Kimberly J Garcia

Category: Stress

  • Create a “Cheerios” Moment!

    As you build your life, as you care for your children and as you guide them to become who you want them to be, ask yourself,  “Am I taking time to build the “Cheerios” moments?” Now those of you that know me, know there are no cheerios in our household, but I do like the term and I do make great effort to build these kind of moments with my girls and my loved ones as a whole.

    Herson and I know the pressure of wanting to create financial stability for our children and our family. Wanting to take a vacation and put our kids into special programs such as horse back riding, dance and sports. We also know when you are building your future, the extra money (or time) is not always there to provide these experiences. Maybe you can’t buy your kid the favorite game they want or go on a cruise. We’ve been there, and are still there at many times.

    This used to cause great pressure on me to want to make more, do more, so I could give my kids everything they deserve. Then one day it hit me! I was  working so hard to make the money, to make the dreams I thought they wanted, but I was not taking time to create the “Cheerios” moments. When you feel pressured to get ahead, to get a promotion, extra education or the bonus, you can change your personality. You can start to overwork, become crabby or short with your kids. All the while not realizing that your kids have all the wealth they need, YOU!

    Herson and I, both came from financially and educationally challenged backgrounds. Our parents did not have a lot of money, nor did they know how to help get us in to the best college, on the best sports teams or in the extra curricular activities. What they did know is how to make the “Cheerios” moments! They knew how to work hard, love unconditionally, share gratitude, give to others, be patient, kind and loving! They wanted to give more money, more vacations, more activities, but money was not how they were able to show love and we did not suffer from the lack of extras in our life.

    Growing up with less, can make you want to work your butt off to GET MORE so you can either GIVE MORE of HAVE MORE!

    It can keep you so busy that you may forget the truly important moments are the “Cheerios” moments.

    At this point, you may be asking, “What the heck is a Cheerios moment?”

    I am glad you asked!

    There used to be a wonderful video I could share, expressing the innocence of two young children, Zach and Kate, who lost their mom to cancer. The video has since been removed due to ownership rights, but this was one of the most touching moments ever aired on the Oprah Winfrey show!

    cheerios moments

    Because Zach & Kate’s mom, Kathleen, had known she was dying, the family had decided to spend time taking trips and connecting as a family while she was still alive. Oprah asked Kate what her favorite moment from that year had been.

    “One day when I came back from swimming,” she said, “my mom was in bed. Mom said, ‘Kate, would you get me a bowl of cereal?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ A week before she died, I was in my parents’ room.

    I said, ‘Mom, would you wake me up if you go downstairs to get a bowl of cereal?’ So at 2 in the morning, we had a bowl of Cheerios together.” What Oprah and we as viewers found so powerful about Kate’s story: They’d been everywhere from Palm Springs to Disney World, but what Kate remembered was a simple, intimate moment of connection. The producers and Oprah called this the Cheerios moment from that point forward.

    If you have achieved financial success, know that although your family may appreciate the extras, it’s the “Cheerios” moments that will last in their hearts forever, not the money.  If you are struggling to create financial success or you never care to have more than you currently have, that is ok too. Many of us have been there. You still have all the wealth you need to give your children the ability to have a FULFILLING life! You can give them the confidence, self esteem, love and security needed to teach them how to sustain themselves!  Take time away from the computer, the TV, the bills, the bank account or the shopping spree and ensure there is some special quality time with you and your loved ones.

    During our tightest times with money or time itself, we’ve done simple things like surprise our kids with a camp out in their room, watch planes take off at the airport on the top level of the parking garage at night or set up a make believe spa day at home with cucumbers on their eyes, a clay mask and towels on their head. Our children rarely felt the effects of financial strain. We attempted to make them feel safe, secure and rich versus worried, stressed and scared. Build a fort with your child, create a picnic or walk in nature. If you have no kids, do this with your friends and family. Be spontaneous, simple, spoil them, love them, praise them for what is right! Try not to let the pressures of everyday life or their less than perfect behavior hold you back from giving authentic love and words of kindness. No matter how much money or time you have, take a few special moments to create something that money can not buy.

    In the end, the “Cheerios” moments are the only investments that can truly offer a lasting return!

