The Skinny Online

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T11:47:00.000-05:00

President Washington proclaimed

November 26, 1789

the first official Thanksgiving, noting,

“It is the duty of all nations

to acknowledge the providence

of Almighty God,

to obey his will,

to be grateful for his benefits,

and humbly implore

his protection and favor.”

Founding Father John Adams proclaimed Thanksgiving

“A day of solemn humiliation,

fasting and prayer;

that the citizens on that day abstain as far as may be

from their secular occupations,

and devote time to the sacred duties

of religion in public and in private.”

Oh, FASTING??

I thought he said FEASTING!

I am so grateful for the bounty of wonderful foods

that I'll be sharing with loved ones today.

First a trip alllllll the way to Cedar Grove (10 minutes away)

to my Aunt Zoppy's for family dinner.

Then back to my house for dinner with friends.

Served at my house tonight will be:

- free range pastured chicken in the crock pot

- baked gluten free macaroni and cheese

- gluten free stuffing

- mustard greens and spinach

- artichoke and olive hummus

- spring green and arugala salad

- Matt's mashed potatoes

- Uncle Matt's gluten free apple pie

- Amish chicken pie (actually made by the Amish!)

- gluten free sour cream cake

- gluten free chocolate brownies

- Amish sweet potato pie (actually made by the Amish)

Note: all the dairy products are raw, unpasteurized, farm fresh

and richly delicious!

May you be blessed with a bounty today

on this national day of gratitude!!

I am thankful for you, truly.

Much love,

Lisa

Lisa Gets a Rav4

2009-11-25T21:18:00.001-05:00

I asked the sales manager if he was happy.
He said 'No'.

My father and I sat at the salesman's desk at Toyota Universe in Little Falls
today where I had to be talked into getting a new car.
I was willing to settle for a used car.
I was willing to settle for Kia or a Hyundai.
Though my dream car was a Rav4 (sorta...I'm not a car person but I always liked the look of the little Rav4)
I would have been happy with something comparable or at least certified pre-owned.

My father had other ideas.
He likes Toyota - they're Japanese and reliable, he says.
He doesn't believe in buying used cars - you're inheriting somebody elses's problem, he says.

My father kept reassuring me that the car is a necessity not a luxury.
When I balked at the monthly payments the sales manager (who had come over to the desk to wrangle a deal) told me that
Lexus payments are expensive.
BMW payments are expensive.
Rav4 payments are
average or below average
when it comes to what people pay for a new car.

He told us that we should see what he pays for his Lexus!

As he was crunching numbers the subject of income and education came up.
He said he dropped out of college just one semester away from graduation.
He started making so much at selling cars that college didn't seem worth finishing.

I said,
"Well, as long as you're happy...
Are you happy?"

He thought about it.
"Happy?
No.
I'm not happy."

Then cross talk between the salesman, the manager and my father got us off the topic
before I could find out why he was unhappy.
Shouldn't a Lexus make a man happy?

I finished the thought for him.
"Money makes you comfortable,
but happiness is something else.
Things can't make you happy."

Everyone agreed as we continued our discussion of monthly payments.

Does this mean I'm not happy with my new car?

Of course I'm happy ABOUT it.
I'm grateful for it.
It's so pretty I don't even want to drive it!
But I will.
It's just a machine after all.

But happy?
I'm conflicted.

This car is a big deal for me.
I think most of us working folks feel that way about major purchases.

We exchange our time, effort, lives, blood and sweat for
paychecks that
we
turn into cars
houses
appliances
and the things that we need to keep us alive
(or stuff we think will make us happy.)

I'm well aware of the blood and sweat that went into manifesting this car for me.
All three of us put our hard earned money into it (my parents and I).
All three of us are putting our hard earned money into paying it off.

The blessed thing is more expensive than I thought it would be.
My parents are old and I don't feel wonderful about needing their help with this.
So, yeah, I'm conflicted about it.

Those three men - my father, a salesman and a sales manager -
had to talk me into it.

I don't take this new car lightly.
Sure, it's a gorgeous thing.
Sure, I wanted it.
But do I think I deserve it?
Can I handle being the driver of this gorgeous thing?

I better get with it.
I'm not even sure which side of the car the gas tank is on.
But she needs gas and I need a few more things for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

Let me go outside and sit inside my gorgeous new 2010 stark-white Rav4
and look at the owner's manual.

Too bad the owner's manual only tells you how to operate the vehicle.

I want to be the person I think I should be,
the kind of person who feels good about having a new car.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
Like the song says, She's my beautyyyyyyyy.
I named her "Alex" after the salesman who sold it to us
and after
Rousseau and Ben's daughter on LOST.

click here or click below

5 Day Pouch Tester Thanksgiving Vlog

2009-11-24T13:05:00.001-05:00

Kaye Bailey, originator of the 5 Day Pouch Test and host of the
Living After Weight Loss Surgery blog
put together a video of strategies for handling Thanksgiving as people
who are living with weight loss surgery.

She quoted me!
She even tipped her hat to healthy fats!

Ok, so she probably doesn't realize that I endorse
lard,
fat from grass fed meats,
raw butter,
and whole raw milk,
but she DOES mention Omega 3s.

Thanks, Kaye!

click here or click below

Arnica for Inflammation

2009-11-23T16:21:00.001-05:00

"Arnica Montana is a medicine

made from the plant of the same name.

The plant has been used for centuries

to treat the effects of falls

in mountainous regions

from the Alps to the Andes...

...The medicine,

usually referred to simply as 'arnica',

is known for its ability to relieve

the minor aches,

pains

and

stiffness

in muscles and joints

associated with falls,

blows,

strains,

sprains,

sports injuries,

and over-exercising...

...The entire fresh plant is used to prepare

the different medical potencies

in accordance with

The Homeopathic Pharmacopeia

of the United States (HPUS).

With no synthetic drugs,

flavoring or colorin,

arnica has no known side effects.

It is as safe to use as it is effective."

- product insert with

Boericke and Tafel

Arnica montana 30c tablets

from Nature's Way Products, Inc.

Why is a package insert telling me more about why inflammation causes pain than any of the doctors I've ever seen my whole life???

I've asked.

I've asked what inflammation is.

I wanted to know WHAT was making the area irritated and swollen.

I've been told,

"When there's an injury the area flares up."

"Part of it is swelling but mainly it's irritation."

"It's the body's reaction to stress or trauma."

But WHAT's in there?

Is it fluid?

Does the area puff up with air?

Is it water?

Tell me What!!!

Never got a straight answer.

Until today.

In the package insert for

the Arnica Montana (no relation to Hannah)

Arnica montana 30c tablets from Boericke and Tafel

it says:

"The inflammation is the result of a two-step process:

1.) Injury of some sort - physical chemical, or biological - causes an excessive amount of blood to stretch the walls of the capillaries (tiny blood vessels).

2.) Fluid and white blood cells escape from the capillaries into the spaces between the cells in the surrounding area. The swelling which reslults causes stretching of the tissues and presses on nerve endings causing pain and adding to the stiffness taht may follow an injury."

Oh.

See, I get that!

Either my physicians

didn't know that,

didn't feel like explaing that,

didn't think I'd understand that

or what?

I had to find out on my own.
I needed to see it in my mind's eye.

If I can picture what's going on IT HURTS LESS!

I swear the helplessness and uncertainty make my ailments hurt more.

When I can grasp the biological processes involved I feel

reassured,

less vulnerable,

less tender,

more efficient in my healing.
I actually experience less pain.

I can picture my miracle body doing its miracle job of healing.

I'm soothed.

Same thing with "the weight" and my eating habits.

I've always wanted... NEEDED to understand what was going on physiologically in order to feel

effective in making changes for the better.

It's simple.

Just explain things to me.

I'm a reasonably intelligent person.

I can handle the facts, Jack.

Why is it that certain medical professionals feel they have to hoard all the information

and mete it out to us in spoon-sized mini bytes causing more confusion

and obfuscation of facts thereby keeping patients disempowered and needy?

I want to learn so I can take charge of my own health,

thank you very much.

And if there are competing viewpoints from health care practitioners

then give me all the data from all the different points of view
and I'll sort out what's useful to me.

Thank God for the internet!!

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

Herbal remedies for sore throats include slippery elm and licorice. Learn more about herbal treatments for sore throats with tips from herbalist Heather Herrington who has years of experience in treating common ailments with herbs and other natural remedies.

click here or click below

The statements made on this web site have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The products featured are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Thank you

2009-11-22T15:44:00.000-05:00

Dear God Whose Name I Do Not Know,

Thank you for my life.

For all my aches and pains,

body image issues,

health concerns,

stress and fatigue,

I have 10 fold blessings to make up for them.

Thankful am I

who can choose from 10 different supermarkets

and farm markets

and restaurants for my supper tonight.

Thankful am I

to have friends to share my home with.

Thankful am I

that my parents are basically healthy and alive!

Thankful am I

to have money in my wallet

so I can go out and buy groceries

to feed my friends as we gather

to watch the holiest of shows on Showtime tonight (Dexter and Californication).

I was about to complain about my aches and pains

and how tired I am

but instead I'm going to proclaim

deep gratitude

for the wonderful bounty.

I pray for those who have less or have none.

Thank you for my life.

Amen.

The Weight

2009-11-21T23:59:00.000-05:00

My father was thrilled that the "physcial therapist" helped me make so much progress after only one session.
I didn't go into details regarding the actual methods of care in the Integrative Manual Therapy center.
Let him just be happy that I'm improving.

