| | Greetings! Now that you have detoxed from the holidays it is time to take action and learn ways to be a better you. When we think about getting healthy we tend to think about our physical health and forget about our brain health. In this newsletter you will learn many steps that you can take to improve your brain health. First you will learn how to exercise your brain. Next, learn what foods support a healthy brain. Included are two great recipes that will help you add nutrient-dense brain foods to your daily diet. Finally, learn where you can buy safe non-toxic fish that provides you with the nutrients you need to prevent degeneration of your brain. Take the February Action Steps and you will be one step closer to living well.
Starting this month Kelly will be contributing weekly wellness articles to Retirement Living TV's blog. Retirement Living TV is a great new site that provides an abundance of information on living well in the retirement years. www.rl.tv
Kelly will be returning to her Tenleytown, DC studio February 6th after taking time off to spend with her new son, Mason James Bradley. Mason was born on October 19th, 2006. He is now sleeping through the night (most nights) allowing Kelly to get a welcome amount of healthy restorative sleep. Kelly will be at the studio tuesdays, wednesdays and thursdays. Call or email Kelly to schedule physical therapy, pilates, gyrotonic exercise and/or holistic health and nutrition sessions.  | | | Brain Exercises  No matter what your age, mental exercise has a positive effect on the brain. The more you use your brain the more you can continue to use your brain. If you don’t use it, you will lose it. With proper stimulation and an enriched environment, the human brain can continue to develop at any age. Here are a few tips to keep the brain young:
1.Learn something new everyday: Commit 15 minutes each day to learning something new. Over time you can become an expert in whatever it is you choose to learn. Take up a new hobbie. Learn a new form of dance. Learn to play tennis. Learn how to play chess. Think about what you have been wanting to learn and do it.
2.Take a class in something new and thought-provoking: attend a class on a subject unrelated to your daily life or work. Take a pottery or painting class. If you have a sendentary job take a tai chi or dance class. Learn a new language and plan a trip to visit that region. Take a knitting or needlepoint class and make something for a friend.
3.Improve your skills in the things you currently do: If you run everyday take a new path that incorporates different hills and turns. If you like reading a certain type of book read another style. If you play tennis with the same partner all the time find a new partner that will challenge you. If you always eat with a fork try using chop sticks.
4.Join a reading group: A great way to protect your short term memory is to learn something new and work to recall it later for discussion. You can practice this by participating in a book club where you discuss a different book each month. Pick different types of books including wellness books where you can discuss healthy living tips and healthy recipes. Choose books that are challenging and that include new words. Look the new works up in the dictionary as you read. Challenge the others in the book group to define those new words.
5.Get a good teacher: Learning to do something correctly prevents the development of bad habits which are hard to retrain. The brain does not know if it is learning something correctly or incorrectly. If you continue to train in an incorrect way your mind and body will automatically do it that way and it will be difficult to retrain. This is the problem with body movement. Many people move in poor patterns during the day causing wear and tear on the body and this becomes a habit occurring automatically. If the mind and body are trained in the proper way wear and tear on the body can be prevented. The key is to get a good teacher to teach you the skill you want to learn. If you want to learn to play the piano get a expert pianist. If you want to learn how to perform exercises correctly to prevent injuries seek out a physical therapist and/or expert in body mechanics.
6.Get out of your typical routine: To activate the other side of your brain do what does not feel natural such as writing with your opposite hand or holding the fork in the opposite hand while you eat. Change your daily schedule. If you always get up and take a shower instead get up, go for a walk then take a shower. If you always watch tv before bed start to read a book before going to bed. Change what you do on a daily basis. When you feel you are getting into a routine change things up. Try a new style of cooking such as using a wok or raw food recipes.
7.Give your brain a sensory workout: Notice the small differences in tastes, colors, sounds, smells and textures. Use different spices in your cooking. Take up wine tasting and notice the different flavors in wines. Notice the difference in varieties of olive oils. Look at a variety of different blues and notice the small differences. Smell a variety of flowers and notice how they make you feel. Take a class in aromatherapy and become more sensitive to scents. Be aware of how different materials that you wear make you feel. Incorporate new music into your day. Listen to Mozart or Bach while you do yoga. Become more mindful and take in all the senses around you.
8.Become a world traveler. Visit new and interesting places. Go to local museums and gardens. Take in the many sights, sounds and smells of the new places. Visit different countries and learn how different cultures live. Go to ethnic restaurants that make you feel like you are in that region. Book a trip that includes a variety of activities such as horseback riding, hiking, biking and more.