  • The Gift of Having a Crystal Ball

    I have to share with you my love-hate relationship with my passion to help others improve their life. Living the life of a trainer, fitness enthusiast and health education junkie for more than 19 years, has truly taught me a great deal about the human body. When you research and live what you learn, you truly get the chance to experience the outcome. The cause and effect of our choices.  When I first started in this career of wellness, I could only understand how I felt from my choices and what happened when I worked out a certain way or followed a certain diet etc. Now after years of working with individuals as young as 5 years old up to 86 years young, I have gained the true gift of being able to see the future. My profession is one of the ONLY professions who actually has the opportunity to spend anywhere from 1 hour to thousands of hours with their clients. These hours are spent learning about their symptoms, their insecurities, their goals, diet plans, life stressors etc. Through this time, I get to learn not only from my mistakes or successes, but also from theirs. I get to see what a life with no activity leads to. I get to see what crazy weight loss plans create and I am also able to see the years many of us waste thinking lesser of ourselves.  Each of these experiences have taught me something new.

    Meeting with more than 3,500 people and coaching them for more than 19,000 hours has helped me identify trends, effective programming and ineffective programming. This combined with years of formal education, has given me the gift to recognize the cause of many health issues, training injuries and weight loss failures. Not only can I almost take an x-ray of your posture with my eyes, I can almost guarantee you I have an answer as to why a person may have chronic fatigue syndrome, bronchitis, irritable bowel syndrome and  thyroid issues. Not only can I give you an answer as to what caused the “sudden” onset of symptoms, I can also give you solutions to the problem.

    How can I do this? Why do I think I can?

    Do I know it all? No.

    Am I a doctor? No.

    Am I a VooDoo practitioner? No.

    What is it then?

    I ask questions. I listen. I am PASSIONATE about what I do. It is embedded within my soul to help others live their fullest life. I seek the best of the best and I train under them. When I don’t have an answer, I seek it out. I find someone who does. When I can’t get a clear answer, I research what happened before the problem began and identify the trends. I track, test, follow through and tailor my programs to my client’s need. I live what I preach and learn from what I live.

    When you do anything with passion over a period of years, you become an expert, a master of your trade.  If you are like me, you then want to top what you know. You want to gain more answers and give more solutions. This is what I LOVE! I love being able to give someone a solution to their want or need, particularly when it comes to a better mind, body and health. Many times the solutions are simpler than what one might expect and then other times, a chronic condition may take time to heal, but it CAN be done and if it can not be 100%, a person can drastically slow the progression of their symptoms through the proper guidance. How do I know this? I experience it everyday of my life.

    Now what do I hate about this passion? What I hate about this passion is really my issue. Have you ever lived something, made a mistake and then saw someone you love about to make the same mistake? Have you ever tried to stop them? What happened? Did they listen? Did they believe you? I am sure sometimes they did. You may have helped them avoid a misery you already lived. A lesson you learned from experience.

    What do you feel like when they don’t listen? When your daughter still stands on the counter after you told her not to and then she falls and hurts herself. Or when your sibling keeps dating someone whose tearing them down and it kills you inside. Or when you see your family member continue to abuse themselves through food, alcohol or drugs with no thought of what they are doing to you or their own body? Does it bother you inside? Don’t you want to help them because you know the results of their actions? I would assume most of you would say yes. I know some are built to walk away and let others just live their journey, but for me it’s not that easy.

    When you have been given the gift of being able to absorb so much knowledge and experience from others and self, it’s almost impossible to not want to help others avoid chronic mistakes I see on a day-to-day basis. Many mistakes creating misery, depression, feelings of failure and early death. When I see someone who gives up on themselves because the scale didn’t respond fast enough or someone who is over exercising, under  eating or cutting out whole food groups to live “healthy”, it literally kills me inside. Why? Because I have been there and done that. I know the consequences. I know the short and long-term results. I know the years of quality life people are shaving off their future and the rapid aging they are creating. I know how they are impacting their family’s future by their choices and how they will miss their goal yet again.

    I have people I care about deeply hire me to help them and then negate everything I coach them to do or throw everything out the window once they are on their own. It’s so tough to see them work harder versus smarter, reliving the mistakes I have seen lived a million times over again. But I have to understand, it’s their journey. It’s their lesson to learn and their choice to make, not mine. It’s taken me some time, but I have learned that I can not put my passion on to others. I can not make them want to trust what I tell them. They have to choose what they want and I have to realize I will help some avoid issues all together and I will spend the rest of the time helping people regain the health they lost.

