Get Happy, Be Happy, Stay Happy

I am so psychic it’s scary. I almost always know the subject of two of my favorite e-newsletters before I receive them. Yesterday I was taking stock of my health, which has been going downhill for the past couple of months. I told my husband that I had stopped doing the daily little things that make the difference between feeling great and feeling like crap. Getting back on track will be as simple as limiting myself to one cup of coffee in the morning, eating three meals a day plus an afternoon snack, not eating foods that are bad for me, walking for 30 minutes, and taking my supplements. That’s it!

This routine is hard for me to stick to. I tend to live in my head. I hate meal planning and grocery shopping. And when I’m immersed in my work, I don’t take time to eat. When it’s a bit cold outside, I lose interest in walking. Wimp.

So this morning I receive coach Philip Humbert’s e-newsletter, with the lead article “The Every-Day Magic of Small Steps.” Gotta love it!

One of the great tragedies is to spend life nurturing a great dream, a “magnificent obsession” and never see it come true. To die with your dreams still inside you, waiting for another time, another day, or a “big break” is the greatest of failures. We cannot wait!

Literally every thing you see and every tool you use, even the chair you’re sitting on, began as nothing but thought. Someone had an idea for a chair. Henry Ford had an idea that cars could be in every garage. Your computer began as an idea and a series of huge, crude devices in the 1940’s. The computer you are looking at right now began as someone’s idea that they could manufacture and sell computers better, faster and cheaper than anyone else.

Everything starts with an idea. It always has, and always will.

Many people have observed that “ideas are things.” Thoughts and words have the power to move us, to change us, and to become living, breathing, tangible things! In a sense, our world is made up of nothing but thoughts and words!

But there is a gulf between an idea and its fulfillment.

Most “things” are actually still-born and never come to fruition because we fail to span the gulf between potential and reality. That gap can only be bridged with daily action.

How many times have you thought of an invention or process that could be worth a fortune and later found that same (or a similar) product for sale a few months later? We’ve all had that experience. Someone got rich off “your” idea and the difference is that they took specific, concrete, focused ACTION. Their product is in the store, for sale, making them money, and your idea is still…a dream.

Here are some basics, some essentials to make your dreams come true:

1. Keep a list of big things. On your desk, or on your bathroom mirror, keep a list of your most important projects, goals and commitments. Keep it where you see it, and read it, every day. Keep it current. What we think about, gets done.

2. Keep a list of small things. Keep a list of 5-minute tasks, phone calls or notes that you can do any place, any time. When you have a moment, make that call. Every day, send a note or read a few pages. Always know “what’s next” and take action, every single day.

3. Plan your days. Every evening, plan the following day. First thing in the morning, plot your strategy. Leaders have always done this! This is not new! But only about 4% of the population does it. Write down your priorities and choose your daily actions.

4. Take magnificent care of yourself! Healthy, happy, energetic people get the most done. It takes time and energy to achieve greatness. If you “don’t have time,” or are too tired or too distracted, you will not achieve your dreams. Take care of yourself.

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” We know that “a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step,” and we’ve heard the Serenity Prayer that ends, “Give me the courage to change the things I can.”

Most of us will not achieve great things over-night because in general, human beings do not do “big” things. We do little things. We get up, we go to work. We hug our loved ones, we make phone calls. We balance the checkbook, exercise and fix dinner. We do little things! Highly successful people simply do the right little things, at the right time, in the right way, and they do lots of them.

If you would achieve great things, do little things and pile them one on top of another, until you reach the stars. Start today.

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Knowledge doesn’t do a bit of good unless it’s accompanied by wisdom and action.

Confession time.

I know, damn it, that consuming grains, cheese and nightshades are bad, bad, bad for me. My body can’t deal with the proteins found in grains and milk, not to mention other substances, such as mold, that come along for the ride. I discovered that I had food sensitivities after returning from a six-month stay in Thailand. While in The Land of Smiles, the only grain I ate was white rice, and no cheese was available.

Oh how I longed for the day when I would be back in the States, gorging myself with whole-wheat bread, muffins and pancakes.

I returned and joyfully resumed my whole-grain diet. Over the next several months I mysteriously started to lose weight, strength and skin color. My skin broke out with giant welts after bathing. I was going downhill fast but didn’t know why. I was concerned that I had been infected by bacteria, parasites or worms while teaching in a refugee camp in northern Thailand. All tests came back clear.

One day someone suggested that I might have food allergies. The only thing I knew about food allergies back then (this was the early 80s) was that nuts and shellfish can cause anaphalactic shock. But I thought the idea was worth researching, so I bought several books on food allergies and sensitivities. To make a long story short, I found out that I was allergic or sensitive to just about everything I was eating. I changed my diet and within two weeks I looked and felt like a new person.

I was strict about what I ate for several years. But maintaining a limited diet can get old, boring and tiring. So I started to cheat. To shorten this long story again, I’m really suffering now from almost daily consuming grains and other problematic food.

I’ve got to get back to the basics for me to enjoy good health again. Sigh. This means meal planning and food shopping, which I can’t stand to do. Maybe this year I will actually stick to a resolution to hire a personal chef.

