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"Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?" - Mary Oliver  October is a scary month. Aside from being fire season, Halloween dangles at the end of the month as one by one, neighbors hang out their creepy, orange stuff and put pumpkins on porch steps before scooping out the seeds for roasting. Giant, furry black spiders climb up the outside walls of houses and white sheets double as ghosts blowing in the wind. No matter how hard I try, I can’t stop picturing it all going up in smoke as the strong winds sweep through the streets. I share office space in Brentwood, an upscale neighborhood where lots of people in the film industry live. At this time of year, as you drive the curves up canyon roads, really creepy authentic looking ghouls borrowed from studio prop departments hide in the bushes and wait to scare you as you drive by. Brentwood is down the road a mile or so from the Getty Museum, which sits on top of a mountain surrounded by native grasses and chaparral. When the humidity is 4% and the Santa Ana winds are blowing, they sweep any sparks of fire across the mountain. The Getty fire has been burning now for several days and the Museum, with its lovely gardens and stunning, expensive works of art, has been closed since it started. That’s SCARY!  It’s been a SCARY time. I have a bag packed to leave, should the fires that have been raging around us force us out of our home. On November 8th, those of us who lost our homes in the Woolsey Fire last year, will remember that terrible night. Since then, I’ve worked on looking forward, instead of backward. I’ve increased my meditation and yoga practices and opened to new possibilities of learning and growing. I truly believe that we create our lives and destinies and that that creation is an act that takes consistency, mindfulness and, most of all Love. Stay safe, and don’t be scared....xoxo  Beware of the LIES - Now, the food industry, who cares nothing about our health, is producing organic versions of familiar junk food. Have you seen or tried Organic Oreo cookies? Or, if you are looking for electrolytes, the organic version of Gatorade? What worries me about these new versions of familiar food-like substances is the fact that people may think that an organic version is healthier than the regular one. Don’t be fooled. Eating organic food is a better choice because it is less toxic, but in terms of nutrient values, they are identical. Growing something without toxic chemicals is much better for the planet and our bodies, but in terms of the nutritional comparisons, there is little difference. There are twenty grams of sugar in both the organic and regular twelve ounce bottles of Gatorade. Instead, check out the Natural Sports Electrolyte drink below, that is easy to make without the chemicals. Try plain filtered water, herbal tea or coconut water. The Oreo cookies I ate as a child, separating the two halves and licking the inside filling will never be replaced by an organic version (if I chose to eat them now) because eating is an experience. 🎃 Candy Corn: Right after Halloween one year, a patient came into see me with a bad stomachache. When I questioned her, she told me that instead of giving the candy corn to the children at her door for Halloween, she had eaten the whole bag of candy corn herself, saving the children, but harming herself. Candy corn was first introduced in the United States during the nineteenth century and was called “chicken feed”. The original recipe is still used today: Sugar, corn syrup (a combination of corn starch and hydrochloride acid), carnauba wax (as a thickener), artificial colors and binders. Unlike what one might think, there is no High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in candy corn; it is made from real sugar, which is mostly glucose. In my research, I discovered that glucose syrup is actually used to make HFCS, by converting the glucose into fructose, making it cheap and, because of the fructose, incredibly sweet. If it’s in a package, there is probably HFCS in the ingredient list. HFCS has been instrumental in producing Diabetes, Obesity (Diabesity), Cancer and Dementia (Type 3 Diabetes) in huge numbers globally and that is really SCARY!!! Energy Drinks: First of all, if you are eating clean food in a balanced way, getting exercisethat is appropriate for your body and getting enough sleep, having enough energy shouldn’t be a problem. Energy drinks have become a huge industry, almost as big as the coffee industry. What may have started with one can of one kind of Red Bull, has now exploded into sixteen different kinds of Red Bull, including the cans of Organic Red Bull, for those that are concerned about organic ingredients. I am appalled by the amount of sugar and caffeine in these drinks, the several different types of sugar and caffeine in some of them and the incredible amount of marketing that is geared toward a younger audience. Red Bull, for instance, has its own TV channel - Red Bull TV - where it shows live athletic events and concerts. It also has a website where it shows young athletes that they sponsor and videos of concerts done all over the world. Their foundation, Wings for Life, earns donations for people with spinal cord injuries. These drinks have no real nutritional value, are addictive and are geared toward the 25 - 35 year old group of young adults who feel as though they are invincible - and these drinks, with huge amounts of sugar and caffeine contributes to this. That’s SCARY!  an alternative recipe to try: Natural Sports Electrolyte Drink Recipe courtesy of Katie Wells (WellnessMama)  Ingredients
Instructions
Serving: 1 cup | Calories: 26kcal | Carbohydrates: 6.1g | Sodium: 74mg | Sugar: 5.8g
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 “I thank you God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes.” - E.E. Cummings When I was young, my family was a beach family. During the intense heat of the San Fernando Valley summers, we would pack up the Buick with blankets, umbrellas, towels and tuna fish sandwiches - all we needed for a full twelve hour day at the beach. In California, Fall weather is usually very hot and dry; Santa Ana winds blow toward the ocean and wildfires are common. It didn’t matter whether darkness came early; we were often the first people on the sand and the last to leave, wading into the Black Sea before packing up the remnants of our day as darkness fell into the evening. In order to get to the beach from Woodland Hills, my father took Malibu Canyon, a gorgeous passage in the Santa Monica Mountain range that leads from the Valley to Pacific Coast Highway. About halfway through, you can feel the change in temperature as you drive through a thick wall of intense Valley heat, into the cool grey mist coming off the ocean. It’s a palpable change. The canyon is steep and covered in Native chaparral, with sharp angles of rock creating shadows of light. I still use Malibu Canyon several times a week to get from one side of the mountain to the other and it’s beauty never disappoints me. I can feel my nervous system settle down away from the harshness of the “fight or flight” world as soon as I enter its beautiful and loving curves. Maybe because I know it so well - the shadows of light shimmering, like the backs of sleeping dinosaurs. To this day, I think of Malibu Canyon as home.  