There are an estimated 39 million survivors of childhood sexual abuse in America. As you’ll hear from this week’s guest, Lauren Book, the effect upon victims is devastating. More often than not, the perpetrator is not the stranger we warn our children about, but someone they know and should be able to trust which makes the abuse even more horrific. Lauren was a victim of childhood sexual abuse for six years at the hands of her nanny. Her memoir, It’s OK to Tell: A Story of Hope and Recovery, helps us understand the many dimensions of abuse from the perspective of a victim. As someone who refuses to let herself be defined by her traumatic experiences, Lauren’s story is one of hope and forgiveness in the face of extreme adversity. As founder of Lauren’s Kids, she now empowers others to address abuse issues in their own lives plus try to prevent it within their families. Her story demonstrates the incredible power of an individual’s ability to recover and embrace life. For more information, please visit www.laurenskids.com

Listen: Lauren Book

It’s the holiday season and the temptation to overeat is greater than ever. But for some people, every day is a struggle to make healthy choices about what to eat. Our guest, Gabi Rose, knows what it’s like to be unhappy with her weight. After losing 130 pounds, she now is committed to helping people “eat to live” instead of “living to eat.” She helps people as an internationally renowned obesity and weight loss expert. She discusses how obesity as a disease affects a person financially, emotionally and spiritually as well as physically. Gabi describes how she helped her children conquer their own compulsive eating. To receive Gabi’s free ebook, Eat to Live, Don’t Live to Eat, sign up for her newsletter here.

Listen: Gabi Rose

Dr. Dike Drummond discusses how fear and an inner critic voice can prevent us from living fully and successfully navigating life transitions. He says these inner voices often “mark the boundary of our comfort zones.” As part of our ego, they try to get our attention so we will respond to them. Several helpful tools for dealing with negative messages are discussed, including a journaling exercise called Active Imagination. This exercise was developed by Carl Jung, who recommends engaging in a written dialogue with a negative emotion to learn what that emotion might be trying to tell us. For more information, please visit www.threehourmidlifecrisis.com.

Listen: Dr. Dike Drummond

Have you wondered about the efficacy of homeopathic remedies? Jerri Johnson, a founding member of the Minnesota Homeopathic Association, discusses how homeopathy is a very effective way to promote self-healing for acute and chronic illnesses, injuries and overall wellness. She describes the process for treating specific illnesses, and how remedies are created, Homeopathy doesn’t just treat symptoms, but can be used to heal mental and emotional symptoms of illnesses. Jerri explains how to self-treat oneself with remedies, including Arnica Montana and others, especially to heal trauma and injuries, including before and after surgery. For more information, please visit vitalitypath.vpweb.com

For at least one fourth of the world’s population, acupuncture is more commonly used than aspirin for medical treatment. Our guest, Dr. Jun Xu, author of Magic Needles: Feel Younger and Live Longer with Acupuncture, explains how Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), including acupuncture, can be very effective treatment for asthma, bronchitis, addiction, headaches, weight loss, nausea, pain and many other health conditions. As a licensed MD physician, board certified acupuncturist and Chinese herboligist, Dr. Xu is an expert in using TCM to complement Western medical treatment. He describes how acupuncture helps balance our bodies, plus gives examples of how it helps people cope with chronic pain, deal with the side effects of cancer treatment, lose weight and even prevent illness. For more information, please visit http://www.tcmpage.com/.

Listen: Dr. Jun Xu

Our guest, Dr. Patrick Maguire, author of When Cancer Hits Home: An Empowered Patient is the Best Weapon Against Disease, discusses how to take charge of our health, by helping to prevent cancer and, if we get it, how to foster healing and wellbeing. He discusses some of the most common myths regarding cancer prevention. Then he suggests simple lifestyle changes, including why it’s so important to avoid being obese. He also shares some of the 10 Cancer warning signs that should not be ignored. We discussed the often-controversial topic of screening, which revealed his views on the efficacy of mammograms and PSA tests for prostrate cancer. For more information, including the list of Top Ten Warning Signs of Cancer, please visit http://www.thecancermd.com 

Listen: Patrick Maguire, MD

Ellen Jaffe Jones, author of Eat Vegan on $4/Day, discusses how it’s possible to eat healthy and economically by incorporating more vegetarian meals into our diet. Her own journey towards good health included switching to a plant-based diet to avoid a hysterectomy and various illnesses experienced by her family. She provides information about how it’s possible to get plenty of protein from “greens, grains and beans,” including from local resources such as CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). Ms. Jaffe makes a compelling argument for how plant based diets enable us to avoid the pesticides and toxins often found in meat. To know which fruits and vegetables are best purchased organically, she recommends checking the list of dirty dozen of fruits and vegetables . For more information, please visit www.vegcoach

Listen: Ellen Jaffe Jones

Pyschologist and author of Mindfulness and the Art of Choice, Dr. Karen Sherman describes how choosing to practice simple mindfulness techniques can help us deal with the pain of our past experiences. Learn how to become aware of the signals that indicate we are responding in an old “knee-jerk” reactive patterns. By developing new ways of responding to previous hurts, it’s possible to turn off old negative thought patterns and heal leftover emotional wounds. Dr. Sherman shares specific exercises, including visualization, mindfulness and free association writing. She also discusses the impact of fear on our ability to live as fully as possible, and suggests ways to diminish it. For more information, please visit http://yourempoweredrelationship.com/

Listen: Dr. Karen Sherman

Richard (Rick) E. Bush shares suggestions for living a long and healthy life from his new book, Growing Ageless: The Simple Act of Health and Longevity. As the result of suffering from depression and other health problems, Rick traveled to Thailand to learn holistic techniques and develop skills to foster healing and wellbeing. He now advocates incorporating simple, quick practices throughout the day. His recommendations include focusing on relaxation as a self-care technique. Learn about some of his favorite exercises including a “mood elevator”, “sitting cardio” and breathing exercises. These exercises are particularly helpful for people living with depression. The essence of his program is to combine Relaxation + Movement + Energy = Health. For more information, please visit www.growingageless.com.

In this week’s “meant to be” story, host Mary Treacy O’Keefe shares an anecdote about Well Within’s Circle of Life Coaching Circle which enables partipants to learn various self-care tools and techniques.

Listen: Richard E. Bush

After her elder daughter and former son-in-law were killed in separate car crashes, author Harriet Hodgson found that writing about how she felt helped her heal. She also realized that writing affirmations enabled her to regain a positive attitude toward life. In discussing her book, Writing to Recover: The Journey from Loss & Grief to a New Life, Harriet shares advice and exercises to help people navigate the difficult journey through grief including the pain of loss of dreams, hopes and goals. As a grandparent raising grandchildren, she has learned that the practice of gratitude and affirmations has also helped her raise her daughter’s children with hope and love.

At the end of the interview host, Mary Treacy O’Keefe shares a ‘meant to be’ story about a sign from her deceased father that encouraged her to begin her own writing career.

For more information, please visit www.harriethodgson.com

Listen: Harriet Hodgson