HealthBee

To be well means wellness in all of your life, including your financial life.

I have to say that when I first saw the book “Women & Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Own Destiny” by Suze Orman, I didn’t want to read it. In the past, I found that many of her books were difficult to understand and frankly a little preachy. When I saw that I could get it for free on Oprah’s site (for one day only) I figured I had nothing to lose. I downloaded the book and then watched her on Oprah later that night on my Tivo.

She made a very good point. She said that often people came up to her and asked how they could start saving for their kid’s college. The first question Suze would ask back was “Well, do you have enough money saved for your own retirement?” and most of the time, the answer was “Well, No.” And Suze, in her authoritarian voice “Well, then why are you trying to save for your kids when you haven’t saved for yourself. Let them go to Community College so they don’t have to support you in your old age.”

It is a different approach than I’ve ever heard before. It seems, as women, we are taught to take care of everyone else first and save ourselves for last. We forget that the only way we can truly care for other people is if we are well enough to care for ourselves first.

Intrigued, I began reading the book. Surprisingly, it was written in a different voice than the rest of her books. I didn’t feel stupid when I read it because she wrote as though she were talking to someone who had absolutely no idea of anything money related.

The book goes into a 5 month plan of teaching you about your own finances and how, if you follow her plan, you can start saving money for yourself. And, her plan is simple: it only takes 24 hours each month. That is one day, Ladies!

I think the most interesting part of the book is that it focuses on women taking care of themselves. Even if you are married, you should have your own bank account, and savings that are in your name only. Because, sometimes, things happen out of your control when you need to be able to take care of yourself.

She also has a deal on her site with Ameritrade: open up an online savings account with Ameritrade and faithfully put in $50 a month for a year, and you will get $100 dollars from Ameritrade. FREE MONEY! That’s a good deal. It is only open until the end of this month, so you have to act fast.

For more information, you can go to Suze’s site:
http://www.SuzeOrman.com

St. John’s Wort: The Herbal Way to Feeling Good by Norman Rosenthal, MD, is one of the best books I’ve found about self diagnosing depression and treating it with St. John’s Wort. Dr. Rosenthal is a senior researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health and a clinical professor of psychiatry at Georgetown University. I highly recommend you purchase this book if you cannot find it at your local library. (NOTE: For some reason the picture at Amazon shows the title being St. John’s Wort: The Miracle Cure for Depression…The correct title — which is also the title on Amazon is St. John’s Wort: The Herbal Way to Feeling Good. Not sure why the picture is different but it is the same book.)

The book starts off showing success stories of people who were diagnosed with depression. Many of these people took other prescribed medications, but decided to stop those mediations due to side-effects or because they just didn’t work. It also dedicates an entire chapter discussing various research studies that have been performed both in the US and in Germany, where St. John’s Wort is one of the most often prescribed drugs for depression. It also touches on some special type cases such as depression in the elderly and Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

Part 2 is the nitty gritty of the book. It has a complete guide for people to self-diagnose depression, including explaining exactly what depression is, and giving several exercises to do to see if you have it. Following that is a set of guidelines for you to use to take St. John’s Wort for depression, including dosages, brand names to look for and a way to measure the effectiveness of the supplement. There is also a section on how to switch over from a prescribed antidepressant, to St. John’s Wort, or, if need be, how to use St. John’s Wort in combination with prescribed medications. Part 2 also has a chapter on frequently asked questions about St. John’s Wort.

The book ends with chapter showing how St. John’s Wort has been used through history.

All in all, I can say this is the best reference for self treating depression with St. John’s Wort I’ve found. Many other books shy away from self-diagnoses and/ or will not give straight answers about the dosages one should take. This books cuts through all that and gives straight answers. Well worth purchasing.