By Guest Blogger, “The Erotic Nerd”

This will be written as personal as possible because at the end of it all, I only know what works for me. I am an entrepreneur, I’ve built my own business and manage multiple websites on top of mothering a toddler. My whole life is filled with decisions I have to make. Because of this I have become a control freak, EVERYTHING HAS TO BE IN MY IMMEDIATE CONTROL.

Except sexually.

I love submitting, it’s one less thing for me to have to handle and think about. I don’t envision my partner in a suit with Oxford’s on but telling me to take off my clothes, telling me to get into whatever position he desires me to be in. My current relationship is with a man who identified that early, he made sure I knew he dominated me in the bedroom. He allows me to have control in spurts but for the majority of our sessions, he controls me and it drives me CRAZY! Even saying “he allows me..” turns me on beyond comprehension.

Generally speaking, I believe women crave the one thing they are lacking in their life. If a woman works for a demanding, demeaning boss chances are she is dominant sexually. She has no control for eight hours out of the day, she is repeatedly made to feel less than and in the bedroom she’ll regain her sense of power which keeps her balanced. Our spirit sense this is what we need, just the same as with nutrition. If our body is lacking iron or a particular vitamin, we crave foods that contain it.

I listen to women say their desires are to be made love to in a tropical region while the sun is setting, I just want the man to take away some of my control. I’ve overdosed on it, allow me those moments to enjoying breathing without thinking and pleasure without worrying.

By guest blogger Ingrid Macher

Ever since we were little girls, we always dreamed about finding the perfect prince charming, who would come to our rescue with a big beautiful wedding just like in the princess stories.  In reality, we grow up and realize that finding the perfect man can take time and effort, and when we find “the one”, we want to make sure that our wedding day is not only perfect, but we look our best!

If your wedding day is coming up around the corner, don’t freak out!  Here are 7 tips that can help you to flatten your belly and lose weight to look your best on the most special day of your life -

1.  Eliminate any carbonated drinks - This includes sodas, energy drinks, or flavored water, because this type of drink makes you look bloated.  Additionally, any “diet” drinks with artificial sweeteners will give you even more dress-busting cravings.

2.  Eat more whole foods, green veggies, and fruits – Stay away from processed food, especially white flour because your body will convert any excess of these foods into sugar, and sugar turns into fat!

3. Stay away from alcohol – Alcohol will not only make you dehydrated, but it will increase your appetite and usually comes with lots of sugar.  Remember: you waited 21 years for your first drink, you can wait for a few weeks to have your next drink looking fabulous for your big day.

4. Stay away from dairy, sugar, and gluten – Don’t hate me for this one, but these foods go through a lot of processing so the nutritional content is very poor and is tied to obesity.  Stick to fresh and homemade foods.

5. Visualization – I suggest to you to get a picture of your wedding dress and place this picture on your refrigerator and pantry, or in your purse, to remind yourself of how you want to look for your special day so that you can make smart decisions when it’s time to eat.

6. Get your beauty sleep – Make sure you get the appropriate amount of sleep every night, 6-8 hours.  Lack of sleep causes increased levels of Cortisol (the “stress hormone”), which the body confuses with hunger and is linked to excess body fat storage in the abdomen area.

7. Set your exercise routine – Find the activities that you enjoy the most, whether it’s walking outside, jogging with your dog, dancing (try Zumba!), spinning, or whatever makes you happy, and do this 5 times a week.  You don’t need to go crazy spending hours and hours in the gym, you can do these activities for 20-40 minutes each day.

You can do this for 3 -14 days prior to your big day.  Remember to start your new life with the person that you love not only more skinny, but more healthy and happy because that’s what really matters in the end.

Enjoy your day, because you’re beautiful and you deserve to be happy!

P.S.  I know you will LOVE how you look and feel after going through this process, so I encourage you to make this a part of your lifestyle so you can live longer, happier, and healthier!

–

Ingrid Macher is a holistic health coach, personal trainer, and fitness motivator helping hundreds of thousands of people around the world to change their lives.  After finding the key to losing 50 pounds in 90 days herself, she has found it her duty to help everyone to become more healthy and happy.  On her website Burn20.com, she reveals how she did it in her free ebook 9 Simple Secrets I Used to Melt Away 50 Pounds.

By the author of Eating Your Way to Heaven

Whoa – sex and religion – yikes! I am not even going to offer an opinion about the religion, politics or legalities of sex. I’m not sure I have one. They are such weighty, complicated issues. But I have a lot to say about how to achieve the best quality sex you can pray for.

