Color says a lot about you. My hair has been brown, Rihanna red and golden blonde. My car, luggage, living room furniture, and dishes are brick red. In the past I have surrounded myself with red, orange, and peach walls. When I sold my two story house, there were no white walls in it.

No pastels or neutrals for me. If you see me in all black, I’m not trying to be chic- instead I was too lazy to really get dressed.

Color has an appreciable impact on your mood and can affect you physiologically as it relates to your appetite, heart rate and stress level. With the country in a general malaise, why not brighten up your home, office space or wardrobe with some color?

Here’s how it can affect your mood or those around you (why do you think politicians are always in blue?)

Red- my personal favorite: hot, sexy, aggressive, confident, passionate, the color of love. It can also increase your heart, blood pressure and breathing rate so be careful how you use it when decorating in a room.

Yellow- warmth, happiness, hope, energy, sharpens memory, stimulates appetite. Some say that it can make people irritable if overused. In fact, babies are known to cry more in yellow rooms.

Orange- exuberance, cheerfulness, creativity, success, pleasureseeking. It can have the opposite effect of yellow by decreasing irritability. It can also stimulate the appetite and mental activity.

Green- the color of nature, growth, balance, harmony, fertility, safety, and vision. Of course it also has connotations with jealousy, envy and money.

Blue- another nature color- peace, tranquility, stability, trust, loyalty, intelligence, expertise, healing. It also suppresses appetite, lowers blood pressure and breathing rates. Jails and schools often have blue walls because of the calming effect.

Purple- power, nobility, luxury, creativity, wisdom, magic. Because of its “blue roots,” it has similar effects on blood pressure and appetite. Barney the dinosaur aside, pre-adolescent children are naturally drawn to purple.

Black- sophistication, formality, mourning, death, mystery, dignity, strength, power, aloofness.

White-- purity, innocence, cleanliness, purity, optimism, perfection, sterility.

When I make presentations or meet people for the first time, I am conscious of my color choices in my clothes and accessories. In my home and office, the colors and textures inspire me and lift me up when I feel fatigued, tired or sick.

How does color affect you? A small shot of color can change your entire perspective. Try it and glow with good health and happiness.

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Comedian Chris Rock caused a furor a few years ago with his documentary/comedy entitled “Good Hair” in which he exposed to mainstream America the very complicated relationship that many African-American women have with their hair.

Whether it’s the recession and the expense of visits to the salon for relaxers and touchups or a desire to go back to their roots (literally), more and more women are “going natural.”

Glow Salon stylist Rhonda Pope Lawing in Miami, also known as anaturalbeauty3 on YouTube answers some questions about that journey that so many women try and fail because they lack support from family, friends, loved ones and even their stylists:

Q. What do it mean to be “natural” when it comes to hair care?

A. Natural means different things to different people but basically it means wearing your hair texture without the aids of chemical straighteners.

Q. Do I have to cut off all my relaxed hair or do a “big chop” to be natural?

A. No, If you aren’t comfortable cutting off your hair all at one time you don’t have to. You can do alternative styles like the flexirods which combines the 2 textures together, or you can flat iron the hair with care if you like to wear straight styles. There’s are other options but the main thing is to make sure you are taking care of your natural hair that is growing in so when you are ready to cut it the hair will be in good condition.

Q. Can I only use henna on my natural hair?

A. Henna isn’t your only choice you can definitely have color in your hair however you can’t do henna on top of color or color on top of henna. You have to decide if you think you might want color in the near future. If so then you must not do henna. The two don’t mix.

Q. If I use a texturizer is my hair natural?

A. No because a texturizer is a chemical agent that’s used to relax the hair. Texturizer is basically a mild relaxer.

Q. How often should I wash or shampoo my hair if my hair is natural?

A. You should shampoo at least once a week but should co wash (conditioner wash) as often as needed. For example if your hair starts to feel dry like it’s dehydrated then it’s time to do a co wash. Naturally curly hair loves water especially if you are wearing it in the wash and go style. However if you have your hair in a twisted style you can go a little longer without cowashing but you don’t want to go too long meaning over 2 weeks. Remember your hair is still natural. It needs water and conditioner.

Q. Can my natural curl get more defined?

A. Yes, but it’s not something that will happen over night. Curl defining takes training and commitment and often a few visits to a salon that specializes in this work.