Now, by some stroke of luck, I have been lead to a house nestled in a forest of old oak trees, with trunks the size of city buildings. I mean it- these are old trees, thick and alive with creatures. The community built within these trees is appropriately named Oak Forest, Land of Robin Hood. As I wait in limbo, for the Board of Directors of my former community and the government agencies in disaster management (FEMA, the SBA) to decide when we, who lost homes in the Woolsey fire one year ago can rebuild our homes, I have been guided to live in an old oak forest- and, I'm grateful. While waiting on the deck for the landlord to arrive before signing the lease this past June, I realized that my nervous system had, for the first time in months, dropped into that soothing and gentle place that I had almost forgotten existed - the parasympathetic nervous system. Like a long lost friend, my mind and body drifted into an empty, calm state. It wasn’t the house, particularly, but the forest, with its giant limbs hovering above, holding the community and me in its twisted arms. Even the neighbors are calm and relaxed because of the forest surrounding them. Since being here, I’ve learned that the trees are protected and can not be trimmed without a permit from the city. As I’ve done with almost every home I’ve lived in, I barely looked inside the house and instead, felt its energy before signing on the dotted line. My mind was still and quiet; I was not thinking at all. It was transcendental.  I’ve now lived here since June, gone through the summer, shaded by the oaks. Fall has brought a different energy; acorns as big as footballs have begun to pound on the roof and, when they miss the roof, drop down onto the long deck. Birds squawk day and night, their calls echoing through the branches as a lone peacock walks the streets like a hooker and the trees whisper among themselves. I’ve been told that this warm and friendly community was built inside the oak forest many years before and the old version of the film, “Robin Hood” was filmed here. You realize this when you see that all the street names come from the Robin Hood legend: Friars Lane, Little John Lane, Nottingham Road and my street, Sherwood Drive. All this blends into a comforting mixture of Nature sounds, like the constant humming of a familiar tune. It is a welcoming place, safe and peaceful; being here is like being held in a giant hug by ancient grandmother trees, constantly whispering your name, telling you to stay. After moving in with just the bare necessities from generous friends and neighbors, I have contemplated the things I left behind that fill empty space and truly make a home: Framed art, collected from years of living, purchased or bartered; photographs; inherited objects, family treasures. Even small things that need to be replaced: A hand brush to dry brush my skin before showering; sewing kit, to hem the curtains; blender, to purée the green soup; wonderful linen sheets and towels, all to be collected and used in another round of setting up home. I was never much of a shopper and don’t like clutter, so as I collect my new things I ask myself, as Marie Kondo would, Will this spark joy? I’ve been thinking a lot about Body as home? Isn’t that the most important home, the one that follows us throughout our lives no matter what our address, the one that changes as we go from infant to adult, the layers of energy fields that shape us, outside and inside. How do we live and take care of this, most important home? Our Bodies as Home...stay tuned, and, until then, Be Well.....   Room by Room “I have been reviewing the information you sent and it is definitely overwhelming.” -J.L., Insurance Claims Adjuster Kitchen Appliances 1 Jenn-Aire 32” gas oven, black 1 Frigidaire stainless steel 3 door refrigerator, w/bottom freezer drawer 1 Cuisinart countertop convection oven 1 AquaTru counter top Reverse Osmosis water filtration system, with 4 filters, 2 pitchers, bottle of added minerals 1 Bosch dishwasher, stainless steel 1 Bosch gas stovetop, 5 burners 1 Sears LG front load clothes washer w/steam; 1 Sears LG front load clothes dryer w/true steam 1 stacking kit 1 Miele Pure Suction canister vacuum, red 1 Krups coffee grinder 1 French Press, 8 cup 1 Stovetop Expresso pot 1 Cuisinart BFP-650 Blender/Food Processer, red 1 Nutribullet 600-Watt Blender 1 Vivreal Home Electric Milk Frother/Milk steamer 1 Kitchenaid 9 Speed electric hand blender, red 1 Instant Pot IP-DUO80 7-in-1 programmable Pressure Cooker, 8 quart/1200 Watt, Stainless Steel 1 Cosori 1.7L Electric Kettle (BPA free) cordless glass boiler hot water and tea heater 1 Food dehydrator 1 Yogurt Maker Over thirty years ago, I was first introduced to Buddhist literature with Thich Nhat Hanh’s book called Mindfulness. Thich Nhat Hanh is a deeply respected Buddhist elder, teacher and Vietnamese monk who worked tirelessly for peace during the Vietnamese War. He was nominated for the Noble Peace Prize by Martin Luther King and his story of joining the monastery as a child impressed me deeply. According to the story, even at that very young age, he and the other young monks were lead to the cemetery each day, where they faced death. Using their hands to sift through the ashes of cremated bodies, they were told to imagine that they, too, would soon be reduced to ash. Emptiness, in the Buddhist tradition, is the idea that everything touches everything. When we see a piece of paper, we also see the sky, the clouds and the rain that grew the trees to make the paper. When we look even more closely, we see the cremated bones of animals and insects that eventually become the mulch that nourishes the earth in an endless cycle of connection. Impermanence, the idea that we are in constant flux is also a prominent Buddhist concept. Unlike here, in the West, where death is hidden and immortality idealized, the monks are introduced to death and impermanence early, where it then becomes embedded in their daily routines and meditations, making life seem even more precious. Kitchen - Cabinets & Shelving: 3 Wooden cabinets with glass doors, 6 knobs, IKEA -Top Shelf: 6 Pyrex rectangular glass cookware, 3 glass pitchers, 8 small jars with lids, various sizes Middle Shelf: 6 Pyrex oval glass cookware, 6 square glass containers with lids -Bottom Shelf: 6 tall white porcelain water glasses, 6 tall glass water glasses, 6 large white porcelain coffee/tea mugs -5 Stainless Steel open shelves, IKEA Over sink: 1 bamboo steamer, 1 extra large wooden bowl (inherited), 2 wooden bowls (heirloom), 2 wooden salad bowls, 1 salad spinner, 1 porcelain mixing bowl, 1 porcelain mixing bowl (heirloom), 1 cast iron muffin pan animal shapes, 1 copper muffin pan, sea shell shapes Over Stovetop: 1 cast iron pan, large, 1cast iron Dutch Oven, 1 Le Creuset dutch oven, yellow, 1 large all clad soup pot, 1 large all clad sauté pan, 1 steamer basket, 1 large, 1 medium, 1 small all clad cooking pots 6 Open Corner Shelves -Hand painted Italian pottery: 8 dinner plates, 8 salad plates, 4 soup bowls, 6 coffee/tea mugs, 6 tea cups with saucers -White pottery, servings for 4, dinner plates, soup plates -4 Chinese painted soup bowls -6 black Japanese tea cups -12 hand painted tea cups with saucers (inherited, heirloom) as part of a collection -1 Japanese iron tea pot with 4 iron cups -4 hand painted original tea pots (inherited, heirloom) -Wedding China, heirloom, servings of 12 dinner plates, salad plates, tea cups and saucers, soup bowls, 3 serving platters - small to large - 1 gravy bowl, 1 large soup serving bowl I didn’t