    Having the “crystal ball” has definitely helped me live in the moment, love myself for who I am and value taking care of the body I have today. With two-thirds of adults struggling with weight, over 26 million having diabetes and over $83 billion dollars spent on depression each year, I have a true passion to help slow the statistics. A passion to spread my knowledge to each of you and help you live it on a day-to-day basis. One person at a time, we can be the change we wish to see in the world. Many of us have knowledge, but knowledge is nothing unless it’s applied. So if you know me, you have worked with me in the past or you meet with me in the future, know that when I give you A LOT of information and I send you emails of support, it’s not to tell you what to do. It’s not to seem like a know it all and it’s definitely not to mislead you. It’s just because I have had the chance to see the future and I have learned how to live balanced and happy in the present. It is my passion to help you achieve full vitality and performance. You deserve it. Our children deserve it. And our community deserves it.

    I hope you will allow me to share my crystal ball with you! It’s definitely worth the outcome.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • It’s Better to Be Late and Happy!

    Hmmm? What is Kim talking about now?

    This is a new saying around our facility and something I truly try to live by at home and at work.

    We all know there are obstacles in life.  The plan never exactly happens how we planned it.  The only thing guaranteed in life is change. We are always going to experience setbacks, obstacles and disappointments. What’s different about each of these guaranteed moments in life, is how we choose to react to them.

    Many of us are making our life MUCH harder than it has to be. Each time a stressor comes around, we allow it to consume us. We allow worry, doubt and fear to consume us just anticipating what may come around. If we look back at all the times we have consumed ourselves with worry and doubt, what’s happened? Did you make it through? Did it work out ok or did you make it out stronger than before? I would say most of us would answer yes to the majority of situations. If you’re reading this, you did survive each of the obstacles. Now the question is how do we survive each frustration well? I have found it’s all in how we look at each situation. It’s our personal choice as to how we want to react to each bump in the road.

    For example, the little stressors such as being stuck in a traffic jam or getting lost on vacation:

    Sometimes we get so frustrated that we’re running late, wasting gas or wasting time turning in circles. Although these setbacks can be annoying, is it really worth ruining your day, your moment or someone else’s moment? Now of course I don’t like to be late, but I definitely don’t want to be late and unhappy. The two together are a real crappy combination.

    My loving husband, Herson Garcia, used to get so worked up when we were heading to a conference or leaving for vacation that he would make the whole experience regimented and rushed. For most women and men, this is not a great turn on :>)  If we were running a little behind, he would get less smiley and just resemble a drill sergeant to the kids and I.  By the time we did arrive where we were going, we were all late and unhappy. Being late is one thing, but then screwing up the rest of the trip, event etc. just because we were late, was even worse. This is when I decided to start reminding my family and myself, do we want to be late and at least happy or would we rather lose out on both. “Not I”, said the wise wife. Take my time, but don’t take my happiness with it.

    The same tool can work in many areas of your life.

    Many people are financially strapped right now, unable to take their families on vacation or on a weekend get away. Although it sucks to be looking for ways to pay the next bill, we don’t have to lose our love and kindness to family also. This may sound insane, but you could lose your job and your house and still have love, happiness and peace. How? Think back? What did people do before the big houses existed? What did people do when there were no cell phones, TV’s, fancy cars and Disney World?

    They spent time together. They read books. They worked. They went for walks. They looked for affordable shelter. Before we were so attached to “things” there was happiness. Do you think everyone who was born in the 1800’s walked around depressed? Heck No! It might not have been easy all the time, but they weren’t all on anti-depressants trying to figure out how to cheer themselves up because they couldn’t go on an extravagant vacation or buy the $30,000 and up car. Why? Because it didn’t exist. They weren’t sold to think these things were needed for happiness or for status. Although it is very humbling to have to shut off your cable or cut down on dining out, it doesn’t have to be miserable. It doesn’t have to take your family with it. Money and things is not what creates happiness in a family. It’s the little moments in which everyone still feels safe and loved no matter what is happening around them.

    So how do you make a tough situation like financial loss better?

    • If you have children, have a camp out in their room. Pop homemade popcorn, color with them, make a special craft. They will remember that camp out more so than most major trips to Disney World and it will mean more than buying them something to cheer them up.
    • If you are with a special someone- light some candles and have a nice dinner together. You can put ice water in wine glasses, put the pizza on nice plates and be comfortable together. Show each other that although you may have to take a few steps back financially, you can jump leaps and bounds mentally and emotionally together.
    • If you are on your own, take this time to focus on you. Take care of you. Gather with friends to go for walks. Read a nice book in the park. These things may sound cheesy, but use time of setbacks as an opportunity to slow down a little and do things you can’t do when your slammed with work and killing yourself to pay the bills.