The mobility in my leg is significantly improved.
I can bend it all the way up so I can kick myself in the butt with my heel.
I no longer have to shake the leg into place before I put weight on it.
The pain is decreased.

Then I went on to talk about stuff on my job,
my positive evaluation from my department,
future prospects
and how grateful I am to be working over the winter break.

I reported all this to my father who said it sounded like good news.
Then he asked,"What about the weight?"

The weight.
Suddenly all my buoyancy over regaining the use of my leg and my expanding career faded.
I was no longer up and coming.
I was a fat lady in a side show.

I felt like I needed to explain myself.

I stammered something about

needing to get the muscles in my leg strong before I could start walking again

and how the physical therapist is also a phys ed teacher and tai chi instructor (he is).

Then I sealed off the subject by saying something like "I'm working on it."

I am working on it.

But part of me wanted to say,

"The stress of worrying about the weight is diminishing the quality of my life

so I've decided to do nothing about it whatsoever and just concentrate

on health in a more holistic way."

Why didn't I?

I came home and slept it off.

At 8:30pm I was awakened by a dramatic phone call from my mother who claimed she was afraid to go to sleep lest she asphixiate.

She had a bad sore throat and wanted to be taken to the Immedicenter.

At 8:30 on a Saturday night?

Nothing was open except the Emergency Room at the hospital.

My 80 year old father was iffy about driving at night so I took her.

Suddenly the weight was not an issue.

I was not a fat person taking my 86 year old mother to the hospital.

I was just a woman taking my 86 year old mother to the hospital.

I sat there with her in the ER, propped up the bed for her, dressed her in her hospital gown, covered her up in her blanket, entertained her, kept her from fussing too much over having to wait, dealt with the nurses and doctor who thought she was cute and generally handled everything.

Dad called on my cell phone to see how we were doing.

He felt guilty.

He apologized for not taking her to the hospital himself.

I reassured him that everything was fine.

As I sat there in the chair next to her gurney in the ER I thought about the weight.

How absurd that I should have to explain myself to anyone regarding my body.

I watched women my size and heavier walk by in uniforms.

Nurses, techs, EMTs big as me or bigger were going about their jobs.

Some saving lives, some administering medicine, cleaning up spilled bodily fluids, walking around with perfectly functioning knees, living, not freakishly standing out. We were all just people.

How ridiculous that I should even have to think about the weight as an issue,

or be asked about it,

or lose a second's worth of sleep over it.

What if I just decided to be ok with my shape as is and get on with my life?

Maybe it's not my problem to take on what other people see as my problems.

Maybe I'm just me.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

"Dear Mr. Vernon,

We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it is we did wrong, but we think you're crazy for making us write an essay telling you who we think we are.
You see us as you want to see us, in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out, is that each one of us is a brain,
and an athlete,
and a basketcase,
a princess,
and a criminal.

Does that answer your question?

Sincerely yours,

The Breakfast Club."

click here

Splenda is not splendid

2009-11-20T23:56:00.000-05:00

"Why can’t we encourage people
to just overcome
their sweet tooth?...

...Perhaps it would help,
but of course there is
no money
in that...

...We have the sugar industry,
the chemical sweetener manufacturers
and the processed foods
and drinks industry
making sure that does not happen...

...But people do pay the bill
– some with their lives,
others with suffering and illness,
others simply with obesity,
and all of them with their weekly grocery bills,
not to talk about hospital costs
that hit every one of us."

- from The Center for Science and the Public Interests

Warns of Aspartame But Advocates Splenda/Sucralose

Did you know that there is no clearcut evidence that artificial sweeteners aid in weight reduction?

Yet when I see recipes on blogs and support groups that are "WLS friendly" I see that they include Sucralose (brand name Splenda) in their sugar-free versions of what used to be recipes for actual food now diet-ized by replacing the fat with starch and replacing the sugar with artificial sweeteners.

Why the emphasis on sugar-free?

According to what I read from pre-ops, post-ops and no-ops who are trying to lose weight

the idea is to cut calories by any means necessary.

Sugar has calories.

We've also been conditioned to believe that sugary sodas, baked goods, candies and desserts are the main cause of obesity and that by simply making these same items Low-cal, Low-fat or Sugar-free, but continuing to eat them, we are doing something wonderful for our health.

According to Dr. Janet Star Hull, author of Splenda: Is it Safe or Not? and Sweet Poison,

"Splenda, or sucralose as it was named when it was invented, comes from a sugar molecule, yes, but it is so mutilated and transformed in the lab, it has merely 1 atom of sugar remaining after 3 atoms of chlorine are injected into the sugar molecule. So in laymen's terms, sucralose, or Splenda, is 1 part sugar and 3 parts industrial chlorine. You might as well drink from your fish aquarium or swimming pool." (click here for the complete interview)

What is it about us
(I was once an artificial sweetener junkie)
that makes us prefer to put poison in our bodies rather than just eat better?

Are we (and I was one of the "we") so addicted to sweetness that we'd willingly endanger our health just for a flavor fix?

I know that I for one like sweetness.

I used to use the pink packets (saccharine).

Then when those were determined to be cancer-packs I switched to the blue packets (aspartame).

When aspartmate was discovered to be toxic I switched to the yellow packets (sucralose).

Now sucralose is in question.

Today I use the green packets (stevia).

The difference with the green packets is that it's not an artificial sweetener.

It's the powdered version of an herb.

It IS a processed food so I use it sparingly but it's nothing like the pink, blue or yellow packet devils.

I also use good old raw honey,

organic molasses,

real maple syrup

and Agave nectar.

I'm looking into acquiring some Rhapadura.
Yes they have calories.
No I don't care.
Real food has calories.
I'll deal.

I'm more afraid of harsh chemicals than I am of calories.

I think it's easier and safer to train my taste buds to like things that are less sweet than to tax my body with a toxic substance.

But I warn you,

DON'T try to talk about this topic on a Weight Loss Surgery support group anywhere online.

Either you'll be attacked, insulted or told that artificial sweeteners are "safe in small amounts"

and that the side effects of obesity are far more dangerous than the side effects of Splenda.

The WLS "cheerleaders" (a term coined by Dani Hart, author of I Want to Live) who wave their pom-poms for a post-op way of life that includes artificial sweeteners and low fat diet foods

will not tolerate dissent.
They regard Splenda-eating as one of the many adjustments one must make as a post-op if one wishes to be part of the weight-losing in-crowd. Question thier methods and you'll be told you're just not committed.
I know. I've been cheer-led right off of these support forums and asked not to interfere with those who are truly on the road to success.

Or I've been told that what works for one person may not work for another so I should just leave the Splenda-eaters alone to do what they have to do in order to obtain glorious thinness.

Do I sound bitter?

I'd rather be bitter than artificiually sweet.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

Sweetpoison, written by author Dr. Janet Starr Hull, is a book exposing aspartame dangers. SweetPoison.com provides a variety of aspartame information including nutritional advice on aspartame detoxification, aspartame side effects and up-to-date information on aspartame dangers.

click here or click below

Chocolate Please

2009-11-19T17:10:00.000-05:00

I'm not perfect.
Sometimes I eat things that I know are less than nutritionally optimal.
See how I worded that?
Rather than say "eat things that are bad for me" I said something less condemning.

I've done the condemning thing.
It isn't helpful.
If naming things as "bad" was helpful I would have solved my health issues a long time ago.
Bad and good are judgment calls.
When it comes to food
I need to be sensitive to my psyche as well as my body.

Health comes in layers.

Healing from an eating disorder happens in layers.

Every once in a while I like to have some peanut M & Ms.
Not often.
Just once in a while.

I'm on campus right now.
Had I planned ahead I would have brought some organic dark chocolate with me.
I didn't.
I could have gone to the convenience store here on campus and bought some raisins or a piece of fruit.
Maybe I should have.
I opted for the Peanut M&Ms instead.

Maybe I needed the extra sugar rush.
Maybe I just needed the comfort of that particular food.

Like I said, I'm not perfect.
Right this second I choose to eat a Peanut M&M.

So be it.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
I MUST get this book!
I love Lisa Lampanelli.
Hey SHE has chocolate when she wants it!!
Click here or click below

Thank God I get to teach

2009-11-18T19:18:00.000-05:00

I'm sitting here in my classroom while my students take their fnal exam (the Fall trimester ends tonight and the Winter trimester begins November 30th).

The computer is up on a high podium so I pulled a desk over to it and am using the desk as a chair so I can sit up at podium height.

The words I'm typing right now are up on the large computer screen in front of the classroom.

My students are too busy to notice.

They're writing dilegently.

Also, since the classroom lights are on the screen is not as clearly visible.

They're writing.

I'm writing.

I'm looking over the top of the computer at them as they write.

Do they have any idea how much I adore them.

My eyes are filling with tears.

I'm glad they're too busy to notice.

When my energy bottomed out and I wanted to crawl into bed on Wednesday afternoon

and just "die" I thought of them and I was able to keep going.

It's an evening class. They've all worked today.

I began my teaching day at 8am.

Many of them began their work day just as early.

We're tired but we're toughing it out.

together.

We all just took a freak out break.

There was a dust-millipede crawling near one of the students.

Unable to contain her bug-anxiety she shrieked and got the other students to pick their feet up off the floor

to avoid being crawled on.

Much eeking and shrieking.

Our one and only male student came to the rescue.

