Book Nook: 'Stress Less, Weigh Less'

STRESS LESS, WEIGH LESS: Follow Holly to Increase Energy, Eat the Food You Love, and Enjoy an Ageless Body, by Holly Mosier. Greenleaf Book Group Press, 238 pp., $21.95.

Mosier, a California yoga instructor and boxing studio owner, writes that when she was depressed about money and family problems, a colleague's suggestion to think about the good things in her life became her "aha moment . . . the key that opened the door to untold joys."

Most experts agree that stress causes damaging physical effects as well as mental ones. Since "negative thoughts breed negative thoughts," Mosier writes, positive thinking helps. "Even a slight move in this direction will bring you some peace."

THE SCOOP"Decide how you are going to feel about something before it happens," she advises, citing her now-107-year-old grandmother's decision to be happy when moving into an assisted-living facility after her husband's death.

THE BOTTOM LINEMosier also demonstrates yoga poses and suggests food choices and recipes. You probably won't develop this 50-something's six-pack abs. But she might teach you to be happy even without them.