Depression has long been associated with a variety of physiological symptoms, including joint and muscle pain.  Now a new study out of Hebrew University in Jerusalem has found having the blues is also bad for your bones.

Researchers looked at scientific data on over 20 thousand people and found that there is a clear association between depression and having lower bone density.  Apparently, depression increases the activity of osteoclasts – specialized cells responsible for the breakdown of bone.

This is important because osteoporosis is the most widespread degenerative disease in the so-called “developed countries”. 

One in three women will develop osteoporosis in her lifetime (and one in five men). Young women suffering from depression are actually at the greatest risk, because they are still in peak bone-building years.

So add this to the list of reasons that people who are (or think they maybe) suffering from depression should get medical help.  Symptoms of depression, include:

• Loss of interest in normal daily activities
• Feeling sad or down
• Feeling hopeless
• Crying spells for no apparent reason
• Problems sleeping
• Trouble focusing or concentrating
• Difficulty making decisions
• Unintentional weight gain or loss
• Irritability
• Restlessness
• Being easily annoyed
• Feeling fatigued or weak
• Feeling worthless
• Loss of interest in sex
• Thoughts of suicide or suicidal behavior
• Unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches

  Geralyn Coopersmith, MA, CSCS is an exercise physiologist, certified personal trainer, author of Fit + Female:  The Complete Fitness and Nutrition Game Plan for Your Unique Body Type and the creator of The Best Me Ever, a comprehensive weight loss and wellness system just for women.  It’s a first of its kind program designed to fit into a busy women’s life.  Lose weight and look great — 90 Day Unconditional Money Back Guarantee!!

Discovering your groove and creating a luscious life is all about allowing for grace through your next transition.

Today marks the third anniversary of my flight from corporate America to entrepreneurial Freedom. An auspicious occasion making me grin from ear to ear all day long.  I did it and survived.  Here we are three years later and I am no longer entrenched in the drama of what was.  This new path,  whilst still unfolding,  represents following my bliss.

Is seems only natural to post my transition story to celebrate a wicked cool week.

Enjoy!

Not too long ago my career had been dedicated to sales, mentoring, coaching and leading an exceptional sales force.

For most of my prior life, I was a woman who: was happily married, would earn a six figure income, was a loyal employee, an over achiever, traveled to exotic places, would live in my dream home, and would be involved in the highly charged corporate world forever!

Today I am a woman who: is happily married, the mother of a sweet and healthy daughter, has earned the six figure income, plus all the perks, has traveled to many delightful places, lives in the home of my dreams, and has become a successful professional life and business coach.

Commence with the Transition …

A sacred knowing or astuteness accompanies the first foray into motherhood. Children have a way of smacking you upside the head with an uber dose of what is truly critical. The miracle of child birth became the catalyst for a complete lifestyle transformation. While home on maternity leave I was watching a morning news program and became drawn to an interview with a professional life coach. The attraction was profound. I contacted the television station for more information, found a local coach to talk with, and began to learn about the business of professional coaching. “Co-Active Coaching – New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in Work and Life” written by coaching pioneers, Laura Whitworth, Henry Kimsey-House and Phil Sandahl was a my first coaching playbook.

When I returned to my career, the coaching process became my revitalized way to lead my sales force. Coaching in the sales environment, gave me a load of practical experience for what would become my true calling.

After a few more loyal years, the high stress levels of being a corporate creature and doing business in someone else’s boardroom was losing its appeal. Even though my career path resulted in the realization of my goals and dreams, I became completely disinterested in corporate culture and, unwilling to jump through any more flaming circus hoops for money.

It’s amusing, and disheartening, when you realize your dedication, smart work, energy, – all the things you put into your career daily – are ONLY for the sake of performing a duty and receiving a paycheck. This new found awareness helped cement my corporate world exit strategy. It was time to let go of the illusion of control that the “big bucks” created.

Not too long ago, I made one of the most important decisions in my life. The promise to leave corporate America and give my entrepreneurial calling a shot. I started preparing my exit strategy. No longer a company creature; my job was surely destroying my soul. I longed to spend my days being left alone by the “powers that be”.  Please understand, my prior career was a lot of fun and a great challenge for a long time. The reason why I excelled and stayed on the path for 18 years had a big part to do with being left alone, to do what I did best. When a new regime change took hold, the corporate culture changed drastically, which led to my slow and certain suffocation. Without the discomfort, I may have never allowed myself to consider following my dreams.