    We have to know there are Universal Laws and the Law of Rhythm states there is a time for everything, with no exceptions. If you can ride out the bad knowing the good is on it’s way, then you have won half the battle. The more you fight the bad with negativity, fear and worry, the longer it will last.

    So although I know it’s not always easy to look for the opportunity in the moments of frustration, there is opportunity and there will be an upswing if you allow it. Try to ride the wave the best you can and know that you have at least two ways of dealing with every stressful situation. You can lose your accessories and lose your family = no money and no love. Or you can take the time to invest more love and security into those around you, while you work together to build the financial security you want.

    You can have a rushed, miserable trip to school and work, arriving late and unhappy.

    Or you can realize it’s always better to be late and happy!

     

     

     

  • Pain Can Be Your Answer to Better Health!

    I know this may sound crazy, but it is so true. Many of  us may be looking at pain as a problem or experiencing fear wondering where the pain is coming from, when actually pain can be a blessing. A warning sign that something is not right.  Although it can definitely be frustrating, it’s really like your check engine light in the car. When it first comes on it’s a general warning letting you know something needs to be addressed.  If left unaddressed or covered up, a simple need for more oil may lead to something as chronic as a blown engine.  Migraines, back pain, stomach cramping are each signals letting you know something needs to be adjusted. If we keep about our general programming running through the pain or just throw a few Ibuprofen in to cover it up, we tend to create much larger problems.

    Many times we do not intend to ignore the pain and we head to the doctor to find out what is going on. Our physician is trained to check our blood work, look at the site of the pain and to give us solutions to get rid of the pain. But lets say you have something  like chronic stomach pain. This can be triggered by many causes. Your physician will most likely give you a few recommendations such as taking an over the counter Pepto Bismol, prescribe a muscle relaxer or maybe even further testing such as a Colonoscopy. If the Colonoscopy comes back with no chronic findings other than a spastic colon and inflammation in the intestines, your physician will most likely diagnosis you with something comparable to Irritable Bowel Syndrome. He or she may recommend a few dietary changes and prescribe a specific medicine to keep the symptoms manageable.

    Although you appreciate knowing nothing life threatening has developed such as Cancer, have you really fixed the problem? What caused the pain in the first place? We know the pain is there, we know there is inflammation, but did we find out what caused the inflammation or are we still ignoring it? Many times we are told stress caused our stomach pain, migraine etc. or maybe something we ate. This is most definitely true, but did you determine what in your diet was causing the problem? Were you taught how to manage the various stressors which led up to a more chronic symptom?  If you did not find the underlying cause and you were unable to make changes in your behavior which kept symptoms at bay, this means you did not fix the cause which triggered the warning light. You basically just threw a towel over it so you can’t see it or feel it anymore.

    This happens many times when it comes to gall bladder pain. Although someone may have demolished their gall bladder to the point of  needing surgery, there is a reason it went bad in the first place. There is a reason it started to create pain. If we just live with the pain or just cut it out, we generally forget to look for the cause. If we continually just look for instant pain relief, but do not ask why or do not look deeper into what we’re doing to the engine, we’re basically just cutting the wires to the warning lights versus truly fixing the underlying problem. These short term fixes or “quick” fixes can and will lead to more chronic conditions such as hypothyroid, MS, stroke or even cancer. Many times we do not even know more chronic conditions are developing, because we have cut out or medicated the tools which were designed to warn us something was still not right.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Pain can be felt in different forms such mental pain, physical pain, emotional pain or even numbness.

    Although we may need medication or a surgery to fix the acute problem, we truly need to ensure we are addressing the underlying cause to prevent further damage. Of course if someone smacks you in the knee with a bat, we know a simple pain reliever, rest and possibly surgery will get you fixed up. But if you have been taking medication to address symptoms such as stomach pain, heel pain or back pain which came on without direct trauma, it is critical to find out what you may be doing to cause the pain. You may have a muscle imbalance above or below the pain or you may be having stress from overexercising or prolonged sitting. Digging deeper to find the cause may take a little longer than a medication, but you will see the results will be longer lasting and you will drastically decrease your chances of a more fatal outcome.