Q. How long will it take to curl more?

A. Each head is different. Some people see the results they are looking for in 2 -3 visits and others get results in more visits. It depends on the hair.

Q. Is color damaging to natural hair?

A. Not if it’s done correctly.

Q. Does color loosen my curls?

A. It can but so does henna but neither loosens the curl dramatically.

Have more questions about going natural? Let us know.

Glow in good health!

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I recently returned from Denmark which boasts the happiest residents in the world despite the fact that they pay 50% of their income in taxes, 25% in value added taxes for goods and ride their bikes all year round, including through foot-high snow drifts in the winter. When I asked someone what made them so happy, I was told “look around.” Don’t get me wrong- Copenhagen is pretty, the Queen speaks five languages, is a great artist and also gets to rule Greenland, but that doesn’t seem enough to lead to the kind of euphoria that makes a people the happiest on earth. So what’s their secret?

For one, citizens who have a high trust in their government tend to be happiest. Perhaps if you have a high tax rate but free health care, six weeks of paid vacation, liberal family leave policies, free education and a high standard of living, you probably will be happier than those who risk bankruptcy and homelessness if faced with a medical catastrophe. This isn’t a commentary on the benefits of socialism- waiting 16 weeks for a doctor’s appointment can’t be good. But they say they’re happier and they wouldn’t trade their system for ours.

But what if you can’t move to Denmark tomorrow? There are some things that you can do. I for one, have read some great books on happiness and share them below.

I’m a happy lawyer and apparently I’m in the minority. Lawyers are some of the unhappiest people around. It could be that people who by definition spend all day thinking of the worst things that can happen and how to solve them gravitate toward the legal field because that’s what they like to do. Or it could be that thinking of terrible things all day makes people unhappy. It’s a chicken and egg debate. But there is no dispute that attorneys have some of the highest divorce and substance abuse rates in the world.

I’m reading an excellent book by two of my new colleagues at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Nancy Levit and Doug Linder called The Happy Lawyer: Making A Good Life in the Law because I want to know why I’m such an anomaly. After doing some exhaustive research, here’s some of what the authors found: 40-80% of happiness is genetically predetermined; fame, fortune, and gorgeous good looks don’t matter all that much -at most 10%; and wealth is the most overrated factor when it comes to happiness.

Belonging to a church or being religious and having a number of close friends or relationships correlate very highly to happiness. In fact having close friends is a more important “transmitter” than family, according to the research. Happiness is actually contagious. You probably already know this. If you have toxic, miserable friends or co-workers, they always manage to suck the life out of the room as soon as they enter it. To find out more, you’ll have to buy the book yourself.

Other happiness researchers from Canyon Ranch discovered the same thing about the happiness contagion. It really does seem to be about mindset. In the book What Happy People Know: How the New Science of Happiness Can Change Your Life for the Better, Dr. Dan Baker and Cameron Stauth state that people should use six happiness tools-appreciation, choice, personal power, leading with strengths, language and stories, and multidimensional living. If patients at the verge of losing their health to cancer could learn some lessons from these tools, you probably can too. Basically, the authors want people to focus on what they have and not on what they don’t have. They eschew a victimhood mentality so if you’ve spent years in psychotherapy, you’re in for a rude awakening.

If failing health isn’t enough to make you realize how to value what you have, then try Lisa Nichols book No Matter What: 9 Steps to Living the Life You Love. The author nearly lost her life to domestic violence and went through other unspeakable horrors. She’s living proof that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. She provides very practical advice that you can implement today to change your mindset.

Happiness is within your grasp. You don’t have to change your where you live but you may have to change your surroundings and and rid yourself of negativity. Small steps will make a difference. Glow in good health!

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My male travelling companions aged 15 and 43 won’t exactly come out and call them “prettier,” but they and I do notice that there is something different about French women. I haven’t visited Paris in about seven years but it struck me- French or at least Parisian women have something special. Landing at Charles de Gaulle airport yesterday, it was easy to spot the American women versus the French women.

Living in Miami, we tend to see women at their most stylized, glamorous, enhanced and in some cases, unfortunately, overdone. Other cities in the US are less extreme, but American women are in general more self conscious than Europeans and do seem more pressured to cover the gray hair, lose weight through diet pills or liposuction, hide the wrinkles and “fine lines”, and mask “imperfections” with makeup.