P.S. I don’t like milk. Never have. Maybe that’s a very good thing. Yes, a very good thing.

Well, how do you like that. Yesterday I was wondering why a study showed that overweight people have a decreased death risk from disease. This morning I found an article in the latest issue of Spirituality & Health about — get this — the unappreciated, wonderful role of fat — the fatty layer of fascia just beneath the skin.

After marveling for a few seconds about the synchronicity, which happens a lot in my life with written material, I dove in. The author, Gil Hedley, is an anatomist and former Certified Rolfer, who teaches human dissection workshops. It is a breathtaking article about how he confronted his own fear and came to see fat as a “rare vision of beauty: a glorious, shapely yellow fleece…something elemental, an essential aspect of our bodily life previously under appreciated.”

The following excerpts describe what the adipose is and its key role in the body. (I recommend reading the entire article to see the incredible picture Hedley paints.)

The energy of the adipose

The specific vibrational quality of each layer of the body — whether adipose or skin, muscle or bone — contributes essentially to the harmony comprising an integrated, embodied person. In the same way that your eyes and ears and nose interpret particular frequencies of vibration, the varying composition of your skin, adipose, deep fascia, muscle, membranes, organs, bones, and nerves both emit and absorb frequencies in a manner characteristic of their particular structure.

I had the privilege of observing many groups of professionals working intently to dissect a given layer. When they do, there is a distinct quality to the experience generated by different tissues. Before I had much consciousness of the powerful charge carried by the adipose layer, we would remove it mainly by hand….

When the tearing of the adipose began, some in the group would become possessed with the mission to see the job through, while others would be reeling from the pace, or need to cry, or even sense pain in their own adipose….

A different kind of sense organ

The living adipose is basically liquid energy and raw power suspended in a web of piezoelectrically conductive collagen fibers. Through it are transmitted fields of information from our external environment to the depths of our bodies at all times. The adipose layer is replete with specialized smooth muscle cells, whereby the tissue tone is maintained and adjusted. It is as if our soft coating of fat is a living antenna of the most sensitive kind, receiving from without and broadcasting within the waves of information that surround us. Like the skin, it is a great sense organ, a sensual wrap. But I posit that rather than conducting the signals it picks up primarily along electrochemical pathways to the brain in our skull, it is primarily conducting its signals electrochemically to the brain in our gut….

Likewise, a pregnant woman’s adipose layer grows not only as a resource to support and nourish her baby but also to heighten her sensitivity to the baby’s coos and cries and to any potential danger in their environment. She grows her inner pillow to comfort her child and also to resonate more perfectly with her baby’s body, the lines of whose form are a delicious portrait of the fat beneath the skin…

The issues that surround fat in our culture involve our health, politics, the balance of power, economics, class, race, gender, discrimination, and more. By studying the adipose layer as a gift rather than a curse, a different set of questions can emerge beyond “Am I thin enough?” “How can I lose 10 pounds?” “How can I control my weight?” and “How fat is too fat?”

Source: “How to Fall in Love With Your Fat,” Spirituality & Health, November/December 2007

Fat as an information system for survival and growth. Quite something to ponder!

Ruh roh. As one who the researchers would classify as underweight, this study caught my attention.

The new study began several years ago when the investigators used national data to look at death risks according to body weight. They concluded that, compared with people of normal weight, the overweight had a decreased death risk and the underweight and obese had increased risk….

They do not yet know, precisely, what it is about being underweight, for instance, that increases the death rate from everything except heart disease and cancer.

Source

That does it! I’m definitely going on a chocolate-several-times-a-day diet. Oops, did I say chocolate… again?

All kidding aside, this study is so intriguing. What are the common denominators for the decreased death risk in the overweight group? My head is spinning as I factor in what I know about epigenetics and German New Medicine.

Here’s a great introduction to epigenetics on PBS.org. The video there is amazing. Toward the end of the video, you’ll learn about using epigenetic medicine to give instructions to the epigenome. Now imagine using the power of the mind to give instructions to the epigenome. Then consider reading two extremely interesting books:

The Genie in Your Genes: Epigenetic Medicine and the Biology of Intention

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter and Miracles

We are living in such exciting times!

Follow the money. Follow the politics. Follow the fellow who follows a dream.

Okay, that last one has nothing to do with my point. I was just reminded of one of my favorite songs!

I just saw this news item about the battle over “natural” food labeling.

The question is at face value a simple one: When can food products, from chicken breasts to soda pop, rightfully be labeled as “natural?”

Wrapped up in it, however, are some far trickier questions: Is it ethical to charge for saltwater that increasingly pumps up supermarket chickens? Is the sodium lactate used as a flavoring and preservative in sliced roast beef “natural?” How about the high-fructose corn syrup that sweetens sodas?

Equally simple answers appear elusive.

“It’s worth bringing in the rabbis to analyze these situations because it’s complicated, it’s subtle. You can argue from both sides. It has fine distinctions,” said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Read the entire article.

I don’t think the answers are all that elusive. Do we really need rabbis to figure it out?

This is my tenth post in which I talk about chocolate. What does that tell ya?