    This is what we specialize in as CHEK Practitioners and Holistic Lifestyle Coaches. Our training teaches us how to discover the cause, manage it and make it part of our everyday lifestyle. We assess daily lifestyle habits, nutritional choices, movement patterns and overall stressors to find the cause or causes of a persons overall symptoms. We refer our clients to physicians to ensure our steps and the client’s choices are leading to the correct outcomes such as managed blood pressure, blood sugar and proper healing. We also refer to physicians to ensure there are no underlying pathologies needing immediate medical attention.  But helping you efficiently determine the cause to many symptoms and then teaching you how to manage your daily choices, allows us to help you achieve your FULLEST life! This helps create a healthier you, reducing your physician’s liability when treating you, reducing your medical costs and improving your overall well being.  If you are ready to address the cause of your pain or overall symptoms contact us today at info@gimefitness.com or 352-428-6368. We look forward to complimenting your physician’s efforts and helping you take control of your daily choices.

     

     

     

  • Pills are Painless?

    Are you playing with your body’s chemistry?

    Could you be creating a serious health problem?

    Chances are if you take prescription medications, over the counter vitamins and a pain reliever now and then, the answer is YES! Americans as a whole are unaware of the billions of chemical reactions happening in their  body each second and have become immune to the fact that everything which they put into their mouth impacts these reactions. Your metabolism is every chemical reaction happening within your body to maintain life. The substances we place into our mouth either promote these reactions helping to maintain life or they have the ability to cease the chemical reactions leading to a slow death.

    Growing up I saw commercials constantly telling me if I have a headache, take this. If I have a backache, take this. If I have depression, take this. It seemed as if I had experienced any pain or symptom the solution was to take something to get rid of it. When we hear this repetitively, it seems normal to just take something to solve your physical and mental health problems. Although there are times when we do need a medication or supplement to help us improve our health, this programmed thought to just take something is very dangerous in many ways.  Let me share with you just my personal experience with pills and how they have impacted my life.

    1.The Teen Years- As a teen, my mom had to work a lot. My father was not in the picture and my step father was not a good resource for parenting. Needless to say I spent a lot of time with my friends. I originally had a great group of friends which focused on school, good grades and movie night. Through certain events, I slowly migrated towards a group of friends who had less leadership in their life and had more interest in drinking, skipping school and drug use. With my insecurities in myself and lack of quality family time, I became drawn to this environment. As I surrounded myself with people who experimented with drugs, the only one I felt safe to take were in the form of a pill. I would not do heavy drugs such as cocaine, crack or acid. I felt these were unsafe, looked trashy and had too many risks. I did feel safe to take pills. Why? They seemed harmless. Everyone took them and they were very easy to swallow. Smoking caused coughing, smelly clothes and cancer. Although I tried smoking, I always felt pills would be a much easier way to be part of the crowd without too much danger. At this time deadly pills such as OxyContin were not available or popular. Ten years later, a young girl locally who took a half of one pill died that same night in her sleep. Children who have watched their parents take these pills are also following suit and have now lost their life. I was the lucky one, but could you imagine a gifted student who graduated with honors and was most proud of state science fair, falling into the thought process of pills being safe?

    2.The Diet Industry: When I first entered the fitness world, I was looking for a pill which could give me natural energy to improve my workouts and help me get through my work day. I entered a popular nutrition store and the representative recommended a product which was made from MaHuang, the herbal form of Ephedra. He said it was all natural and a great way to receive safe energy.  I was excited and felt like this was a good choice. Well the bottle with a picture of a 200lb body builder on the front said to take four per serving. So the next day I took four pills and within an hour thought I was going to explode. My body was racing, my head was tingling and I could not stop. At 118lbs and 18 years old, I guess the four pills were a little much. Did anyone tell me this? No. Did the bottle warn me? No. The kid in the store said this was safe and why would I doubt him since he sells these products all the time? Needless to say anytime I took these type of pills, I felt as if I was on the speed I experimented with as a young teenager and knew these pills must not be good for me. I definitely did not have lasting energy and if anything, when they wore off, I felt like I had been hit by a truck. This experience helped me later in life working with a mentally ill client searching for weight loss. The client had went to her psychiatrist expressing symptoms of tingling in her head, a racing feeling and itching. He then gave her a prescription for anti-psychotic drugs. Her symptoms seemed closely related to what I felt when I took my energy pill. I asked the client if she had been taking weight loss pills and/or drinking energy drinks at the time the symptoms began. Sure enough she was taking 4-6 pills per day and drinking 2-4 energy drinks. No one asked her what she had changed, nor what she was taking when her symptoms appeared. Instead she was given a very powerful drug which added to her negative symptoms. Luckily I was able to attend a consult with her and her doctor. After hearing this information he felt confident he could remove the prescribed drug from her daily regimen. Simple diet changes and elimination of weight loss products cleared up the client’s problems almost immediately. What’s happening to those out there who do not have an advocate? Are they on a pill to address the symptoms of another pill? Are they becoming an addicted member of society which can not add value to their community in the workforce and does not feel valuable to themselves?

