Rebellious Wellness Over 50

The Hidden Path to the Body's Wisdom with Dr. Mary Sanders

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 11:43:00 -0400

In this episode of Rebellious Wellness Lifestyle, I welcomed Dr. Mary Sanders, a medical intuitive and chiropractor with over 30 years of experience.

We explored how our bodies communicate with us through chakras, energy medicine, and intuitive healing. Dr. Mary shares her journey from traditional chiropractic practice to becoming a medical intuitive and offers practical wisdom on how listeners can tap into their body's innate intelligence.

I'm always intrigued by the idea--science really--that says our body holds on to traumas, big and small resulting in pain, anxiety, a constant feeling that something isn't right. Mary expands on this concept and emphasized that we can release these traumas and heal.

"You have access to all this information just as I do. And you don't have to go to school in order to strengthen those awarenesses.

Mary believes that we can practice listening to our body's messages with curiosity and compassion and get answers. She also strongly believes in the power of a meditation practice to expand our awareness beyond the five senses.

Accessing Your Intuition: Practical guidance for listeners on how to begin receiving energetic messages without specialized training, starting with expanded awareness through meditation.

Body Communication 101: Simple techniques for listeners to ask their bodies questions and interpret the messages behind physical symptoms.

Chakra System Overview: Introduction to chakras as energy wheels and vortexes that have existed in Vedic sciences for centuries.

First Chakra Deep Dive: Detailed explanation of the root chakra's connection to safety, security, trust, the adrenal glands, and how emotional themes of abandonment and instability can manifest as physical symptoms.

Brain-Body Connection: The surprising fact that 80% of information flows from body to brain rather than the reverse, highlighting the importance of listening to physical symptoms.

I'm all over this stuff lately more than ever. Perhaps it's the emotional climate we find the world in. Perhaps it's just my inner wisdom telling me it's time to get serious about the world I cannot see.

Resources Mentioned

Dr. Joe Dispenza - Mentioned for his work on chakras having their own energy bodies and brains
Dr. Albin Shahar - Positive psychologist who taught Dr. Mary about neuroscience and meditation
Francesca McCartney - Founder of the Academy of Intuition Medicine in Sausalito, California

Connect with Dr. Mary Sanders

Website: www.DrMarySanders.com
Free 15-minute consultation available on her website
Upcoming programs: Group healings
Energy Medicine Toolbox starting in May

Prescribing Wellness: A Pharmacist's Radical Approach to Ending Chronic Disease

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 11:00:00 -0400

This week’s guest, pharmacist Dr. Kathy Campbell, challenges conventional wisdom about health, obesity, and medication. Dr. Campbell shares her journey from childhood obesity to becoming a "wellness pharmacist" dedicated to helping patients avoid medications through proper nutrition and lifestyle adjustments. She reveals why being "nutrient empty" is the real culprit behind many modern health issues and offers practical insights into creating true wellness.

Guest Information

Dr. Kathy Campbell is a pharmacist with over 33 years of experience who owns her independent pharmacy in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She's the author of "Obesity: The Modern Famine" and advocates for a prevention-focused approach to healthcare. She speaks nationally and internationally on pharmacist-led lifestyle medicine and is working to create a network of wellness pharmacies across the country.

Website: drkathydoes.com
Book: "Obesity: The Modern Famine"
Products: Dr. Kathy Nourish salts and spices
She shared her recipe for Spicy Chicken Soup--one of the favorites of her cooking class attendees

Episode Highlights

[00:00:00] Introduction to Dr. Kathy Campbell and her unique approach as a "wellness pharmacist"
[00:01:00] Dr. Campbell's journey into pharmacy and her 33-year practice in one community
[00:04:00] How Dr. Campbell expanded beyond pharmaceuticals to include botanicals, nutrients, and food
[00:05:00] Dr. Campbell's personal experience with childhood obesity and her family history
[00:06:00] Discussion of "Obesity: The Modern Famine" and the concept of nutrient deficiency
[00:08:00] How obesity is a symptom of underlying metabolic chaos, not just overeating
[00:10:00] The impact of stress chemistry on weight gain and health
[00:13:00] Dr. Campbell's experience growing up in a family where obesity was normal
[00:14:00] How Dr. Campbell helps patients optimize or reduce medications
[00:16:00] The role of pharmacists as chemistry experts in healthcare
[00:17:00] How patients end up "on empty" and the limitations of the current healthcare system
[00:20:00] Dr. Campbell's approach to determining individual nutrient needs
[00:22:00] The challenges of advocating for wellness in a medication-focused profession
[00:24:00] Alarming statistics about chronic disease in children today (54% under 18)
[00:26:00] Dr. Campbell's vision for a network of wellness pharmacies
[00:27:00] The changing role of patients in curating their own healthcare team
[00:29:00] Discussion of the business of healthcare versus actual care
[00:31:00] How food quality impacts health and the importance of eating "non-poisoned" food
[00:33:00] Dr. Campbell's services, including medication consultations and coaching
[00:36:00] Dr. Campbell's work with other pharmacists and international speaking

Key Quotes

"My goal as a pharmacist is not to fill prescriptions. It's to have people not need medications." - Dr. Campbell
"We have been groomed to think that health is in the pill bottle and at the doctor's office. The reality is health is before that." - Dr. Campbell
"I wanted to blow the conception that obesity was a problem of too much food. It's actually a problem of too little nutrients, too little nutrition." - Dr. Campbell
"Obesity is a symptom, just like a temperature would be a symptom. Obesity is a symptom of underlying metabolic chaos." - Dr. Campbell
"Today it's 54% of children under 18 live with a chronic disease. And what happens is they become adults with chronic disease and they die early." - Dr. Campbell
"No longer is the doctor the center of the team. The patient is now the center and they - it's now the responsibility of the patient to curate that team." - Dr. Campbell

Resources Mentioned

Dr. Kathy's spicy chicken soup recipe
"Obesity: The Modern Famine" book
Dr. Kathy Nourish salts and spices
Blue Zones research
Functional medicine approach

Connect with Dr. Kathy Campbell

Website: drkathydoes.com
Consultations: Available for medication reviews and wellness coaching
Products: Dr. Kathy Nourish salts and spices

Connect with Rebellious Wellness Lifestyle

https//RebelliousWellnessLifestyle.com

Note: This episode is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with healthcare professionals before making changes to your medications or health regimen.

Tune in for an enlightening discussion that challenges conventional healthcare norms and empowers you towards proactive wellness!

Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Medicine for Chronic Disease

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 12:15:00 -0400

In this episode of Rebellious Wellness Lifestyle, I speak with Brehan Crawford, a Chinese medicine practitioner who combines ancient healing wisdom with modern scientific understanding to help people with chronic conditions.

Brehan Crawford is a Chinese medicine practitioner with a four-year master's degree and additional six years of direct mentorship focusing on complex and chronic cases. He specializes in helping people with conditions that haven't responded well to conventional treatments, particularly digestive disorders and autonomic nervous system issues.

Key Topics

Brehan's personal journey into Chinese medicine after witnessing its powerful effects on his father's skin condition
The differences between Chinese medicine as practiced in China versus the Western understanding
How acupuncture is only about 5-10% of Chinese medicine practice in China
The autonomic nervous system's role in chronic conditions
The concept of yin and yang as it relates to parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system states
Treating conditions like POTS (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome)
Simple breathing techniques for different health conditions
How virtual appointments work in Chinese medicine practice

"When you give up hope, that's the same as somebody paying you to stay sick. You have to maintain that hope. You have to encourage your family, your close friends to help you keep that hope... Not to continue throwing away your money trying things that don't work, but to be open to something working, even if nothing that you've tried previously has." — Brehan Crawford

Resources Mentioned

Crawford Wellness website: crawford-wellness.com
Instagram: @crawford_wellness
Chorus Circle: Free online support group available through the Skol platform, linked on Brehan's website and social media

Takeaway Points

Chinese medicine looks at patterns in your body, environment, and lifestyle to restore fundamental functions
Most chronic conditions improve when basic bodily functions (sleep, digestion, etc.) are optimized
The autonomic nervous system balance is crucial for overall health
Different breathing techniques can help different conditions based on excess or deficiency patterns
Virtual consultations can be effective for herbal medicine prescriptions and many types of health guidance

Timestamp Highlights

00:00:00 - Introduction and Brehan's background
00:01:45 - Brehan's father's experience with Chinese medicine
00:04:00 - Brehan's personal health journey
00:05:00 - Explanation of Chinese medicine as a complete system
00:07:00 - Acupuncture's role in Chinese medicine
00:11:00 - Discussion of chronic disease approaches
00:15:00 - Functional medicine and Chinese medicine similarities
00:19:00 - Explanation of the autonomic nervous system
00:25:00 - Breathing techniques for different conditions
00:27:00 - How virtual appointments work
00:30:00 - Information about Chorus Circle support group

Life Line Screening could save your life

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 13:00:00 -0400

My guest this week is Alicia Botyrius from Lifeline Screening.

This short episode was sparked after a few conversations with people close to me who had relatives who suffered strokes or heart attacks from unidentified vascular anomalies. With companies like Life Line affordable testing is in our hands regardless of what a doctor might think is necessary.

Peace of mind is priceless and the information one gets from these tests can give you that and or, save a life if there is a problem.

Here's what we covered:

Understanding Lifeline Screening

Established in 1993, a leading provider of preventive health screenings in the U.S.
Importance and legitimacy due to longevity in the industry.

Preventive Health Screenings Explained

Focus on vascular system screening not typically covered by insurance unless symptomatic.
Early detection for asymptomatic conditions like plaque buildup that can lead to strokes.

Importance for All Ages

Emphasis on why screenings are relevant even if you feel healthy or are younger.

Personal Stories & Testimonials

Real-life examples where screenings detected critical issues leading to timely medical interventions.

Available Tests at Lifeline Screening Events:

Carotid Artery Screening
Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Check
Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) Test
Six-lead EKG for AFib Detection

Convenience and Accessibility:

Over 15,000 locations across the U.S., making it easy for anyone to access these services.

Membership Program – One Life

Offers additional screenings at discounted rates with automatic annual renewal options.

Professional Medical Reports:

Easy-to-understand reports available online within seven days post-screening.

Once again I encourage listeners to consider proactive measures especially if there are family history related concerns or if parents are aging and you want to have the best tests that their docs might not order.

Look, women are at greater risk of stroke than men and is the third leading cause of death for women. And for many women, stroke is the first sign anything is wrong. With all of the push for unnecessary tests and procedures in western medicine it seems they are missing some vital testing for women. And, arterial health is a way more important marker than cholesterol.

Listener Offer: Special Discount – Exclusive pricing offered through Rebellious Wellness Lifestyle partnership with Lifeline Screening.

Resources Mentioned:

50% Discount on women's preventive screening

Why not subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any better aging tips. Or subscribe to the Rebellious Reality Check News. My bi-weekly news, myth busting, and occasional ranting emails to help you live fully and age better.

Hot Flashes Cool Topics: Menopause and Beyond, The Good News

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 16:00:00 -0400

My guests today were Bridgett and Colleen from Hot Flashes, Cool Topics.

I just love that name. We covered a wide range of cool topics from menopause to the good news about turning 60.

Episode Highlights

New Beginnings: Introduction to the rebranded podcast, "Rebellious Wellness Lifestyle." The shift from focusing solely on those over 50 to embracing a broader perspective on aging and wellness.
Guest Insights: Bridget and Colleen discuss their journey with the podcast "Hot Flashes & Cool Topics," which started as a way to find answers about menopause that they couldn't get from doctors.
Menopause Conversations:
Importance of understanding hysterectomies — keeping ovaries can prevent instant menopause.
Navigating misinformation versus evidence-based advice in women's health.
Aging Gracefully:
Emphasis on living fully at any age with expert interviews covering genetics, wearables, hacks, hormones, etc.
Highlighting the joy found in later years; women often feel happier post-menopause due to newfound freedom.
Women's Health Advocacy:
Encouragement for women to be proactive advocates for their health. Importance of finding supportive healthcare providers.
Community Connection:
Significance of community and connection in maintaining mental and physical health as we age.

Key Takeaways

Empowerment Through Knowledge: The importance of providing women with choices through information so they can make informed decisions about their health.
Breaking Stereotypes About Aging: Challenging societal narratives around aging by highlighting positive aspects like increased happiness in one's sixties or seventies.
Self-Prioritization is Essential:

Learning not to care excessively about others' opinions allows personal growth.
Understanding the power of saying 'no.'

Exploring New Opportunities at Any Age:

Whether it's career pivots or solo travels, there's no expiration date on exploring new passions or adventures.

Health Beyond Physicality:

Focusing not only on physical but also mental well-being contributes significantly towards enjoying life’s latter stages actively and happily.

You can find and follow the girls here: https://hotflashescooltopics.com/

All of their podcast episodes are there as are some of their favorite products.

At the top of the episode I mentioned that you could read about the name change on my podcast. To make it easy for you, here's are the two posts I wrote about it.

https://rebelliouswellnessover50.com/what-dunkin-taught-me-about-rebranding/

Part 2--If you're really paying attention you'll notice that the name in my photo says "living" rather than "lifestyle." My bad. Waiting for my artist to correct it. https://rebelliouswellnessover50.com/part-2-rebrand-someones-gonna-hate-it/

Angels, Awareness, and Creating a Joyful Reality: A Conversation with Seph Deitlin

Gregory Anne Cox — Sun, 09 Feb 2025 08:00:00 -0400

Angels, Awareness, and Creating a Joyful Reality: A Conversation with Seph Deitlin

Take a walk on the woo side of Rebellious Wellness Over 50, as Gregory Anne speaks with Seph Dietlin, an angel communicator and spiritual guide with over 20 years of experience.

Seph laughs about how it all began--he as having a really bad day and was bargaining with god--and how shy he was telling people he had been talking to angels. And this was in Southern California! Once he did he realized lots of people have experienced this.

Here's what's in store for you

- Discover how inviting higher consciousness and spiritual entities into your life can lead to greater health and vitality.

- Learn about real-life experiences that illustrate the magic of angelic intervention and its impact on everyday situations.

- Understand the role of stress hormones in our wellbeing and how connecting spiritually can mitigate these effects.

