The New Normal

Posted on by Sandy

I mentioned in my previous post that we had met with Michael Broffman at the Pine Street Clinic to get our protocol during the “cyberknife” treatment and as an overview for what we need to think about not only at Sanoviv, but also into the future. Pine Street Clinic has specialized in evidence-based integrative medicine since 1982. These are my notes from that meeting, which I think are incredibly instructive for the “New Normal After Cancer.”

Broffman advised us to treat our month at Sanoviv as a place to get into a routine….to learn the curriculum and then carry it back in a “return home” program. He strongly suggested sticking with Sanoviv’s meal program – mostly vegetarian with low net carbs. He said that our follow-on plan should involve committing to, for 24 months after returning from Sanoviv, eliminating red meat, pork, lamb, etc. (whether or not organic/grass fed). Basically to stick with chicken (if 100% sustainably sourced), eggs (same), and seafood (ditto). He advised us to eat what we have in the freezer now (which we are – we are calling these two weeks our MeatFest(TM)!) 😉

Broffman reiterated that the Quantity that we should consume is directly related to Fitness. So, on any day we’re “desk bound,” we need to stay Vegan on that day. If we’re doing Strength work, we can have some animal protein. (There’s more below about “Fitness.”) That said, the human animal is an omnivore, and needs meat. Just not as much as the “now typical” American diet gives it — especially as most “so-called meat” is produced by BigFarm and contains the stress of animals “engineered” to get as fat as possible in record time . . . who live in terrible conditions, are fed on suboptimal feed, and are not treated as sentient beings.

Vitamin C IV treatment: This is something that is done at Sanoviv, and we are to get hubby’s calculated Vitamin C blood saturation. How this apparently works is that your target saturation is 350 nanograms/milliliter. So each time you do the IV, they will test to see how much they have to give you to get you to this ultimate saturation. If you get the IV and afterwards you’re only up to 150, next time they will give you more, until they know exactly what it takes to get you to 350 nanograms/milliliter. We are to bring that back, and then continue with this protocol.

Vitamin C + Doxycycline: There have been a number of published protocols of adding doxycycline (pills) during the Vitamin C IV, to deal with cancer stem cells. It has recently been shown that, like heart stem cells, bone stem cells, etc. there are actually cancer stem cells. Unfortunately, they are not responsive to chemotherapy. If you happen to hit one with radiation or cut one out with surgery then it’s gone – but the only systemic treatment for cancer (chemo) doesn’t kill them. Unfortunately, at some point the cancer stem cells “wake up, look around” and realize that there is no cancer in the body – and then busily start to make it. Vitamin C plus doxycycline is the latest leading edge fight against cancer stem cells. Although doxycycline wipes our your gut biome, etc., it’s a trade off that could be worth it, in the short term, as the Vitamin C IV taken with doxycycline is showing in trials to kill the cancer stem cells. Unfortunately you can’t just “get doxycycline over the counter” in the U.S., so if we are able to obtain any in an international pharmacy we should go for it – otherwise, try to see if the doctor at Sanoviv will add this to the Vitamin C IV protocol.

OM85 (“Broncho-vaxom”): This is an immunostimulant used with young children and old folks basically everywhere BUT the United States for lung issues. It boosts the immune system, working to increase a person’s natural defenses against a variety of respiratory pathogens. It is an oral treatment consisting of eight different strains of (dead) bacteria, so it sort of works like a vaccine to create an immune response in the lungs. There have been a LOT of papers written about it recently, in relation to potential uses in lung cancer, and OM85 is likely over-the-counter in Mexico. About a decade ago, an Italian cancer doctor published that 7.5 mg/day (10 days on, a month off, for 3 months) worked as a treatment for lung cancers. (NOTE: I did some internet sleuthing to try to find the article and link it, but without the name, came to a dead end.)

Beating Cancer

              The way to look at the whole “post-cancer” situation is as follows. Think of a timeline:

—————X->->->——————–Y->->->->—————–

X is where your immune system is. Y is where the cancer is. Each is moving forward, but if you can’t close the gap, you’re never actually well. “Catching up” is not the same as “Caught up.” This is the biology of how things work.

Western medicine basically says “We will buy you time, as you catch up.” In other words, they knock out the Y with, say, chemo. The problem is, that the chemo also sets your immune system (the X) back. The issue is that Western medicine “attacks.” And “Attacking” the disease is not the same as “Preventing” the disease.

Alternative therapies try to narrow the gap. The whole idea is to get the X in FRONT of the Y. The immune system must be “competitive” and ready for anything, not always behind and just working hard to catch up.

And this means lifestyle changes.

Post-cancer life must be organized around the strategy of narrowing the gap between X and Y, with the hope of jumping the X in front of the Y. And always remember that — while “giving up” things that are suboptimal for health – having good health is not a punishment. All the suggestions here might not be what you are doing now – or might mean not doing what you “want to do” with regard to eating, drinking, exercise and the like – but, post-cancer, one must persist for at least the next couple of years along this strategy, to stay in “synch” with the idea of closing the gap between the immune system and what it’s fighting . . . and then (hopefully) getting in front of it.

The Abscopal Effect:

The Abscopal Effect has been proven in trials and double-blind studies. It is a combination of radiation and immunotherapy wherein treating a cancer causes untreated tumors to disappear or shrink concurrently, outside the scope of the treatment. This has particularly been seen when Stereotactic Radiosurgery (“SRS” or “cyberknife”) treatments are the “radiation” part of the equation.

Cyberknife plus Immunotherapy leads to a systemwide immune response. The question is how to make this happen. Western medicine is trying to use various methods:

a.           CAR T Cells: In this protocol, T-cells (“fighter” cells) are taken out of the patient’s body and modified to produce specific structures called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). Basically, they take your T-cells and expose them to your cancer, rewarding them for attacking that cancer. Then these fighters are grown and re-injected in the 100s of millions back into you. This has led to the most durable remissions.

b.           USC/Victor Longo: This is the fasting program that I discussed in my previous blog. It is basically a three-day water fast. In trials, what happens is this: During the 1st day, your body fights you (“Eat, Eat, EAT you IDIOT, I’m HUNGRY!”). On the 2nd day, your body’s “cleaner” cells cleans up anything that they see that is “easy to clean up,” because they don’t have any digesting, etc. to do. Then, the third day is the charm. On the third day, all the easily-cleaned things are cleaned up, there’s still no digestion going on, and so your “cleaner cells” go back over everything, and start going after older immune cells, terminating them. Think of it this way:

Cancer Cell

—X1—>—X2—->—X3—>—X4—>—X5—>—X6—>

In the example above, the T cells (X1 to X6) flow past the cancer cell. T-cell X5 is a month or so old, and a few days from being terminated by the body. X4 is only a day old. X4 is a “new, aggressive fighter.” X4 says to X5, which has passed the cancer by, “Hey, isn’t that a suspicious cell?” The X5 cell says “Yeah Sonny, I see it, but it’s a big body out there, and we have other things to do. We’ll attack it later.” But then it doesn’t. Since the T-cells speak to one another, the X4 has just “learned” from the X5 that it’s “not that important” to attack the cancer cell.

In the fasting protocol (and actually also the trained CAR T-Cells mentioned above), old cells like X5 are wiped out – so the newbie X4 cell doesn’t learn to “not attack” the cancer cell (or, in the CAR T-cell protocol, is specifically taught TO attack that cell). This means that the new T-cells work more effectively against the cancer.

While the USC/Longo/3 day fast protocol DOES drop your immunity a bit, the next day, when you start eating again, the trials have shown an unprecedented reboot of the T-cells and their ability and desire to fight the cancer.

There is also a “5 day fast-mimicking diet” for folks who just won’t do a 3-day water fast. But as my hubby did it during chemo, and the actual 3 day total fast protocol is the one being shown to have the best effect, we should presume that this becomes part of our long-term protocol.

USC/Longo recommends that every day you have a 14-hour interval of not eating/drinking (except water). While some are pushing this to 16 hours (in other words, an 8-hour eating “window”), the studies have been done on the 14 hour interval. Since Sanoviv operates on this schedule, this needs to be the “after Sanoviv” protocol for eating/drinking. THEN, every week, one day a week, have breakfast, then do a 24-hour water fast until the next breakfast. Just pick a day and do it. (Or dinner to dinner – whatever.) Finally, every 7-10 weeks, do the full 3-day protocol. This is what the research shows is optimal for killing the most cancer cells and revitalizing T-cells to their “fighting best.” Just pick the days, put them on the calendar, and get them done.

In sum: 14 hour daily interval of no eating, no drinking except water (or you can see it as a “10 hour eating window”). One day a week, eat a meal (e.g., breakfast), then just water to the same meal (e.g., breakfast) 24 hours later. Once every 7-10 weeks, full 3 day water fast.  

While the Abscopal Effect was incredibly important to try to obtain, unfortunately, as the SRS treatment was being done via our traditional Western medical situation, the Chief was unable to get the permissions to even do a “trial of 1” using the SRS with one of the additions above. Just not enough time to get it “through the system.” If, however, someone reading this is interested, the interventional radiologist Dr. Jeanne Stryker in Solana Beach does SRS/cyberknife plus immune therapy using either Keytruda or Optivo.

Supplements: Broffman prescribed a host of supplements for the SRS (as he had during chemo). We will receive an abbreviated protocol for the time that we’re at Sanoviv and when we return, he will re-evaluate. I would say what was prescribed, but I don’t feel comfortable doing that. If you’re in a situation where you want to explore ways to use integrative medicine for fighting what ails you or just reaching optimal health, please consider contacting Broffman at Pine Street. He has clients internationally, and in my opinion (as your first visit is about 90 minutes) is incredibly inexpensive for what you get ($500 for the first consultation and then any follow-on supplement changes, etc. – if your situation changes drastically and you need another full consultation, $400 for each). And – yes – they take plastic.