I’m not talking about swinging from the ceiling amorous antics. I am talking about tuning up the body that is going to have the experience and the orgasm to a perfect hum. Eating Your Way to Sextasy™.

In my journey of recovery from childhood sexual abuse and bulimia I learned this about the body. When you hammer your delicate inner ecosystem with junk food, alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, anger, and environmental pollution – you get the picture – stress is stress is stress – stuff happens and organs and systems start shutting down (Diabetes being a horrifying example).

Most MDs, and Dr. Veronica I’m sure, will agree that the first major system of the body to shut down when nutrition is inadequate is the sex organs. Procreation is optional compared to breathing, keeping the heart beating, or brain activity. That is why we have a nation of people agonizing over penile dysfunctions, infertilities and other sex related diseases.

So before we turn to drugs to address these medical issues, let’s look at the emotional and spiritual components. I recovered from gruesome physical, emotional and spiritual near-death because I accepted the truth that I create my life. I attracted pain and dysfunction as a coping mechanism and I can choose something else now that I am ready. Everything is doable after that simple admission. So, when going through Hell – keep going!

The produce from the garden is the plug-in cord and the soil is our battery. Twinkies, sodas, donuts, coffee, hormones, additives, preservatives and sugars do not fuel our human machine; they rob us of vital minerals as the body scrambles to balance the blood with these massive toxics draining the system. Is that donut worth your sex life?

I was dying so I went balls out, so to speak. I got off all man made foods, processed this or that and NO refined sugar products. After 16 years of bulimia and pain, and a lifetime of illnesses I was pain free in two weeks! I had a profound supernatural experience on the SuPRANAtural foods I was consuming in an Eden-type garden. SuPRANAtural meaning it still has a life force.

The only difference between a live body and a cadaver is the life force. They both have muscle, tissue, organs and mass. But one has life and the other doesn’t. The same is true of our food supply. Our commercially grown foods have long since left the ground and most were dead before harvest anyway as the soil they were grown in is void of the microorganism that help us digest our food – the living organism that co-exist in the soil and with us in our bodies.

When I consumed these living foods, not only did sex feel way better, I went on to conceive and birth my first child at age 47 after coming out of menopause. I ate my way back to fertility!

The sexual organs can often be the last to heal because your vital organs will steal all the nutrients as they hit the blood stream. A person on a SuPRANAtural foods diet will have better heart function, brain function and their breathing will be vastly improved, quickly.

You can’t drive a car 500 miles and then put gas in it. You have to fuel the machine before you can run it. Many of us have being running on empty for decades.

The Sacred Energy Gardens we build are not only beautiful and lush with SuPRANAtural foods; they are a sanctuary for the soul. I literally stepped into Heaven in a “Turned On, Tuned Up” Sacred Energy Garden. Heaven, for me, is a vibration of being where unconditional love is all there is and health and feeling awesome are a given.

I experienced that and thousands, if not millions of others world-wide, along with indigenes cultures have experienced this too. We are what we eat. Dining in Eden produces a different mind-set then carry-out from McDonald’s. We can eat our way to heaven or hell and you can surely Eat Your Way to Sextasy!

Please check out http://www.domeit.org/index/ my effort to put a Garden of Eden on the White House lawn under a state-of-the-art greenhouse dome. If our world leaders are communing in Eden as they discuss a bridge to peace, I believe they will find it!

So for us, (Me included) we can move closer to Eden in our busy, urban, multi-tasking worlds by committing to being conscious about what we eat. If you ask yourself each time you reach for something, “Do I want that decadent treat right now or spine rattling sex shortly down the road?” You’ll be surprised how often you can talk yourself out of it. If sex isn’t your focus try this one, “Do I really want this ________________ that much that I will diminish my connection with spirit by dumping this waste in my Temple.” Would you fling feces around the sanctuary of your church? Of course not.

Most agree that our body is our Temple. Worship it and it will reward you. Be religious about sex. Commit to giving your body the fuel it needs to “Perform” during sex. Try Eating Your Way to Sextasy.

By guest blogger Alan Aronoff

Food plays an important role in our lives. For most of us, it is more than just a means of sustenance. For some, it is a source of great pleasure. For others, it is a source of painful consequences. And for many, it is both.

If you are like me, you know that on one hand, we cannot eat anything, any time, without unwanted consequences. On the other hand, we know that we will not permanently refrain from eating food that we consider unhealthy. In an effort to satisfy our conflicting desires, we attempt to balance our choices: Sometimes we eat healthily, and sometimes we eat whatever we want.