More on discomfort … I was extremely anxious giving up a significant income to go out on my own. For awhile I even tried to trick myself into staying with the CASH. Then I would ultimately realize how many people have gone before me and taken a well planned leap of faith. What ever you want to achieve you can accomplish with great discipline and imagination.

After thoughtful consideration, much manic behavior, conversations with my family and confidantes; moving forward on the path of my dreams was the ONLY option. Sharing your plans and dreams with the people who know you intimately is an excellent way to receive honest feedback. These are the same people who will hold your hand through the transition. Declaring my plan for independence helped me stay on the path to personal freedom.

For about one year, many of my evenings, weekends and lunch hours were dedicated to self awareness and studying for my professional coaching certification. This transition time included, setting a new household budget, reallocating investments, setting up a line of credit, and buying a new car (for the first time in 11 years) The plan was to build my coaching business and the True Balance brand, one day at a time, until I could give my two weeks notice.

Straddling two worlds was fairly easy. The job I no longer enjoyed was palatable because I could see, feel and taste the light of my future. The most difficult part of the divide would turn out to be leaving my sales force. Leaving them behind was my biggest cross to bear until I allowed myself to let go and to understand that each person was amazing in his or her own right and would ultimately be fine in my wake.

During this time, finding humor in the day to day corporate environment was the greatest blessing. Ultimately, you do what ever you can to NOT take yourself too seriously when working through a life changing transition. The discovery of professional humor, allowed for functioning well in the environment and finding some peace in the moment.

Finally, after fourteen years, I left my prior life on my terms. My former employer decided to downsize our sales management group within 60 days of my planned exodus. The interesting part of this equation is three managers were given the responsibility of figuring out who would leave. Did I really jump up and say “pick me, pick me!?” I was thrilled to have the “out” and volunteered to be the “lucky” laid off executive and have never looked back. Thankfully, this scenario meant an unexpected severance package. Synchronicity is such a blessing!

I packed my box, (the same day) apparently my willingness to leave sped up my departure … Said so long to the big bucks, turned in my company SUV, let go of a cushy expense account, and found the courage to walk away from a career that no longer suited me.

Fast-forward three years …

Being in the business of helping people recognize their brilliance is a blast! The focus for the rest of my days is inspiring people do the things they think they cannot do on their own. I am sharing every ounce of my prior business experience to coach professional women in career transition to set big goals, achieve extraordinary results and create balance in their lives.

In three kick ass years I have dreamed and mind mapped my way to:  a professional coaching certification, the creation of two coaching businesses, a yoga teaching certification, a series of Luscious Living playshops, and becoming a best selling co-author. Currently I am doing final edits for my next book after conducting more than 40 interviews with inspirational entrepreneurs.  Life on Your Terms – Stories of Entrepreneurial Freedom will be finished by the end of the year.  DIG IT!

I am grateful for the courage, passion and wonder to live the rest of my life on my terms.

1. Do you have a liberation story you want to share?
2. Are you ready to accelerate living life on your terms?
3. What can you do today to begin moving forward with your next transition?

Shann Vander Leek is the Founder of True Balance Life Coaching and Co-founder of Seize True Success. She is a Coach Training Alliance certified professional coach, and certified yoga instructor. Shann is a prolific blogger, published writer and co-author of the Best Selling Book – Wake Up Women BE Happy Healthy & Wealthy. Shann’s personal style and direct approach have guided and inspired many in overcoming personal and professional challenges. Her background in sales, marketing and client development, along with leading a talented sales force for many years prepared her for the business of professional coaching. Shann inspires women in transition to create balance in their lives through personal coaching, yoga and creative expression. Telephone and email consultations make her accessible to clients all over the world. To find out about her Coaching Programs for Women, call Shann at 231.668.111 or visit www.truebalancelifecoaching.com

Thou shouldst eat to live; not live to eat ~ Socrates

My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four.  Unless there were three other people ~ Orson Welles.