Of course I’m addicted to one of the greatest concoctions on earth. But there may be a really good reason — my body is programmed to want chocolate. I’m actually tuned into chocolate. No, really:

Individual human health is determined by a complex interplay between genes, environment, diet, lifestyle, and symbiotic gut microbial activity. Here, we demonstrate a new “nutrimetabonomic” approach in which spectroscopically generated metabolic phenotypes are correlated with behavioral/psychological dietary preference, namely, “chocolate desiring” or “chocolate indifferent.” Urinary and plasma metabolic phenotypes are characterized by differential metabolic biomarkers, measured using 1H NMR spectroscopy, including the postprandial lipoprotein profile and gut microbial co-metabolism. These data suggest that specific dietary preferences can influence basal metabolic state and gut microbiome activity that in turn may have long-term health consequences to the host. Nutrimetabonomics appears as a promising approach for the classification of dietary responses in populations and personalized nutritional management.

Source

Or, in other words:

Your preference for, or indifference to, chocolate may be linked to a chemical signature programmed into your metabolic system, according to Swiss and British scientists.

The finding may help to design healthier diets that are customized to your individual needs, based on your metabolic type, or metabotype.

In the study, 11 volunteers who were “chocolate desiring” and 11 who were “chocolate indifferent” ate chocolate or a placebo over a five-day period. When researchers analyzed the volunteers’ urine and blood samples, they found that the “chocolate lovers” had low levels of LDL cholesterol and elevated levels of the beneficial protein albumin. They also had different activity in their gut microbes than the “chocolate indifferent” group.

The profile existed whether the chocolate was eaten or not.

The researchers suggest that food preferences such as chocolate might be imprinted into your metabolic system so that your body becomes “attuned to a particular diet.”

The findings build off of the prior knowledge that metabolic status and food preferences vary from person to person and culture to culture.

A test that could reliably determine your metabolic type, which could be performed as part of a blood or urine test, could be available in five years.

Source

If you enjoyed this post, please buy me a Harry and David gift certificate. Thank you.

Yep. I know the secret to the good life.

Here it is: Live like Stone Age people in the Space Age!

According to Bob Tschannen-Moran, president of LifeTrek Coaching International, an “evolutionarily correct lifestyle” is possible through a high degree of understanding, commitment, intentionality, and planning.

Bob publishes the weekly e-newsletter LifeTrek Provisions. Today’s issue, titled “Planetary Possibilities,” was timely. Just this morning by husband and I were talking about how we need to take better care of our health. For example, I know too much coffee turns me into a bloated cow and burdens my exhausted adrenals, but I continue to drink it. (Damn you, Starbucks!) Bob writes:

When it comes to fitness there is no conflict between what’s good for us as individuals and what’s good for us as a species. The better we take care of ourselves the better things will be for others. When we have the strength, capacity, and desire to use muscle power rather than fossil-fuels, for example, we are contributing to the welfare of one and all. That’s why fitness represents such a planetary possibility. There’s really no telling the good we can do once we find the energy and the nerve to start.

As a globally-minded person who would love nothing more than to save the world, this is the kind of motivation I need.

I hereby commit to drinking only one cup of coffee each morning — or switching to decaf. Somehow, some way, improving my health will help make this world a better place. Simple.

Read the entire article

It’s getting to the point where I’ll no longer need to drive 30 minutes to Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods Market to get my “health” stuff. Much to my surprise, our town’s new Fry’s supermarket has a well-stocked health section. And just a few months ago Safeway introduced its O Organics line of USDA certified products. Very cool. But I’ll still do my TJ runs — they’ve got really fun food from all over the world.

Last week at Fry’s I bought several Seventh Generation nontoxic, environmentally-safe cleaning products, which I’ve been wanting to try. The company name is derived from the Iroquois belief that “in our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” I believe that environmental toxicity is one of our planet’s greatest threats. I’m on the fence in the global warming debate, but I have no doubt that we’re harming our world in other ways.

Anyway. Yesterday I used Seventh Generation’s Free & Clear Glass and Surface Cleaner to clean our bathroom mirrors and a glass-top table. Their claim that it cleans without streaks is true. I’m really impressed. No smelly ammonia, no perfume. That makes me very, very happy!

I also tried the Natural Citrus Shower Cleaner, which has a very light orangy fragrance. It also worked great. I have been using Simple Green, but I don’t care for the smell. Plus it makes my eyes water.

If every household in the U.S. replaced just one 32 oz. bottle of shower cleaner containing chlorine bleach with our hydrogen peroxide based shower cleaner, we could prevent 1 million pounds of chlorine from entering our environment.

This Sunday is Earth Day. It’s weird, but I haven’t paid much attention to environmental awareness campaigns and movements. Mostly because they’ve been so political and polarizing. But now almost everyone understands that our planet needs some TLC.

While visiting the Seventh Generation site, I saw a link to TreeHugger.com. I’ve never hugged a tree. I tend to stereotype tree-hugger types as a bit loopy. But I checked out the site anyway. I’m glad I did. Despite some areas of disagreement, there’s a lot to like. They seem to strike a nice balance in their approach to sustainability and environmental issues — an approach critically needed to bring sustainability into the mainstream. From their About page:

TreeHugger is the leading media outlet dedicated to driving sustainability mainstream. Partial to a modern aesthetic, we strive to be a one-stop shop for green news, solutions, and product information….

