HOLISTIC HEALTH NOTEBOOK

People know me as a holistic person who talks about food a lot. I do love food. My favorite TV show is Top Chef. I drool over the amazing dishes the contestants prepare and am vying for a spot as judge on that show. (I would not ask anyone to pack their knives and go home. "Please come cook for me," I would say.) I love to browse food magazines, and visit www.wholefoods.com for fabulous recipes using real food.

carolSIMONTACCHI csimontacchi@earthlink.net My mother died of a very preventable illness at the age of 47; my grandmother similarly passed early. I started having health symptoms in my twenties, and at that age, vowed I would not go the way of my mother. I got into the holistic field out of self defense. I want to live well.

But as convinced as I am of the importance of food, health is not all about food. It is about wearing seatbelts, not smoking, drinking excessively, nor doing drugs. It is about cleaning up our personal and global environment.

And it is about joy. The Scriptures teach, "A merry heart does good, like a medic ine." According to recent science, 10 minutes of a good belly laugh is equivalent to an hour of aerobic exercise. Feelings, physical and emotional, tend to follow the face. For example, if I wear a frown, I will feel sad or depressed, even if I did not start out that way. If I wear a smile, even in times of stress or grief, my emotions are uplifted and I feel better.

According to Candace Pert, author of "Molecules of Emotion," emotions are physical. Emotions are transmitted and perceived in the form of neurotransmitters and hormones. These neurotransmitters and hormones speak to the physical body as well as the mental and emotional body. So when we walk around in a funk, our physical bodies are brought down too.

I can choose to be contented. I can choose happiness over sadness. I can choose forgiveness over anger. I can choose optimism over pessimism. Wasn't it Will Rogers who said, "Every man is about as happy as he wants to be?"

Yes, life can be tough. Life is unfair. People do mean things, deliberately and unintentionally. Life is a process. It is a series of challenges and growth opportunities. I grow the best during times of stress and pain, so I choose to embrace difficulty instead of fighting it. In other words, I choose to be healthy.

- Carol Simontacchi is the owner of the Island Nutrition Center on Sanibel. She can be reached at 472-4499 or on the Web at www.islandnutritioncenter. meta-ehealth.com.