Fitness:

a.           Strength. Hubby needs to be doing strength work at least 30 minutes, 2x/week. Broffman likes the “Super Slow” protocol, which uses ARX equipment. Unfortunately, this is only available in San Francisco and Emeryville. There is a place in Mill Valley that uses MRX equipment, the pre-ARX equipment. ARX hasn’t caught on so much, because you have to lease it – you can’t own it like MRX. “Super Slow” was originally proposed by Arnold Schwartzenegger – i.e., having resistance in both parts of a lift. By way of example, pressing up in a bench press, but having another person there that is then “pulling up” on the bar when you’re trying to put it back down to your chest. See HERE for example. Hubby needs to concentrate on putting mass on, which is active tissue that will work for you, versus fat – and especially “toxic fat” – which works against you.

b.           Walking. At least one day a month of “long slow distance” walking is required. This means walking, for example, from home to San Francisco, and taking the ferry back. This should take a few hours. This will become a meditation – you “stop talking in your head” and just walk. Hubby is to keep doing the “quicker” (30 minutes) or “mid-range” (hills) daily, but needs to incorporate a long-slow distance once a month too upon returning from Sanoviv. As he is currently on disability, this needs to be his “work.”

c.           Swimming. Broffman particularly recommends taking a “holistic swimming” class. This is run by Russ Monsell in Tiburon of DynamicVitality.com on Tuesdays – you show up with money, a bathing suit, and a towel and he will run you through the basic/beginner class. The idea is that swimming is very helpful to your immune system, but ONLY if you’re not constantly fighting it. We are not “meant to” live in the water, and our system knows it, so is constantly, in the background, “fighting” it. The idea is to develop breathing and stroke dynamics that mimic what a creature that really lives in the water will do. No neck movement – just roll to breathe – low kicking – etc. This has been proven to immensely improve the immune system; however, it is relaxing at an immune level only if you are not defensive. You must “swim like a marine mammal” not like a “land mammal.” Your body has to think “I live here in the water.” Swim for meditative cardio.

d.           Baseline. Upon returning from Sanoviv, we are to get a baseline of skeletal muscle, fat (brown v white), etc. The company that does this, BodySpec, uses a modified DEXA scan. It is $45, and will give you metrics that you can then try to improve upon. It is on Broadway in San Francisco. They also have a mobile van that they take out sometimes, but the best metrics in the Bay Area are from this company.

The idea here is to have a baseline so that you can see as you make yourself more competitive with the disease – as you “catch” the X “up to” the Y, with the goal of “jumping” it.

Stress Reduction:

This is another mandated piece.

a.           Meditation. Broffman particularly likes the 10 day meditation routine retreat offered free worldwide from DHAMMA.org. The closest to us is in Yosemite in North Fork. It is the same program worldwide, just different languages. At the retreat, you are introduced to the “technology” of meditating. It is a silent retreat, Vipasenna style. It is an extremely popular program, however, so getting on their list is important. They will send out when the enrollment will “open” for the program, and it is full with a long waiting list 2 hours later.

                             Another suggestion locally is the Sonoma Mountain Zen Center. On Saturdays, they are open to the public. They are similar to Green Gulch, but ONLY meditation (no pottery, tea classes, gardening, etc.) It’s the standard: meditation, sitting, dharma talk, soup and salad. A very pretty place, up in Sonoma, acres of farmland. The owner has run the center for decades with his wife and his kids, some of whom are monks there.

Taking A Deeper Step, and Changing the Narrative.

After you try a few of these out, your responsibility will be to figure out “What’s the next deeper step after this for me?” Just go with whatever sounds intriguing, but with the goal of “Changing the Narrative.” By way of example, there is a group in Santa Cruz called 1440 Multiversity. 1440 is the number of minutes in a day. They have a protocol for “optimizing” the minutes. However, he finds it stressful to think of it this way – as in “don’t waste any minute!” Perhaps instead, think of it as how many hours you have in a week – block out when you’re going to be eating, sleeping, walking, fasting, yoga, meditating, whatever – and then calendar, and stick to it like it’s your job, to be sure that you “do them all” and don’t let anything slide, at least for the next 24 months. This often happens. You need to keep the goal in mind of “jumping the Y” – in other words, to get your whole “being” in “front of” the cancer instead of trying to catch up, or doing things that are suboptimal for the best health, which sets you back as your body rids itself of whatever you just did. (You know, the fun things like drinking wine and eating red meat!)

Changing The Narrative:  

If you change any aspect of an adverse story, it will affect your immune system. (Example: If you address what’s behind PTSD to help the body/mind to stop fighting that, the body can then move on to fight other things.) Changing the narrative affects the immune system and your entire micro-environment. And chronic stress (caused by thoughts or “dwelling on an unproductive narrative”) are particularly bad.

              So how do you get a New Story? It has been clinically proven that Chemistry follows Thoughts . Stressful thoughts -> Stressful chemistry -> Bad things happen. Change the story? Change the chemistry.

              Psychoactive plants: While meditation practice can be helpful, the biggest jump start that is being trialed now is using psychoactive plants/chemicals. Johns Hopkins is currently the leading researcher in this area, and they are comparing synthetic versions of chemicals (psilocybin, LSD, iowaska) with the “plant” versions. The reason that using a synthetic version is preferred is (a) you can be absolutely positive about the dose and (b) you don’t denude the planet of all these plants. The downside is the plants may have some element in them that you miss in the synthesized version. There are some iowaska farms now, but not a lot. So to optimize, you have to go synthetic.

              There was a researcher from Johns Hopkins recently who spoke in Mill Valley at a tiny facility and it overflowed at 400 people. He stated that they have now (a) actually quantified the “mystical experience” scientifically and (b) the dose is over 80% effective in helping people shift their internal narratives by actually having a “mystical experience.” He laid out the tenets of what a “mystical experience” is, and they then trialed whether folks were having them or not. They found that 25 mg of Ketamine produced a “mystical experience” 80% of the time. This is the only legal drug – and of course, it’s just another tool. This might be something to consider around September.

How can you tell if you’re making progress?

One of the best ways is outside observation. You want to aim for “invisibility.” You want to create an “unrecognizable person” compared to the person that harbored an environment that led to the cancer. Also think of Stoicism, and books like Essentialism — You want to stop expending energy unless it is absolutely required of you. Spending that energy means that you can’t spend it on other things (like healing).

How do you “become unrecognizable”? Imagine that there is an “A” list and a “B” list of your entire life. The “A” list contains every single experience you’ve had; the complete set of all life experiences and occurrences. It includes birth, marriage(s – for my hubby), schools, and all the genomics and epigenetics that led to cancer – plus having cancer. To create the “B” list, you just want to take things from the “A” list, but as few as possible. Let the rest go. Stop giving energy to them, give them up, and get them out of your “story.”

Let’s say that means that you bring over 3 of the 10 things that led your body to express the cancer. That’s still going to be okay – because it took all 10 to get there. The idea here is to “shed” the things from the “A” list that aren’t leading to optimal health. Remember to just think “Change is good,” even if you don’t know what that change looks like from where you’re standing in the Present.

Winter will be key. It is the season of the bladder and kidney. So this is all prep for that. Even though there is no “bladder organ” after the surgery, there is a re-built one, and there are 57 points on the bladder channel and meridian that are still active. Those come into their season in winter. So this all needs to be teed up for then.

Sleep:

This is awkward, as, with the neobladder, one has to empty the bladder every two hours (it’s not “bladder material” so if it overstretches, it doesn’t bounce back). What about substances to “Help” you sleep? When asking about using THC/CBD, we were reminded that, while THC improves the “sleep latency” (i.e., the time to fall asleep is shortened), it disrupts the actual sleep cycle. So you don’t get the same restorative/deep sleep. CBD does NOT do this. The goal here is to optimize the REM cycle. Moreover, keeping track is important, because you need to quantify to be able to see what’s working and what’s not. Perhaps find an app, or a sensor, but it is important to really see how sleep is going, and then to address issues. We’re reminded that the temperature of the room for sleep should be low 60s at the highest, and that dropping by 2 degrees F kicks sleep in. No electronics/TV, take some time on getting into bed to “review the day” and get ready to sleep – basically, have a sleep routine.

              There have been studies that show that 2 hours before you “know that an alarm will go off,” you stop having quality sleep. However, if you tell someone that you will wake them up “some time” during the night (not giving them an exact time), they NEVER have REM sleep. As such, the 2 hour “alarm” to get up to void the bladder is not optimal, but it’s necessary. Reminded to ensure that it doesn’t affect my sleep. (NOTE: It usually doesn’t, but if hubby doesn’t get it right off, it WILL wake me up, and then I have to get out of bed. And hence those 4 a.m. Facebook and Instagram posts!)

So, there you go – those are my notes from our second visit to Pine Street. I also have notes from our first visit, but they’re really geared towards the particular type of cancer we were facing (as well as the phased protocol for dealing with chemotherapy), so I thought that these ones might be more universally interesting. As a final tidbit, I’d like to suggest another podcast listen: it’s 5 Ways To Heal Yourself With Dr. Kelly Turner from The mindbodygreen Podcast.

Any questions?

The Cancer Caregiver Life

Posted on by Sandy

In just over a week, my husband and I will be going to The Sanoviv Medical Institute for three weeks. I will be updating F&F (friends and family) via this blog on what goes on there. If you just happened upon this blog because you’re searching at 3:00 a.m. for the blogs of other cancer caregivers – well, that’s been me for a year. This is sort of a “precursor” blog to the set of Sanoviv blog posts that will follow – but here’s a bit about my journey.