Why is TreeHugger Doing This?

Our environment is currently facing huge obstacles that have the potential to seriously disrupt our future and the future of all our fellow flora and fauna friends. Keeping that in mind, TreeHugger also sympathizes with the fact that most people aren’t willing to compromise their current lifestyle in order to improve our shared environment, so we have created a place where you can discover how to maintain or improve your quality of life while reducing your harmful impact on the earth.

TreeHuggers know that you don’t need to run off to live with the wolves to contribute to the betterment of Mother Nature. (We do, however, prescribe this to anyone with strong urges to pursue cave art and moon howling). TreeHuggers live in the 21st century, make quotidian decisions, consume, have fun and maintain their aesthetic je ne sais quoi.

Knowing that apocalyptic predictions tend to paralyze the masses instead of mobilizing them, we also prefer an enthusiastic, upbeat outlook.

We live green, through education and action.

TreeHugger’s Simran Sethi is appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show today to talk about going green. Should be a great show. I hope I can watch without talking back about global warming

This morning I received the latest issue of eSkeptic, the electronic newsletter of the Skeptics Society, of which I’m a member. I read the review of George Levine’s Darwin Loves You: Natural Selection and the Re-enchantment of the World. The review closes with the following, which led me to spend half my morning at Wikipedia.

By his own declaration, Levine is engaged in a kind of theodicy for atheists, an attempt to reconcile us to the pain, horror, and pointless randomness of the world on the basis of his postulate that “human consciousness” can “transform mere matter into the sublime and the beautiful.” I suspect that, like all theodicies, this one is ultimately self-defeating. If one is not in need of such consolation, Levine’s formulation appears cloying and sentimental, as well as superfluous. If, on the other hand, one thirsts for some such comfort, this version is, in the end, likely to prove inadequate. Like theodicy in general, it courts the risk of reminding readers just how cruel and arbitrary the world is, after all, and how little power these ruminations have to soften the blows.

Darwin Loves You sets out to hunt us up a genial Snark who will accommodate our soft-hearted instincts by removing the fangs from a remorseless naturalism that has evolutionary thought at its core. Alas, when one examines it closely, one sees that Levine, in spite of himself, may have conjured up yet another Boojum.

First, I read the Wikipedia entry for theodicy, which prompted me to think about where The Secret teachings about good and evil might fit in. Then I looked up Boojum, which I learned is a dangerous type of Snark (I’m not familiar with Lewis Carroll’s poem, “The Hunting of the Snark”). That entry refers to Martin Gardner, a name I recognized because I had read his “Notes of a Fringe Watcher” column in Skeptical Inquirer.

Even though Gardner is a founding member of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal and an outspoken critic of pseudoscience, surprising to many, he believes in God. According to the Wikipedia entry, he describes his own belief as philosophical theism.

While critical of organized religions, Gardner believes in God, claiming that this belief cannot be confirmed or disconfirmed by reason. At the same time, he is skeptical of claims that God has communicated with human beings through spoken or telepathic revelation or through miracles in the natural world.

Gardner’s philosophy may be summarized as follows: There is nothing supernatural, and nothing in human reason or visible in the world to compel people to believe in God. The mystery of existence is enchanting, but a belief in The Old One comes from faith without evidence. However, with faith and prayer people can find greater happiness than without. If there is an afterlife, the loving Old One is real. “[To an atheist] the universe is the most exquisite masterpiece ever constructed by nobody,” from G. K. Chesterton, is one of Martin’s favorite quotes.

Interesting philosophy. Leaves a lot of wiggle room.

Then, reminded about the controversies surrounding pseudoscience and religion, I looked up the Wikipedia entry for New Age. As I read through the list of New Age beliefs, I noted which ones I outright reject, which is the majority. However, there are a few areas that I continue to explore, especially those concerning health and healing.

Readers of my blog know that I promote energy psychology, for instance, but with the caveat that I don’t know if the techniques have anything to do with “energy.” I also like homeopathy — but, again, I’m not sure why some remedies work (yes, I’m aware of the placebo effect). Based on personal experiences, I think there could be “something to” some of what is considered pseudoscience. As a “skeptic,” I try to remain neutral when there’s no scientific evidence, but I don’t always succeed. (I realize that I’m not a “pure” skeptic; I believe that such skeptics are rare.)

It can get mighty tiring always sifting and sorting my way through the areas I explore. I’m after the truth. I’ll keep going after something that seems to have merit even when mainstream science says it can’t be proven or has been, by their standards, debunked. You do know that not all scientific findings and interpretations are without error or bias, right? There’s that wiggle room again

I find it intriguing that I’m drawn to the healing arts that use “magical” potions and methods, and that I’m almost positive my stuffed animals and Bouncing Snowman are conscious. Really. I can’t bear to put those guys face down in a box for storage. And you should have seen me the day I had to return my leased car, which was “my baby” for five years.