Like the Italian women I wrote about last year, French women love fresh bread and wine. A common meal consists of a baguette, ham, butter and possibly cheese with coffee and real sugar. Like Italian women, French women think Americans eat too much, with portions that are too big and that we fail to eat enough fresh fruits and vegetables.

But unlike Italian and American women, the Parisian women seem less “adorned” yet still pretty and sexy. As one of my male companions noticed, “what you see is what you get.” Very few women wear any noticeable makeup, if any at all. Most women wear their hair in simple styles and the women on the street wear flats (cute flats) or sneakers because they walk everywhere or are zipping around the city on a motorcycle unconcerned about helmet hair. The clothes are clearly stylish but aren’t flashy or showy and they fit better. Nothing is too tight, too short or too baggy (ok- there were some exceptions and there are fashion mistakes everywhere even in the fashion capitol of the world). I don’t think I saw any breast implants in 24 hours. For those of you who live in Miami, you know how rare that is.

Parisian women walk with a purposeful stride. When they sit at the cafe with friends or alone, they enjoy themselves, leisurely soaking it all in. How many American women enjoy or feel comfortable sitting and enjoying a meal alone without rushing through it to get somewhere else?

One thing the French don’t do well- they still smoke all the time. It’s a wonder they have the lung capacity to do all of that walking. But Europeans did begin their antismoking campaigns many years after the Americans did and I would expect that over time, this will change.

So what can we learn from our French sisters? Eat real food with less preservatives and additives, savor the moment, walk more, skip the supersized meals and eat more fruits and vegetables. Let’s let our natural beauty shine through.

Glow with good health and confidence. Au revoir from Paris!

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Ladies, if you weren’t a size 4, would you feel comfortable dancing down the street in front of thousands of people in a bikini and some glitter? Men, if you didn’t have six-pack abs but instead had a keg belly, could you do the same in some shorts, barechested (we probably know the answer to that!).

In Trinidad, women from around the world spend two days during Carnival doing just that, dancing with wild abandon and skimpiness- no matter what their size or age. That makes them the ultimate sex symbols.

Every year on the Monday and Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, revelers around the world, including Venice, Italy, Rio in Brazil and New Orleans celebrate Carnival. For these two days (and many months before in some countries), people party and drink to excess in preparation for the austerity that comes with Ash Wednesday and Lent, during which some sacrifice a favorite pasttime or food for 40 days. There are other West Indian-based carnivals at different times of the year, such as those that take place Miami, New York, Washington, Barbados and Jamaica but none are as big or as essential to the culture as the original pre-Lenten carnivals. Many of the revelers dress in beautiful costumes are part of bands of hundreds or thousands of people each that compete, in part based upon the costumes. Trindadians call this “playing mas” short for masquerading.

As a recent masquerader in Trinidad, I was pleasantly reminded of how much women can love themselves and each other, “flaws” and all. Some women are a size zero and some are a size 22. But there was no difference in what the women wore or their level of “wining”, a form of dancing we’ll discuss shortly. Women of all sizes wear tiny bikini tops, pasties, boy shorts, thongs, bikini bottoms etc for over 12 hours a day for two straight days and flaunt whatever they have with pride. There are no girdles or control top panty hose. Some women wear sheer tights but the control top would mess up the costume so no one bothers. Something like that would be unthinkable in most body-obsessed cultures.

Additionally, while they may look like Vegas showgirls, they aren’t wearing high heels to lengthen the legs- those would get in the way of the wining. At parties both indoor and outdoor, women are in flats, sandals, T-shirts and shorts — all the better to enjoy themselves without worrying if their feet are going to hurt.

A side note- if you have not seen a West Indian woman “wine,” it’s a way of dancing and moving that puts pole dancers and strippers to shame, but most important, it’s an expression of the woman’s sexiness. The woman dances and gyrates for herself and often uses the man as a prop. To the casual observer, the men are having all of the fun taking advantage of the wantonness. But if you look closer, you’ll see women wine by themselves, on men and on other women but not in that tacky way that young college girls do to look sexy for men at frat parties and night clubs.

