Sylvia Anderson

Is there any way to escape the barrage of toxins you're exposed to on a daily basis?

Disorders like autism, Asperger's, ADHD, dyslexia, and even depression can create challenges for those who live with and love them.

From raw food to coffee enemas, learn what helped Carol Alt achieve optimal health and wellness.

Wouldn't it be great if work was more enjoyable and less like, well, work?

News of the week, toxic dangers, and helpful health tips. You don't want to miss this!

Join Dr. Roizen and his expert guests for the latest health news, wellness advice and most up-to-date research from around the world.

Juicing trends have become more of the norm than a trend. But, how do you know if you're juicing with ingredients that can truly help you achieve your goals?

It's hard NOT to compare yourself to models in magazines, even if you know they've been nipped, tucked and airbrushed to Barbie status.

If you're a lover of wine, you may have been shocked to hear that a recent analysis of certain wines from California showed they contained arsenic.

As you move through the seasons, you may do a thorough "Spring Cleaning" of your house. You can do the same for your body and health.

Your body is 70 percent water, so it's no wonder that it is one of the most necessary "nutrients" your body needs.

It might sound strange, but your food cravings often get confused with sexual desire.

Rickets was eradicated back in the early 1900s, but is now making a comeback. Why?

One out of four Americans suffers unnecessarily with chronic pain. Are you one of them?

Hosts of Naturally Savvy, Andrea Donsky and Lisa Davis, discuss the latest in healthy and natural living.

Whether you've ever had slight moments of anxiety or suffer from full-on panic attacks, dealing with anxiety can be frustrating and confusing.

From coconut water and coffee-infused food products to new turmeric supplements and green juices, the Natural Products Expo showcases new healthy eating options.

Despite your efforts, it can be difficult to wrap your brain around truly healthy eating when marketing tactics are so adept at fooling you with "faux" health foods.

"If I can make my health better, YOU can make your health better." -Carol Alt

There's never a more important time to be in optimal health than prior to conception and during pregnancy.

Some people give you energy, some people zap your energy.

Want to pump up your fitness and/or weight loss efforts? Work out smarter, not longer.

Your body is approximately 75 percent water. Does the water you drink have any impact on your bodily systems?

There's been some recent buzz lately about the safety of supplements - or rather, lack of safety - even in some of the popular Big Box store brands.

Have you continuously failed at your weight loss efforts? There can be many reasons for it.

If your body isn't getting the right "fuel," it can't function at peak levels.

How do you know that the information you're reading (or watching) online is accurate?

Good, restful sleep is essential to help you recuperate from the stresses and toxic exposure of your day.

The stigma attached to mental health disorders can leave you suffering in silence.

If you're a vegetarian and your husband (or wife) isn't, are you doomed to eat separate meals for life?

"When you cut out carbs and eat high-fat calories, you don't get hungry." -Grant Petersen

Even though the criticism of bacon and other saturated fats isn't quite as harsh as it once was, is it really a healthier choice than jogging?

"You might have to sacrifice your plan B for your plan A, even if you don't know it's your plan B at the time." -Cornell Thomas

How do you disconnect from the anxiety and stress of the external world, when you're constantly being bombarded?

I recently read a blog about how childless women – particularly married childless women in their 30s – often take a lot of shit for not having kids.

I was like, “Whoa... this woman has something to say.”

And, I was right.

I get it all the time. People will ask me, “Do you have kids?” This question typically follows my reveal that I live in L.A. most of the time and my husband lives in Minnesota. My answer is always, “No kids; just cats.”

That’s me, trying to put light on the conversation that undoubtedly will turn to sympathy. Or judgment. Or confusion. Or all three of the above.

Or any number of thoughts.

I recently had a women, no joke, say to me: “That makes me so sad. That you won’t ever have children.”

WTF? When did my uterus become an issue of your concern?

Nearly half of those diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, don't actually have it.

Sleep takes up about a third of your life (and impacts the other two-thirds). So why don't we give it the attention it deserves?

