B1 May 20–26, 2016
WHAT IF WE DIDN’T HATE OURSELVES? By Neghar Fonooni
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Would it be so terrible and unrealistic to shift our focus away from our perceived flaws and onto the fact that we are all completely amazing right this second?
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Would it be so terrible and unrealistic to shift our focus away from our perceived flaws and onto the fact that we are all completely amazing right this second?
hat if we obsessed over the things we love about our bodies, instead of the things we so desperately want to change? What would happen?
I posted this on Facebook last week, and most of the responses—per usual on my page—were in sync with the vibe. In the current social climate we’re experiencing, permission to be who we are instead of who we’re “supposed to be” is both rare and crucial. We have more than enough forces in our lives telling us we aren’t good enough, and we need to be better than our best. We don’t need to do it to ourselves. We don’t always give ourselves permission to love ourselves, so I strive to be the kind of woman who uses her platform to offer that permission.
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May 20–26, 2016 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochFit
Why Psychological Nutrition Is Food for the
Soul Cut empty-calorie emotions out of your diet and awaken the feminine divine
HOLY MOLY PRESS
ination may not be very nourishing and may in fact take a heavy toll on your psychological energy. Epoch Times talked to the authors of “Psychological Nutrition” about the cost of consuming too much junk emotion and how monitoring your daily emotional intake can lead to a happier, more fulfilled life. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. Epoch Times: What inspired the idea of nutritional labels for emotions? Dr. Linda E. Weinberger: Today people are very concerned about their diet. They’re very concerned about whether it’s high in fat or fiber, low in sodium, and yet we’re not as attuned to our psychological nutritional intake. We really don’t assess whether our interactions with people are good for us or not, or whether if engaging in certain situations is going to help us psychologically or not. So we thought this would be a way of introducing this concept.
A new book called Psychological Nutrition teaches that, just like junk food, junk emotions deplete the body, and leave us starving for the nourishing relationships and enriching experiences that will truly feed our soul.
By Conan Milner | Epoch Times Staff HO
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Dr. Shoba Sreenivasan. HO
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Imagine if emotions were labeled like food. Would it encourage you to reach for heart-healthy happiness more often? Would it stop you from binging on the empty calories and toxic ingredients found in guilt and resentment? That’s the premise behind “Psychological Nutrition,” a new book by clinical psychologists Shoba Sreenivasan, Ph.D., and Linda E. Weinberger, Ph.D. The book is primarily geared toward women, but the strategies it teaches will resonate with anyone capable of a little introspection and imagination. Sreenivasan and Weinberger say that just like junk food, junk emotions—such as anxiety, jealousy, or fear—deplete the body and leave us starving for the nourishing relationships and enriching experiences that truly feed our soul. Since nutritional labels for feelings don’t exist, readers are asked to make their own by way of a daily emotional inventory. Think of it as a food diary for feelings. Throughout the day, jot down your experiences and how they make you feel: depleted or energized. When you start to examine the energetic impact of your emotional reactions, it may illuminate some aspects of your behavior and experience you couldn’t see before. For example, a relationship you thought was good, under exam-
Dr. Linda E. Weinberger.
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Epoch Times: How does indulging in junk emotions hurt us? Dr. Weinberger: If you’re consuming a lot of junk food, it’s not healthy for you. You’re going to put yourself in a situation where you become malnourished. You’re not getting all the essential aspects: vitamins, minerals, protein, or whatever you need. Similarly, if your life is consumed with negative emotions—stress, anxiety, fear—these can consume you, and in essence it can also make you psychologically malnourished where you’re not really open, aware, or willing to consider the positive things that can energize and help you. Having a malnourished psychological diet is going to deplete you. It’s going to make you weak and impact all of your functioning. And you end up closing the door to a happier life. Dr. Shoba Sreenivasan: When you consume food that is not good for you—it’s high in fat and calories but doesn’t do anything to nourish the body— you’ll start to see it in your belly. You become lethargic and fatigued. We developed an analog concept in the psychological arena in which certain emotions cause an emotional jelly belly and psychological flab. You could end up in a state of emotional anorexia because you’ve burned out all your psychological energy with martyrdom or self-sacrifice. Or you could be binging, or gobbling up negative emotions. All you’re filled with are anger, resentment, envy, jealousy, and pessimism. This has an impact if you’re suffering from any kind of physical ailments, particularly pain. We interpret pain through the brain, and our emotional activity also comes out of our neural centers and circuitry. The detection of chronic pain is in the prefrontal cortex, which also interprets what you’re feeling. A lot of how you react is going to then mediate how you perceive whatever physical suffering you’re experiencing. Dr. Weinberger: Pain can lead to a whole variety of negative emotions. And