In honor of American Heart Month in February, we’ve invited cardiologist Steve Smalley, MD to provide a comprehensive overview of invaluable information about how to determine the risks and prevent heart disease. He also discusses the symptoms of a heart attack, which are often different for women, and what to do immediately after someone has one. Some of the most significant risk factors are family history, smoking, poor diet, inactivity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. For a healthy meal plan, Dr. Smalley recommends the DASH diet as the best overall diet, especially for lowering blood pressure. The concept of “broken heart” syndrome is also explained, including how it is caused by stress and grief. He emphasizes the importance of incorporating stress reduction techniques including the programs and classes offered at Well Within.

For Twin Cities listeners, Dr. Smalley will be discussing the value of moderate amounts of dark chocolate and red wine at a special Well Within event in Lake Elmo on February 16, from 6:30-8:30pm:, Protect Your Heart with Wine and Chocolate

Listen: Steve Smalley

Dr. Julie Chen, an internal medicine physician, helps us understand the effects and symptoms of stress, including the importance of managing it before it becomes overwhelming. Stress cues include jaw pain, eating differently, sleep and exercise disruptions, getting colds and other illnesses. The effects of stress include increased inflammation and has a great impact upon our physical health, including heart disease. She recommends cognitive behavior therapy, which can be very helpful because it teaches us to reframe and rephrase our perception of certain situations. In this way, we can use our minds to come up with new ways of thinking and perceiving to alter behavior in a more positive way. The correlation between sleep and stress is that we must have enough sleep to repair and heal ourselves in order to better deal with everyday anxieties and stress. Dr. Julie provides tips for how to determine the optimal amount of sleep, and how to get that amount of sleep. She recommends certain supplements and herbs that can help with sleep disorders, reducing stress, and increasing energy. Green tea and exercise are also very helpful for energy. To learn more about Dr. Julie Chen, please visit www.makinghealthyez.com.

Listen: julie chen

This week’s guest, Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, discusses her book, Set Free to Live: Breaking Through the Lies Women As a internist who listens to her patients’s stories, she has learned that women often tell themselves seven lies about areas of their lives. These areas concern perfection, envy, image, control, balance, emotions, and limits. She has found that lies about balance and envy/image are two of the most common ones women tell themselves. Tune in to learn how to live more authentically, especially in these areas of your own life. For more information, please visit www.drdaltonsmith.com.

Listen: Set Free to Live Free

Margaret Benefiel, PhD, is a spiritual director to corporate executives and author of numerous books, including The Soul of a Leader: Finding Your Path to Success and Fulfillment. She discusses the meaning of leadership as being “conscious of our influence on others.” She interviewed influential leaders like Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and shares what “soul” means to him and his work with the Truth in Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. Prayer and spiritual direction was crucial for him during his leadership of that process. For Tutu and other leaders, spiritual guidance helps them become more soulful leaders by helping them find how God is directing them and enables them to respond to God’s nudges to act. A leader’s spiritual journey often includes “dark night of the soul” experiences that can lead to growth and wisdom. Gratitude is also important for individual and a group’s wellbeing. Developing a culture of gratitude can be a powerful tool in the work place when incorporated into leadership training and for showing appreciation to both employees and customers.To learn more about Dr. Benefiel, please visit www.executivesoul.com.

Listen: The Soul of a Leader

As a dynamic inspirational speaker and business owner, Naomi Rhode, CSP, CPAE, has been helping individuals and corporate clients discover passion and purpose in their personal and professional lives for over 40 years. She discusses the importance of good communication by connecting deeply with others for a more meaningful work life. After surviving a stroke that left her temporarily blinded and paralyzed, she continues to live with ongoing pain with dignity and grace. Learn how a crisis can become an impetus for tremendous spiritual and personal growth by embracing one’s ‘new normal’ with a positive attitude. Create a life mission statement to help identify our purpose, then passion becomes the fuel for fulfill purpose. Another effective tool is to determine a theme for each year to provide guidance about how to live a more meaningful life. For more information, please visit www.naomirhode.com

NOTE: Host Mary Treacy O’Keefe and Naomi Rhode will be featured presenters at an upcoming conference in Minnesota on January 20-21:, Fire of Hope: A Girlfriends Getaway for God