To explain this magical bent, I have an interesting theory that my ancestors were Druids. Of course, I only know for certain that I’m of Scottish and Irish heritage, but according to this guy’s calculation, I have a 40-100 percent chance of having a Druid ancestor.

There are 600 Million Europeans today. There were only 30 million Europeans during the Black Plague of 13th century. Probably only seven million in 1 AD in Europe during the Roman Empire (which is why a single legion of 10,000 was so HUGE a problem for the Celts). Let’s assume that two million of those were Celtic religious practioners (France, Switzerland, North Italy, Spain, Dalmatia, Turkey, Britain, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Belgium, Denmark/West Germany), with about 20,000 Druids/Intelligentsia (1%) okay?

There are plenty of legends with Druids having offspring. Assume 1.2 kids per Druid (probably three is normal, but child mortality, plagues and war reduce it, plus overlapping descendents) and a 20 year inter-generational period with 100 generations since 1 A.D..

So, you’ve got 20,000 ancient druids (1.3 to the 100th power which is 8,2817,974.5) producing a whopping grand sum of about 165,6359,490,440.3 currently living Druid descendents at a minimum. And it’s a possible 2,535,301,200,456,458,802,993,406,410,7520,000 people, if we use 2.0 kids for calculations; but there are only 8,021,020,016 people on earth now). So with Europe and America and Australia’s combined estimated Celtic-descendent population of about 400,000,000 people, you have at least at 40-100% chance of having a Druid ancestor, depending on your calculations, without knowing any more than that your great grandmother was a McWhatzername.

I suspect a Druid ancestry for additional reasons, but I’ll save that story for another day!

Fat men don’t commit suicide.

That’s great news for Santa Claus and other lovable chubbies. I’m not making this up. I received this intriguing tidbit in today’s issue of Medscape Psychiatry & Mental Health MedPulse.

Obesity Linked With Decreased Suicide Risk in Men

Consistent with the suicide findings, mental health-related quality of life improved as BMI increased, the authors note.

“Although obesity cannot be recommended on the basis of its detrimental effects, further research into the mechanisms of lower risk among overweight and obese men may provide insights into effective methods of suicide prevention,” the researchers conclude.

So maybe there really is something to being “fat and happy.”

Body mass index (BMI)

I’ve been an energy psychology practitioner for many years. I admit that the concepts and techniques from this field seem weird. Oh well — I get results! I don’t know if we’re dealing with the so-called subtle energy system or not. There are other explanations that don’t involve subtle energy, but we still don’t know how or why these techniques work.

I can’t wait for the day when we have it all figured out, scientifically validated, and hailed in peer-reviewed journals. But until then, I invite you to dip your toe into the exciting world of energy psychology.

Last night I wrote a post about being allergic or sensitive to something in ShiKai shower gel. Well, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I have several chemical sensitivies and food sensitivities. Coincidentally (?), this morning I received Gary Craig’s EFT Insights Newsletter, which features an account from a woman describing her successful elimination of multiple chemical and food sensitivities using Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).

Jo Hainsworth (from New Zealand) gives us a detailed trip through all the erroneous beliefs that caused her decades long problem. She says, “That afternoon, something incredible happened. It was like I was all of a sudden redefining my whole beliefs about food. I realised for the first time in my life that, despite my lifelong battle with dairy [and other foods], my body does not have a problem with food; it’s the subconscious beliefs that cause the reaction, not the substance itself.”

Read the article

Our subconscious “beliefs” and “programs” are powerful. Some are beneficial; some are harmful. The interesting thing is that harmful perceptions and beliefs often form as the result of our mind or body attempting to protect itself. However, those instantaneous self-preservation responses may no longer be appropriate. The idea behind many of the energy psychology techniques is to “update” the body, mind, subconscious, cells, energy system (whatever!) with a new message, a new belief.

I’ve used EFT to help clear my allergies and sensitivites with some success, but I still have more work to do. Jo’s story is amazing. It gives me new resolve to keep at it! Persistence often is the key.

Learn more about EFT

Tuesday night I couldn’t sleep. The last time I looked at the clock it was 2:30 a.m.

I had suffered from severe insomnia for three years. I didn’t know the cause. I figured it was due to stress or a hormone imbalance. Then one day I noticed that I had been sleeping all through the night for several nights in a row! The insomnia had vanished. I still had wacky hormones and even more stress from years of not sleeping, so what had changed?

A few times I had suspected that allergies or sensitivities played a role. One time I suspected the culprit was my favorite ShiKai shower gel. I stopped using it and my sleep improved for a few days, but the insomnia returned. So I resumed using the shower gel.

Several months ago I bought new bath products — just for something different. I stopped using ShiKai entirely. On a recent trip to Trader Joe’s I saw the refreshing ShiKai Melon Cucumber shower gel and bought a bottle. I used it Tuesday. And that night I couldn’t sleep. The next morning as I reached for the bottle in the shower, I remembered that I had suspected that this lovely, natural, refreshing product was causing insomnia.

Wow. Could a stupid bottle of soap have caused that much trouble for three years? ‘Fraid so.