Unfortunately, rather than eating a balanced diet, we vacillate too often between the extremes. Physically, we haven’t achieved the weight, health, or energy that we want. Mentally and emotionally, we don’t feel in control of what we eat, and we frequently debate our choices. We are not clear on what we want to achieve with our diet, how we will achieve it, and why our attempts to follow a diet often fail.

As we struggle with our diet, what we often fail to understand is that we are attempting to control what we eat by following two flawed strategies:

1. We believe that our diet is all about the food. We think, “If I can only find the right diet, I will achieve my goals.” In reality, while our food choices are a critical component of our diet, it is our relationship with our food that needs work in order to sustain a dietary change.

2. We attempt to stay on our diet using our self-discipline. We wait until we are hungry and then debate our food choices. Hunger can be a very powerful opponent. Unless we prepare mentally and emotionally for the temptation of our comfort-driven eating habits, we will often lose this battle.

The Solution: A Diet Management System

A Diet Management System does not tell us what we should eat. Rather, it is a tool that we can call on monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly if necessary. It helps us more often make choices that lead to the results we want, and less often make choices based solely on instant gratification. When we practice eating differently, our desire for less healthy foods should diminish as new eating habits are created.

How Does a Diet Management System Work?

If we want to remember our appointments or tasks, we may use a calendar, to-do list, daily planner, or other type of organizing system. A Diet Management System can work in a similar way. For some people, a method of reminding themselves to follow their diet, plan their meals, and go food shopping may be all that is necessary to change how they eat. For others, a Diet Management System can help alter the thoughts, feelings, and emotions behind undesirable food choices.

To gain a better understanding of how your thoughts, feelings, and emotions may influence what you eat, the next time you face a food choice, stop for a moment to ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I imagining how good the food will taste? Or am I imagining how great I will look and feel because of the healthy choices I am about to make?

• Do I feel stressed and hope that this choice will make me feel better? Or do I realize that there are other ways I can relieve my stress and that I don’t need to deviate from my diet plan?

• Do I feel powerless at the moment, as if I have no other choice? Or do I realize that I am about to make an excuse because I always have a choice?

• Am I so hungry that I will eat the first thing I see to quell the hunger? Or do I realize that this is just another excuse that I am now ready to abandon?

Although we may not be aware of them, our thoughts, feelings, and emotions always come first, and our actions come second. Through a Diet Management System, we can learn to slow down, become more aware of how we process our choices, and break the patterns of behavior that don’t work for us.

Alan Aronoff is a Certified Professional Coach and author of the book Diet Success Strategies. He graduated from Monmouth University with a degree in Sociology and has studied in the fields of diet and personal development for over 30 years. Alan has been a U.S. Army officer, sales and marketing executive, and founder of a national background check company. Through writing, speaking, and coaching, he helps others find lasting solutions to their life challenges. For more information, visit: www.DietSuccessStrategies.com

By guest blogger Dr. Karen Ruskin, PsyD, LMFT

“House Husbands” as well as the belief that women desire to be dominated sexually are hot topics. This relationship expert; Dr. Karen Ruskin was brought in for my insights and wrap up analysis of statements articulated by guests Dr. Veronica interviewed on May 1^st 2012 episode of Wellness For The Real World. The show offered the opportunity for listeners to hear varied perspectives. Provided below includes talking points from this psychotherapist’s mind’s eye.

Talking Points:

