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Explore the latest articles by Dr. Sara Szal, where she blends science and holistic wisdom to address the most pressing issues in women’s health, longevity, and personal transformation.
Dr. Sara’s Book Club #3: Hardwiring Happiness: The Hidden Power of Everyday Experiences
I wanted to let you know about a new book that I think you’ll like…. Because I LOVE it. It’s called Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence. It’s written by my colleague — neuropsychologist and bestselling author Rick Hanson, Ph.D. — and it lays out a simple method that uses…
Mental Vitamin: Sewing | Knitting | Cooking
Love this idea from neuroscientist Kelly Lambert, PhD’s book on depression, about choosing alternatives to the conventional quick-fix of changing your neurotransmitter mix with a prescription for Lexapro, Prozac or Wellbutryn or some new pill. “Lambert shows how when you knit a sweater or plant a garden, when you prepare a meal or simply…
Organically Jeaned: Change Up the Paradigm
Learned today that the European Union has rigid boundaries on the type of cotton they import – no toxic dyes, no cheap cotton laced with DDT, as several cottons from China and India were recently demonstrated to contain. The EU regularly tests their imported textiles carefully; we in the US do not. One of the worst…
Keepin' It Real: Bolinas for Holiday
Signing off for a week of reading, doodling, strolling, yoga, meditating, cooking, writing, and, oh yeah, hanging out with my kids and DH. Guess where I am? Thinking I need more honor system in my life, like this Gospel Farm stand. Let’s develop that idea…. Back in a week or two. Officially off duty as…
ReCAP of 2010: Dr. Sara Puts It Out There
Ok, friends: It’s D-2 for the start of my organic experiment. As I look back on the crazy-assed testing I’ve done to measure my toxic load this month, and look to Saturday 1.1.11 as the start of my experiment, I’m systematizing some of the delicious gems I’ve uncovered in the past year of prep. Here…
Notes on an Organic Life, Week 2
I’m 2 weeks into my organic experiment of wearing, eating and schmearing only organic. Frankly it’s been difficult: cold, my options are rather limited and it’s been expensive. Yet I love it. Let’s start with cold. I bought organic wool yarn from a sweet sheep farm in Petaluma last October. I thought I’d pop out…
Madonna My Thyroid, Please
One comment personal trainers hear daily from overweight, middle-aged women is: “I want Madonna arms.” It makes them want to shoot themselves. Actually, um, I want Madonna arms. While she is controversial, chameleonic and doesn’t always comment wisely on her art, she is arguably looking might fine for her age. In fact, I think she…
Sake Bombs or Kale? Vacation Review
At the risk of sounding insufferable, I have to share some thoughts on two side-by-side vacations. Let me preface our discussion with two disclosures: I have adrenal dysregulation and two young kids. While I’m in adrenal “recovery,” as many of you know who are on this path with me — recovery takes a long,…
Beginnings of the Ends: Telomere Storytime
I’ve been talking up telomeres a lot lately, which are emerging as the key biomarker of biological aging. Think you look younger than your chronological age? Here’s your marker. Telomeres are a lot like the plastic tips on the ends of shoelaces – in this case, telomeres keep DNA on the ends of chromosomes from…