    3. Pills a Safe Way to Die- This is going to sound rough and maybe unbelievable, but it’s critical we share our experiences to help save others. After years of an emotionally abusive relationship in which my boyfriend loved to make me feel lesser about myself, I felt as if I wanted to pay him back for the pain he had caused me. I had secluded myself from friends due to his possessiveness, felt too ugly to do things normal people in their twenties did and was ready to hurt him the way he had hurt me. I decided one day to take pills left over from my step father’s previous surgery. He happened to have an entire bottle of the pain reliever Darvocet in the medicine cabinet. I decided if I took the pills I could die painlessly and make my then boyfriend suffer for all the pain he caused me. Of course I didn’t want to die, but I wanted my feelings validated. No matter how bad he hurt me mentally or physically, he never seemed to let it bother him. I wanted him to feel the pain he had caused me. After taking 17 pills, I planned to go to sleep. Thank you to God (who was  always watching over me, even in the times I was a total idiot) a friend showed up and came to my rescue. I told her what I had done and why.  My mother then came home and called her friend which was a nurse. My mom kept me awake per instruction of her friend. They started giving me water and I began to vomit. Imagine vomiting at least 20 times in one day. I could first only handle a sip of water and then a quarter of a glass and then a full glass. After hours of vomiting and a day of rest, I finally felt like myself again. It was the stupidest thing I ever did, but something I needed to go through to see pills are not painless and that I was much more valuable than what I had felt. My mom, although scared and angry, showed me love and understanding.  I had done such a good job hiding my feelings from her and others. She had no idea I ever felt this way. This was a big life lesson for all of us.

    4. Pills to Cover Severe Stomach Pain- This was my third year into trying to live perfect, go to college, work at night and exercise an hour or more per day. I ate healthy, made good grades and worked hard. I thought I was doing everything right. I began to experience severe abdominal pain, bowel issues, melasma and skin rashes which mimicked lupus. My doctors told me I was stressed, I should drink water and eat salad. I was diagnosed with IBS and given a pill. The pain continued. Two colonoscopies later and continued use of Metamucil with no long term relief from symptoms. I was told my colon was moving at the rate of a 40 year old and I was only 21. Still no solutions other than take this pill and live with it. I later discovered I was eating too little on my healthy diet, over training and was creating a sluggish system with a spastic colon due to my daily choices. After changing my work out regimen, eliminating diet foods and achieving a realistic body fat, all pain and bowel issues went away. I was even able to menstruate again after a year and a half without a period.  All symptoms were accounted to stress according to my Physicians, but no one could tell me how to balance this stress since I was exercising, eating what we thought was “healthy” and drinking water. I later learned through my training at the CHEK Institute how to help balance the various stressors and which factors were impacting my health.  I now teach people how to assess their stressors and how to take control of their life. The pills never helped.

    5. Nutrition Deficiencies– After years of doing what mainstream media told me to do, exercise, eat the right amount of calories, go, go, go- I continued to have vague symptoms such as fatigue, depression, peripheral neuropathy and dull chest aches. I approached my doctor with the symptoms. She tested my thyroid and everything showed fine on paper. Yet I had very low blood pressure, low pulse, low body temp and general fatigue. Nothing in blood work could be revealed. One day when the tingling in my arm and face took over the doctor instructed me to go to the ER. After two visits and a $5,000 bill nothing was discovered, yet my symptoms were getting worse. I finally researched vitamin deficiencies and my symptoms. I found many vitamin B deficiencies which matched my ailments. I then found a company SpectraCell Labs which could test each of my nutrient levels. This is not something generally ordered by Physicians. This is the first time I actually received answers to what was causing my symptoms. The test revealed a Vitamin B3 and Vitamin B6 deficiency, along with lower rates of CoQ10 and B12. Each of the deficiencies matched the exact symptoms I was was having for more than a year. I discovered my on the go diet of “healthier” snack foods and busy lifestyle was depleting my body of essential nutrients needed for proper metabolism, hormones, nerve health and brain function. I quickly purchased the exact vitamins I needed, made additional dietary changes and improved my symptoms within weeks.