• It is of concern to me that there is an inaccurate impression some have due to the popularity of books such as; Fifty Shades of Grey, along with the direct statement on the program that women have “submission and rape fantasies”. Rather it is my assertion there are women who wish to be “taken” not raped. Dominance, submission, these terms are not one in the same with rape. Women want to be wanted and there are many who want men to be sexually dominant showing their passionate desire for the woman they are with.
• Huffington Post writers Barbara and Shannon Kelley as guests shared; it is not the desire of men to be a house husband. As a marriage therapist it is my understanding of many women of this generation that they want to have it all and feel they need to be it all. Many women want to grow and achieve professionally/individually, also want children, an attentive husband, available/involved father who is masculine and also emotionally understanding, and financially contributes. It is these concepts in conjunction with the financial instability of this generation that I contend we are in a state of re-definition of what marriage and masculinity is.
• Guest Frank Ciprani (bdnews24.com) shared he became a house husband during the course of his marriage reporting their sex life suffered because of it. He explained the role shift was not successful for their marriage which led to divorce. His assertion is in sync with another guest; Reid Lance Rosenthal (author; Threads West: An American Saga) who stated; “A man is a man, a woman is a woman”. It is my analysis of Reid’s statement and verbalizations during his interview that it is this very difference why some believe; women want to be dominated sexually and a house husband does not work.
• Another guest; Tim Wikerson (author; Alchemy Astrology) stated he prefers to use the term “house spouse” rather than “house husband”. Tim reported that the struggle he experienced with his now ex-wife was having her be his “boss”. Tim shared his current wife appreciates him being a house spouse. From an analytical relational point of view, it appears Tim feels good in this role since his current wife feels good about it. Both the wife and the husband’s view of their relationship and one another plays a significant role in the success and health of their marriage. It was clear when hearing Tim’s story that in his first marriage the successful adjustment did not occur. As I explain in my most recently released book;  Dr. Karen’s Marriage Manual an important ingredient for a happy healthy long term marriage is to be one another’s biggest ‘fan’.
• Guest Dr. Paul Zak (author; The Moral Molecule) explained it is a “sexy turn on, someone who cares for us”. House spouse Tim verbalized several examples of how he cares for his wife. (Example; he takes care of the kids while she is at work). This fits with Dr. Zak’s theory.
• Dr. David Ley (author; Myth of Sex Addiction) shared; it is sexy to be desired by someone who is “aroused by you”.  It is my impression this fits in with the notion of wanting to be wanted. At times the best way to show you want the other person is to take them. This infers a house husband is not a marital death sentence, does it not? Perhaps then the analysis one may take away from this is that the role of house husband is not the distinguishing factor of what is or is not sexy.
• Dr. Veronica asked this marriage therapist several questions about polyamory. It is my stance that making the choice and putting in active effort to grow and enhance your monogamous relationship can allow the wonderful opportunity to experience the beauty of what a fulfilling marriage has the potential to be.
• It is this expert’s perspective/wrap up that a successful relationship including a healthy sexual dynamic is not decided by nor defined as to whether the man works in or out of the home (some may disagree). The sexual style of the couple and the effect the spouse’s work status has on the couple – has everything to do with how each individual and how the couple unit views and handles their marital dynamic. Being mindful of your needs, wants, and desires as well as communicating them with your spouse is imperative whether it is about the work arrangement or the sexual relationship.

Dr. Karen Ruskin, PsyD, LMFT is a relationship/human behavior/parenting expert. Media guest expert: O’Reilly, FOX & Friends, America Live, Hannity, FOX Boston, and more . . . Author: Dr. Karen’s Marriage Manual, and 9 Key Techniques For Raising Respectful Children. Interviewed for various national magazines/newspapers, radio. Columnist. Owner/Director: Dr. Karen Ruskin and Associates, MA

Dr. Veronica Anderson, Founder and Host of web radio talk show, Wellness for the REAL World, recently featured guest blogger, Alex Conde, to provide some insight on  the relationship between money and happiness.

New  York, NY – May 9, 2012 – Dr. Veronica Anderson, social media medicine expert and Host of  health and wellness web radio talk show, Wellness for the REAL World, recently welcomed author Alex Conde to be a guest blogger on her popular website, http://www.DrVeronica.com.  Mr. Conde was asked to discuss the drive to reach our full potential and experience true happiness in the blog titled, “Money Buys Happiness (or so we all believe).”

Alex writes, “The problem that many of us face is that we make enough money to do almost anything, but we don’t make enough to do everything! So, take the time to figure out what things contribute happiness and satisfaction to your life, and focus your time and money on them. ”

To read the entire blog post, please visit http://www.drveronica.com/articles/money-buys-happiness-or-so-we-all-believe.php

Alex Conde writes at his website Searching for Happy at http://www.searchingforhappy.com/

Learn more about Dr. Veronica Anderson and Wellness for the Real World, please visit

http://www.DrVeronica.com

About Wellness for the Real World:

Learn about wellness for your mind, body and spirit on Dr. Veronica Anderson’s weekly

WebTalkRadio.net broadcasted radio interview program. Each weekly radio show showcases current issues with timely guest interviews. Dr. Veronica draws from her education and experiences to unpack complicated medical details, analyze health reports and share her thoughts on today’s issues with her listeners in three recurring categories: Food of the Week, Fits You To A “Tea”, and The Veronica Report, a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on Corporate America and how they are watching out for our

wellbeing.

About Dr. Veronica Anderson:

Dr. Veronica has become known by many for her intellectual and passionate commentary on today’s most popular and debated health perspectives. In addition to her regular radio talk show, Veronica’s upbeat and outspoken perspectives on healthy living have been featured on TV talk shows including Our World with Neil Cavuto (Fox News Channel), and Live with Adam Carolla (syndicated). In addition, radio hosts coast to coast have seen their lines light up as listeners clamor to hear more of Veronica’s straight-forward, pull-no-punches philosophy. She also serves as Host and Guide for Medicine Woman, Modern World, a healthy living travel adventure series for the web.

