The Life-Changing Power of Underwear

You may be wondering how on earth underwear can be life-changing, but it is often the tiny, ordinary moments of life that create extraordinary shifts. Now hopefully we're all putting on clean underwear daily. I’m talking about brand new underwear! I quietly entered menopause a few years ago. I know, a bit of a taboo subject, but so is underwear. I thought I had made it through unscathed due to my ‘healthy lifestyle’, but then the unthinkable happened. Over the course of about 3 months, I gained 10 pounds. My body shape-shifted. Again. (Read my previous post: My Curvy Reality) I hadn’t started binging or eating junk food. I hadn’t stopped exercising.  I wasn’t even under an unusual amount of stress - quite the contrary. Now I had been hearing from women year after year wondering why they were gaining weight suddenly upon reaching a ‘certain age’, but other than the obvious hormone shift,  it was a conundrum I never had an answer for. I still don’t. (There are plenty of Health and Wellness experts that claim to though!)

The distressing thing about weight gain is that things stop fitting. You squeeze yourself into those cute jeans, but now there’s a bit of flesh that hangs over the top. The unfortunate result of this phenomena is that we, of a ‘certain age’ believe that this just shouldn’t be and wonder what to do to make those jeans fit again. Well, for me, the most distressing thing was that the top of my underwear now rolled down. It no longer laid flat against my abdomen. It was uncomfortable. And of course because of toxic diet culture and the subliminal messages we have absorbed from it all our lives, I somehow deemed the source of the  rolled over underwear, my new weight gain, as a character flaw. So I tried really, really hard to believe that the extra weight was not a failing on my part to be ‘healthy’ or that my worthiness as a human was somehow called into question. Because I know better and have spent years trying to undo those damning  messages I absorbed and allowed to rule me for so long. 

As a health coach, this was most perplexing though because isn’t weight gain a body’s protective response to keep me alive? That must mean that some internal system had gone haywire and maybe there’s a problem. While there are always new habits to be made in the name of health, I truly couldn’t think of what to do about this. When I truly sat back and assessed my health and habits, I literally could not think of a major, sustainable shift I could make to resolve this ‘problem’. So I started to wonder if it was actually a problem? A little research revealed that it is, in fact, healthy for women ‘of a certain age’ to gain a few pounds - it seems to have a health-protective effect. So I wondered? Maybe this is my new reality, even though I’m bumping up against the upper limits of my BMI (more on arbitrary metrics later). Maybe I just needed to settle in and accept it. After all, my weight does not define me. The level of discomfort I felt from the weight gain was a product of an ingrained message, and it was not logical. Easier said than done when your clothes - and underwear - no longer fit. But I faithfully continued to put on that old, ragged, ill-fitting underwear, and look in the mirror and tell myself that it was OK. That I am beautiful, accepted and I belong. The habit of telling myself the truth to rewire my mind was my new strategy. But the mirror belied my truth.

Now I’m one of those people who puts off buying underwear for years. Literally. I’m not sure what the procrastination factor is on that. I have no problem buying new hoodies or high tops, but underwear? As time wore on, my underwear literally started getting holes in it that I could no longer ignore. They were so holey they were almost useless. So one day, I just bit the bullet and went to the intimates store. And as I walked in the door, I thought, “maybe I should try the next size up?” So bravely I went in and immediately the clerk asked what size she could help me find. I would like to say that I was able to request my new size with no qualifiers, but I’m not quite that enlightened yet, as I did mention the new weight. Like really - why would she care? But long story short, I went home and tried on my new size. And over the course of a few days, as I looked in the mirror, I realized that I no longer had to work so hard to convince myself of my new mantra - that it’s OK and that I am beautiful, accepted and I belong. Because what I saw was something that fit my new body and made me look beautiful. Sexy even. Nothing about my circumstances had changed. Only my perspective. This one tiny ordinary everyday thing - underwear - had the power to shift my perspective from a perplexing negative energy to a space of freedom. It radically altered the way I viewed myself and talked to myself. New underwear changed my life!

