My First Thirty Years: Celebrating over a quarter-century in private practice

While on my walk this morning, I realized with a start that half of this year is gone and in December I will begin my 30^th year in private practice.  I’ve always joked that I’ve never had a job; I’ve never had a resume or have been on a job interview. In the upcoming months, my blog will be about the past 29 1/2 years: remembering the people I helped, the people who taught me lessons, and those that have loved and laughed with me. Too many times in my life I have let important anniversaries slip by without acknowledging and celebrating them. This one I am celebrating; and I’m celebrating it for a long time!

I graduated December 23^rd,1983 and opened my doors December 24^th.  I was so eager to begin my practice that I couldn’t  even wait until January.  Looking back, I wonder at the fact that I couldn’t wait even just a couple weeks to recover from the stress of graduate school.  I remember my father-in-law telling me that I looked awful and I thought he was mean. Under stress I tend to lose weight.  I know for those of you who gain weight under stress you think I’m lucky. However, looking back at the photographs of graduation day I did look awful. I was a few days from 28 years old, 98 pounds, and nothing but jutting collar bones.

My first patient came into the office on Christmas Eve. He was a thirty-something year old ex jock who had gone to fat around the middle, and it was apparent that he was in agonizing low back pain.  I met him in the reception area, handed him some paperwork and invited him to have a seat.  He looked at me and said” I can’t sit down, and for that matter I can’t stand anymore either “and his legs collapsed.  I was too new to even have a secretary and there I was all alone in my office with a 250 pound man lying on my floor. Acting much calmer than I felt, I grabbed a lumbar support belt, wrapped it around his middle, braced one foot on the floor and the other one against the wall and picked him up.  Oh the power of adrenalin!

Lesson 1. Day 1.  School does not prepare you for the real world. The gravity of my career felt like a ton of rocks on me. I had to x-ray and treat this man all alone. It was Christmas Eve and he had miles of toys to put together before he could sleep. He was counting on me.  And I did it. I did it because I had to. He walked out of there straighter and in less pain than he walked in. His kids had Christmas. And I learned that I could do it…No matter what.

Healing from the Inside: Emotional Treatments and GSF

I want to share with you my own extraordinary experience with Emotional Treatments and GSF. The following article includes a series of anecdotes that have defined my view of emotional treatments and will hopefully provide you with a better understanding of their power to heal.

“My own resistance to Emotional Treatments”

There I was at the advanced I NAET (Nambudripad’s Allergy Elimination Techniques) seminar after a long flight only 9 days after 9-11. It had been an eerie experience going through the nearly empty airports, and having a whole row to myself on the plane.  “Am I crazy to get on a plane?” I asked myself. When my rosary bracelet broke and fell off in the toilet I wondered “Is this a sign that I should go back home?”  “No.” I countered as I fished the bracelet from the toilet.  “I need to go to this seminar.”

NAET Founder, Devi Nambudripad opened the seminar with “Let’s begin by treating the trauma we all feel after the terrible events last week.” I wasn’t aware that the topic of the seminar was emotional treatments. I was new at NAET and had so many questions about vials, muscle testing, reactions, and the like.  I had read “Goodbye to Illness”, but had already decided that I wasn’t doing any of that “emotional stuff”.  After Devi completed the lecture part, and we began practicing, I became indignant.  I was so resistant that one of the assistants mentioned that maybe I had some emotional issues that I needed treatment for.  Ridiculous!  My friends would testify that I was perfectly well adjusted emotionally! OK…as well adjusted as any NAET practitioner!  But my reluctance to treat emotions came from my misconception that the patients would experience emotional outbursts, release pent up negative energy, and recall horrible memories, and I didn’t want “that kind “of practice.

“The Universe and Mala attempt to teach the doctor a lesson”

As we all know when we need to learn something, the universe puts lessons in our path. At a later seminar, I had a very swollen finger that I had been treating aggressively with no results. I asked Mala for help, and after muscle testing she said “it’s an emotion related to a sweet drink and it’s associated with your father”.  No, no no, it couldn’t be an emotion!  I hurt it pulling my two dogs apart from a fight. It was an injury.