know what the insurance company meant at first when they talked about “sifting” my property. After the fires last November, a volunteer organization came to our community with sifters - 110 of them - one for each home that was lost. These were handmade sheets of wire framed in wood with hearts and encouraging slogans stenciled all around them, so that those of us whose homes had burned could “sift” through the ash to find things that might be worth saving. I thought about the sifters my mother and grandmother used to sift flour for baking. It made the flour light and fluffy so it would rise more easily. I also thought of Thich Nhat Hanh and the monks using their hands to sift through the cemetery ash. Living Room - Furniture: -7 foot Restoration Hardware couch, with slipcovers -Wood mosaic hand made coffee table from Spain -Wood mosaic hand made side table from Spain -Wood antique armoire -Wood 6 foot chest -Round glass table with wood base -Reading chair -3 dining chairs -2 wood standing bookshelves -2 stainless steel wall bookshelves -1 5 foot round wool hooked rug -1 5 foot rectangular wool hooked rug -1 antique 5 foot wooden bench -1 antique wooden rocker  Picture frames Geared with our sifters and wearing full body suits and masks, along with sturdy boots and gloves to shield us from the toxic materials we might find when we stirred up the ashes from the fires, my friends and I began. Dividing small sections of the property, I tried to imagine where each room had been. Was there anything I particularly hoped to find? The man who had owned the house before me came to help us after hearing that his former home had been destroyed in the fire. One friend was determined to find the diamond engagement ring I had inherited from my grandmother and the small diamond earrings that were a gift from my parents when I turned forty (never recovered). What we did recognize were pieces of broken pottery and cracked clay pots from the garden, now in pieces. I recognized pale green glass from the thick tabletop I sat at every day to eat and write, now melted onto other broken objects, making new and oddly beautiful works of art. There were small globs of melted silver from the set of wedding silver I had inherited and the small stone statue of Buddha that had watched over my home and garden for the last ten years, smudged with black ash, still in tact. The small stone statue of Buddha that had watched over my home and garden for the last ten years, smudged with black ash, still in tact  The small stone statue of Buddha that had watched over my home and garden for the last ten years, smudged with black ash, still in tact  Mother's full set of silverware from wedding  Grandmother's flower pot  Malibu mosaic tabletop  Mother's vase that crumbled when I lifted it
 Before I left the house that day last year in early November, the Santa Ana winds were blowing hard, bending tree tops and separating tree limbs from their trunks. Not only was there fire danger, falling limbs flying through the streets were also dangerous if you happened to be in their way. Generally felt during the fall and early winter, Santa Ana winds are those that blow from the desert to the ocean. Coming from the Southeast, they are very dry and very fierce; if there is a rogue spark from a cigarette or fireplace, those winds will spread that spark from a tiny red ember to a forest fire in little short of an hour or two. That day, the sky was already gray from the smoke of some fires in the distance and the air was heavy with their smell. How far away the fires were from where I was standing, I couldn’t tell; it would all depend upon the direction the winds chose to blow. Over the many years I have lived in Malibu, along its coast and through its canyons, I have come to know the smell of fires. Stepping outside and smelling fire always makes my arm hairs stand straight up. I have a friend who grew up in Malibu and, as an adult has chosen to live in the city, away from the fires and mudslides that she remembers from her childhood. I understand. Those powerful, unstoppable drifts of wind have controlled my life each year; moreover, my fearful dread of the windy season has grown from just a few months in the fall to most of the year. It forces the question in my mind whether any place or time is safe from the dangers of the weather. In my view, the terrors of global warming affect all of us, everywhere; there are no boundaries, no divisions and no walls that can separate us from warm oceans that direct air currents and create dangerous weather patterns no matter where you happen to live. Hurricanes, volcanos, earthquakes, fires, tornadoes, freezing snow storms and heavy rains that seem as though they will never stop have become commonplace. The warm El Niño air, named for the baby Jesus because of rising ocean temperatures that occur during the Christmas season, send frightening images of the North Pole ice packs melting and polar bears balancing on glaciers that are shrinking more and more each year. Unlike the soft, sensual trade winds of Hawaii that kissed my cheeks as a teenager during family vacations, these are gut punching gusts - ominous and dangerous - that could lift a man off the ground. Depending upon the wind’s direction, it’s impossible to know where they will take a fire, if one starts, and how long they will last. I left the house that late afternoon to go to the Getty Museum where I teach a weekly yoga class, not knowing if the winds would be kind or whether their fierce power would continue to grow. I was relieved when I returned home that evening to my home and community still standing. Although the smell of smoke was even heavier and more ominous in the dark, I could see the flames in the distant mountains and thought they might be moving away from us. I went to bed wearing my street clothes. Although I generally turn my cellphone off at night and use a windup clock that just needs a AA battery to avoid the electromagnetic frequencies near my head when I sleep, this night I left my cellphone on. At 2:00 AM, I heard banging on my wall from the tenant that lived in an apartment in the front of my home. We shared a kitchen wall and after she first moved into the apartment, we discussed banging on the wall if one of us was ever in danger. After hearing her fists thumping on the wall, I called her and she told me we needed to evacuate; the fires that swept through the western end of Malibu had crossed over the mountain into our valley and was coming our way quickly.  When I was in my late teens, my father cornered me in the car one day to discuss my future. “We’re a family of planners,” he told me. Before then and since, I haven’t planned for anything; my life has moved forward from shear instinct - kinesthetic feelings. I studied things that “felt right”, following my gut. Unlike some neighbors who had all their important papers gathered in a lock box - Passports, birth certificates, deeds, bank information, cash, check books and insurance declaration pages, I had none of those things in one easy to grab place. Since then, friends have told me that my experience has motivated them to put together papers for just such an emergency, when one has to leave quickly, not knowing if the house will be there when you return.  