when you get into that loop where you become anxious, you wonder if this will ever go away, it really impacts the quality of your life. It really takes away a lot of your motivation to see things in a different light. You learn that if you consume more of these positive emotions and experiences, the sensation of the pain will be reduced. It really is a natural phenomenon that we tend to forget. Epoch Times: Your book is aimed at women. Why are women in particular prone to a diet of depleting emotions? Dr. Sreenivasan: Women tend to be nurturers, so there is a biological push to be helpful. There is also a social push for women to be accommodating and nice and look after others before they look after themselves. While being other-centered and helpful is a good thing, a lot of women get pushed into being people-pleasers. We want to do things so that other people will like us. If you do this to an extreme, you end up going into what we call pathological helpfulness. We call this pathology “Helpful Helen.” Helpful Helen ends up getting burned out. She is in emotional anorexia because her own emotional needs aren’t being met. She’s just sort of existing. She feels angry that she’s not appreciated. It’s not a mindset of genuine giving or loving. It’s a mindset of feeling imposed upon. This kind of pathological helpfulness is really toxic to our psychological health. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t help others, because the key to a meaningful life is to be other-centered, but you should not do it to the point where you’re not even part of that relationship. Helpful Helens obstruct the growth of the people they want to help, and they obstruct their own growth too. These people believe that they’re helping, but they’re irritable, and people have to walk on eggshells around them. Dr. Weinberger: Sometimes these women who are so giving and helpful may think that their well-being is all about whether their family is happy and taken care of, but you can only do that for so long. Eventually, you need to be nurtured. You need to attend to your own health. These women start to feel as if they are invisible. Losing oneself and being so involved in other people’s lives is not only going to cause dissatisfaction, but it’s also
going to stop your growth and your ability to be more than just always helpful for others. Epoch Times: If you’re a person who wants to be helpful, and you have a deep sense of obligation, how do you do step away from pathological helpfulness without feeling like you’re shirking your responsibilities or acting selfish? Dr. Sreenivasan: It’s about understanding the difference between giving that is genuine and loving, and giving that comes out of a sense of resentment. When you’re giving, and you’re experiencing the good emotions of joy, feeling energized, happiness, and love, that’s not pathological helpfulness. That’s a genuine relationship, and it’s a two-way thing. You’re giving without feeling like you’re being emotionally drained. On the other hand, if you’re giving, and you’re looking for rewards and attention, and feeling emotions such as anger, resentment, and a sense of cynicism that nothing you do really matters, that is not really true giving. There’s a related concept called “ego addiction” that the Dalai Lama talks about. During ego addiction, your ego is inflated. You’re overwhelmed with emotions, and you can’t find peace from that kind of process. So Helpful Helen is ego-addicted because it’s her ego that’s involved in giving, and not really loving kindness, the part of you that should be in the relationship of giving.
How monitoring your daily emotional intake can lead to a happier, more fulfilled life. Epoch Times: One of the concepts you talk about at the end of your book is the feminine divine. Could you explain what this is and why women may want to avoid a male-centric path to success? Dr. Weinberger: The feminine divine is a concept that we identify as women. It is peaceful, cooperative, and nurturing. We call it the feminine divine because it is driven toward giving birth and maintaining life, rather than competing with or destroying others and destroying life. If we look at a workplace that is feminine-centric, it is going to tap into our natural desire to nurture growth. Oftentimes, a male-centric business model is more identified with people having to be driven: You have to compete, you have to be the best, and you have to have something over another individual to succeed. This is something we want to shy away from. We want to have a cooperative, nurturing, and giving approach. As women, we want to share from our experience and wisdom. We strongly encourage people in the construct of the feminine divine to open doors for others, give them jobs, make introductions. It’s not about telling them how to do it, but actually helping assist in their endeavor. This is definitely our passion. Dr. Sreenivasan: We view the feminine divine almost as a revolution. We want women, in particular, to engage in something we call entrepreneurial philanthropy. We don’t see this as a malebashing thing, because we like men. But we’re not men. We women have our own legitimate strengths in the business arena, the scientific arena, and the academic arena, but it is different from the male-centric way of doing things. When women try to become men and take on the cloak of what they think they should be like—tough as nails, stepping over people to get ahead—we call this Machiavellian Mary. This doesn’t really benefit anyone. Even successful men understand the need for cooperation to unleash creativity in others. The feminine divine signifies cooperation, generosity, and giving. You often hear that it’s in the giving that you receive, and that’s where we see this going. It’s about women who have had some success getting together and forwarding that success to unleash creativity in other people. That in turn will benefit all of us.
