Embracing the Joy: The Healing Power of Hugs

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Embracing the Joy: The Healing Power of Hugs

Ah, the holiday season—the time for friends, family, and togetherness. This time of year is my absolute favorite, and one thing that makes these moments extra special for me is all of the hugs I get from people I love. I used to wonder why these embraces made me so good, and then I decided to look into the science behind hugs.

It turns out—hugging is really good for you! Whether it's a bear hug or a group squeeze, wrapping yourself in a good ol' hug has amazing benefits for your body and mind. So in honor of this holiday season, I’m sharing with you all of the reasons you should give and receive hugs.

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The Truth About Inflammation

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The Truth About Inflammation

Chronic inflammation has become a topic of increasing interest in the fields of health and wellness. Spices like turmeric and ginger, and modalities like infrared saunas have risen in popularity as people look for new ways to combat inflammation.

Chronic inflammation is both a sign and symptom of numerous health conditions, like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative disease, autoimmune diseases, digestive disorders, obesity, and more. It’s no wonder why people are concerned and trying to learn more about this!

In this week’s blog post, I’m breaking down inflammation and giving you some tips on how to keep your own at bay

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What Is Long Covid? What Can You Do About It?

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What Is Long Covid? What Can You Do About It?

One difficulty about the Covid-19 pandemic is that it never really ended. The virus isn’t something we were just able to eliminate—it’s still among us, and new variants are still proliferating (I know a lot of people in New York who have contracted it over the last few months!).

For that reason, many people are concerned about “long Covid”—aka the long-term symptoms of Covid-19. In this blog post, I endeavor to explain what long Covid is, how it manifests, and what you can do to avoid it and/or treat it.

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How To Get A Handle On Your Money (Part 2)

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How To Get A Handle On Your Money (Part 2)

Welcome back to How To Get A Handle On Your Money - Part 2! If you missed Part 1 last week (you can find it here), I asked Victoria Sechrist, a personal finance coach based in New England, to lend us her financial expertise and give us her best tips. In Part 2, she talks about common money mistakes, setting money goals, and more! 

If you read Part 1 of this series, hopefully you’ve collected all of your financial data and have started tracking your spending. You’re one step closer to living in financial truth! Which means you don’t have any illusions about your financial situation; you know exactly where you stand. 

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How To Get A Handle On Your Finances (Because No, It's Not Too Late!)

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How To Get A Handle On Your Finances (Because No, It's Not Too Late!)

Many women I know, particularly in their 50s and 60s, have expressed to me that they don’t feel totally secure in their finances. Oftentimes our situations change as we age—maybe we lose a job, source of income, or partner. If that’s been the case for you, or you’ve never felt totally in control of your money, there is no time like the present to take back the reins.

A lot of people think that once they hit a certain age, it’s too late—but it’s never too late! To give us some financial advice and insight, I asked Victoria Sechrist, a personal finance coach based in New England, to lend us her expertise.

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How To Make Your Kitchen A Healthier One

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How To Make Your Kitchen A Healthier One

When it comes to cooking and what I stock my kitchen with, I’m always trying to make choices that benefit both my health and the planet. In the last year alone, I’ve become considerably more environmentally conscious, and in doing so, I’ve been able to cut back on a major source of toxins in my life: plastic. 

Most of our kitchens are filled with plastic, from our cooking utensils and containers, to plates, cups, water bottles and beyond. During my kids' childhoods, it made more sense to have plastic items in my kitchen—like when they were learning how to hold things, or dragging a sippy cup around—but now, there’s no real reason for me to have plastic. In fact, there are a LOT of reasons for me to not have plastic around, especially near my food. 

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My Top Foods For Eliminating Bloat This Summer

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My Top Foods For Eliminating Bloat This Summer

Feeling bloated? I can relate! Everyone experiences bloating at some point—some of us more frequently than others. For a lot of people, bloating is particularly commonplace in the summer,

when we tend to consume more salt and more easily become dehydrated. (The latter happens because we sweat more in the summer, and contrary to what you would think, we often drink less water, too.) Bloating is normal, though, and it can be alleviated by eating certain gut-boosting foods.