Determined to become a doctor at age four, Dr. Veronica completed pre-med at Princeton University, received her MD with honors after internship and residency at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and New York’s Mt. Sinai Medical Center, where she received a fellowship in glaucoma.

She has practiced at Robert Wood Johnson, Philadelphia’s Wills Eye Hospital, and is also a fellow of the American Academy of Ophthalmology and a diplomat of the American Board of Ophthalmology.

Dr. Veronica Anderson holds a black belt in taekwondo and has completed two marathons.

About Alex Conde:

Alex Conde write at Searching for Happy – http://www.SearchingForHappy.com where he conducts different happiness experiments, such as writing his happy thoughts list.

He was recently married in 2011, and spends his time working on self-improvement, being a better husband, and trying to make the world a happier place.

Alex is licensed as a Certified Financial Planner in Canada and is a Black Belt in Goju Ryu Karate.

By Guest Blogger Alex Conde

There are a lot of thoughts on this subject.  Some people point to happy billionaires and other point to happy beggars in the third world.

I still think though, after all these years, one of the wisest quotes on this subject was written by the author Charles Dickens in his book David Copperfield:

“Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

Charles Dickens highlights one of the most important aspects of money and happiness, specifically, that it’s all about whether or not you have enough to do what you want.

If you can’t make ends meet, you’ll be stressed and unhappy. And in world where more and more things are “necessary”, it’s easier than ever to not have enough money.  Just look at communications.  Twenty or thirty years ago, you had to pay for your phone. Now, we have cell phones and internet access, and you might even still have a land line phone!

So, how can we combat this?  Well, often it’s not money that can buy happiness, but control over your money can help you combat unhappiness. That’s still not an easy challenge, but it’s a challenge with two potential solutions: make more money or control how you spend it.

Making More Money

The first way to get control over your money is to make more of it. This is the simplest solution, but far from the easiest. If switching your regular job isn’t an option for you, consider starting a “side hustle”.  A side hustle is a small job that doesn’t replace your regular job, but it provides a little extra money to make ends meet.  It can also be surprisingly satisfying to have a side hustle, even though it takes up time you would normally devote to relaxation and recreation.

While this method doesn’t really increase happiness, it does help you eliminate unhappiness. Imagine if you eliminate every moment you’ve stressed over bills, or worried about having the money to buy something. It might be best to say that this way of getting control of your money increases your average happiness by eliminating many of the sad and stressful part of life as it relates to money. However, the risk of this is that we humans are adaptable creatures, and if you don’t keep control of your budget, it’s easy for spending to creep back out of control.

Spend your Money on What Really Matters

The second way to get control of your money is to redefine how you spend it. This can be hard, but is an incredibly worthwhile activity to undertake.  First, analyze how you spend your money, and then decide how much happiness each category contributes to your life.

Using an example from my personal life, my wife and I had 2 cars, but I recently got rid of mine and went to public transit. With gas prices as high as they are,  I save myself hundreds of dollars a month. It was money I was spending to drive in heavy traffic and be stressed.  Now, I take public transit to work and I read or nap on the trip.  I arrive to work more relaxed and ready to tackle the day.  The money I spent on a car didn’t contribute any real benefit to my life as a whole, and now that I’ve cut it, I can spend that money on something I’ll enjoy more.

The problem that many of us face is that we make enough money to do almost anything, but we don’t make enough to do everything! So, take the time to figure out what things contribute happiness and satisfaction to your life, and focus your time and money on them.

The advantage of this method is that it can help you both eliminate unhappy moments of your life and help find more of the happy moments.

Control your Money don’t Let it Control You

Whichever method you choose, putting a plan in place to get control of your financial situation is a great way to help improve your relationship with money.

Let’s face it, for many of us, money is the adult equivalent of the monster under our beds that some of us were afraid of as children. It’s time for us all to shine a light on our money situations and move past our fear. Money is a tool, and if we use that tool properly it can make our lives easier. However, if we use it poorly, we can make our lives miserable.

So, you need to ask yourself, how are you going to use the tools that you’ve been given? For me, I figure there are enough things in this world to be sad about, so I’ll try hard not to give myself any more!

About Alex Conde:

Alex Conde write at Searching for Happy – http://www.SearchingForHappy.com where he conducts different happiness experiments, such as writing his happy thoughts list.

He was recently married in 2011, and spends his time working on self-improvement, being a better husband, and trying to make the world a happier place.