Check out the ingredients:

Purified water (aqua), aloe barbadensis gel, TEA lauryl sulfate, cocoamide DEA, laurethsulfosuccinate, cocoamidopropyl hydroxysultaine, sodium myreth sulfate, colloidal oatmeal (avena sativa), guar powder, salt (sodium chloride), cucumber (cucumis sativus) extract, methylparaben, citric acid, natural fragrance (parfum), diazolidinyl urea.

Sites like this one claim that many of these ingredients are toxic. But I could be reacting to the aloe, oats or cucumber. I used Aveeno products, which also contain colloidal oatmeal, while on a trip to Hawaii last year. Each morning I’d get up looking like I’d been boxing with Sylvester Stallone. Was it the sun? The oats? The kukui nut oil? All of the above?

I wonder how many people are losing sleep or experiencing other problems due to something as easily avoidable as soap and lotion.

Do you have a similar story? If so, feel free to post a comment and share.

What I really need is food that will help me stop obsessing over The Secret on Oprah, but at least these might help calm me down and give my poor brain a rest.

Foods To Calm You Down Fast

Holiday bills arriving in heaps? Lurking taxes turning up the tension? No Valentine in sight? Regardless of the cause, there’s an almost Alice in Wonderland counter-intuitiveness to the goodies we turn to for comfort. Instead of soothing our frayed nerves, many of them ultimately make us feel worse.

Take the classic-curling up with a pint of ice cream. It’s a total backfire. Why? Sweets are insidious: After the initial rush, the body’s insulin response kicks in, causing a sudden blood sugar drop that triggers the release of stress hormones. Soon you’re feeling more jangled than you were before you inhaled that whole container of Chunky Monkey. And alcohol, of course, is a wolfish stimulant in calm sheep’s clothing.

But true comfort foods do exist.

1. Berries, any berries

Eat them one by one instead of M&Ms when the pressure’s on. For those tough times when tension tightens your jaw, try rolling a frozen berry around in your mouth. And then another, and another. Since the carbs in berries turn to sugar very slowly, you won’t have a blood sugar crash. The bonus: They’re a good source of vitamin C, which helps fight a jump in the stress hormone cortisol.

2. Guacamole

If you’re craving something creamy, look no further. Avocados are loaded with B vitamins, which stress quickly depletes and which your body needs to maintain nerves and brain cells. Plus their creaminess comes from healthy fat. Scoop up the stuff with whole-grain baked chips-crunching keeps you from gritting your teeth.

3. Mixed nuts

Just an ounce will help replace those stress-depleted Bs (walnuts), give you a whopping amount of zinc (Brazil nuts)-it’s also drained by high anxiety-and boost your E (almonds), which helps fight cellular damage linked to chronic stress. Buy nuts in the shell and think of it as multi-tasking: With every squeeze of the nutcracker, you’re releasing a little bit of tension.

4. Oranges

People who take a 1,000 mg of C before giving a speech have lower levels of cortisol and lower blood pressure than those who don’t. So lean back, take a deep breath, and concentrate on peeling a large orange. The 5-minute mindfulness break will ease your mind and you’ll get a bunch of C as well.

5. Asparagus

Each tender stalk is a source of folic acid, a natural mood-lightener. Dip the spears in fat-free yogurt or sour cream for a hit of calcium with each bite.

6. Chai tea

A warm drink is a super soother, and curling up with a cup of aromatic decaf chai tea (Tazo makes ready-to-brew bags) can make the whole evil day go away.

7. Dark chocolate

Okay, there’s nothing in it that relieves stress, but when only chocolate will do, reach for the dark, sultry kind that’s at least 70% cocoa. You figure if the antioxidant flavonoids in it are potent enough to fight cancer and heart disease, they’ve got to be able to temper tension’s effects.

(Comment from Lana: Chocolate can help relieve stress by causing the release of feel-good neurotransmitters including endorphin and serotonin. Overindulging, though, can undo the benefits.)

I’ve been having a lot of second thoughts about flying. I don’t know how much of what I’ve read is true, but even what I do know is true is problematic. Here are things that bother me:

• Lack of proper oxygen levels

• Circulating germs and viruses

• Pesticides

• Cramped seats

• Regulations regarding restroom access

• Parents who won’t control their kids

• Drunk passengers who try to sell you the latest MLM opportunity

And now this in today’s news:

Air passengers have no recourse

After being stuck for 11 hours on a parked airplane during a snow and ice storm, JetBlue passengers found out there’s nothing they can do about it. There are no government regulations limiting the time an airline can keep passengers on grounded aircraft.

But thankfully,

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Thursday she will introduce a bill to give passengers the right to get off the airplane if it’s been on the ground for more than three hours past its scheduled departure time.

I’d prefer a bill that allows me to get off the airplane if it’s been grounded for 30 minutes. But I’ll take what I can get.

Learn more, get involved in airline passengers’ rights at http://www.strandedpassengers.blogspot.com.

With all the love in the air yesterday (February 14), I was inspired to enhance the good feelings by eating a big ol’ peanut butter cookie at Starbucks. Then at the grocery store I was seized with the desire to buy a bottle of Pinot Grigio, wine snobs be danged. Ahhh, what can be finer than watching an Arizona sunset while sipping a glass of wine?