After Mala’s patient questioning I recalled the incident. I saw my two dogs tear into each other growling and biting, and I feared they would kill each other.  I threw myself into the mix and tried pulling them apart, all the while screaming for help. But the windows were closed and no one heard my screams.  After I finally yanked them apart, my husband happened to walk outside and found me sitting on the back steps, crying and shaking.  He reassured me that the dogs and I were OK, and told me to go have a glass of wine and relax.  A few weeks later on what happened to be my deceased father’s birthday, and I showed my still swollen finger to my sister.  She said “Dad had that same finger swollen.”  I remember that I felt like I might faint.

I had ignored all of that emotional trauma in my efforts at splinting, adjusting, icing, and lasering my finger.

When Mala had me recall the event in my mind while she treated me, the finger returned to normal size and function while I was still at the seminar!

Yet, I still resisted doing any of that emotional work.  Sure it worked for me, but how would I explain it to patients?

UNTIL… the words of my father and a lesson from a 15 year old boy

“Myles age 15  – The doctor finally gets the lesson”

I was treating the teenager for terrible food allergies and aggression. We were on testosterone for the 5^th time when his mother told me they were considering a military boarding school.

I heard the words of my father (a wonderful Chiropractor) as if he were still alive and standing in the room.  “If you know of anything that will help a patient to get better, you owe it to them to do it.”

Sooo…. I stammered some apologetic explanation that I had something that might seem weird, and I didn’t know if he was open to it, but that emotions can be measured and the energy of the emotion put in a vial, and I could possibly treat him for it, of course assuming he was open.

The boy looked up at me and said “Dr. Robbins, emotions in a vial, food in a vial.  One’s no different than the other.  Put in my hand and let’s do it.” I treated anger with testosterone.

He cleared. He didn’t go to military boarding school.  My father smiled down on me and I now had the explanation for treating emotions.

Explanation for an emotional vial

It’s physics.  Everything vibrates at a particular frequency that can be measured and lasered into a vial.  You are either in harmony with it or not.  Just like food in a vial, we have emotions in a vial

Suggestions for emotional vials

1. The more the patient can articulate the emotion, the more effectively you can target the proper one.

2. But having said that, always rely on muscle testing several vials and then ask for priority.  It may surprise you and the patient.  Don’t doubt the system.

3.  If possible combine a physical and emotional vial together: serotonin and depressed, testosterone and anger etc.

The life changing vial GSF

If someone told me that I could have one and only one vial; which one would it be?

GSF.  No doubt. That vial has helped change more lives than any other single vial.  And to think Devi gave us that for free at a conference just like this one!

Explanation for GSF

Dr. Devi Nambudripad told us to use this GSF vial if someone needs a breakthrough.  I have seen miracles IF the person is truly ready for a breakthrough.  Are you?”

“Logan age 16 – One of my favorite people”

Logan is one of my most favorite patients in 26 years.  In truth, he is one of my favorite people.  He has Asberger’s syndrome and is truly an inspiration in determination and courage.  While I admire him greatly, that is not the primary reason that he is one of my favorite people.  I enjoy him, and relate to him.  When his mother encouraged him to attend a class to learn to have better skills in conversations, he asked “what if I don’t want to talk to them?”

When Logan comes to the office, he rushes headlong through the door, turns off the noise machine, that makes bird sounds, and either walks directly up to me to tell me what he needs, or if he doesn’t see me, he asks “is she ready for me now?”

Logan was a senior in high school and refusing to do his assignments.  His mother, a tiny little Chinese woman with a strong will and bones of steel, followed him into my office.  She declared that after his treatment she was taking him to a homeless shelter to drop him off for several hours to show him firsthand where failure got people.  I asked him if he was ready for a breakthrough.  He defined clearly to me that he knew what he was doing wrong and was ready for a change.  I treated him for GSF, and sent a prayer on the wind as he followed his mom out the door to go experience a homeless shelter.

7 months later

Logan, as usual, bustled in to the office, turned off the noise machine, walked directly up to me and announced.  “I had a good year.  I got my driver’s permit, graduated from high school, and was accepted into Southern Polytechnic University.  But I had a bad week.  I was inappropriate to my family on my birthday.  Will you help me?”.

I treated GSF and Brain.   Again many months passed.  I knew from his mom that Logan was at university, and had gotten his driver’s license.

This time Logan walked into the office but did not turn off the birds!  He sat in the waiting room.  I walked out to him and asked how he was.  He answered, “I am good. I am a college man now. How was your new year?”