Alex is licensed as a Certified Financial Planner in Canada and is a Black Belt in Goju Ryu Karate.

By Guest Blogger Dr. Lorne Brown

How does Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) regard aging and fertility?

While fertility declines with age in all women (and men), the rate at which it declines depends upon our genetic inheritance and lifestyle factors as well as our chronological age. According to Chinese medicine a woman, optimally, should be able to conceive until she reaches menopause at approximately age 49.

What Factors Affecting Aging?

Our current lifestyle in the West, characterized by chronic stress, lack of sleep, a fast- food diet and overconsumption of stimulants, accelerates the aging process, and hastens the ticking of the reproductive clock.

According to Chinese Medicine factors that determine your reproductive potential include

• Essential Jing: This is the vital essence that, according to Chinese Medicine,  you are born with
• Diet/nutrition
• Stress/cortisol levels
• Inflammation levels
• Lifestyle factors including exercise and quality of sleep
• Relationship and support network
• Environmental factors

As we age the reproductive hormonal system, governed by the hypothalamic – pituitary – ovarian axis (HPOA becomes more unbalanced and less able to return to homeostasis. Hormonal fluctuations increase and the eggs are less sensitive to hormonal messages.  Once eggs become less responsive to the FSH, more of them fail to develop and return to sleep.

In addition any environmental insults like excessive insulin levels or high stress levels are harder for the body to recover from in an older woman and further destabilize the hormonal system.

Can Chinese medicine reverse the aging process?

There is a strong correlation between age and reproductive health. However, medical science has identified two types of aging: chronological and biological. While everyone ages at the same speed chronologically, the biological aging process differs greatly among each individual. Identical twins many differ in the age they go into menopause by as much as five years, depending on lifestyle factors like smoking, weight etc. So while it is true that the quality of a woman’s eggs declines as she ages, the eggs of some women in their forties can be excellent quality due to slow biological aging.

It is not possible to stop chronological aging; however, we can definitely influence the progress of biological aging. Abusive lifestyle factors such as poor diet, smoking, stress, and insufficient sleep all accelerate the cell oxidation and the biological aging process. Practicing a healthy lifestyle can have a positive impact in slowing down the aging process.
How Does Chinese Medicine treat infertility

Chinese Medicine uses treatments that help to restore a more youthful endocrine system and create an environment that enhances egg quality and the uterine environment. It typically involves diet, mind-body techniques, herbal formulas and acupuncture designed to balance hormones, regulate the menstrual cycle, improve blood flow to the reproductive organs, calm anxiety, and boost overall health.

What is Fertility Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a Chinese medical treatment that involves inserting hair thin needles at different point in the body to stimulate the flow of energy or “qi”.  Fertility Acupuncture uses evidence based protocols to balance hormones and improve blood flow to the reproductive organs.  Acupuncture treatment may be beneficial in promoting follicle production, enhancing uterine blood flow and improving uterine lining thickness. Recent clinical studies suggest that acupuncture treatments can lead to increased implantation and live birth rates with IVF.

What is Chinese Herbal Therapy?

Custom Chinese herbal formulas are another treatment modality used to treat infertility. Chinese herbal therapy is used to correct underlying deficiencies, balance hormones and regulate the menstrual cycle. Herbal therapy can improve the quality of blood nourishing the ovaries and supporting follicular development and enhance egg quality and embryo health.  Herbal formulas can also help normalize the function of the hypothalamic – pituitary – ovarian axis (HPOA) to regulate and improve the body’s natural hormone production.

Can Chinese Medicine treat recurrent pregnancy loss?

The rate of miscarriage increases dramatically in older women who conceive. Chinese medicine offers effective solutions for recurrent pregnancy loss that may be the result of immune factors, hormonal imbalances, and stress

Acupuncture helps improve blood flow to the placenta, supports the developing fetus, and prevents uterine contractions. It normalizes the function of the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Ovarian axis (HPOA) to regulate and improve the body’s natural hormonal production, which in turn improves ovarian function, egg quality, and optimum progesterone levels. In addition acupuncture reduces stress levels helping to prevent early uterine contractions.

Can Chinese Medicine improve FSH?

An increasing number of women are visiting acupuncture clinics seeking help in correcting the hormone imbalances (FSH, LH, E2, progesterone, prolactin etc.) they are suffering from.

Regular acupuncture treatments can be very helpful in regulating hormonal imbalances, although it should be noted that acupuncture does not directly alter the female hormones. Rather, acupuncture is considered to influence the hormonal regulation centers in the brain and autonomic nervous system (i.e., the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian axis) and as a result, improvement in hormonal status can occur over time.

