The world is on social media these days! Well … maybe not everyone, but overwhelming numbers of people interact on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and others. There has been much talk about some of the dangers our kids are facing (not to mention adults, too).


One of the most prominent dangers inherent in social media is what is now coined as cyberbullying. Kids talk and show more than they should … probably many adults do, too. After all, some of us (we will ignore our age) did not grow up with social media and must learn what often turns out to be the hard way … trial and error. Lots of error.


Bullies have an improved platform for their cruel activities. As we know by reading headlines, some teens have tragically decided to end their lives due to bullying, online and in person. This is something that needs to be changed … now.


Lots of kids post pictures of themselves and use their real names and addresses. This makes them an easy target for predators. We know this is true, too … we hear the news stories of abducted kids who are lured into predators’ traps.


Speaking of “tweens,” their brains, particularly the frontal cortex, are not mature enough to manage the many distractions and lures that social media provides.


So, who needs to do something about this? The first line of defense must be parents and other caretakers. However, the owners and managers of social media platforms can also be held responsible for making it more difficult for our young ones to be inappropriate.


This is a hot, relevant topic for the health and wellness industry. What will YOU do about it?!
For more information on healthy, holistic lifestyles, please visit Health and Wellness Online, LLC.

As discussed previously, I have struggled with depression and anxiety for several years, and it has been a tough journey.  There were times when I wasn’t sure what to do, and there were times when I wasn’t sure if I should do anything at all. After all, doesn’t everyone feel depressed or anxious every now and then?  The answer is yes, they do, but these things become problems when they start seriously disrupting your life. After trying a pharmaceutical approach, I began switching to a more natural approach to keeping these problems in check.  I have already discussed my use of some vitamins and supplements, and now I’m going to discuss some other approaches.


I have been trying to pay closer attention to the types of people that I associate with on a regular basis.  In the past, I found myself among people with very negative attitudes. I realized that their negative attitudes began to rub off on me, and that was contributing to my feelings of depression.  It also gave me a dreary outlook on life. Granted, if you work around people like this, it may be difficult to prevent their negativity from rubbing off on you, but you can choose how much you wish to pay attention to.


Also, I have tried to curb anxiety and depression by exercising more.  Exercising has been a part of my life since I was a teenager, though I have admittedly gone through phases where I have done more as well as phases where I have done less.  Rigorous cardiovascular exercise such as jogging, running, and walking are great ways to curb anxiety, relieve stress, and make you feel better. Sometimes stress and anxiety are just the result of negative feelings building up inside your mind. Rigorous exercise can help relieve that and leave you feeling better.  Plus, it can make you healthier, too.


Please go to Health and Wellness, LLC’s website for more information on healthy, holistic living.

Everyone feels depressed or anxious sometimes.  If something bad has happened in your life, or if you have many obligations to meet in a short amount of time, it’s normal to feel depressed or anxious.  However, depression and anxiety can grow into genuine health problems. Here are some holistic approaches to curbing these problems.


I have struggled with depression and anxiety for several years now.  Recently, I have used a variety of ways of battling these two problems—two of them being vitamins and dietary supplements.  I take a multi-vitamin to assure that I get enough B vitamins. Some studies have shown depressed people to be deficient in Vitamin B12.  Also, Vitamins B6 and B3 can increase serotonin levels in the body, which helps depression and anxiety. In addition, other studies have shown that Vitamin D deficiency is linked to depression and anxiety.  I get Vitamin D with my multivitamin and an additional supplement. Another approach is consuming Omega-3 fatty acids, which help your brain transmit nerve signals more effectively.


While supplements are beneficial, it is also important to get these nutrients through your diet.  Potatoes (with skin), sweet potatoes, bananas, prunes, avocados, beef, and chicken are all good sources of Vitamin B6.  Vitamin B12 can be found in fish, poultry, eggs, yogurt, almonds, and rice milk. Tuna, turkey, green vegetables, and peanuts are good sources of Vitamin B3.  Milk, cheese, tuna, mackerel, and salmon have Vitamin D. Finally, mackerel, salmon, cod liver oil, herring, oysters, sardines, flax seeds, chia seeds, and walnuts are great sources of Omega 3.  


Depression and anxiety are not things that a person should ignore.  They can disrupt a person’s work and social life. They can also make you miss out on many of the better things in life.  Any person who is prone to depression or anxiety may consider a variety of healthy, holistic ways of dealing with it before jumping into medication.

In a word – yes! As many of us know, in the Judaic-Christian scriptures, we are commanded to honor our mothers and fathers. Under the Islamic banner, people are also taught to treat one’s mother with respect and love. In Buddhist practices, it is also acknowledged to honor our mother. See a pattern?! Many, if not all, of the world’s major religions call for celebrating and honoring mothers.


But how can this be holistically healthy? Anything that promotes healthy emotions, cognitions, and behaviors can be considered holistically healthy. It’s true that some of our mothers did not do such a great job raising us, but we can still honor the fact that they gave birth to us, either by nature or by adoption, etc. Raising kids is not easy, after all, especially in the teen years!


In my experience, I remember my mother, in the earlier years, being loving and caring. Although she developed a drug addiction and became an alcoholic later, which adversely affected her mothering behavior, as I got older, I saw that she still loved us. My mother always had my siblings and I dressed in clean clothes, we had a decent roof over our heads, and we had food on the table, three times a day – always. Amid all the chaos that substance abuse brings, I never forgot the feeling of being loved.


Part of my own holistic health is to forgive those who trespass against us. I counted my mother as one of the trespassers, but when I later learned self-love and could start to forgive myself, I also forgave her. After all – I’m not perfect either! And forgiveness is highly therapeutic for the forgiver as well as the person receiving forgiveness, whether they are there to partake of this or not.


So, for some, this holiday may be an exercise in forgiveness, but that also involves love. When we are happy, we are contributing to our health, mentally, spiritually, and physically.
For more information on holistic, healthy living, please visit my website.

We have heard a lot about the field of epigenetics – and I am a huge supporter of this field of study. Simply stated, epigenetics is the study of how genes are switched to either on or off positions. Yes, our genes have switches – this means they are at least somewhat flexible!


The marriage of nature (genes) and nurture (environment) shows us just how epigenetics can control genes. Events, especially traumatic ones, can turn gene expression on, which is not good news if you have some challenging gene combinations like I do.


On the plus side, how we choose to live our lives can shut this gene expression up! Paying attention to the food we are eating, the exercise we get (or not), how we sleep, how we are choosing to age, and our spirituality (yes, it seems we are hard-wired for this, too) can make an impact on our genes over time.
When I was very young growing up, I had no health issues to speak of. It was only when I got older (in my early 40s) that my lifestyle choices and how I handled traumatic events – of which there were plenty – turned on the expression of my multitude of adverse combinations and created disease and many negative symptoms.  


As a diehard optimist, and being a very stubborn person, I fought for my health and conquered even autoimmune disease (I was expected to die around 2003). Today I still fight for improved health and each year I notice that I feel healthier and hardier than the year before. Because I still have some level of symptoms that do not please me, I am full-throttle in the healing phase, and when I become symptom-free, I will devise a maintenance plan.


Here is more information on how to live healthy holistically,  and also please visit my website for more information!