This recipe is great because it uses beans to add fiber and protein. And a serving is only 145 calories!

Ingredients:

1/4 teaspoon safflower oil, (2) 15 ounce cans of black beans, drained and rinsed, 1 cup pitted dates, 1 cup all fruit raspberry jam (or any favor you like), 1 Tbsp vanilla, 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour, 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/4 tsp salt.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 baking pan with the oil.

Combine the black beans, dates, jam, vanilla in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt and process again.

Pour into baking dish and smooth with spatula. Bake for 30 minutes or until set. remove, cool and cut into 16 squares.

-per serving: 145 calories, 5 g protein, 33 g carbohydrate, 15g sugar, 1 g total fat, 8 g fiber, 110 mg sodium.

“Top risk factors include being unable to work or unemployed; having no health insurance; suffering from obesity,” notes psychologist Gregory L. Jantz, citing a Centers for Disease Control study.

“Unfortunately, those topics have dominated headlines for the past five years. What’s worse, by 2020, the World Health Organization estimates depression will be second most debilitating disease worldwide.”

The author of “Overcoming Anxiety, Worry and Fear,” (www.aplaceofhope.com) says these negative emotions along with sustained, excessive stress can lead to depression, which now overshadows other  problems for which patients seek help at his clinic.

“Depression can be rooted in a number of problems, and those need to be addressed – simply taking a pill is not usually effective treatment. Anger, fear and guilt can all be underlying causes, even when the person isn’t aware he’s experiencing those feelings.”

A holistic treatment approach, which may or may not include medication, helps people overcome a bout of the debilitating illness, and learn techniques to manage it themselves, he says.

People at risk of depression can work at maintaining their emotional equilibrium by counterbalancing negative feelings with optimism, hope, and joy. This is most effective if they do this holistically, addressing the four main categories of human need.

“By purposefully feeding the intellectual, relational, physical, and spiritual aspects of your life positive emotions, you can achieve balance,” Jantz says.

He offers these suggestions:

• Intellectual: Be aware of what you’re feeding to your mind. Try reading a positive, uplifting book, and setting aside time in your day to fill yourself up intellectually with constructive, encouraging messages. Be aware of what you are reading and listening to, and seek to counter the negative input we all get with positive influences.

• Relational: Think of a person you really enjoy talking to, someone who makes you feel good about yourself or someone who’s just fun to be around. Plan today to spend time with that person this week, even if it’s just for a moment or two. Make the effort to verbalize your appreciation for his or her positive presence in your day.

• Physical: Physical activity is a wonderful way of promoting emotional health. Engage in some mild exercise this week. Take a walk around the neighborhood. Stroll through a city park. The goals are to get your body moving and to allow you to focus on something other than yourself and your surroundings. Greet your neighbors, stop at the park and watch someone playing with his dog, or cheer at a Little League game. Intentionally open up your focus to include the broader world around you.

• Spiritual Support: Take some time to nourish your spirit. If you are a member of a religious organization, make sure to attend services this week. If you are not, listen to some religious or meditative music. Spend time in quiet reflection, meditation, or prayer. Intentionally engage in an activity that replenishes and reconnects your spirit.

If you are not depressed but feel anxious and stressed, have trouble sleeping or find your not content much of the time, Jantz says it’s time to start taking care of yourself.

“Depression is painful and as debilitating as any other disease,” he says. “Take steps to de-stress your life and to work on emotional balance before it gets worse.”

About Gregory L. Jantz, Ph.D

Gregory L. Jantz has more than 25 years experience in mental health counseling and is the founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, near Seattle, Wash. The Center, “a place for hope,” provides comprehensive, coordinated care from a treatment team that addresses medical, physical, psychological, emotional, nutritional, fitness and spiritual factors involved in recovery. He is the best-selling author of more than 20 books, including “When Your Teenager Becomes…The Stranger in the House.” If you’re concerned you or a loved one may be depressed, visit www.aplaceofhope.com and click the “Are You?” tab for a self-evaluation.

Emotional issues are often linked with stomach aches in both kids and adults. Emotional trauma's or memories of such traumas can be felt in the gut. Sometimes when we remember a terrible event, we can feel the twisting in our stomachs as we remember. Many medical diagnosis such as ulcers and Irritable Bowel Syndrome are closely linked to stress and anxiety. GERD or acid reflux disease (heartburn) can also be linked to emotions like anger.

According to Victor S. Sierpina, M.D., just like the "third eye" is the center of spiritual awareness, we can regard the naval, or umbilicus as the "fourth eye", that helps us to experience the world emotionally. Many relaxation techniques focus on breathing "from the belly" in order to find balance and calm.

We are quick to turn to medications such as antacids, anti-gas, laxatives, etc to relieve our stomach discomforts. Most often though, stress relief can be just as effective or more effective in calming symptoms.

Getting stress under control through deep breathing, meditation,  guided imagery and anger management can do your gut good.

For more information on stomach issues of all kinds, pick up a copy of The Healthy Gut Workbook, by VictorS. Sierpina, MD.

According to NA, the menu offers six "power" meals, meaning they are low calorie, have "limited processed carbs" and are an "excellent source of protein". They are also free of salty, fatty ingredients like tortilla chips and cheese.

Here they are:  For Breakfast, they offer the Egg White Bowl with Roasted Turkey and veggies which weighs in at 190 calories, 25 grams of protein, 1 gram of saturated fat and no refined carbs (sorry no bread). The sodium of 500 milligrams isn't great however.