Carnival women dance with whomever is available, including grabbing the rails of the music truck, or on their own to take advantage of the driving bass beat of the music.

For women with low self esteem, seeing other women who are a size zero with cellulite or the size 14 woman with undimpled legs is a revelation. You don’t usually see this outside of a locker room or the beach. Women with stretch marks from multiple child births don’t hide them– they pick the low cut bikini bottoms and show their bellies. And if you ever felt unsexy, that changes in 5 mintes when you’re surrounded by people- men and women- who tell you to enjoy yourself and dance. Women walk up to you and tell you that your costume is askew and offer to help.

These women and men learn the culture from childhood. Kiddie carnival exposes children to the art of dressing up. The kids don’t wine in the same way, but they learn to enjoy the music, wear beautiful costumes and not worry about whether their friends look “better” or “prettier” in the same thing. This is an important lesson for young girls to learn.

Some might worry that women with too much alcohol in hot sun would be easy prey for men. In fact, many of these women back up on the men and start to wine or happily accept the wine from a total stranger. It’s all part of the culture. A male friend from Jamaica who now lives in Miami, Chef Irie Spice, experienced carnival for the first time. While he has seen revelers in other cities, he had never seen the Trinidadian women in action. His assessment- these women are sexy for themselves and they aren’t trying to impress any man. He notices that while men in Trinidad are more aggressive in their catcalls and whistles because he thinks they think it’s an obligation, the women blow it off or sometimes challenge back with a joke. You can only do that if you’re confident.

Women here compliment each other on their costumes and want to take pictures of each other. There’s no snickering about whether someone should wear bikini bottoms vs. boy shorts. And there’s a sense of wanting to make sure everyone looks their best. When a friend and I were running to get to our appointed spot in the carnival parade with half our costumes on and the rest in our boxes, we knew we were doomed and would not be able to cross the stage for judging. Three total strangers standing next to the stage, two women and a man who weren’t even in our band started helping us get dressed in the middle of the street. They put on our headpieces, tied our strings and fastened our epulets because they wanted us to look our best for our band. Here’s how I turned out through the kindness of strangers.

Helping and admiring other women is sexy. Loving your body no matter what society tells you to think is sexy. Being skimpy without flashing or getting beads thrown at you a la mardi gras is sexy. Having the stamina to dance for two days straight for 8-10 hours a day in blazing sun without worrying about your hair or makeup after a while is sexy. Dancing to your own beat is sexy.

We can all learn from the carnival women.

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For those of you who have been following my extended detox/declutter plan, you’ve learned that I haven’t followed everything from the Whole Living Magazine’s 28-day plan, but I haven’t given up. Instead, my 28- day plan has been more like a 45 day plan due to injury and pure lack of discipline. This post won’t deal with any of the exercise plans but will talk about some of the food choices and lifestyle changes.

Week 4 of the plan stresses making lifelong changes. The authors recommend fine tuning the eating plan and “tak[ing] a “flexitarian” approach to food, with eight or more servings of fruits and veggies a day, healthy proteins, and the occasional organic, hormone-free dairy or meat.”

Anything with the word “flex” in it makes sense to me and I will stick with it because as you know from previous posts, I’m not very good with structure. I have already switched to organic fruit, vegetables, chicken and beef when I shop at the grocery store. It’s admittedly MUCH more expensive, but what price can you put on your health? In addition, when I eat out, I try to find restaurants where the chefs get use locally grown produce and meats. This is better for the environment, more sustainable, and supports local farmers. The food tastes fresher and is better for me.

Below are some of the other suggestions, and what I have done to adopt them:

1) Fill half of your plate with vegetables. Try fruits and vegetables that you’ve never tried before- This isn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be, especially as I have added more herbs and spices to my diet.

2) Substitute fruit for sweets- I eat more peaches, mangos, grapes and other fruit and less chocolate and desserts.

3) Cook in different ways to preserve nutrients. Cook in the lowest possible temperature and with the least amount of water possible- I use my convection oven more to grill and roast meat and vegetables (haven’t roasted fruit yet, as the article suggests, but I will). I don’t love steamed foods, but I will add more herbs to punch up the flavor. I am also doing more stir frying. I have to admit that I haven’t tried cooking in parchment yet, but wholeliving.com gives step by step instructions.

