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Nevada 2020

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We recently had a wonderful trip to Nevada. Though full disclosure I make concerted efforts to see everything as wonderful ;)! The trip was for work (an incredible training!!) but I dragged my entire family along because I just couldn’t bear to leave them for almost a whole week and I figured it could be a makeshift vacation. Plus I wanted to make sure my two year old had a chance to touch as many airport surfaces as possible (and then put his fingers directly in his mouth). And the timing seemed just perfect to get out there and explore how resilient our immune systems really are! ;)

This is Pyramid Lake just outside of Reno; a very otherworldly vibe out there!

I’m a little embarrassed to admit this but I really had no idea of what the Reno area would be like and my knowledge of the geography of the west part of the country was quite lacking. My knowledge of the west has pretty much been limited to reading Larry McMurtry novels. I honestly didn’t even realize Lake Tahoe was in the neighborhood of Reno/that we would be a stone’s throw from CA until we were on the plane lol. I guess it had been awhile since I took a good look at a map ha! The only preparation for the trip I did was to google what the weather was like; I saw that the highs were in the 60s so we mostly packed shorts.

Thankfully the pool was heated ;). To be fair it only snowed one day and it did get quite warm most days;) And fortunately we did pack enough warm things to be comfortable!

This dried up lake (Lake Winnemucca) is home to the country’s oldest petroglyphs! I wanted to go find them but the kids thought that sounded pretty daunting/boring.

We all have our different tastes in rocks.

As we came upon Lake Winnemucca I wanted to keep heading north toward Black Rock Desert and have our own little impromtu Burning Man moment, but they were kinda over the endless vistas of nothingness by this point and were ready to get back in the pool, have lunch. We all did find the landscape; the vastness of it all to be mesmerizing.

The kids got a kick out of crossing the border into California.

California!

And they enjoyed the resort and I got the opportunity to explain to them what gambling and prostitution is so it was also educational!

Running through the different areas of the hotel and sliding on the carpet was a favorite evening activity! I enjoyed perusing the produce aisle at the local grocery store; they had lots of aloe there and some other unique items. I liked the little things like that during this trip; it has been ages since I’ve traveled so I forgot how fun it can be to explore a very new place!

I was THRILLED to see humpbacks out in the desert. I often feel like a humpback whale in a desert!

Some of the sights in Reno reminded me a bit of Old Orchard Beach!

While I was most mesmerized and intrigued by the desert landscapes, the kids and Smoochie’s favorite place was definitely Lake Tahoe.

I, quite frankly, found the beauty to be a little droll. More mountainous scenic vistas? Yawn. Ha! Living in Maine really makes one very spoiled ;).

I was just really feeling the WEIRDER places!

One thing we all always agree on is that we like rocks and that nature NEVER disappoints!

Lake Tahoe’s beauty was retina-searing in its obvious awesomeness. I did manage to find some little details to focus on so my head would not explode with all that grandeur.;)

Ok, ok so you’re gorgeous

I’m so grateful to have had the experience of this trip and training (and just under the wire of all the mass cancellations)! The best part of the trip was how much I learned about oxygen utilization, metabolism and mitochondrial function (and I got certified in ozone therapy and prolozone yay!). I obviously take health very seriously; I’ve devoted my entire life to helping others be empowered to promote health and prevent disease! I also take humor and silliness very seriously; in fact I think taking humor seriously is a big part of health! I have long been lamenting about the status quo of healthcare; the great (and largely unnecessary) dependence on prescription drugs, how vitamin and mineral deficiencies are utterly overlooked, how unequipped many providers are to get to the root of symptoms and improve health issues without medications or surgery; even when patients are adamantly requesting non-medication based treatments.