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May 20–26, 2016 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochFit
Nature Calms the Brain and Heals the Body JULIA CAESAR/UNSPLASH
By David Suzuki
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or the most part, our brains didn’t evolve in cities. But in a few decades, almost 70 percent of the world’s people will live in urban environments. Despite the prosperity we associate with cities, urbanization presents major health challenges. Cities, with their accelerated pace of life, can be stressful. The results are seen in the brains and behavior of those raised in cities or currently living in one. On the upside, city dwellers are on average wealthier and receive better health care, nutrition, and sanitation than rural residents. On the downside, they experience an increased risk of chronic disease, a more demanding and stressful social environment, and greater levels of inequity. In fact, city dwellers have a 21 percent greater risk for anxiety disorders and a 39 percent increased likelihood of mood disorders. A study published in Nature links city living with sensitivity to social stress. MRI scans show that greater exposure to urban environments can increase activity in the amygdala, a brain structure involved in emotions such as fear and the release of stress-related hormones. According to the study, the amygdala “has been strongly implicated in anxiety disorders, depression, and other behaviors that are increased in cities, such as violence.” The researchers also found that people who lived in cities for their first 15 years experienced increased activity in an area of the brain that helps regulate the amygdala. So if you grew up in the city, you’re more likely than
Your Reading Doesn’t Have to Be at Arms Length FDA-approved near vision procedure launching in Manhattan
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ave you been increasingly struggling to read menus or the newspaper because you can’t make out the font? Or maybe you have to fumble for your eyeglasses before checking your iPhone because the screen always looks blurry? If so, a tiny implantable lens may be able to help. The KAMRA Inlay, is a small and thin lens that is implanted in the cornea via laser surgery. It measures 3.8 millimeters in diameter with a hole or aperture in the center that’s 1.6 millimeters. “[It’s] about a third of the size of a standard contact lens, and it weighs less than a grain of sand,” said Dr. Steven Stetson, the medical director of the Diamond Vision clinics. Dr. Stetson and his team began offering the procedure, which improves near vision, this month after they had sufficiently vetted it. “We’re just so excited about the procedure,” Dr. Stetson said. Dr. Stetson and Diamond Vision were specifically selected last year to perform the inlay procedure by AcuFocus, the medical device company that developed the technology. AcuFocus only selects the skilled surgeons and facilities that it knows and trusts, he said. But Dr. Stetson deferred the opportunity because he wanted assurance that the KAMRA inlay was a safe option. “I like the results that are coming out and I’m ready to jump in now with both feet,” he said. “I feel very confident about it.” In its current form, the inlay has been on the international market since 2009 but was only approved by the FDA last April. Dr. Stetson said that since then more than 2,000 inlays have been implanted in patients across the country with significant success.
those who moved there later in life to have permanently raised sensitivity to stress. Author and professor David Gessner says we’re turning into “fast twitch” animals. It’s like we have an alarm clock going off in our brains every 30 seconds, sapping our ability to concentrate for longer periods of time. The demands of urban life include a constant need to filter information, dodge distractions, and make decisions. We give our brains little time to recover. How do we slow things down? Nature seems to be the answer. Cognitive psychologist David Strayer’s hypothesis is that “being in nature
allows the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s command center, to dial down and rest, like an overused muscle.” Research shows even brief interactions with nature can soothe our brains. Stanford’s Gregory Bratman designed an experiment in which participants took a 50-minute walk in either a natural or an urban environment. People who took the nature walk experienced decreased anxiety, brooding, and negative emotion and increased memory performance. Bratman’s team found walking in natural environments can decrease rumination, the unhealthy but familiar habit of thinking over
How Does It Work? The inlay works like a small camera aperture or the pinhole test your eye doctor does, and improves vision by focusing light coming into the eye. “If you go to your eye doctor and they flip down that little pin hole and you look through it, then all of a sudden your vision gets better,” Dr. Stetson explained. The inlay is made from a high density, strong, but very light plastic called polyvinylidene fluoride, a compatible material commonly used for eye implants. Surrounding the central opening are 8,400 microscopic holes that allow oxygen and nutrients to flow naturally through the cornea— which the cornea needs in order to refract light properly. The inlay is put only in the non-dominant eye, which then regains near vision. Near vision in just one eye is enough for you to see close up. Both eyes preserve their distance vision. To implant the lens, the surgeon makes a pocket in the deeper layers of the cornea using a femtosecond laser, the same laser technology used to make flaps in LASIK procedures. “We would put the inlay into that channel that we’ve created and it just stays right there,” Dr. Stetson said. The inlay parallels the curvature of your cornea allowing it to sit securely in place and it doesn’t change anything structurally, he said. He said implanting the inlay is a snap. “I’ve done a lot more tricky procedures than this,” he said. The entire procedure takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete and is “very simple and painless.” And your near vision will stay clear for as long as the inlay stays in the pocket. “This is a visual solution for their lifetime,” Dr. Stetson said. Unlike LASIK surgery where patients see significant improvement overnight, most patients who get the KAMRA inlay see improvement after about two to three weeks. “This inlay is occupying space and there’s some fluid around the inlay that has to come to rest,” Dr. Stetson explained.