He wouldn't kill it.

He said that in some parts of the world bugs like that are sacred.

He scooped it up on a plate and carried it to safety outside the classroom.

Now we're all back to work.

I do this for them.

I push myself to be a better teacher every semester because

no matter how tired

or irritated

or time-strung

or stressed

I care too much about them.

to give less than my best.

I could take the easy way out and read powerpoint slides to them every week.

I could bore them (and myself) with lectures straight from the book.

It would be so much easier to teach that way but I can't.

I need to give them something of value, something entertaining, uplifting, relevant to real life, memorable and well-prepared.

It's hard.

If it were easy...

how would I grow?

They're my proving ground.

They teach me patience.

They let me know what works.

They inspire me to be better

and do better.

A student just came up to me with a question.

The final essay on the exam is always a reflective one.

She wanted to know if I wanted her to express her opinion.

Yes.

That's why I make them handwrite their essays and hand them to me to keep.

I treasure their opinions.

I wish they really knew how much I love them.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

She wants to write about a clip I showed from the film "What the Bleep Do We Know?"

where we say how neueral pathways are created and reinforced.

Good choice.

click here or click below

Speak It Out Loud!

2009-11-17T21:52:00.000-05:00

I woke up from my nap and cried.
"You should have given me a chance!"
Then the tears stopped and I felt relieved.

Issues are popping up for me,
in my thoughts, randomly,
and
in my dreams, vividly.

I dreamt about my boyfriend, Bill who got married and moved to Michigan
...gosh...15 years ago?
I've lost track of how much time has passed.

We had been together for 9 years starting when I was 14.
In the back of my mind I figured we'd end up together,
you know, married by default.
In the meantime I lived my life, kinda took him for granted,
dated other guys.

I was a terrible girlfriend.
My logic was that since we began seeing each other at such a young age I "deserved" to experience life by dating other guys. He tolerated it but it must have hurt him.

We never actually broke up.
I moved in with another guy, the ne'er do well boyfriend (who is also married and now lives in North Carolina) still with Bill in the back of my mind as the default, still with Bill coming over to visit on occasion.

Our mothers hung out together.

While I was living with the ne'er do well, Bill met his current wife.
We still spoke.
I was happy for him.
Bill and his wife had their wedding "reception" in my parents' dining room.
I quietly ran out of the room and cried while they cut their wedding cake.

I've been holding some serious regrets in my heart over how that all went down.

Before he proposed to her he called me for advice.
They had a fight.
Things weren't going well with my ne'er do well cheating-low-life-boyfriend that I was living with
so hearing that Bill was having relationship problems was timely for me.

He was still living with his mother in his parents'' old house.
He was contemplating marriage because he didn't want to be
a 40 something year old loner living with his mother.

I told Bill that he and I should get a house together, maybe a two family.
He and I could be landlords on the first floor and rent the upstairs to tenants.
It would be his house. I'd pay him rent that he could put toward the mortgage.

That was my solution.
Live together in a business style relationship with me still "free" to do what I pleased.

Looking back it feels paltry and selfish of me to have offered him a non-relationship
as an alternative to making up with his soon-to-be-wife.
He said, "No, I love her..." and the next thing you know they were cutting their wedding cake in my parents' dining room and moving to Michigan.

A few times a year I'll have a dream about him leaving her and moving back to NJ.
Today's dream was one of those dreams.
In the dream I told him how hard it was for me to live alone, how hard I worked and struggled to support myself.
I told him that I regretted not talking him into staying in Jersey and giving me a chance to be a better girlfriend.

When I awoke my face was hot from crying in my dream.
Then the real tears came
and I yelled
"You should have given me a chance!"

Then I felt better.
Not totally better.
It's still an issue for me, the whole Bill thing.
I'm crying as I'm blogging this right now.

In real life would we have been happy?
I dunno.
Logically I know we may or may not have been happy.
Perhaps having a work-horse for a husband (he's a mechanic who always worked 6 days a week plus overtime) would have made me lazy.
Who knows?

Practicality, logic and reason are not what make our bodies hold onto things.
Emotions do.

Issues in the tissues.

Whether we belonged together or not I have regrets.
I feel anger.
I feel abandoned.
I feel bad.
I feel repentant
AND
I've blogged about this before!
But blogging wasn't enough.
I needed to SAY the words out loud
in order to feel some physical release.

That these issues are coming up now, after receiving issue-relieving Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT) yesterday is not surprising.

My cousin Maria, a Reiki Master (click here) always says
"What you don't deal with emotionally, you will deal with physically."

It's true.
It's just plain true.

What IMT taught me is that you need to SAY it to release it.
We need to HEAR OURSELVES SAYING IT in order to feel that relief.
In order to set our cells free of the tyranny of unexpressed emotions we have to speak the words.
The blogging is good
but I'm learning that in order for the body to heal something physical has to occur.

My body needs to vibrate with the actual sounds of the words.

Will I ever have my Bill-regrets dream again?
Not sure.

The road not taken is a helluva regret.
But for now some of the pressure has been taken off.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
Water.
Kidneys.
Chi.
We have to keep them flowing.
Sound helps.
Did you know there are sounds just for kidneys?
click here or click below

Integrated Manual Therapy: Issues in the Tissues

2009-11-16T14:49:00.001-05:00

"Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT) is a unique compilation of diagnostic and treatment methodologies that assess and treat pain, dysfunction, disease and disability. Developed by Sharon Giammatteo, Ph.D., I.M.T.,C. over the past 30 years, IMT is a new approach to health care developed to address the needs of complex patients. IMT practitioners identify and address the underlying causes of dysfunction using a comprehensive and holistic approach...

...While IMT diagnostics and treatment modalities are predominately hands-on, IMT also integrates a wide range of diagnostic and treatment technologies, nutritional programs (i.e. natural supplements, diet, and herbs), and IMT body based psychotherapeutic approaches to develop a customized solution for an individual patient's needs. "

- Center IMT: Integrative Manual Therapy and Diagnostics

They had their hands on me for 45 minutes before they started "fixing" me.

For 45 minutes the practitioners did something called mapping to assess the location of my imbalances.

Mapping is similar to scanning used by Reiki practitioners.

The difference is that the IMT (Integrative Manual Therapy) practitioners put their hands on me and kept them there for an hour. There was not a single moment where there wasn't a hand on me.

And their hands got hot.

The chi was roiling.

Three people had their hands on me.

Two students and one supervisor/instructor who came over to me twice to check up on the students.

The instructor asked me if I was eating gluten.

I told him I'd been off gluten since March.

"Do you cheat? Don't cheat," he said.

Then he turned to the students and informed them that

my gut was leaking into my knee.

My sacrum needed to be healed.

Let me say this to anyone reading my blog today.

This method of healing is not for the uninitiated.

The young man working on me was treating me

as a "charity case" meaning I paid nothing for my session.

With the professionalism dropped he was free to spend the entire hour healing me

rather than having to explain or sell me on IMT methods.

I didn't need to be sold.

I could tell I was being treated with compassion and expertise.

These people are energy workers of the highest caliber.

Their approach is holistic.

Everything mattered.

At one point during the healing the female student said she felt a "still spot" in me.

She asked,

"Do you have trouble saying 'No' to people?"

I nodded.

As soon as I nodded

WHOOSH

a wave of pain left my knee.

"What happened?"

I asked.

They explained that sometimes just acknowledging an emotional issue brings it out of the tissues.

It's no longer stuck or still.

The body becomes free to heal.

"Your issues are in your tissues!" he joked.

As the kept their hands on me

and the heat penetrated my sore spots and "bone bruises"

they mentioned that there are layers of issues.

They fixed (or at least that's what it feels like they fixed)

the physical issue.

They they helped clear a bit of the emotional issues

then gave me homework.

I am to place the back of my left hand on my lower back right by my kidneys

with my right hand on my knee for 20 minutes at a time.

I am also to place the back of my left hand on my lower back right by my kidneys with my right hand just below my belly button for 20 minutes at a time.

Chi is stored in the kidneys.

It needs to flow from my kidneys to my sacrum and my knee.

Making the connection with my hands will make the energy flow where it needs to go.

What did the session consist of?

A little bit of conversation.

An intake where I indicated my major complaint (the right knee) and gave a quick medical background of my major surgeries.

Lying down on a massage style table and practitioner number one immediately putting his hands on me: head, heart, knee, feet and belly to map me.

Some suggestions for diet (raw is better, avoid gluten, eat a small piece of raw cheese 30 minutes before eating a meal to absorb toxins from the belly).

Suggestion that I do chi gong and tai chi - from a sitting position till my knee can bear weight.

Two practitioners placing their hands on me mapping and then making motility return to my still areas.

A supervisor checking up on them, placing his hands on me briefly and giving them instructions on how to heal my knee and my sacrum.

Hot hands healing me just by having them, palms-down, on my body in different places for an hour.

A question about my ability to say 'no' and an immediate feeling of painless release.

Instructions for homework.

The whole session took one hour.

How does my knee feel?

Healed.

Like it was never injured.

I'm going down for a nap now.

I want this feeling of wholeness and wellness to last.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

Grandmaster David Harris demonstrates healing Qi gong techniques of the Shun Shen Tao for the sacral region. This video has been donated by Grandmaster David Harris to help massage therapists, Reiki practitioners etc. be more effective working with difficult problems with different sacral conditions.