The importance of human connection and relationships in our lives, with Seph emphasizing how our most significant life events often involve the people we meet

Understanding angels as part of a unified field of consciousness rather than separate entities, and how we are all connected to this angelic realm

Here are some practical ways Seph believes will lead us to cultivate greater awareness and connection to higher consciousness:

- Spending time in nature

- Reducing TV and media consumption

- Focusing on heart-centered awareness

- Meditation and prayer

- Building up others and fostering positive communities

The power of creative energy and how to direct it purposefully rather than getting caught up in divisive issues

Discussion of how maintaining higher frequencies of love and positive imagination can contribute to creating a better world

Resources mentioned:

- Website: TalkToMyAngels.com

- Services offered: Angel communication courses, manifestation retreats (upcoming in Sedona, Hawaii, Portugal, and Mount Shasta), angel readings, and hypnotherapy.

You can book an angel reading here.

Stop Fighting Your Body: A Pain-Free Approach to Moving Better at Any Age

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 09:26:00 -0400

In this episode, I interviewed David Zemach-Bersin, a 50-year veteran practitioner of the Feldenkrais Method. David explains how this unique approach to movement and pain management works with the brain's neuroplasticity to create lasting change without pain or strain.

Key Points:

- The Feldenkrais Method focuses on the brain's learning capacity rather than muscle exercise

- Unlike traditional exercise, it doesn't rely on effort or "no pain, no gain" philosophy

- The method can help reduce pain, improve movement, and decrease stress at any age

- Practitioners call their sessions "lessons" rather than exercises to emphasize the learning aspect

- The approach can be particularly effective for anxiety and trauma-related physical symptoms

About David Zemach Burson:

- Among the first practitioners trained in the Feldenkrais Method in the US

- Has been teaching for over 50 years

- Founder of Feldenkrais Access (feldenkraisaccess.com)

- Offers both in-person and online classes

Resources Mentioned:

David has provided my listeners with a special offer. You can find it here but the details are right below.

The link provides access to one free Feldenkrais lesson focused on breathing. If they opt into our email list, they can get four more free lessons to help with back, shoulder, and mouth & jaw pain, as well as anxiety, plus an option to purchase select programs at 45% off. (there is no deadline on the offer.)

Free resources available on the website include "Soothe and Calm" lessons created during COVID. These can help anyone with ongoing anxiety or stress, no Covid needed. 😂

- Upcoming courses mentioned: Shoulder Rescue has started but goes through February 13th. There is a sample lesson after the description of the course.

- Free lessons available for anxiety, breathing, vision, and posture improvement

For more information and free resources, visit feldenkraisaccess.com

Daniel Packard: End Anxiety Once and For All

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 12:00:00 -0400

Unlock the secret to conquering anxiety with Daniel Packard's unique approach. Daniel has spent many years and thousands of dollars perfecting a system that promises permanent relief from stress and anxiety. With a staggering 90% success rate, Daniel challenges conventional mental health practices and offers hope for those struggling with fear-related issues.

Key Insights:

- Discover how feeling safe is the root solution to overcoming anxiety.

- Understand why traditional methods may not provide lasting results.

- Learn about the importance of demanding measurable outcomes in mental health treatments.

Traditional methods focus on management rather than solution. Therapy, self-help courses, psychedelic journeys, can provide relief but it's usually temporary.

Daniel encourages listeners to remain skeptical but open-minded. He agrees that what he promises sounds impossible but he has plenty of testimonials to prove his promise.

What better way to prove the program's value than to set it up as a "pay at the end, only if you get results?"

Head over to his website where you can experience one facet of the program to try it out yourself.

The Great Menopause Myth with Wise and Well

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 15:00:00 -0400

I've been banging on about the importance of bio-identical hormone replacement for years--literally 15 years--which is why I was so happy to host Kristen Johnson and Maria Clap of Wise and Well. I followed them for at least a year and dug deep into their social posts for the science behind what they were sharing. It's all there and easy to understand. We share a point of view that peri-menopause and menopause are not the end of the world but there are times of serious changes going on and we have to learn to adjust--and get the help we need if needed.

Knowledge is the first step and this episode will enlighten you in many ways.

Key Topics Discussed:

1. Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

Understanding Bioidentical Hormones: These are molecularly identical to the hormones produced by our bodies and can be compounded or FDA-approved.
Misconceptions & Fear: Many women fear bioidenticals due to misinformation, such as unfounded cancer risks.
Individualized Treatment: Importance of personalized dosing based on individual needs rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.

2. Women's Health & Midlife Challenges

Target Audience includes women aged 40 to 70, but also younger women experiencing early menopause.
Men are encouraged to learn about these issues for better support in relationships.

3. Body Image and Aging

Challenging societal pressures and unrealistic standards set by media.
Emphasizing self-love and acceptance over striving for unattainable youthfulness.

4. Nutrition Insights

The importance of protein intake at every meal, particularly from natural sources like meat, which is nutrient-dense and satiating.
Discussion around misconceptions regarding meat consumption and its nutritional value compared to plant-based diets.

Insightful Quotes:

"We've now replaced what used to be the important metrics of a good life with surface stuff."

"We don't need to look thirty at sixty; it's about feeling good in your skin."

"I think sometimes we need to give ourselves a little bit more grace and recognize that these bodies are a story, of everything that we've lived and done."

Action Items for Listeners:

Consider testing hormone levels before starting HRT for more tailored treatment plans.
Reflect on personal body image perceptions influenced by social media aesthetics versus real-life health metrics.
Incorporate whole foods into your diet focusing on unprocessed meats when possible.

We couldn't cover everything I wanted to know from Kristen and Maria So I'm inviting them back now that their book has launched. (This episode was recorded well before it is being released. You'll hear me say the release is early September.)

Follow Kristen Johnson (@wiseandwell) & Maria Clap (@mariaclap) on Instagram for daily tips! ```

Get their book, The Great Menopause Myth, The Truth on Mastering Midlife Hormonal Mayhem, Beating Uncomfortable Symptoms, and Aging to Thrive.

"Stress Test" a memoir, becoming a female doctor in the '70s

Gregory Anne Cox — Sun, 19 May 2024 16:15:00 -0400

My guest this week is retired neonatologist and author, Kaye Drew White. She shares her journey through the male-dominated medical field during a time when sexism and racism were rampant issues. Her memoir, Stress Test, is set to release on June 7th, provides an insightful look into the challenges she faced as a woman in medicine and offers advice for young women pursuing similar careers.

Key Points from the Episode:

The struggles of being a female doctor in a male-dominated environment
Personal tragedies that occurred while learning to be a doctor
Insights into daily life in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit)
Experiences dealing with sexism early in her career
How societal changes have impacted women's roles and rights over time
The importance of controlling one's reproductive health for career advancement
Reflections on writing as therapy and energy revitalization post-retirement

Kaye discusses how her personal experiences influenced her decision to specialize in neonatology, including childhood influences and guidance from mentors during residency. She also touches upon facing discrimination both due to gender within medical school settings as well as serving underprivileged communities.

Listeners will gain an understanding of what it was like practicing medicine across different hospital environments - from large units at Holy Cross Hospital to smaller NICUs like Shady Grove Adventist Hospital - managing anywhere between 20 to 30 babies at any given time.

The episode delves into serious topics such as coping with patient loss, malpractice fears, navigating emotional traumas alongside professional responsibilities, balancing work-life pressures especially amidst recent public setbacks regarding women’s healthcare rights following Roe v Wade reversal implications.

Kay is a good story teller and speaks with compassion about all that she was faced with, societal, personal, and professional.

You can learn more about Kay and her writings here.

End the Toxic Tango, how to reclaim your power in relationships

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 06 May 2024 10:46:00 -0400

This episode is for you if you are suffering (in silence or if you feel everyday is a battle for your self worth), in a relationship gone bad or has been bad for years.

Shannon Petrovich, LSCW, LISAC, BCD is an expert in the complex world of toxic relationships.

This is an especially important interview in light of the many studies highlighting how common it is for women to be the victims of verbal abuse, diminishment, and feelings of shame due to a toxic relationship. This can be from a partner, family member, or even an adult child.

According to the American Psychological Association, "One nationally representative study showed that 27% of Americans are actively estranged from at least one family member."

Truth is, people who find themselves in this place have often created the very situation they hate. You remember the saying, "we teach people how to treat us?"

Yeah, that applies here.

But it's not hopeless. You can regain your sense of self worth and teach your people that who you are is not a doormat or victim. Some will respond positively and some will have to be walked away from.

Shannon's goal is to help individuals identify toxicity in their relationships and what steps one can take to address these unhealthy dynamics.

Shannon helped me understand that narcissism isn't one type of individual or behavior but is rather a spectrum of people and behaviors. Bottom line is this is a tricky situation to navigate due to the chameleon-like nature of a narcissists actions.

Key Points Discussed:

Personal Experience with Illness: The host shares her recent recovery from illness.
Rising Awareness of Toxic Relationships: A reflection on why toxic relationships are getting more attention in light of global situations.
Defining Self Within Relationships: Understanding that showing up as your whole self is crucial for healthy interactions.
The Spectrum of Narcissism: Insight into how narcissistic behavior varies and its impact on relationships.
Internal vs. External Responsibility: Emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between one's own emotions and those projected by others.
Navigating Parental Roles & Adult Children Dynamics: Strategies for dealing with expectations set by historical family roles.
Recognizing Subtle Forms of Toxicity: Acknowledging that not all toxic behaviors are overtly abusive but may still be harmful.
Tools For Recovery & Empowerment:
Developing a healthy relationship within oneself before addressing external ones
Implementing boundaries

Shannon offers a free training video on her website to provide initial guidance on handling toxic relationships.

She also had a support group & masterclass. These are opportunities for deeper learning and community support when dealing with these challenges.

This episode provides valuable advice for anyone questioning the healthiness of their interpersonal connections while offering practical steps toward resolution and empowerment.

Remember to visit HealFromToxicRelationships.com for further assistance in healing from detrimental relational patterns.

Note: Always ensure you're safe when considering leaving a potentially dangerous situation; seek professional help if necessary.

Veganism isn't always healthy, especially as we age

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 10:16:00 -0400

My guest, Daina Rasutis, is a a Nutrition Therapist Master. Looking for a way to heal her gut, her chronic acne, and increasing fatigue, she turned to a plant based diet.

To start, things seemed to be going well. Things improved but she never returned to health. In fact, over time, she felt worse and her symptoms returned.

We discussed the importance of protein--specifically animal protein--as we age. It benefits the gut, our muscles, immunity, and more. For those who have concerns about how animals are processed, an egg from a humane farm fed organic food to supplement their grazing, is the answer.

Key Points Discussed:

Daina's Background: From civil environmental engineering to sustainable food systems and eventually finding her passion in nutrition therapy.
Vegan Journey: How going vegan initially improved Dena's chronic conditions like acne but later led to energy depletion and gut issues.
Protein Importance: The critical role animal proteins play in maintaining gut health versus relying heavily on supplements or processed foods.
Gut Health Focus: Why as we age, especially for women over 50, it becomes essential to prioritize gut health through proper nutrition including adequate protein intake.
Muscle Maintenance: The significance of preventing muscle loss by ensuring enough dietary protein paired with resistance training as one ages.
Digestive Changes with Ageing: Understanding that our body produces fewer enzymes and stomach acid as we get older which affects digestion.

Insights Shared:

Transitioning from Veganism:

Dena discusses how she gradually introduced eggs then fish back into her diet after realizing plant-based eating was not supporting her well-being effectively.

Bone Broth Benefits:

Although not complete in amino acids profile compared to other animal products, bone broth is beneficial for skin, bones, and particularly soothing for the gut lining during healing processes.

Common Misconceptions:

Addressing common misunderstandings about heartburn relief methods such as antacids which can lead to more harm than good by reducing crucial stomach acid production needed for immune defense against pathogens.

Food Sensitivity Testing & Stool Analysis:

Highlighted importance of identifying individual food sensitivities through testing rather than elimination diets alone; also understanding one’s microbiome state via stool tests.

Headaches & Gut Connection:

Discusses how chronic headaches can often be linked back to gut issues—whether it’s due to food sensitivities or poor digestion leading systemic reactions within the body.

Conclusion:

This episode challenges listeners who are considering or currently practicing veganism while emphasizing the necessity of listening closely to their bodies’ needs—especially regarding protein consumption—and adjusting their diets accordingly as they age. If you’re looking beyond conventional wisdom towards a fully expressed life at any age without compromising your wellness goals, tune in now!

Her website is Table to Crave.

You can find Daina on IG.

If you have questions about your own choice of foods and how it impacts healthy aging, DM me on social @rebelwell50 or send an email to gregory@rebelliouswellnessover50.com

Dr. Michael Roizen, Can We Really Turn Back Time?

Gregory Anne Cox — Sat, 13 Apr 2024 18:15:00 -0400

Today, I have the privilege of hosting Dr. Michael Roizen, a renowned expert in reversing and rebooting aging.

His CV is extensive, you can read about him here. In 2007, Dr. Roizen was named Chief Wellness Officer at Cleveland Clinic, the first such position in a major healthcare institution in the United States.

The concept might sound like something out of science fiction, but Dr. Roizen discussed real scientific endeavors aimed at reversing biological aging. He opened up about cutting-edge technologies such as 3D organ printing – which may one day allow us to replace aged organs with new ones – and research on telomeres and stem cells that are at the forefront of longevity studies.

Key Takeaways:

Reversing Biological Age: Dr. Roizen discusses how we can not only prevent but reverse our biological age through various methods.
Future Innovations: A glimpse into future advancements such as 3D organ printing and breakthroughs in research that could allow us to reset our age back to our forties.
Real Age Concept: An explanation of Real Age – an assessment tool that determines your body's health relative to your calendar age based on lifestyle choices.

Take the Real Age test at ShareCare.com. Caveat. I took the test, which is long but multiple choice, and I knew based on some of the questions I was in trouble. The algorithm recommended that I don't eat enough whole grains--I eat almost none--or legumes, not good for my genetic profile, or fruit. I don't love fruit but do eat about two apples a week and berries or melon in season. It's pretty old school/western medicine oriented. I also got points off for not having a flu shot every year and never having had a pneumonia vax.

Preventing Structural Change: Importance of avoiding severe structural damage now so you can benefit from potential future therapies.
Health Parameters & Longevity Preparation: Insights into six parameters of health including diet, exercise, stress management (highlighted as most important), connection with others, and sleep quality.
Metformin and Aging Debate: Discussion about Metformin's role in anti-aging; while it has been hyped up within certain circles, Dr. Roizen advises caution unless pre-diabetes or diabetes is present.
Telomere Testing Accuracy Concerns: Skepticism around telomere length tests due to variability; emphasis on stem cell telomeres being more crucial than other cells' for longevity.
Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD): Explanation of Valter Luongo’s FMD which resets genes allowing for increased stem cell growth upon resuming a normal diet after fasting periods.

