Healthy Planet, Healthy Bodies: The Food and Climate Connection

by Rona | Dec 2, 2015 | Uncategorized

If you missed the conversation about the food and climate connection on  “About Health” on KPFA.org 94.1FM, you can hear it now at https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=219892

We were joined by ANNA LAPPÉ, author of Diet for a Hot Planet and NAVINA KHANNA, Field Director of Live Real. How does the way we eat, grow, and buy food impact our planet, and what can each of us do about it?

This is a ripe time to be talking about the climate crisis, food, and health.

“With seven principles for a climate-friendly diet and success stories from sustainable food advocates around the globe, Anna Lappé  offers a vision of a food system that can be part of healing the planet. An engaging call to action, Diet for a Hot Planet delivers a hopeful message during troubling times.”

Guests:

Anna Lappé is a widely respected author and educator, known for her work as an expert on food systems and as a sustainable food advocate. Anna is a founding principal of the Small Planet Institute. She is currently the head of the Real Food Media Project, a new initiative to spread the story of the power of sustainable food using creative movies, an online action center, and grassroots events. – http://smallplanet.org/about/anna/bio#sthash.5TEVN3ma.dpuf

Navina Khanna is an organizer based in Oakland, CA and a Fellow at Movement Strategy Center. She has dedicated over 15 years to creating a more just and sustainable world through transforming food systems. With a background in sustainable agriculture and food justice, she’s worked as an educator, community organizer, and policy advocate, and is currently building a national cross-sector food and farm justice coalition called HEAL Food Alliance (Health, Environment, Agriculture, Labor).  Navina serves on the Boards of Food Policy Action and Richmond’s Urban Tilth.  A first-generation South Asian American, Navina’s worldview is shaped by growing up – and growing food – in India and the U.S. Also check out http://www.plateoftheunion.com/

Mental Health: Preventing and Treating Emotional Challenges and Mental Illness

by Rona | Aug 10, 2015 | Uncategorized

A key goal for people who suffer from a mental illness, or who have emotional challenges, is to achieve and maintain psychological wellbeing. There are many ways to reduce emotional suffering and treat the ills that millions of people face each year. 

On August 17th on “About Health” on KPFA.org I was joined by Dr Keith Sutton. If you missed the show you can listen here: https://kpfa.org/player/?audio=212273

Dr. Keith Sutton is a psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the director of the Institute for the Advancement of Psychotherapy, where he provides therapy as well as trains therapists in effective approaches for working with individuals, couples, and families. Dr. Sutton is the past president of the Association of Family Therapists of Northern California, and is the co-founder of the Bay Area Therapists Specializing in Adolescents. He is one of the 14 certified Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy supervisors in the Bay Area. Learn more about him at his website: http://www.drkeithsutton.com

Can Family Secrets Make You Sick?

by Rona | Mar 3, 2015 | Uncategorized

“In the 1980s, Dr. Vincent Felitti, now director of the California Institute of Preventive Medicine in San Diego, discovered something revolutionary about the ripple effects of child sexual abuse. He discovered it while trying to solve a very different health problem: helping severely obese people lose weight.” Please listen to this NPR story, and don’t forget to talk to someone you trust if it reminds you of some of the things you faced as a child.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/03/02/377569413/can-family-secrets-make-you-sick 

We know that Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have life-long consequences. ACEs (such as child sexual abuse, neglect, and domestic violence) cause suffering and emotional pain, and many physical ailments throughout a person’s life span.

Finally, the profound study done by Dr. Vincent Felitti, is now making the news and getting attention. One of the reasons it got ignored by many for so long is that his results pointed to the consequences of sexual abuse in children—not a subject many people want to talk about. This is something he said to me when I interviewed him on Childhood Matters, over 10 years ago. http://www.nurserona.com/the-relationship-between-adverse-childhood-experiences-and-adult-health/ Also on this radio show is Rhonda James when she was at Community Violence Solutions.

Imagine a time when all doctors asked their patients about their ACEs score, and tailored their health care to their real needs.

Now, thanks to many organizations, people are talking about ACEs and implementing policies that are trauma informed. Below are some links that report on work that is being done.

Each of us can spend time reflecting on our own ACE score, and notice how we have healed, and where we still need support in order to live a full and healthy life.

And as parents, we can help to repair some of the trauma that our children suffered. It’s never to late to reach out to others with compassion and love, and to practice self-compassion as well.

I’m deeply grateful to the people in my life who have helped me heal.

Nurse Rona

Watch this passionate TED talk done by Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, a Pediatrician in the Bayview in S.F. and a national spokesperson for ACEs.

http://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/about.html

http://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/apps/phl/resource_center_infographic.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2015/03/02/387007941/take-the-ace-quiz-and-learn-what-it-does-and-doesnt-mean

Join ACEs Connection for daily stories from around the country. You will be inspired by what people are doing. http://www.acesconnection.com/home

Yelling Less During the Holidays

by Rona | Nov 19, 2013 | Uncategorized

Take the time to plan for a yelling free holiday season.

How can you reduce your stress and maybe do less? What do you need to refuel? Can you slow down, pause, breath, calm yourself, and notice what is needed?  Forgive yourself when you loose it, and see what behaviors set you off. Plan ahead, and be grateful for what you have. Each day is an opportunity to start fresh and connect with your kids.

Listen to Christine Carter and Nurse Rona talk about Yelling Less:http://www.nurserona.com/category/podcasts/