 

My Curvy Reality

This morning I put on a pair of jeans. They felt a little odd. I looked in the mirror. They fit really well, but the waist seemed higher than any of the pairs of jeans I remember having. I was perplexed until I took them off and realized I had inadvertently put on my husband’s jeans. I was tempted to be horrified since they fit so well and he is 6 inches taller than I. To put it into perspective though, he is a really fit, 45 year-old elite athlete.  Still, his jeans have never fit me before. I’ve known for some time that my body is changing, but this little incident brought the reality of change crashing down on me.

No, I haven’t gotten fat. I’ve just shape-shifted. And put on a few pounds. Apparently this is normal for middle aged women and I should just accept it gracefully because my body is protecting itself for the coming changes. Easier said than done. Yet what else can I do short of something extreme like dieting or exercising more?

I know I know. Diet and exercise doesn’t sound extreme. But here’s a glimpse of my lifestyle: I eat mostly whole, fresh, organic foods, lots of veggies, very low sugar, moderate carb intake, no gluten. I eat less these days because even though I exercise, my body doesn’t seem to need what it used to. I run about 3 miles at a time a few times a week and I go mountain biking when I can for an hour and a half to two hours. I have an active job. I always take the stairs when I can and I usually run them.

Because of my healthy lifestyle I've been fairly comfortable and confident with my body over the last several years. Comfortable and confident, to me, means I don't spend much energy thinking about it - I'm free to not think about me. But now I’ve taken notice of my body and sadly, I have been self-conscious about it - sometimes in near panic mode wondering if I should try to be an athlete or go completely carb free. It is a very humbling and challenging experience.

After nearly a year of fighting with myself, telling myself that this is unacceptable and I must do something, I slowly came to a realization. My impetus for doing something is not that I am unhealthy and need to change. It is purely based on my perception that there is a standard I need to live up to - a freakish, cultural standard of beauty that I have internalized, believing that I have some inherent deficiency because I don’t look a certain way.

Yet this body does not define me. It houses me, but it does not define me. Who I am is not tied up in my body shape or size. I am being challenged to live in freedom. I am doing my part – making healthy food choices, exercising, building healthy relationships, sleeping and relaxing. So even though it may be awhile before I become comfortable and confident again, there’s one more choice I can make toward living in freedom: for today, I will choose to embrace my curvy reality.

a couple of things

#1 - 20 years on wednesday. I was a poor college student when we finally hooked up and we spent our honeymoon at a friends cabin in the az mountains. Fast forward 20 years later and i finally made up for that by taking the lady to sonoma county for a few days. Weather was gloomy, but that's okay when you are driving from place to place drinking wine.

#2 - Halloween was the 2nd annual enduro pub crawl. It's like the p2p up in jeffco, but with more beer stops. 5 stops and 40 miles. We came up short by two breweries, but now we know we have start earlier.

Restrictive Diets and Autistic Children

A new study was published in the medical journal Pediatrics on Monday, the New York Times reports. The introduction of the article states: “Many parents of autistic children have put their children on strict gluten-free or dairy-free diets, convinced that gastrointestinal problems are an underlying cause of the disorder. But a new study suggests the complicated food regimens may not be warranted.”

The (Mayo Clinic) study compared, through a review of medical records covering an 18-year period, 100 autistic children and 200 ‘typical’ children, in order to determine the incidence of gastrointestinal problems between the two populations. The study found no differences in overall frequency of gastrointestinal problems. The study found that 77% of autistic children and 72% of non-autistic children suffered, over the 18-year period, from bouts of one or more of the following ‘common’ gastrointestinal complaints: “constipation, diarrhea, abdominal bloating, reflux or vomiting. Feeding issues and picky eating were also common.”

Based on the facts of the study listed in the article, I’m wondering how on earth such a conclusion was drawn? Does the commonality of gastrointestinal incidence between the two groups somehow imply that a gluten-free casein-free (GF/CF) diet would be ineffective for one or both of the groups? If the study was comparing gastrointestinal complaints, how can a conclusion be drawn about the efficacy of a given diet? The information on the study is not specific. Were the autistic children that suffered from intestinal complaints actually already on GF/CF diet? Were the ‘bouts of common intestinal complaints’ a result of viruses or infections or just random complaints?