He explained to me that college was stressful, and asked if I could help him.  He defined clearly that he was doing his work without procrastination, but that when it got difficult, he quit too soon.  After some muscle testing we found that frustration was the primary emotion.  I treated it in combination with GSF.  I have no doubt that Logan will be successful in his college endeavor.

“Carolyn and the tree through the roof”

This patient came to me because of stabbing ice pick headaches in her temple.  The stabbing pains came on 20 -30 times an HOUR!!  She was only 47 years old and looked 60.  While she talked, she repeatedly bent her head forward, squeezed her eyes shut, and held her temple for long moments, only to look up and pick up on the conversation exactly where she left off.

I always ask a patient when their condition began. She had one daughter and had tried unsuccessfully to get pregnant for a second time.  After much heartache, they had decided to adopt a child from Russia. That was the beginning of the ice picks to the temple.

I knew that we needed to treat hormones and many physical vials, but felt strongly that emotions were a huge factor.  Despite some attempts on my part to question her about the emotions, to do some emotional treatments, and to encourage her to self-treat using eft, she never really followed through and the headaches continued.  She had resisted taking medication of any kind, but finally relented and began to get some relief. It at least gave her some increased ability to function and to think. That began an obsessive cleaning and organizing frenzy.  I suspected that this was another attempt to keep from looking at the real problem.

I later learned from Carolyn’s sister that she was seeing a therapist and truly looking at the problems in her marriage.  I was delighted!!

She came in for an adjustment one day. I sensed that she was ready for a breakthrough. I treated her for GSF.

8 weeks later

Carolyn had asked her husband to move out the house.  After some distance from him, she started realizing how serious the problems in her marriage were.  She went with her daughters to Colorado for a visit with family.  While there, a neighbor called with the news that a tree had fallen through her roof.  After cutting her vacation short, and getting her girls and her on a flight back to Atlanta, she arrived home to see that the tree had fallen through the roof and directly onto the bed that she had shared for 15 years with her husband!!  That was the sign she needed.  She also moved out of the house, filed for divorce, and is moving forward with her life.  She looks much younger already. She eventually wants to get off at least some of the medication, but I encouraged her to let some more time pass, and get some more care before attempting that.

“A baby will be born during this symposium”

Becky was a 30-year-old very sensitive, intuitive, colorful patient who did very well after treating for food and seasonal allergies.  In fact, it’s difficult to remember now how much she was suffering when I first met her.  She collaborated well with me, did her avoidances without fail, and got great results.  But she sure did have reactions during the avoidance time!

In August 2008, she told me that she was going off birth control pills to prepare to get pregnant.  I was delighted to hear that and felt like it was perfect timing as she was very healthy. I treated her for hormones at that visit.

She came for an appointment in early September with a rash on her arms.  Muscle testing revealed that she drank something while she was hot to cause the rash. She recalled dancing at an outdoor party in the summer heat while drinking iced tea.  As I began to treat her for tea and heat, she mentioned that they were ready to start trying to conceive so I treated for GSF also. I told Becky about the miracles that I had seen with GSF, and shared with her that I was writing this paper in the hopes of presenting it at the 2009 symposium.  I offered the idea that if she were to get pregnant, I would add her story to my paper. In her exuberant way, she said, “If I’m pregnant during the symposium, I could go with you and be a living testimonial!”

8 weeks later

Becky arrived at the office virtually vibrating.  She looked like one of those puppies that is so excitedly wagging their tail that their whole body vibrates with the energy of it. She exclaimed that she is 6 weeks pregnant and they conceived on the first time they tried. The baby is due during the 2009 symposium!!  I joked that “I guess you won’t be there to deliver your testimonial in person. Maybe we could put it on you-tube and deliver it that way!!”

“Cathy and the doctorate program”

Cathy came in to see me with classic adrenal burnout.  She was exhausted, yet not sleeping.  Her “joye de vivre” as she explained was gone.  She was experiencing menopausal symptoms of depression and hot flashes. After a short time of NAET and supplements, she told me that was singing in the morning and her husband had remarked “I got my wife back”.

Several months later, I again saw her and she looked awful.  When I asked her what was wrong, she said “I hate my job.  I have to quit”.  Her husband had been telling me that for a year!!!  I smiled, then she got angry with me and asked ”why are you laughing when I’m so upset?”  I said that I wasn’t laughing, but that I often see people change their lives after they get well.  I explained that when she was so exhausted and in burn out, she couldn’t even have picked her head up enough to look at her job and realize she hated it because she lacked the energy to do anything to remedy it.  At a later visit, she related that she had not quit her job yet because she really wanted to get a doctorate in Spanish language, and there was no program in the state of Georgia. She looked miserable, and she had even gone home early from work to go to bed.  I treated with GSF in September 2008.