Rising suicide rates (especially on overdose on prescription psychiatric drugs is very disheartening), autoimmune diseases and chronic diseases are rampant. 2300+ people a day die of heart disease. Even many of the “leading” specialists can’t figure out how to get rid of simple symptoms like heartburn or headaches without meds (and it’s usually pretty simple to do; go find yourself a functional medicine doc if you have a symptom to get to the root cause!) And anyone doing ozone and/or IV vitamin C treatments has great protocols for treating viral illnesses (and other health issues); check them out in your area! Sadly, since most of the more gentle/natural treatments aren’t big money makers like pharmaceuticals/surgeries these things aren’t mainstream. However, because of the magnitude of COVID-19 I am PRAYING ozone and IVC can be fast tracked into hospitals; they are such safe and effective (and economical!) options for treating viruses (among many other conditions!). I am so thrilled my office is fast tracking these treatment options to offer them to Mainers; we’ve been very busy; it’s all quite a whirlwind! But as always I am filled with hope, joy and faith that everything will work out exactly as it is supposed to! I definitely couldn’t face all the horrors and grief of this world with joy and a lighthearted spirit without my faith! This time is a reminder for many that the only thing we are ever in control of is our own thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. We have tons of power over our health and life! Letting go of the illusion of control over anything else beyond ourselves can be so empowering.

The “it’s going to be ok!”, the “It’s all going to work out just as it’s supposed to!” sentiments go A LONG way right now and people really appreciate reassurance! So I hope you know that it is! That it will! The world is certainly out of control and loaded with horrific problems (as it always has been); but no matter what; peace, love and joy are ALWAYS possible! Facing the tough stuff with kindness and light is what we were born to do! Praying for you all to find these things in your lives and much love to everyone!!

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2020 Valentines 💜

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My new friend (and total kindred spirit) recently wrote one of my favorite blog posts about a home/interior “design”. She has a way of sharing the “imperfect” things in a way that makes them so beautiful/makes people think more deeply about what real beauty is! So often it in the world of interior design all things “imperfect” are dismissed as needing repair/needing renovation or put on some to-do list/thought about in a future-oriented way. I think it’s so important to find beauty in what is already there! To do lists can be helpful and there’s definitely a creative side to interior design projects that can be fun but it just makes me sad when there is this hyper focus on the future; of how “tomorrow” or next month or 5 years from now will somehow be better! Because tomorrow is not a guarantee and right NOW is pretty great and truly all we really have. We have lived in rental houses for many years and living in a rental house compels you to appreciate things for what they are because tearing up the linoleum or the blue carpet is not really an option. Instead just finding the beauty in things has always been such a great lesson for me! I also see this idea relating well to many other aspects of life. So many women (and also men too!) I see as patients struggle with their body image; and improving body image is not about changing one’s physical body, it’s about beginning to love and appreciate the body one is already in! It’s really hard to treat things (or oneself!) kindly if you don’t first love and appreciate yourself (or things) as they are! Or with uncomfortable feelings; rather than sit with sadness or frustration people do all sorts of things to try and run away from simply just feeling them! “Be present” and “in the moment” are oft used phrases and I think just so important to all aspects of life!

Teal countertops make for fun backgrounds! And do countertops really matter at all in the grand scheme of things? Methinks not! Often kids have a very simple way of showing us what matters most of all:

So sweet!! We had a LOVEly Valentine’s Day. I had cupping done at work with heart shaped cups and we had a very fun time taking pics of the process and then of course sharing them on social media! I took this shot of someone else having cupping done:

I am really enjoying learning about traditional Chinese medicine (and majorly brushing up on my anatomy with the chiros and PTs too!) and finding many overlaps between TCM and things I’ve learned in functional medicine settings but also just the things I learned in the garden!!! Herbs and plants and seasonal patterns/foods; it’s nice to put new names to things I always found to be so important to health but didn’t always have a way to explain them!

Also on Valentine’s Day a friend and I braved the blustery freezing day and GALlivanted around Portland capturing a little bit of the work of the Valentines Bandit (a tradition since 1976!) I wrote a little about it last year and it was fun to see it in person/take in a little of Portland’s sights this year:

Then in the evening we had a bunch of teenagers over which is becoming a fun regular thing (strange how I still consider my oldest who is 14 to be about 5 years old lol). So all in all it was a day filled with lots of love in many forms!!

Here are some other pics from earlier in feb:

Oh! And a few valentines we made this year:

Thanks for visiting and much love to you all!