Prevention of Lyme disease is key; but what can you do if you've already contracted the disease?

Can warm, comforting foods also be healthy and good?

Grief is some tricky shit.

I apologize for the language... I tried to think of any other phrase that would set the stage for this blog; for what I’m feeling... somehow “grief is some tricky stuff” didn’t cut the mustard.

I’m fairly cerebral in my life processes; meaning that I tend to make sense of things by “thinking it out.” That is, I try to work everything out in my brain. If I can explain it away, with a reasonable argument and step-by-step analysis, I can process and move on.

I can’t make sense of what’s happening in my heart.

There are varying levels of grief. You can grieve the loss of a loved one (death). Grieve the loss of a loved one (divorce). Grieve the loss of your skinny jeans (just getting fat).

Obviously that last one is super-superficial.

It’s strange how I’ve processed grief in the past. When my grandparents and great aunts and uncles (who treated me like a grandchild) passed, I think I was still too young to realize what this meant. They were elderly; many in the stages of dementia and disease. What I didn’t realize is that while I lost a grandparent, my folks lost a parent.

And, while I haven’t lost a parent, I’ve lost a parent-in-law.

It's Veterans Day.

A day we honor the men and women who have served in the United States Armed Forces.

Unfortunately, this day has gotten a bit lost in our ever-growing self-serving society, where it simply means a vacation day from work or an extra 20 percent off at Macy's.

If you ask me, that's a tragedy.

Course, I'm a bit biased in this department. My mom was a nurse in the Air Force. My older sister served in the Air Force as well, and now is climbing the ranks in the Air National Guard. Her husband is retired Air Force. My younger sister served in the Army. My best friend lost her brother, a Marine, in Afghanistan.

So, yeah, I can appreciate what these individuals do... and it's why I have such a hard time understanding why our veterans aren't being taken care of in the way they should. I fail to comprehend how we bring them home from war and then -- more often than not, it seems -- leave them to their own devices to deal with what they've seen and what they've done.

The result is not acceptable.

A few weeks ago, social media and other sites blew up with the news that France had banned working after 6:00 p.m. Well, at least sending work emails after that time.

Here in the U.S., we rejoiced for the French and silently hoped that our very own country would follow suit.

It turned out that, in fact, the French did not make it illegal to send work emails after 6:00. Apparently, according to the Washington Post, the buzz stemmed from “an agreement made between labor unions and a federation of engineering and consulting companies, affecting 250,000 people and involving no official laws.”

It was like a bad game of Telephone via the World Wide Web. By the time it made its rounds, the real story had turned into something completely, well, wrong.

tel-e-phone [tel-uh-fohn]: the party game where a phrase is whispered down a line of players, with the goal of that phrase coming out the same by the end. Which, of course, never happens. “John and Amy are having a baby!” turns into “Don and Amy are going to Vegas!” Amy, I don't know who the heck Don is, but if he knocks you up, for the love of all that is sacred, please don't bring your screaming, crying child to Vegas.

So, no. The City of Lights did NOT decide to turn its lights off at 6:00 p.m. so that all French people could go home and watch Game of Thrones.

Besides, if it had been true, what about all the service industry folks? Why shouldn’t they be considered just as hard working as those business professionals and be able to shut down at 6:00? They might even be more physically, emotionally and mentally taxed than those in suits... I mean, have you ever had to deal with a rude American tourist?

It was a good thought, though, and for one fleeting moment, many of us were excited about the possibility of change. What if we didn’t have to be connected to our phones, email, laptops, tablets ALL THE TIME?

Monday is the Boston Marathon. Many folks might not have paid much attention to this day, in the past. But that all changed with the events that transpired just over a year ago. Now, this iconic marathon becomes even more so; dedicating the run and race to all those who were killed and injured.

