Women’s Health!

When I first became publisher in West Michigan, I thought I was leading a healthy life—I soon learned there was much to learn. Having a look at our women’s edition this month can help us see the many healing modalities available to us and then in trying them out we find which ones resonate. It’s a comfort to have these tools available to us when we’re feeling stuck, but integrating them on a regular basis helps keep us in the flow all the time!

In this month’s article “Integrative Women’s Health,” by Ronica O’Hara, we see just how much has improved in women’s health from three decades ago when women were considered “small men” and rarely included in clinical studies. With more nuanced treatments and medications now offered, breast cancer deaths have dropped by 40 percent and autoimmune diseases don’t necessarily lead to wheelchairs, yet much remains to be done for women to prevent and treat heart disease, cancer, hormonal issues, autoimmune diseases and depression. Research and strategies point not just to medical advances but to integrative preventive approaches including specific vitamins and nutrients.

In her article “Sustainably Stylish,” Kajsa Nickels sheds new light on the “fast fashion” that delivers cheap designer knock-offs at lightning speed to stores around the world is coming at a high cost to consumers and the planet. That is a good reason to buy sustainably-made clothes of high quality, shop at resale and secondhand stores, exchange clothing at parties with friends, practice creative mending, and repurpose old items with imagination, such as turning men’s dress shirts into dresses for little girls or onesies for a baby.

As this month’s Eco-Tip explains, in the United States, beauty is a $49 billion industry – which means a lot of discarded plastic lipstick cases and shampoo tubes leaching poisonous chemicals in landfills. Eco-strategies include using cut-up T-shirts instead of disposable cleansing wipes, opting for glass rather than plastic containers, choosing brands that use minimal packaging materials, using refillable products and buying eco-friendly soaps and deodorants.

I follow a regimen that is steeped in the Ayurveda tradition. It’s basically preventative, but I don’t always do everything every day. Knowing that I have these tools in my self-care kit allows me to reintegrate them when I am feeling stuck—when my chi is not flowing. Of course, the real goal is to keep from getting stuck, but sometimes life gets in the way, so periodically we must pull back and restart. Remembering how good we feel when everything is flowing is perhaps the true key staying on the wellness track!

To conscious living,

Pamela Gallina, Publisher