    6. Cookie Cutter Programs- Many people are being advised to take the same vitamins, the same medications, the same vaccines, the same diet plans, yet everyone is chemically in a different place. I have found even local health professionals do not understand the danger of recommending the same supplement plan to all of their clients. I have seen clients told to take vitamins designed for a vegan, when their lifestyle matches nothing of a vegan. I have seen people told to take loads of calcium pyruvate for weight loss to later lead to heart problems. Although vitamins may seem harmless and medications may seem to eliminate our symptoms, it is critical we understand we are each uniquely made with drastically different lifestyles. Taking a vitamin to hopefully help prevent disease, without knowing what your body needs, can cause more problems than prevention. Taking the same Statin drug as most people are taking without solving the underlying  cause of your cholesterol issue, can cause additional issues such as joint pain, liver problems and continued disease progression.  You are not an inanimate object such as a car, lawn mower or motorcycle which can be given the same fuel over and over again. You are a person working to maintain a quality of life. It is important that you assess your symptoms and then analyze what you could be doing to cause your symptoms. Once the causes are determined, you work to eliminate the ones you can and supplement specifically to your needs.

    My goal of this blog is to help open a dialogue. A better understanding of how complex our body is. An understanding as to how even smart people can make poor choices and feel as if pills are painless.  Although these are quick synopses of a much bigger picture, these stories are reality and a reality many innocent people are dealing with on a day to day basis. People looking for help in all the right places and mostly innocent professionals trying to offer quick solutions.  These seemingly  harmless prescriptions for pain relief, weight loss and better health are leading to much bigger issues within our society. Issues of drug addiction which stemmed from common back pain or an internal insecurity which went unrecognized during a 15  minute office visit. Issues of chronic vitamin deficiencies being misdiagnosed as depression, MS and Fibromyalgia. Issues of a society who looks to the pill and the doctor to cure them versus looking within at their own personal habits, insecurities and choices. Forgetting to search for ways to take ownership and improve.  After hearing recently that our county  is the second highest in the state with drug addicted babies being born to their drug addicted moms and overdose death on the rise, I asked myself what was it that made me think pills were harmless? What made me think I could solve my problems with a pill?

    I realized these pictures were planted in my head and the notion of pills being painless was eventually just assumed. My TV told me they were a solution, Physicians prescribed them to fix my illness, the nice guy at the store told me I could have more energy and anyone I respected in my life seemed to think it was good to take the vitamins their friend told them to and to just pop an Advil when you felt a headache coming on.  These are pictures planted in our mind. Pictures of approval, of something not so bad to do.

    When you cut yourself, you see blood and you feel pain. If you burn yourself, there is an immediate response. Innocently, as a society, we have failed to realize the tiny wounds which are being placed within our body each time we take a pill which is not intended for us. Whether it’s a pill , a drink or a special meal, if we are ingesting fuel which was not designed to improve the rate of cell renewal in our body, we are slowly creating pain. Vague symptoms which will appear rapidly or over time without us knowing we are creating the problem. In order to change the pill addiction problems in our community we must work together to recommend medications responsibly. We must educate on the complexity of the human body and how valuable we each are. We must understand most of us are not chemist and can not safely play around with medications no matter how harmless they seem. We must start to think about what may be causing our symptoms versus finding ways to cover them up. As Physicians, as friends, parents and educators, we must lead by example. We must show respect to the power of medicine, good and bad. We must try to take care of ourselves through good food, good thoughts and good rest. We must not just assume we can abuse our bodies and burn the candle at both ends without a consequence. We should work to heal ourselves mentally, physically and emotionally reaching out for resources. And once we have covered our part, then if still needed, we shall utilize the correct supplements and medication to help maintain our quality of life. As others start to see the respect and value we place on our body’s and our life,  they will know they can turn to us for assistance versus medicating themselves into a never ending road of unhappiness and addiction.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Oh Scale, How Beautiful Art Thou?

    Do you remember the fairy tales when they used to look in the mirror and say, “Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?” This common question was popular in the Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Now in recent movies children and adults step on the scale to determine their beauty. It’s funny, they do not even pay attention to how their clothes fit or what the mirror looks like, as soon as they step on the scale they feel beautiful or not.

    It starts when we’re a child and we’re told whether we are healthy or not by our weight on the scale.  Then we start to see media ads showing hot bodies, rapid weight loss and plastic surgery. All leading us to believe if the scale goes down, we will be beautiful and accepted. We then fight to burn off stubborn fat. We fight in many ways. Some buy weight loss pills, others practice moderate to severe starvation, while some try surgery. All to get the number on the scale to go down. But what does that number mean? If you lose weight through crash dieting, will you look good after you lose 50lbs? Will you feel good? Will you maintain it?