4 weeks later

Cathy had gone by the University of Georgia where she had done her graduate work to visit one of her professors.  He shared with her that the university was starting a PhD program in January 2009, and they would be delighted to have her in the program, and she could be an assistant professor to earn free tuition and salary.  I laughed and told her that she was a powerful woman indeed to have created a doctoral program in her field just at the time she needed it!

As a side note, Cathy’s husband has related to me that with the downturn in the economy, Cathy has not left her job yet and the PhD program has been delayed until September 2009.

Hopefully at this symposium I can say she has quit and is enrolled to start her PhD.

The Failures

I chose these cases of treatment with GSF to encourage you to use it for your patients.  I wanted you to see the power of it. Devi handed this tool to us and those of us who have embraced it have changed hundreds or thousands of lives from her gift.

Yet I have some cases where nothing I could detect changed in the person’s life.  Upon review, I believe that the key to the big breakthroughs is timing.  I believe that those patients who did not get the miracle were not ready for a breakthrough in their lives.  Those times I treated with no visible results were when I was ready for them to have a breakthrough yet I think deep down they weren’t ready to give up their suffering.  They were still getting something out of it.  As good practitioners, we know to get out or the way with patient’s issues, but I saw such miraculous benefits from this vial that I got overly enthusiastic on a few occasions.  No harm was ever done, but perhaps I added to the patient’s frustration.

 Suggestions for GSF: All rules relate to Timing

1.Basics first. Rules are rules for a reason. It NEVER pays to jump ahead, no matter how badly they are suffering.

2. Be a doctor, not a monkey

I remember attending a seminar when a doctor repeatedly asked Devi questions that began with “why don’t you just treat this or that…?”  You’ve all been there. He keeps on and on with questions.  You wish Devi would tell him to shut up.  Finally, she said. “Do you want to be a doctor or a monkey?  I could teach a monkey to push those points along the spine, if that’s all it took, but it takes a doctor to know to what to treat and when.”

Treat physical vials related to emotions prior to GSF, especially amino acids, serotonin, dopamine, GABA, L-Dopa, salsolinol, hormones, or others. Use whatever methods you are confident in to determine what vials are appropriate for your patient and how many.  Sometimes it comes down to gut feeling and instinct coupled with experience.

3. Treat with GSF only after some other emotional work, with either NAET, or a different type of emotional therapy.

In conclusion, please use these testimonials to unleash the incredible power of treating emotions with NAET, and especially to use GSF for the great benefit of your patients!

For more information visit http://www.naturallybalanced.com.

Skin Deep: What does your appearance say about you?

We have all heard that “Beauty is only skin deep.” When stated, this phrase often means that physical beauty is superficial. But what if our physical appearance is an indicator of something much deeper? The face we show to the world everyday is certainly only a shell of who we are, but it is the first impression we make and can say a lot about what lies beneath. After reading the following example, you might better understand how your own physical appearance says just as much about your personal beliefs and core values.

Robert, age 36, never cared much about physical appearance. He told himself that those who wore pressed suits and went to the gym were self-absorbed and cocky. But what Robert didn’t realize until later was that his excuses for his unkempt outer appearance were the sign of much deeper emotional problems. He had very low self-esteem, a lack of self confidence and never felt like he deserved to put time and energy into himself. When Robert was denied a job or didn’t get treated with the respect he wanted, he blamed it on other people’s shallow perception. Instead, Robert’s mood and personality merely amplified his physical appearance and turned people off to wanting to know more.

Think of your exterior as the wrapping paper for your entire self. While the paper alone isn’t a full indicator of the package, it still gives you an idea of the quality and value of the gift within. Whether it be an employer, friend, or future spouse, a well-kept outer appearance gives a window into the type of person you are inside. This isn’t to say that everyone needs to be the same height, size or dress alike. There is much room for variation! They key thing to remember is that no matter your age, gender or genetics, everyone can easily take care of themselves to portray a neat and welcoming appearance.

Are You Being Nutritionally Mugged?