Supplements That Work: A brief mention at the end regarding supplements that may provide more benefits than risks according to Longevity.com’s scientific advisory board evaluations - baby aspirin twice daily, CoQ10, probiotics like Bifidobacterium animalis ssp lactis HN019™️ , vitamin D above 50 ng/ml levels and half a multivitamin twice daily were highlighted among others.

Dr. Roizen's latest book, he has written or co-authored numerous books, is The Great Age Reboot, Cracking the Longevity Code for a Younger Tomorrow.

How to prevent Dementia with Mitchell Clionsky

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 03 Apr 2024 17:30:00 -0400

Going out on a limb here when I say, no one wants dementia.

Amiright?

When I heard about the new book, Dementia Prevention, Using Your Head to Save Your Brain, I knew I wanted to interview the author(s). Luckily, one of them reached out to me, to you the audience, thinking it might be something we'd be interested in. Ya think?

This episode is chock full of what contributes to dementia, who might be heading that way, and what we can do to prevent it or slow the progression.

Mitchell told me "80 percent of people over the age of 50 are somewhat or very worried about dementia. That can be paralyzing, if all you do is worry. That's why when we talk about in the book, don't be a dementia worrier, become a prevention warrior. There's a very active approach that is based on real science."

You know I love the science and bring it he did.

Here are the key points we discussed

Demystifying Dementia: Understanding that genetics and lifestyle both play roles in brain health.
Prevention over Worry: Shifting from anxiety about dementia to becoming an active 'prevention warrior.'
Interdisciplinary Approach: The importance of integrating knowledge from various medical fields such as cardiology, endocrinology, sleep medicine, etc., for effective dementia prevention.
Early Detection & Action: Advocating regular cognitive assessments during annual check-ups and taking action based on results.
The Power of Lifestyle Changes: Emphasizing simple yet significant habits like walking 10 minutes thrice a day or ensuring good quality sleep.
Understanding Different Types of Dementia: Clarifying misconceptions between Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia among others.
Role of Medication & Substance Use: Cautioning against long-term use of anti-anxiety medication or excessive alcohol consumption which may impair cognitive function.

Dr. Clionsky also highlights the significance of maintaining social connections and mental stimulation in preserving cognitive health.

The Clionsky's have created a checklist for anyone who wants to see where they are when it comes to dementia potential. It's your chance to construct your individual Dementia Prevention Model. Your results will grade you as "on target," near target," or "off target." Read more here and take the quiz.

Find them on Facebook. Meet them and their 2 beautiful dogs at https://braindoc.com/

If you find yourself near or off target and what a simple roadmap to get you to on target, check out my Power of 5 free email course. It's all you need to give your body the advantages you need to age in good health--brain included.

Women suffer from our broken healthcare system

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 14:00:00 -0400

Learn how to navigate a broken healthcare system.

Susan Salenger is the author and researcher behind SIDELINED: How Women Can Navigate A Broken Healthcare System. Sidelined examines the many ways in which some women manage and sometimes mismanage their healthcare.

Systemic issues plague our healthcare system—less funding for women’s health research and gender biases can put lives at risk. I brought Susan on to dive deep into why this happens and what needs fixing.

These are quotes from some of the women Susan interviewed for her book:

"I told my doctors about my pain for years, but they told me it was all in my head..."

"My doctor said I needed a hysterectomy to relieve my symptoms that I was sure were just normal menopause. Unfortunately, I agreed to the surgery anyway. Why did I agree to that?”

"If men had cramps, they'd have cured this by now..."

These and countless other comments from women who've suffered at the hands of the healthcare industry are frighteningly common, but they don't have to be.

Healthcare Disparities: Women face longer wait times for emergency treatment like heart attacks and are often misdiagnosed or prescribed antidepressants instead of receiving proper diagnoses.
Research Funding Inequality: Female researchers receive less funding than their male counterparts, especially when researching diseases prevalent among women. This leads to limited knowledge about female bodies within the medical community.
Importance of Second Opinions: The critical role second opinions play in diagnosing from different perspectives due to thousands of diseases sharing similar symptoms.
Doctor-Patient Communication Tips: Writing down symptoms before an appointment helps both patient and doctor stay focused; repeating back what you heard ensures understanding; bringing someone along offers additional support.
Medication Research & Cautionary Tales: It’s crucial to research any new medication interactions thoroughly – even if there’s only a small risk factor involved.
Navigating Hospitals & Surgery Prep: Ensuring hospitals specialize in your specific condition/surgery type while also confirming surgeon experience levels can mitigate risks associated with treatments.

Final Thoughts: This conversation sheds light on systemic issues within healthcare affecting women disproportionately. It empowers listeners with strategies for proactive self-care management by advocating assertiveness during medical appointments, thorough research practices, and demanding quality care without compromise.

Remember to tune in next week as we continue breaking barriers and exploring more ways to achieve optimal wellness after 50!

Find Susan on these 3 Social Media platforms: https://www.tiktok.com/@grandma.gains Where she shares her weight lifting tips

https://www.instagram.com/susansalenger/

https://www.facebook.com/suesalenger/

You can reverse osteoporosis, here's how

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 17:00:00 -0400

Dr. Doug Lucas is one of my fave docs. Why? Because he goes the extra mile to research before treating patients or sharing science and health news. And he isn't afraid to say "I don't know."

He's also one of the docs I love to feature because he has transitioned from the western model of medicine--he was an orthopedic surgeon--to holistic health; prevention and remedial treatment.

Today he shares his insights on preventing and reversing bone loss at any age.

And why common exercises like power walking might not be enough for optimal bone strength. Nor were a few other things I was relying on like adding a weight vest, vibration plate, and resistance training. What's a girl to do? Learn and do.

So what does make bones stronger? Resistance and impact. These two forces stimulate bone growth by signaling the body that more strength is needed in these areas—a biological response akin to building muscle through weightlifting.

I specifically wanted to have Doug talk about the role of medications in treating osteoporosis because I know he takes a balanced approach– including which ones Dr. Lucas prefers and under what conditions. He describes the 2 main types, who is a candidate, who isn't and why for both.

He talked about his 4 R system which is his holistic approach to improving bone health through lifestyle changes, biomarker-driven supplementation, hormone replacement therapy (when appropriate), peptides usage, and even off-label use of certain drugs.

We covered

The importance of understanding the root causes behind individual cases of osteoporosis
Strategies for creating personalized programs that can reverse or mitigate bone density loss
Insights into how various interventions like hormone replacements can fit into a larger treatment plan

Dr. Lucas has recently started a monthly membership program called Health Span Nation. Their tagline is Live Better, Longer. I like it and joined just last week. Still finding my way around but Doug does live Q & As once a month. You get exclusive access to Dr. Doug and a community of people pursuing health and longevity.

You can listen to my earlier segment with Doug where we talk about metabolic health, what it means and why it's important to be metabolically healthy.

He has a Youtube channel--The Dr. Doug Show, Bones, Hormones, and Healthspan this is off the charts with engaged people. And lots of videos on a huge variety of health topics.

Remember to subscribe to my podcast wherever you listen so you never miss a myth-busting episode to help you on your journey of healthy aging!

1 to 3 minutes a day to change your life in a positive, powerful way

Gregory Anne Cox — Sun, 18 Feb 2024 16:15:00 -0400

Sandy Joy Weston

is a mindset trainer. Her mission is to spread joy and she uses fitness and her endless positive vibe to help her clients achieve what they want in life with ease and joy.

Sandy became the first female trainer for the Philadelphia Flyers and personally worked with Eric Lindros, Ed Snider, and Pat Croce. Sandy also worked with the Philadelphia 76ers dance team when she choreographed and performed a half time routine.

She's a ball of energy, and as you would imagine, positivity, not in an annoying way. And she's not a pollyanna about life. We talked again--it can suck--relationship, they can be taxing, and all the little annoying things that trip us up daily. She gets it.

But the big question she always asks, is, Is feeling like crap, bitchy, annoyed, etc going to get you where you want to go today, tomorrow, next year?

Her premise that you can change your life in a positive, powerful way in 1 to 3 minutes a day is proven. She spent one year working with top researchers, scientists, psychologists and humans like us, and tested how much time people would actually commit to to change the things they wanted to change.

She thought it would be 5 minutes. Nope, the people have spoken. All we can manage consistently is 1 - 3 minutes. Wow, I feel so much better. Even I can do that.

We talked journaling, morning routines, having a word to keep us on track with what we want out day to look like, and more great ideas for making change that sticks.

Sandy has 2 podcasts, “Let’s Keep It Real” & “Positive Bitch Lady" has written 3 books, Train Your Head & Your Body Will Follow and My 30-Day Reset Journal, and her workshops. She is also traveling the world as a Keynote Speaker specializing in wellness, fitness, and women empowerment. Sandy’s outlook on life inspires every single person to live with a little more joy.

You can get her Brain Reset worksheets, they cover resets for work and family life, here, for free, no opt in required, here.

You can buy her 30-Day Reset Journal on Amazon. It's a bargain at $12.99.

You can find her on IG and Facebook.

Cardiac surgeon says "Stay off my operating table"

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 14:30:00 -0400

Dr. Philip Ovadia, is a practicing cardiac surgeon who is on a mission to revolutionize heart health by keeping people off his operating table. It starts with our lifestyle choices--not really news is it?

Take one aspect, food. It's information and it's information that speaks directly to the many systems that keep us going--or not going.

Key Takeaways:

1. Normalization of Invasive Procedures - Open-heart surgery has become normalized but remains highly invasive and requires extensive recovery time.

2. Preventing Heart Disease - Simple changes in diet and lifestyle can have profound effects on heart health.

3. Metabolic Health Focus - Understanding metabolic health--which means stable blood sugar levels, low inflammation, not insulin resistant-- is key to addressing the root cause rather than just treating symptoms.

4. Personal Journey - Dr. Philip shares his transformation from being morbidly obese to losing 100 pounds by changing his own eating habits, highlighting the importance of dietary choices in managing one's health.

5. Processed Foods & Seed Oils – Discusses how processed foods contribute significantly to poor metabolic health while advocating for whole real foods including animal products as nutrient-dense options.

7. Supplements – While some supplements like Vitamin D might be necessary due to common deficiencies or geographic limitations, he advises against blanket supplementation in favor of targeted approaches based on individual needs.

Episode Highlights:

Gender Differences in Heart Disease: Women typically experience protection until menopause but may present atypical symptoms compared to men.

Misconceptions About Red Meat: Challenges prevailing beliefs about red meat and saturated fats by suggesting they are not harmful when considering quality science data.

Resources Mentioned:

Free quiz on metabolic health can be found on the home page of ifixhearts.com

"The Ancestral Diet Revolution" by Chris Knobbe

ifixhearts.com

Ovadia Heart Health

Dr. Ovadia's book includes sections on heart healthy choices for all food types--keto, vegetarian, vegan, carnivore, Mediterranean.

Dr. Ovadia's book also offers guidance for maintaining a metabolically healthy diet across various popular diets such as keto, paleo, Atkins, Mediterranean, gluten-free vegetarianism and veganism.

Genetic testing for targeted supplementation

A new kind of cardiologist talks tests and procedures you don't need

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 18:00:00 -0400

Dr. Jack Wolfson and I had a great conversation because he was open to any and all questions. We covered a lot of ground but basically it's this: The Truth About Heart Health and Avoiding Unnecessary Procedures.

You'll learn how Dr. Wolfson shifted from Western medicine to a holistic approach focused on avoiding unnecessary procedures as we age. His philosophy on how to do this is summed up the foundation of treating patients.

"Eat well. Live well. Think well." And in the case of a doc like Jack, you might need to change your thinking to thinking well. First believe you can be healthy without medication and unnecessary procedures and then believe that this way of practicing medicine is sound, safe, and science based.

You'll learn which medical procedures may be superfluous for anyone but especially older adults as we are the ones western medicine and big phara target, and why some treatments might not affect your health positively after reaching certain milestones.

Hear about his transition from mainstream medicine after an impactful personal experience that led him to practice as what he calls a "natural heart doctor." And his idea of a 100 year heart.

Of course we covered one of my favorite topics, cholesterol. Dr. Wolfson shares why it's important, common misconceptions, and how it should be managed according to holistic principles.

Get clarity on commonly prescribed medications like blood pressure drugs and statins—their necessity, risks involved, and potential side effects that are often overlooked.

Find out which diagnostic tests might be unnecessary or even harmful, such as routine stress tests or CT scans for calcium scoring—and learn safer alternatives.

Understand the connection between diet choices (including sugar intake) and their impact on markers like triglycerides in relation to cardiovascular wellness.

This enlightening discussion emphasizes the importance of addressing root causes rather than just symptoms when it comes to heart health—an approach that could revolutionize our understanding of aging well beyond 50!

His learning center has tons of articles on heart related health, new ideas in medicine and more.

Book a free discovery call. Dr. Wolfson and staff work virtually and are one of the early adopters of telemedicine.

What if weight loss isn't the answer...

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 17:23:00 -0400

I sat down with Dr. Michelle Tubman, practicing physician and health coach, to dismantle societal myths surrounding women’s bodies and health. I had to ask because of outdated science I was operating from: do larger body sizes inherently equate to poor health?

Spoiler alert: they don’t. We went on to discuss how cultural pressures can distort self-perception and how painful this is for millions of men, women, and children.

This is not to say that some people who are obese will suffer from heart disease, diabetes, and other common lifestyle diseases. But many thin people will too!

Here are the highlights

Dr. Tubman’s Personal Story. Her journey from struggling with her own body image to empowering others as a physician and coach. Michelle shared a raw story that was a pivot point for her and started her on a path to healing her self image and her life.

2. Medical Bias & Training Gaps. Discussion on how medical professionals may inadvertently perpetuate size bias due to lack of training in nutrition and lifestyle medicine.

3. Health Beyond Weight Loss. Exploring holistic approaches for appreciating one's body without focusing on weight loss or dieting.

4.Semaglutide Concerns. Potential side effects, muscle mass loss implications, short-term studies funded by drug companies, rebound weight gain after discontinuation, and overall efficacy concerns are examined.

5. Gratitude Practice for Body Acceptance. Emphasizing small acts of gratitude toward one's body as a step towards acceptance rather than immediate love.