For more information I can recommend a lot of books and medical articles, but The Emperor of All Maladies is fascinating as the “history” of cancer, going back to ancient Egypt.

We found out about my husband’s bladder cancer about this time last year. I won’t go into the details, but he had been having issues that he hadn’t discussed with anyone, so by the time it was discovered, the tumor was big. After we received the Western medicine protocol, I immediately contacted Michael Broffman at the Pine Street Clinic. Broffman has been in the cancer “arena” for decades and so not only has a big list of what specific oncologists “will and will not do” when it comes to supplements, non-Western treatments, etc., he also (if your oncologist is on his “list”) can help you with how to talk to your oncologist about your situation and your potential desire to use integrative treatments.

Unfortunately when I finally “conned” my husband into seeing Broffman, he was too late stage to get into a couple of clinical studies (one in Italy, one in the U.S.) that Broffman was tied into. He gave us a number of “homework assignments,” one of which was to watch the last 1/3 of the video The Science of Fasting (starting right at about 39 minutes) about Valter Longo. (NOTE: Longo now has his whole “schtick” of supplements, etc. – Broffman didn’t recommend them, so I can’t speak about them.)

Broffman explained that during my husband’s chemotherapy, we needed to follow Longo’s fasting protocol (“FMD”), which closes down more “healthy” cells during the chemotherapy.

Chemotherapy’s “job” is to kill any cell in your body that is splitting while you are getting the treatment. So stopping “healthy” cells from splitting is a great idea. The reason that folks lose their hair (by the way, cold caps don’t work, don’t waste your money), get mouth sores, get neuropathy, etc. is because hair/nerve/mouth/stomach cells split often – so if you’re getting chemotherapy when one is splitting, you’ll kill it. Fasting convinces your “healthy” cells that it’s winter – when they should not be splitting so much. But cancer is stupid. (Bwa-ha-ha-ha DIE M***** F*****!!)

Cancer eats sugar and insulin acts as a “power up,” turning it into the Incredible Hulk. (Yes, this is overbroad, but this post can’t be 92 pages). Since this is the case, during chemotherapy in particular, one needs to keep carbohydrates to a minimum. The focus of Broffman’s supplementation involved supplements during the chemotherapy to help with the poisoning, then ones after the chemotherapy to help get the toxins and dead cells out of the body while staying in ketosis, and then ones to “rebuild” before the next chemotherapy cycle.

This involved a very elaborate calendar for me, the Caregiver, containing which supplements to give at what times. It also involved foods that would help. (Osso Good’s AIP-compliant bone broth, with the Chinese herbs already incorporated, was recommended and super helpful.)

The sad thing is that chemotherapy units – now made as comfortable as possible with personal TVs, lounge chairs, acupuncture and social workers – are awash in crappy, high carb food. Everything from “nutrition bars” to ice cream to the beloved Saltine cracker for nausea. The nurses were horrified when my husband would tell them not only that he was fasting, but also that he was coming into chemo on a fast. Everyone else is munching away on ice cream, pizza, cookies, Saltines, or whatever else made them feel better about being hooked up to a gigantic bag of poison for hours and hours. And every munch feeds their cancer.

We had provided the medical articles to our oncologist with respect to the fasting, so he had written in our file that we shouldn’t be “forced to” eat. Broffman had looked our oncologist up in his notes, and explained to us that – while he resembles “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Oncologist” with his spiky hair and vocal fry – the only way to get this particular doctor to agree that we could do what we wanted to do was to provide him with Western Medicine articles that showed that while a protocol (like fasting) might be difficult to do, it actually works. Most articles, in fact, stated that the fasting protocol worked better than anything else that was in trial; however, folks just didn’t stick to it. “Give me that Rocky Road Ice Cream, Ma, I have cancer, I’m on chemo, and feel like trash! And hand me a Saltine while you’re at it.”

I have, quite literally, a novel that I wrote after we saw Broffman, as well as the articles he recommended. If you’re interested in it, let me know in the comments. It talks through the entire Pine Street Clinic visit, and goes into great detail about the Phase I, II, III protocol during chemotherapy. We also re-visited Broffman a month or so ago, and I have another 10 pages of notes from him regarding where we are now.

My husband’s surgeon told him that there was basically “no way” that his bladder could be rebuilt after the surgery, but we did everything that was recommended by Broffman to get the best possible result, and the urologist’s assistant called me during the surgery to tell me that they were, indeed, able to build him an internal bladder. The whole surgery story and me terrorizing the poor intake nurse is for another day.

My husband was cancer-free for six months, then a tumor showed up in each lung. One was in the middle of the inferior lobe on his right side (three lobes on the right side, two on the left). The one in the left lung was (cue Louisiana-accented thoracic surgeon) “Snuggled r’aht up next to his ay-OR-ta” – so – impossible to operate. While the tumor in the right lung could be cut out either by cutting a “wedge” out of his lung or taking the whole lobe, the left tumor couldn’t be dealt with at all.

I asked the surgeon what he’d do and he laughed, saying: “Well, you go to a barber, he’s not gunna tell you not to get your hair cut,” but then we talked through what would happen if we did the “cyberknife” treatment that he was recommending on the left side to the tumor on the right. He said that the only issue would be the inability to biopsy the tumor . . . but in doing the surgery, my hubby would be left with 2/3 of his right lung. We opted to go find out about what “cyberknife” treatment was all about.

After discussion with the Chief of our various options (my new girl crush…), we decided to do SRS (stereotactic radiosurgery) on both tumors. As she reiterated, the downside of not being able to do a biopsy is the inability to see if this is the bladder cancer moving into the lungs, or if it is a “new” cancer (lung cancer), because the SRS obliterates the tumors. SRS is really quite amazing technology – I have a bunch of notes on that, too.

Lung cancer is a tough cancer – I had a friend die of it who had never smoked a day in her life, never lived around smoke, etc. When you tell someone that you have lung cancer, they look down their nose at you as if to say “Well, if you hadn’t smoked 12 packs of cigarettes a day for 10 years, you wouldn’t be in this position.” Just because >75% of lung cancers are in smokers doesn’t mean that it’s 100%. That said, we wouldn’t know whether the cancer was now lung cancer or was just migrating bladder cancer, as we would be blasting the tumors to smitherines.

A friend of mine’s family is tied to Sanoviv; that is how it was originally recommended. I had tried to get my hubby to agree to go to do their cancer-related protocol after his bladder cancer surgery. He had felt that the tests showed him to be ‘cancer free,’ so why spend all that money? As soon as the cancer was back, he agreed to go once the SRS treatment was completed.

We will be at Sanoviv, doing their Cancer Program, from mid-June to mid-July. The program is full-immersion and quite pricey, but we checked out two other integrative cancer treatment hospitals (one in Europe, one in Israel) and in actual fact, this program not only involves less travel but winds up being less expensive than the others we researched. I’ll be going too – a caregiver gets to go for $100/day, which includes all non-treatment related offerings (e.g., meals, the pools, room, etc.). HERE is their general description of what to bring/not bring/etc.

Every day apparently starts with meditation on the cliffside overlooking the ocean, then “grounding” on their chemical-free lawn in your bare feet, and yoga. You are given your schedule the night before at dinner and walked through it with your doctor, so you know what’s expected. While hubby is at treatment, I am expected to go to workshops on subjects such as functional nutrition, supplementation, how to transition from Sanoviv, and the like. The treatments are not only physical but also mental – you can see some of that if you poke around the Internet and the Sanoviv Programs.

As I understand it, we will be in two different bedrooms with the same “sitting room,” because the program involves detoxing. That means no wife in ze bed! :-) This also means that you show up with underwear, a bathing suit, and a sun hat – everything else is provided to you. Yes – shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste, clothing, shoes (Birkenstocks), socks, etc. Really! No makeup, no nail polish (just took mine off in fact), only one of a couple of sunblocks (they sell it, or you can bring it), no plastic or plastic bottles, even if BPA-free, and – yes – no electronics.

Your “sitting room” has a balcony overlooking the ocean, a mini-trampoline, infrared sauna, chi machine, and wall racks to do stretching. You’re expected to do at least 15 minutes of “rebounding” on the mini-tramp daily, plus use the infrared sauna and the chi machine. The TV in the room only has two channels – I believe it’s Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel – because they want you to detox from that, as well.

There is a separate room at the facility where you can use your/their computer, but it is the only place on “campus” where wifi is allowed, as it’s considered something that you need to “detox” from. This will be interesting for me, because I will need to work when hubby doesn’t need me. As I was writing up this blog, I actually emailed our Admissions guy to ask about this, and he said that if your computer has “an Ethernet port,” that you can connect in your room. Of course, most newer laptops have USB 3.0 ports /HDMI ports, but no Ethernet port. While hubby was researching getting an adapter so that I can at least do some work (and particularly teleconferences, of which I know I have to attend at least one) outside the “computer room” I happened to mention it to a client – the next day, an Amazon package showed up, with 2 adapters, and a long and a short Ethernet cable! I had to laugh at that!

I have been reading a number of write-ups on Sanoviv, though the ones that I can find are all written by folks who went for a one-week “cleanse”/detox-type protocol. So that’s why I felt that I should try to blog about what happens during the cancer program. HERE is an example, that shows you “what you get” at Sanoviv – HERE is another. HERE is a third.

That said, there isn’t one write-up about their fitness center! They have “Zumba” classes and “salsa” – but nothing “Strength-ish.” I was told by the Admissions person that there are “a few ellipticals and some dumbbells, but not heavy.” Since I have been working really hard on strength and HIIT training, my gym owner (bless him) crafted a workout for me for the time I will be gone. I will be bringing a TRX, some resistance bands, and an EmPack and 3 reservoirs. So we’ll see how that goes, too!