Remember Make Room for Daddy, the fun, family TV show of the 1950’s?  It opens with Daddy coming home from work where his lovely wife and two children throw themselves into his lap in their exuberance.  In the opening commercial we see a dancing couple gliding to the song of the announcer: “In moments of pleasure when dancing is swell. Relax and enjoy yourself, light a Pall Mall”.  “These cigarettes are the finest money can buy. Your appreciation has made them America’s most successful and imitated cigarette.”

Flip to the 90’s to a fast food joint called Shakey’s. The announcer is interviewing families who are laughing and having a blast.  “We come here because it’s great for them, they can eat healthy, they have a lot of fun: it’s a treat”  “We like American cars, American music, American food, and Shakey’s”  “ It’s an American tradition.  We’ll pass it down to the next generation.”

Can you spot the similarities?  Fun, family, quality, relaxation, American.

It’s hard to believe now that in the 1950s cigarette ads ran with slogans to make their products seem good for consumers while knowing that in a few short years those smokers would be fighting for their lives. The devastation from cigarettes didn’t stop with the smokers.  Many died, leaving widows and children behind.  Does this sound like war to you?

But thankfully there are 3 strategies that are thousand of years old to defend yourself in a war that are still applicable today!

Sun Tzu in Art of War said that all warfare is based on deception.  It is a matter of life and death, a road to safety or ruin.

1. Spot the deception in labels. 

Knowledge is power and knowing the code words that food companies use to deceive consumers will allow you to crack the code and purchase nutritious foods.  How would you feel if someone mugged you and stole all your money and gave you five dollars back?  That is exactly what is happening when foods are fortified.  The manufacturer bleaches, and strips all the healthy nutrients in the food in its natural state; then “fortifies “it with  less than it took out!

2. Learn to defend against the deception of food companies. 

By knowing the methods of fraudulent marketing, you can protect yourself and your family from phrases such as “healthy”, “lean” and “fortified” which are being used to dupe consumers into thinking that they are buying nutritious foods. Food companies are using ads as weapons these days, to ensnare and delude buyers.

3. Create a strategy for making better choices. 

With each trip to the grocery store, you should have a list of meals to prepare.  Going to the grocery store with “snacks” in mind might allow one to fall into the trap of buying chips and other non-nutritious snacks in bulk instead of in moderation.

All of us, as consumers, need to arm ourselves with knowledge and tactics to ward off misleading advertising.  We also need to spread this knowledge to our kids so they won’t be nutritionally mugged and fall into the growing numbers of obese and unhealthy and obese children.  Join the fight so that you and your family will never be nutritionally mugged again!

A New Relationship With Food

As we now approach the second quarter of 2012, let’s take a moment to reflect on New Year’s resolutions and the progress we’ve made on our own. Can you guess the most common New Year’s resolution?  You probably guessed right–To go on a Diet!  How many of you have made this same resolution for 2012 or for years past? Have you been successful?  If so, congratulations.  Or, if like so many of us, you have failed to lose weight, failed to stick to the diet, or change your unhealthy habits, only to gain it back, Please stop dieting! I can hardly turn on the TV without seeing an advertisement for some new diet program.  Food is delivered to your door in a box via the UPS guy, and you don’t have to do anything! That horrifies me.  Who wants to eat something that was packaged in a factory and sent in a box?  Right now…today, why not decide to establish a new relationship with food instead?

Food is the fuel that nourishes us, gives us energy, and life.  Food nourishes more than just our bodies.  It is celebratory and comforting.  If I say, “Italian”, what’s the first word that comes to mind?  Food!  I’m Italian and we celebrate food!  Every culture that I know has celebratory foods.  Most religions have celebratory foods:  bread and wine for Christians, unleavened bread and bitter herbs for Jews, dates for Muslims during Ramadan.  Even our language celebrates food (bread of life).  My husband is Southern.  They have celebrations with food like you have never seen! It’s something that connects the cultures of a Yankee Italian girl, and a Southern American guy.

