Monthly Archives: January 2013

The turning point

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I’ve been thinking about how we approach our healthcare. When I have conversations with friends and family about illness or concerns, they tend to refer to a doctor’s suggestion or ask me “What did the doctor say?” These conversations made me realize that I rarely refer to a doctor when confronted with an illness or ailment. When I started to think about it and looked at how our life style has slowly evolved over the years, it made a lot of sense. The turning point was when we decided to try to get pregnant. I looked at my body scientifically; I decided that if I was going to attempt to grow a life inside it, I was going to try to give it every possible advantage for a healthy life, within my power. That meant prior to any attempt to conceive, I was going to slowly detox my body over a six-month period so it was a healthy vessel for a new life to live in. I started to reduce my caffeine and alcohol intake so I wouldn’t miss it during the pregnancy and breast-feeding period. I also began to focus on regular exercise and nourishing my body with healthy whole food.

I had never thought about having a child before, so I started to do a lot of research about pregnancy and raising an infant. I went to a wonderful holistic practice, where the doctors and midwifes were well versed in medicinal herbs, nutrition and alternative modalities such as acupuncture, chiropractics and massage.  Over the years, I have met doctors who were somewhat familiar with other modalities but their normal response was – it couldn’t hurt but if it doesn’t work, we will give you a pill for it.  Nevertheless, at this practice they could actually recommend herbs that would help with my slight anemia, and prenatal vitamins that were made with superfoods. I was actually able to discuss my healthcare; my input/needs were respected. It really empowered me and set the stage for me to take charge of our family’s healthcare needs.

As Mathew was growing inside me, I became more aware of his nutritional needs (I was growing a life), and how I looked at food. Of course, it had to taste good but the quality of the ingredients became more and more important. I have always enjoyed veggies and fruits, but started to look at where and how they were grown. I began to get to know the farmers and buy locally. This was rather easy as I lived in a vibrant farming community and married to a farmer.

Mike and I love food. We really enjoy eating and trying new things. Unfortunately, ever since Mathew was born, he has had very little interest in eating. I nursed him on-demand, but since he rarely ever demanded, I actually set my alarm in order to nurse him during the night when he was a newborn. At 8 years old, his eating habits have not improved. He rarely requests to eat and shows very little interest in exploring new foods. So, whenever he does eat, I make the best attempt to give him nutritionally packed meals, because I am not sure when he will eat next.  For example, when serving him French toast for breakfast, I search for the best pastured local eggs, whole grain bread (Alvarado St. Bakery California Style Complete Protein Bread is one of my favorites) and local maple syrup. So, if this is Mathew’s only meal for day, which is sometimes the case, he will have a protein based whole food meal to fuel his day.

I think the combination of finding an excellent practice while I was pregnant and my desire to fuel our family with nutritious local whole foods was the turning point in my life. I knew that having a baby would change my life, but I really had no idea it would change my point of view on health care, eating, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

What was your turning point, how has your views on food, healthcare changed over the years? Please share and I will continue to share.

 

 

 

What is so bad about being a control freak?

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Many people call me a control freak. I can’t disagree. The duties of being a domestic engineer have fine-tuned my organizational and coordination skills – now I am responsible for almost everything needed to run the house. Unfortunately, when one person takes care of most of the domestic tasks, no one knows where things are, what is done, when it is done and what needs to be done. It all becomes an illusion – every thing is miraculously done, very little is needed or wanted, everyone is taken care of, except when you disappear.

Recently, I had the honor of escorting my mother to a memorial service for her twin sister. This meant that I would fly my mother from Florida to California back to Florida and then fly home to New York. Mike, who works full-time would be responsible for the home, Mathew, and Dylan for a little more than a week. Of course, he is capable of dealing with this situation but I needed to let him in on all the details that went into dealing with all the needs of Mathew and Dylan.

First of all, I usually drive Mathew to school, while he takes the bus home. He could take the bus to school but that would mean an hour less of sleep for him. Since Mike works an hour north and Mathew goes to school a half hour south of the house, it makes the most sense for Mathew to take the bus. Seeing that it would be challenging for Mike to be home in time to meet the bus, I needed to find somewhere for Mathew to be until Mike comes home from work. Mathew gets off the bus around 3:45pm and Mike tends to get home after 6pm. Luckily, we have an awesome neighbor a mile away, that helped us out.

After I took care of all the possible options that Mike may encounter to take care of Mathew’s, school and busing needs, I needed to alert all the necessary parties, fill-out and submit the paperwork (allowing Mathew to be dropped off at another person’s house). I needed to let them know that Mike is in charge and will be possibly make busing changes since he might simply work from home some days. Basically, I needed to figure out every contingency plan and let everyone know.

Then, the hardest part, was to make schedules that would let Mike know what he needed to do, who to notify and when to do it. If Mathew is driven to school, takes the bus home, takes the bus to school, or if he is dropped off at our friend’s house, all contact information needed to be included. Moreover, what Mathew needed for school, because it’s not the same every day – that would be too easy. And yes, we can’t forget about Dylan’s needs too. I had to try to think of everything I do, every day so things would flow for Mathew, Mike, and Dylan. Remember, Mike works full-time and leaves the house before anyone is awake, so he simply cannot know what goes on after he leaves. He was doing me a big favor, becoming “Super Dad” while I was away. I wanted him to have all the information needed to help him. In addition, I needed to stock the house with food and other necessities. Of course, Mike can shop, but I wanted to alleviate as many extra burdens from his already hefty load.

Oh yes, I forgot to mention, all this had to be done within two days, before school was closed for the holidays and we were leaving for Florida. My organizational skills were really put to the test. Besides setting up everything for Mike and Mathew’s return to regular life, I need to prepare for a long trip. Mike and Mathew were going away for 10 days, and me for 18 days. The funny part is that, everyone had what they needed except me. I forgot to pack items, and, unfortunately, included items that the TSA guy did not approve of. See, when we normally travel, I share a bag with Mathew, which is checked. Mike uses the carry-on. However, since I was traveling to CA without them, we decided to switch bags. I completely forgot about all the “illegal” items I had in my bag until we were on the security line and our plane was scheduled to take off in less than 10 minutes. It really was too late to check the bag and save the delicious medicinal honey I made for my folks, or sun block, shampoo and conditioner I had just bought. I was in such a tizzy, I forgot to put the items in Mike’s bag and was worried about missing the flight. I failed to state that some of the items that were being confiscated were actually in a 3 oz. travel size bottles. I just wanted to be released and get to the flight on time – which I did with 2 minutes to spare. A sure way to get the adrenaline pumping.

Nevertheless, no great catastrophes transpired while I was gone. Mike did a stellar job, even though he was faced with Mathew’s first really bad cold and Dylan returned home from the kennel with pink eye.  So yes, I am a control freak but it does serve everyone well.