4) Surround your workspace with images and words that inspire you.- I haven’t created a vision board, as many people do, but I have definitely decluttered my home workspace and put up articles and images to inspire me for the major life change that I am making. It keeps me focused and motivated.

5) Let more natural light in/brighten your surroundings- I didn’t have to do anything on this point because I have walls pained in orange, peach etc all over the house. However, I have stopped to look at the effects of the natural light as it hits the walls. I used to be so busy that I never paid attention to why I painted my walls in these glowing colors in the first place.

6) Learn to read ingredient lists and use foods with fewer ingredients- This builds off the earlier weeks’ suggestions to eat less processed foods. The whole living web site has great tips on learning to read and understand food labels.

Although the 4 weeks is over, the journey is not, and I hope to continue the positive changes I have learned from the action plan- less Facebook and web surfing, more meaningful interactions with people, being grateful for what I have, eating better, slowing down, meditating (this is a work in progress!), and living more mindfully.

If you’ve tried the action plan, let us know how you’ve done.

Take care and glow with good health.

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You have shortness of breath, weakness, unusual fatigue, dizziness and you’ve broken into a cold sweat. You think it’s the flu but if you’re a woman, you may be having a heart attack, especially if those symptoms are accompanied by the more well known clues- chest pain and/or pain in the upper body, back, neck, jaw or stomach.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women in America- not breast cancer despite all of the well-deserved attention paid to that disease. It’s also the number one killer of men.

In 2003, the National institutes of Health published a study entitled “Women’s Early Warning Symptoms of AMI” (acute myocardial infarction) and discovered that in the month or more before the heart attack, major symptoms for women included unusual fatigue, sleep disturbance, arm weakness, shortness of breath, indigestion and anxiety- completely ‘routine’ experiences for many overcommitted, overstressed women.

So what happens if you go to your doctor in the month that you’re experiencing these symptoms and s/he tells you there’s nothing wrong? Find a qualified cardiologist immediately. Dr. Kevin Coy, who recently spoke at the andthewomengather monthly meeting in Miami, recommends that you ask your cardiologist if s/he is board certified because 50% are not. If the doctor recommends a procedure, be sure to ask how many s/he has done.

It’s more important to prevent heart disease in the first place. Dr. Coy advises as follows. You can eat everything but in moderation and don’t go for seconds. Many of our grandparents ate lots of rice, beans, pasta, meat and potatoes but they also walked to the market, did their own gardening, ate vegetables, didn’t snack on processed foods, and were so physically active in their daily lives that they didn’t need a gym.

If you want to follow a specific diet, he recommends the Mediterranean Diet. This lifestyle change focuses on eating primarily plant-based foods, legumes, and nuts (no more than a handful of nuts a day); using olive and canola oil instead of butter (but use sparingly because of the fat/calories); replacing salt with herbs and spices; eating whole grains; only having red meat a few times a month; having dairy in moderation; and eating fish and chicken at least twice a week. This diet can help lower your LDL or “bad cholesterol.” For more information, see the Mayo Clinic’s website in the Nutrition and Healthy eating section.

Dr. Coy also suggests taking omega-3 fish oil, niacin, B-complex, and folic acid daily and indicates that Centrum Silver, Geritol or prenatal vitamins are good sources of some of these supplements. Some doctors also mention garlic supplements to help lower cholesterol levels.

To raise the HDL or “good’ cholesterol and get antioxidants at the same time, try some red wine. Check our earlier blog posts entitled What I Learned at the Ritz Carlton- Wine for Beginners- Part 2 if you want to learn about some choices.

If you have a family history of heart disease or you have high risk factors (diabetic, inactive, hypertensive or smoker), ask your doctor for an advanced lipid profile, which looks at the components of LDL and HDL not just the total cholesterol. You may also want a c-reactive protein test to see if you have plaque clogging your arteries or other inflammation.

To keep or get you on the right track, the American Heart Association has developed Life’s Simple 7 (mylifecheck.heart.org). Their seven factors to make a difference for your heart are: get active; control cholesterol (your total number should be below 200); eat better; manage blood pressure (keep below 120/80); lose weight; reduce blood sugar; and stop smoking. Their site has specific tips to get you heart healthy.