My yard before the fire The destruction My grandmothers flowerpot My mothers silverware“The doctor of the future will give no medication, But will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, diet And in the cause and prevention of disease.” -Thomas Edison Like so many things in the world of “health”, cholesterol has become this confusing, mysterious substance. Cholesterol has been a concern because of its connection to cardiovascular disease, but not all cholesterol is dangerous. In fact, many of the cholesterol subtypes are important and without them, we would die. It’s not the fact that cholesterol subtypes are lipids that is the problem, rather, it is the particle size, shape and numbers of specific types that are concerning. We hear that there is “good” and “bad” cholesterol, but there are several to consider in each category and unless you know the tests to order and what to look for, your standard lipid panel will not give you the information you really need. By the way, there is no cholesterol in plant foods; Vegans are not consuming cholesterol from food and only receiving this important substance from what the body produces. Even coconut oil, which is high in saturated fat, does not contain any cholesterol. The first number you generally see on a lipid panel is the total cholesterol result, and if it is over 200 mg/dl, your doctor will very likely pull out the prescription pad and want to put you on a Statin (cholesterol lowering) drug. This number, however, is so meaningless that they have eliminated it completely in countries like Japan because it doesn’t clarify the important subtypes individually. The pharmaceutical drug companies are making fortunes on drugs that are misleading, often lead by doctors who have a stake in these companies. Statin drugs do not lower cholesterol; they are powerful anti-inflammatory drugs and inflammation is one of the main culprits in heart disease, not cholesterol. (More on how to avoid heart disease in the next blog.) Cholesterol is made primarily by the liver and found in every cell in our bodies. Why would we want to lower a substance already made by the body and found in every cell? Doesn’t that say something about the fact that we need it? In fact, the amount of cholesterol we consume in the food we eat is nothing compared to what our bodies already make. It is the substance used to make Vitamin D, and other important fat soluble hormones like Testosterone, Estrogen and Progesterone. Statin drugs taken to lower cholesterol can, for some people be dangerous and lead to uncomfortable side affects. Studies show that those with the lowest total cholesterol levels have more symptoms of dementia and die sooner than those with higher cholesterol levels. Europeans, on the other hand, have survived well for centuries eating healthy fat, wild fish and pasture raised meat on the Mediterranean diet, even with total Cholesterol numbers that would make some doctors faint. The History According to Nina Teicholz, author of “The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet”, the cholesterol phobia began with a scientist named Ancel Keys. Aside from his research on cholesterol and what he felt were the dangers of saturated fat in the diet, he was known for his development of the k-ration during World War II, a packaged “food” given to soldiers and named after him. Apparently, he was an aggressive character and an inaccurate scientist. He performed a famous study called “The Seven Countries Study,” defining the connection between saturated fat and cholesterol and the connection to heart disease. In truth, however, in order to twist the data to his liking, he apparently used twenty-two countries in his study, but ended his thesis with the seven countries that showed what he thought was correct, manipulating the data to his liking and, in so doing, changing the health of billions of people for generations. He was so convincing that the media jumped on his idea, putting him on the cover of Time magazine, while demonizing cholesterol. Pushing fear into the hearts of people eating bacon and eggs, throwing stones at Dr. Atkins and his work, the world began choosing margarine, an unhealthy trans fat, over butter. What began as a thought from a huckster that sounded pretty good, that saturated fat and cholesterol were what created stiff arteries leading to heart attacks, ended by making drug companies very rich and patients without the important nourishment needed from saturated fat. Margarine and other unhealthy trans fats and huge amounts of simple carbohydrates replaced real food from pasture raised animals, creating an epidemic of Type 2 Diabetes, Insulin Resistance and obesity. “There is no evidence that supports a direct relationship between saturated fat and heart disease.” -Stephen Sinatra, MD, cardiologist “The perfect person breathes as if they do not breathe at all...” From Chinese text
What if everything you thought you knew about your health for most of your life was wrong? What if even the things your medical doctor is still telling you today is wrong? Things like: Eating fat will make you fat (wrong), eating salt is unhealthy (wrong) and taking a deep breath will increase the oxygen levels in your blood (very wrong)...Read on about this last one. “Breathe through your nose, and breathe less...”. Dr. Konstantin Buteyko The first and last thing we do in life is take a breath. We can last weeks without eating, days without drinking water, but only moments without taking a breath. We think about going on a diet if we eat too much, but most of us never think about reducing the amount of oxygen we take in to increase red blood cells made by the Spleen. It seems, like many things, counter-intuitive. It’s a mystery, this exchange of gases. During the 1950’s, Russian doctor Konstantin Buteyko, discovered the enormous benefit of increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) in the blood by slowing and calming his breath during an asthma attack that almost killed him. As he struggled for air, he noticed that taking slow, gentle, shallow breaths, instead of gulping air to try and open his airways allowed his symptoms to subside. It was a miracle, and as he continued to practice small, calm, gentle breaths on a regular basis, the asthma that he was plagued with resolved. Being the brilliant doctor he was, he began studying why this could be so that he could share this simple technique with the millions of people suffering with asthma. From this incident, the Buteyko Breathing Technique was born. Since researching the subject for this blog, I have read many such stories of people resolving asthma, allergies and sleep apnea by breathing less - not more - and I have been teaching it to my patients and the students coming to my Yoga classes. Asthma means “To pant...” If you suffer from asthma, or know someone who does, you know that open mouth breathing is common, with the misguided idea that this will bring more oxygen into the lungs. Over-breathing, or hyperventilation, is related to Asthma and many other conditions. Things like: Anxiety, hypertension, sleep disorders, panic attacks, allergies, gut problems, breathlessness, over-talking and depression all may have hyperventilation in common. Meet Your Diaphragm-The Most Important Breathing Muscle Not long ago, I worked with a patient whose father is now 103 years old. One of his grandchildren calls him the Ever-Ready Bunny because he never slows down. When he meets you, he tells you to punch him in the gut, and when you do, you find a diaphragm as solid as a rock. Why? His entire life was spent playing and teaching the French horn, for which he is famous in the French horn world. To