The Sanoviv diet is basically plant-centric, with no caffeine, dairy, soy, sugar, toxins, alcohol, corn, gluten, etc. They have a garden and a lot of what you eat is grown there. They also have organic/raised chickens and eggs, plus fish at some meals. (I’m allergic to fish, but that was noted in my intake.)

This will be a big difference for us – and we’re drinking all the wine we can before we go (ha ha – um, kinda joking). We eat very clean and pretty “primal” – organic veg/fruit, grass-fed meat – no soy, corn, sugars, gluten, etc. – but we know that our portion control is lax. We do our best to eat in a 12 hour window, though Broffman had told us it would be better to winnow it down to 10 (and that’s Sanoviv’s system). We also have meat every dinner – I’m looking forward to learning some new recipes (and have been boning up on them also through the Thug Kitchen cookbooks!)

I mentioned to Admissions that, because of my migraines (written about before), I have 2 cups of coffee a day. They are vasodialator migraines – caffeine helps. He said I would need a prescription and to take it as a pill. So I talked to my doctor, and she told me what to buy, which I did. Any meds that you take have to come in their bottles (not in a weekly/daily pill container), and you’re not to bring any non-prescribed supplements.

(Speaking of supplements and nutrition, I am binge listening to The Funk’tional Nutrition Podcast, because a client of mine was on it. They’re GREAT! If you’re a ‘Nutrition Nerd’ like I am, they really know their stuff.)

So that’s about all I have to say in this “introduction” to what we’ll be doing from mid-June to mid-July.

Work has been insane recently which is great for my wallet but tough for getting prepared to go. That said . . . I mean, how prepared can you get when you are just packing undies and a hat? :-)

What are my expectations? I expect that hubby will be pretty sick the first week (we were told as much). I expect that we will both likely lose some weight since we will be portion-controlled and won’t have, oh, say, cheese. :-) I have set a goal to do the workout that my trainer has given me each day, whatever that takes. I plan to take notes and then blog each day or at least every other, and write up what’s going on so that there is a comprehensive log of it all. I plan to check work email a couple times a day, if the building that has the “computer room” isn’t too far away and the wifi is working (apparently somewhat dicey).

If you’ve gotten this far, bless you! You are either a devoted F&F, or perhaps a previous blog subscriber who didn’t unsubscribe when I went “radio silent” for about a year. (Now you know what I’ve been, sadly, up to. Caregiving takes every free moment, that’s for sure.)

I’ll be reading all the Comments when I get on the computer at Sanoviv. So if you have any questions, etc. let me know – or if you just want to say Hi! As per the whole “no electronics” thing, I’m bringing a couple books (yes, paper), but don’t plan to access Instagram, Facebook, or even personal email while gone. We’ll see how THAT goes! So if you’re in that “F&F” category, keep me company by commenting.

Onward!

Green Living Guide

Posted on by Sandy

Hey all!

I received a note from Kendra at (of all things) CouponChef.com related to one of my podcasts – from 10 years ago! (Yes, everything on the Internet really does live forever!) I liked what she sent, and I think you might too. (If you haven’t checked out this podcast, just know that the Listener Call-In Line is no more – what can I say, it’s been a decade . . . ) That said, here’s her email:

Hi there, I listened to your podcast about living more ‘Green’ – thanks!

I’ve been looking for some resources about green living online. I’m glad your website has content that could be useful to people looking to reduce their impact on the environment. We at Coupon Chief recently created a massive guide about inexpensive ways to go green. It includes up-to-date information and special tips to help people adopt a more Earth-friendly lifestyle without draining their wallets. We’re hoping it’s worth linking to along with your other resources!

If you think that it could be valuable to your readers, here’s the link to our Green Living guide. It took us a lot of time and effort to put this together, so I hope you (and your Bond Grrl readers!) like it!

Best,
Kendra

I am not quite sure how CouponChef.com decided to write such a detailed guide, but I think that it has a lot of good reminders and some very good information. Maybe I’m just impressed that someone found a podcast of mine from a decade ago, listened to it, and decided to write because of it!

Make it a great day,

Sandy

Career Success through the Management of Stress – by Julie Morris

Posted on by Sandy

Business owners and workaholics often live in a world with quick turnarounds and tight deadlines. Operating in an entrepreneurial environment leads to high-pressure situations that can easily fray the nerves, especially when you’re trying to find the right balance between work and the responsibilities of life outside the office. Perhaps you are starting a new business and trying to score a big promotion, or perhaps you’re a single parent trying to make ends meet. Whatever the cause of your career stress, there are ways to achieve new goals while reducing that stress.

Sweating Stress Away

Stress is an inevitable part of our everyday lives. While it is impossible to entirely eliminate stress, maintaining or improving your physical condition can be helpful to your mental state. Not only can it elevate your concentration and overall cognitive functions, but it can also reduce tiredness and fatigue. In addition, exercise provides an outlet for either solitude (when you’re craving alone-time) or the ability to “sweatwork” and meet people who might be able to help you in your career pursuits.

Eating Right

For those burning the midnight oil, it might be difficult to find time to stop for a bite with deadlines quickly approaching. Diets are usually the first thing we sacrifice to help us stay on the go. However, what you eat and drink can have a profound impact on the way you feel, especially when you’re unable to break for meals. Fast food and junk food might provide a boost of energy and comfort in the moment, but what they lack in nutritional value can ultimately leave you feeling sluggish and morose. Small changes to your dietary intake can help you start feeling better while allowing you to implement better nutritional habits with your family at home.

Getting Enough Sleep

A good night’s rest is important for your physical and emotional health. Insufficient sleep can leave you feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, which doesn’t bode well for work performance or stress. In fact, not getting enough sleep has an adverse effect on your ability to quickly and decisively manage tasks and perform at work. If you’re constantly on call, you might want to consider turning off your phone and other devices before bed or leaving them in a separate room. Even an additional hour of sleep at night can have positive effects on your efficiency during working hours.

Going Alternative

If finding time to sleep or exercise proves to be too much of a challenge, a remedy such as CBD oil can help reduce stress. CBD has been shown to host a slew of benefits, from sleep improvements to anxiety relief to pain management. Do your due diligence by researching manufacturers and finding the best quality product, and since oil is not for everyone, CBD does come in other forms, like vape oil. As with any new treatment, be it CBD or something else, be sure to discuss it with your doctor first.

Self-Caring

The thought of taking time out of your busy schedule for a little self-indulgence might be a foreign idea, but it’s something every busy person should embrace. By carving out a little bit of time to pamper yourself, you’ll feel fresh and recharged. Work can slowly cause changes to your identity, so remember to spend time outside the office to enjoy fun activities with the people you treasure.

Whether you are a lady-boss entrepreneur or a busy professional, it’s important to set realistic expectations while cutting yourself a little slack. Your career could even slow down when you’re moving too fast. In order to grow professionally, you might have to step back a little. First, cope with the stress. Second, set yourself up to achieve your professional goals without sacrificing your health. You’ll hopefully be able to find the balance between your work goals and your mental health, a balance that will help you move full speed ahead onto the next phase in your career.

Photo Credit: Pexels

Julie Morris is a Life and Career Coach, and can be found at JulieMorris.Org.

SPEAK UP! (even if your voice shakes)

Posted on by Sandy

When I sat down, I was going to talk more about WAG.

As ya’ll know, I’m giving WAG (Working Against Gravity) another try. I had heard that a number of the things that I commented on 2 years ago had changed dramatically.

This is what work has felt like the past month. Hasn’t crushed me YET though!

Work has been crazy the past month, so I haven’t even had a moment to breathe – much less blog. But I’d like to make a couple comments, before launching into what I actually sat down to write about

*WAG now has a fantastic knowledge base and spectacular “drip” email system. Two years ago, one thing that I had found frustrating was that WAG didn’t have any information that came directly from “WAG HQ” as it were.

I am sure I’m not the only one who has “clicked on a link” to get something from some guru or another, and wound up on his/her email list. Some have “eh” info or are pushy in their “upsell,” and I ultimately unsubscribe. But some have great info and I’m still on their lists years later. My issue had been that you are paying a premium for WAG and – at that time – the only thing that was available on an ongoing basis was the Facebook group . . . made up of other folks who have paid to subscribe to WAG, just like you. Now, not only do they have a deep Members Only “library” that you can dip into (with everything from macro-based Trader Joe’s shopping lists to Mindfulness exercises), but WAG HQ also now sends members bi-weekly emails. These emails are packed with nutrition, mindfulness, training and recovery information.

I actually subscribed not only to the “paid” WAG, but using another name and email (soooo sneeeeaky…) I also subscribed to their free offer on their website. It’s called the WAG Guide to Nutrition. While the free one is – of course! – going to try to get you to sign up, it’s not as annoying as SO MANY others. It has great info, videos, and is a quality product. If you’re at all intrigued to see how WAG has changed, you can try it out that way. (“Try before you buy.”)

*WAG pays attention to you, and cares how you’re doing. Two years ago when I did WAG, I actually stopped logging, just to see what would happen. Nothing happened. My coach didn’t contact me, WAG HQ didn’t contact me. Nothing. The Intake Form, in fact, used to point out that it was “up to you to check in and keep track.” I felt that I was paying V.I.P. prices and being ignored. Now, WAG has somehow changed their back end so that your coach is notified if you stop logging – not only that, but HQ has “Happiness Engineers” (I think that’s what they’re called) that will check in on you if you go Radio Silent. THIS IS HUGE! My new CrossFit gym does the same thing – if you haven’t checked in for a while, you get a “Hey, everything okay?” email. Even if it’s just an automated response, it’s better than hearing crickets.