Finally, reduce your stress. We have a number of blog posts on this site about the healing power of letting go of anger, breathing stress away, and the health benefits of massage. We also have a multipart series on the Whole Living Magazine 28-day detox action plan which focuses on decluttering the mind and body.

Try these tips and share them with others. It could be a matter of life or death for you or someone you love.

Glow with good health!

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Maybe you want chocolate, roses, breakfast in bed or diamonds.

It’s Valentine’s Day. We know. The pressure is rough. Then comes Mother’s Day. What to give? What to get?Why not try something that will improve your inner and outer beauty?

Since the time of King Tut, people have used gemstones for holistic health and healing in addition to the natural beauty of the stones. Rose quartz (pink) enhances your ability to love and be loved unconditionally, and has a calming, reassuring effect. Some holistic healers find it especially helpful for people with migraines and sinus issues. According to reiki-for-holistic-health.com, this stone can also help release unexpressed emotion. The authors of the site note that pink, a combination of red and white, pushes things toward a resolution.

For a dynamic look, pair rose quartz with jade (green), which helps with guidance. If you desire general well-being, wear red coral. The color red is generally used to stimulate and energize. Jasper, which is typically a brick color, helps with grounding and harmony.

Look for tiger’s eye, a brown stone that often has thin gold stripes for creativity and a faster energy flow. Another stone in the yellow family, amber helps with self healing. Amber can come in many colors and is a fossil tree resin. If you want more courage or success try carnelian, an orange stone known for warmth and energy.

According to jewelry designer Renee Solomon, of Solomon’s Strands, try white or clear stones when you want to cleanse or start over and agate for a new beginning and self confidence. If you suffer from breathing disorders, moss agate, which is green, can help. Blue agate cools and calms. Reiki for holistic health recommends pairing it with rose quartz. Mary Franz, author of www.HealthyNewAge.com, a natural treatments blog, recommends agate for insomnia, dental health and gastrointestinal problems. She also indicates that amber, described above is a good detoxifer, especially for those with addictions.

New Age practitioners rely on turquoise for a number of healing properties for the whole body, especially for illnesses related to the respiratory, immune, waste and skeletal systems. Other healers recommend it for detoxification, lowering blood pressure, and asthma as well as boosting serenity or creativity.

Hopefully, this guide will get you started on your own research about gemstones. This post is not meant in way to replace the advice of your health care practitioner. But whether you believe that the stones have healing powers or can draw love your way, you’ll be sure to stand out with your unusual and unexpected jewerly choices.

If you’re local to South Florida, check out Glow Salon in Kendall for some of the pieces mentioned in this article. http://www.glowsalonmiami.com/. If you would like pieces custom designed for you, or want a wider selection, go to http://www.solomonstrands.com/.

Glow with good health and beauty from the inside out and take care.

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Some of you may think I plan to write about marijuana, but don’t stop reading. Instead I’m writing about the next step in my attempt to follow the 28-day Whole Living Magazine Detox Action Plan. For those of you who have been following, I’m a little behind in posting, and I was already in the remedial stage last time I posted. But I didn’t give up.

Week one of the plan focused on detoxing the body by eliminating a number of foods, some temporarily and some like transfats for good. See my earlier posts on how well I did with that step.

The second week continued the mind body detox by ridding the mind of negativity, meditating even on mundane things like household chores, and breathing mindfully, but also looked at building strength in the core and arms while increasing cardio.

The third week focused on fortifying and gaining momentum. The theme was “spicing things up” and that’s where the herbs come in. “Aim to include a spice or an herb in every meal,” recommended Kathie Swift, R.D., founder of MyFoundationDiet.com in the article. She continued, “Each herb has unique medicinal properties. Thyme, for instance, stimulates the immune system, and parsley can tame asthma and bad breath.”

I did well with this advice, I tried to add more ginger to foods that I normally don’t, I used fresh sage, thyme and rosemary in my pasta sauce, added curry to my chickpeas, tumeric to some lentils, and more cayenne pepper to fish and chicken. I chose lemongrass soup over chicken soup when I felt sick. Our company cafteria has been experimenting with recipes from Cooking Light Magazine on Mondays and I enjoyed a number of Mediterranean, Moroccan and South African flavors that I might not normally have tried but did because of my conscious efforts to try new herbs and spices.