Well, for starters, not drinking the wine! For whatever reason, I had “forgotten” that wine and I don’t always get along. I spent the night enjoying a racing heart, sporadic sleep and crazy dreams. And, no, I’m not feeling all that happy at the moment.

Note to myself: Read the following description of the chemical cocktail called wine the next time a bottle calls my name.

Wines

Red wines are rich in chemicals that are potentially troublesome. Non-nutrient amino acids such as tyramine are abundant in red wines and cheddar cheese. This favorite party combination can leave you with headache, confusion, and odd, inappropriate behavior. Tyramine may accumulate in people who have sluggish MAO enzyme activity. Tyramine acts something like a fight-and-flight hormone, increasing heart rate, blood pressure, and respiration, all with a sense of anxiety or panic. Drugs that inhibit MAO are prescribed as antidepressants and increase the toxic effect of ingested tyramine. The drug is prescribed along with a low tyramine diet which admonishes you to avoid red wine, beer, cheese, chocolate, bananas, yeasts, vanilla, and other neuroactive amine-containing foods.

Additives

Chemical additives used to control the fermentation process further complicate AB’s. Allergenic sulfites are commonly used as disinfectants and bleaching agents in wine making. Sulfites such as Cambden tablets are used to stop fermentation. Methyl glycol has been deliberately added to some wines to sweeten the taste; Other wines have been recalled because of high pesticide content. Distilling of fermentation brews reduces the chemical load, but volatile products pass through the distiller along with alcohol. Only the water-clear AB’s, like vodka, are relatively free of the chemical mix.

Food Allergy

All of the foods which are used to produce AB’s by themselves can cause many of the symptoms of AB use. The “allergic” responses to cereal grains, grapes, and yeast all may cause physical illness associated with mental and behavioral aberrations. The adverse effects of alcohol beverages are a complex of problems such as alcohol poisoning, yeast allergy, grain or fruit allergy, nutrient deprivations and metabolic distortions. Sensitivity to the chemicals in AB’s varies considerably from individual to individual. Many alcoholics are hypersensitive to ABs and modest ingestion triggers powerful brain-confusing effects and flip-flops. Generalized illnesses may follow AB ingestion. These illness patterns are typical of food allergy and demonstrate that alcoholism is an illness that exceeds the drug effects of alcohol alone. AB abuse damages digestive function and makes the digestive tract leaky to large molecules. This increased permeability is likely an unrecognized mechanism for the production of AB-related disease.

Source: http://www.nutramed.com/alcohol/abchemistry.htm

I’m definitely happier today than yesterday. I had a migraine to beat the band — something I haven’t experienced in years. A perfumed product triggered it.

As I lay in bed with the shutters closed, I thought how hard it must be for those who suffer day after day with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. I knew a woman who was so ill from her environment that she had to sleep on glass.

One of my dreams is to own a natural house. Actually, my dream is for the whole world to live in a clean, nontoxic environment. I think we have a lot more to worry about than the “problems” of global warming. Yes, I’m a fence-sitter on the global warming debate. If you’re interested in hearing more than one side of the story, visit http://junkscience.com.

I think it’s truly scary that journalists and columnists are making toxic pronouncements such as this one by Ellen Goodman:

I would like to say we’re at a point where global warming is impossible to deny. Let’s just say that global warming deniers are now on a par with Holocaust deniers, though one denies the past and the other denies the present and future.

Source

Uh, oh. I feel another migraine coming on…

Rather belatedly, I know, last night I watched the 2004 documentary Super Size Me. I join the critics who say, well what can you expect if you gorge yourself three times a day for 30 days? In the first few days of Morgan Spurlock’s experiment, ignoring his body’s signal that enough is enough, he threw up.

This was a stupid experiment for several reasons, but it did reveal some interesting things about one of the doctors who was monitoring him. The doctor believed at the beginning of the experiment that not much would happen to affect the guy’s health. At the end of 30 days he learned otherwise. To me, the doctor’s ignorance was the most amazing part of the documentary.

What and how we eat is one of the most contentious debates in the U.S. I believe this is due to a potent mix of politics, special interest groups, government funding issues, suppression of good science, willfulness of people to do what they want to do no matter what, allergy and addiction dynamics, lack of personal responsibility, certain philosophies and religions, greed, and abuse of trust. It seems that those who offer scientific, evidence-based guidelines are very hard to notice — like a hay-colored needle in a haystack.

No, I don’t know the answer. All I can do is go with what makes the most sense to me and provides real-life, measurable benefits. See my post about The Schwarzbein Principle.

Noooooo, I’m not talking about me running 13.1 miles in below-freezing temperatures. I’m talking about my husband, who ran the PF Chang’s Rock ‘n Roll half-marathon a couple of weeks ago. It was the largest marathon and half-marathon in the world, with nearly 40,000 people running, walking, skipping, limping, and dragging through the streets of Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe, Arizona.

