter.
Kidnapper needs help, baby’s mom says
By Margaret Harding, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Friday, August 24, 2012
Breona Moore told police that she had a miscarriage and checked out several hospitals before deciding to steal a baby from Magee-Womens Hospital of UPMC this week, investigators say.
But investigators are skeptical of the miscarriage claim because family and friends believe Moore is unable to have children and prone to lying. Police are looking into whether she has psychological problems.
Social websites boost theory it takes e-village to raise child
By Kellie B. Gormly, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, August 27, 2012
Ever since Meg McKivigan and her husband, Josh, adopted their baby, Eli, on the day he was born, her Facebook network of friends stepped in to help — established friends and ones she met online through the social networking site.
Can I have a glass of wine while breastfeeding? Does anyone have a travel crib I can borrow? Is this baby acting normal?
McKivigan, a first-time mom at 28, posts questions like those and gets answers quickly from other moms on Facebook.