When I was a kid I had a plate with an angel’s face on it that said, “Be an angel, eat it all“.   In fact, when I was growing up we were always told to “clean our plates” because there were, “children starving in Biafra“. 

Now I was a sensitive kid, so it made me really sad to think about those hungry children in Biafra.  I wasn’t even sure where Biafra was, but it sounded very far away.  Moreover, I didn’t understand how my eating lima beans in New Jersey was helping them out. 

I thought a more logical solution would be to put those beans in a box (along with that slab of liver that I also didn’t want) and simply send them to Biafra.  But for reasons never made clear to me, my parents never went for that.

Now that I’m a mom, I take the opposite approach.  I don’t ever force my 9 year old to clean his plate, because he has always had the innate ability to know when he’s full — and stop eating.   And that’s an ability I don’t want to mess with.

It’s fascinating to me.  It doesn’t matter how much he might be enjoying a particular food (even ice cream or cake) whenever he feels full — he just stops eating.  He doesn’t feel the need to finish everything just because its there — or even because it tastes delicious.  And that’s a powerful tool which will set him up for a lifetime of stress-free weight control. 

If you watch babies eat and then push away the nipple or close their mouths to the spoon, it would appear that all of us are born with this innate ability to self-regulate our intake.  But, unfortunately most of us lose it somewhere along the line.  At some point in time (for most of us) food becomes more than fuel for our bodies and we start eating for other reasons.  In this country we eat because:

• It tastes good
• It’s a social activity
• We are bored
• We are stressed or upset
• It’s “time” to eat

I believe that women as a gender, tend to have a more dysfunctional relationship with food than men, because of the added societal pressures we face to stay slim.

For too many of us food is either something we love but feel totally out of control with.  Or something we avoid as much as possible, because we fear we’ll gain weight.  Very few of the women I know feel completely comfortable with food. 

The fact is, we all need to develop a healthy relationship with food, because we need to eat several times every single day.  Food isn’t something that you can avoid — like cigarettes or alcohol.  It isn’t (or rather shouldn’t be) a vice.  In a perfect world, all of us would view food for the fuel that it is, try to make good choices every day and occasionally enjoy the pure pleasures of taste –without going completely overboard. 

Geralyn Coopersmith, MA, CSCS is an exercise physiologist, certified personal trainer, author of Fit + Female:  The Complete Fitness and Nutrition Game Plan for Your Unique Body Type and the creator of The Best Me Ever, a comprehensive weight loss and wellness system just for women.  It’s a first of its kind program designed to fit into a busy women’s life.  Lose weight and look great — 90 Day Unconditional Money Back Guarantee!!

The derision and drama on blogs, news and broadcast nowadays is entertaining, like a domino of tabloids back-to-back. And while we instinctively know that insistent self-actualization is an incredibly banal form of entertainment, it remains so vast in its infectiousness, and so strong in its self-referential feeding, that navel-gazing is now suffocating in its empire.

Let’s poke some holes for air.

You are not genuine because you told me of your heartbreak, or your success or your disease or your strengths or your weaknesses or miscarriage or move or relationship or promotion or demotion or disability or conflict or how your cat peed outside of its litter box.

Gross over-sharing is not encouraging or revolutionary or innovative. You are not absolved because you made what was once private now public.

Enough of the cultish drippy-rainbowed sentences: “What’s holding you back? Yourself;” “Motivation is first about taking that first step;” “Do whatever you want, your intuition will guide you;” “Force yourself to look inward;” “Start telling yourself positive things instead of negative things.”

Enough crowdsourcing your life’s misdeeds, your life’s lessons, your life’s minutiae. Enough with bogus empowerment, dramatics, and inflated realities in the name of support, transparency, attention, acceptance. That is not authenticity. That is allegiance to a culture of nineties motivational speeches.

“For me, the demand that everything be paraded in the public space and that there be no internal forum is a glaring sign of the totalitarianization of democracy,” philosopher Jacques Derrida maintains. “If a right to a secret is not maintained then we are in a totalitarian space.”

“Which is to say,” author Zadie Smith argues in Changing My Mind, “enough of human dissection, of entering the brains of characters, cracking them open, rooting every secret out!”