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Why Eye Exams Matter & What To Know Before You Go

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Why Eye Exams Matter & What To Know Before You Go

Many people don’t know this (I didn’t before I learned it), but a lot can be determined about your health through your eyes. That’s why it’s so important to get a proper eye exam every year.

Eye doctors can spot chronic illness and diseases through your eyes—all you have to do is schedule the exam and show up. This goes for everyone, whether or not you wear glasses or contact lenses.

Here are a couple reasons why annual eye exams are necessary for all of us, and what to expect when you go in for one.

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Why Balance Is Important (& How To Improve Yours)

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Why Balance Is Important (& How To Improve Yours)

When we think of aging healthfully, most of us look only at the big ticket items. We think about our diet/nutrition, our workout/movement routine, maybe our sleep, but there are other aspects of health that we tend to ignore that are just as (or more) important! One of those, which I’ll discuss today, is BALANCE.

Balance as a skill and capability is highly underrated and underappreciated, even though it affects everything we do.

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My Top Book Recommendations For Summer 2023

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My Top Book Recommendations For Summer 2023

When I think of my happy place, I picture myself sitting outside in the sunshine, perhaps on a beach or park bench, and reading a book. I have loved reading ever since I was a little girl. It’s a very meditative, calming activity for me, and when my mind starts to wander or I can feel myself getting anxious, I know I can always open a good book and find my peace and grounding. 

Since I get most of my reading done in the summer—and Memorial Day Weekend is the official kick off of summer—I decided to compile a huge list of my favorite new books to share, along with some descriptions, courtesy of GoodReads!

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Pure Joy Wellness Approved - Peepers Reading Glasses

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Pure Joy Wellness Approved - Peepers Reading Glasses

With Memorial Day Weekend in full bloom, I thought it would be fitting to feature one of my all-time favorite products to kick off the summer. 

This month’s PJW Approved product is Peepers reading glasses! 

They are stylish and they have so many options to choose from. 

No one wants to wear glasses that look stuffy, outdated, or boring! Well, that’s not a problem with Peepers. They have tons of color schemes and shapes that flatter any face. They also come out with new styles and color palettes all the time—think tortoise shell, quartz colors, jewel tones, etc.

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One Year Later: What I've Learned Through Loss

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One Year Later: What I've Learned Through Loss

I’m coming up on the one year anniversary of my partner, Panos, passing away. I can’t believe it’s been that long—it feels like it happened so much more recently. Naturally, it’s been on my mind a lot lately and I wanted to treat this week’s blog post as a way to remember and honor him, while also reflecting on what I’ve learned in the past year. I miss him every day; this one’s for you Panos. 

If you are someone who is currently grieving, or someone who is trying to help another person in your life who is grieving, I hope this blog post helps you and makes you feel seen. Maybe it can even help you move forward. 

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Celebrating Mother's Day: 15 Lessons I Learned From My Mom

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Celebrating Mother's Day: 15 Lessons I Learned From My Mom

Happy Mother’s Day!

In the spirit of Mother's Day, I wanted to dedicate this week's newsletter to my mom, Emily Williams.  I've been fortunate enough to meet a lot of incredible people—especially women!— throughout my life, but my mother was one of a kind, and she had a profound and lasting impact on me.

She was the bravest, most resilient woman I've ever known, and even though she passed some time ago, I miss her every day.  She was my best friend.

Here are 15 of the many lessons I learned from my mother that have stayed with me to this day.

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How To Cope With Depression—My Advice

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How To Cope With Depression—My Advice

The conversation around mental health has expanded and deepened A LOT—more and more people are talking about their struggles every day—but we still have a long way to go if we’re going to actually destigmatize mental health (which I see as a goal that would truly benefit us all). 