*My coach is paired to me to a T. Before, my WAG coach really didn’t “get me.” She even sent me exasperated emails for being too curious . . . too long-winded . . . too “me”! She was about 30 years my junior, because I checked her out on Instagram. I probably would have dealt with an old 50-something the way she did, when I was a 20-something. But this time around, WAG has a far more robust “intake process,” which drills down and can therefore make a much more specific match. They’ve completely updated and revamped the Intake Questionnaire. Instead of making you categorize yourself into an “athlete” or “non-athlete” (as those of you stalwart readers probably recall, this sent me through the roof), it asks you to describe your motivation for joining WAG (letting you choose more than one). What you choose then leads you to drill-down questions, that ultimately match you to the right coach. Genius.

They even have questions that ask you how much of a “high touch” experience you’re looking for. I have a “virtual coach” headset/app that does a similar thing – you can set her “chattiness” level to fit your desires. By asking questions about this at the outset in their Questionnaire, WAG HQ can understand your expectations and tailor the experience to them.

WAG is like a new entity. It checks all the right boxes. But that’s not why I sat down to blog today.

Today, I sat down to try to convince you Omegas out there to Speak Up!

Let me explain.

I have a tendency to let things “fester” until I’m done. Then, I quit.

I did this with the last relationship I had before my current one. Things had gone sideways, but I didn’t say anything. Once my partner realized that things were really “wrong” and wanted to “right the ship” (go to counselling, make lifestyle changes, whatever), it was far too late. I’d checked out.

Last year, I even gave up The Crossfit for a while.

I had had issues with some things at my last gym, but just let it go. Frankly, I felt that they should notice that things were off. But, of course, they didn’t. Like WAG 1.0, I felt that, since I was paying premium $, someone should be giving me premium attention. Finally, after running a training there to get my Concept 2 certification, I felt so disrespected that I came to realize that I’d reached that point . . . things were just too sideways to fix. So I stopped showing up.

The lucky thing here, though, is that after about six months without The Crossfit, I wondered if maybe – just maybe – it was the situation that needed to be discarded – not The Crossfit. I tentatively decided to try out a new gym. In fact, it was a gym near my house that had allowed me to come in and teach the second Concept 2 class I needed for my certification. I had to teach the exact same class, sending both videos to Concept 2 HQ. The same curriculum, the same playlist, the same cues. Comparing the two, my judges commented that some members of the first class “just hadn’t listened to” me. Who was in that class? The first gym’s staff. Hm.

This new gym is not only closer to my house (by easily 20 minutes), cheaper (by about $100 a month), but it also has little “touches” (like a P.R. bell) that make things fun.

I’d given up on The Crossfit, because I was in the wrong gym.

A good friend of mine (who had talked me into doing WAG two years ago, in fact) had been suggesting I try another gym in the area for a while. But I felt that meant being “disloyal.” So what’d I do? I quit doing Crossfit altogether. Um – what?

So what does that mean – what do I want you to take away from all this rambling?

Believe in your gut. If it says leave – leave.

You know what? After I left my former gym, I didn’t even hear anything from them again. My current gym sent me a “Hey, you okay?” notice when my husband and I were on vacation for 10 days. I’d only been with this gym for a few months. I was at my old gym for 4 years. I quit going – nothing. Hm.

When I was having a “personality clash” with my WAG Coach, my same friend told me to just ask for a different coach.

I instead figured that “all the coaches” would be like this coach (e.g., “all gyms are like this gym”) and so I rejected “The WAG” (“The Crossfit”) altogether.

This passive aggressive tendency is disconcerting.

I want people to realize when something is wrong – I don’t want to have to tell them. 

I hate confrontation. Some folks love it (litigators do, obviously!) I’d rather just give up rather than confront. Crazy, right? I know. I know. Crazy.

I often don’t even realize that I’m doing it. When I do, though, I will try to fix it. And it’s scary! I mean, what if the person laughs at me? Doesn’t listen? Gets mad?

I discussed this once on Girls Gone WOD Podcast. I had brought one of the podcasters a gift – my beef jerky. She hadn’t tried it, and in fact, was going to give it to a mutual friend. I had a mini-fit, stating that I’d brought it for her to try, and I wanted her to try it before she gave it away. She had no problem doing that – in fact, she had no realization that this was important to me. She tried it, loved it, gave the rest away to our mutual friend, and I was happy.

Had I not mentioned it, I would have had this very silly, passive aggressive, wounded “memory” that my friend had “rejected” my gift, then given it away. Dumb, right?

But we do this all the time. (Well, we Omegas do.)

Don’t let things go too sideways before you address them.

It might be icky in the moment – but way  better in the long run. Instead of giving up The Crossfit for six months once I came to realize my gym wasn’t working for me, I should have jumped right over to the gym I’m at now. I shouldn’t have thrown the baby out with the bathwater, as the saying goes. Instead of just quitting WAG 2 years ago, I probably should have asked for a different coach.

Maybe I should have brought up my issues with my old gym. But then again – I’d be driving 20 minutes each way longer, and paying $100 more a month if I had . . . so maybe not ;-) Similarly, the changes that have occurred in WAG in the ensuing two years have made it a dramatically better program. Who knows?

Things happen for a reason. Just be sure that you remember that you can Stand Up and Speak Up – even if your voice shakes! I believe in you. If something is skidding sideways, don’t let things fester until it’s too late. And if you’re sticking it out, saying nothing, don’t kid yourself. Don’t call your fear – of being laughed at, of being ignored, of being argued with, of change – Loyalty. Loyalty and sticking with things through the tough times is great. Working on things is great. But sticking with things because you don’t want to confront what’s not working is not so great.

On that note, I’d like to add that, a month in on WAG 2.0, I am actually drinking pretty close to 80 oz. of water a day (this is a HUGE change for me!), I put my jeans in the dryer this morning for the first time in – oh – a year?, and I know I will stick with it until I have reached the results I want (even if it takes over 3 months), because my coach is SPECTACULARLY PERFECT. In my Intake Form, I was willing to address what had not worked for me before. To be brutally honest. And in doing so, everything changed. But, not to pat myself too hard on the back, I had also been willing to give it another try.

I’ve been asked to be an expert on an international webinar in a few weeks, and I’m going to call this situation out by name. I was asked as a coach, to speak about coaching, which I will, but I’m also going to talk about having the right coach and use this situation as an example.

Oh, AND . . . at my new gym, I’ve been able to ring that P.R. bell not once – not twice – but three times in the past month.

Be Brave. Stand Up. Speak Up.

Even if your voice shakes.

 

 

 

WAG 2.0 – What a difference 2 years makes . . .

Posted on by Sandy

Wait – what? WAG?

As most of you know, about 2 years ago, I gave WAG (“Working Against Gravity”) a try. At a 10,000 ft. level, it’s a coached, macro-based, eating plan. (If you don’t know what a “Macro” is, go HERE and skip down to “Whatsa Macro?”)

For those of you who are new here, the Reader’s Digest version (wow, now you know I’m old . . . ) is that I have tried various eating plans over the last decade or so.

All my life, I had been “lucky enough” to have been basically a skinny thang. “Scarecrow” and “Beanpole” were a few of my nicknames growing up – at six feet tall in 8th grade and about 130 pounds soaking wet, you get the idea. I wasn’t athletic, lolled around reading books, ate without thinking and – Beanpole.

Unfortunately, when I hit the “hormone slide towards menopause” a little while ago, the pounds just poured on. I burned candles at all the temples of all the Diet Gods and Goddesses I’d blithely walked past my entire life. I watched my waistline disappear. I made penance for every thought I had ever had over the decades as a cheerfully ignorant skinny thang, when I just “didn’t understand” why folks had weight issues. More pounds. And more. And more.

Oh my. Oh my oh my.

As I mentioned, one of the eating plans that I tried was called Working Against Gravity (“WAG”). A number of friends and Crossfit community folks had tried it with great success. WAG is not inexpensive – it’s about $160 a month, and you’re required to sign up for three months. But, believe me, after hearing that it was The Thing, I just handed over my credit card.

As you can see if you read my post from 2 years ago (no obligation), it didn’t work for me. I got off on the wrong foot with WAG from the outset with their intake form, my coach just didn’t seem to “get” me, and I basically gave up. (And no one even noticed.) I was really sad.

Recently, however, I heard that WAG had made a lot of changes in the ensuing two years.

In the interim, I have “eating plan’d” myself silly. (As you know if you follow my blog.) I have had programs with a coach, tried programs without a coach, read every book, listened to every TED talk. Seen doctors. Seen acupuncturists. Seen bodyworkers. Seen fitness consultants. About six months or so ago, I quite literally gave up. I stopped doing Crossfit, I started listening to my dear husband . . . who thinks “I’m fine” and should “do age-appropriate things.” He said just buy bigger clothes, jiggle here and there, and . . . give in.

My naturopath said to let things settle, get bloodwork done, get my DNA parsed to uncover what sort of genetic stuff was going on with me. In the six months I took “off,” I didn’t gain any weight, though my DNA and personalized nutrition stated that – hello – I was overfat. I tried not to care.

And then?

Hubby got some bad bloodwork results – and Mama Bear left the pity party and got back into action.

I went back through everything that I know about nutrition, macros, you name it. I read deeply about what I could do to reverse some of the issues. And I started to imagine that, perhaps, if I got back in gear and found a way to lose the 30 pounds that has to go, he would be motivated to do it, too.

Not only that, but in my secret heart of hearts, I realized that if I lost 30 pounds, given that I use a 30 pound band to “lift myself” in pullups, I might actually garner my unicorn horn desire – to be able to do pullups again. (It’s been since I was in the Marines – yeah – don’t even ask how long ago that was!)

So, I’m back trying WAG out again.

As I mentioned, I’d heard that WAG had dramatically changed since I had tried it out. I was a little skeptical – okay, I was a lot skeptical. So I poked around. In poking, I found a testimonial from someone who sounded a lot like me.