a little longer [to see results] don’t want to explant this.” The basic side effects such as dryness, seeing some ghosting on images or a glare effect are similar to what people experience after LASIK surgery. In rare cases, there could be some scarring, but Dr. Stetson said that happens less than 1 percent of the time. People who have a cataract or already struggle with dry eye should get treatment for those conditions before getting an inlay, he said. Diamond Vision is currently the only center in Manhattan where KAMRA inlay procedures are being performed.
Side Effects The KAMRA inlay can be removed if need be but this is rare. In the United States only 1.6 percent of patients have theirs removed, so even though there can be some side effects, the majority of patients choose to stay the course. Dr. Stetson said, “Even patients who take
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and over about causes and consequences of negative experiences. Their study also showed neural activity in an area of the brain linked to risk for mental illness was reduced in participants who walked through nature compared with those who walked through an urban environment. Korean researchers investigated the differences in brain activity when volunteers just looked at urban versus natural scenery. For those viewing urban images, MRI scans showed increased blood flow to the amygdala region. In contrast, areas of the brain associated with empathy and altruism lit up for those who viewed natural scenes. In Japan, scientists found people spending time in nature—“shinrin-yoku” or “forest bathing”—inhale “beneficial bacteria, plant-derived essential oils, and negatively-charged ions,” which interact with gut bacteria to strengthen the body’s immune system and improve both mental and physical health. Spending time in nature regularly is not a panacea for mental health, but it’s an essential component of health and psychological resilience. Nature helps us withstand and recover from life’s challenges. Even city dwellers can find nearby nature—a garden, local park, or trail—to give their overworked brains a break. Let’s show our brains—and bodies—some love. Get outside! Written with contributions from Aryne Sheppard, senior public engagement specialist with the David Suzuki Foundation. This article was originally published on DavidSuzuki.org
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May 20–26, 2016 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochFit WORKOUT OF THE WEEK
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The Future of Non-Operative Orthopedic Pain Management When a nerve is compressed by its surrounding tissue, whether through overuse, injury or age, it can cause chronic pain that may include numbness and tingling. Using ultrasound technology, Dr. Kulick is able to target the exact point of compression and relieve the pinched nerve without surgery or medications. This procedure can allow you to have a pain free lifestyle!
A Holistic Treatment Without Drugs or Surgery Nerve hydrodissection is an outpatient procedure, usually taking less than an hour. A simple injection uses fluid to release the compressed nerve from its surrounding tissue. Patients receive an independent medical evaluation from the doctor, an analysis of their pain symptoms and a treatment solution tailored to individual needs.
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Exercises to Avoid and Eliminate
BACK PAIN
By Rachel Trotta Back pain as a diagnosis has an incredible eect on our economy by driving a large number of prescription medications and paid days o. It is often over-associated with the aging, overweight, or acutely injured, but the reality of lower back pain is that it can occur in people of any age or activity level, as it is caused by a very specific set of muscular imbalances. Common, mysterious back pain happens when muscles in the core are too weak to support the lumbar spine at times of stress, or when the muscles in the front of the hips (hip flexors, quadriceps) are stronger than the muscles in the posterior chain (gluteal muscles, hamstrings). The muscles that naturally work in tandem around the lower back and hips can become out of balance when a person overtrains, trains incorrectly (poor programming), or trains with poor form. The problem can become compounded when
there is slight inflammation or irritation that is ignored. Because the entire kinetic chain of the body is interconnected, a dysfunctional movement in one part of the body aects everything else. For example, if the transverse abdominus muscles of the core are not strengthened regularly, other exercises such as push-ups or deadlifts can result in a back injury that is not severe enough for medical attention. What often happens is that someone with a slight back injury will continue to exercise without addressing the underlying issue, thus compounding the problem until there is an acute injury that is incapacitating. There are lifestyle modifications as well as exercise treatments that can improve and eliminate back pain, even if an acute injury has already occurred. Tips for Lifestyle Changes Eliminate the following exercises from your repertoire: touching your toes (standing
Touchdowns Lie on your back with your hips, knees, and feet at 90-degree angles. Contract your abdominal muscles so that your lower back is pressed flat against the floor, and “suck in� your stomach so that your core feels very tight. Then, slowly lower one heel until it gently touches the floor, then bring it back to center. Repeat on the other side. That’s one repetition. Perform 20 repetitions.