What are other aspects of age and fertility does Chinese Medicine address?

Diet and Weight loss: Ovulatory imbalances, PCOS, insulin insensitivity and weight gain are common issues with women over 40.  Chinese medicine has a long history of treating hormonal disorders and regulating the menstrual cycle with diet therapy. Recent studies have shown that weight and diet play a significant role in ovulatory causes of infertility. A landmark study published in 2008, based on the Harvard Nurses Study, and associates a slow carb, whole food, mostly plant-based diet with a six-fold increase in fertility.

Stress Reduction: techniques including hypnosis, acupuncture, breathing and mindfulness based stress reduction can reduce chronic stress. Studies have shown that stress can accelerate aging, create chronic inflammation and interfere with the functioning of the HPO axis.

Lifestyle: Chinese Medicine encourages women to develop habits that increase wellness, contentment and alignment with the way (Tao) of nature.

Can acupuncture help Male Factor?

Clinical studies indicate acupuncture may help sperm motility and decrease abnormal forms (morphology). As well, acupuncture and Chinese medicine have been shown to improve erectile function, libido, and prostate-related issues such as pain or urinary problems.

Dr. Lorne Brown

B.Sc, CA, Dr. TCM, FABORM, CHt

Dr. Lorne Brown is the founder and clinical director of Acubalance Wellness Centre, the first  Traditional Chinese medicine clinic in British Columbia, Canada dedicated to reproductive health and fertility.

Lorne has been at the forefront of an integrative approach to fertility treatment using Traditional Chinese Medicine to help women optimize their fertility naturally and to support assisted fertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization (IVF). He is passionate about educating and empowering women to take control of their fertility journey, and regain confidence in their own fertility potential.

A popular speaker, Lorne has recently been a presenter, as part of a panel of medical fertility experts, at the 2011 annual meeting of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada (SOCG) and on the Science Advisory Panel of Assisted Human Reproduction Canada (AHRC).

Lorne is a Fellow of the American Board of Reproductive Medicine (ABORM) and participates on numerous other boards and advisory panels, including the Infertility Awareness Association of Canada, the Quality Assurance Board of the British Columbia College of Traditional Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture (CTCMA), and the PDA Advisory Panel for the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). He is also a member of the Fertile Souls Clinical Excellence in Fertility Professionals (CEFP) and was the first appointed “Natural Products Expert” to the Clinical Research Ethics Board (CREB) for the University of British Columbia.

By Guest Blogger Shel Horowitz

Permission to Publish: As long as the biographical slug is included unedited (or edits cleared with the author), permission is freely given to republish and repost, in whole or in part. The slug must be included.

Most businesses waste lots of money on energy and paper—but a lot of the fixes are easy and cheap (even free). Here are a few among many easy ways to lower your power consumption, and your cost:

Save Energy:

• Insulate outlets on exterior walls. Foam gaskets take about a minute each to install. Baby-safety outlet protectors install in two seconds. These two simple measures will vastly lower the amount of wrong-temperature air that comes in from the outside.
• Plug computers, peripherals, coffee pots, audio and video equipment, and other appliances into surge suppressors, and turn off the power strips when you close for the night, or when they’re not going to be used for a few hours. Train your staff to hit the switch.
• Turn off unneeded lights on sunny days and at night.
• Expand your temperature comfort range, gradually. Turn the heat down in the winter, and the A/C up in the summer. Start with just two or three degrees, then when people have acclimated, do it again. If you have windows that open, use them in warm weather.
• Pull drapes closed on cold winter nights and hot summer days, and open them on sunny winter days or cool summer nights.

Save Paper (and Toner):

• Switch to duplexing printers, and train staff to print on both sides of the page.
• Use draft mode to consume less toner.
• Consider, before printing, whether you really need a paper copy.
• Rather than ordering (and then wasting) quantities of letterhead, design electronic letterhead you can incorporate into your document so it automatically prints each time you need it.

Save Gasoline:

• Provide incentives for employees to bike, carpool, use public transit, and/or telecommute.
• If rush-hour traffic is an issue at your location, start a flex-time program that has employees spending more time working productively and less time burning gas and moving one mile an hour.
• Source as many products locally as possible (restaurant and grocery owners, among other businesses, can make this a huge marketing advantage, too).
• Examine driving patterns for delivery vehicles, etc., and develop routes that maximize efficiency.
• When buying new corporate vehicles, look for the smallest and most fuel-efficient that will get the job done.
• Maintain all vehicles properly. Routine servicing and proper tire inflation can preserve a vehicle for many years.