6. Food Relationships & Mindful Choices. Encouraging listeners to consider if food choices will nourish or punish them while also being mindful about future well-being post-consumption.

Her website is here. Dr. Tubman has a podcast called Thrive Beyond Size.

Find her on instagram, Facebook, and TikTok.

Behind the mic, what's new for RWO in 2024

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 18:00:00 -0400

This episode is a sneak peek into my mind's workings as we march into the new year. It's about who I'll be chatting with—individuals who challenge norms and inspire us to rethink aging, not as decline but as an opportunity for growth and vitality.

Perhaps the new music indicates I'm ready for a fresh start. This isn't just an update to the playlist; it's a rejuvenation of content and spirit aimed at those who share a desire to live life to the max--me and you!

More rebellious topics and conversations.

Speaking of rebellious, I'm getting out of the weight loss coaching business.

There are a million and one people touting the "lose weight over 50 miracle" and I am getting out of the fray.

I am discontinuing weight loss conversations if they are the primary focus. What I'm more interested in is celebrating and accepting one's body, finding compassion for all bodies and the people who live in them.

Inspired by Dr. Michelle Tubman (whose enlightening interview drops mid-January), we’re embracing health at every size instead of chasing fleeting fixes.

The truth is complex: sometimes factors like thyroid issues or genetics play roles in weight challenges—and it’s crucial to seek the kind of help that suits who you are rather than succumbing to one-size-fits-all solutions. I will continue to bring you the best--and most trustworthy--resources to turn to.

Looking ahead, expect stories from trailblazers using unorthodox methods backed by science—everything from stem cell products to biohacking gadgets—and explorations into spiritual wellness because balance matters.

And there’s room for your voice too! Suggest topics or experts—I’m all ears at gregory@rebelliouswellnessover50.com or @rebelwell50 on Instagram and Facebook.

Here's wishing you a splendid start to this new chapter of life filled with good health and happiness!

Side By Side Aging, An exploration of Aging, Relationships, and Spirituality

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 16:45:00 -0400

My guests are Caryl and Jay Casbon co-authors of the book, Side by Side: The Sacred Art of Couples Aging with Wisdom & Love.

The book is based on interviews with couples well into the second half of life and looks to answer the question, What keeps a marriage evolving and thriving, especially in the final season of life?

And:

How can we make the most of our remaining years?
What does love mean now, at this seasoned age?
How do we work with the tension of "me" and "we?"
How do we practice mutuality to support each other in body, mind, and spirit?
How can we offer a beneficial presence to our troubled world?
When one of us dies first, how will the survivor live on and thrive?

Vulnerability increases with age but so does our capacity for intuitive understanding. This thin-skinnedness allows us to absorb life more fully and connect deeply with others.

Spiritual connection isn't just about faith; it's a bond that can reinforce love as we age. Sharing this path can lead to profound intimacy and strength within relationships.

I had 2 important questions. The first is rooted in conversations with girlfriends who are either single by choice in their 60s or widowed with no desire to remarry.

1. Is marriage necessary as we age?

And all of this talk about working on ourselves together is great but...

2. What happens when one partner refuses therapy?

You can learn more about the couple Caryl and Jay interviewed and their other work, which includes retreats, here.

And if you are new to the Rebellious Wellness concept of aging, head over here and get started.

Dirty little secrets about popular prescription medications

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 18:00:00 -0400

Sue Robotti's personal journey experience with DES (Diethylstilbestrol) exposure through her mother led to her infertility. It also inspired her commitment to medication awareness.

She created the MedShadow Foundation, a non-profit organization that provides education on the side effects and long-term impacts of medicines.

As we grow older, it's not uncommon to face an increasing number of prescriptions. Each tablet or capsule promises relief or prevention from ailments that often accompany aging. But with every promise comes a caveat; medications carry risks and potential complications which may be heightened as our bodies change over time.

We discussed prescription Drugs Vs. Lifestyle Habits:

When is it necessary to take medication versus when can lifestyle changes improve health outcomes.

Of course we talked statins. If you know my work at all you know I am a on a mission to educate people on the harms that statins do and the "high cholesterol leads to heart disease myth."

Su shared the very real concerns surrounding statin prescriptions for cholesterol management—potential side effects like muscle pain, cognitive impairment, diabetes risk increase—and stories illustrating why some individuals may not need them after all.

Then there are the hot new weight loss drugs like Wegovy, a class of drugs called semiglutides. Su is on the FDA's consumer panel and she saw the trial data--all trial members were men btw--and got to vote on this drug class-- originally created for diabetes patients. Find out why she wouldn't vote "yes" to approving them today.

The Role of Pharmacists & De-prescribing Movement. Pharmacists are valuable assets in managing drug interactions and can answer any questions you have about your meds or a new prescription. They will call a doctor's office with concerns on your behalf.

Su introduced us to "de-prescribing," a process aimed at reducing unnecessary medication. This is especially good news for those who may be on 4 or more medications and have been for some time. Are they all still necessary? Some docs will help you wade through the tangle and get off the ones you no longer need.

Education empowers patients - knowing more about your medication can lead you towards better healthcare decisions.

Supplements aren't always what they seem – research thoroughly before consumption; consider reputable sources such as Consumer Labs for guidance.

Learn more about prescription medications and lifestyle changes for better health at Medshadow.org.

Memoir, the gift you give the world

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 15:00:00 -0400

This week's guest, Alison Wearing, is a best-selling author known for her award-winning books and one-woman shows, discussed memoir-writing.

Many listeners might relate with either wanting to write about their fascinating life experiences or feeling their life wasn’t quite exciting enough yet still desiring to craft a memoir. Alison touched on both scenarios.

Do you aspire to pen a memoir but are hesitant about the process? Alison will help you understand the nuances of autobiographical writing versus memoirs, how to decide what stays in your story and what doesn't, where to start - she has answers for everything!

When is the right time to begin? "We all need time for our stories - distance for perspective or healing from wounds or understanding what actually happened and its implications."

For those contemplating writing their memoirs but hesitating due to fear or lack of experience – start now! Every life story has value and contributes to our collective human narrative. A well-written memoir doesn’t just recount events; it explores why they mattered then and why they still matter now. Sharing your journey can illuminate someone else's path.

The beauty of memoirs lies within its selectiveness: you choose what parts of your life you want to share and omit the rest – this act alone can be liberating. As Maggie Smith beautifully puts it in her memoir "You Can Make This Place Beautiful": "This is not a tell-all; it's a tell mine".

Alison offers a 12 week memoir writing course as well as retreats. The next cohort for the course begins January 15th, 2024. You can get on the waiting list now on that page.

This was one of the most satisfying conversations I've had about writing and I would trust Alison with my heart and soul if I were to decide to write my own memoir.

Sobriety Might Just Put the Joy Back in Your Life

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 15:15:00 -0400

Giving up on alcohol doesn’t necessarily mean giving up fun! Says my guest Lily Weiss, it restores joy suppressed by intoxication and paves the way for positive changes leading towards happier lives.

If you are like me, someone who enjoys wine and other adult beverages and feels there is plenty of joy and happiness then this might not be the podcast for you. If you are also like me, someone who thinks less enjoyment of the grape would be a good thing, then listen in.

If you are someone who is stuck in a cycle of drinking to excess and wanting to stop but 12-step programs aren't your thing, an organization called This Naked Mind, who trained Lily as a sobriety coach, is a successful, reputable alternative.

They have a 30-day free sober experiment. Why wait for Dry January?

One key takeaway from Lily’s discussion was understanding addiction as a spectrum rather than a binary state, ranging from mild usage to severe dependency. This shift in perspective can help us better understand our own habits or those of others around us.

She delved into the science behind addiction explaining how our brains' reward system contributes towards it. The rush of dopamine experienced during activities like consuming sugar or using phones triggers addictive behaviors similar to substance abuse like alcoholism.

Lily introduces us to the term, grey area drinker, someone who drinks daily but hasn't yet suffered major life disruptions due to it.

Of course, whether we notice the effects of daily drinking or not our health may be impacted. But then, what of the French and Italians who drink wine with dinner most nights and have less heart disease than we here in the US? Could it be genetic?

Addiction isn't indicative of personal failure—it's simply part of human biology—and shame or guilt do nothing to help you recover. What can help is support from a coach like Lily or an online group if you aren't keen on being in a room in a church basement.

Lily has a one-liner that I love, "the first drink pours the second one." Food for thought.

The Temper has a list of options for AA averse sober curious types.

You can find Lily here.

If you enjoy this podcast, please leave a review. Here's how:

Open the Podcasts app
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (i.e., “Rebellious Wellness Over 50”) into the search field
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes)
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews
Click “Write a Review” underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate us on a 5-star scale, and write a review. You can rate without writing. Anything will help me get more listens and downloads.

I so appreciate you!

How to reverse MS and other autoimmune diseases

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 16:45:00 -0400

Did you know that Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune disease?

And can you imagine defying medical expectations and healing from MS or other autoimmune disease using the power of emotions, science, and energy? Tracy Hill, the Conscious Evolution Coach, did just that.

Her diagnosis came while she was in grad school. She’d been over exercising, training for 2 marathons and more stressed with school when her left side went numb for hours. She had been tripping on things but couldn’t figure out what. At last, a neurologist gave her the diagnosis of MS.

She started a daily shot but always felt like she had the flu and realized this was no way to live and wasn’t going to get better unless she did something.

Traci realized, “Doctors don't know why you get an autoimmune disease and there's no cure, which tells me they don't know anything about it.”

So she began digging and digging for information.

She started with food although she was a healthy eater, what was causing inflammation and how could she keep it low?

More digging and she found the ties to emotions.

“About 95 percent of diseases are actually emotional because we aren't taught how to release emotions. We aren't taught how to release that energy.”

There’s a great book by a western medicine physician titled “The Body Keeps The Score” by Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD that talks about the long term effect of trauma on the body and the importance of incorporating things like play, yoga, mindfulness, and neurofeedback for healing.

Once she dealt with her emotional trauma and took on her food and self care she has been symptom free for 18 or 19 years.

To hear Traci’s whole story have a listen.

You can find her coaching offers here.

Sparking JOY even in the darkest places

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 15:45:00 -0400

Ever thought about the power of joy, even in life's toughest moments?

Today, I'm joined by Kristen Sparks who has conquered abuse, addiction, and physical trauma to uncover an unbelievable joy and resilience. She emphasizes the importance of discarding obsolete narratives, embracing love's transformative power, and finding happiness in tiny moments of contrast.

"What I'm trying to get at is we have the ability to stop the craziness and the drama that we play in our heads and find that spark that literally does live. I, I say it's absolutely in the solar plexus.

We talked about perception and the importance of remembering that we all see things differently. And not taking things personally.

"That's what life is all about. It's this beautiful dream that we get to dream in any way we want it. And every morning I am so grateful to wake up. And take a good, deep breath. I'm grateful for the pains and the aches and the cat screaming, the dog barking. Because I'm awake. I'm alive. We get another day.

Amen to that peeps!

Kristin has a podcast, find it at https://www.wrarinc.com/wrartv

She is having an event in Florida next month. Her keynote is Marci Shimoff whose program, Happy for No Reason has changed many lives.

You can find more about Kristin here.

And she's on IG here

Finding your Inner Badass: Elen Sentier's Way of Authentic Living

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 15:34:00 -0400

Ellen Sentier is, as she would call herself, a witchy woman. She was raised in the old ways of Great Britain, with a profound connection to nature, celestial bodies, and inner wisdom.

Like so many of my guests, her life journey, told in wonderful stories, kept me rapt. From her experiences as a hippie in the 60s, to her career transition from dance, drama, and art to psychotherapy and business coaching, she’s had a full life. She even reveals how she managed to hitch a ride in a fighter trainer jet!

Rheumatoid arthritis showed up and ended her dance career, but she took it all in stride and looked for the next thing. “So it was a jump. And one of the biggest leaps that I took, 'cause I'm not the sort of woman who can, you know, be happy with bingo or afternoon TV or something like that.”

When a friend invited her to a lecture on transpersonal psychotherapy she thought, sure, why not but what’s that? By the end of the lecture she was hooked. Enter the next chapter of her career.

By way of teaching about the cycles of the moon and how they affect all of us, no matter our gender, she talked about her unique management style, harnessing the power of moon cycles to enhance her then team’s efficiency.

She was able to understand her team's work and organize their tasks in alignment with the moon phases, ultimately improving creativity and productivity.

Finally, we explore the importance of intentional being, thinking, connecting with our inner wisdom.

Also, the power of questioning the status quo. We are both rebels at heart. Thankfully, Elen had her witchy ways and I had a mother who encouraged me to “question everything.”

She talks to the energies around her when things are lost or when she needs an answer to something. I’ll admit I do too.

Ellen also shares how she encourages young people to explore possibilities and how she tailors retreats to suit individual needs for personal growth. So, tune in and get ready to unleash the badass within you.

Elen has a podcast and you can find out more about her here.

Her coaching programs are here.

Are you a dirty girl? Dr. Wendy Trubow and I talk detox

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 21 Aug 2023 07:30:00 -0400

Let’s talk dirty for a bit, shall we?

See where your mind went?

I’m talking dirty as in toxins. My guest, Wendie Trubow, MD, MBA, IFM certified practitioner, is a detox expert. Like so many health experts with a niche specialty, it was her struggles with mold and metal toxicity, Celiac disease, and other health issues that steered her in this direction, she started out as an OB-GYN.

She is the poster child for healthy living and was even when she was suffering multiple symptoms that finally, at 35, led to a diagnosis of celiac. She’d likely had it since she was a teen, but it wasn’t a thing that docs knew to test for.

Even as the queen of healthy living—no sugar, processed carbs, alcohol—nada yet once she started testing for heavy metals after an exposure to lead dust while visiting Notre Dame in France after it burned, she found was loaded with one bad thing after another.

“If the healthy person can have this much toxicity, what about the average person who isn’t aware of all of this?”

That is how she got into being a detox doc.

“I think the part that's pertinent for all of the listeners is that if you want to be vital, vibrant, healthy, able, and interested in intimacy, until you're at least a hundred, you need to manage your toxins because they are directly impacting your endocrine system.”

And you probably know that your endocrine system is responsible for energy, metabolism, hormones. Toxins also impact your immune system, your risk for cancer, dementia, Parkinson’s, MS.

We will never be toxin free but we can certainly lighten the load we carry.

