When and where, in one place, can you try reiki, have a one-on-one chat with a cardiologist, learn how a Biggest Loser did it, get a massage, learn P90X, how to make healthy shakes or how to launch your own personal brain makeover? That’s only the tip of the iceberg at an event this Saturday aimed at dozens of approaches to amping up health for women and their families.
Since 2000, the annual Women’s Health & Fitness Expo has been an entertaining, educational and multi-faceted event in the area. This year it’s on Saturday, May 4 from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Miller Middle School in Lake Katrine. The theme is “Managing Stress for a Better Life.”
Seminars, workshops, health screenings, fitness and cooking demos, and a lot more events are scheduled. As every year, there will be ample opportunities for attendees to interface with health and wellness specialists and providers from physicians to acupuncturists and many others. Many experts will be on hand with a variety of approaches to stress.
“Stress comes in all shapes and sizes, every day of our lives,” says Jeffrey L. Brown, a Harvard psychologist who will be presenting at the event. Dr. Brown is the author of The Competitive Edge (Tyndale, 2007), The Winner’s Brain (DaCapo, 2011), and Say Goodbye to Stress (Chicken Soup for the Soul, 2012). “Your brain is the single most effective tool you have to combat stress,” Brown said. “At the expo, attendees are going to learn about how to use their brains to beat stress and be more successful in their daily lives, no matter what role they play in the world. There’s nothing better than having new strategies for dealing with stress and the confidence to put them into action.” Brown’s talk will include a discussion of “how you can be using your opportunity radar to find paths to success that may ordinarily be bypassed by those around you.”
Another presenter is Harvard neurologist, brain health expert and author Marie Pasinski, who will be showing the audience how to reduce stress and launch a personal brain makeover. “By making over your mind, you’ll discover the true power and beauty of your brain,” she says. “I invite you to look, feel and achieve your personal best by maximizing your brain’s remarkable potential.” She promises the audience fun, creative ways to tap into the brain’s remarkable ability to redesign itself, at any age. Dr. Pasinski is the author of Beautiful Brain, Beautiful You (Voice, 2010) and Boost Your Brain Power (Chicken Soup for the Soul, 2012).
Three other seminars by medical-doctor presenters include Elizabeth Lorde-Rollins with “Hormonal Balance, Stress Management and Epigenetics,” Joseph Shrand with “Outsmarting Anger,” and Jennifer Ashton with “The New Frontier in Women’s Health.” Hannah Curlee from Biggest Loser will talk about her own 120-pound weight loss on “Journey to Health and Happiness!”
Workshop topics include organization, healthy kids, celiac disease/gluten-free eating, natural menopause solutions, financial strategies, diabetes, essential oils and soul power/healing with Elaine Ward. With more than 150 exhibits and 20 free health screenings from bone density to diabetes, the schedule of activities is non-stop. A healthy-food court will provide sustenance.
Join the family! 