Part of my issue with WAG the first time around is it seemed “geared” towards young folks who were competitive athletes. I ain’t young, and I ain’t competitive. Finding that testimonial – and a video that showed some of the WAG coaches at a retreat – made me wonder if WAG had maybe “grown up a bit” from the original email, spreadsheet, and photo days.

So, I dove in.

Right from the start, the experience was really different. The intake was a lot more thoughtful, and asked me about me – it didn’t try to “pigeon-hole” me. That also made me think a lot about what I was looking for, especially in a coach. In my previous experience, I was assigned a coach who didn’t really work for me – but this new questionnaire made me think about what I was looking for in a coach.

I wanted someone who understood what it was like to be more than a couple of decades into this Game Called Life. I wanted someone who would realize that I’m trying to be athletic and functional, even if I’m not competitive and competing. I wanted someone who would be a “nutrition nerd” (Yes, I said that), because I am. I wanted someone who would help me make this work.

The first thing that they have you do is input your photographs though – before getting into that juicy Questionnaire. This makes sense, since it’s the thing that you don’t really want to do.

I recently found a photograph of myself just a few years ago, in a bathing suit I still have. I took my WAG Intake photo in that bathing suit. I cried.

When the first photo was taken of me, I wasn’t even really working out much. (Some swimming.) I didn’t watch what I ate that much. Now? I work out “the right way” (none of this “treadmill, burn-out-your-adrenals” stuff for moi), I eat “the right way” and – what happened to my waist?? I have no waist. In fact, my waist measurement is now what my hip measurement was in the previous photo. OK, 1/4 inch less. But seriously.

My Questionnaire was reviewed, and I was assigned a coach. Then I did precisely what pissed my first coach off immediately – I asked 10 (okay, 4) questions, all about an hour apart from one another.

What happened?

She answered them. 

No fuss, no muss. “That’s what I’m here for,” she said.

PLAY HERE. Nope, not Crickets. ;-)

Now for another really great part. WAG integrates with My Fitness Pal.

In WAG, you’re required to log your macros, and weigh yourself, daily. When I did it before, this meant filling out an Excel spreadsheet. Now, they have a shiny new interface, called “Seismic.” Nope, no more emails and logging in a spreadsheet. Hallelujah! (Go back and play that sound clip again ;-) ) If you’re already familiar with My Fitness Pal (which you know that I am), this change is, well . . . seismic! I have been using My Fitness Pal for so long, that the MFP folks (now owned by Under Armor) actually invited me to their headquarters a year or so ago, to give them feedback on MFP and beta test some potential new features. Yup, I’m MFP O.G. ;-) The best part about My Fitness Pal is that it’s basically a crowdsourced database of just about every food you can think of. Once another user has scanned or entered that food into MFP, it’s there for everyone to use. Better yet, you can input your Recipes into MFP, and it will give you the exact macros for them. You can even save Meals, if you tend to eat the same thing time and again. Genius!

Since WAG now integrates with MFP, the weighing and “macro logging” that you need to do each day is a piece of cake. Not only that, but Seismic is actually pretty fun to use. I’m a sucker for “silly things” coming up while the website is loading, and Seismic is a champ at this. I know, that makes me like 4 years old – but hey, for someone like me, it actually makes you poke around on the website, to see what Seismic is going to say back to you.

WAG also now has a very deep and detailed Knowledge Base. I haven’t read all of it yet – but the fact it exists makes me exceptionally happy. One of my issues before was that there just didn’t seem to be much of a “there there” – the only “rich” part of the experience involved their Members-Only Facebook page, and while that’s great, those are other folks paying to be there, just like me. I wanted a ton of knowledge, and I wanted a coach who “got” me.

It seems that, in 2 years, my prayers have been answered.

I’ve only been on WAG for a week. (I just had my first check in.) I have gone from just under 190 lbs. to just over 186 during this time. This isn’t particularly unusual for me – usually I will get about 9 pounds down in an Eating Plan (a/k/a Diet) and then things don’t budge, and I give up. But so far, for a week, I’ve been working the plan. And perhaps most importantly, I have been enjoying everything. The website is great. Logging is easy peasy. My coach is a unicorn riding baby angel of nerdy pre-menopausal Virgo joy.

Fingers crossed . . .

Travel Tips – 20 quick trip tips you might not have thought of

Posted on by Sandy

The section of my book entitled “Preparing for Paris” gives you a  LOT of suggestions (flip to page 69 if you have it on your shelf). However, in the 11 years since I wrote that book (and 8 since the Companion Playbook!),  I have come up with a few more suggestions to help with everything from preparing to go to being safe on a trip.

I won’t repeat the suggestions found in my book here. They include being sure your passport runs at least six months “past” your return date (required by some countries), to having a “mail stop” form filled out and on your refrigerator in case you decide to up and go on a whim, to already having plants and lights on timers, to putting together a “go bag” of toiletries (with a list of your meds/anything you need to add  before you run out the door). I also detail how to set up your closet so that you can pack quickly and efficiently.

As a sidebar – I’d like to mention some shoes that I used on a recent trip. They are by Mime et Moi, and they are not inexpensive. (I was lucky enough to get two pair, with 4 interchangeable heels a piece, on Kickstarter). However, they’re genius – one “shoe” base to which you can add different heels. If you pack black-based clothing for your trip, here are all the shoes you may need, from knocking around town to going to the Opera.

So, how about those tips? Well, here we go! In no particular order . . .