Think of your family celebrations.  What was on the table when your family gathered for weddings, funerals, and birthdays?  My husband’s Big Daddy used to say “Weddings and funerals are a just alike:  a lot of slow walking, slow talking, and good eating.”  Breaking bread together adds to the celebration, gives comfort to the bereaved, and connects us to life with food. Even the preparation of food is a way to show love. That is the reason that food delivered by UPS horrifies me!  I never saw my Italian Grandpa that he didn’t say “Grandma’s in the kitchen. Mangia” (Eat)

There are no foods that come from God that are inherently bad for us.  Stop thinking of food as the enemy.  It puts you into fight or flight mode, disrupts your digestive process and turns food into fat.  I’d rather you eat cake in a relaxed, happy mood than to eat something while you’re working at your desk, or arguing with your family. One ridiculous notion about food is related to cholesterol. Fat does not go into the stomach, then into the small intestine, then into the large intestine, then pass into the blood stream to gunk up the arteries!  That’s bad physiology!  Stress has more to do with the production of cholesterol than the foods we eat.

Did you know that our cells are held together by cholesterol?  And that all of our hormones have cholesterol as their core structure?  Without cholesterol, we would dissolve into a puddle like the wicked witch of the West.  So, to be perfectly clear, cholesterol did not join the dark side with sodium and the sun!

I want you to celebrate food, especially the healthiest foods. As we continue with this year, I want to encourage you to choose more life giving foods, the foods that give you energy.  So together let’s find a way to eat that includes the foods of your culture, the foods that fill you with energy, and the foods that make you feel good!

White Poison: Nutrition Advice from Dr. Andrea Robbins

Processed foods are stripped of their fiber, vitamins, and minerals; and bleached with toxic chlorine. Processed foods are found in boxes and bags.

White foods contribute to:

• hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and diabetes
• candida albicans or yeast infect
• imbalances in calcium, magnesium, zinc, manganese, chromium, and B vitamins
• digestive difficulties and acid reflux
• inflammation
• weight gain and obesity
• heart disease
• other diseases.
• Research indicates that these diseases rose dramatically as Americans ate less fat and more refined carbohydrates and sugars.  Read the sheet from ARL that includes foods that should be limited.  It also includes proteins and fats that are good alternatives.

Any word ending in “ose” is a sugar. Eliminate foods in which one of the first four ingredients ends in “ose”. Also eliminate foods with:

• sugar,
• liquid sugar
• corn syrup
• barley malt
• fruit juice
• rice bran syrup
• high fructose corn syrup
• honey

Soda contains up to 10 teaspoons of sugar in a single 16-ounce can!

Refined carbohydrates include:

• white bread
• white flour
• white rice
• cornstarch

Avoid:

• ice cream
• cakes and pastries
• candy
• bread and buns
• pizza crust
• pancakes
• and other sweet desserts.

Replace with:

• fruit cup
• cup of tea
•  piece of fruit
• tomato
• or other foods that are naturally sweet

Tips: Tell yourself that if you are craving the sweet after eating the above suggestions you can have ½ of the sweet. And if you are still craving it, then have it.  Continue this way until you have ¼ and then none.

Look in your pantry at foods in boxes and bags.  Read labels and educate yourself.  Try to find food labels that have less than 4 grams of sugar, and contain more fiber than sugar.

 We do not recommend artificial sweeteners such as NutraSweet, Saccharin, Splenda, or others such as Stevia, but for fast oxidizers they are preferable until you can entirely eliminate them.

When eating out: Ask the server not to bring bread to the table. Order a hamburger without the bun and eat it with a fork.  Patronize restaurants that offer whole wheat bread, buns, and pizza crust.  In Mexican restaurants, ask for corn tortillas rather than flour tortillas.  Chinese, Thai, and Italian restaurants are better choices as they often offer pasta, rice, or rice noodles.

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Dr. Andrea Robbins

Dr. Andrea Robbins is an experienced naturopath and chiropractor who owns Naturally Balanced, a wellness clinic focused on improving health and function by combining the most advanced healthcare techniques from around the world. To learn more about Dr. Robbins, visit her About page or Web page!

Entertaining in My Jammies (By Dr. Andrea Robbins)

It was the Friday I had longed for now for over 2 weeks.  My husband was out of town, and I had the weekend to myself.

As I left work, I noticed a voice mail on my cell phone.  It was my dearest friend who recently had twins.  She knew I was at work, but she had a minute in her car alone and wanted to say she hoped I was having a good week.  I called her back and got her voice mail, which happened a lot lately.  Before the kids, we frequently had long talks.  Now we exchanged messages more often than not.  I got her voice mail and left her a message that I was on my way home. My goal was to get in my jammies by 3:30pm, and not get out of them until Monday morning.  Around 4:30pm, my phone rang and it was her.  Person to person, not voice mail!