The doctor who led the study stated: “no trial …has proven so far that a gluten-free and casein-free diet improves autism. The diets are not easy to follow and can sometimes cause nutritional deficiencies.” Nutritional deficiencies are common among those with Celiac Disease or gluten intolerance. No trial has proven that a GF/CF diet improves autism, but there is PLENTY of evidence. Ask any parent of an autistic child who uses this as one of their many pieces of therapy or recovery for their children. The question isn’t JUST does it improve the symptoms of autism, but does it improve the gastrointestinal complaints? Again, ask the parents who use this diet. Ask anyone with Celiac Disease – the diet makes a difference.

If there is evidence in the autism community that the diet is effective, could it be that the diet might also be effective in the non-autistic community? What the study doesn’t ask is, if over 70% of children suffer from these same complaints, should a GF/CF diet be considered for BOTH autistic and ‘typical’ children?

Just to be clear, here are a few relevant stats for Celiac Disease and gluten intolerance:

· 1 out of every 133 people have Celiac Disease (CD) (compare with 1 out of 150 with Autism – both epidemic levels)
· Only 3% of people with CD have been diagnosed
· The number of people with non-celiac gluten sensitivity may be as high as 1 out of 7 people
· Gluten intolerance / Celiac Disease is responsible for a host of symptoms including, but not limited to: any type of gastrointestinal symptom, autoimmune diseases, anemia and nutritional deficiencies.

WHY is gluten all of a sudden the demon in this epidemic? Gluten is NOT easy to digest and since bioengineers are continually working to improve the gluten in grain, we now have 90% more gluten in wheat than we did a century ago. And what do we eat more than any other food in the U.S.? Wheat, of course.

So, does the study, at least as portrayed by the New York Times, REALLY have anything to do with whether or not autistic children would benefit from a gluten free diet? And here’s another question – if the human body is designed to function efficiently when given appropriate nutrition, shouldn’t a 70%+ incidence of REPORTED (i.e. – medical records) gastrointestinal discomfort among CHILDREN set off an alarm bell somewhere? If bloating, constipation and diarrhea are ‘common’, then why report them so they are in medical records? The fact is, the way the body is designed, they should NOT be common if the diet is appropriate. And just to reiterate – 80% of the immune system is attached to the gut. If the gut ain’t happy, the body ain’t happy.

Parental rights - American freedom

Well, I was going to blog on some helpful swine flu tips, even though it seems the 'danger' has passed, but this caught my eye and I couldn't help it. The implications are obvious, but I'm inclined to point out a few anyway.

Family lands in court over son's cancer treatment
by Sea Stachura, Minnesota Public Radio
May 8, 2009

The Brown County attorney is taking one boy's parents to court for refusing additional treatment for his cancer. The south central Minnesota family says it is following their religion by using alternative medicine to treat their son's Hodgkin's lymphoma. The Brown County attorney claims the family is guilty of medical neglect and says the boy could die without chemotherapy.

Sleepy Eye, Minn. — Danny Hauser is sitting on the lawn with his parents at their dairy farm near Sleepy Eye. The 13-year old is one of eight children. His cheeks are full and pink now, but his mom, Colleen, says in mid-January he didn't look this good. He coughed non-stop.

"We thought pneumonia," Colleen Hauser said. "We took him up to our local doctor, and he did some X-rays and some lab work, and referred us to Children's Hospital in the Twin Cities at that point. I knew when I saw the blood work that something was wrong."

He was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Multiple hospitals recommended chemotherapy and radiation. The survival rate for Hodgkin's is 80 percent with chemotherapy, according to the Mayo Clinic.

The family refused the treatment.

"I wanted to do alternative medicine. They were aware of that. I just did not like what the chemo did," Hauser said.

Eventually, Danny received one round of chemotherapy. He didn't return for the second treatment. The hospital contacted authorities and that led Brown County attorney Jim Olson to go to court to file a child in need protection or service petition.