    1. Use www.checkmytrip.com as a travel resource.
  2. If you’re travelling on miles with a companion who is not, use your miles for your companion’s ticket. That way you will still accrue miles on that trip.
  3. Take a photo of all your documents, driver’s license, credit cards, itinerary, boarding pass, etc. and email it to yourself, trusted neighbors, and the like. (We use a specific Gmail address for this purpose, and this purpose only – it also contains a document with our passwords, just in case.) If anything gets stolen, you can pull it up at an “Internet cafe.” Put a copy of your itinerary at the top of your suitcase as well, in case your luggage is lost. I recently ordered a little “luggage tag” that you can insert your itinerary into, so it’s on the outside of the bag. My dad, a veteran traveler, uses this and I think it’s genius. (Typing up this post just reminded me to get one!)
  4. Make a list of everything in your luggage. If you check your bag and (horrors!) it doesn’t show up, you can quickly and efficiently list things out for your insurance company. It’s not a bad idea to actually take a photo of everything laid out on your bed before you pack – this and the list can also be sent to yourself in your email. Do keep a “hard copy” list in your carry-on, though, in case you need to make an immediate claim at the airport. Also, of course, be sure to have a list of all your medications. Snapshots of the fronts of bottles, also saved to your email, are quick and easy. It probably goes without saying that if you’re going to be gone for a while, get a checkup and go to the dentist before you go – better to find out here, than there! And while you’re at the dentist, stock up on an extra toothbrush (if you drop yours abroad, you’ll be glad to have an extra!), dental floss (see below), etc. Be sure to throw away your toothbrush at the end of the trip!
  5. Tell your bank, phone, and credit card companies that you’ll be away. Check their procedures. While American Express never seems to have this issue, I have had trouble using my credit card outside my local area (especially in Vegas). Since you really want to slim your wallet down to the bare essentials while traveling, it shouldn’t be a problem to alert the one or two companies whose “plastic” you’re carrying. (NOTE: My husband and I have found a couple of times that one or the other of our ATM “networks” won’t work in a given area. As such, be sure if you are bringing a Visa/ATM or Mastercard/ATM combo card, that you bring at least 2 different “networks.” But leave any extraneous cards at home! If you belong to clubs that you might visit along the way – Elks, reciprocal yacht clubs, golf clubs, or the like – then have your club write a note of introduction for you before you go, then just bring a copy of your card.)
  6. Pack multi-use/useful items. Wrap Duct tape around a pencil (then you have both in a pinch). Always have toilet paper (take the cardboard roll out, squash it down). Ziplocs are useful – as are “throw away” plastic bags (e.g., the kind you might use for vegetables at the grocery) in case your shoes get muddy. Thick socks can be slippers. An ace bandage can be used for many things, as can dental floss (you can even hang laundry from it in a pinch!) If you use a non-toxic deodorant (for example, think a Crystal), you can rub it on your face/forehead/upper lip in a hot climate. Dryer sheets can be used to fend off mosquitoes and bedbugs (though if you’re really worried, bring a silk sleep-bag). The lowly bandana can be used as a headband, a belt, a napkin, a seat cover, a gift ( :-) ), a cold compress, a tourniquet, or a pillow cover. A string grocery bag (they stretch to amazing sizes!) is never a bad idea, and having a pretty, thin sarong can do duty as a hair and arm cover in a mosque/church, a beach cover up, a tote, a picnic blanket, etc. Since you want to pack as little as possible, that same sarong can jazz up an outfit. Though it seems crazy – always bring a swimsuit. The one time you forget will be the time there are hot springs to visit! (You’ll have your sarong to dry off!)
  7. Iron your paper money. This is going to sound CRAZY, but a number of countries won’t accept “battered” money. In fact, when we were in Peru, we wound up purchasing a beautiful work of art from natives on a tiny island in Lake Titicaca . . . for $35 instead of $50 – because we had a pristine $20, $10 and $5, but couldn’t “make up” a perfect $50. Really! We even tried to “make him” take the extra $15 and he wouldn’t. If you are going to bring cash, make sure it has no “nicks,” and then iron it (it also takes less room in your wallet that way). Always be sure to have small bills and coins in your pockets while travelling, too – you are likely to need them in restrooms, many of which have either attendants to tip, or coin-locked doors.
  8. If you’re going on a tour-guided trip (or cruise), set up the tips that you will need in advance, put them in separate envelopes, and forget about them. You don’t want to get caught short at the end.
  9. If the water isn’t safe to drink, beware! Remember things like showering with your back to the shower (so you don’t aspirate the water – suck on a candy to help you remember!), use bottled water on your toothbrush, and remember that glasses are often just “wiped out” – not sterilized. In many countries it’s required as a point of hospitality to drink a glass of mint tea – if you bring a short straw, you at least aren’t putting your lips to the glass.
  10. Eat at the bar. If you’re traveling alone, eat at the bar. You can read a book there if you want, but you can also chat with the bartender. You’re less of a “mark” if you’re eating at the bar and look like you might just be “waiting for your husband” than if you’re sitting at a table with only one setting. It’s never a bad idea to tip the bartender beforehand to take care of you. And – obviously – don’t drink too much, and be sure to watch your drink like a hawk. You just never know who might have something “special” to slip into it for you. While out, try to keep your purse either in your lap, or behind your back in a chair. Never sling it over the chair or put it underneath.
  11. Speaking of tips – if you are staying at a hotel for a few days, be sure to leave a couple dollars for the housekeeping staff every day on your bed. The staff rotates – leaving a bunch at the end of your stay will only go to that day’s staff. Moreover, the staff tends to take better care of you if you tip while you’re still there – we have had extra “amenities” show up after doing this for a couple of days (e.g., “high roller” toiletry kits when in Vegas, etc.)
  12. Use pantiliners, if you’re a woman. They’re small, and especially on a hot or long travel day, you can just swap them out without fuss.
  13. Shampoo is nearly always available, but I always bring conditioner. Not all conditioner will “tame my locks.” That said, you can concentrate shampoo or conditioner by pouring it on a throw-away pie plate and putting it into a low temperature oven for a few hours. The water will evaporate, leaving a thick liquid you can pour into travel-sized bottles. (Use a funnel – otherwise it’s a mess ;-) ) This way just a few drops will “blossom into” a full handful of shampoo/conditioner and less “volume” will last weeks longer.
  14. Pick up the concierge’s business card – or even a matchbook – from your hotel. That way if you get lost, you can hand it to a taxi driver and get back! In Venice, almost all stores have cards that show “how to get there” from a tourist area (e.g., “start at the cathedral, then . . . “). If you are even considering returning to purchase an item, be sure to get a card. If they are shipping an item for you, be sure to make a big deal out of taking a photo of what you are purchasing, the people selling it to you, etc. Then get their email and make a point of emailing the photo to them immediately. This acts as insurance against the box arriving with something completely different in it! A final note about Venice – as long as you don’t cross a bridge, if you get lost, just keep wandering. You haven’t left the island . . . you’re bound to find your way back ;-) And trust me – you’ll get lost ;-)
  15. Protecting yourself might seem fairly obvious. Don’t wear flashy jewelry (even costume!) – but do wear a wedding ring to fend off the sharks. Leave your “real band” at home though – you’d be heartbroken if it was stolen. Keep money on different parts of your body, so you don’t pull it all out at once. Don’t let a receptionist at a hotel “announce” your room number. Ask for a room by the elevator – sounds dumb, but the more traffic, the less likely you are to get ambushed. Buy a small rubber “triangle” (often used to hold doors open in offices) to ensure your door cannot be opened from outside. Approach your door with your key in hand ready to go, then when you first walk in, block the door open with your suitcase, and look through the closet, shower, etc. – to be sure you’re alone in there – and then ensure that every single door and window actually locks. If you are given an “electronic” key, always obtain two. If one doesn’t work, you don’t have to go all the way back down to retrieve another. And – as I mentioned in my book – it’s actually often well worth the small tip to have a bellboy take your luggage up with you. You don’t need to wrestle your bags, he knows the way, and if the key doesn’t work, he is the one that needs to get another. He can also fill your ice, answer any questions, and stand bemused as you check out the shower for bad guys.
  16. Set up an Instagram account if you don’t have one already, and save your snapped photos there. My husband has chided me about this for years – he’s a “real camera” kind of guy. Until he managed to lose it on our last trip . . . without the SIM card having been backed up. Though my photos aren’t as beautiful as his, they were (ahem) all backed up into my Instagram account. How I do it is I actually just take the photo in the Instagram app. On the posting page, for the first photo at a given site, I type in the hashtags I want to use and then “select” them all and copy. I push to “post” each photo to Insta – even if I don’t have an internet connection, they will all stay “queued up” until I do. With each subsequent photo or video at the same site, I just “paste” the hashtags on from the first photo. And as for that lost camera and SIM card – my husband now does what I have asked him to do for years – the first photo on each SIM card is a photo of a $100 bill with a note containing our name and my office address, stating that they can keep the camera, but if they return the SIM card to the address, we will Paypal them a reward. Doesn’t mean we will actually send them $100, but what are they going to do with our photos otherwise? It kills me that a SIM card with nearly a year’s worth of photos (yes, a year . . . ) was probably pitched into a dumpster after my hubby left the camera on a gondola.
  17. Be sure you have Polarized sunglasses. You can also use them as a “polarizing filter” on your camera (even your phone camera) by holding them up to the lens. If you take a second to do it right, it works like a charm. Especially good if you’re taking photos on or near reflective water.
  18. There are, of course, a zillion things you can do with your phone – from using it as a flashlight, to an alarm clock, to a camera, to a portable entertainment center (be sure to download – wifi might be broken!), VOIP for calls home without incurring charges (be sure to check!), currency converter, TripAdvisor for restaurants/hotels/etc. nearby, etc. One of the best things I ever did was to download an “ambient noise” app – “pink noise” blocks snoring quite well. You might consider some industrial-strength earplugs as well. One of the most important things to do with your phone is to put it down. Be sure to “live in the present moment” during your trip. A few shots here and there are great (especially 10 years later, when they can bring you right back to that moment), but we see folks taking selfie after selfie – at museums, etc. – without even “seeing” where they are. Taking shot after shot of your face with 1/2 of the Mona Lisa blurred in the background means that you’re taking those shots to “show you’re there” – which means you’re not really “there-there” as it were. Try taking a “whole day” without a selfie. Take shots of beautiful things so you can remember them when you’re a grandma – but without you in the shot. Is that hard for you? Hm.
  19. Things that just “live” in my suitcase to be “prepared” to travel: A cord and charger for my phone, a swimsuit, a sarong, cleansing wipes, corkscrew, Swiss Army knife, hand sanitizer, sunscreen/insect repellent (2 oz.), nail clippers, mini-medical kit (Imodium, Neosporin, etc.), mending kit/safety pins (a small one from a hotel), personal lubricant (which can be used to lubricate anything), toilet paper, small umbrella, quick dry washcloth, rolled up water bottle, ziplocs, Duct tape on a pencil, and a flexible power strip. The power strip allows you to plug that in and “share” an outlet if you’re ever stranded trying to charge your phone in an airport crowded with other travelers doing the same thing – take it from one who knows! My ‘go bag’ has 2 oz. or less sizes of everything else – face/eye cream, hair brush, disposable razor, toothbrush/paste, dental floss, deodorant, eye drops, etc. (all as detailed in my book).
  20. Finally, I would strongly suggest getting TSA-PRE. Being able to use the “TSA-PRE” Security line is a huge boon. You don’t have to take off your shoes/belt/jacket/etc., the lines are always shorter, and hey – you look like a Bond Girl as you scoot on through without disrobing. If you happen to have an American Express card, they will reimburse you for the cost – check with them for details.

What about you? What sort of tricks and tips do you have?

Make Your Mark!!

Posted on by Sandy

 Jobs Where Women Are Making Their Mark

 

Business is a man’s world, or so they say. Over the last 50 years, however, more and more women have joined the work force – in fact, some of you may not even remember a time when your Mom, or wife, or sister, didn’t work! And while the “fairer sex” (we are, aren’t we??) can sometimes have issues with finding a foothold in many industries, there are still several professions that are decidedly dominated by the (un-distressed) damsels. Careers such as dental hygienists, school teacher, and human resources manager are ones where women looking to make a living can do so without dealing with the sometimes unintentional sexual biases of men in the same capacity as some other fields.

Read on for more information about jobs where women are making their mark.

Child care services

More than 90% of all child care services workers are female. This includes caregivers, preschool teachers, and tutors. Often, these are moms looking for a full- or part-time position with flexible hours that allow them to care for their own children. However, child care facility directors are often required to have a degree in early childhood education and can bring in a salary of more than $50,000 a year.

Veterinarian

Love animals? Did you know that 80% of veterinarians and veterinary clinic workers in the United States are women!? With a projected 9% growth through 2024, veterinarians are in high demand – and rightfully so! Veterinarians are required to hold a doctorate in veterinary medicine and also to maintain up-to-date state licensure. With an annual salary inching toward $90,000, this is an exceptional career for women across the country.

Social services

Social workers bring home an average of $45,500 per year by helping people solve and cope with problems. Social workers can work in a number of different settings, including hospitals, schools, health clinics, and in private practice. Most positions require a bachelor’s degree in the field; clinical social workers must hold at least a Masters and complete a two-year stint in a supervised setting. Over the next decade, demand for social workers is expected to rise by 12%.

Education

Walk into any school in the country and it is very clear that most – 81.8% to be exact – teachers are women. This is true in both the public and private sectors. Being a teacher requires dedication and patience. However, given that most teachers receive at least part of the summer off, the average salary of around $55,000 a year is a respectable sum. Another benefit of a career in education is having the opportunity to touch thousands of lives and have a real impact on the children who need it most. We can all credit a teacher somewhere in our ‘back story’ with quite literally making us who we are.

Accountant

Earning a bachelor’s degree in accounting can lead to a $65,000 per year or more income, with lots of job security. While you will need to pass the dreaded CPA exam (similar to the Bar Exam for lawyers, where few pass on their first try), CPAs are in demand and have a projected job growth of 11% in the near future. Accountants are experts in money management and help businesses and individuals balance books and remain IRS-compliant the entire year.