Personally, I’ve dealt with depression at various points throughout my life, the most recent being the depression that stemmed from the death of my long-time partner last year. I felt emotions and pain beyond anything I’d ever felt before, and it’s taken until now, almost a full year later, for me to feel like I’m coming out on the other side.

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The Power Of Power Walking

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The Power Of Power Walking

Calling all Pure Joy Wellness Walking Warriors!!! The Walking Challenge starts THIS SATURDAY, April 29! 

For those of you who have done the Challenge before, you know the drill. We’ll be walking 30 minutes, for 30 days straight—no excuses!

For those of you who are new to PJW, the Walking Challenge is the highlight of my year (so much so that I host it twice a year!). It’s a time when the whole PJW community of women comes together to support each other and prioritize our own mental and physical well-being.

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How To Spring Clean Your Mind & Increase Your Joy

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How To Spring Clean Your Mind & Increase Your Joy

At long last, spring is here! Boy, it feels like this winter lasted forever, and I am so happy to have sunny, warmer days ahead of us. 

Whenever the season changes, especially from winter to spring, I find myself feeling very introspective. I’m constantly checking myself and monitoring my mindset, but every year when spring rolls around, I do what I call “mental spring cleaning.” In short, I take whatever is clogging and cluttering my mind, and I consciously try to get rid of it. I find this kind of exercise very cathartic and healing, and it’s become my yearly tradition. 

I’ve told a lot of my friends and clients about this mental spring cleaning practice, and they all seem to really like it, so I thought, why not share it on the blog?

Here’s how you can do some mental spring cleaning yourself, so you can go into this next season feeling clear and fresh. 

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The Importance Of Vitamin D

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The Importance Of Vitamin D

Growing up, many of us were told about the importance of vitamins—maybe by our parents, maybe in our health class.

By now it’s pretty common knowledge that we should strive to get enough vitamins every day…but what does that really mean? “Vitamins” is a pretty broad category, and each one aids the body in totally different ways.

I think it’s important that we each know which vitamins we need, and how getting enough of them (or not enough) impacts how our bodies function.

In this week’s blog post, I want to focus on vitamin D.

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How Your Beliefs About Aging Impact Your Health

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How Your Beliefs About Aging Impact Your Health

Changing the way we think and talk about aging has always been one of the core missions of Pure Joy Wellness. I’d go as far as to say it’s our founding principle. So when I came across Dr. Becca Levy, and her book Breaking The Age Code, I was instantly drawn to her work and her research—and needless to say, I devoured this book quickly. 

Her book Breaking The Age Code revolves around “age beliefs”—which are what they sound like, beliefs about aging. Specifically she looks at how our views about aging impact our lives, including how long and how well we live them.

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Your Sex Questions, Answered (Part 2)!

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Your Sex Questions, Answered (Part 2)!

Welcome back to our two-part Sex Series! In this week’s post, we’ve got just as much information and advice for you—trust me, this is a MUST read!

Whether you’re curious about lubricants, wondering about masturbation, questioning your libido, or seeking body confidence, Dr. Juliana Hauser, PhD, LPC, LMFT. has actionable tips you can apply RIGHT NOW to improve your sex life and overall well-being.

Here we go…

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Your Sex Questions, Answered (Part 1)!

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Your Sex Questions, Answered (Part 1)!

Despite how often we’re all exposed to sex (and, in some respects, how universal of an experience it is), it’s still considered a taboo topic. Have you ever stopped and wondered why that is? I think it’s natural to have questions about sex, especially as we age, given how much our bodies, relationships, and self-image can change overtime. 

I asked YOU, the members of the Pure Joy Wellness Community, to send me all of your questions about sex—and you did NOT hold back! You sent in the best questions! To answer them, I decided to ask Dr. Juliana Hauser, PhD, LPC, LMFT, a sexuality expert, coach, and educator

As you’ll see in this blog post, she has tons of practical, actionable advice for establishing, reigniting, or maintaining a healthy sex life, solo or with a partner!

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