“Are you in your jammies yet?”

“You bet I am.”

She said.  “I’m free.  Mike‘s got the kids til 7.  I’m coming over.”

“Have you eaten?”

“No.”

“I’m on it.”

I ran to the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of white wine and stuck it in the freezer.  While I was in there I found some beef ribs and frozen edamame.  Good protein for a Mommy still trying to drop the baby weight.  I opened a bottle of red for me.  I was singing Billy Joel’s “bottle of red, bottle of white, it all depends upon your appetite”.

I grabbed 2 onions, a leek, (where did that come from? my wonderful husband stocks the food), some garlic, a lemon and tamari.  I cooked all that up in some olive oil and dumped in some white wine.

I turned on the oven, stuck the ribs in the microwave to thaw, started a pot of water boiling for the edamame; then went back to the fridge for feta cheese and olives.  Out in the herb garden I cut some rosemary and parsley.

I grabbed the meat from the microwave, stuck it in a skillet and browned it, dumped the sauce over it and put it in the oven.

I got placemats and cloth napkins, and lit the candles on the table wondering when she had last eaten at an uncluttered dining table, with candles, and wine. When she arrived, I handed her a glass of chilled white wine, and a plate of antipasto.

I was a real Rachel Ray and I did it in less than 30 minutes! So can you.

My Journey and Experience (By Alicia)

Alicia began her weight loss journey with Naturally Balanced at the end of April 2011. This is her inspiring story…

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From February 3^rd to February 17^th, I have forgotten to weigh.  I have not exercised in forever, plus too considering I did hurt my ankle at the end of January, so I have not been able to really and I have not been on the diet either.  I am carbing and sugaring it up with the best of them.  I have stopped taking the herbs and stopped just drinking water; I am completely out of control.  I have gone into a deep depression and I am having a hard time pulling myself out of it, to be able to care again about wanting to be healthier and feel and look better for myself.

I know what has to be done and I know how to do it.  I just have to find it in myself to get back on track and get back in the mind set to do right and focus on the goal again and make it happen and become a reality.  However, I am wearing a size 10 in jeans now, so I guess it is not too terribly bad even though I would love to be back in a size 5/6 like I was when I was a teenager, lol.  So since I have neglected to weigh and do right, on February 18^th, a Saturday, I weighed in and I am not happy with myself at all.

I am at 138.4lbs.  I have gained a significant amount of weight back and I could slip back into the deep depression quickly do to this weight gain, but I should look at it as an incentive to want to lose the weight more so that I can prove it to myself that I can reach my goal that I have set for myself and accomplish probably one of the hardest things that I will have done in my life.  To become completely healthy again.  I know that it will be a work in progress to completely cut all of the sugars back out again and to watch what I eat, how much of it I eat, and starting back exercising too.  Since Saturday, which it is now Monday, I have drastically cut out a majority of the sugar that I intake, but I have noticed that my appetite has increased a lot, I guess from my body trying to metabolize the sugar that has been fueling my body for the past few months.  That is all I can figure as to why I am so hungry.  Plus too I think my hormones have gone haywire because I have stopped taking birth control again due to the out of control hormones and acne that has taken over my face.  I am seeking out a dermatologist to see if there is anything that I can do for my skin.  I do know also that eating the sugars and the carbs have also contributed to this sudden outbreak of acne as well.

I do promise, not only to myself but to all of you, that I will accomplish my goal. And if it is not done, to at least come damn close to it by my year mark!

Stay tuned for more of Alicia’s story and be sure to read her past posts to catch up on her weight loss journey.

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Alicia’s Journey

Well, September 23^rd came around and I had so much going on that day that I forgot to weigh in, so maybe I will be a lot less by the end of next week.  Here’s hoping.

It is the end of the month and the last Friday too and my weight in is 144.0lbs, only 2 pounds away from the 50 mark.   I had so hoped on being completely at the 50 mark that I am proud but sad too.  I can only work harder to achieve my goal for the upcoming month of October.  I have faith, but I also know that I have slacked a lot on everything so again it is all up to how my body wants to do it.

Friday, October 7^th, my weigh in is at 142.6lbs. That is exactly 50 pounds from the start.  I am happy with this achievement but I had hoped yet again on having been at this weight last Friday as opposed to this Friday.  This leaves me with the task of losing the 10lbs. in the next 3 ½ weeks, so it should be interesting.  I will let you know later