How? Testing but first finding out what you need to test for and why. This probably means working with a Functional Medicine practitioner, someone who can go beyond just the usual tests. It’s important to look at what’s hanging out in our bodies and where. If we don’t optimize our health the body can’t eliminate these things.

Toxins can not only contribute to weight gain (Grab my free report on obesogens and how to lose weight when you’ve tried everything) they can make it hard or even impossible to lose what you’ve gained.

We talked about the Environmental Working Group who publish two lists called the Dirty Dozen—produce you should buy organic due to heavy pesticide use-- and the Clean Fifteen—produce that’s ok not to buy organic.

Wendie espouses starting small when it comes to making healthier, less toxic, changes for your body and your home.

Finish your favorite face wash that’s not chemical free? Find one that is. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Why bother? What goes on, goes in.

Level up to a better dish soap, laundry soap, (I love these laundry soap sheets from Earth Breeze and no longer buy those huge plastic jugs.)

We talked chelation, hair testing for metals, how detox works and why you need to work with a pro or risk overloading your body rather than eliminating the gunk.

Her free offer is mega valuable we created an online, Platform that has community, supplements programs, you can do limited testing, uh, you can really get involved with your health like. Start to work on your toxins and your hormone balance, because that's, those are the big things that throw people off. Mm-hmm. It’s a gift that's designed to get you started. Because it's a process. It's not, it's a journey not a destination.

Here's the link to sign up for the platform.

Here’s her book, Dirty Girl: Ditch the Toxins, Look Great and Feel FREAKING AMAZING!

Find Wendie on IG, and Facebook

Udo Erasmus says your body needs an oil change

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 04 Aug 2023 17:00:00 -0400

Udo Erasmus has lived enough versions of himself for 20 lifetimes. He has held brief jobs in various trades: fruit picking, dairy farming, logging, mining, carpentry, house painting, clearing land, burning brush, growing food, gardening, and finally pesticide spraying. He spent a year in medical school and several years in science research. It was in medical school that he realized you don’t learn about healing people.

Psychedelics, music, even marriage and children are all part of what makes Udo the kind of guest you want at the dinner table.

It was that stint spraying pesticides that led him here, to the interest that would capture his very being, his health. Ironically it also led him to his commitment to pesticide free living and product development.

Our conversation zigzagged through his journey from sick with no hope of a cure from western medicine to realizing his health was his responsibility. He took it on obsessively.

And arrived at two essential nutrients found in oils from seeds.

“There's 42 essential nutrients, and two of those come from oils and none of them come from carbohydrates.” He went in search of the perfect source for these essential oils. Along the way he discovered the dirty seed oil industry secrets.

These oils—mainly the ones that line supermarket shelves, found in clear glass or plastic bottles—are produced for long shelf life not health. Unless you buy organic oil they start with non-organic, pesticide laden seeds.

“Then they treat the oil with sodium hydroxide. Very corrosive base. Then with phosphoric acid, a very corrosive acid. Then they bleach it with bleaching clays, which makes it rancid and smell bad. And then they heat it to frying temperature in a process called deodorization.”

When he found that out, he realized he I could not get healthy on oils like that and set out to answer the question, “how do you make oils with health in mind?”

Well, they're the most sensitive of all of our essential nutrients. Omega three and Omega six. Omega three is five times more sensitive than omega six and light oxygen heat damage them very rapidly, so you have to protect them from light, oxygen, and heat if you wanna make them with health in mind.

Fast forward to today and not only did he figure it out, he invented the equipment needed to preserve the nutrition in Omega 3 and 6s without the need to bleach or deodorize these delicate oils.

Today, His Udo's Choice product line still sells all over the world.

Udo doesn’t eat like most of us and he’d like us to get rid of our frying pans. You’ll have to tune in to hear his argument.

Don’t do shots of olive oil no matter what you see on TikTok or Insta. It’s very hard on the liver and not at all a super health bio hack. He does recommend pouring your omega 3, 6, 9 oils over your food when it’s either raw or off the heat.

Here’s a caveat for anyone looking to lose weight and plans to incorporate some of Udo’s oils into your food plan. “The one thing you have to be careful of omega threes turn on fat burning and turn off fat production in the body.

But if you eat too many carbs, they block that effect, huh? And so when you decide to take more oil as you fuel instead of carbohydrates, then you need to also lower the carbohydrates so that they don't interfere with what oils do exceptionally well if you give them the space to do it.”

Udo will be back to talk about his other passions, the heart, the planet, and living fully.

He’s the author of The Book of Total Sexy Health and Fats the Heal, Fats the Kill.

Back pain relief starts with your core

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 18:00:00 -0400

“I have a bad back.”

Can you relate?

Today, back pain has reached epidemic levels, not just in the United States, but throughout the world.

It’s recently become the #1 cause of disability in the country.

Chronic back pain adversely impacts pretty much every aspect of life and derails your ability to participate in the activities that bring you joy.

It can lead to clinical levels of depression, anger, fear, anxiety and hopelessness.

This is why I was happy to find this week’s guest, Dr. Ryan Peebles.

He is a Doctor of Physical Therapy and makes a bold promise: You can become pain free for life in just 15 minutes a day.

He knows from back pain having suffered for years as a young person. The pain was so debilitating it drove his career choice to see if he could find a solution.

“Throughout all my experiences, everything has pointed towards one simple thing...In order to bring the body back into balance, you have to start with the core. And when I began taking this approach with my own body, it was pivotal in allowing me to finally climb out of what I call the "back pain spiral".

Modern healthcare is unable to successfully reverse chronic back pain because it is "treatment" focused.

Anytime you are being "treated" for your pain, changes are being made from the outside-in.

This might work if back pain was an isolated problem, but it's not.

Chronic back pain is the result of a much deeper problem in an interconnected system of your body and mind.

Aside from learning why conventional treatments—including physical therapy don’t work—Ryan explained why back pain is so common today.

Did you know that sit ups can cause back pain? The Army recently took sit ups out of military bootcamp training. Good enough for me to lay that to rest.

A word about physical therapy. Ryan said it’s not that it’s not effective. It can be but it doesn’t—in most cases—teach you how to take the corrective movements into your daily life.

With Dr. Peebles program, Core Balance Training, which I joined not long after our interview, you learn how to integrate this new relationship with your core into your daily activities.

I asked about stretching, good or bad? He said it can be good but when it’s done repeatedly you can weaken the muscles.

“Really stretching is not inherently bad. It's just should be combined with functional stuff in that lengthened position, that vulnerable position.”

These are the conditions people have had success with using his program

Stenosis
Degenerative Disc Disease
Herniated/Bulging Discs
Spondylolisthesis
Anterior Pelvic Tilt
Sciatica
SI Joint Pain
Scoliosis
General Lower Back Pain
Knee & Hip Pain

The Core Balance program and all of Dr. Peebles’ work is based on how infants and children learn to balance, push away from the floor and create perfect posture.

If you are heading for a back surgery or tired of living with back pain, I can personally recommend this program. And I’m not an affiliate. I bought the program for an SI joint that gives me problems and it’s not been bothering me at all after 3 weeks.

He has a 7-day free trial of the program which is enough to give you a sense of what it will be like and get you started on the exercises.

You can find Ryan on Instagram, and he has a ton of short videos on Youtube to help with specific back issues.

Vedic astrology, planetary energy, and your sacred wealth code

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 13 Jul 2023 09:30:00 -0400

For those of you who don’t know me, I do woo. I love all things mystical and spiritual and do my best to follow my inner guidance.

Sometimes I find I need a bit of guidance from other sources.

Like Prema Gurreri, this week’s guest.

I discovered Vedic astrology about ten years ago. I’d been having my chart read Western astrology style, for years. Good stuff and eerily accurate. Vedic is different. It’s more about now, about planetary energy and how it affects each of us individually.

Prema, a Vedic Astrologer and business oracle, uses Vedic astrology to help people chart their paths and flow with the energy of life as it is influenced by the planets.

“I believe that our core purpose is to be true to ourselves, so we can claim our power and wholeness, be of service and manifest wealth

in our own unique and meaningful ways.”

Vedic, or sidereal astrology, is different from western, or tropical astrology, in the way it looks at the planets. Here’s a great discussion about the differences.

“I am not about prediction because I believe prediction robs people of choice.” Which is not to say she is against psychic readings and or Tarot. Her point is that anything in our chart can change depending on actions we take or don’t.

Her work is all about giving her clients, and her large Youtube following, a celestial weather report, “What energy is at play right now?” is what she reports on. How will that affect you? How can you flow with the energy when it’s intense?

When things up ahead are challenging, and you are prepared, you can make choices to ease the transition through to the other side.

Mercury retrograde gets a bad rap. Prema explained what retrograde means and why poor Mercury is said to be a problem. But it comes with gifts and challenges.

Each chart, representing a human, has 12 houses. Each house represents an aspect of life; wealth, health, relationships, and so on. Each of us will be affected differently by the planets’ energy depending on what sign (Cancer, Aries, Scorpio, etc) is in. In case you think of astrology as only helpful for relationships or career or financial information, it’s time to add one more category; health.

“If there's a lot going on in their sixth house, which is a house of health and disease and wellbeing, well maybe we need to bolster you up.”

Healthy aging can be helped by knowing where the planets are and where they are headed.

The title mentions Your Sacred Wealth Code. This is her signature work and the thing that turned her life around when she was in her dark night of the soul.

Your sacred wealth code is based on your soul blueprint. Within your blueprint are your archetypes and your highest value gifts. These are the gifts that make life easy for you, allow you to feel fulfilled and on purpose. And they are connected to your wealth—whatever wealth means to you. All of this lives at the intersection of purpose and prosperity in your chart.

“When I work with clients using Vedic Astrology, I reveal their Soul Blueprint. From there, we unlock their Sacred Wealth Code® to discover their unique, divine gifts and talents. With these, you can find and engage in your meaningful work in the world where you will thrive and make the impact you are here to make.

Want to meet one of your archetypes? Take the quiz.

Prema uses her highest value gifts—she talks about those and how you can find out what yours are—as a coach and spiritual guide. She has a number of different readings. Working with Prema—or other experts in this type of astrology—can help you plan your business. If you want to launch a new program or promotion, wouldn’t it be good to know when you are most likely to succeed based on what planets are in what house?

I know two very successful personal development coaches who won’t make any decision about their lives or business without consulting their Vedic astrologer. It’s that powerful.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with her on her offers (copywriting) and benefited from her Vedic and intuitive guidance for my businesses and life. I might have stopped doing the podcast if it was not for her insights.

Prema does one on one and group coaching in addition to readings.

If you want to get started with Vedic astrology, use the free chart calculator. Just enter your birth information and you’ll get your chart and a Prema’s free Vedic astrology chart guide to help you understand it.

Prema has a book, oracle cards and a journal based on The Sacred Wealth Code.

I love having Prema’s information to refer to whether it’s her updates on Insta or a full-blown new year visioning reading. She has a huge heart and is gifted in her work.

Check out her site to learn more.

Psychedelics for mental healing and expanded awareness

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 04 Jul 2023 08:00:00 -0400

In the olden days people dropped acid, took shrooms, and tripped the light fantastic. In other words, they got high. Sometimes it went well and sometimes, well, let’s just say some people were never the same.

And there are plenty of people who still just want to get high for the sake of the buzz. A whole new generation of drug users is getting high with plants to expand their consciousness, to heal from depression, or to find a way to shift some inner stuck place.

I chose to bring a psychedelic specialist because there are I wanted to explore these plants’ potential. Universities like NYU, Johns Hopkins, and UCBerkley to name a few, and hospitals around the country are exploring the healing power of these plants for people with pain, PTSD, depression, addiction, and terminal illness.

Unless you want to enroll in a western medical trial, (Use that link to find trials now accepting new patients), then what are our options?

In the US only Oregon has decriminalized shrooms. Here are the countries around the world where you won’t go to jail for possession or use.

My guest this week, Alice Smeets, is the co-founder of a company, A Whole New High, who facilitates this new cohort. Wouldn’t you know it but the original party people, Boomers, are the ones who are flocking to retreats, journeys, and individual guided sessions in large numbers.

Here’s how the website describes their business. “A WHOLE NEW HIGH, where curious minds, seeking clarity, purpose and deeper meaning come to accelerate personal and spiritual growth.”

Her company hosts individual and group retreats using psychedelic plants to promote those things. The group retreats, called The Shift, use psilocybin as the vehicle to expand consciousness and the trained facilitators to support people before, during, and after the journey.

One thing I loved learning from Alice is about the different kinds of experiences one might have depending on the person’s intention.

And which plant is chosen.

Psilocybin is the mildest though depending on the dose can blast you into outer space.

I asked her to compare LSD to mushrooms,

“L S D (the trip) is much longer. It's a 12-hour journey, 10 to 12 hours. psilocybin is four to six. And The intensity is more or less the same because it depends on, it all depends on the dose.

“With mushrooms, the experience will feel a lot more earthy. Like the visions that you get will have more to do with nature. It's not true for everyone, but many people report after mushrooms that they felt really connected to nature and they felt a feeling of being connected to everyone in the world and to nature and to trees.

And LSD feels a little bit more like flying through the universe. You not so much on this earth, you're more like flying through the clouds and two different dimensions.

But then again, because these are so similar, you can also have images like flying through the universe on mushrooms or like feeling really connected to nature on L S D.”

Once again setting and intention make a big difference.

If you do decide to “journey,” I know I will, make sure you work with people who are going to make safety—physical and mental—a priority.

Their Youtube channel will answer more questions and expand on my convo with Alice.

They also have an active Facebook page.

Women, autoimmune diseases, and how to finally get well

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 26 Jun 2023 15:15:00 -0400

Approximately 50 million Americans have autoimmune disease, according to the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association.

More than 80 different conditions—including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, Graves’ disease, and Hashimoto’s disease—fall under this umbrella, and some have similar symptoms.

While these diseases are generally viewed as separate conditions by specialists who treat the symptoms alone, they share common causes. In many ways, they could be considered one big disease that can involve any body part.

My guest today, Dr. David Bilstrom, is an author, international speaker and distinguished member of the American Academy of Integrative Medicine and American Academy of Medical Acupuncture. He is an advanced fellow in anti-aging, regenerative, and functional medicine.

He is affiliated with the first medical center in the country associated with a teaching hospital to treat all types of autoimmune diseases. The center is the first in the nation to utilize nature and its healing properties as a fundamental component of a wellness program.

Our conversation started where he started his medical career, as a rehab doc specializing in spinal cord injuries. He was limited in the what he could use to treat these patients because what might work for an able bodied human could kill a paralyzed one.