The petition alleges that Colleen and Tony Hauser are medically neglecting Danny. It's in the state's interest to prevent a child from dying from a treatable cancer, according to Olson.

"You have on the one hand the parental rights to decide what's right for their child, keeping with their religious beliefs, their medical and nutritional beliefs. On the other hand you've got the state's interest saying, here's a child we've got a report from the treating doctor saying that this child is in danger because of the decisions the parents are making."

Olson wants the court to require that Danny resume chemotherapy immediately. He said the case is unusual.

"I've been the county attorney for 24 years and I've been an assistant since 1972 and frankly this is the first case I've come across," Olson said.

In 2007, the Minnesota Department of Human Services found that 94 children had been medically neglected. One child died as a result of the alleged neglect. Nationally, courts have based decisions on religious practices and a child's medical treatment on the specifics of the case.

In this instance, the family has a religious and parental right to care for their son in a way that is consistent with their beliefs. The family practices a Native American faith called Nemenhah, Colleen Hauser said.

"It's our religious belief. God has put everything on this earth to heal any kind of whatever-you-want-to-call-it. He has put every plant, herb ... we men just have to find it. And they are finding it. And it's working," she said.

She says regular X-rays and blood work show the tumor has shrunk.

"His health today is unsurpassed to what it was. And I don't know what's wrong with that," Hauser said.

His mother says if Danny weren't getting better, the family would consider chemotherapy. Danny Hauser says he would not.

"I see it as a poison, it poisons your body," Danny Hauser said.

At the age of 13, Danny is not capable of making these life-and-death decisions, according to Brown County attorney Jim Olson.

"If the parents wanted to treat Type II diabetes with diet and nutrition, and they didn't want him on insulin and it wasn't life threatening, well, okay, that's their choice," Olson said.

Colleen Hauser says this is a family decision, and not one for the state. And the family is respecting Danny's wishes.

"He told me this time and time again, 'Mom, I would rather die and be with God rather than go through the hell of chemo.' And that is how he feels. And I as a parent am not going to deprive him of his beliefs," Hauser said.

Asked if his mother was right, that he would rather die that go through chemotherapy, Danny Hauser said, "Yes."

The judge expects to rule today on whether Danny can continue his alternative medicine or has to begin chemotherapy.>

SO, SOME THOUGHTS:

1) 80% survival rate with chemo, according to Mayo Clinic - where are the statistics from alternative and nutritional treatments?

2) The 'child' in question is 13. In many cultures 13 year-olds get married, because if you think about it, this is when a person's body 'matures' into adulthood. Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah - a right of passage at 13. And in America, we allow them to choose which divorced parent they wish to live with. Yes, they are young,and still need some protection and guidance, but they are cognizant beings capable of making some pretty important decisions when allowed to. If they are protected by our law as an individual, do they not get an opinion about what happens to them?

3) And lastly, helloooo! This is America. If we are protecting 'children' (as defined in America) until they are 18 - they are under the 'protection' of their parents! Parents can choose, because of our supposed freedom, CHOOSE how to educate, raise and make medical decisions for our children until they are 18, unless they forfeit that freedom by threatening the child's life, right? But there is NO PROOF that conventional (i.e pharmaceutical) medicine is the ONLY method to save the life of someone with cancer. Therefore, NO PROOF that this 13 year old's life is at stake. So if that is true, WHY would the State trample a parent's rights without having all the facts? Are alternative medicine and religious freedom actually illegal in our supposedly 'democratic' and free state?

How sad for us.

Healthy Weight

So, what is a healthy weight and why is it important? A healthy weight is just that - a weight that allows you to be healthy. "Healthy implies full strength and vigor as well as freedom from signs of disease." The working definition of healthy is somewhat blurred in the U.S. however, because we often consider ourselves to be healthy even when we struggle with daily or frequent burdens such as allergies, asthma, colds, bloating, heartburn, fatigue, headaches or constipation. For some reason these seem like minor inconveniences that can be easily treated with over the counter or prescription remedies. And in a way, they are. Yes, asthma and allergies can become life-threatening and a bad headache or cold can put us in bed, but often we just treat the symptoms and function the best we can with our added burden without much loss of daily function.

