Make it a rule to exercise. Don't give yourself the option of exercising or not. It should be a daily habit just like brushing your teeth.

Stop using excuses to avoid exercise. In many cases, exercise will help eliminate or minimize the source of your excuse, such as pain or health conditions.

did you know that low thyroid hormone is associated with overall decreased brain activity, which makes you feel depressed, irritable, and have significant trouble thinking

low testosterone levels have been associated with low libido, depression, and memory problems and have been implicated in Alzheimer's disease.

Hormonal imbalances lead to cloudy thinking, make you fat, give you acne and wrinkles, sap your energy, sour your mood, and increase your risk for disease.

Be sure to have your physician test your T4 and free T3 levels when checking your thyroid levels.

Without enough progesterone, you lose the brain's natural sleeping pill and antianxiety hormone.

One prescription does not work for everyone—we are all unique and you need to understand how your own personal brain functions.

Remember that it is the little decisions about food that you make every day that often determine whether you are fat or trim.

Homocysteine and C-reactive protein tests are laboratory measures of inflammation.

Dr. Henry Bieler, who emphasized diet and lifestyle for disease prevention. In 1965, he wrote Food Is Your Best Medicine, where he discussed the pH balance in the body, with an alkaline pH being positive for the body and an acidic pH being harmful. If the body is too acidic, it withdraws alkaline minerals, such as calcium and magnesium, from bones and soft tissues to maintain balance. An acidic body is a breeding ground for disease and results from consuming too much sugar, caffeine, alcohol, and red meat.

Dr. Bieler's Broth was a staple for my family. It consists of squash, string beans, celery, parsley, fresh herbs, and water.

Green tea is another potential energy booster. It has about half the caffeine as coffee, plus theanine, which helps people feel focused. There is scientific evidence that green tea helps keep weight off, boosts exercise ability, helps muscles recover faster from workouts, and improves attention span.

Your body responds to the way you think, feel, and act.

In Eckhart Tolle's extraordinary book The Power of Now, he encourages readers to shed the pains of the past, stop fearing the future, and live in the present moment. He believes that the present is all we really have, that we can't change the past, and that it is what we're doing right now that shapes our future.

Katie wanted to share her revelation with others to help them end their suffering by changing their thinking. She developed a simple method of inquiry—the Work—to question our thoughts. The Work is simple. It consists of writing down any bothersome, worrisome, or negative thoughts, then asking ourselves four questions and doing a turnaround. The goal of the Work isn't pie-in-the-sky positive thinking; it is accurate thinking. The four questions are these:

1. Is it true? (Is the negative thought true?)
2. Can I absolutely know that it is true?
3. How do I react when I think that thought?
4. Who would I be without the thought? Or how would I feel if I didn't have the thought?

After you answer the four questions, you take your original thought and turn it around to its opposite, and ask yourself whether the opposite of the original thought that is causing your suffering is not true or even truer. Then turn the thought around and apply it to yourself (how does the opposite of the thought apply to me personally)? Then turn the thought around to the other person, if the thought involves another person (how does the opposite apply to the other person?).

Negative thoughts can make negative things happen, while positive thoughts can help you reach your health goals.

Whether you know it or not, you have a significant impact on those around you. Taking care of your own brain allows you to take better care of those you love.