9.Cultivate interesting and smart friends: Make friends with people that will challenge you. You become like the people you spend time with. Spend time with people who are creative and trade ideas. Make friends with people who have different hobbies and expertise than you and learn from them. Get into deep philosophical conversations with your friends. Come up with a new activity each time you get together with a friend.
Bradley Wellness, LLC | | | | | Brain Food  You are what you eat. Proper nutrition is very important to maintain a healthy brain. This is especially true for children whose brains are still developing. Here are a few tips to use food as brain medicine:
1.Increase water intake: The brain is 80% water and therefore, even slight dehydration can cause damage over time. Remember to drink filtered clean water. Everyone needs different amounts of water due to size, activity level, climate they are in and other factors. Be mindful and drink water throughout the day to prevent dehydration. Add slices of cucumber or lemon to your water to add flavor.
2.Drink green tea: it contains chemicals that enhance mental relaxation and alertness.
3.Eat less food but all nutrient-dense foods: Eating less helps you live longer and increases the production of nerve growth factors which are helpful to the brain. The key to make this work for you is to eat only nutrient dense foods. Eat the amount of nutrient dense foods that you need to maintain your weight (or lose weight if you need to). Eliminate all nutrient-lacking empty calorie foods.
4.Eat healthy fats: Include foods that contain omega-3 fatty acids into your diet:
Wild salmon
Mackerel
Sardines
Anchovies
Flaxseed oil
Avocados
Green leafy vegetables
Olive oil
Walnuts
5.Eat from the rainbow: Eating a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables provides you with dietary antioxidants that improve brain health. The best fruits and vegetables for high levels of antioxidants include:
Blueberries
Blackberries
Cranberries
Strawberries
Spinach
Raspberries
Brussel sprouts
Plums
Broccoli
Beets
Avocados
Oranges
Red grapes
Red bell peppers
Cherries
kiwis
6.Balance protein, healthy carbohydrates and good fats: Protein is essential to brain growth. Protein is an essential component of nerve cells, axons, and dendrites, the machinery of the brain. Each individual needs different levels of proteins and functions optimally with different types of protein. Experiment with your own protein levels and different sources of protein. Her are a few examples:
Vegetarian protein sources: tofu, tempeh, beans, nuts, seeds, lentils and vegetables
Dairy sources: yogurt and cottage cheese
Superfood protein sources: spirulina and maca
Fish: salmon or halibut
Meats: chicken, turkey, beef
*if you do choose to eat fish or meat choose wild organic versions without hormones or antibiotics
*if you choose to eat dairy choose organic versions without hormones or other chemicals
7.Eat a variety of healthy foods: Do not get stuck in an eating rut by eating the same foods everyday. Keep an eating journal and note down what you eat. Challenge yourself to eat different foods everyday. This takes planning. Plan your meals and snacks for the week. Prepare the food on the weekend when you have time.
8.The following supplements have been shown to improve brain health:
Acetyl-L-carnitine
Alpha-lipoic acid
Fish oil (Nordic Naturals is a good non-toxic brand)
Phosphatidylserine
Multi-vitamin with high dose of B-vitamins
Vitamin E
Vitamin C
Nutrition and Lifestyle Programs | | | | | Brain Book  Making A Good Brain Great
Learn more ways to increase your brain power by reading, "Making a Good Brain Great," by Daniel Amen, MD. Daniel Amen, MD, one of the world's foremost authorities on the brain, has news for you: your brain is involved in everything you do- learn to care for it properly, and you will be smarter, healthier, and happier in a little as 15 days! Bradley Wellness, LLC | | | | | Bradley Wellness Newsletter The Bradley Wellness Newsletter is a monthly newsletter that provides practical and up-to-date health, wellness and lifestyle information that you can incorporate into your daily life. Each newsletter provides you with health, wellness and lifestyle events, programs, workshops, retreats, articles, exercises, activities, resources, links, recipes, inspirational quotes, and ideas for fun.
The Bradley Wellness Newsletter is designed to empower you to take action and live the life you love. We are faced with daily choices from what to eat, to exercise or not, to spend time with loved ones, to buy and eat organic local whole foods, to spend our dollars on green, environmentally friendly products and so much more. Each dollar we spend and action we take represents our values and passions in life. We have the freedom, ability and power to be mindful of our actions and choose the life we live. By making mindful daily choices we can help to heal not only ourselves but the environment and the world. Each month the newsletter will provide you with an abundance of information that will help you make better choices and take daily action.
Please forward this newsletter to anyone who can benefit from learning solutions to live well.
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