So what does weight have to do with all this? If we are not at a healthy weight for our frame, we often suffer with some of the aforementioned issues and, depending on the severity of our weight imbalance, we are at increased risk for far more serious health problems - obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, autoimmune disorder......the list goes on. We hear about it day after day. If we are not at a healthy weight it is one of our body's primary signals that something has gone awry. What's interesting is that sometimes a little detective work can sniff out a potential remedy of this situation and reduce our suffering.

80% of our immune system is attached to the small intestine. That tells us that nutrition is VERY important for health. Our bodies are designed in such a way that food is what allows us to thrive. Therefore WHAT we eat matters as much, if not more, than how much we eat. What's difficult is that we have such diversity of needs and constitution, that one size does NOT fit all. There is no simple formula for finding a healthy weight. If overeating is a problem, it may have started with an imbalance somewhere in the body - hormones, food sensitivities, or even more likely the quality of foods consumed. Once someone gets on the cycle of overeating it often spirals into ill health and from there it's just a circular problem - can't exercise because of ill health, can't eat right because of lack of energy due to ill health (and money), can't get healthy because they can't manage to eat better.

One of the things that goes awry and contributes to an unhealthy weight is the function of the appestat. The appestat is "the area in the brain believed to regulate appetite and food intake." So here's the deal - the appestat tells us we are hungry if it is not satisfied by what we eat. This sounds silly since most of us really enjoy yummy things like chips, pizza or a good burger. But the appestat is actually satisfied by the nutrients in what we eat. The problem is - we're not eating nutrients! We are constantly eating chemicals and empty calories. More often than not we are drinking our calories in the form of sodas, juices and sports drinks - all very sugar laden and generally unnecessary for our health. (That excludes the juicing of whole vegetables and fruits of course) The drinks that are not sugar laden are often laced with artificial sugars which are linked to weight GAIN. Many of the foods we eat are laced with hidden forms of MSG - a neurotoxin linked to weight GAIN. Many of the foods we eat are so void of actual nutrients that our appestat is literally starving and signaling us that we are too. 

The good news is that with education and support we CAN change our weight, not by eating less but by making better choices about what we eat. The better our choices, the easier and healthier our journey. Some starting points are finding hidden food sensitivities, knowing where our foods come from, knowing what's in our foods and most importantly eating naturally, nutrient-dense, whole foods. A naturally nutrient-dense food is one that is not 'value added' like an energy bar, but one that has great nutrients all by itself such as a free-range egg, an avocado or a sweet potato. As we choose more of these nutrient-dense foods our bodies will begin to respond with signals of satisfaction and put us on the road to a more natural weight and better health.

Do Vaccines Cause Autism?

Do vaccines cause Autism? Apparently not, according to the most recent judgments handed down by the “Special Masters” of the Vaccine Court. (http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2009/02/12/court-rules-vaccines-not-to-blame-for-autism/) Many parents of autistic children still believe otherwise, claiming that the normal development of their child was altered shortly after receiving a specific vaccine or a series of vaccines. So, even though studies have ‘proven’ that there is no connection and these special masters have judged that there is no connection, the parents remain unconvinced. The question remains “Could vaccines be a contributing factor to the onset of autistic symptoms?”

The scientific method is about isolating factors that can show cause and effect. Epidemiological studies may give a more accurate picture of trends, but they cannot conclusively prove a cause/effect relationship. That is why research is needed using the scientific method. Unfortunately, trying to prove a causal relationship between two things, such as vaccines and autism that clearly have so many variables creates quite a problem. It is an almost impossible scenario. Cause and effect can neither be proved nor disproved. Several studies have been done attempting to determine a cause/effect relationship between autism and vaccines, but let’s take a look at why this is so difficult.