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Plank No matter how strong your upper body may be, it is essential to incorporate plank into your routine in order to strengthen your transverse abdominus muscles, which protect your back from injury. Lift yourself so that your body is supported on your toes and your forearms, and your body is in a straight line from your shoulders to your heels. Watch yourself in a mirror or have a friend give you feedback on your form. Your back should be straight and your hips should be in line. Hold for 10 breaths, then relax. Repeat two more times.
There are lifestyle modifications as well as exercise treatments that can improve and eliminate back pain.
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@EpochFit
May 20–26, 2016 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochFit CRISTOVAO/SHUTTERSTOCK
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PresentCenteredTherapies.com 212-799-0001 or sitting), crunches, weighted side bends, and supine leg extensions. These exercises, although some are popular, can be disastrous for someone with an existing back inflammation issue or injury. Unfortunately, some of these exercises are touted by well-meaning people as corestrengthening treatments for back pain, but the reality is that these moves put excessive pressure on the lumbar spine. Good posture doesn’t just mean “sitting up straight.� Proper alignment of the body also involves keeping your abdominal muscles engaged and consciously changing the way you hold your hips when you are standing. Practice good posture in your daily life, including contracting your abdominal muscles . Don’t focus too much on “flexibility.� What fitness culture glorifies as “flexibility� is often hyper-mobility or hyper-flexibility. Flexibility has nothing to do with being showy or overly bendy—it is about pain-free movement. Instead of trying to reach for your toes as a marker
of flexibility, focus on self-myofascial release (foam-rolling) before and after exercise. Tugging on sti muscles through excessive stretching can sometimes result in more injury instead of more flexibility, and SMR helps to relax muscles eectively. Some people will never touch their toes because their bodies aren’t built that way, but everyone can live pain-free. Here are some truly eective exercises to improve core strength and take the pressure o of the lower back. Rachel Trotta, certified personal trainer (NASM), is the author of “Injury-Proof: 28 Days to Better Movement, Smarter Training, and an Invincible Core,â€? and the owner of Zenith Personal Training. Her unique modality provides eective cross-training for runners, dancers, and other high-impact athletes, but also appeals to new exercisers who want to reach their fitness potential. To read more, visit PersonalTrainingUWS.com
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Shift to your hands and knees. Lift your right leg and your left arm simultaneously, extending your right leg straight out behind you and your left arm straight in front of you. Hold for five breaths, then return to center. Repeat on the other side. Perform 10 repetitions on each side.
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This move from yoga strengthens the powerful muscles of the back that protect your back muscles from spasms. From a plank position, push hard on your hands and lift your hips into the air so that your body is in a straight line from your hands to your hips. Relax in this position, and, if necessary, pedal the feet (one heel to the floor at a time) to stretch out the calves and hamstrings. Hold for 10 breaths, then relax. Repeat two more times.
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Shifting your focus toward what you love about your body won’t suddenly prompt you to abandon your healthy lifestyle.
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Self-Love continued from B1
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But, as is often the case when I talk about body-love and acceptance, I inevitably receive a few responses that condone a certain amount of body obsession and equate body-love to complacency. Many people think that loving your body is giving up on it, and obsessing over your flaws will help you change them. I get that. On the surface, it makes sense. There’s something we perceive to be a problem, so we attack it by all means necessary. We obsess over our love handles, our cellulite, and our muffin tops. We obsess over our diet and our training schedule and every inch of our body to the extent that, yes, we might actually lose body fat and transform our bodies. But is obsessing over our flaws an effective and sustainable means for change? I argue firmly in opposition. Loving your body is not resignation. Accepting your body is not complacency. Choosing to focus on the things you love about your body is not, in any way, giving up on your fitness efforts. Instead, I have found in my 15 years as a fitness professional that approaching your fitness endeavors from a foundation of love, gratitude, and radical self-acceptance is actually a much more sustainable, and far less miserable experience. Standing in front of the mirror and saying, “I love my shoulders” or “I have