This IS NOT what I experienced today. The IMT folks used their whole hand palms-down for most of the session, but the idea is similar.

click here or click below

Healing WITHOUT Surgery??

2009-11-15T13:38:00.000-05:00

"You truly DO become what you think about,
and this is not some new age
utopian idea…it is very real!
The 'self fulfilling prophecy' concept
takes a different meaning here,
and it is one
that is not so far fetched...

...if you plant positive seeds
in your brain,
your thought process
becomes one of always seeing
the proverbial 'silver lining' in every situation,
spotting new opportunities
and your productivity
in all areas of your life
is uplifted.
You become the 'glass is half full' person
and
you constantly improve."

- The Thinking Coach

in You Become What You Think About

We've all heard the idea that "What we think we become."

Buddha said it.

The Secret teaches it.

Visualization techniques rely on it.

Hypnosis uses it.

Our predominant thoughts about a thing have a way of manifesting in reality.

What's this got to do with my knee?

Everything.

My brain sh*ts out all kinds of negativity if I don't keep it under control.

Running on automatic, my mind keeps telling me
how much pain I"m in,

how fat I am,

how cumbersome my body is,

how I'm gaining weight,
how I'm crushing myself,

how I'm desperate, pathetic and weak.

This is understandable.

Every time I take a step and I feel pain in my knee my brain leaps to these negative conclusions

under the guise of being "descriptive".

Yet this description is keeping me prisoner
and it's not the whole truth about me
or my knee
or my potential
or what's really going on with my health.

How do I know?

Since that nice doctor examined my knee on Thursday
I've been feeling better.

The pain is still there but somehow it's easier to bear.
It's not as acute.

The knee is not as tender.

I'm not as hopeless about life every time I put my foot down.

Why?

When she described my probable problem -

torm meniscus aggravating the synovial lining of my knee -

I had wanted to get a picture of it in my mind.

I came home and looked up diagrams of knees.
I wanted to see the synovial capsule for myslef.

When she used the tem 'synovial capsule' I thought of a little pill shaped thingy that secretes synovial fluid.

But she was referring to the whole lining of the knee. The synovial membrane encapsulates and interweaves inside the parts of the knee as you can see in the diagram above.

Now I can SEE my knee in my mind's eye.

I can see the torn meniscus pinching the membrane.

I can see the arthritis causing the inflammation.

I can also see it calming down,
turning from red to pink,

easing,

healing,

becoming less inflamed,

bearing the weight,

becoming whole.

Without the picture in my mind all I had to work with was the pain.

All I could feel was the weakness and irritation.

My imagination filled in the blanks with

more pain,

feelings of failure,

anger,

sadness,

frustration,
irritation

and friction.

With the new picture

and a little certitude about what needs to heal,

I feel better.

stronger,

more hopeful.

The injury feels smaller, more manageable

more heal-able.

Nothing physical happened.

It all happened in my mind.

Tomorrow I see an Integrated Manual Therapist who will

help me get moving in a way that is conducive to healing my knee.

The mainstream way of icing and rest didn't fix me in the long term.

My acupuncturist friend told me that according to Chinese medicine:

Ice is for dead things.

Maybe ice is good if you're in an ambulance on the way to the emergency room

but for long term care of a knee injury?

Not so much.

According to Dr. Ross Hauser, an expert in healing knees WITHOUT SURGERY...
"One of the first principles is to keep the area moving, while at the same time protecting the joint from strong stresses. Immobilization of the injured joint causes the repaired area to become weaker and thinner and often leads to a stiff joint. This is due to a combination of adhesions in the joint and/or shortening of ligaments, and weakening the site where ligaments and tendons insert to bone. This is why the R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation) treatment protocols for soft tissue injuries are so detrimental to healing. Ligaments are especially sensitive to immobility, therefore it is not recommended for any type of ligament tear or sprain when the joint itself is stable."

Movement.
Go figure.
Good thing I know how to find experts who can help me.
I'll let you know how the IMT goes.

In the meantime I need to fix my mind!

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
Osteopathic Physician (and expert rock climber!) Dr. Julian Sanders
shows us a technique for relieving synovitis in the fingers.
Who knew you could even move fingers that way??
Our bodies really are miracles of healing.
Thank God for experts who understand and teach about our innate ability to heal.
click here or click below

Body Model

2009-11-14T16:41:00.000-05:00

"In our brain

is a map

our body."

- Dr. Jeanette Norden

Jeanette Norden, Ph.D.,

is a Neuroscientist and Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology

in the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine...

She has been a maverick

in Medical Education,

stressing not only intellectual,

but also personal and interpersonal development

in students.

Her emphasis on personal development

and her innovative approach

in integrating 'humanity'

into a basic science course

has been recognized at Vanderbilt

and nationally.

I had the privilege to see Dr. Jeanette Norden speak at Montclair State University in a program sponsored by our Research Academy for University Learning.
She gave a talk on How Neuroscience Informs Humanists and Scientists
about Promoting Deep Learning.

Her advice in a nutshell?
Develop people on an intellectual level
AND on a personal level.
Model a healthy lifestyle.
Care about people.
Instill in your students the value of a reflective life.

The quote that really stuck with me?
In our brain is a map of our body.

Wow.
I immediately thought of that recent episode of HOUSE M.D. where her cures a patient of phanom limb pain by using the V.S. Ramachandrean's Mirror Box therapy.
According to Wikipedia
"The patient places the good limb into one side, and the stump into the other. The patient then looks into the mirror on the side with good limb and makes "mirror symmetric" movements, as a symphony conductor might, or as we do when we clap our hands. Because the subject is seeing the reflected image of the good hand moving, it appears as if the phantom limb is also moving. Through the use of this artificial visual feedback it becomes possible for the patient to "move" the phantom limb, and to unclench it from potentially painful positions."
(click here for a video on Mirror Box Therapy)

Mirror Box Therapy serves as evidence that the map in our brains effects the physical reality of our bodies.

I need a mirror box.
No, really.
I need to re imagine my body.

I need to SEE, in my mind's eye, a body that is strong, healthy, fit
whole and mobile.
My mind's eye sees me as broken, defective, pathetic and obese.
Is it any wonder I'm suffering?

The other night, the wife of a professor who had come to guest lecture in my class
took pity on me. She's a physician. Concerned that I had no health insurance with which to proceed
in getting medical treatment for my knee, she examined me
right there in the classroom.

She moved my leg around,
made me bend and unbend my knee as she palpated the area,
felt for clicking,
pressed on every area of the knee to assess pain,
basically doing a thorough job of examining me the old fashioned way.
No scopes, no MRI, no exray
just hands-on evaluation.

She urged me to get an MRI and proper treatment.
With that caveat she said she felt it was likely that I had torn meniscus
that was pinching the sinovial capsule causing pain, inflammation and buckling.

The synovial capsule is not a tiny little pill shaped thing.
The synovial capsule is the membrane that encapsulates the knee.
My cartilage tear is causing the membrane to be pinched over and over and over again.

The pain and inflammation are killing me.
It's been since April.

But with no health insurance, surgery is not an immediately available solution.

What DO I have immediately available?
Chinese medicine.
Acupuncture.
Integrated Manual Therapy (I'm going in Monday for my first session).
Mental Conditioning (via NLP and Self Hypnosis).

Always work with me, huh?

Well, if Dr. Norden is right, I'll be successful.
She said that "We're made to enjoy life."

We are.
I just need to SEE it
then
BELIEVE it
then
it will be so.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
A new technique called "mirror image therapy" is using the reflection of the intact limb to trick Wagner's brain-in a good way. Dr. Jack Tsao, a staff neurologist at Walter Reed, oversaw the exercises.Removing his prosthetic limb and sitting up, Wagner places a mirror on its side facing his outstretched left leg. He then performs a number of exercises with his left foot, like rolling it in circles and imitating pushing the gas pedal.
All the while he is looking at the left foot's reflection, which engenders a feeling of movement in his invisible right foot.

click here or click below

Free Range Pastured Animals, please!

2009-11-13T17:42:00.002-05:00

"Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) are agricultural operations where animals are kept and raised in confined situations. AFOs congregate animals, feed, manure and urine, dead animals, and production operations on a small land area. Feed is brought to the animals rather than the animals grazing or otherwise seeking feed in pastures, fields, or on rangeland."

- from the United States Environmental Protection Agency website

“When respiratory viruses get into these

confinement facilities,

they have continual opportunity to

replicate,

mutate,

reassort,

and recombine into novel strains ...

The best surrogates we can find

in the human population are

prisons,

military bases,

ships, or schools.

But respiratory viruses can run quickly

through these [human] populations

and then burn out, whereas in CAFOs

- which often have continual introductions of

[unexposed] animals- there’s a much greater potential

for the viruses to spread

and become endemic.”
- Gregory Gray, director of the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases

at the University of Iowa College of Public Health,

quoted in “Swine CAFOs & Novel H1N1 Viruses,”

Environmental Health Perspectives,

September 2009, by Charles W. Schmidt.

"Maybe there’s no rational reason to suspect

that the practice of confining thousands of animals

into buildings over their own waste gives novel viruses

a wonderful habitat in which to flow from host to host,

mutate, and jump species to humans.

Maybe the industry’s much ballyhooed safety efforts,

in which hog confinements are treated like biosecurity time bombs,

are successfully keeping pigs and the workers who watch over them

from swapping virus strains.

But that’s simply not the case.."

- Tom Philpott of the Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund

in Six Months After The Outbreak, Who's Investigating

the CAFO Swine Flu Link?