He discovered acupuncture and had great success.

His next challenge was his young son’s terrible asthma and allergies. This led him to Functional Medicine.

An article in The New York Times about the author’s struggle with undiagnosable symptoms that got worse and worse until finally she was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition but the only answer was immunosuppressive medication.

Again David was called to do something. “This is a story I hear all the time, he said, I can see where we can reverse that already. This has gotta change. we can't have all these women, particularly because 80% of people that get autoimmune disease are women. We can't have this happening.”

Well amen to that Dr. Bilstrom!

His life since then has been getting the word out about what he’s learned and teaching others to work with the information.

I asked why more women and he talked about the number of “bad” genes found on the X chromosome and guess what? We get two Xs, guys get on X, one Y. More for us to deal with as usual.

There are central mechanisms in the body that keep us healthy when they are in working order.

First, gut health, then hormone balance, specifically of estrogen and progesterone. He explained that even after menopause when many women are estrogen poor, we can have dominance if it’s not clearing the body.

Autoimmune diseases and cancer are said to be two sides of one coin.

Blood work will tell you if you are estrogen dominant.

I asked him to explain how the immune system is related to the gut.

“So any immune system stuff, whether it's the autoimmune disease, allergies, asthma, eczema, which are the overactive immune system issues, or the underactive immune system issues, which are infections, recurrent infections, cancer, and the infections that drive chronic disease, such as Epstein Barr viral virus, herpes virus, six mycoplasma, these kind of guys, whenever you see any other stuff, you go, oh, what's going on with the gut?”

Basically, if the gut’s off the body can’t absorb nutrients properly, can’t rid the body of toxins.

Cleanses as a remedy? He said if you have leaky gut and you start detoxing protocols your toxins leak into your system and can cause more problems. Best to get the gut healthy first then use your life habits—lots of broccoli 😎—and you’ll become a super detoxer, no foot baths or colonics needed.

We talked about gene testing. (Link to the one I recommend, if you want to know why, send an email to, gregory@rebelliouswellnessover50.com)

Dr. Bilstrom’s protocol includes Vitamin D, butyric acid (the only food source is butter so slather it on), and probiotics.

He’s worked with patients of all ages including an 80 year old who had tinnitus since she was 6 but was cured of it after a couple of weeks of working with Dr. Bilstrom’s people.

Pretty compelling stuff.

You can book an telemed appointment with Dr. Bilstrom by going here.

And for nurse practitioners, or lay people, he has an interactive book to teach his theory and protocol.

If you could use some guidance in what next step is best for your healthy aging journey book a complimentary call with me.

How this breathing technique can conquer out of control you

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 19 Jun 2023 18:32:00 -0400

Adam was a burned out, pre-diabetic, asthmatic, heavily medicated 20-something when he decided he’d had enough.

A lucky encounter with a climbing wall started him on his return to health. Despite having a panic attack on the first climb, Adam went back again and again. And he learned a specific kind of breathing technique that climbers use to keep them focused and steady.

Early in the conversation he said he got lucky that he found it.

I asked what “it” was.

“Well, it was, finding a way into understanding how to regulate my own response to stress. So essentially nervous system regulation.”

He said that many people are told to meditate which is great but he was looking for a way to manage his moments of frustration, anger, overeating, as they were happening. One can’t always sit and meditate.

He credits some of his process to the HeartMath Institute. According to their site, “HeartMath Institute’s research demonstrates that different patterns of heart activity have different effects on your thoughts and behaviors.”

If you aren’t familiar with them it’s worth a look. I’ve been fortunate enough to spend time with their work, their programs and interviewed one of the co-founders. They are rooted in fascinating science about the heart and energy fields. But I digress.

Adam developed a 6-step system to regulate the beats of our hearts in the moment, to then reset our nervous system so we can make the decisions we’d rather make. Decisions like “I really don’t need these cookies,” or “I want to rip their head off.”

You can see how this would come in handy don’t you midlife woman?

Because of his breathing system, Adam has been able to connect with food in a new way, has ditched his unhealthy patterns—not to mention all the meds—and created a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle and life.

You can get it for free at https://clearimpact.io

Head over if you need a way to conquer cravings, anxiety, out of control feelings.

Over 60? You need to hear the truth about hormone replacement

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 12 Jun 2023 16:15:00 -0400

My guest, Dr. Selma Rashid, speaks frankly about what life without hormone restoration is like and why she’s passionate about educating women about BHRT.

“And that's what most women want. They're not looking for, you know, physical beauty. They're looking for dignity. They don't want to be in a nursing home calling the bell for somebody to take them to the bathroom.”

I’m totally in agreement with her, you?

· Her mission is: To provide the safest, most natural way to eliminate menopause symptoms and prevent the chronic diseases of aging.

· To communicate medical knowledge and scientific facts so more people can make healthy choices not limited by the constraints of standard medical practices and those backed by financial interests.

And that’s the basis of our conversation but geared to women over 60. Why 60? Because these are the women most often left out of the conversation about the benefits of bioidentical hormone replacement. Many docs aren’t educated about them to begin with. Those who are fear starting women over 60 because western medicine applies the data on the average woman who has heart disease, diabetes, and other problems to the whole population.

"Why should we accept the symptoms of aging and allow our health to degenerate when medical science has discovered so much information on how we can remain at our best?"

Why indeed!

Board-certified in Internal Medicine, Dr. Selma passionately pursues methods of disease prevention based on up-to-date medical science. Though she accepts that aging is inevitable, she refuses to accept that we should allow our health to degenerate when medical science has discovered so much information on how to remain functional.

We covered:

· The myth that BHRT leads to or promotes breast cancer

· Why creams and gels are safer and more effective than oral dosing

· How hormone replacement adds quality of life

· The cardiac, bone, brain, and vitality protective qualities of hormone replacement

· Vaginal lubrication and which hormone works

· The importance of healthy adrenal glands

Her book, The Truth Behind Hormone Replacement Therapy, What you need to know to remain youthful and healthy, makes the science of all this easy to understand. I have to book and because of my conversation and her great supporting evidence quoted in it I was able to speak to my doc about moving away from oral progesterone to transdermal (cream). I’m looking forward to seeing what if any changes occur in how I sleep.

Speaking about using medications to solve problems they won’t really solve:

“Estradiol and progesterone went out. We know it's going out. We've known it from since the beginning of time. It's what ages us. It's what sets us on this rapid path of degenerative aging. And so put that back in and you've solved most of your problems anyway. You don't need to start fixing your brain with medications, your adrenals with medications when the problem was not enough estrogen and progesterone.”

She makes a compelling case. Dr. Rashid practices in 4 offices and by telemedicine. Head to her website for contact info.

If you want to learn more about my journey with BHRT and the many myths that abound around perimenopause, grab my book. You can get the first chapter free on that page.

Whole body wellness begins in the mouth

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 05 Jun 2023 17:00:00 -0400

My guest, Dr. William Levine, DDS is also a board-certified Periodontist specializing in oral diseases and implantology and has over 35 years of experience in the dental field. That may sound like the lead into a boring conversation but my time with Dr. Levine was anything but.

He makes the science of teeth and gums simple and interesting.

I had to ask about flossing—yes it is as important as why our dentists harp on doing it.

He made a good point I hadn’t thought of:

“You're brushing the outside and the inside, but you're actually not getting between the teeth. The surfaces of these are filled with bacteria and the bacteria forms immediately there and begins to grow there. And you're not able to remove it. There's no place else in your body where you would tolerate that.”

All sorts of nasty possibilities if we did…

He gave a thumbs up for my fave portable flossing tool—the interdental brush pic, or in my parlance, the round brush thing. It’s virtually as good as flossing.

I’ve got a new favorite phrase: immunomodulatory protective system, aka bacteria killing agents. These guys work to keep us from getting infections below the gum line and in the bones. Ask them to work overtime for too long—not effectively cleaning your teeth and gums—and they begin to cause damage and bone destruction.

We Americans are not doing too well in the tooth and mouth care scale.

“In the United States, which is relatively high level of oral health awareness and the population generally takes care of their teeth.

And still over 50% of the American population have advanced or significant gum disease over the age of 35. That's an enormous number.

And when you look at gingivitis, which is simply inflamed gums that haven't yet caused bone destruction, we're talking about the 85% of the adult population.”

The thing I most wanted to share with you is the relationship between the health of our mouths and our cardiovascular system. Dr. Levine says it goes further than just our hearts.

“if we get to the place of periodontal disease, bacteria overload, infection you can’t necessarily see, our bloodstream absorbs reams of bacteria causing an enormous elevation in inflammatory chemicals, which will elevate what we would classically call the inflammatory profile. Our body is at high risk at that point, and therefore it impacts actually much more than just cardiac disease.

There's very strong associative data to show that it impacts significantly upon, strokes, it increases diabetes risk, it increases rheumatic fever and rheumatoid arthritis and pretty much every other disease, even Alzheimer's and others.”

No healthy aging program can be complete without including our teeth and gums.

Dr. Levine was and is so concerned with the high rates of inflammation in our population, and knowing that none of the over the counter rinses are reaching into the gums where inflammation can live and hide, that he created his own product, PeriActive.

According to their website, PeriActive is the only product that will actually penetrate into the gums to reduce inflammation and strengthen the gums by inducing collagen formation and healing.

It’s 100% natural plant based formula. If you listen you’ll hear him talk about the painstaking process of testing ingredients and formulations. What he thought would take 6 months took 10 years to develop! Unlike most over the counter rinses it has no sugar, no alcohol, and no chemicals.

I had hoped it would be available here in the states by now (June 5, 2023) it’s slated to arrive in September. Dentists have been recommending it for years so it’s not an untested product. And they offer a 6-day money-back guarantee. Who else does that?

I for one can’t wait to add it to my healthy aging arsenal.

Diabetes and brownies for breakfast

Gregory Anne Cox — Sun, 28 May 2023 15:00:00 -0400

Lynne Bowman is living proof that you can cook, eat, sleep, laugh, and walk your way out of type 2 diabetes, along with other chronic ailments. And, as befits “a snarky grandma”, she has strong opinions about the food industry and we should and shouldn’t be eating.

Don’t worry, she’s not going to beat the drum for any particular diet though she tends towards plant-based meals except when she craves animal protein. All she asks of you, of us, is to read labels and skip things that come in bags and boxes.

She shares my feelings about eating and sleep;

“Your body cannot do what it's supposed to do if you're not doing what you need to do sleep wise as well as foodwise. They affect each other completely. If you're eating badly, you'll sleep badly. And if you're sleeping badly, the science says you will want to eat badly as well.”

My sentiments exactly and one of the principals of my Power of 5 system.

We discussed intermittent fasting, fermented foods, (I recommend Holly Howe to learn how to make your own or which brands you can trust to buy from), and the lies about diabetes.

Greg “our habits today are creating our future six months from now, a year from now, five years from now. And as the years accumulate on the already gone side and the ones ahead of us are fewer, for me it becomes more and more important for me to make sure that I do everything I can to enjoy what's left. And that includes being healthy.”

Lynne: “And there's no way really to particularly enjoy what's left without your health.”

Her latest best-selling book, Brownies for Breakfast, A Cookbook for Diabetics and the People Who Love Them is a cool, fun, beautiful, guidebook for anybody who wants to reverse chronic disease and eat healthy. Plus, because she's a grandma, expect all kinds of stories and advice along with the recipes: interior/exterior design, beauty tips, style, hormones, parenting, and the one thing most of us get totally wrong with our first couple of marriages.

And she took all the photos herself! It really is a beautiful book full of tasty, easy to prepare foods. I know, I have it.

Connect with Lynne on Insta, Facebook, and Youtube.

The Hungover Widow, Loss, Grief, and Dating for the first time at 50

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 12 May 2023 18:00:00 -0400

Debbie Weiss is a successful writer but she didn’t begin to write for publication until her husband of 32 years died of cancer. She was living alone for the first time at age 50.

She is, according to the Kirkus Reviews, “a dryly amusing writer who tells it like it is.” And our conversation proved that to be true.

Debbie shared honestly about caring for a man who was in such denial that he refused to allow Debbie to bring in someone to help with his medical needs, would not agree to a hospital bed so he could get comfortable, and she could get some sleep, and lied to his parents about his illness, even as they were going to lose their only son.

It's no surprise that she was diagnosed with PTSD.

“Over the next few years, I sort of got better, in dribs and drabs, but the loneliness enveloped me. For 32 years, George and I had eaten dinner together almost every night, then curled up in bed to wake up beside each other each morning. I still wonder, where does all that love go? Is it transmuted into protective energy or is it just gone?”

Debbie takes us on her journey back into life—but not before she played the role of Hungover Widow--and then into dating—for the first time in her life at 50!

And date she did, with a vengeance. Some of her stories are funny and some include warnings about the kind of guys you might encounter out in the midlife dating world.

At some point Debbie says,

“I began to feel that midlife dating was less an earnest romantic endeavor and more a battle of the sexes . . . and the line in the sand was how much women were willing to tolerate.”

Her book about this time in her life is titled, “Available, As Is”. I love that title.

She says this about her book. “Available As Is is for women like me, who were long married, but now have to learn how to be alone for the first time. If you’re looking for a full-hearted, darkly funny, unvarnished account of becoming your true self at middle age, then this is the book for you.”

Debbie finally got offline and met her current partner, Randal.

Find Debbie on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok

Never binge again, get out of food prison for good!

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 16:00:00 -0400

Glenn Livingston is the creator of the Never Binge Again method to permanently end binge eating. He is also a veteran psychologist and was the long time CEO of a multi-million dollar consulting firm whose clients included several Fortune 500 food giants.

Disillusioned by what traditional psychology had to offer overweight and/or food obsessed individuals, Dr. Livingston spent several decades researching the nature of bingeing and overeating via work with his own patients AND a self-funded research program with more than 40,000 participants.

But it was his own personal journey out of obesity and food prison to a normal, healthy weight and a much more lighthearted relationship with food.

“Being from the family that I was from, (everyone is a psychologist) I went the psychological route. I assumed, which I later figured out was wrong, that I must have a hole in my heart. And if I could fill that hole in my heart, then I could stop trying to fill the hole in my stomach.”

Glenn tried therapy, Overeaters Anonymous, made amends, had a spiritual journey—all to heal this binge problem.

What do you think happened?

“Everything I would try, I would get a little thinner and a lot fatter, a little thinner, and a lot fatter.