Authenticity is not about revealing it all, nor complete transparency, nor opening the door and shining a very bright light on every raised goosebump. Authenticity is not about blurring public with private. Authenticity is not about the flailing and flapping of our entire hearts and minds to an audience of mirrored hosts.

We have a right to our private lives. Dear God, we have a right to keep the corners of our lives to ourselves. And it is delicious to do so.

Gulp of Air.

My friend and sister entrepreneur wrote a great article about her experience  hiring and working with a professional coach. If you have ever considered working with a transition coach this post will help you make an informed decision.

• I’m stuck. My business has been moving along for the past few years, but I feel like I’m in a rut, doing the same old things the same old way. Or, I’m new at this business, and can’t figure out my next step, but don’t want to (or can’t) take too much time and energy away from my work.’

Why reinvent the wheel? Whether you’re a new business owner or a seasoned entrepreneur who just needs a new perspective, you can benefit from a coach who has direct experience in building a business. A good coach can help you choose your direction and give you action steps to reach your goal.

• I want more; Clients, income, time. These are three things I never seem to have enough of. It’s time to move to the next level!

Who better to help see you toward your goals than someone who has been successful him/herself? Growing your business involves calculated risks and a leap of faith. A good coach can help you assess your readiness for growth allowing you to carefully look before you leap!

• I’m out of ideas. I want to create a new product or program, but I’m not sure where to begin. What are my options?

Not knowing what’s out there, what the market trends are, and what works / doesn’t work is often a hurdle to starting a new product or offering a new service. Why not brainstorm with someone who has their ear to the ground in the online market? A seasoned coach can help you develop your ideas, become more market-savvy and avoid pitfalls.

• I know what to do, but I need a push. I have all the tools and knowledge I need to reach my goal/create and roll out my new product or service. The only obstacle in my way is ME.

You need somebody to answer to besides yourself. A reliable coach can help you set goals and will hold you accountable, so you’ll stop procrastinating and start succeeding.

• I’m burned out! Truthfully, I’m not enjoying myself, and I’m not sure I want to be in this business anymore.

Before you give up all you have worked for, consult someone who has been there. A coach can help you identify what aspects of your business are causing you distress, and do something about it. Whether you need to let go of a few things, or make a radical shift in your business model, it helps to have someone at your side who can help you sort things out,be your biggest cheerleader, and offer workable solutions so you can do what you love, and love what you do.

Hiring a coach was one of the best things I have done to help me navigate my business through growth, change, and some tough economic times.  If you are at a crossroads in your business, it may be time to consider working with a coach. It is an investment that can save you time, money, and sanity as you build your business!

Want to know about Life Coaching and Business Coaching ?  You are welcome to visit the True Balance Website for access to an interesting global study, 101 Things to Work on With A Professional Coach, and a complimentary life on your terms coaching session.

Donna Toothaker is CEO and founder of 1st VA the highly sought-after online marketing and consulting company. 1st VA specializes in providing online marketing support and services to entrepreneurs and solopreneurs who wish to effectively build or improve their online presence. To discover how 1st VA can help your business – visit http://www.1stva.com.

There have long been misconceptions…about training and conception. 

Norwegian University just released a study which analyzed exercise and it’s impact on fertility over a ten year span.  Researchers studied 3000 women and found that two factors were associated with increased likelihood of infertility:

1. Training every single day
2. Training to exhaustion (regardless of frequency and duration)

This turned out to hold true even after researchers adjusted for other infertility factors (body mass, smoking, previous pregnancies, etc.).

In fact, women who worked out every single day were a whopping 3.5 times more likely to have fertility problems.  Those who exercised everyday to exhaustion had the HIGHEST risk of fertility problems.

The good news is that these factors were reversible, so once training was reduced to more moderate levels (of frequency and intensity) fertility levels rose as well. 

Researchers believe that extreme energy expenditure of exhaustive exercise alters the body’s ability to maintain the normal hormone function essential to the fertility.

That said it’s important not to stop working out all together because good overall fitness is still important for general health, including fertility.  In fact, very low levels of fitness (and obesity) are also associated with conception problems.