First, a look at the complex medical conditions that face these little ones. There’s a reason why puzzle pieces represent autism – there are many pieces, but they are all connected. There is a wide range of symptoms and conditions that plague children on the autism spectrum including, but not limited to: Sensory Integration Dysfunction, inappropriate social skills, tantrums, speech delay, gastro-intestinal and digestive disorders (http://www.umm.edu/news/releases/autism.htm), seizure disorders, self ‘stimming’ behaviors, Vitamin B12 deficiency, Vitamin D deficiency, PANDAS (a specific type of strep infection), heavy metal toxicity (especially, lead, mercury and aluminum), food allergies and sensitivities, attention problems, asthma, allergies, eczema, yeast infections and repeated seasonal illnesses. While these symptoms and conditions may sound disconnected, autistic children have a mix of these conditions. What defines autism and autism spectrum is NOT narrow. Certainly, the cause of these conditions alone may have many different origins, but since these medical conditions are common among autistic children, it begs the question – why?

To make matters more complicated, vaccines have numerous components and there are numerous possible effects of each of the components. Vaccines have a microbe (the virus or bacteria intended to stimulate the immune system by mimicking the disease itself), and a medium, which the microbes are grown in (such as monkey kidney cells, chicken embryos, bovine fetal serum and human fetal diploid cells). Vaccines also contain other ingredients to preserve, stabilize it and make the microbe more effective. These other ingredients include formaldehyde, aluminum sulfate, thimerisol (ethyl mercury), aspartame, MSG, and a host of other, often unpronounceable, ingredients.

Commenting on the decision of the Vaccine Court, Dr. Max Wiznitzer, an autism expert at Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio declares, "What the decision tells us is that these vaccinations are safe. The medical evidence tells us there is no association between vaccines and autism. This is one more piece that helps confirm that conclusion." It should be rather obvious that attempting to ‘prove’ a connection between vaccines and autism is an exercise in futility. But perhaps Dr. Wiznitzer’s conclusion is an oversimplification of an issue that clearly has too many variables to make such a pronouncement.

There is a group of doctors*, who do believe that vaccines may have contributed to the many conditions facing these autistic kiddos. These pioneering doctors have approached the puzzle of autism by addressing the pervasive medical issues one at a time. The focus of these doctors is not on blaming vaccines, but rather using the information that vaccines may have contributed to the condition, to help solve the medical pieces of the puzzle. If sources of potential triggers can be identified, treatment can be more effective. By addressing food allergies, metabolic and endocrine dysfunctions and heavy metal toxicity, they have seen reversals in autistic symptoms as the children’s bodies have begun to heal. Is it reversible across the board and can all the conditions be reversed? No. But in a significant number of children the quality of life has improved and their behaviors and conditions have become indistinguishable from their ‘typical’ peers.

So, there are many medical issues, many vaccine ingredients, polarized opinions on the subject and LOTS of variables. Is it possible to make connections between some of these? It would be next to impossible to isolate exactly which components or ingredients caused which symptoms and conditions wouldn’t it? And what role do genetics play? Can the DNA and RNA used to grow vaccine cultures have any effect on the DNA or the immune system of the recipient of the vaccine? Should we stop looking for answers because a court has decided that there is NO connection between vaccines and autism? Too many questions, not enough answers.

In 1983, 10 vaccines were recommended for children up to the age of 5. In 2007, 36 were recommended (360% increase). If SOME of the vaccine components could cause SOME of the conditions of autism, perhaps the increase in recommended vaccines could be correlated to the increased incidence of autism. And nobody has investigated the synergistic effect of all the vaccines, all their components, in conjunction with the frequency of vaccine administration. Epidemiological studies point to such a correlation. Doesn’t common sense tell us that even scientists cannot account for the synergistic effect of so many vaccines delivered in such a short period of time? Just because something can’t be proved, or hasn’t been proven yet, doesn’t mean there is no evidence of harm.

*For more information about the approach of these doctors read: Healing the New Childhood Epidemics: Autism, ADHD, Asthma and Allergies by Kenneth Bock M.D.

For further reading on the vaccine/autism connection read: Evidence of Harm by David Kirby.

For actress Jenny McCarthy’s perspective regarding her autistic son, view http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5WTaLnDPY4