I don't regret the journey because I learned a lot and it was very soulful and it made me part of who I am today. But it didn't really help me with the overeating. This was over the course of decades, and my top weight was probably around close to 300.”

We talked about the perfect storm of reptilian brain meets Big Food. We are hardwired to eat when food is around, and the food industry does everything it can to get us to eat more.

At one point I mentioned David Kessler, former head of the FDA. I erroneously thought he wrote a book that about behind the scenes at Big Food. The author was Michael Moss and the book—which I highly recommend—is “Salt, Sugar, Fat, How the Food Giants Hooked Us.”

Glenn’s recovery began when he decided he had to know when his reptilian brain was active and driving his urge to eat.

So he began to make rules for his eating. He also decided to name the voice in his head that made the excuses his inner pig. “and I don’t let farm animals tell me what to do.”

“I came up with rules that I could and would do, and I tried to follow the rules rather than to lose weight. I'd gotten to this point that I felt hopeless and despairing and like, I just didn't understand, why am I always eating so much more than my own judgment?”

And I thought there was something desperately wrong with me.

Not only did he journal all of what the pig had to say for eight years but he turned it into what is now a best-selling book, Never Binge Again. That’s also the name of his website.

Glenn has a ton of great free stuff on his site. If you grab his ebook here, you’ll receive truly useful bonuses like “12 sneaky pig squeals and how to defeat them”, “Craving Defeater Set”, and 8 more cheat sheets to help you never binge again.

He has programs and coaches to work with anyone interested. And his success rate is off the chart. “We get a 90% reduction in binge eating on average for people that engage with us, which means they actually talk to their coach and do the assignments we give them.”

His program works with any kind of dietary preference—it’s plan agnostic. You just have to be willing to flood your system with nutrition.

By the way, punishing yourself into submission will not work and actually makes it harder to change says Glenn.

There are recorded coaching sessions on the site as well so you can get a taste of what others have said and experience the coaching.

There’s a lot to digest here—sorry I had to go there—so have a listen if you feel like you could use some help with your inner barnyard animal.

Never Binge Again as a free Kindle or Nook book plus all the bonuses.

Glenn can be found in Insta,

One man's journey to sobriety and the joy that followed

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 17:00:00 -0400

Dr Stephan Neff, anesthesiologist, bestselling author, speaker, and podcast host is passionate about demystifying mental health problems and helping the people around him live a life so full of joy that yesterday is jealous of today.

For him this means a life free from alcoholism as well as the other “aholisms” we can find ourselves trapped in. Like workaholism or sexaholism.

Stephan told me, “I have gone through dark times myself and have experienced depression, anxiety and PTSD. I did not have good coping skills and relied on alcohol to numb my pain. As you guessed, that did not end well.”

Our conversation focuses on his journey into alcoholism and back out. He says it was a beautiful time of his life. Until I spoke with him I could not imagine that viewpoint.

And about the ubiquity of alcohol in every corner of our culture. Years ago cigarette smoking was banned from television. Booze? Not so much. You could argue that a cigarette is more dangerous to ones health than a drink but that depends on the person’s genetics.

Oh, and lest I sound like I’m advocating abstaining, let me correct the record. I am a fan of you do you and if that includes some form of adult beverage and you are not hurting yourself or others by drinking then enjoy.

Back to Stephan.

He was always able to work. He was a functioning alcoholic. (I dated one of those when I was young. I wouldn’t advise it)

“Working far too hard, drinking far too hard. Um, there were times when I tried to stop drinking like so many of us. Um, but ultimately because I didn't replace it with anything sensible, um, it was too easy for me to fall back onto it until I was really so down and out, that I couldn't go on any longer like that.”

Then he got the gift of an intervention, and the true Stephan was rediscovered.

“The first transformation is that you stopped drinking, but then thereafter the other transformation waiting to happen, that you're going out there and actually change maybe your moral beliefs, your core beliefs, you learn about integrity, you learn about humility, you learn about your own anger, about a hothead in you. The lessons are endless.”

“His parting words for us were: There's so much darkness. I wanna be the candle or maybe the torch or the lighthouse in the storm of others to actually say, Hey, it's okay not to be okay, but it's not okay to stay quiet. It's not okay to numb.”

Stephan wrote a book about his journey, My Steps to Sobriety. You can get it in paperback or as a Kindle book.

His other book is a children’s book, Esmee the Mindful Mouse.

Find Stephan on his website, Instagram, and Facebook.

Yogi Aaron says Stop Stretching!

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 09:30:00 -0400

After 20+ years of asking, seeking, exploring, studying, experimenting, Yogi Aaron can confidently say, he’s found many answers, but more important than that, he discovered a simple and effective technique to alleviate pain!

He says it’s easy to incorporate in any yoga practice or any movement activity to ensure we continue to live pain-free into our third age.

He calls his system AYAMA-- Applied Yoga Anatomy + Muscle Activation™. (AYAMA), is a revolutionary way to practice yoga that focuses on activating and engaging muscles rather than stretching them.

As you might imagine, his journey to pain free started with pain. Lots of different kinds of pain in different places and it all began while he was still in his 20s. No amount of massage, therapists, yoga teachers, could help him get relief.

His relief was found in learning about how muscles work and how to stabilize the body muscle by muscle.

You don’t need to study anatomy to make use of his system. Aaron is easy to follow and has step by step guidance for doing postures safely on Youtube, and in his Yogi Club, an online membership portal. He offers a free, 15-day trial which I’ve just signed up for.

(Not for nothing Peloton but your classes have gotten predictable, and I need something new.)

It’s only $15/month after 15 days or $99/yr. I’ll come back here and do a quick review of my experience. If you happen to be a person with chronic pain there is a 15-day pain free challenge.

Speaking of pain free, one of Yogi Aaron’s missions in life is to help as many people live pain free as possible.

“It lights me up to imagine a world free from pain. When we feel good in our bodies, we can then focus on discovering and manifesting our life purpose. And, living our purpose is what we're here to do!”

I asked how pain free equaled manifesting and living our purpose and here’s what he told me.

“When I have experienced chronic pain, everything in my life then becomes about that pain. How do I get rid of it? How do I feel better? Yeah. And from a yoga perspective, then all of my energy, all of my mental energy and my prana, my life force energy is directed there, rather than being directed to living my life purpose.”

Makes sense to me.

We talked about the responsibility we have to ourselves to take care of our bodies and what that looks like. And the importance of asking why something hurts, what’s at the root and how can we give the body what it needs to relieve that pain.

No pain no gain is not in his system, and I think you’d agree, especially as we pile on the years, pushing through pain is not the best idea.

Yogi has a beautiful retreat center in Costa Rica where he lives full time. If you are a yoga instructor and want to add AYAMA to your repertoire take a look at the courses he has here.

He also runs teacher training.

As I age my body has let me know that I must pay attention to how I move regardless of what I used to be able to do. I love Yogi Aaron’s AYAMA because it brings awareness into each movement and helps me being stability to my body. A more stable musculature equals prevention from injury, falls, and lack of focus on what’s important.

Find him on Instagram

Declutter Your Life, Make Way for Happiness

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 23 Feb 2023 14:15:00 -0400

What’s missing in your life?

Deep level stuff like love, connection, self-worth?

Tracy McCubbin believes that we over shop, over save, and over anti-age ourselves because something is missing and we try to fill it.

For the sandwich generation—that’s us right—we have places galore to find clutter. The obvious, our parents homes as they downsize or even pass away.

Not so obvious is empty nest syndrome where a woman who identified for so many years as mom, and all that entails, finds herself with huge swaths of time to fill. Nothing wrong with finding things to fill that time but shopping isn’t the answer.

We talked about the gut-wrenching task of handling the collected stuff of our parents’ lives. Figurines, old cards, books, even pictures may have great meaning to them but not to you. Tracy has suggestions about going through things with them and what to do with stuff you feel bad getting rid of once they move into assisted living or eventually when they die.

When thinking about giving things to the “right place” Tracy said, “What I'm saying is trust. When you let go of it, it'll end up where it's supposed to be.”

One of the ways that Tracy’s decluttering process is different is that she approaches the work she does with clients from a psychological and emotional place.

One really important point: if you are holding on to something because you think it’s worth enough to fund your retirement, rather than hoping Antiques Roadshow is going to crown you one of the lucky ones, get things appraised. Most things we think are worth a bundle aren’t. Tracy did not mention this company but I have used them and they are terrific—and affordable and online. It’s called Value My Stuff. For $35 (at the time of this episode) you can get all manner of things appraised by experts. Simply upload pictures, tell them as much as you can, and in 2 days you’ll have your answer.

Live with a cluttery kind of person but you’re not one?

Tracy has a solution. “I joke all the time. I'm like, marriage counseling is included with my services. You know, the important thing to remember is that someone is very cluttery, they probably heard it their whole life. So how do you have a conversation without shaming them? Right? Like going into it with my way is right and your way is wrong.

= So the conversation I always start with is, our home is a tool and is it working for us? Can we find what we need?”

We even talked about holding on to feelings that don’t serve us but do serve to clutter up our self-confidence. This can result in analysis paralysis rather than taking a risk, trying something new.

I asked her how we know if we are crossing over into too much clutter land?

“A couple things to pay attention to. Can you neaten up a room like. your office or the kitchen in 20 minutes or less, can you kind of put everything back in its homes? If it takes you more than 20 minutes to sort of put a room back together. That's a really good litmus test for the stuff is getting at the upper hand also,

Are you finding yourself not going into rooms? Like is there a guest room that you just don't even go into? Is there a garage you don't park your car in? How do you use your house? What's working? Ultimately our homes are a tool.”

Tracy grew up with family members who hoarded and knows firsthand that the effects of living amongst an accumulation of possessions goes far beyond the home’s walls. Because of this she shared that as people age this disease can hide health concerns so get help if you know someone who has hoarder disorder.

I read Tracy’s wonderful book, Make Space for Happiness: How to Stop Attracting Clutter and Start Magnetizing the Life You Want, and loved it even though I’m not an uber collector not am I a particularly messy person. Sure, things pile up in the office but they distract me, so I dismantle them every couple of weeks. Her resources section is full of help with all things moving, decluttering, and her company works all over the US.

Find her on Insta, Facebook, TikTok, and Youtube

Chiropractic Isn't Just for Your Spine

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 16 Feb 2023 13:00:00 -0400

Dr. Jeff Fisher has been a chiropractor for 30 years.

He knows a thing or two about the spine and how best to care for it and the whole person.

After enduring 3 neck surgeries and the pain that did not get relieved from the operations, he’s invented a device to alleviate neck and lower back pain.

The promise of the device — as proven by lots of satisfied customers — is, “Long-term relief from neck and lower back pain is as easy as lying down.”

There’s a video on the page I linked above that will tell you more.

I had Dr. Fisher explain what chiropractic is in terms of wholistic health because I knew there was more to it than just adjusting the spine.

Here’s what he had to say.

“We don't do drugs. We try to help people get off medication because we're interesting, our patients more in the framework of the human body from a neurological and structural standpoint to help the body function at its maximum capacity.

When we function at our optimal working levels then we're less susceptible to disease, we're less susceptible to injuries.”

Did you know that hydration is important to the health of the cushion in our joints? And that we are tallest first thing in the morning? Lying down relieves the spine of the force of gravity allowing the disks to expand.

One of my favorite quotes of the year: “I'm only alive as I'm active.”

As have so many of my other guests, Dr. Fisher believes that movement = quality of life. The importance of moving daily, in different ways, means we have a better chance of aging with flexibility, strength, and energy.

“Whether you're getting adjusted in an office, you're stretching, you're doing your traction and decompression, going to yoga, doing Pilates, whatever it might be, if it's enhancing your flexibility, your ability to move, it's enhancing life and you have to do it.”

He is a big fan of Pilates for helping the corrections he does, stick. Like a retainer you wear after getting your braces off.

“Pilates is a fantastic balance, coordination, strength, and conditioning type system it can be done on a horizontal basis, not vertical. So it really protects the spine.”

Oh how I wish I liked it more.

The key to success in any kind of corrective adjustments or exercise is committing to the process. #Truth

We talked about “Tech neck”, an all too common problem these days because of all the rounded and head forward postures do each day.

He left us with 3 simple, and free, things to do for a healthy 2023.

Hydrate, get exercise, practice being flexible, when you move, use your whole body and go in all directions.

Sounds simple to me.

And if you know you want to add more of those things to your life but can’t figure out how to start, use me. A 15-minute call is all it takes to point you in the right direction. You’ll also leave with next steps.

One other thing Dr. Fisher wanted to make sure we took to heart, it’s never too late to start.

Fisherchiropractic.com

Too Young to Be Old with The Queen of Jeans

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 15:00:00 -0400

Fashion icon. TV personality. Book author. Cancer survivor. Septuagenarian. My guest, Diane Gilman, is all of those things and now, for her third act, she is bringing women together to support one another to make their third act, their best one yet.

Diane knew, from the time she was 5, that she wanted to be in fashion. She wanted to sew and go to school for it but her mother was having none of it.

Get married and be a good wife was the message of the day.

Somehow Diane was able to break away from the limitations of her mother’s thinking.

“When the sixties hit and through circumstance, I met Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane. I became their seamstress in the band. I took their denim, their jeans. I embroidered it. I jeweled it. I loved to do hand painting on denim. I followed the music scene to San Francisco and then one day just said, you know, you're in your mid-twenties. Where are you going with this? A party cannot last forever.”

So, she took her last few bucks and moved to NYC, home of the fashion industry.

A dream she had, experience she did not, so at night she worked as “the worst waitress at Max’s Kansas City” and by day in the bullet bra and girdle department in Bloomingdale’s.

Fate stepped in, she was given a break because she boldly said she was ready despite the lack of evidence.

Diane’s story is one of persistence, belief in herself, and she’d probably say, a good bit of luck.

At one point her washable silk clothing line was on QVC, then Home Shopping Network. Feeling crappy and unattractive after her divorce, with nothing to wear that fit so she felt good, she decided to make herself a pair of jeans that she felt good in. Another hugely successful chapter was born.

Diane became known as “The Queen of Jeans” for her jeans designed for a mature woman. She went global with her products when she realized that no matter where we come from, we are all women feeling the same things about our body, aging, and looking good.

“Surviving breast cancer and two years of treatments” Diane told me, “when you get a disease like breast cancer, you suddenly realize it doesn't care

how much money you have or how glamorous you are, or who you know, or who knows you. You're brought down to a level of reality. I came out the other end with a sense of empathy and compassion I would've never had otherwise.