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January 2020; Happy New Year!

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Hello and Happy 2020! I skipped over a “Best of 2019” post but will recap and say it was a wonderful year; I think the very best yet for many, many reasons. And 2020 is off to a great start; all these pictures were from our galavanting around Maine and also a few from a weekend in Vermont visiting family.

I think at the start of this new decade I am feeling extra nostalgic for the happy/special things of the past/that have led up to all the wonderful things of the present, and in the context of this blog world/onlinedom I found myself wondering what happened to Fran, aka narf77. She was a longtime commenter and garden blogger and we fell out of touch and with the terrible fires down under (including where she lives in Tasmania) I am hoping her and “Stevie-boy” and her dogs, chickens, garden are ok. Probably (hopefully) she is just digital detoxing and immersed in real life/elbow deep in the dirt but if any one out there in blog-world knows where to reach her please post in the comments! I was thinking about her because over the past year I really got out of my comfort zone and connected more with people via social media. It seemed super important to do; so that I understand the whole social media thing in the context of healthcare (and I wrote a few posts about that last year). But aside from it being educational, I also ended up connecting with so many kindred spirits and special people many of who I’ve connected with in real life. And so I sent people many long-winded messages, commented, “liked” and “shared” and I remembered how good it made me feel when Fran would comment on my long-winded posts about deer fences and squash bugs and life. People who make me feel really warm and fuzzy; those are the people I’m striving to be more like (and to connect with!)

I heard on the radio the results of some survey that said the average person hasn’t made a new friend in 5+ years and vowed to never be like that (at one point in the past I used to joke I had a “no friendship policy” I thought I was “too busy”/satisfied enough with my own family and a couple close friends and also didn’t want to get my feelings hurt/didn’t see the incredible value of really connecting with others. As it turns out there’s always room for new friends and there are tons of kind, warm and nonjudgmental people out there! Though you definitely have to “put yourself out there” and also make sure you let people know you’re not selling anything lol as a lot of social media is people making connections with the ultimate goal of selling something. Which I realized that was kinda what I was doing when I first joined Instagram via my practice; I thought I was trying to “network” to promote myself but quickly realized no I didn’t want to sell anything I just wanted to share love/health info and make some friends! And in making new friends I also more deeply appreciate old friends; including all of you who have followed along with this site for the past 7 years!! So thank you sincerely for reading/following along and I hope this decade is off to a great start for you!!! Much love to you!!!

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Comfort and Joy

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Snuggly, tuggly! Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! I’ve been doing a ton of writing but have it saved all over the place (on phone, in journal, scrap papers in purse, on Instagram, email drafts to myself, Microsoft word, etc. lol so hopefully can do some copy and pasting and share with you on this blog soon!). But I’m pretty impressed that I was able to do this post from my phone in just a few minutes; getting very tech savvy haha! But also limiting my tech times and trying not to take pics of EVERYTHING (difficult when Maine is so shockingly gorgeous and I’m especially a sucker for winter scenes). It has been an incredible past few months of zillions of blessings after quite an intense year (at one point I officially had 5 jobs lol). But it’s all been so wonderful (even the hard challenges!) and I definitely plan on continuing to share a little joy/nature/health/outdoors on this blog because these little moments are really what it’s all about! Thanks to all for following and sharing in my deepest comfort and joys; Love to all!!

59. How to Lose Weight: Guaranteed!

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I am writing 100 posts in 100 days, trying to get 100 views per day. I figure a popular web search is “how to lose weight” so figured in the interest of picking up a few new readers I’d give it a go and share my tips on how I stay svelte!

Svelte!

Svelte!

The number of calories NOT consumed is the only thing that will cause weight loss.

The math is simple. One Pound= 3500 calories. If you normally eat 2500 calories per day and reduce that to 1500 calories per day in three and a half days you will lose one pound (or two pounds per week).

If you ate 1500 calories a day in cookies or vegetables it MAKES NO DIFFERENCE with regards to weight loss. However, if your calories are coming from things like cookies and French fries you will feel lousy and your body will be malnourished. If your calories are coming from proteins/complex carbohydrates you will have more energy. If you eat a large serving of French fries that could easily be half or more of your daily intake. Which means you aren’t going to be eating much the rest of the day.