Employment services

Employment service professionals, especially human resource managers, are nearly the highest paid “pink collar” work group. Human resource managers rake in an impressive $102,000 a year with a four year degree, though a Master’s is preferred in some industries. Women, being natural multitaskers, excel in human resources, where they may be responsible for handling everything from job interviews to benefits coordination.

Law

Although only 11% of police officers are women, 54% of public and private practice lawyers are female (including, of course, yours truly!). Beating out human resource managers with a yearly salary of nearly $115,000, lawyers are required to hold a law degree and to satisfactorily complete that pesky Bar Examination in any state in which they will practice.

 

The Department of Labor offers more in-depth information about female-dominated occupations as well as median weekly earnings here.

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Another fantastic article drafted by our correspondent, Jennifer Scott, at SpiritFinder.Org!

Image: Pixabay

 

Holidays Without Anxiety – Could It Be Possible?

Posted on by Sandy

Why Hosting Your Own Holiday Party Is Easier Than You Think

Let’s face it—as fabulous as the holidays are, they can be the most stressful time of year. Between the chaos of travel, the highs and lows of seeing family and friends, buying presents, and everything else, this time of year can cause anxiety in even the least anxiety-prone mind. One excellent way to control your amount of stress during the holiday season is to consider hosting your own event. It may seem counter-intuitive, but there are many benefits to doing so. Here are some benefits and tips to managing your anxiety and hosting your own holiday bash.

Conflict Avoidance

Every family has history (sometimes “capital H” History!), and different personalities can clash. One benefit of hosting your own holiday events is conflict management through avoidance. If you know for certain that Aunt Sue and Uncle Joe cannot be in the same room, consider hosting two separate, small events. If you buy food in bulk and prepare things in advance or even make/buy frozen appetizers, you can easily arrange two or more parties with ease. Then you can relax knowing that those conflicts and arguments that seemed unavoidable simply won’t happen.

Spread Out the Work

It’s no secret that making a holiday meal for your whole family is an entire day of work. If you’re hosting more than one party, for any reason, the task of spending that much time in the kitchen can be daunting. A potluck-style party or even an afternoon event where your guests bring their favorite snacks can remove the pressure of slaving for hours over the stove. Another plus to sharing the load of cooking is you make sure your guests have something to eat that they will definitely enjoy. With so many dietary restrictions, popular and necessary, in this day and age, ensuring guests are happy by bringing their own food is a way to lower planning stress and to engage all your partygoers.

Drop Perfectionism

Anyone who suffers from anxiety knows that perfectionism is a thing that haunts your every waking minute, especially in stressful situations. Those who suffer from it also know that challenging these thoughts and fixations on perfection are key to overcoming them. You won’t have a perfect party because perfection doesn’t exist. Learn to let yourself off the hook; it’s okay if every room isn’t spotless. Close doors to rooms that you don’t have the energy to tidy up, and keep the lights off or put a trash can in front of the door. People will know not to go in. Decorate simply and don’t worry if your mother or grandmother or Uncle Simon decorates “better.” Simple is elegant and tasteful, and if anyone says otherwise . . . consider them uninvited next time!

Offer Festive Non-Alcoholic Options

It can be intimidating when attending a holiday party in recovery, being the “designated driver,” or even just knowing how certain relatives act when drinking. Whether you’re afraid of being singled out by an overly eager host, feeling pressured by friends or family to drink, or afraid of how your brother will act when he hits the whisky, alcohol can add unnecessary stress to any event. Hosting your own party can immediately relieve those fears. Make it clear on the invitation (whether it’s an e-mail, letter, or text) that there will be plenty of non-alcoholic drink options available. You might even consider not offering alcohol at all – or making a festive punch or eggnog that has far less alcohol than the standard. At the end of the day, recovery/safe driving is far more important than a drink at a holiday get-together. Hosting your own party could allow you to engage in holiday cheer without feeling the pressure of resisting temptation or feeling like others are walking on eggshells around you.

All in all, the notion of hosting a party might seem like a bad idea to someone with anxiety, but it can truly help to lessen stress during what should be a magical time of year. You can spread out the burden with friends and family by hosting it potluck style, make sure conflicting personalities don’t clash, and offer festive, delicious non-alcoholic drinks (whether for recovery purposes or to help keep tempers low from those around you). And by letting go of the need for perfection, you can have a holiday that is painless and maybe even fun.

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Guest blogger Jennifer Scott knows how difficult it can be to live with anxiety and depression. She has experienced both since she was in her teens. Today, she writes about the ups and downs of her mental illness on SpiritFinder.org. The blog serves as both a source of information for people with mental illness and a forum where those living with anxiety and depression can come together to discuss their experiences.

First image courtesy of Pixabay

Add The Damned Stevia . . .

Posted on by Sandy

It’s the middle of Day 3 on the I-Burn.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you might want to catch up HERE.

Yesterday, I learned the value of dilution.

(No, you didn’t miss a blog post – I was too busy to write. Read on…)

As I have complained about before, you’re required on this eating plan to drink 1/2 of your body weight, in water, every day.

Honestly, did our caveperson forebears drink like this? I think not.

Every single diet plan on God’s green Earth seems to want you to drink gallons of water. Frankly, I don’t get it. We can’t be “built” to drink this much water.

I guess the idea here is that we’re also not built to be drinking wine, and eating Twinkies and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

As such, we have to dilute the toxins we shove in our mouths with as much water as possible. So, our caveperson forebears would drink like normal people, because they were eating the way we’re s’posed to be eating. We have to drink like camels, because we eat and drink stuff our body doesn’t know what to do with, and this is the only way to get rid of it.

Doesn’t mean I have to like it . . .

But back to dilution.

Day 1, I didn’t quite make it through all the water I was supposed to drink. As such, on Day 2, I figured I’d add it to the smoothie and the tea.

Genius!

This made the smoothie far more palatable – though it does mean that you now have basically a pitcher of smoothie v. a cup. (All the ingredients wouldn’t fit in even the largest cup of my smoothie maker anyway, so this just turns what was about 1-1/2 large smoothie-maker cups into a pitcher.)

This also makes the tea a bit more palatable. Yay!

Yesterday, I also learned the value of stirring.

If you read my Day 1 rant, you’ll know that the “tea” is really basically lemon oil. Well . . . what do they say about oil and water?

Duh!

Oil floats on water.

So the tea that I drank on Day 1 (especially Morning 1, Day 1) came right off the top of the pitcher in my fridge. As such, I think that it was basically all lemon oil. On Day 2, when it seemed like I was “getting used to” the tea, I actually had a lightbulb moment and realized that it was just that there was less and less of the oil in it.

Stir the Damned Tea before you Drink It.

Lesson learned.

Today, I learned the value of stevia.

You’re allowed to “sweeten” the tea and the smoothie – I just didn’t think that it would do that much good. This morning, I decided “What the heck, I gotta do something here,” and added stevia to the smoothie.

The smoothie is made up of raw cranberries, raw limes, blueberries, kale, walnuts, avocado, and cucumber. Sour-acid-nasty.

Add stevia? It kinda tastes like a cran-lime margarita.

I don’t know why I didn’t do this immediately upon tasting the cran-lime battery acid on Day 1. Probably because, in the book, she says “Well, if you really want to, hey, you could add a bit of stevia…” – so I didn’t think it would make that much of a difference. Duh!

What does this mean?

I had my pitcher of smoothie today and didn’t hate it.

Ok – I actually liked it. WHAT? Yeah, it wasn’t bad. Sure, there was a good load of stevia in there, but it’s straight stevia leaf, which is allowed. My lord, why didn’t I figure this out before the final day?

As an added bonus, of course, I’ve drunk a big lot of the water I’m supposed to be drinking, because I diluted things, as learned on Day 2.

ass soup in the pitcher

I have a TON of the soup left.

Pomroy says in the book that the recipe makes a lot of soup – and it does. I actually fed some to my hubby last night, and he said that it was pretty good. (Granted I did drizzle his with truffle oil.) I drank more of it yesterday than I did on Day 1, because I was a lot hungrier than on Day 1, and the soup is a “free” food.

Of course, it’s a free food made up of a ton of root veggies, which make me, as they say in England, “windy.” Not smelly, just windy. (TMI?) I actually looked up the ins and outs of loud, soft, smelly, not smelly on Google – it’s fascinating (generally has to do with fermenting carbohydrates) – but I’ll let you do that research yourself ;-)

Tonight we have to meet with someone, and that means we are likely to go out to dinner after. I guess I will do my best – probably meaning just get veggies. And then, we’re done! Not quite sure what we’re moving to on Monday – my guess will be the Pomroy Fast Metabolism Diet. I did have some success on that one before, I just got bored and quit.

So, any changes, as I’m in the middle of Day 3?

*My daughter has found her rings are really spinning on her fingers (a sign that inflammation is down)

*I haven’t lost any scale weight. I know, I know, you’re supposed to stay off it for the 3 days, but the dang machine is there staring me in the face. On the plus side (I did NOT say “plus size”…), my daughter has lost 3.5 pounds and my son-in-law 4, and they’re dutifully drinking all their water, so I tend to think it’s not “just water weight.”
*My rosacea is non-existent. That doesn’t surprise me, of course, as I actually know that it’s a by-product of inflammation. But it’s quite nice to have white skin and not red blotches on my face.
*I’m really hungry. You’re supposed to eat “as much” of the soup, tea (!!), celery, cucumbers, jicama, limes or lemons as you want. The thing is – that these are basically just water. And they sit in my stomach like water. I feel bloated, and not “sated.” So – I’m hungry.