killer quads” is not going to make you stop exercising, is it? Calling your attention to your strengths and super powers won’t make you decide to just give up and stop evolving, will it? Shifting your focus toward what you love about your body won’t suddenly prompt you to abandon your healthy lifestyle. This is what such a shift in focus will do: 1. Allow you the latitude to treat your body with love and respect 2. Give you the energy you need to be present in your life and approach fitness and nutrition with gratitude and enthusiasm 3. Consistently improve in a sustainable manner that doesn’t question your self-worth 4. Grant you the freedom to embody your fitness intentions in a way that does not challenge your value system Obsessing over your “flaws” in an effort to change them, on the other hand, will typically cause you to do the following: 1. Yo-yo, rebound, binge, and restrict 2. Never feel good enough 3. Miss out on the beauty and magic of the process 4. Regard fitness and nutrition as a means to an end rather than a way of life 5. Encourage destructive perfectionist tendencies 6. Make the entire fat-loss process miserable
So while oftentimes obsessing over the things you want to change about your body might give you the laser focus to do so, how is that going to affect your internal resources, your quality of life, your sense of self-worth? Do you want to show up in the world energized, inspired, and grateful? Do you want to love the way you eat and the way food makes you feel? Do you want to crave movement because of its many emotional and physical benefits? Do you want to believe that, yes, while you may want to transform your body, you aren’t constantly obsessing over it, and as a result, missing out on the rest of your life? That’s what shifting your focus toward love will allow you to do. That’s what it means to embody self-love. It doesn’t mean you become complacent and stop living a healthy lifestyle. It doesn’t mean you say forget it and start eating donuts every day for breakfast and frequently skip workouts. It means that when you look in the mirror, instead of thinking, “I’m so disgusting, and I need to lose my belly fat,” you think, “Wow! That’s a powerful, beautiful, capable body—and for that, my gratitude is overflowing.” Neghar Fonooni is a fitness and lifestyle coach, entrepreneur, and the founder of Eat, Lift, & Be Happy. For more information, visit NegharFonooni.com ALLIANCE/SHUTTERSTOCK
Too Much Sitting Linked to Earlier Death in Older Women By Ted Boscia Older women who spend a lot of time sitting die earlier than their most active peers, new research shows. A new study of about 93,000 postmenopausal women shows those with the highest amounts of sedentary time—defined as sitting and resting but not sleeping—have increased premature mortality rates. The association remains even when controlling for physical mobility and function, chronic disease status, demographic factors, and overall fitness—meaning that even habitual exercisers are at risk if they have high amounts of idle time. Published online in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the study shows that women with more than 11 hours of daily sedentary time faced a 12 percent increase in all-cause premature mortality compared with the most energetic group— those with four hours or less of inactivity.
The sedentary group also upped their odds for death due to cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, and cancer by 13, 27, and 21 percent, respectively. “The assumption has been that if you’re fit and physically active, that will protect you, even if you spend a huge amount of time sitting each day,” says Rebecca Seguin, assistant professor of nutritional sciences at Cornell University. “In fact, in doing so, you are far less protected from negative health effects of being sedentary than you realize.” Use It or Lose It Worse still, excess sedentary time tends to make it harder to regain physical strength and function. Women begin to lose muscle mass at age 35, a change that accelerates with menopause. Regular exercise, especially lifting weights and other muscular strengthbuilding exercises, helps to counteract these declines, but research shows
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Women can adopt small changes that make a big difference.
that more everyday movement on top of working out is also important for maintaining health. “In general, a ‘use it or lose it’ philosophy applies,” Seguin says. “We have a lot of modern conveniences and technologies that, while making us more efficient, also lead to decreased activity and diminished ability to do things. Women need to find ways to remain active.” Starting in middle age and even younger, women can adopt small changes that make a big difference. “If you’re in an office, get up and move around frequently. If you’re retired and have more idle time, find ways to move around inside and outside the house,” Seguin says. “Get up between TV programs, take breaks in computer and reading time, and be conscious of interrupting prolonged sedentary time.” Though previous research has linked prolonged sedentary time with poor health outcomes, the new study is one of the largest and most ethnically diverse of its type. The women, ages 50 to 79 at the study’s outset as part of the national Women’s Health Initiative Study, were followed over 12 or more years. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute funded the study. This article was originally published by Cornell University. Republished via Futurity.org under Creative Commons License 4.0.
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May 20–26, 2016 TheEpochTimes.com/EpochFit ALEJANDRO ESCAMILLA/PD
HEALTH & FITNESS DIRECTORY Discover distinguished local establishments with great reviews Integrative Medicine
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Exercise can aid mental health as well as academic achievement.