    It amazes me how we have been controlled by this digital piece of equipment that lays on the floor all day. How do we rely on an inanimate object to tell us whether we are beautiful or not? A human could tell us we look amazing, our clothes could fit better, but if the scale says we are up two pounds, we immediately feel like a FAT failure. Trust me, I used to have this mind set. If I was down two, I was happy, up two and I was rude to everyone around. The sad part is, no one else could see any changes, just me and my bathroom scale (my depressed attitude made me uglier than the two pound weight gain did anyway).

    We have to change this mind set. Weight loss does not mean pretty or handsome. If you lose 50lbs rapidly, trust me, you will not look attractive to most people. Many times, your skin hangs off of you, you feel like crap from nutritional deficiencies and you’re wondering how you are going to tone up the hanging skin. I have seen people be happy that they lost 100lbs in 4 months, but they look and feel ten times worse than they did when they we’re 100lbs heavier.  Some are elated because the scale says 100lbs less, but when they really sit down and look at how they feel from starving and how they look from losing 50% of their muscle, it still does not equate to happiness or beauty.

    To the flip side, I may meet someone who has lost pant sizes, gained strength and energy, but they are depressed because the scale says their up 5lbs. Many times when someone starts losing weight slowly through strength training and a good diet, they may actually gain weight or maintain on the scale due to muscle gain and other factors. Their body is working to get healthy, but many times they are dropping body fat and changing shape, tone and sizes. Their body is internally getting healthy and working to increase their metabolism. But sure enough, because the scale says their up 5lbs, they freak out and beat themselves up. Either they start to starve themselves, give up or go on a binge. They forgot that their friend mentioned how good they looked, that their rings were getting looser or they felt ten times better. The stupid, inanimate scale told them they were up 5lbs so this healthy crap must not be working.

    We need to realize that the scale only gives us a number. It doesn’t tell us whether we are a ball of flab or a ball of fit! It does not tell us whether we are preventing disease or creating cancer and bone loss. If you are starving yourself, taking weight loss pills or going to most doctors to reduce your stomach size, please do not jump up and down for your weight loss. It’s not getting you to where you really want to be. At least I wouldn’t think so. Not from the after effects we have all seen and experienced.

    It’s time we do what they did before scales existed. We focused on how we felt and how our clothes fit. If things were getting a little tight, we moved a little more or laid off the extra helping. If we were feeling run down, we used to eat specific foods to help get us going. Our goal was never to starve ourselves or drink protein shakes to feel good. Our goal was always to eat good food and work hard. Your body will look like what you do to it.

    Think about how you take care of everything else in your life? Think of how you judge whether something is beautiful or not? Do you judge the beauty of a flower by it’s weight? Do you judge the condition of your car by how much it weighs? Do you think your dog is cute because it is at an ideal weight? No! You do not determine beauty by how much any of these things weigh and you do not keep them beautiful by weighing them on a scale everyday. What do you do? YOU TAKE CARE OF THEM. We take care of the flowers we want to look beautiful. We take care of the car we do not want to break down. And we love the puppy we want to live long. Guess what? That is the secret to your beauty!

    Take care of your body. Give it the water you give to your garden. Put your body on a regular maintenance plan as you do your favorite car and give it the quality fuel it was designed to run on. Don’t throw your body on a scale everyday and expect it to look like what you want it to. It will not get you where you want to be. It will just spit out a number that gives you a false sense of health and gets you hung up on all the wrong behaviors. All the ones which lead to you not doing what you truly need to do in order to achieve a healthy, tone body!

    Try this today. Whether you are thin, heavy, fit or flabby, get off the scale. Weigh yourself one more time tomorrow, write it down and then do a 180! Throw it out for 180 days and just focus solely on what you need to do to feel good and look good. Focus on the behaviors it takes to have a healthy body. Go walking, drink water, reduce alcohol, reduce fried foods, have fun with your friends. These steps lead to better health, peace of mind and a better relationship with you. Check it 180 days from now and see what happens. This does not mean free reign to eat and do what you want. This means free brain space to focus on what you can do to cherish your body without wasting your thoughts on what the scale says.

    Don’t feel guilty or judged if you have tried the crash diets, the medical weight loss etc. We all have. We have all been tricked into thinking this is a faster, easier route, when really it’s a slow death and a miserable mental journey. Take care of you like you would anything else you value and never stop. Even if you have a setback, no biggie, just don’t give up. It’s never too late to feel better than you do right now, mentally, physically and/or emotionally. You were made uniquely beautiful and there is no one just like you. Start treating yourself that way, because you truly are the fairest of them all!