My sister, Rachel, is going to be one among the pack. Last year after the bombings, she made it her mission to qualify and run Boston this year in memory and honor. And she did just that. See, unless you get a special "pass" or run with some sort of fundraising group, you have to qualify to run the Boston Marathon. It's the only marathon in the U.S. that requires you to do so. To make the cut, you must run the entire 26.2 miles under a specific time for your age group. Unfortunately, in my seven full marathons, I have never hit the mark. It's OK, she's faster than me. A little sibling rivalry can be healthy. In all honesty, I'm really proud of her. That's us in the picture, at the start line of the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington D.C. in 2011. If you can't tell by our body language, it was COLD. We actually did two marathons together that year, both within 30 days.

The Boston bombings rocked us as a nation, as it should. Terrorism is some tricky, nasty stuff. But as a runner myself, it hit especially hard. Runners run for different reasons. They run races for different reasons, too. Some of us do it for health (mental and physical) or to raise money for a cause. Some do it as a healthy competition, with others or with themselves. I've mentioned before that I run for a variety of purposes, but mainly to keep my sanity. I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in memory of my best friend's brother, Mike, who was killed in Afghanistan.

Runners, in my opinion, are a special kind of people. Call us "joggers" and you might get a dirty look or a swift kick to the groin. So, when someone intentionally hurts us – and our supporters – we don't take it lightly. We take it in stride. We rise above. We stay strong. Boston Strong? Hell yeah.

In addition to being a runner, I am, as you know, a writer. So, last year when the bombings occurred, I got out my pen and I wrote a poem. And then I went for a run.

I'm nearing the 21st anniversary of my first date with my husband. Twenty-one years! That seems like a very, very long time to be with the same person.

But, that's a generational observation. To my grandparents, who were married 50+ years before they passed on, 21 years was just a warm-up.

Obviously, things have changed.

Divorce is just as common as long-lasting marriages, with an estimated 2.4 million couples divorcing in 2012 (the latest reliable statistics available). In an environment where celebrities often set the standard of what life should look like, divorce is commonplace... even after a measly 72 days if you happen to be a Kardashian.

There's a ton of reasons why more couples separate these days. A hundred years ago, it was unheard of. Couples had to stay together for family strength, financial stability, a pending inheritance. Now, people divorce because they're not happy, they constantly fight, one individual wants financial independence, infidelity, etc., etc.

Which leads me to the question of monogamy: are people truly supposed to stay with one person for an entire lifetime? Or might there be something more to this concept of "the new monogamy"? Would you be OK if your partner suggested that you have multiple partners if it meant it might save your marriage?

It's been a concept for a very long time: women's intuition. Call it a sixth sense, gut instinct, a simple "knowing" that women seem to possess more often than men. But is it really real?

Psychology Today suggests that "...women are, as a group, better at reading facial expressions of emotions than are men. As a result, women are more likely to pick up on the subtle emotional messages being sent by others." That's their definition of the phenomenon; a science-based explanation of why women can sense things better than men.

According to Urban Dictionary, however, the definition of "women's intuition" is this: Something that every woman has where you just know. Whether it's that your lover is cheating on you or you get uneasy vibes from a co-worker, it's that gut feeling telling you that something is wrong. It may come in the form of a dream, deja vu, a funny feeling, all three, or something else. Never doubt this feeling. Ever.

I particularly like that last part... I think regardless of what is behind the feeling/sensation/suspicion, you should always know that it means something.

The power of touch is an incredible force. A hug can instantly improve your mood or put you more at ease in an uncomfortable situation. A massage provides a stress outlet like no other. Science has even proven that human touch releases the feel-good hormones oxytocin and serotonin and decreases levels of cortisol (the "stress" hormone). But how far would you go to incorporate touch into your life? Would you pay money to snuggle?

You can, you know. In this world where you can buy pretty much anything -- including happiness -- there are now professional for-hire cuddling companies. HER Radio hosts, Michelle King Robson and Dr. Pam Peeke, recently visited with founder of Cuddle Up to Me, Samantha Hess, to learn more about her business as a professional cuddler and what that even means (listen to the segment here).

What DOES it mean?

You're back! Glad to know I didn't scare you away with Part 1 of my turmoil and trouble with ED. And if you're joining me for the first time, ED = Eating Disorder, not Erectile Dysfunction... I'll save that topic for the experts (see Part 1 of the blog here).