play a wind instrument like that for hours each day for about seventy years, and be good at it, you must use the diaphragm. It is my view that, although the rest of his habits are atrocious (poor diet, sedentary), he breathes with his diaphragm and that is what has kept him alive for so long. Using just the diaphragm, and not the secondary muscles in the neck and chest that most people with respiratory issues use, he has enhanced the oxygen from his lower lungs without wasting carbon dioxide. Think about how you, or someone you know breathes and check out these signs of abnormal breathing: Mouth breathing Sighing-Yawning Sleep Apnea Noisy breathing Breathing from upper chest Panting (only for dogs) Frequent deep breaths Taking a mouth breath before talking Breathe Light to Breathe Right The diaphragm is a thin, elegant muscle that divides the upper torso from the gut. You may have heard that the best way to breathe is using the diaphragm, as all great singers and musicians do, and this is true. In normal breathing, as you inhale through the nose, the diaphragm contracts, drops down into the abdomen allowing for the lower lungs to release oxygen. The lungs closest to the gut are larger than the ones closer to the head, so that when you inhale, the belly expands allowing for more oxygen to be released. When we exhale, the diaphragm relaxes and the belly drops down to its regular shape. To encourage diaphragmatic breathing, do the following: Place one hand on your chest and the other just above your navel; Breathe through your nose and gently follow the expansion of your belly with your bottom hand, using gentle pressure; Make sure the upper hand on your chest is not moving. Shut Your Mouth and Save Your Life When we breathe softly through the nose, instead of gulping air through our mouths, the air hunger we may feel is a build-up of carbon dioxide (CO2). We have come to think of carbon dioxide as evil, something we “get rid of” after taking a deep breath. Yet, CO2 is the chief hormone of the body; it determines how much oxygen is released into the tissues and cells and plays a role in the regulation of pH levels in the blood. It’s role in the elimination of Hypertension is significant. When we breathe in O2 and exhale CO2, another gas called Nitric Oxide (NO) is released. Nitric Oxide is an important vasodilator, extremely beneficial for controlling blood pressure. NO is also available in certain foods, like beets, and forms a reservoir in the nose where it has many different functions. When we have plenty of CO2, our blood vessels relax and increase in diameter, controlling blood pressure and thereby increasing energy production. CO2 also creates a more stable blood sugar level and a stronger immune system. “Straight teeth do not create a good looking face; a good looking face creates straight teeth...” Weston A. Price, DDS Weston A. Price, who lived over 100 years ago, is one of my heros. He left his dental practice in the Midwest after seeing case after case of crooked teeth and cavities and decided to travel around the world to scope out indigenous cultures. What he found was stunning, culminating in his classic book, “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration”, still in print today. In the fourteen different cultures he investigated around the world, he found the same things: When they ate the foods relating to their culture and environment, they all had beautiful, wide faces with perfect teeth that all fit. Native mothers with infants gently pressed their babies’ lips together to insure nasal breathing. Price found them to be healthy, rarely sick and robust. It was only when they changed to Western diets, eating white breads and junk foods that their skulls became narrow, creating sunken cheekbones, smaller nasal cavities and crooked teeth. Over time, as they changed their diets, they became mouth breathers. What To Do Below you will find a few books to check out listing simple Buteyko Breathing exercises. There are many more books and videos on the subject. What you can do now is: Keep your mouth closed while breathing, day and night, breathing only through your nose; Tape your mouth at night to insure that you won’t snore and open your mouth; Practice diaphragmatic breathing; Read and learn: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Weston A. Price Breathe to Heal, Sasha Yakovleva The Oxygen Advantage, Patrick McKeowan Buteyko Meets Dr. Mew: Buteyko Method for Children and Teenagers, Patrick McKeowan I’m here to help!  It seems like fruit and summer go together and many people eat more fruit during the summer than at any other time. The “stone fruit” - cherries, plums and apricots - all readily available, call to us. The deep colors in cherries and plums are filled with polyphenols that are protective against inflammation and disease. Those colors mean something. The other day, while shopping at Costco, I brought home a crate containing several pounds of the most beautiful organic peaches. They were huge, colorful and ripe. It was a surprising purchase because I’m not a big fruit eater, so I knew that buying this much ripe fruit at once was risky. It felt like I was being pulled by some ancient cravings, beyond the sugar cravings that some of us get from eating the sweet fruits sold today that taste nothing like the ancient fruits from the earliest human eras. Before fruit became hybridized and grown for its sugar content, wild fruit and berries were sour and filled with healthy compounds protective against oxidative stress. I shared some of the peaches with a friend and the rest went in the freezer to have as a cool snack and to use for smoothies. Why was it so hard to resist this beautiful fruit? Would it have been as compelling if it was January? Would I have even seen such beautiful fruit in January? Ripe peaches are seasonal; we only see them at their best for a few short months during the summer. The fresh “summer fruit” that is available to us during the winter months is generally shipped from regions thousands of miles away. I wonder, can our bodies tell the difference between produce that is not in season where we live? Do we digest it in the same way, receiving the same nutrients as we do when the food is local and in season for us? Is frozen fruit best, picked at a perfect time to capture nutrients and frozen immediately? Is this better than fruit that is picked before ripening for shipping across continents? According to the research on Paleolithic humans, in the hunter/gatherer era, fruit was a rare treat. When available, our Paleo ancestors would gorge on wild berries, putting on weight for the colder months ahead. Back then, obesity was an asset! We needed to store the energy from fat for the months when it was often hard to find good food. Although food is now available to most of us every day, all year, our bodies have not changed. We are still designed to gorge on fruit and most other foods, given our cravings and ancestral roots. The difference is, obesity is no longer an asset. We no longer need the extra fat on our bodies; on the contrary, now that extra fat is making us sick.  