Reduce Waste:

• Switch from wasteful bottled water to filtered tap water, if you’re based in a place with good water (such as nearly all of the US, Canada, and Europe).
• Reuse your waste. Paper or wall covering rolls, cardboard tubes, and scrap wood can be donated to schools and community centers for art projects. Wooden pallets, clean cardboard boxes, bubble mailers, and packing peanuts can be reused again for their original purpose. Working with a remanufacturer, old soda bottles can be turned into park benches, craft items, and tote bags. Food scraps can feed pigs or fuel vegetable oil-powered cars.
• Use washable and replaceable items instead of throwaways: ceramic coffee mugs, rags or sponges instead of paper towels, reusable cloth napkins…

The primary author (with Jay Conrad Levinson) of the best-selling and award-winning book Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, www.guerrillamarketinggoesgreen.com, Shel Horowitz is a marketing and environmental consultant/speaker who helps businesses not only go Green but also effectively market their Green commitment. Emphasizing affordable, eco-friendly, and ethical approaches, he has served clients across North America, Europe, and Asia. He also writes the internationally syndicated monthly column, Green And Profitable. For a directory of all his websites, please visit www.shelhorowitz.com Reach him at 413-586-2388, shel@principledprofit.com, Twitter @ShelHorowitz

By guest blogger Mikaya Heart

No one who follows the news can fail to notice the proliferation of reports of sexual abuse, especially by prominent people, and not just football coaches but also Catholic priests, yoga teachers, and various well-known spiritual leaders. This has not just started occurring—it’s been happening in silence for centuries. There has never been a taboo against incest and sexual abuse, only against talking about it, and that is what’s changing.

Sex is very intense and concentrated energy. It is lifeforce itself, which means it’s all about power. Rape is common in wartime situations because the excitement of fighting creates an energetic charge and most men know only one way to release that. They kill two birds with one stone, since the act of rape also establishes their dominance. The same thing occurs in competitive situations, such as sports, and in domestic situations, especially where a man has been having a difficult time and comes home needing to prove that he is the boss. One can argue that unless women actually take charge and definitively agree to what is going on (which an increasing number women are doing), there will always be an element of power imbalance in heterosexual sex. Rape within marriage was legal in many Western countries until the 1970s, a clear statement that what the woman wanted was irrelevant. In the last thirty years, society has changed in some quite radical ways, due to the influence of feminists and other radical thinkers. Now that we live in a less patriarchal culture, it’s acceptable for women to say no in most situations, and people are beginning to talk about abuse, which is undermining the foundation that has enabled it to occur.

Spiritually inclined individuals are not necessarily good people. They are as likely to be charismatic liars as anyone else, though many may also be seekers of some kind. In spiritual communities, the energetic charge that finds an outlet in sex may arise the way it does for any of us, or it can be seen as the result of intense spiritual desire coupled with denial. Sex is an amazing thing: it starts with the body and takes us far beyond the body, to realms we often cannot access any other way, which can be experienced as an awareness of God. I know a number of women who say that a powerful orgasm is a profound spiritual experience. Major religions are reluctant to admit this truth, partly because we won’t need them any more once we realize it.

It isn’t so easy to sublimate sexual desire; many of us find it a useful and delightful release, and although it’s very possible to find other creative outlets that can allow that same blissful flow, finding them requires consciousness, not denial. When a person is determined to ignore such an intense source of energy—a state of denial that many religions encourage—it is going to come back and bite him in the butt. The more rabidly evangelical an individual is in the spiritual search, the more likely he is to work himself into an intense state of excitement and desire that then needs release. The fact that sex is forbidden adds to the charge. It becomes a compulsion that is relegated to the subconscious, acted on without being consciously acknowledged because—until recently—no one spoke about it, which made living the lie very easy.

Sexual energy is no different from any other form of energy. When any energy flows through us freely, we feel more alive—and we all crave that, whether we find it in emotional expression, dancing, singing, sports, or other activities. It reminds us who we really are and what is really possible. Spiritual teachers frequently feel they have to maintain an earnest and sincere persona which doesn’t allow for demonstrative expressions of energy. That leaves sex to act as a release valve. Although clearly amoral hypocrites, these people know what they are looking for, and in spite of all their spiritual teachings, they apparently still find sex the easiest pathway to feeling good. Or should I say, God?

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Mikaya Heart is an award-winning author and a coach in the art of being fully alive, using shamanistic methods to help people operate from a place of trust instead of fear, which requires allowing universal energy to flow through the body. Her latest book is The Ultimate Guide to Orgasm for Women. www.mikayaheart.org