Listen: Finding Purpose and Passion in 2012

Barnsley Brown, PhD, helps people create balanced, prosperous lives, doing the work they love. We discuss information from her newest ebook, “Get Out of Debt and Get On with Your Life: Every Woman’s Guide to Create Prosperity With What You Have Right Now.” She discusses how debt is often a state of mind, when we have erroneous thoughts about people and situations, and how abundance and wealth are states of consciousness. The first step for attaining spiritual and financial fitness is to release the old junk—mentally, emotionally and physically— to make space for what is for our highest good. Get rid of clutter, which is a block for your energy, and let go of stuff you don’t need! In this step, self-care is also important, including energy work (Reiki, healing touch, tapping techniques) and meditation.

In Step Two, you need to know what your highest values are (health, family, fun, creativity, etc) and write them down. Align spending of your time, energy, money, and other resources with your values. In Step Three, share your spiritual and intellectual assets and tithe your time, talents and treasures. Look for opportunities for using your spiritual and intellectual gifts to help others and be happier and live longer. For controlling spending, it’s important to write down all purchases and track spending habits and use affirmations. For more information and a free report from Dr. Brown, please visit www.spirited-solutions.com.

Listen: Spiritual and Financial Fitness

One of the most important dimensions of living a healthy life is the amount of love in our lives, given and received. Strong loving relationships can help us live longer, keep our immune systems strong, help us fight illness and enjoy life more fully. Our guest, Julie Orlov, has devoted over 24 years to helping people transform their lives through her work as a psychotherapist, executive coach, trainer, speaker and consultant. She shares four stages of developing an intimate relationship, as described in her book, The Pathway to Love: Create Intimacy and Transform Your Relationship Through Self-Discovery. The first phase is Object-Fantasy, the initial phase of becoming attracted to a potential romantic partner. Phase two is Self-Discovery, followed by Personal Transformation. Phase four is Relational Transformation when we seek to find new meaning and purpose within our relationship. Join us to learn more about how to better understand these phases of romantic relationships. Stay tuned for Mary Treacy O’Keefe’s “meant to be” story that demonstrates how love never dies. For more information please visit: www.julieorlov.com

Listen: Pathway to Love

JoAnne Funch is founder of Heartache To Healing, an on-line grief support site and author of an ebook, Coping with Grief During the Holidays. She is committed to educating, inspiring and providing hope to those who are grieving loss from death by sharing her personal story of surviving loss. In 2005, she lost the two people closest to her—her mother and, a month later, her husband. In this interview, she shares numerous tips for coping with grief, especially during the holiday season. Whether you have lost a loved one, or are trying to support someone who is newly bereaved, this show provides invaluable advice and guidance. For more information, please visit www.heartachetohealing.com/blog

Listen: Grief during the Holidays

Our guest, Trudy Scott, is a Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, speaker and author of The Antianxiety Food Solution: How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood&End Cravings.Anxiety is the most common mental health disorder. Eating certain foods and avoiding others can help reduce anxiety and diminish the severity of symptoms of many illnesses. Trudy shares nine helpful steps for dealing with anxiety, including the importance of reducing gluen, avoiding sugar, and adding probiotics and amino acids and other supplements to our diets. She’ll also let listeners know how to get a free consultation with her. Trudy publishes an electronic newsletter entitled Food, Mood and Gal Stuff, available at www.everywomanover29.com and www.antianxietyfoodsolution.com

Listen: Food and Mood

This week’s guest, Sue Ingebretson, author of FibroWHYalgia: Why Rebuilding the Ten Root Causes of Chronic Illness Restores Chronic Wellness, discusses the challenges of living with Fibromyalgia, a chronic syndrome. After becoming frustrated with not receiving an accurate diagnosis for many years, Sue eventually embarked on a journey of moving from chronic illness to chronic wellness. Her healing included a “restoration trio” of nutrition, fitness and emotional wellness. She shares some effective techniques, including tapping and good nutrition, along with spirituality which will be helpful for anyone living with a chronic health issue. For more information, please visit http://www.rebuildingwellness.com/

Listen: Sue Ingebretson