Put Down the Tropicana I consider orange juice junk food - sweet liquid with the fiber removed; yet, it is consumed in the United States more than any other “fruit”. Apple juice is up there with it. In liquid forms like this, eight to ten oranges are used to make one serving of juice, as opposed to just eating one orange at a time, that includes the fiber and all of its nutrients. Consuming fruit in liquid forms, along with the use of sweeteners like High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), have lead to our current obesity and diabetes crises - in adults and children. I believe that some of the confusion about fruit is that it is often paired along with vegetables in the various Food Pyramids or Food Guidelines from the government. When we are advised to eat eight to ten servings of fruit and vegetables, how do we know how much of each? In my view, they should be separated and we should be advised to eat at least six to eight servings of vegetables and no more than two servings of (whole) fruit - and only certain fruits. Variety is the Spice of Life Centuries ago, there were thousands of different varieties of fruit to choose; now, we have a few common hybrids created just for sweetness and taste. Dr. Thomas Cowan, a physician and gardener who spent time in Africa in the Peace Corps, says that in the African village where he worked, they ate upwards of sixty five different fruits and vegetables every week! Here, in the United States, it’s lucky if we make it to ten different varieties of produce each week. The Difference Between Glucose and Fructose The sugar in all fruit is fructose - a completely different substance than glucose because of the way it is assimilated in the body. Once consumed, fructose goes directly to the liver where it engages in fat production (lipogenesis), often raising triglycerides; glucose, on the other hand, goes directly into the bloodstream where it is quickly used for energy - any excess glucose is taken by Insulin and stored within fat cells. Sucrose, the sugar you put in your coffee, is a combination of glucose and fructose, which makes it less sweet than fructose would be on its own. Pediatrician Robert Ludwig, author of "Fat Chance" and other books, has seen first hand how the excess consumption of fructose, particularly High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) in sodas and “energy drinks”, has created an epidemic of fatty liver disease in children. In a lecture given a few years ago, he tells the story of the creation of the original Gatorade for athletes by a scientist during the 1970’s. At that time, it was made with just glucose and water and tasted, according to him, like “tiger’s piss”. In 1992, when Pepsi purchased the company, two things were added: Michael Jordon and High Fructose Corn Syrup. Sales of Gatorade soared and, with them, an epidemic of obesity, Type 2 Diabetes and fatty liver disease in children.  Not all fruit is created equal A few years ago, I had a mildly obese patient in my practice who had a large belly. When I asked him about his diet, he insisted it was healthy and that he never ate junk food. When I dug deeper to find out the specifics that were creating a belly the size of a watermelon, he said that he kept a bowl of grapes on his desk at work, and ate them every day throughout the day. This man, who claimed to have never stepped inside a McDonald’s had created a huge belly from eating grapes! The grapes that we eat today are little morsels of fructose and water that over time can create fatty liver disease without having ever had a drink of alcohol. Like candy, once you start eating grapes, it’s hard to stop. Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load: Quality vs. Quantity Perhaps you have heard about the Glycemic Index? Learning how to use this index, along with the Glycemic Load, may help you to navigate through the best choices of fruit and other carbohydrates, along with the appropriate quantities of each. The Glycemic Index (G.I.) is a list of all the carbohydrates that tells how quickly it affects blood sugar after a food is eaten. This index is divided into low, medium and high, from 1 - 100; the more refined the food, the higher on the index. Carbohydrates with more fiber, like beans and kale, are lower on the GI; refined flours, like white bread are high on the GI. An interesting fact is that fructose is low on the Glycemic Index because it measures only blood levels of Glucose - not Fructose The Glycemic Load (GL), on the other hand, gives you an idea of what a serving of a particular carbohydrate would be. Even if it is a food that is high on the GI, the serving size makes the difference, and takes into account both the quantity and quality of the food. Use the formula: GI X Grams of Carbohydrate, divided by 100 = Glycemic Load, and keep the GL under 11. There are several lists online of both Glycemic Index and Glycemic Load. Here is one link to check out.  Update on Glyphosate You may have heard that Monsanto, the company that produces the weed killer Roundup, lost an important lawsuit this past week. A judge awarded a school yard keeper, on the job for thirty years several hundred million dollars after claiming that his years of using Roundup in his job caused the non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma he now suffers with. This is an incredible announcement as we may be one step closer to getting this highly toxic chemical off the market both here and around the world. I thought you would want to know, since the reason we are choosing to buy organic food is to avoid consuming this terrible substance on our food. Yeah!!!! Here is a link to my blog on the subject: Glyphosate Round Up “The practice of Yoga over the past fifteen years has convinced me that most of our fundamental attitudes to life have their physical counterparts in the body.” -Yehudi Menuhin, violinist  I believe in mountains, the stunning, familiar ones that have surrounded me for most of my life. I know these mountains well - they are family - and I make use of them. When I drive the canyons, I can hear the whispering of ancient ancestors that have been around for thousands of years and I see the fossil footprints imbedded in their rocky crevices as I hike the trails. They speak to me and I can count on them; their strong and elegant presence flank the borders of California wherever I look  In Yoga, Tadasana, or Mountain Pose, was the first posture I learned as I began developing my own yoga practice and then teaching it to others. It is the basis upon which all the standing postures start - a posture that suggests length as a way of being, defying the forces of gravity and connecting us to the earth. As is true with many yoga poses observing them from a distance, it appears as though you are doing nothing; go inside and work with them and you realize the complexity of the posture and the inner and outer awareness it takes to do them. Tadasana, or what appears to be just standing, urges us to find side to side balance and length whether we are on the yoga mat, or standing in line waiting for a bus; we can always find solidity and the strength of a mountain, bringing Tadasana with us  Joan Vernikos, a former NASA physicist and author of a few books on the benefits of not sitting agrees that there are consequences to sitting and that getting up every fifteen minutes has more benefit than going to the gym. Her job at NASA had been to train astronauts to deal with weightlessness while in space and help them adapt to gravity when they returned. We need gravity to keep our muscles strong, however, there are heavy consequences from the compression of gravity on our joints when we have not learned how to work with it. Learning that gravity interferes less in a body that is well aligned should start when we are children; the