Table of Contents
To Mom, Dad and three hundred months
Acknowledgments
I AM BEYOND grateful to Harry, Lili and Sam, who continue to shower me with undying love and support. I love you.Thank you.
A special thanks to Kimmy, Danielle, Siobhan, Johanna, Melanie, Jessica, Hima, Nathalie, Ali, Kymber, Brooke, Athena, Sasha, Penny, Marilyn, Monroe, Aunt Eileen, Auntie and Uncle Ed for your constant feedback, love, laughter, patience and encouragement.
To Sloane Miller, I couldnt have done this without you. I am forever indebted to your genius.
To Michelle Wolfson for believing in this project from the get-go, for making it happen and for holding my hand along the way.
To Tracy Bernstein and everyone at NAL and Penguin Group for taking on this project with such enthusiasm and pride.
To Piper Weiss for your gentle yet profound guidance. I love you.
To Megan Driscoll for helping bring my dreams to life.
To Naomi Lewis for your tremendous generosity, knowledge and friendship.
Thank you to my patients, teachers and mentors for perpetually inspiring me to find the way.
Thank you to the events in my lifeboth good and badthat filled me with the passion and desire to do whatever I can do to make this world a better place.
How to use This Book
LADIES, ITS TIME to Chill Out and Get Healthy. Its time to get your health into kick-ass shape.
Are you that crazed, irritable, cry-at-the-drop-of-a-hat, raging-PMS girl?
Do you have that Im-so-bloated-its-uncomfortable tummy after every meal?
Are you scared that youre not going to be fertile when its time to get preggers?
Are you exhausted every morning and absolutely need that double no-foam latte to wake your ass up?
Do you have that I-havent-taken-a-poop-in-three-days constipated feeling every single day?
Are you taking an antidepressant? An antianxiety med? A pill to help you sleep? A pill to help you poop? All of the above?
Are you so stressed-out that you feel like you have no time to get to the grocery store, pick up your dry cleaning or make that overdue phone call to your mother?
Do you think soy is good for you and eat it in every form: tofu, soy milk, SoyJoy bars?
Are you a regular at Sephora because every time you look in the mirror, you think you see another wrinkle?
If you answered yes to any one of those questions, Chill Out & Get Healthy was written for YOU. I know you really want to, need to, maintain your sanity, live healthfully, age gracefully and prevent disease amid the chaos of todays world, and this book will show you how.
Chill Out & Get Healthy is a fabulous-new-you lifestyle guideand not a jump-on-the-bandwagon two-week diet fadthat will teach you how to nourish both your body and soul, decrease general anxiety, manage overwhelming stressors, maintain and improve your fertility, beautify your skin from the inside out, get your digestive system back on track and fight the fear of oh-my-God-is-that-another-wrinkle aging.
By giving you practical, modern-day twists on ancient Chinese Medicine theories and traditions, this antiaging, anti-getting-sickly-and-crotchety lifestyle guide will empower you with the knowledge and tools to manage your health today and avoid the unfortunate and all-too-common tumultuous, drug-dependent path of Im-not-feeling-so-hot health.
And it will help you do all this RIGHT NOW!
So dig in and read this book from beginning to end. Read it in the order in which it was written, as the information presented builds upon itself.
Go on, girl, get your read on and get on the Chill Out and Get Healthy train. Start putting to use all the easy-to-follow advice, age-old and avant-garde tips and inspirational you-can-do-it cajoling right NOW. This book is the how-to guide to your health. It will show you how your lifestylewhat you eat, how you manage your stress, how much you sleep, how often you poop, how you dealt with your last heartbreakdirectly, totally, one hundred percent, without a doubt affects your physical and mental health.
Read this book, get your health in gear, maintain your hotness, battle wrinkles and gray hairs, have a daily bowel movement that leaves you feeling oh-so-good and change your life NOW. Get on board with the Chill Out and Get Healthy lifestyle or you risk becoming an irritable, pill-popping, wrinkled, overweight, constipated and unhappy lady, and that definitely isnt sexy!
Keep in mind, the information in this book is NOT a substitute for medical care and shouldnt be used as such. I encourage you to work with a team of health-care providers, alternative and mainstream, Eastern and Western. I want you to find your best solutions for whatever ails you. I invite you to be in charge of your health. If at any point you have questions, go to my Web site, www.aimeeraupp.com, e-mail me or check out my biweekly blog for information on common health-care issues.
Ladies, I am calling on you to Chill Out and Get Healthy NOW! So go on, sink your teeth into this book and get your health into rock-solid shape!
Whos This Girl?
IM AIMEE RAUPP, the author of this book. I became obsessed with educating my fabulously feminine peers about chilling out and getting healthy NOW one Sunday at brunch with my girlfriends. I remember looking around the table at my girls, who on the surface all looked so great, so beautiful and so New York City chic: friend A with her new blond highlights, Invisaligned teeth and toned biceps, friend B with her newest plush pink lip gloss and her hot Theory jeans and friend C with her dark black locks, her beautiful complexion and those sexy new boots she purchased on a recent trip to London.
But heres the thing: despite their seeming perfection, I knew that deep down their health was suffering. As beautiful and unruffled as friend A is, she constantly battles an acidic stomach, tension headaches and bouts of insomnia; friend B gets chronic yeast infections and has quasi-allergic reactions to some of her boyfriends during sex; and friend C spends a chunk of her day rushing to the bathroom to relieve her cramped and bloated tummy.
Like you, they are all smart enough to realize that their health needs help. Like you, they are looking for answers beyond Take this or that pill. When we talked about their health that Sunday afternoon, I told them, just as I am telling you now, Listen, if you are sick now or suffering with minor ailments, youre probably in poor health. Not to stress you out even more, but seriously, you have got to get a grip on your health NOW before you turn into a wrinkled and bloated old lady who depends on ten medications a day to get by. Come on, ladies, you can do it!
Do you want to be healthy and hot at fifty? Or do you want to be that wrinkled and bloated old lady at fifty? The choice is yours to make.