5 Ways Your Body Can Talk to Your Brain By Jann Ingmire
W
e usually think our mind is in control and telling our body what to do. But there is a lot of scientific evidence that shows the chatter between mind and body goes two ways. Sian Beilock, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, believes the body-mind connection starts early. “Movement matters with everyone, but it is especially important for babies and young children,” Beilock says. “Mobile kids hit cognitive milestones faster.” She says simple steps like allowing babies to run around naked—when appropriate—can help them explore their worlds. Wearing diapers and using baby walkers can limit a baby’s ability to interact with the world and hinder the process of learning how to walk. The more quickly children learn how to walk and explore, the faster their cognitive development. In Beilock’s new book “How the Body Knows Its Mind,” she offers the latest evidence about the body’s influence on the mind. 5 Body-to-Brain Tips The book offers many tips on how to use your body, actions, or surroundings to stimulate your mind and to influence those around you. Here are a few: 1. Take active breaks from work or vexing problems to give your brain a chance to regroup and reboot. Physically walking away from the problem for a few minutes may help you solve it. 2. Your body’s posture and expressions are not just reflections of your mind—they can influence your mood. Stand tall to help give yourself confidence and to send a signal to those around you that you have brought your “A game” to the table. And be mindful of your facial expressions. Your brain uses your expressions as cues to feel emotions. Smiling can actually make you feel happier. 3. Practice in the real conditions under which you will have to perform—whether it’s public speaking, a test, or an important match. It’s also good to practice in front of others, so when all eyes are on you, it’s nothing new. 4. Write it out. Keeping a journal can help you deal with the stress of a test or your worries in daily life. Physically downloading worries from your mind (by putting pen to paper) has positive performance outcomes, and reducing that stress affects your health in good ways, too. 5. Spend time in nature as often as you can, and find time to meditate. New science shows that a walk in the woods rejuvenates our minds and
improves our ability to pay attention and focus. Meditation for even a few minutes a day can help alleviate anxiety and chronic pain. It also can help with self-control that may be helpful for working to break bad habits, like smoking. “Little things we do can have a big effect,” Beilock says. “The idea of the book is that if we can understand the science behind how the body affects the brain, we will be in a great position to ensure that we’re always putting our best foot forward when it matters the most.” Moving Helps Kids Learn Incorporating physical activity into more subjects can help kids learn in school, according to Beilock. “We can’t just keep students confined to their chairs—we have to get them up, out, and moving,” Beilock says. “When the subjects are math or physics, getting students to actually physically experience some of the concepts they’re learning about changes how their brains process the information and can lead to better performance on a test.” Movement also helps explain the connection between music and math. Why do kids tend to excel in both? It’s because the brain areas controlling finger dexterity and numbers largely overlap. Beilock unpacks the latest research showing that when kids exercise their fingers through regular piano play, their grasp of numbers improves. Exercise can aid mental health as well as academic achievement, according to Beilock. “The research shows that getting kids moving is important not only for their physical well-being, but for their mental well-being, too.” She says schools need to emphasize “the 4 R’s”— reading, (w)riting, (a)rithmetic, and recess. Boys’ academic achievement may especially benefit from recess, she adds. Exercising as We Age Exercise is equally important for older adults, as it can promote healthy aging mentally and physically. “There are clear differences in brain health in fit, older adults compared with their more sedentary counterparts,” Beilock says. “And these differences carry consequences for thinking and reasoning as well as for memory.” Beilock stresses that aerobic exercise, which can alter the structure and functioning of the brain, is key for improving mental health. Activities like swimming, running, cycling, walking briskly, or even doing household chores at a vigorous pace can benefit the brain, in addition to keeping the body fit. This article was originally published by the University of Chicago. Republished via Futurity.org under Creative Commons License 4.0.
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SECRETS OF KOREAN MEDICINE
The Lies of Synthetic Drugs
At best, synthetic medicine can only pacify the symptoms of disease.
The era of synthetic drugs is waning with the return to herbal medicine Part 30
COURTESY OF DR. SEO HYO-SEOK
By Dr. Seo Hyo-seok Modern medicine has many kinds of synthetic drugs to treat chronic diseases. However, once patients start to take them, they usually become slaves to these drugs, needing more and more to suppress symptoms in a constant cycle of repression and recurrence that aggravates their bodies. So, for example, a patient asks, “Doctor, will I be fully cured?” The doctor replies, “Chronic nasal inflammation is a disorder that you will have for the rest of your life.” Patient: “What about asthma? Doctor: “The same with asthma.” Patient: “What about atopic allergies, COPD, arthritis, diabetes, and heart disorders?” Doctor: “The same with those diseases.” Although all hospitals around the world may appear to heal diseases extremely well, often in the process, treatments destroy the immune system and aggressive treatments kill normal healthy cells. This causes patients to die gradually, suffering from pain induced by the toxicity of the drugs. Many people nowadays blindly believe in synthetic drugs, but their harmful consequences are truly severe and enormous. For example, the disease symptoms that arise as a result of taking synthetic drugs are referred to as “side effects.” However, when there is an action, there must be an equal and opposite reaction, and it would be more accurate to call these symptoms that arise “reactions” rather than “side effects.” The real problem with synthetic medicine is that its nature is foreign to the body, and it is simply not possible to expect the body to find homeostasis and true health as a result of injecting it with a foreign substance. This is because when a foreign substance enters, your body will become highly tense, and the next time it encounters this unfamiliar substance, it will reject it.
The real problem with synthetic medicine is that its nature is foreign to the body.