benefits of standing properly, as in Tadasana, means the difference between a body that stays long as it ages and one that shrinks. Plus, the research on the consequences of too much sitting and not enough standing also tells us that not enough Tadasana increases all the diseases of our time - All of them. The process of Earthing - an ancient practice of walking on the earth without shoes to pull the earth’s energy up into the body - is valuable. It teaches us to touch the ground in bare feet without shoes, moving off of cement, connecting us to our ancestry and a deep sense of how we are meant to move. We are not machines or stacks of blocks, yet yoga often asks us to move into positions that are not normal for human joints. It is the moving toward a pose that makes it valuable. In Mountain Pose, how you place your feet, creating a kidney bean shape and engaging the arches creates a foundation that allows us to move from the core. When gently rotating the top of the thighs outward, we notice changes in the tracking of the knees. As the head retracts back toward the shoulders, we notice that the arms hang from behind us. Having an awareness of the muscles behind us creates length so that, instead of our movements pulling us forward there is balance between the flexors in the front of the body and extensors behind us....  As a child, returning from the beach to the Valley on blistering hot days, my mother would be the first to notice the mountains, there in the distance, and their quiet wisdom that reminded her of the backs of dinosaurs. She would point them out to us and I imagined that one day the dinosaur backs would move, awakened from their slumber. Now, as I drive towards home, I breathe a sigh of relief, still awed by their shadows and light. Because they are there, and will always be there, I believe in these mountains. They are sure witnesses who will live long after we have gone, sleeping quietly as we move up them, down them, around and through them. I am a speck of dust to their grandness, yet they hold me in their arms. By doing Tadasana, making this pose a part of us, the mountains become us, steady companions in an unsteady world.
 See me Feel me Touch me Heal me See me Feel me Touch me Heal me -Pete Townsend, The Who There are many ways to touch. In medicine, “touch” has been replaced with “palpation”, as in palpating the liver in a physical exam. One of my mentors, an Osteopath/Chinese Medicine doctor who practiced Energy Medicine, lived in a monastery as a young man and was trained to see auras by the monks. I watched him barely touch any of his patients, yet, they all walked out of his office in vibrant health. There are many ways to touch. When I was in my early thirties, working and taking pre-med courses as prerequisites for medical school, I went to see a gynecologist referred to me by a patient. He was an Israeli doctor with a busy Beverly Hills practice. Before we exchanged any words, I began sobbing uncontrollably and, seeing me so upset, he jumped out of his chair and came around his desk to sit beside me. He then put my head on his shoulder and held me in a deep hug, rocking me like a child in distress. In today’s world, he might be sued for doing this. “Why are you crying,” he asked, looking at me with great concern. “I’m pregnant,” I said. “Are you sure,” he asked, “How do you know?” “I’m sure,” I said, “I just know.” During that visit, he never left my side, but continued to ask me questions, finding out about me, my life and my circumstances. He was also the first medical doctor I had seen with books on Nutrition in plain sight and who, instead of giving me a prescription for a pharmaceutical drug, gave me a script with a list of supplements. In contrast, the last two “primary care” physicians I had been assigned to by my insurance plan, came into the room during my first visit and walked straight to the computer, reading my history from the computer file. They not only didn’t touch me - they didn’t look at me.  There are many ways to touch. I fell in love with bodywork the first time I was touched by a Rolfer. For those who don’t know, “Structural Integration Bodywork”, better known as “Rolfing” after its founder, Ida Rolf, was popular during the 1970’s. I first went to see a Rolfer to find relief from low back pain and discovered an approach to going deep into the body with great sensitivity. From this work, I experienced an openness and sense of freedom that was new to me, as emotions stored in my tissues were exposed and released. As I began to live in my body, I wanted to learn more about the process and share it with others.  There are many ways to touch. I had similar experiences when I was introduced to an Iyengar Yoga teacher and began taking classes with him. This special careful, deep type of Yoga Therapy also gave me an education about the human body that was powerful and, at the same time, individualized. It was this work that allowed me to go from walking with a cane to walking again without support after a traumatic hiking accident I experienced about ten years ago. Without this knowledge and understanding of the body, from Iyengar Yoga and deep bodywork, I’m not sure I could have recovered as well from the many broken bones I endured. Although Ida Rolf and Yoga Master BKS Iyengar never met, their stories, style and work are stunningly similar. Iyengar also understood the body’s plasticity and became known as a healer and, similar to Ida Rolf, his children and students have lovingly carried on his brilliant work. When I learned that Ida Rolf had healed doing Yoga after suffering broken ribs from being kicked by a horse, I understood how her work had developed and why, in my own work with patients, I have put them together. After the horse kicking incident, she found no relief from going to medical doctors until finding a Yoga class; I, fortunately, have also had the benefits of both. Rolfing and Iyengar Yoga, using the deep exploration of the plasticity of connective tissue, movement and touch are amazingly similar. Functional Medicine has emerged from the frustration of doctors and patients who are missing the experience of true healing that can only happen if the person is touched, heard and seen - in every way. Coming out from behind the desk, looking and touching, hearing stories and establishing relationships in order to discover the true cause of an illness and the person there in front of you is the definition of true healing. There are many ways to touch- you deserve the very best. This food is the gift of the whole universe - the sky, and much hard work. If you have ever planted a garden to grow food, you know how much daily, consistent work it takes. The words above are the beginning of a Buddhist prayer practiced before eating a meal. It is a practice of pausing, looking at the food on your plate, taking in colors and smells as you breathe away stressful thoughts before taking your first bite. The prayer allows us to appreciate the hard work it took for that food to get to the table. There are many steps: Seeds saved and stored from previous seasons, planted after the turning and preparation of the soil; watering and weeding the rows of growing seeds; thinning the germinated seeds to allow them to grow big; finally, after weeks and months, picking the harvest and distributing it to kitchens where the food is washed, prepared, served and consumed. The same is true for raising meat humanely. The current trend of “farm to table”, takes