When I last left you, I was talking about all the ways an eating disorder can envelop you, taking you to the deepest, darkest places of your soul. It's a sickness – and it really IS a sickness, mentally and physically – that seeps into every pore of your being. It becomes the absolute most important thing in your life and does not care who (or what) is sacrificed in the process whether it's friends or family members... or husbands, marriages.

A positive? You get really good at math. In the good old days of my eating disorder, I was constantly calculating calories consumed vs. calories burned in my mind, figuring out just how many hours of exercise I would need to burn off that apple I had for dinner. To be honest, I still do this to some extent; I'm just eating a more "acceptable" amount of food.

An eating disorder never gives you a rest. It consumes every second, every minute of your day, from the moment you wake until you fall asleep. I even dream about it.

I was going to wait until "Eating Disorder Awareness Month" came around to write this blog, but the truth is we should be "aware" of eating disorders every single day.

If you've never been affected by an eating disorder, or you have never known anyone with an eating disorder, you may be thinking, "So what? What do I care? There's a whole month devoted to people who want to be skinny???" For those of us who DO suffer, most of us would probably answer: we honestly hope you don't care.

Contrary to some beliefs, eating disorders – and the physical symptoms that often follow – are NOT always a way to garner attention. In fact, many people suffering from an eating disorder would rather you just leave them and their eating habits (or in some cases, non-eating habits) alone.

My family and some of my friends (the ones I trust) have come to accept this about me. They know I will not be partaking in family or holiday dinners. I will gladly invite people out to eat, but I will not eat with them. My mom has learned to simply not set a plate for me. I'm not offended; I actually love this about her. My husband knows I will never join him in ordering at dinner. He "eats for two," as I often explain it. And I love him for it as well. The servers at our favorite restaurant know that I may take something to-go, but I will never eat in the confines of the establishment.

Weird? Yes. But bear with me a bit.

Cruises have been getting some negative press in the past year or two, with all the fires breaking out aboard, engine trouble, and let's not forget the fate of the Costa Concordia in Europe. But cruise enthusiasts like to think those occurrences are the exception to the rule (and being an enthusiast myself, I agree).

In fact, a cruise is a great venue for a get-away... not only from a vacation perspective, but also from a health perspective.

In the past, cruises have gotten a bad health rap for encouraging over-indulgence. I've been on plenty of cruises myself, and I can tell you that the five-course meals and midnight buffets can be a diet buster. But things are a'changing. These days, taking a cruise can be a truly healthy experience - for body and mind.

If I had a quarter for every weird look I get when I tell people my husband and I live 2500 miles apart (by choice), I could buy myself a very nice handbag.

The usual responses are, “That must be SO hard!” or “How does that work?” Or, my favorite, “That’s interesting...” with a confused look.

It’s true. Our marriage is unconventional, to say the least. Joe and I have been married for 16 years and have known each other for over 20. We’ve been living apart for seven years. And yes, by choice.

Very few people truly understand the decision to live this way. But it’s a relevant topic... whether you live apart from your significant other by choice or by circumstance, it’s happening more and more in the world we live in. Military duties take spouses away for months – even years at a time. College or continuing education opportunities force couples to live apart. Careers often take precedence over living in the same household.

People generally understand (and accept) those “separated by circumstance” occurrences more than one by choice. Why would one consciously choose to live apart from the one they love?

Here’s my answer: two happy individuals make up a happy marriage, despite the distance.

Juice. It has been a staple of American breakfast tables for decades. Over the years it's been introduced to kids' packed lunches, vending machines and even toddlers' bottles. Not to mention the "adult" juice beverages, some of which are packed with things like antioxidants, vitamins and other nutrients.

Marketing tactics would have you believe that juice is a healthy beverage option – far better than sugary sodas or energy drinks. Phrases like "All Natural" and "No Sugar Added" bolster that mentality.

Unfortunately, for you, the consumer, these labels may mean nothing at all.