Week three continued the theme of positivity by encouraging readers to wake up thinking of five things for which we are grateful. This made a big difference in my day. When you start the day with a smile instead of a groan, you can’t help but feel good. This was especially helpful because I was living with a knee injury, sinus infection and bronchitis, which really hampered the exercise portion of the plan.

I also followed the advice to avoid web surfing during breaks in the day but instead doing something completely different. For some that might mean taking a walk outside for 15 minutes. For me it meant actually using one of the 6 meditation apps on my iphone. I have also continued to minimize my time on Facebook and Twitter, and surprisingly, don’t feel at all deprived. I have also continued my expensive but completely worthwhile habit of buying organic fruits, vegetables and meats.

While I haven’t been as diligent with the exercise because of illness and injury, I do have a much healthier peace of mind.

I plan to continue my slow pace on the “28-day” plan with week 4 and will blog soon.

For more details about the plan and to find healthy recipes and suggestions, please check www.wholeliving.com

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Women pay billions of dollars a year for long, flowing hair through blowouts, relaxers, extensions, wigs or expensive hair treatments. Kim Zolciak of the Real Housewives of Atlanta wears $2,000 blonde wigs and travels with a wig stylist. Patti Stanger of Millionaire Matchmaker caused an uproar when she told proud curly girls to buy a flatiron if they wanted to get a man. Whether you’ve opened an ethnic magazine or watched Chris Rock’s documentary “Good Hair”, it’s hard to escape the fact that most African American stars are wearing extensions or wigs and leading a whole generation of women to change their standard of beauty. While extensions or wigs are great to keep heat off of fragile hair, there’s no doubt that these women want the long, stick straight or wavy hair that doesn’t come naturally for everyone.

It’s a tragic punchline in the African-American community that many black women don’t exercise, swim or let a man run their fingers through their hair during sex either because of their extensions or the chemical relaxers in their hair. Black women who wear their hair “natural” – chemical free- are seen as radical even though it’s the hair that comes out of their heads.

I recently attended my monthly women’s group And the Women Gather, which featured personal trainer and motivatioal speaker Fernanda Hedmont. When she asked the twenty women in the room what prevented them from exercising, an African American woman’s hand shot up and she proclaimed – “it’s the hair.” Fernanda indicated that this was the number one concern of her black clients. Not time, family commitments or lack of willpower, but hair.

Fernanda asked us a question that we should all ask ourselves, whether we are African American, blonde with a fresh blowout or a woman with $1,500 worth of extensions — do you want to be lying in a hospital bed with a stroke, kidney or liver failure but with a great head of hair?

How many of us limit our joy because we don’t want to mess up our hair? How many of us know women from the Caribbean who grew up surrounded by water and can’t swim? Would you forgive yourself if your child drowned in the pool because you had never learned to swim and couldn’t save him?

I have short naturally curly hair and have ditched the relaxers and texturizers, although I do love keratin protein treatments to reduce frizz. When I occasionally flat iron my hair for a different look, I get tons of compliments, but my life changes dramatically. I don’t want to work out too hard at the gym, I make sure that I check the weather for rain or humidity- in essence, I’m not me. So I focus on working with what I have so that I can swim, have no fear of the rain and do my zumba class with abandon.

I’m not here to judge and how could I? I am in the beauty business. Wigs, extensions, relaxers and long hair can be beautiful. Many women make radical changes to their hair when they’re making a major life change after a failed relationship, before starting a new job or while recovering from an illness. And when you feel beautiful, you are beautiful. Nothing provides an instant boost of self esteem like a hair makeover. It can take months or years to lose weight but a few hours to walk out of a salon feeling like a new person.

But beauty shouldn’t come at the expense of your health. Your kids won’t care about your hair when they’re visiting you in the hospital, you can’t fit in the seat at the roller coaster, you miss romping in the waves on vacation or they are attending your funeral.

Fernanda the trainer teaches aqua-land cross training, which focuses on low impact work in the pool. You don’t have to get your hair wet, and you can still get a great workout. When you’re healthy and fit, you glow anyway and your skin, hair and attitude will reflect it.

Find what works for you and start slowly. Get your wig, relaxers, extensions and gorgeous blowouts. But don’t let your hair cost you your life.

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