Man, it was cold! I spoke with a runner who had flown in from Nashville, where it was in the 70s. Talk about a nice warm welcome to sunny Arizona.

This was my husband’s first half-marathon. He finished in 2 hours and 54 minutes, in pain but jubilent. He’s been hobbling around a little with a foot injury, but I think he actually gets a kick out of feeling the pain. It’s a badge of honor, a reminder of sweet success.

He just showed me an article in Runner’s World about Lance Armstrong’s experience of running in the ING New York Marathon. Minutes after finishing, he text-messaged his ex-wife:
Oh. My. God. Ouch. Terrible.

I don’t know if Lance Armstrong will run another marathon after his ordeal, but my husband plans to. You go! I’ll be waiting in the reunion center with a big smile and a tube of Bengay.

I knew what would happen, but I did it anyway.

Last night I was on a conference call, listening to an interview with the authors of Sugar Shock!: How Sweets and Simple Carbs Can Derail Your Life — and How You Can Get Back on Track. As they talked about the evils of sugar and simple carbs, a pan of Michelangelo’s lasagna bubbled in the oven. (My husband bought it — not I!)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know all about the effects of sugar. I knew what was going to happen after eating the hefty portion of noodles, accompanied by a big slice of WHITE BREAD. But I was hungry and ready to just sit down and eat and watch American Idol (now that show will get you laughing).

This morning I felt like a Mack truck had hit me.

I can’t say it won’t happen again. And again. But I do manage to stay mostly on the right side of the road. I can’t afford to eat junk for very long — it makes me feel way too bad.

One of my biggest challenges is meal planning and shopping. I hate those activities. If I could afford a personal chef and shopper, my life would be grand.

Sometimes it doesn’t take much to make me happy. I swear — beans and carrots?!

Last night for dinner I made baked chicken with Red Tail Ale Original Tangy BBQ sauce, baked potatoes with butter, and a pot of buttered green and yellow beans, carrots and onions liberally sprinkled with basil. Yum!

This morning I opened the refrigerator and spotted the leftover beans and carrots. I started grinning. I can’t wait to eat them for lunch!

I believe that what we eat makes all the difference in the world for how we feel, how we think, how we live and move in the world. That’s a radical statement for many health-care practitioners today. They just don’t believe that diet has anything to do with life except to provide basic fuel.

One of my favorite books that promotes a healthy lifestyle is The Schwarzbein Principle: The Truth About Losing Weight, Being Healthy, and Feeling Younger, by Diana Schwarzbein, M.D.

Dr. Schwarzbein’s dietary guidelines are opposite to what you’ve probably heard, especially if you’re diabetic. But it’s hard to argue with a doctor in the field with living, breathing patients who get worse when following conventional diets.

Check out this description from Amazon.com:

From her work with insulin-resistant patients with Type II diabetes, Dr. Schwarzbein concludes that low-fat diets cause heart attacks, eating fat makes you lose body fat, and it’s important to eat high-cholesterol foods every day. Picture cardiologists and dieticians tearing their hair out and overweight people cheering as they dive into Eggs Benedict with sausage.

According to Schwarzbein, the high-carbohydrate, low-fat, moderate-protein diet that most dieticians and disease-prevention organizations recommend is the culprit that turns people into diabetics, makes them age faster and get degenerative diseases, and keeps them fat and unhealthy. She supports her theory with case studies of people who were sick and miserable on high-carbo, low-fat diets and who sprang to life when they “balanced” their diets with more fat and protein. Schwarzbein recommends avoiding “man-made carbohydrates”– processed carbs — in favor of those you could “pick, gather or milk.” She instructs patients to eat “as much good fat as their body needs”: eggs, avocados, flaxseed oil, butter, mayonnaise, and olive oil. Sorry, but fried foods and hydrogenated fats are “bad fats,” or “damaged fats,” as Schwarzbein calls them. You can eat as many eggs a day as you want on this plan, plus meat (even sausage — as long as it’s nitrate-free — and pâté), saturated fat, cream, and nonstarchy vegetables. The book includes a four-week meal plan and about 15 recipes.

This groundbreaking book dispels the myths perpetuated by some bestselling diet books that may help people lose weight, but will put them on the fast track to disease. Based on sound research and the success of thousands of people, The Schwarzbein Principle proves that excess weight, degenerative disease and accelerated aging can be controlled — and reversed — in a healthful way. The Schwarzbein Principle is a holistic guide to achieving lasting weight loss, normalizing metabolism and maintaining ideal body composition through lifestyle and nutrition. By bringing the internal systems into balance, the Schwarzbein program has been proven to: reverse type II diabetes; free people from food cravings for chocolate, caffeine and sugar; cure depression and mood swings; and reduce body fat while building lean tissue. The nutritional program consists of two phases — Healing and Maintenance — which are easy to adopt into any lifestyle. Instead of shunning fat, the program advocates eating all of the good fats and proteins your body needs as well as an unlimited portion of non-starchy carbohydrates. By incorporating the lifestyle components of stress management, exercise and eliminating harmful stimulants, program participants experience renewed energy and vitality. Don’t forget to check out the cookbooks!

If you want to be healthier and feel better, get a copy today!