For Lunch, they offer Chicken Hummus Bowl, Mediterranean Chicken Salad, Mediterranean Roasted Turkey Salad, or Steak Lettuce Wraps. All between 280-360 calories and 22-35 grams of protein. The sodium although high, is still better than most restaurant lunches.

Not sure what the big secret is here. We all want in on this!

They say all you have to do is ask. 

In this country today we manufacture approximately 3400 calories of food for every man, woman, and child. We need about 2000 calories to sustain ourselves and maintain a healthy weight. So what happens to the difference? It is pushed on us by the food manufacturers in the form of cheap, high calorie food. And why do we have so much food? Well that's a long story... but mostly it has to do with farm subsidy policy that began in the 1970's. The government told the farmers that they could produce as much corn as they wanted, and they obliged.  This resulted in farms becoming industrialized operations producing way more corn and soy beans than we in the US, could consume. Lots of cheap food sold to manufacturers to make cheap processed food with. Too many calories pushed on the people.

So to say that Michael Bloomberg and the government have no right to dictate food policy to us , well that sentiment is about 40 years too late.

Vegetables have a lighter energy than meats. Meat from animals raised in poor conditions and killed in inhumane ways has a different energy than humanely raised animals.

Greens, such as kale or collards grow up toward the sun and are rich in chlorophyll.  These foods provide us with oxygen and lift our moods and spirits. Root vegetables, such as carrots and beets, grow down toward the ground and have a way of grounding us.

Take note of how you feel after you've eaten a certain food. Check on your mood and see if you can make the food and mood connection.

Although the industry's big wigs were alerted back in the late 1990's as to what their foods were doing to our children, they listened politely and said no thank you to the scientists trying to alert them. Give people what they want- and what they want is taste.

The problem with this logic, is that the public is fighting an enemy that they don't really know exists. The packaging is meant to look harmless, and the science behind the product is ...well science. How can an unsuspecting public fight this? Many comments on this article blame the public for not having discipline to say no to these foods. I think this sorely misses the point. When a majority of products on supermarket shelves are scientifically engineered to mix the exact right amount of  fat, sugar, and salt to find the spot in your brain that brings you 'bliss', who has the disadvantage here? Parents are running around the supermarket grabbing convenience for their busy lives- does that mean we should make the most unhealthful foods possible for them to grab? Foods that once eaten are addictive, and cause us to come back again and again. Some laugh and say hey - this is not crack cocaine. Well really? Research shows that MRI's done on people eating some of these foods look exactly like the MRI's of people doing addictive drugs. Hitting the brains sweet spot...its all the same.

For example, according to Michael Moss, Prego spaghetti sauce was trying to fight for market share among the other brands in 2004. They discovered after much research exactly what the public craved. They craved a chunky sauce, that ended up having 2 teaspoons of sugar in a half cup serving. This is as much sugar as is in two oreo cookies. It also has 1/3 of the sodium recommended for an entire day.

The examples of this go on and on. Does the public bear some responsibility in what they chose to eat? Of course they do. However, the public needs to be educated about what is happening in our food supply. They need public service announcements, just like we had for cigarette smoking. They need to know. 

Salt+ Fat /Satisfying crunch = A Food Designed to Addict

Real change occurs only when we step out of our comfort zone.

We want to do something different. Something is not working in our lives, and we know it. We need to eat better, move more, drink less coffee or alcohol, learn to destress...whatever it is that we feel is holding us back from where we want to be. Yet -  we meet with resistance. It is uncomfortable to make a change. We have to pick up the phone and make that call, or we have to walk into the gym alone and exposed. All of our weaknesses out there and visible. It is scary.

But we know in our heart of hearts that real change, growth, only occurs outside the places where we are most comfortable.

Do we want to stretch? Do we want to grow? What are we really afraid of? As one of my teachers expressed this weekend, " courage is a love affair with the unknown".  We are all courageous. Most of us just need a little support.

I have hesitated to use this blog to reach out to those of you who want coaching, but I see the need and I can share my knowledge. I no longer want to be just a consumer of knowledge, I want to share what I know with my clients. Please contact me on this blog, I am offering free sessions.

Listening to this CD evoked many emotions in me. The sound has a steady drum beat, and the music feels almost primitive.  As such, it went straight to my core. The first track "Home" feels almost religious, evoking visions of being in a house of worship...making me want to sway.  I having been using this CD in my daily meditations, as well as in my morning stretch/yoga ritual. I find it soothing and stimulating at the same time.

It seems that the creators of this album are researching the health effects of vocalizing with music. The study that they are conducting "proposes to measure the cortisol levels and heart rate variability of subjects participating in self care practice of vocalizing with music." According to the Health Research Director, Peter Wolff, "music is an emotional experience and may facilitate a physiological healing state."

I think we can all relate to that. Who among us, doesn't feel lifted when listening to the music we love?  I find it interesting that the study discusses using your smartphone as a way to have this music accessible, because that is exactly what I did as soon as I received it.  Having it on my phone has encouraged me to listen to it often, especially at times when I feel stress. I admit, I have not "self vocalized" while listening to Voice of Life, I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of listening.

To learn more about getting your own copy of VOICE OF LiFE and the study that is involved, visit www.voiceoflifemusic.com.