This is why, if you are going to eat bread, it’s what will be for dinner. You can’t eat bread AND dinner.

Once you start learning how many calories are in things, it’s not hard to figure out what to avoid and what you can eat a lot of. For example, a giant plate of spinach or lettuce (or most any vegetable) has like 50-100 calories. While a fist-sized hunk of bread can easily have 350 calories. If you don’t care to figure it/try to remember how many calories are in various foods there are probably a ton of free calorie counting apps out there.

My kind of math!

My kind of math!

Drink at least eight glasses of water every day.

NEVER (or at least barely ever) drink soda, juice or any other sweetened beverage. No matter if it says “organic” or “vitamins” or “healthy” or “one serving of veggies!” whatever. If you do, make sure to count that toward your daily calorie allotment. That includes alcohol!

Drinking one or two big glasses of water every time you eat will make you feel fuller. Also it can be sparkling water, hot water with lemon, ice water with cucumber, etc. There are a lot of things you can do to water without adding any calories.

Exercise does not have to be a key component of your plan.

Exercise is important but if you are trying to lose weight, decreasing your calorie count can be pretty drastic and difficult so guilt over missing a work out should never be part of your initial plan.

Exercise should be viewed as a “bonus” and you should be proud of yourself for doing it. But if you don’t exercise there should be no decrease in your weight loss.

Once you lose weight then you can tackle creating a regular exercise program. If you can do both at the same time, great. But you may have more success if you first tackle your diet. Sometimes starting an exercise program can motivate you to eat right. But if reasons arise where you cannot exercise (i.e. you’re sick, sore, slam busy, etc.) this should NOT affect your weight loss.

Exercise doesn’t burn that many calories. In 30 minutes of low impact aerobic activity you only burn about 200 calories—a cookie or a piece of bread can easily contain 400 calories. Even if you were doing high impact aerobic activity like running or swimming for an entire HOUR that would only burn at most 700 calories. That hour (of sweaty torture) would be for naught if you drank three cans of soda. Or ate three cookies. So look at exercise as beneficial for your health/body but never as an excuse to eat “whatever you want”.

Remember. IT WILL NOT BE EASY. Especially at first.

If you are used to eating 2000-3000 calories per day and begin eating only, say 1700 calories per day, you are going to feel like you are starving. You may get headaches, you may feel sick, weak and irritable. It takes time to adjust to this normal, lower quantity of calories. Your stomach will shrink (the actual organ and your waistline!) and it will take less food to make you feel full, but it takes some time to happen. Depending on how much food you are used to this process could take 2-3 months of feeling pretty hungry and annoyed.

Just remember it is not easy. You may be filled with rage or constantly dreaming of French fries or brownies. When you feel sick/sad/mad/hungry/etc. try to do something to distract yourself (and drink more water!). Weed your flowerbed, go window shopping, read a book, learn to crochet, clean your bathroom, organize your closet, plan a vegetable garden,

Learn to juggle!

Learn to juggle!

Eating while juggling would be extremely difficult. HAhaha

If you engage in activities you will forget about being hungry and will be productive.

The best diet is the one in which you are so busy you forget to eat! But when you do pause to eat, aim for foods in their original form. Just because a box says “healthy” or “organic” or “natural” or whatever, because it’s in a box, it is not the best choice. In a perfect world, I would follow this plant-based diet all the time. In reality, I follow it maybe 75% of the time.

And remember the wise words of Kate Moss, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.”

Even though it is very simple math (3500 calories= 1 pound) judging by the number of diet plans out there, what is not so simple is the willpower involved in decreasing the amount of calories you eat and choosing to eat real “foods” and not junk from a box. That part is up to you!

p.s. Never eat less than 1200 calories per day. A good rule of thumb for calculating how many calories to eat is: however much you want to weigh, add a zero, that’s how many you should eat. (i.e. if you want to weigh 130, eat 1300 calories per day).