TORONTO — Rosalie Moscoe’s goal is to de-stress and de-frazzle the lives of women.
A registered holistic nutritionist, Moscoe, 66, is the author of Frazzled Hurried Women, Your Stress Relief Guide to Thriving… Not Merely Surviving.
Moscoe, who has given about 800 talks on the subject, said that women who work full-time jobs, raise children, and do daily household chores, juggle more tasks at a faster pace than ever before.
Her book is a guide, she said, with easy-to-follow solutions for these busy women. “If you are overtired, overstressed, overwhelmed, over-worried, overeating or just plain overdoing it, there are practical, stress-relieving strategies in this book that can help you.”
Moscoe was a children’s singer and performer – she sang with the duo Jim and Rosalie and then solo – and said that her own life was stressed when she was busy being a daughter, wife and mother – she is now also a grandmother – on top of working.
“My mother died in 1986, but I didn’t change my life until three years later, when I had a medical scare and a family member developed a mental illness. That is when I decided to get my family member and myself well.
“Leaving the music business was difficult, but I went on to study wellness, health promotion and holistic nutrition. Helping people became my passion.”
She advocates therapeutic nutrition to prevent illness, she said. “If you eat better and look after your well-being, your mental and physical health will improve. You need to eat well to reduce stress. Wellness and stress relief go hand in hand.”
She spent about five years writing the book, “but it was in my head for about 15 years. I tried to make it fun and poignant.”
Each chapter begins with a cartoon that sums up the chapter. Overcommitment and Stress begins with a woman holding a baby while using her computer, cooking and holding her husband’s hand.
“The frazzled woman, the one who copes with repetitive stress, looks tense and tired, Moscoe said. “She can’t focus too long on any one conversation, often thinking other thoughts while you talk to her.”
Moscoe said that first of all, you must have a commitment to yourself. Make a list, “and decide which commitments you can drop. This is not about abandoning responsibilities, but remembering your responsibility to your own needs. Adrenal fatigue can make you tired and run down.”
You have to help others, she said, “but you have to take a step back and relax. Sometimes you have to say no.”
She feels for women, she said. “In my book, I’m bringing them some ideas about how to be who they want to be.”