No.

I am not getting the swine flu vaccine.

Vaccines are full of heavy metals and other toxins.

My body is in no condition to deal with more poisons.

I'd rather create a healthy immune system

and fight the flu that way.

(for a great article on the swine flu vaccine click here)

What's that old saying?

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

How about we stop imprisoning animals for mass meat consumption and start

buying only meat from free range, pastured, farm raised animals.

How about we look at the imbalance in our lives as a source of outbreaks like

the swine flu.

Maybe take some elderberry syrup instead! (click here)

But even that won't work if that's the only thing we're doing to prevent or fight the flu.

We need to be more vigilant about food, rest, exercise, water and oxygen!

Here's a great article by noted nurtitionist Antonio Valladares telling you

HOW to develop a strong immune system (click here).

I'm going to honor my body right now by taking a good, long, deep nap!

Happy to be part of Fight Back Fridays! (click here)

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

In 1999 Jerry Brunetti was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and given 6 months to live. He did not submit to chemotherapy, but rather, developed his own unique dietary approach to enhance his immune system. In this informative video, Jerry shares his personal experiences and provides his recipe for healthy living.

click here or click below

filming Peep Me

2009-11-12T21:50:00.001-05:00

First day of filming my segment for "Peep Me"

a documentary on Peep Culture.

Here I am waiting at the train station for Hal.

In the documentary world the most mundane things are camera-worthy.

Here we are being filmed as we get into the car.

Sally Blake, producer and director setting up a shot in my tiny kitchen

where Hal and I are sitting at the computer.

Jim is on camera and Jason is doing sound.

How did we all fit in my lil' kitchen?

It was tight!

How do you light a diva?

With a Diva Lite!

Receiving some notes from the director.

She told me to be natural

or was it

"Fly casual"?

Bosie declined to be filmed

for the documentary and

chose to hide out in my scarf drawer instead.

After months of thinking

the worst,

Hal turned out to be a nice guy.

On paper he's a critic.

In person he's just this guy,

ya know?

A lovely inscription from the author.

I'm on pages 51 -55

:-)

From left to right:

Jim the camera guy, Sally Blake the producer/director,

Jason the sound guy, Hal the writer,

and Jeanette Loakam the make-things-run-smoothly producer.

It was better than I expected.
I got myself all worried for nothing.
My worst fears were that I'd feel exploited and misunderstood.
Instead I felt honored and listened to.

How will it all look in the final cut?

I am unconcerned.
These filmmakers have a vision.
I trust my story will contribute to it according to that vision.

During the interview portion of the filming I told Hal that I
didn't really believe I'd be the next Oprah.
Rather I counted on becoming a speaker/author on par with Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra
and Marianne Williamson.

Still, he had reservations.
He claimed that folks like Deepak were really well known and garnered 200K for a speakers fee (probably not that much but "up there").
Hal wanted to know if maybe I was deluding myself.
After all I have only a modest readership
showing me support on my blog.
What would lead me to believe I could make it to the Deepak-Dyer level of fame?

I don't even remember my answer.
It was all a blur.
But thinking of that question now I'd have to say that
there are a few good reasons why I think I can make it.

One is that I'm addressing a niche: folks who have had health issues and are now looking to nutrition for answers
SPECIFICALLY the gastric bypass community.
The people who have had one or more surgeries and are still struggling with weight gain need some solutions and encouragement. Considering the amount of people in this category I think I have a pretty big niche market to work with.

Second reason is that folks keep telling me I have a gift. The film crew themselves said I had a gift after only hearing 20 minutes of me teaching and spending two short days with me. Folks who know me and have worked with me for years agree. I've got something. I should go for it.

Third is that I set goals and reach them. Period.

Maybe I don't go from A to B in a straight line but I get there even if I meander.

Did I say those things when he asked me?
I don't remember.
Like I said, it was a blur.

It was a blur on crutches and a cane
in a big, fat 250+ pound body, too.
That's something.

Three and a half years ago when I started this blogging journey I thought I had
to be thin and agile to be
interesting
worthy
successful...
on TV.

To me success was all about being good looking.
I didn't think anyone would be interested in anything I had to say unless I looked a certain way
OR was on my way to looking a certain way.

I just learned a pretty big lesson.
Even though I was on a cane,
even though I lost then gained back some weight
and am Still Fat,
even though I'm not a red carpet glamour-puss
people still find value in what I say and do.

At least that's what they tell me.

Looking at the pictures and videos of me during this filming process (thank you camera-girl Marni!)
I'm not horrified by looking at myself.
I didn't cringe when I saw the pics of me.
My flesh is not freaking me out.
I'm not embarrassed by myself the way I was 3 years ago.

Looking in the mirror is not a horror show.

It's a Peep show
and I'm in it.

Oh, and so are my cats /\ _ _/\
All but Bosie got their turn in the spotlight!
Or should I say Diva Lite.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
I forgot to ask if there would be music in the background of this documentary.
I bet there will be.
Here's the trailer for Chocolate Box Entertainment's documentary "Cat Ladies"
a segment of which will be on ABC's 20/20 tomorrow night (Friday November 13th).
There's music for this one.
What music will they use for me and my cats?
click here or click below

Change and Commitment

2009-11-11T15:54:00.001-05:00

When you want to make changes in your life you find a way.

When I'm really committed to something I do it regardless of
how I feel,
how much time I don't have,
other people's opinions,
past mistakes,
or any other limits.

When I want to change
I change.

Take nutrition for instance.
Many folks would object to going out of their way to obtain 80% of their food from a local farm.
It's much more convenient to go to the mega supermarket.

Many folks object to the prices of organic foods.
It's easier to say that the term "organic" doesn't matter.

Many folks won't spend their recreation money on supplements.
It's easier to take a Centrum and hope for the best.

But when these folks start having serious or chronic health issues
they begin to look into alternative approaches to life.
Some are committed enough to their own health and well-being to make drastic changes
regardless of price and convenience.

I did it.

For all my fatigue issues and money issues I find a way to afford my precious farm food and top of the line supplements (click here).
It's inconvenient but worth it.

In the long run I'll regain my health.

Next inconvenience for me?
Finding a movement coach, physical therapist or trainer who's local and willing to work with me
on a regular basis.

I need help.
I'm giving myself permission to NOT HAVE TO DO THIS ON MY OWN.
Big step for me.
I need help and I'm going to find it.

The Integrated Movement Therapist called me back.
Now I have to return his call.
I've been busy but I'll find the time.

Another inconvenience for the sake of a healthier me.

P.S. Pictures of the documentary filming coming soon!

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
Can people truly change?
Steven Covey says YES!
We are not captives of your past.
click here

tired

2009-11-10T21:41:00.000-05:00

"Most people struggle
to get out of bed each morning
and rely on stimulants
to get them through the day.
Despite this,
they pack each day full of activity
and force themselves to do things
that they don’t have the energy for...

...Many people are relying on coffee
and other stimulants to get them through the day,
and by doing so,
they’re compensating for their lack of wellness
and are jeopardizing their health in the process.
When this continues for a long enough period of time,
it can cause chronic problems like adrenal fatigue
that can take quite some time to recover from, a
nd even worse,
lead to more significant health issues...

...Being able to easily get out of bed each morning
and have an abundant
and balanced amount of energy
that lasts throughout the day
is extremely satisfying.
It’s really not that difficult
to achieve
and is really nothing more
than a byproduct of optimal health."

- Vin Miller in
Why You Must Respect Your Energy Like a Bank Account

Most of us don't have the luxury of resting when we need to rest.

Work makes demands of our time and energy.

We can only call in sick so many times.

The bills need to be paid.

That's how nature set it up.

Energy goes in to work.

Work provides sustenance.

Sustenance gives energy

and around and around it goes.

I'm so tired right now I dread the walk to the bedroom.

I'm too tired to tuck myself into bed.

I'm tired for really good reasons.

The Chocolate Box Entertainment film crew spent two days with me

(and my cats and my mother and my students)

filming my segment for the upcoming "Peep Me" documentary.

That's very cool.

I've been looking forward to this for...well since the operation in 2006.

Back then I had no idea there was a Peep project.

I had no idea who Hal Niedzviecki was or who the Chocolate Box Entertainment Folks were.

I just knew there would be a documentary.

That's what I envisioned.

Then it happened.

For the past two days it happened.

It was great to be miked up

and interviewed.

I wish my health were better.

I wish I wasn't so tired.

But maybe tired is the price we pay for

realizing our dreams.

Or maybe I'll get well

and I'll be energetic AND filfilled

both at the same time.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

Ok. Here's what adrenal glands look like.

Now I can envision them getting stronger.

I know where my healing energy needs to go.

Click here or click below

It's TV O'clock!

2009-11-09T21:24:00.000-05:00

"The minute you lose interest you lose focus."

- my mother today on camera

Tired now.

Why?

Because I've been on camera (multiple cameras really, alllllll day) and I'm tired.

Today was the first day of filming for the documentary film "Peep Me"

starring author and pop culture critic Hal Niedzviecki.

I implied that Hal was a Peep-Creep the other day,

but now that I've met him, I don't think he's creepy.

Is he critical of Peep Culture?

Yes.

Is he "right" to criticize the Peep phenomenon?

I think he is.

I can also see how, having never met me, he would form an opinion about me....

wait.

Let me take that back.