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On the other hand, your body has been designed to recognize and be friendly toward the countless substances in nature. So when it encounters natural medicines, your body will welcome them as though meeting a long-cherished friend. This is the reason why our body, which is born out of the nature, responds well to herbal medicine. At best, synthetic medicine can only pacify the symptoms of disease. Analgesics, sedatives, and anti-inflammatory medications eliminate discomfort temporarily. However, these medications don’t treat the cause of disease. It is a very dangerous thing for doctors to treat diseases without treating their underlying causes. Many drugs, including steroids, antihistamines, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and anti-cancer drugs, are toxic to the body and accumulate in it. The accu-
In order to feel well, you need to treat the fundamental cause of illness, not mask symptoms. TJ ASAM/SHUTTERSTOCK
Your body welcomes medicines made from herbs. mulation of toxic waste in the body accordingly ends up destroying the immune systems of patients, which leads to the severe aggravation of chronic diseases. For these reasons, it is not right to try to treat a disease without addressing the fundamental cause. These kinds of drugs should be reserved for temporary use during emergency situations but not continued over long periods of time to maintain health. Anyone who gets sick will resort to medicine with two desires: first that the drug be effective and secondly that it work quickly. However, both of these wishes are misguided and will definitively lead to adverse results. For example, hypotensive drugs for high blood pressure, and drugs for diabetes and asthma are highly effective. Patients will experience an immediate drop in blood pressure or blood glucose levels, or the quick cessation of asthma symptoms. Their results seem amazing—just like magic. However, once you start these drugs, there is no natural stopping point, and you may have to take them for the rest of your life. The longer you take them, the more and more potent dosages you will need. Then before you know it, you will be taking a fistful of drugs, and your body will become increasingly more tired, with soreness, numbness, and pain in the limbs. With this constant pain, the will and desire to live will gradually and increasingly drain out of you. What then can you do in order to heal? You can strengthen your body so it is able to heal disease. You do not have to take any synthetic drugs to heal chronic diseases, and you can feel extremely comfortable and be healthy. In order for your body to heal these diseases, your lungs must be thoroughly cleansed. Once the lungs are clean, their capacity will increase. This will naturally lead to the optimal conditions for the health of the tonsils, which are a key first line of defense of the immune system. Once the tonsils are strengthened, you will then be able to heal from a wide range of diseases. After two months of cleansing your lungs with herbal therapy, you will not catch the common cold anymore, chronic nasal inflammation (rhinitis) will disappear after three months, and the roots of asthma will be uprooted after four months of cleansing the lungs. The improved health of the lungs will also improve the elimination of waste via the skin and can thus heal atopic conditions such as eczema. In addition, cleansing the lungs can help treat infectious diseases. Although antibiotics and anti-viral medications are effective at treating these diseases, you can also overcome them if you have fortified the health of the tonsils. With healthy tonsils,
you will have little difficulty overcoming infectious diseases such as MERS, SARS, avian flu, and swine flu. Farewell and Thanks For the past 30 weeks, I have been writing articles for the Epoch Times. I have done my best to raise awareness of the “side effects” of synthetic drugs, which are prescribed indiscriminately in modern medicine and with unsatisfactory knowledge of the fundamental causes of the diseases being treated. I have attempted to present an alternative means of true healing, one that does not require any synthetic drugs and works by restoring the immunity and natural healing capabilities of body. The Korean herbal formula I use does this by cleansing and fortifying the lungs. With this therapy, thousands of people have been able to enjoy a long life in great health. I hope my articles have interested you and given you hope where perhaps you had none. I came to discover these secrets of Korean medicine over the past 43 years by completely curing approximately 155,000 patients who were suffering from all sorts of allergic, chronic, and terminal illnesses; severe pulmonary disorders; and excruciating pain.
It is not right to try to treat a disease without addressing the fundamental cause. A large number of medical doctors, professors, and patients with chronic diseases throughout the world who have read these columns and emailed me messages of encouragement and a wide range of inquiries have further motivated me in my writing. This provided me with the impetus to complete this series of articles. I would like to convey my sincerest gratitude for the interest and support of all readers and sincerely hope that you will be able to join me in the new era of strong immunity through cleansing the lungs with herbal medicine. Dr. Seo Hyo-seok is the director of the Pyunkang Korean Medicine Hospital, which has seven branches in South Korea, one at Stanton University in California, and one in Atlanta. Dr. Seo entered Kyung Hee University in Korea at the top of his class and after years of research, developed the Pyunkang-Hwan herbal formula, which improves immunity by strengthening lung function. It has helped cure over 155,000 patients of various conditions. Find out more at Pyunkang.com Email: Dr.Seo@wwdoctor.com