New Year's Resolutions 2012: Fix a broken heart, eat like the French, and more

Here are the top three resolutions for 2012 on health, relationships, and food. These are the folks make New Year's 2012 a great one.

RESOLUTION #1: Get healthy!

1. MARK BROWN, Ph.D.

Author of Live Like A Window, Work Like A Mirror: Enlightenment and the Practice of Eternity Consciousness

According to the 2010 Stress in America Survey (American Psychological Association), more than four in 10 Americans lay awake at night in the past month with worry. Today external factors such as the economy, one’s earnings and job pressures are largely to blame for this stress uptick. What if it was possible to make internal changes that permanently ease mental and emotional strain in 2012? In his latest book, Live Like A Window, Work Like A Mirror: Enlightenment and the Practice of Eternity Consciousness, psychologist Mark C. Brown, Ph.D. explains the relationship between how we view things and stress, and offers a step-by-step approach to changing what goes on in our heads. TOPICS:

--How to reduce your stress level in 2012

--Meditation 101: A beginner’s guide

--Tips for “enlightened thinking and living” that help relax the body and quiet the mind

2. JANIE BOWTHORPE

Author of Stop the Thyroid Madness: A Patient Revolution Against Decades of Inferior Thyroid Treatment 

For years, the standard test for diagnosing thyroid disease – the TSH test – has left millions of Americans either undiagnosed or undertreated.  An advocate for patient rights (and a recovered thyroid disease patient herself), Bowthorpe has spearheaded a grassroots movement to expose the faulty test and its equally fruitless medication, and in their place, discusses the medical option that is revolutionizing thyroid treatment.  Born from an online community that now counts thousands of recovered patients who have healed themselves, Stop the Thyroid Madness gives sufferers the tools they need to get appropriate treatment and start feeling better.  TOPICS: 

--Top 5 signs you may have a thyroid disorder

--The real reason you're always exhausted, and those last 10 pounds won't budge

--How to talk so your doctor will listen – your rights as a patient

RESOLUTION #2: Have better relationships.

1. DR. JOHN TOWNSEND

Author of How To Be a Best Friend Forever: Making and Keeping Lifetime Relationships (Worthy Publishing)

Having a BFF is one of life's greatest joys, and research overwhelmingly proves that our life depends on them. The absence or presence of them affect our physical and mental health and, surprisingly, even our finances. So in a world of diluted friendships, how do we find and keep a BFF? In How To Be a Best Friend Forever: Making and Keeping Lifetime Relationships (Jan. 2012, Worthy Publishing) clinical psychologist and bestselling author Dr. John Townsend shows us the sustaining strength of forever friendships, helps us break through relationship barriers, and reveals 8 skills necessary for building long-term, rewarding friendships.

TOPICS:

--The anatomy of a B.F.F. and 3 must-have qualities

--How to find and keep a BFF

--Does Facebook make friendships better?

2. ELLIE SCARBOROUGH

Founder of PinkKisses.com

*As seen on: TODAY Show, Cosmo Radio, The Wall Street Journal

In 2009, NBC television reporter Ellie Scarborough experienced a breakup that would change everything.  But unlike most breakups, this one had a very happy ending.

As Ellie looked around for the right tools to help her move on, she couldn’t find them – so instead, she decided to send herself flowers.   It made such a difference, that she decided other girls might benefit from ways to forget their exes, and almost overnight Pink Kisses was born. Today, the company offers a variety of bold and edgy tools, from hiring your own stylist to get you looking (and feeling) fabulous again, to daily text messages and emails, even chocolates and flowers when you just need a little pick-me-up.  And since literally setting things on fire is out of the question, girls can upload their exes' pictures and watch them (virtually) burn… all in good fun, of course.  As the holidays are the most common time for break-ups, New Years is a perfect time to move on, start over, and get back in touch with your inner bombshell. TOPICS:

--New Year, New You: 3 New Year's Resolutions for Moving On & Stepping Out

--Suddenly Single? Repair a Broken Heart, with the Pink Kisses Survival Kit

--Make Me Over!  Beauty & Inner Health Tips + Tools that Hit Your Personal "Refresh" Button

3. DR. PAT ADSON

Author of A Princess and Her Garden (Center for Applications of Psychological Type)

The desire to please is built into our hard wiring. We're rewarded handsomely all of our lives for pleasing parents, teachers, partners, friends and bosses.  So, why wouldn’t you want to please?

"There comes a time when this useful social skill and coping strategy turns into a handicap and you realize how much effort it takes to focus outward all the time and please everyone but yourself," says renowned psychologist and certified coach Dr. Patricia Adson.

Dr. Adson's latest book, A Princess and Her Garden: A Fable of Awakening and Arrival (December, 2011), is brought to you by the Center for Applications of Psychological Type (the same company founded by Isabel Myers, author of the trusted Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment) In it, she guides women through the self-care process, equipping them with tools for growth and emotional healing. TOPICS:

--The People Pleasing Syndrome: Tips on putting yourself first

--3 steps to carving out “Me Time”

--How to slow down: Top 5 signs of stress and overextension

RESOLUTION #3: Love what you eat.

1. WINI MORANVILLE

Author of The Bonne Femme Cookbook: Simple, Splendid Food that French Women Cook Every Day (Harvard Common Press)

Master the art of French home cooking with The Bonne Femme Cookbook: Simple, Splendid Food that French Women Cook Every Day.  Wini Moranville's recipes will have you serving beautiful  French meals to your family in 30 minutes or less. It's fuss-free French with an emphasis on fresh ingredients.The Bonne Femme Cookbook is endorsed by Dorie Greenspan, Amanda Hesser and Gale Gand.  TOPICS:

--The 30-minute New Year's Day Brunch — from France with Love

--Fresh & Fast Tuesday Night French (Saute & Deglaze your way to tonight's dinner)

--5 tips for relishing French joie-de-vivre at home, wherever you live

2. DINAH CORLEY

Author of Gourmet Gifts: 100 Delicious Recipes for Every Occasion to Make Yourself and Wrap with Style (Harvard Common Press)

Banish bad paper plates and doggie bags! Longtime cooking teacher Dinah Corley, says it’s time to liberate beautiful handmade dishes from their humble wrappings. In her new cookbook, Gourmet Gifts: 100 Delicious Recipes for Every Occasion to Make Yourself and Wrap with Style (Harvard Common Press, Nov 2011), she not only provides recipes – but gorgeous packaging crafts that give edible gifts the dazzling presentation they deserve.

--The elements of a food successful gift [HINT: Give equal weight to the recipes and to the gift wrap]

--New Year's gifts that say, "Happy 2012!"

--Food is the way to anyone's heart! 3 edible gifts that express generosity, care, and love 


Disclosure: I did not receive any products nor was paid for this post. I was provided info from the PR firm to share. Any expressed opinions are my own and personal thoughts. No other compensation was given.