I'm not sure he's convinced that my blogging, dreaming and envisioning my future success will necessarily lead to anything big and splashy.

And that's ok.

As a thinking person I have to concede that I might be deluding myself - that my big dreams and plans may not come to fruition.

It's possible that, I dunno, I'll lose interest in my big dreams and plans?

I'll die before I make them happen?

I'll blow up to 1000 pounds and have to roll around in an electric wheelchair till my heart explodes?

Or worse, that I'll settle for a desk job somewhere, wear polyester suits with big lapel broaches, click around in cheap heels, speak corporate lingo and give up on my dreams??

I shall not go gently into any of those dark nights.

Especially not into the dark night of giving up on my dreams.

I'll keep on dreaming.

That's what dreamers do.

We dream.

We're damn idealistic fools.

Practical folks HAVE to tell dreamers to be more grounded because that's what they do.

Dreamers need to be told how foolish they are so they can really choose the path less traveled.

Dreamers need to know that there's an easier path, a more common path, a well worn path,

so that we can shout out a nice, loud, daring NO WAY as we struggle down the the less-traveled path,

stumbling, falling and crawling.

We need a real choice between meh and YEAH!

And we also need some social critics to tell us to LOOK at what the hell we're doing as a society.

Technology is changing the way we do things.

Hal is doing us a service by pointing out the down side of pop, peep and people who want to trade their privacy for fame and fortune.

If I fit in there somewhere,

and I must cuz they're spending two days filming me

and I'm on 4 pages of Hal's book,

then so be it.

We'll see how I balance out the expose on Peep culture.

Now that I met him, it turns out that Hal is nerdy and nice

and I was worried for nothing.

Regardless of his skepticism over my ambition

he's a good egg.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

Hal is working hard to earn the right to criticize the Peep phenomenon.

Check out this video of Hal that he filmed on his cell phone while the documentarian

is filming him filming himself!

So meta.

click here or click below

Happy Birthday Daddy!

2009-11-08T15:21:00.001-05:00

Look at our profiles.

I look just like my Dad!

Mom, Dad and me

at PJ Rufo's

for Dad's surprise 80th birthday party!

My 80 year old father holding a picture of himself from

when he was 19 years old.

Dad in his teens or 20s.

You see how much we look alike!

Although the words themselves may not convey much to someone who doesn't know me/us
they made us cry. I cried when I wrote it and cried when I delivered this toast to my father on his 80th birthday.

Dad,
We’re here to celebrate a very special birthday.
You’ve triumphed over time

and all the circumstances life has thrown you

to reach your 80th year.
I’m happy to have known you for over half of that time.
You’ve been my father for most of your life.
You’ve been a dutiful husband for more than 50 years.
A brother who is cherished
An uncle who is adored
A friend who is loyal and funny and good natured
and a devoted son.
We are here to show you how lucky we are

to have you in our lives
Know that you are surrounded

by much love tonight

as we honor
you for this milestone birthday.
Let’s raise our glasses in joy
to toast your 80th birthday.
Happy Birthday Daddy!

Why have WLS surgery?

2009-11-07T15:59:00.000-05:00

A fellow blogger left me a comment yesterday asking why,
if diet and exercise are still mandatory after Weight Loss Surgery (WLS)
then why have the surgery in the first place?
Why not just
change one's eating habits,
exercise more,
get therapy or emotional support to help change our relationship with food
and skip the body-altering surgery all together?

Good question.

Here's how MY thinking went.
I figured since in the past I had failed to stay on any diet long enough to maintain weight loss I'd force the issue by making my stomach smaller. With a smaller stomach, when I was tempted to "cheat" on my diet I'd puke or be sick or be physically unable to eat thereby forcing me to stick to my diet.
This is known as a "tool" in the WLS community.

I surgically altered my body so that I'd HAVE to eat less than 1000 calories a day for life.
That was the plan.
Live on a restricted calorie diet until I shrank down to a size 10.
Folks asked me how I expected to stop from starving to death once I reached my goal.

My answer was that my body would just get used to living on 1000 calories a day,
that I planned to hit my weight loss plateau at 137 pounds
and all would be well.

I'd continue eating a super low fat, high fiber, whole foods, vegetarian (maybe a little chicken and fish) diet for the rest of my life and live happily ever after.
That was the plan.

My body had different plans.
It hit it's plateau at 240 pounds then started to break down from exhaustion and malnourishment.
Unable to exercise at all and malnourished nearly to death, my body started packing the pounds back on as I was able to eat more food (the gastric bypass pouch stretches), mainly brown rice, vegetables, soy milk, sugar free everything and lots of tofu (bad ideas for a metabolic type like mine).

Desperate to gain control of my weight I started to increase my already high intake of stimulants
hoping the energy would get me back to the gym.
What happened then?
Further break down with serious adrenal fatigue.

Is this necessarily what happens to anyone who has weight loss surgery?
No.
Everyone has a different story. Mostly you'll see the success stories online because many of the WLS sites are commercially sponsored by the bariatric surgery industry.

If you want to see the negatives?
Good luck trying to find the folks who "failed".
They're not really welcome on the support forums unless they're willing to admit they had gotten off track and agree that what they really need to do is go back to eating 1000 calories a day, drinking processed shakes, eating de-natured bariatric bars and overdoing it with cardio.

Why are folks having the surgery even when they know in advance that they'll have to diet and exercise in order to be considered medically compliant?
Because most folks are convinced that they are weak willed and need to surgically prevent themselves from eating.

We surgically induce starvation.
But starvation doesn't lead to health.
It leads to malnourishment and/or eventual weight regain.

Why do some folks succeed with WLS? How do they lose the weight and keep it off?
They are accidentally eating right for their metabolism (some folks are carb types)
or
they're lying about their other health problems that occurred as they continue to starve
or
they tell the truth about their other health problems as they continue to starve
but fail to make the connection between what they are or aren't eating and their state of health.

Some folks do well eating very little because they eat really healthy foods.
They're getting nourished.
Their bodies are actually absorbing the nutrients from the supplements they take.
They got LUCKY.

Why are so many folks getting the surgery?
Check out the message boards and forums and read what the pre-ops are saying.
They feel desperate and out of control.
They feel like failures because diets didn't work for them.
They've been convinced by other post-ops that all it takes is surgery and a renewed commitment to dieting in order to be slim and healthy.

Hey, I'm all for renewed commitment.

Dieting?
I'm all for discovering one's metabolic type and eating accordingly.
Also a switch to nourishing, whole foods is essential.

Exercise?
That's next on my agenda, to find the right exercise for me.

There is no one size fits all approach that will work for everyone.
Surgery is definitely not something that's right for everyone.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
It's nearly impossible to know exactly what foods you should be consuming without knowing your Metabolic Type. There is no one-size-fits-all diet! Metabolic typing does not require calories counting, weighing foods, or any weird stuff that doesn't work! It's all about YOU as an individual. Build your health from the ground up. Feed your cells what they need and they will reward you with increased energy and reduced weight. Listen to Sean Croxton of undergroundwellness.com for more information.
click here or click below

Gastric Bypass Fail ...Epic Fail

2009-11-06T21:44:00.003-05:00

"...it’s natural for anyone

to not want to admit

that they made a mistake

and were victims of a scam.

So few do.

Denial is intense,

even when patients

are dying...

...Denial distorts reality

and even perceptions

of their own experiences...

'I see this all the time

with weight loss surgery victims,”

said obesity researcher Paul Ernsberger, Ph.D.,

at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine,

Cleveland, Ohio.

'Even after they’ve been in and out of the hospital,

or are in continual horrendous pain,

or even after they’ve gained back

all the weight they lost,

they still say they’d do it again

in an instant..."

- Sandy Szwarc

in Junkfood Science

My MySpace status yesterday said:

"Is WLS really the "tool" it's cracked up to be??"

Right away I got a response:

"it is what YOU make of it...just like anything else.
it's my own damn fault i've gained back 12 of the 70 lbs i've lost...
i need to get myself back on track"

Typical response.
Like it's been well rehearsed and programmed into the minds of post-ops.
blaming, disempowered, disturbing response.

When a WLS patient gains weight you'll always find that canned response from someone,
often in ALL CAPS
pointing the finger at the person (self or other) for getting "off track".
The party line is that we were prescribed a specific way to live for the rest of our lives
and if we gain weight back it's because we FAILED.

Says Szwarc in her Junkfood Science blog:
"...beliefs are powerful and can lead us to incorrectly interpret our experiences.
And when someone has come to believe in and wants desperately for something to work,
especially when surrounded by people talking about how wonderful the surgeries are,
they may not admit the full reality of the negatives."

In my experience I see that many if not most folks who have these gut altering surgeries are either having sickening side effects or are gaining back their weight.
After the gung-ho honeymoon of full-on commitment to
protein shakes,
protein bars,
too much water (click here),
hamster wheeling cardio that is NOT the best for weight loss (click here),
drastic calorie reduction that ultimately backfires (click here),
and an urgency to blog about our new weight-loss-journey (guilty!)
there is suddenly, or not so suddenly, natures forceful insistence that the body find balance.
The patient is able to eat more food.
The body desperately needs more quality food.
The patient gains weight to compensate for the surgically induced starvation.

The guilt ridden, shamed, programmed patient, who is subsisting on diet foods, bereft of actual nourishment,
can't keep it up.
The body breaks and starts devouring itself
and/or the patient is driven by BIOLOGICAL NEED to eat anything s/he can get her hands on.
When the weight creeps back
the bariatric doctor and the bariatric community
wag their fingers in shame.
The patient is blamed for being lazy, weak willed, unmotivated,
uncommitted and deviant.