many months and sometimes years, but how many of us are pausing to appreciate this. Many experienced gardeners know that it is the perennial plants that have the most nutritional value - those that have been in the ground for years, digging deep roots. Yet, all it takes is a few moments of gratitude, Saying Grace, engaging your heart and mind and improving digestion all at once. May we transform our unskillful states of mind and learn to eat in moderation. About twenty years ago, I had a wonderful patient that came in on a weekly basis as a way to be proactive about her health. Over the years, what I have noticed is that the healthiest people don’t wait until there is a problem to come in to see me; they come in frequently to stay ahead of the curve and accountable to someone who will keep them on track. When she sat down, she looked worried and when I asked her how she was doing, she responded, “Something strange is happening; since our last session, every time I eat, I have a bowel movement.” “Tell me about what your stool looks like - Is it soft, runny, unformed, like diarrhea?” “No”, she said, “It’s perfectly formed - not too soft or hard - and my bowels move shortly after I eat.” The worried look was still on her face. I thought for a few moments and said, “Congratulations, your bowels are moving normally.” Our dogs eat, and within an hour or so, they move their bowels comfortably (unless we give them highly processed food, the equivalent of a junk food diet in human terms). My dog Audrey, for instance, a smallish cockapoo, often drops three nicely formed bowel movements on an hour long morning walk. She avoids even the most expensive, grain free dry kibble in her bowl or eats around it to get to the REAL food I mix in. Humans eating a highly processed diet generally have issues with their gut for several reasons: They lack good amounts of soluble and insoluble fiber (I’m not talking about Metamucil); they lack a variety of both prebiotics and probiotics that feed the gut microbiome; and they are eating too many plant irritants not prepared properly, like gluten and lectins, that create a condition called “Leaky Gut Syndrome”. The regular staples of the SAD diet (Standard American Diet) - foods containing refined flour, foods fried in toxic vegetable oils (French fries), meat from CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) fed corn and soy to fatten them quickly; sugary sodas and juices to add to the diabetes pandemic; cakes, cookies and other desserts are all created intentionally by the food industry to hit, what journalist Michael Moss, in his book, “Salt, Sugar, Fat”, calls the “bliss point” of food. The “bliss point”, created by food chemists is that perfect amount of salt, sugar and/or fat that pings the addictive part of the brain, releasing dopamine - the “pleasure” neurotransmitter - that sets up a constant craving for all the things that are making us sick. May we eat it in mindfulness so as to be worthy to receive it. Another words: May we think before we eat. Whether it’s our dogs or us humans, this type of eating will catch up with us eventually, creating autoimmune conditions of all types with symptoms that affect the skin (think hair loss in dogs) and the gut (think diarrhea and/or constipation). When I see patients for the first consultation and ask them about their digestion and bowel habits, I have heard responses like, “I go about every three days,” or, “Normal for me is going once per week.” Or, I have IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), an autoimmune condition reflecting dysbiosis of the gut microbiome from poor eating habits, unmanaged stress levels or antibiotic use, causing shifting patterns of diarrhea and constipation. It is rare that I hear from a patient, “I go twice a day - no problem,” as we would see in a healthy human (or a dog). Yet, over 63 million people in the United States suffer from constipation which, if not resolved, can lead to Parkinson’s Disease and Cancer in some cases, from stool that is sitting in the colon (and sometimes the small intestines) without recirculating. This is not normal, and the symptoms - bloating, irritability, nausea, lack of appetite and even vomiting - are uncomfortable and interfere with the possibilities of a joyous life. Our ancestral bodies, still operating as though we were born in the Paleolithic era, have not caught up to this Fast Food World - But, is this the world we want? May we take only foods that nourish us and prevent illness. Functional Medicine doctor Mark Hyman, M.D., says: “We are all toxic waste dumps,” or “If we were meat, we wouldn’t be safe to eat!” The point is that we become toxic if we eat toxic food and surround ourselves with toxic products (think Mercury amalgams, vaccinations made with aluminum and household products that are “cleaning” the house while making us sick). How we digest food is actually fascinating and the process can begin before food even hits your tongue. Just by thinking about that cookie on your desk, the salivary glands in your mouth begin releasing enzymes to break down carbohydrates while the hormone Insulin is released from the pancreas, ready to grab glucose to bring it to where it is needed for energy. Once food actually does come to your lips and is chewed, ground and swallowed, a process called “peristalsis” begins, alerting the organs of digestion below to get ready. Peristalsis is the rhythmic movement of the long gut tube triggered by food starting at the top; it is a purely mechanical process, inspired by food coming down that creates the action of special smooth muscles inside the gut to contract and release until you feel the urge, called “mass movement”; then, it arrives at the rectum and is “moved” out of the body. This amazing process is finely choreographed, involving food, water, the release of acid by the stomach and enzymes in the Small Intestines and Pancreas. Because peristalsis is mechanical and not guided by your thoughts (as in telling your elbow to bend), it relies solely on the amount of food you are eating (too little or too much), the type of food (is there enough fiber to help sweep it through) and the amount of water so that the food is not too hard. It also depends upon how much movement you do throughout the day (this doesn’t have to be exercise). Sitting for many hours without moving, eating poorly, not drinking enough fluid and taking certain strong medications will create hard stool that is difficult to move. We accept this food so that we may practice the path of understanding and love. -Thich Nhat Hanh The good news is that, for most of us, the problem of constipation can be turned around. See the list below: This amazing process is finely choreographed, involving food, water, the release of acid by the stomach and enzymes in the Small Intestines and Pancreas. Because peristalsis is mechanical and not guided by your thoughts (as in telling your elbow to bend), it relies solely on the amount of food you are eating (too little or too much), the type of food (is there enough fiber to help sweep it through) and the amount of water so that the food is not too hard. It also depends upon how much movement you do throughout the day (this doesn’t have to be exercise). Sitting for many hours without moving, eating poorly, not drinking enough fluid and taking certain strong medications will create hard stool that is difficult to move.
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RISA POTTERS, D.C.