Moderate exercise 3-5 times per week is probably fine and beneficial for most women, but every woman is different.  Women should be particularly concerned when their training is associated with missed periods, irregular periods or no periods at all.  Menstrual irregularities are a powerful indicator that hormone function is being negatively impacted by training. 
Geralyn Coopersmith, MA, CSCS is an exercise physiologist, certified personal trainer, author of Fit + Female:  The Complete Fitness and Nutrition Game Plan for Your Unique Body Type and the creator of The Best Me Ever, a comprehensive weight loss and wellness system just for women.  It’s a first of its kind program designed to fit into a busy women’s life.  Lose weight and look great — 90 Day Unconditional Money Back Guarantee!!

For years, I have coveted over a platter that hangs in my friend’s kitchen.  Her young child’s precious handprint forms a turkey in the center with the words “Give Thanks” cascading over the top of the dish. 

I have always loved that memento and vowed someday I would take my children to a “paint your own pottery” place to create the same platter with them. 

Truth be told, I don’t have patience for paint your own pottery places.  Those places drain the life out of me.  There’s way too many color choices and way too many breakables lying about for my four year old to literally act like a bull in a china shop.  Therefore, my inability to make stupid decisions paired with my “You break it; you buy it” fear has kept me away.  I simply avoid the scene entirely and we find other ways to let our creative juices flow without shattering dishes along with our self-esteem. 

Then, last week Allana, Emmalynn and I attended a birthday party at You Do the Dishes in New Tampa.  My girls were thrilled to paint a small figurine and begged me to paint more.  Finally, I felt the inspiration to paint a handprint turkey platter.  The timing was perfect.  The staff was so helpful and hands-on that my anxiety over perfectionism and colors was greatly reduced. 

Ready to gobble up more fun, the girls were so excited to paint a dish for Mommy.  I couldn’t believe what angels sat before me.  Allana picked the colors without hesitation and Emmalynn avoided knocking over shelves of pottery.  Plus, the supportive staff helped make our handprint project a success. 

A few days later, our turkey handprint platter was ready.  I couldn’t wait to see how it came out!  I finally possessed my own precious timeless piece to hang in my kitchen! 

And then, my heart sank.  A large crack appeared down the center of the platter.  My precious turkey dish was now trash. 

I began to feel sorry myself and whined about not having a turkey platter for Thanksgiving.  I had waited years for this dish and now it seemed I was the real turkey. 

The owner explained that occasionally the heat in the kiln will causes pieces to crack and she reassured me I could make another at no additional cost. 

Even though I could easily make another, could I replicate the whole experience?  Would my children be as willing and well-behaved as before? 

Then, I realized how ridiculously shallow I sounded.  It’s just a dish. 

I should be thankful that my children have hands to make turkey handprints. 

I should be thankful that I can even afford to make this dish when other families lack food for their dishes. 

I should be thankful that I have a car to drive to pottery place and a home for us and all our belongings. 

I should be thankful that I have two healthy children and be grateful for every moment we spend together even when they drive my crazy. 

I should be thankful for my health and my husband’s health. 

From this experience, I was grateful for my cracked dish and the lesson in humility it gave me.  Like the dish, my life is not perfect but it’s full of many blessings.  So, for my husband, my two beautiful girls, the occasional cracked dish, the handprints and marker murals on walls and the many other messy blessings in my life… 

I give thanks.

Your relationships with family and friends have a big impact on your career choices and career decisions – and the holidays focus on these relationships more than any other time of year. Are you stuck in career indecision and feel your friends or family might judge you for it? Are you considering a career they might not approve of?  

Especially in the U.S., where so much focus is on your job (think social gathering and the typical opening question – “how’s the job search?” or “how’s work (or school)?”), handling career questions or opinions about your choices from those close to you can be awkward.  

Here are 3 steps to positively anticipate and handle those questions and influences using The Career Key’s High-Quality Decisions self-help article: 

1. Identify any pressure you feel from family or friends – positive or negative – about your career plans. To help you, download a free “Decision Balance Sheet” and complete it for the job or career options you’re considering. Check out this list of Career Choice Consequences to help you “see” what issues may be weighing on you. Your choice may be so welcomed by your friends or family that you feel uncomfortable pressure to be successful or “perfect.” Expectations may need to be lowered.
2. Make a plan for how you will handle each person’s concerns or reactions to your career choice or career indecision. That way you’re not left unprepared (and maybe anxious).