Notice how many blogs start and stop.
How many WLS patients start a blog,
get high on their new life,
write diligently every day about their new habits
then disappear after a few months or a year.
Maybe they'll peek their head up into the blogosphere
to claim they are getting back-on-track after a weight gain or plateau

but the blog eventually dies out as the patient
resolves themselves to their fate
convinced they are somehow at fault for their "failure".

Maybe they're like me.
Maybe they keep off that initial hundred pounds or maybe like Carnie Wilson even those pounds start to return (click here).
In either case the patient feels and is told that they are at fault.
They didn't use their "tool" correctly.
They are made to believe that it is they who have failed and not the surgery.

I am not buying it.
I know who I am.
I know what I'm capable of.
There is something physiological going on here.
I can feel it.
I can feel it in my ripped knee.
I can feel it in my fatigue.
I can feel it in my brain.
I can feel it in my gut.

I will not stand for "it's your fault" as an answer to what's happening to me.
There is something happening here that needs to be talked about,
openly,
logically,
and loudly.

Weight Loss Surgeries set people up for failure, not success.
The Emperor has no clothes.
It's time we threw him a robe.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
Most people who are oveweight are nutritionally depleted.
I know.
Listen to Paul Chek!
click here or click below

More Dangers of WLS

2009-11-05T16:11:00.000-05:00

"... Weight Loss Surgery and diet support groups,

message boards, forums and chat rooms,

are often supported,

hosted and/or moderated by weight loss,

pharmacerutical and bariatric industry interests...

...The members-only groups are more vulnerable

to manipulation,

as these intimate groups

are less publicly visible or accountable...

...In some instances, the hosts and moderators

may be true converts who believe in what they are promoting

and may or may not be even aware of their own biases;

other times the moderators

are marketing professionals...

...Not surprisingly, the focus for many of the bariatric sites

are to keep prospective patients motivated

and help them get insurance approval

for bariatric surgeries.

They sell false hope,

and the exclusion of nonbelievers

and contrary information

leads to cult-like devotion

among the members...

...The information at many of these online portals

is largely provided by the bariatric and weight loss companies

and paint overly optimistic pictures

of successes

of whatever they’re selling and downplay risks.

... just like the disease blogs

that Dr. Oransky mentioned.”

- Sandy Szwarc in

Googling, Blogging and Flogging

I remember getting kicked off an online forum for not towing the "party line".
One moderator even asked, "Do you think you're going to turn the whole bariatric community on it's head?"

Yes.
I thought so back then and I think so now.
WLS is not the "tool" it's cracked up to be.
It's surgery.
It screws up what nature did perfectly already.

The whole WLS system is based on the belief that without the "tool" of surgery
we'd be left to our own will
and since we're admitting that our will is weak by seeking surgical help
we need to turn over our lives to a system.
The system just happens to be a multi million (is it billion by now?)
industry that profits off of folks who have been convinced that there is no where else to turn.

Once we're surgically altered the system proceeds to convince us that the only suitable foods
are those de-natured, manufactured products made especially for the "bariatric community".
The very people who need real nourishment the most are being duped
into believing that industrial shakes and overly processed protein bars
are the only foods we should be eating,
cuz after all they're made for our "special needs".

Ugh.
It's such crap I can't even begin to tear it apart.
Well, I CAN begin to tear it apart but right now I need to get back to work.
Like work work.

Class tonight.
Do I even have my slides ready??
Ah!!!

To be continued!!

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
I can tell you from having been INSIDE a few cults in my lifetime
that the WLS Bariatric Community is very, very cultish.
How do you know you're involved in something cultish cult like or an outright cult?
If some, many or all of the following apply
you might be in a cult or something cultlike.
click here or click below

Weight Gain After Gastric Bypass

2009-11-04T16:39:00.002-05:00

click here for another blogger's excellent article
on the negatives of WLS

I'm feeling fat and slightly miserable regarding my weight gain over the past year.
In my quest to feel normal I Googled "Weight Gain After Gastric Bypass".
On top of the search results is an article from 2008 about Carnie Wilson (click here and scroll down a bit for the 56 comments)

Reading the 56 comments confirmed what I've suspected all along:
- that more people than doctors wish to admit regain a significant amount of weight after WLS (the current statistic is 5% which I think is way too low)
- that people become depressed and discouraged when they regain the weight
- that folks are even more despondent than they would be with mere dietary weight gain because they believed that surgery was truly their last resort
- that people are blaming themselves for being weak willed rather than look at the biological reasons for weight gain after severe starvation
- that the few post-ops who have kept their weight off are especially unkind to post-ops who have regained
- that support groups for post-ops focus on rules, measuring, excessive exercise and dieting - the same methods that failed for people BEFORE they had WLS
- that folks who regain weight feel they have failed but take on the persona of "failure" to the point where they are unwilling to seek further help
- that carbs, sugars and processed foods have physical properties that set people up for weight gain and compulsive eating behaviors that can be corrected with a more nourishing (and filling) diet
- that I have a job to do!

Here are some of the disturbing comments
that confirm my above conclusions.
Keep in mind there are many more at the article site!
I've altered them to make them shorter.
click here for the full article

gzimmerman is
"...mentally beating myself up every minute. My metabolism is worse than ever and due to the malabsorption I stay anemic. My bones are being leached of calcium. I am an emotional eater and food is my medication...sad to say."

deinisem says
"my metabolism which was already slow - slowed down even more. And all these people were constantly saying, "Gee, you must feel great now that you've lost all that weight." The truth is before I lost the weight I walked 3-4 miles a day - no problem. After I lost the weight I looked great but I felt awful. .... I didn't have the energy to exercise. And I let myself get addicted to sweets again. ... Over the last two years since that second surgery I've regained half the weight I lost and I'm just beside myself. I'm so upset about it."

shoukry says
".I am hungry all the time, and I am snacking all day because Normal meals take more effort. ...Please beware, weight gain after surgery can lead to extreme depression. Dr Jorgensen told me that the bypass would be permanent, he didn't tell me the weight loss wouldn't be. I thought that even if i did something like that and lost a little weight my problems would be over. But my will is not strong enough, and i don't think it ever will be. My fight against weight lost will never be over. I think at the moment I've given up."

poetessinga says
"when you have the Gastric by pass you swap one addiction for another"

babiesgizmo says
"What does that say about our society that someone would be willing to give up 2 yrs of their life to fit in for 5 minutes? Well unfortunately his dream never came true and he died from complications."

linn says
"I had bypass surgery in 2003 and have gained a little more than 1/2 of my weight back...I am miserable over this and yes it is easier to say, diet & exercise but hard to do for us emotional eaters...I am so embarrassed that I don't even go out...for the majority of us, bypass surgery does not work because it doesnt take care of the true nature of the problem...we find ways around it and eventually can start eating more & more, thus putting on the weight."

rogersstephanie says "My sister and my uncle both had the surgery done and they both have regained about 30 pounds of there weight back so it easy to regain."

sarahglynn says
"ive gained 15 pounds. i cant seem to stop. ive prayed and barained and started a brand new day everyday, only to fall to the temptations of junk. sometimes i just give up, but then i think of my family and i stay another day. it's not the doctors or anyone, just me. i take fault,blame,resposibility. i just wish i could get off the merry go round of guilt and stress and over eating."

anasdream says
"Unfortunately, 3 years later I gained most of my weight back. I gave birth to my son December of 2003 and that was another ordeal since I realized my husband and I would not be able to have children naturally. I think a lot had to do with the fact that he was severely obese just like me. We both had the surgey done and lost weight but that didn't help. I am disappointed now that my husband doesn't want to have anymore kids with me. I think it is because I have gained a lot of my weight back and that he doesn't find me attractive. He has been depressed lately and when I ask him what is wrong he says that he doesn't know. He gained weight back to. I don't want to be the fat mom at the football games but I don't know what to do anymore to get back on track. I have tried all the diets and weight watchers and you name it. I don't want my son, Nathan, to grow up being embarrassed of me; fat and ugly. I am so disgusted with myself right now."

michael muia says
"Over the past couple weeks I have noticied the I just feel fat. At first I and my wife thought it was in my head. Keep in mind i dont have a scale in my home,,I refuse to own one.lol.. Well the other day I was at my mother in laws home and I decided to weigh myself.I almost cried when I saw 249.5,, So there I was very upset. .... I did quit smoking back in Feb, I have been snacking on all garbage.. to be honst I always ate this stuff bt not in the quantities like this year. So here is my plan...cut out all the junk including soda and vitimen water and gatorade. My wife has been packing me my breakfast and lunch and snack. Very healthy stuff. If by the end of 7 days of this diet I dont atleast lose a lb.. I am going to really worry and go to my doctor. I hope and pray that I dont put the weight back on and I can really get back on track. I do admit after reading these comments I am really worried that I have lost track and I will go back to being the person I hated."

