Health

"Move over, Lamaze. HypnoBirthers say their form of deep relaxation takes the panting and pain out of labor."
-Time Magazine

Childbirth is not something to be feared; it is a natural expression of life. With HypnoBirthing, your pregnancy and childbirth will become the gentle, life-affirming process it was meant to be.

In this easy-to-understand guide, HypnoBirthing founder Marie Mongan explodes the myth of pain as a natural accompaniment to birth. She proves through sound medical information that it is not our bodies but our culture that has made childbirth a moment of anguish, and that when we release the fear of birth, a fear that is keeping our bodies tense and closed, we will also release the pain.

HypnoBirthing is nature, not manipulation. It relaxes the mind in order to let the body work as it is designed. The HypnoBirthing exercises--positive thinking, relaxation, visualization, breathing and physical preparation--will lead to a happy and comfortable pregnancy, even if you are currently unsure of an intervention-free birth. Your confidence, trust and happy anticipation will in turn lead to the peaceful, fulfilling and bonding birth that is your right as a mother.

More than 10,000 happy couples have had their lives changed for the better by HypnoBirthing. More than 500 news organizations--including Good Morning America, The Today Show, Dateline, The Richard & Judy Show, Time, Newsweek, Parenting and Better Homes & Gardens--have joined the movement for better birthing.

Why is HypnoBirthing changing the way the world gives birth? That's simple. Because it works.

To wander through the pages of Joey Green's Incredible Country Store is to experience the innocence and warmth of a bygone era. In this treasury of tips, recipes, and make-it-yourself concoctions, you will discover which country-store gadgets and gizmos have stood the test of time-and which are now collectors' items. You'll find recipes for homemade soaps, candles, perfumes, elixirs, and candies; directions on how to make those wonderful old wooden toys; and illustrations of those confounding brainteaser puzzles from the Ozarks.

Some other treats that await you include:
- Secret formulas for old-time, brand-name products you can make at home-for just pennies. Make your own Chanel No. 5, Chap Stick, Play-Dough, Tiger Balm, and more

- The history, lore, and strange facts behind famous country-store brands and the stores themselves

- Dozens of Joey Green's trademark wacky facts thrown in for good measure--Did you know that Melanie's pregnancy in Gone with the Wind, when calculated by the dates of the Civil War battles mentioned, lasted 21 months? That collectors value some old Cracker Jack prizes as high as $7,000? That originally the cream filling in Oreo cookies was made with pork lard?

Crammed with vintage advertisements and 357 photographs of curiosities from the past, Joey Green's Incredible Country Store has irresistible retro appeal-and makes a great gift!

Throughout our life, we look for ways to keep our mind sharp and effortlessly productive. Now, globetrotting neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta offers insights from top scientists all over the world, whose cutting-edge research can help you heighten and protect brain function and maintain cognitive health at any age.

Keep Sharp debunks common myths about aging and cognitive decline, explores whether there's a "best" diet or exercise regimen for the brain, and explains whether it's healthier to play video games that test memory and processing speed, or to engage in more social interaction. Discover what we can learn from "super-brained" people who are in their eighties and nineties with no signs of slowing down--and whether there are truly any benefits to drugs, supplements, and vitamins. Dr. Gupta also addresses brain disease, particularly Alzheimer's, answers all your questions about the signs and symptoms, and shows how to ward against it and stay healthy while caring for a partner in cognitive decline. He likewise provides you with a personalized twelve-week program featuring practical strategies to strengthen your brain every day.

Keep Sharp is the only owner's manual you'll need to keep your brain young and healthy regardless of your age!

In Life Is Your Best Medicine, Dr. Low Dog weaves together the wisdom of traditional medicine and the knowledge of modern-day medicine into an elegant message of health and self-affirmation for women of every age. This is a book that can be read cover to cover but also dipped into for inspiration or insight about a particular physical or mental health issue or remedy. We learn that, despite the widespread availability of pharmaceutical medications, advanced surgical care, and state-of-the-art medical technology, chronic illness now affects more than 50% of the American population. The evidence is overwhelmingly clear that much of the chronic disease we are confronting in the United States has its roots in the way we live our lives. Research shows that if Americans embraced a healthier lifestyle, which includes a balance between rest and exercise; wholesome nutrition; healthy weight; positive social interactions; stress management; not smoking; limited alcohol use; and no or limited exposure to toxic chemicals; then 93% of diabetes, 81% of heart attacks, 50% of strokes, and 36% of all cancers could be prevented! This means that each one of us has the power to shift the odds of being healthy in our favor. And if you do get sick, being fit gives you a much better chance for getting well. Your health has a great deal more to do with your lifestyle and a lot less to do with taking prescription drugs than most people realize.

Part I. The Medicine of My Life is a personal and passionate introduction to the book
Part II. Honoring the Body includes Food, Supplements, Illness, Wholeness
Part III. Awakening the Senses includes Nature, Garden, Music
Part IV. Listening to Spirit includes Humor, Relationships, Play, Meditation, Animals
Epilogue. Contentment

"Run, don't walk, to the nearest bookstore and get this amazing book that explains how you can 'think' yourself sick or well...Every family should have a copy. It can be a lifesaver."
--Ann Landers

In Master Your Metabolism, discover how to:
-REMOVE "anti-nutrients" from your diet
-RESTORE foods that speak directly to fat-burning genes
-REBALANCE energy and your hormones for effortless weight loss

Michaels offers a wealth of information throughout, including: shopping lists and online shopping resources, hormone-trigger food charts, how to eat "power nutrient" foods on a budget, smart strategies for eating out, quick and easy recipes, as well as mini-programs for addressing PMS, andropause, metabolic syndrome, PCOS, and menopause.

Two veteran teachers guide parents through the challenging waters of a child's elementary school years.

Parents want their child to succeed in school. This book helps them promote smooth sailing for their child through all those important early school years, encouraging them to communicate with teachers early and regularly. The authors, two teachers who are also mothers, share ways to establish positive parent-teacher relationships and provide an insider's understanding of how schools actually work. Here is outstanding practical advice that parents need to help their child thrive in school.

Tips for parents cover a variety of topics, including:

For over a century, America's nutrition authorities have heralded milk as "nature's perfect food," as "indispensable" and "the most complete food." These milk "boosters" have ranged from consumer activists, to government nutritionists, to the American Dairy Council and its ubiquitous milk moustache ads. The image of milk as wholesome and body-building has a long history, but is it accurate?

Recently, within the newest social movements around food, milk has lost favor. Vegan anti-milk rhetoric portrays the dairy industry as cruel to animals and milk as bad for humans. Recently, books with titles like, "Milk: The Deadly Poison," and "Don't Drink Your Milk" have portrayed milk as toxic and unhealthy. Controversies over genetically-engineered cows and questions about antibiotic residue have also prompted consumers to question whether the milk they drink each day is truly good for them.

In Nature's Perfect Food Melanie Dupuis illuminates these questions by telling the story of how Americans came to drink milk. We learn how cow's milk, which was associated with bacteria and disease became a staple of the American diet. Along the way we encounter 19th century evangelists who were convinced that cow's milk was the perfect food with divine properties, brewers whose tainted cow feed poisoned the milk supply, and informal wetnursing networks that were destroyed with the onset of urbanization and industrialization. Informative and entertaining, Nature's Perfect Food will be the standard work on the history of milk.