For example, if you’ve been laid off and you haven’t decided if you will go back to school, then prepare and practice a script for how you will answer your mother’s well-meaning but loaded question at the holiday dinner table, “how ARE you?” Instead of saying “things are fine,” which you know will result in cool or hurt silence, wouldn’t it be better to say:

“I’m deciding on whether to go to grad school. I had two informational interviews last month with graduates of the ___ school I’m considering and I’ve got two more scheduled for after Christmas. It’s pretty interesting what’s I’ve learned about _______(the post-graduation job market, financial aid, interesting classes).”

Imagine how your mom will brighten at hearing about what you are doing. With mothers, sometimes giving them more information is better than less, right? (I hope my mother is not reading this post.) 

Or if you are seriously considering a career change from a more secure (if such a thing exists anymore) career like a civil-service government position to starting a business – how have you planned for the risks or consequences and your significant others’ reaction to it? 

Take advantage of family and friends well-meaning interest in you to make sure your career plans and research are as organized and “on track” as you would like. It may have the side benefit of forcing you to set goals for yourself – short-term, realistic and achievable – to get things moving in a positive direction.

The Career Key Blog, run by Juliet Wehr Jones, J.D.  The Career Key™ gives you expert help with your career search and career choices  career change, career planning, job skills, and choosing a college major. Our career assessment helps you find a career by matching your personality with careers and providing you complete and accurate information about each career you choose to explore.

One of the worst things that ever happened to women was the logic card.  We rate, we debate and we rationalize whether or not we should even bother with him.  What we’re forgetting- what we forget, consistently- is there are so many un-plucked, good guys that could be the answer.  Not Mr. Right, or Mr. Right Now, but Mr. Hello.  Mr. Nice to meet you.  Has Hollywood really destroyed your sense of romanticism and given you such unreal expectations that you’ll never take less?  Less is more, when you want a relationship.

Of course, you can wait for Brad Pitt…if you’re Jolie-equese.  If you’re one of the normal, average (yet beautiful) people you’ll need to start opening yourself up.  To possibility.  How much time are you wasting- and aging- by going through a negative list of how he doesn’t measure up?  It’s tiring and it’s an absolute waste of time.  He’s in your circumference if you look.  A friend, a colleague, the man who always remembers your favorite magazine in the shop.  The neighbor who always opens the door.  The mailman that puts  your letters priority.  Available, attainable men.  Good men that are waiting, in the back of their minds, for you.

The chase, the run, the capture all look great on paper.  But when it comes down to it, are you really seeking a manipulator and a man that’s unreliable?  Really?  That’s the movie man:  he woos, he enjoys himself, he disappears.  He isn’t anywhere near stable.  He’s a manicorn- what you think you want, until you have him.  And then he’s simply messy.  Emotionally, physically and slightly destructive to you.  The golden guy, the elusive you’ve been looking for, already belongs to you.  He’s there.  Attentive.  Ready to jump, if you just say the word.

The only thing holding you back is fear.  Of refusal, of the dreaded ‘no.’  Take a moment to reflect, breathe, and ask him out.  The worst that can happen is that he says ‘I can’t…’  The best, on the other hand, is that he can and will.  Guys have been living in this tenuous place of possibility since they carted around clubs.  By taking the chance, by getting outside of your dating box, you’re empowering yourself.  He’ll love you for it, and so will you.  The new feminism is making and acting on choices that make you happier.

It’s a proven fact that the best first dates are walks, without the intensity of staring.  They’re also so much safer for both parties:  you chat, listen and generally have the opportunity for touch.  If you want.  But on your terms.  You can get a coffee, go for a wander and have an amazingly romantic time of it, without feeling like you’re on a Real Date.  Ladies, you are selling yourselves so short by limiting the playing field.  By running (and screaming) from making an attempt.  And by closing your head to the full team of the interested, with petty and odd personal rules.

He’s out there.  Waiting.  Isn’t it about time you got out there, too?