This one sums up
what I've been trying to say
about this whole thing...
Margarette says "Weight loss surgery usually does not work in the long run unless you are exercising like crazy. This is a business and the Doctors will lie to you and tell you that it is your fault. It's your metabolism. I had the LapBand and I exercise over an hour a day plus I record everything I eat and it comes out to about 800 calories a day. Yet, I gained almost all of my weight back. Why? Because your body gets use to eating less and it adjusts. Check out the LapBand FDA report. It was suppose to be a 2 year study but when the FDA said, "we want 3 years", 30% of the patients mysteriously disappearred. Why? Maybe because they gained too much weight and Inamed (the LapBand company at the time) wanted their numbers to look good so they got rid of those who were lowering their weight loss numbers. Overall, for a 300 pound person, 53 pounds were lost in 3 years. For myself, I lost weight and kept it off until about year five. Then, the weight came back even with the 800 calories a day and then one hour of exercise. Don't blame yourself - that's what the doctors want you to do so they do not feel guilty about profiting from something that does not work in the long run due to each individual's genetics."

Bijoux asks
"The question remains--where does one start once you have regained a good portion of the weight loss by having gastric bypass surgery? I have been looking for some type of on-line support group to discuss this with others who feel they have "failed" at yet, another diet!"

Then of course we have the unsympathetic,
smug post-op
who says
"Okay, I am also a Gastric Bypass patient from 2004. The issue on basically all of these posts is that you expected the surgery to "fix" everything for you. The surgery is a tool to help you lose and maintain the weight. If you have no plans to change your life and bad habits, why have the surgery? It is not the surgery that failed you, you failed you. And this is coming from a woman who weighed 350, 5'7", I got their from bad habits and will go back their if I return to the habits. What the surgery did was give me a 100lb jump start to show me it was possible, make it easier to exercise and get me started. Then I needed to change my attitude, habits and life to keep losing and maintain. Yes I have had slips and gained up to 20lb's, why? because I quit exercising and watching what I ate. don't need to be perfect in eating and exercise, but what in this world that is worth it comes easy? That's the problem with people today, they expect somebody else to make their world perfect, no personal responsibility. Frankly, if I gain the weight back it will be because I got LAZY!!!!!"

Great. Just what these people need. Someone yelling at them in all caps that they're lazy.Kinda like what fat people have heard all our lives. Now the very community that is supposed to be a support system is finger-pointing, yelling and spouting rules that most people can't follow because of mental, emotional and physical issues. People need help not rules, not yelling, not calorie counting.

People (like me)
need real care
real support
real food
real balance in our lives.

We need some compassion and understanding.
We need a holistic approach to well being.
We need real solutions.

Where can we get it?

I think I'll have to come up with an answer.
A good one.
One that works.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*
A reader noticed that yesterday's video did not really explain IMT (Integrative Manual Therapy).
I'm not sure there is a better video on YouTube right now but I did Google the developer's name:
Sharon Weiselfish-Giammatteo and found this: "Integrative Manual Therapy (IMT) is a unique compilation of diagnostic and treatment methodologies that assess and treat pain, dysfunction, disease and disability. Developed by Sharon Giammatteo, Ph.D., I.M.T.,C. over the past 30 years, IMT is a new approach to health care developed to address the needs of complex patients. IMT practitioners identify and address the underlying causes of dysfunction using a comprehensive and holistic approach. While IMT diagnostics and treatment modalities are predominately hands-on, IMT also integrates a wide range of diagnostic and treatment technologies, nutritional programs (i.e. natural supplements, diet, and herbs), and IMT body based psychotherapeutic approaches to develop a customized solution for an individual patient's needs."
I'm still uncertain about IMT's exact nature.
Let's see if this video does a better job of explaining.
click here or click below

All-In with Real Food

2009-11-03T20:13:00.003-05:00

"When your health

(physical, mental, emotional, spiritual)

is high on your priorities,

you can find a way to eat well

no matter what the circumstances.

If it’s not truly high on your priorities,

then you will find all sorts of challenges,

distractions and excuses...

Remember that

most people don’t care about

food,

their health

or bodies

as much as we do,

so you have to take charge,

plan ahead and not be afraid

to speak your mind – ever.

And yes,

people will misunderstand you,

make fun of you,

freak out or even attack you.

This is natural,

it is supposed to happen."

- Antonio Valladares in Clean Eating on the Road

Proud to be part of Real Food Wednesdays! (click here)

I care.

I care so much about food my health and my body that I'm really suffering for it.

I refuse to take the easy way out but taking the high road is hard.

In the middle of the busiest semester of my life I'm living caffeine-free (and I've cut down significantly on my organic chocolate intake, too).

No Ritalin either.

By the way, Ritalin (prescribed for me years ago) is not a sedative.

It's a stimulant.

A potent stimulant.

I haven't taken any since May.

Am I nuts?

Wait. Don't answer that.

I haven't purchased bread in God knows how long (trying to do the low carb thing).

No chips either.

Most things I eat I cook from scratch using whole, organic, traditional, locally farmed foods.

And still I'm tired, tired, tired

oh my God I'm so tired.

I'm healing but I'm dragging as I go.

The adrenal fatigue (moderate to severe...feels more like severe)

makes me feel like I'm walking around with 20 pound ankle weights.

My knee is not healed so I'm alternating between a cane and crutches.

You'd think I'd buckle and take the easy way out.

You'd think I'd make one, just one, cup of coffee.

But I don't.

No tea, no coffee, no stimulants.

I'm counting on the food to heal me.

I'm taking a leap, an exhausted ankle-weighted leap from the lion's head on this one.

Heal me, food. Heal me.

I believe that nourishing, traditional foods have healing properties because the food is alive!

Biochemically and spiritually, this food has life-giving properties.

According to Dr. Tom Cowan:

"Processed, dead foods don't support life or a happy well-functioning society. We must return to eating pure, wholesome, unprocessed foods, including whole raw milk from pasture fed cows.

In my practice I ALWAYS start there -
I encourage, insist, even beg people to eat real foods- no matter what the problem. Often with just this intervention the results are gratifying. SO, find a cow, find a farmer, make sure the cow (or goat, llama, or whatever) is healthy and start your return to good health!" (click here for full article)

I believe.

But I've believed whole heartedly in all kinds of things including

smug veganism. (There's regular veganism and smug veganism. I was the smug kind.)

After my gastric bypass I had the nerve to lecture (on online forums) other post-ops on the importance of whole grains! I had just read Susan Powter's book "The Politics of Stupid" and "Food" so I was riding high on the wave of vegan smugness. (Disclaimer: Much of what Susan teaches is useful. Factory farmed and processed foods are garbage! But low fat? I know now that my ridiculously low fat diet was not good for me. But, I don't blame her. She was talking about what worked for her...just like I do).

I've believed in low calorie diets and cardio.

I was the poster girl for 45 minutes a day doing cardio!

Until I hit the unbreakable plateau that led me to discover the adrenal fatigue and malnourishment.

Not so smug then, was I.

Now I think I'm going to be the poster girl for Real Food.

After being misled by well meaning experts

and regaining a bunch of weight

I'm now all-in for the nourishing traditional foods approach.

I'm at the table blowing on the dice saying "C'mon Enig and Fallon!

Be right, PLEASE!"

Well, all-in isn't all-in unless you're all-in.

I'm all in.

I just ate homemade crispy nuts (it takes two days to make them)

and washed them down with raw milk

then ate arugula with gorgonzola cheese and cranberries.

High fat, good fat, real food.

Leap from the lion's head,

blowing on the dice...

how many ways can I say

I HOPE THIS WORKS!

Next stop?

Integrative Manual Therapy.

Let's hope it moves me.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

Integrative Manual Therapy?

A friend of a friend is becoming a certified physical therapist in this modality and needs someone to work on.

I volunteered.

What is IMT?

Let's find out.

Truely an Integrative Therapist, Gail Wetzler, PT offers the best from both worlds - Alternative and Allopathic Medicines. She specializes in Women's Health Issues.

click here or click below

Rather shake than dump

2009-11-02T12:52:00.000-05:00

You know why I like protein shakes?

I like not having to eat.

Eating is a hassle.

It's nice to keep my stomach quiet without firing up the furnace

and beginning the cycle of digestion that is so uncomfortable for me.

Sipping a protein shake keeps the hunger away,

is nourishing (because I use raw milk and Miracle Whey....I don't trust other products right now)

is easy

and postpones the exhausting job of eating actual food.

At least protein shakes work for the first half of the day.

After sunset I get ravenous.

That's when the carb cravings hit.

That's when I am grateful for having some nice grass fed meat dishes prepared ahead of time to keep me from rampaging around looking for anything starchy.

In my fridge right now I have venison with vegetables in mushroom tomato sauce

and beef with vegetables with onion.

A few forkfuls of those dishes is satisfying but tiring.

Everything I eat makes me tired.

It's like I have to schedule a nap after every meal.

It's horrible.

What did I do to my poor body?

Between developing food sensitivities,

adrenal fatigue

and multiple weight loss surgeries

I really screwed up my digestive tract.

Now it's demanding all my blood flow and energy every time it give it something to digest.

Even when I'm eating the best of protein and produce I may take one bite too many and suffer dumping syndrome.

Ah, how nature seeks and finds its balance, eh?

If only I would stop interfering.

*Lisa's Video Pick of the Day*

This was really hard for me to watch as I live through this a few times a week.

There is a fine line on how much you can eat before dumping syndrome happens. Dumping is not an immediate reaction. It takes about 10-15 minutes to begin. Often when you think you are 'safe' and eat another bite, you find out you went too far. There is a learning curve. Plus, sometimes things make you dump one day that were fine another day. This brave soul filmed herself in the middle of a dumping episode.

Thank you for your courage, Cheri. I'm praying for you.

click here or click below