It prepared her for her third act of bringing women together and helping them, us, live as though each moment is precious, supporting one another, taking a stand for all women everywhere to love who they are right now.

And she admitted that it takes a good bit of work to stay healthy, fit, relevant, engaged, and connected. More than she sometimes feels like doing. But if we don’t take care of the body and the mind, they get weak, our lives become less alive.

Diane’s website

Her new book Too Young To Be Old

Instagram

If you want support preparing yourself for your third act, or you’d love to figure out what that is, reach out. I’d love to help.

The Truth About Osteoporosis, Osteopenia, Fear and Bones

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 18:30:00 -0400

Dr. Susan Brown is a medical anthropologist, a New York State Certified Nutritionist, who pioneered the natural approach to bone health for over 30 years.

She was the first to prove that using only natural methods, nearly every woman can build strong bones for life. Incorporating her research and the latest science, her six-point natural program has helped tens of thousands of women take control of their bone health and enjoy long, active, happy lives.

Dr. Brown fits the rebellious wellness profile to a T.

I feel like listening to this interview is the best way for you to understand the many aspects of bone strength, bone tests, drugs, diet, lifestyle and stress impact our bones.

That said here are some highlights.

“ Osteoporosis was always defined by bones so weak that they fractured needlessly.”

In 1985, a bunch of (male) scientists working at Harvard decided they were going to create a machine, DEXA, that could predict who was going to fracture. It would read bone density. For 10 years they collected data on many people.

Guess who sponsored the machines? Drug companies.

They created 3 categories: normal, osteoporosis, osteopenia for those who weren’t normal but they were lower than the normal range for 30-year old women.

“Osteopenia was never meant as a diagnosis.”

10 more years go by and the begin to publish data on who’s going to fracture. Just like those with the lowest cholesterol are guaranteed to avoid heart disease, they found that those most likely to fracture came from the normal and osteopenia groups.

“10%- 30% of fractures occur in people with normal bone density.”

If you happen to be thin or short Dexa machines will always read that at bone loss—you have less dense bones to begin with.

“This has led to the undermining of the self-confidence of so many women all around the world.”

“They're terrorizing people with this idea of hip fracture, when really the hip fracture rates are declining and half of the hip fractures occur in people with disabilities in nursing homes.”

Bottom line, Dexa machines can’t predict fracture. Not to mention two different machines will give you different readings. The tech has influence too.

Trebecular bone tests add a layer of the picture by measuring metabolically active bone, go for it if it’s offered.

The newest thing is ultrasound to determine bone density. The machine is called EchoLight. Nothing new just newly introduced as a more accurate way to get a picture of your bones.

· Bone strength is very related to muscle, to muscle strength and muscle mass. when you lose muscle, you lose bone, and when you lose are losing bone, you're losing muscle.

· Pay attention to your muscle maybe, and take bone density with a grain of salt, particularly if you're small boned thin or underweight.

· Bones need all of the right nutrients, not just calcium and too much calcium can lead to calcification of the arteries. By the way, the calcium as bone hero story was promoted by the dairy industry.

· Bones sacrifice themselves to ensure we have a balance of minerals. It will store toxic metals like arsenic, cadmium, and lead so they aren’t circulating in the blood. When we lose bone, those toxins are released back into the bloodstream.

· Bones need the right PH balance to stay strong. Best way to test is first morning urine. An alkaline diet—and overall lifestyle will keep you in the right spot. Check out her Alkaline for Life site to learn all about it.

· She has a short book on how to eat for an alkaline system. The Acid Alkaline Food Guide.

· As with muscle, if you don’t use bone you will start to lose bone. How you prevent bone loss that is by placing greater loads on your bones with weight bearing exercise.

· Vitamin D is important for bone health. Dr. Brown thinks that vitamin D would improve the health of the world if more people were encouraged to supplement with it.

· So are potassium and magnesium, sadly we can’t get the right amounts from food.

· We need at least 20 nutrients to support bone health. Her blog has tons of great posts on all things nutrients, testing, and at the top she’s got her 2023 predictions for all things health and healthy bones.

· Dr. Brown gave us her thoughts on the drugs given to prevent fracture. She’s not against them for certain people but would love to see people learn how to build back their bones so they don’t have to rely on them.

· We talked about weight vests—she’s a big fan, vibration plates—there is science behind them, bottom line, any exercise is better than none.

Dr. Brown addressed the effect that fear, aka stress, has on our bones. Chinese medicine says the bones are controlled by the kidneys because they decide what minerals stay or go to keep us in balance.

“A good friend of mine, a famous Chinese doctor, said ‘you'll never solve the bone problem.’ I said, why? He said, because it's based on fear. The emotion of the kidneys is fear, and fear makes the kidneys weak. Our whole approach to bone health is fear.”

That’s why her campaign is to empower women to not be victims of this fear mongering which is what's just happening in so many parts of our life.

More than once it came up that bones health relies on body, mind, and spirit health.

https://www.betterbones.com

You can take a quiz to assess your risk of fracture and osteoporosis.

Fitness Over 50 — Be Safe, Get Strong

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 17:00:00 -0400

What kind of exercise should we — and shouldn’t we — be doing after we enter our 5th decade?

Alicia Jones, founder of Alicia Jones Healthy Living has the answers and 15 years of experience transforming the health and lives of women over 50 through fitness and weight loss strategies. All backed up with lots of credentials in many different fitness modalities and kinesiology.

One reason I’m hosting Alicia is her realistic — and safe — approach to fitness for busy women really of any age but her specialty is the midlife woman.

Our conversation focused mainly on the importance of strength training and what that means, especially if you are also in the throws of the perimenopause hormone roller coaster.

We discussed beginner exercise to build muscle and strength—chair squats and arm rows—nothing crazy there.

Walking, of course, and if you are a walker and can add a bit more to a walk, find some hills, speed it up a bit.

High intensity interval training for those that can add some in. If you’re not familiar with this type of exercise, this article explains it all. An often ignored benefit of HIIT is that it shortens the time needed to get max benefits.

Although not specifically about exercise Alicia echoed something I’ve talked about many times; finding a doc or practitioner that will listen to you and work with you to resolve symptoms whether from hormone fluctuations or lifestyle choices. Don’t let anyone dismiss you with “Tough it out, this will pass.” It might but why should you suffer in the meantime?

Alicia loves plank. So do I. Why? Because it uses all of the core muscles as well as leg and arm muscles in one easy to learn—not so easy to hold—exercise.

With sore wrists of late I’ve had to mix my full arm plank with forearm plank. Just as effective and a bit harder.

When I asked Alicia if we women should work out every day, work out harder to keep the pounds at bay, or work out when we are tired, she answered loudly, “NO!”

“Let your body rest and heal. And imagine that is literally when your body is repairing to a new level of strength.”

Other things we talked about

How stress impacts our health and our weight loss efforts

How sit ups might be contributing to that sneeze-leak thing you’re experiencing

Losing weight realistically and for health vs fitting into some those old jeans

How fluid fluctuations can impact the number on the scale and why you need to let it go

Why we hate the BMI as a measure of health—and why it’s dangerous

Alicia’s website

She has a number of programs, learn about them here. She’s got a free challenge on that page if you are just getting started or want to figure out how to start and get motivated.

You can find her on Insta and Facebook.

I would check out Alicia’s programs if you want to improve your strength and or lose weight safely and for the long haul. She’s got a great energy and will meet you where you are.

Why You Must Understand Metabolic Health to be Healthy

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 12:00:00 -0400

Dr. Doug Lucas, owner of Optimal Human Health, is a whole body, true health care practitioner.

“My passion is to help people get back the Stamina they lost, the Ambition they once had, the Vitality they are missing in their lives, the Energy to perform at their highest level and the Desire to live their best life.”

Former osteopathic surgeon, he realized he was only fixing the tail end of a problem in many cases and wanted to help the whole person. He was and is interested in prevention and strengthening a person from gut and immune system to muscles and bones.

Our conversation went wide and deep in a few instances, like diabetes.

‘I recognize that we can do amazing things in the system, but what we are not good at is treating the things like diabetes, like osteoporosis, because the system just isn't designed to help deal with these things that have a broad cause.”

Pharmaceuticals for things like dementia, diabetes, and osteoporosis are not very effective but a whole person approach that includes coaching and education about lifestyle, etc is effective and can send that sick person back in the direction of health. Something meds will never do.

Doug shares the truth about diabetes, that it is not a blood sugar problem, it's an insulin problem. An intolerance for carbohydrates and processed foods results in chronic elevation of insulin due to increased blood sugar.

The drugs mostly treat bringing blood sugar down by increasing insulin, but you already have high insulin, right? So now we're actually making the problem worse by increasing the levels of insulin.

Lowered blood sugar is a good thing, you lower your risk of small vessel problems, retinopathy, kidney problems and feet issues.

Insulin however is a big vessel problem—dementia, stroke, heart disease.

Oh and it will make you gain weight.

· We went through the importance of real thyroid testing (Not just TSH) if you have symptoms.

· Diabetes and heart disease go hand in hand

· Osteoporosis is reversible (Dr.Lucas’s other business is Optimal Bone Health)

· The many types of bone health testing and what each one does

· Supplements

· Genetic testing and the importance of having a professional read them and advise you on using the data

· CGMs, whether you can boost your immune system

· Obesity and compassion, education, and coaching

· The importance of sleep “Why we sleep” by Matthew Walker And how it took he and his wife 3 years to master their different chronotypes and daily habits to get a good night’s sleep together

· When bananas are better than grapes

We wrapped up with Doug encouraging everyone to become an advocate for their own health. Don’t just settle for baseline health, testing, etc. Get a second opinion when something doesn’t feel right.

We also talked about

Osteostrong a new form of exercise for bone strength called osteogenic loading.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Anti-aging supplement and skin care

Follow him on Instagram or Facebook. He offers webinars which are full of great information. He makes all the science simple.

Stroke Takes More Women's Lives Than Breast Cancer

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 17:15:00 -0400

Don't know about you but the word stroke conjures images of older people, the elderly. My guest, speech pathologist and coach, Tsgoyna Tanzman, set me straight on that.

"The truth is two times as many women die of stroke when compared to breast cancer each year. Again, women take the lead at 60% versus 40% of men."

And we have a greater chance of long term disability! Not because we have stronger strokes but because we wait too long to get help.

Typical woman, "I'm too busy, don't want to bother anyone, don't need to go to the hospital"...And time costs us in function or even life.

Tsgoyna has a unique blend of skills as a Speech-Language Pathologist, Master Practitioner of Neurolinguistic Programming, and a Life Coach. This means she utilizes the best practices of the most successful people on the planet.

We discussed prevention, the different types of stroke, the many professionals needed for rehab. And how life coaching was a natural next step for her skills.

Tsogyna also shared some great survivor stories. And talked about the importance of hope. There's no reason to let a well meaning doc determine what the recovery potential is.

Here is one of the elements of the B-FAST acronym for determining if someone is having a stroke.

"One of the letters, T, stands for time because the brain loses as many neurons as it does in almost three and a half years of normal aging for every hour in which treatment fails to occur."

These stats are so important to keep in mind.

After Tsgoyna spent years working with stroke patients--which she still does--she wanted to work with well people who needed support to improve their lives and the health. So began her life coaching career.

She uses the acronym WTF in a different way than you may be thinking, Words, Thoughts, Feelings which lead to actions.

Since 80% of what we do will influence our health--and our risk for having stroke--and because our thoughts can create calm or stress, this is an important concept she uses with clients.

To help those who have had a stroke or who will be caregiving for a stroke survivor, she wrote a book, "Hope After Stroke, the holistic guide to getting your life back."

You can get a sample of the workbook that accompanies the book for free here.

She has a second book titled, Just Decide Fail-Proof Strategies to Uplevel Your Life, Career, and Relationships.

She's on IG

And on LinkedIn

My New Year Wish for You All

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 29 Dec 2022 15:45:00 -0400

This shortie is a prayer for anyone who happens upon it. That when you think of the new year ahead you come from a place of self-love, not the self-judgement that resolutions offer.

No matter what you might want to see be different, leave the mean girl thoughts out of planning it.

A "new you for the new year" has a certain ring to it but you don't need to new yourself. You have talents and strength and skills that will get you anywhere you want to go.

What you might need is expert advice and support. You might need new tools, information, and a system.

And it's the system that's most important when it comes to growing or reaching goals. I mentioned James Clear, author of Atomic Habits as a great tool if you want the most successful strategies probably on the planet working with you.

Another option is a coach or mentor.

Accountability is key to making lasting change in any area of life.

I'd be honored to go with you on the next leg of your journey. If you've never checked out my coaching options, they are here. What you won't see if a coaching package because all of my one on one coaching options are designed for the client.

I included some tips I've learned over the years of designing a new year. Things that will help you cull what's unnecessary and weighty.

One main thing that's easy to forget to employ? Your intuition, inner being, inner wisdom, call it what you will.

We have a wealth of knowing inside and we must get quiet and invite it to give us guidance, nudges, signs.

Whatever you dream of for 2023, dream big.

Don't settle.

Love yourself into a delicious new year with as many adventures as you can, squeeze into the time that's left after you give all the time that you give to others.

Women, we matter and we have so much to give the world, and I don't care whether you're 45, 65, or 85. There's always more that we get to be and more that we can give the world.

Best to you all.

Happy New Year.

Let Go or Be Dragged. One Way to Change Your Life

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 27 Dec 2022 14:45:00 -0400

Are you the “wait and see, hope it doesn’t blow up” kind of person?

Or does this sound more like you, “It’s time to make a big change, I’m blowing it all up and here for the ride?”

Monica Ricci did the latter. In the space of four months, Monica left her marriage, sold their two homes, a business, and the illusion of a secure future. She had two choices: fall apart or forge ahead.

Even though it was her choice there was still a huge loss to get through.

In addition she had to start over in every aspect of her life.

We talked about how long it took her to decide she had to take action and how she learned—finally—to lean on others to get her through.

The main focus of our convo is how she took on her body while all this other chaos was playing out.

“My health was part of the reason I allowed my inner voice to become louder. In 2019, I embarked on this health journey, what turned out to be a complete transformation of everything.”

In 2019, Monica decided to start strength training and went from being a soft, fluffy, average American woman to being a strong, lean muscular woman.

She joined a 12 day challenge at the beginning of the new year, 12 mins a day for 12 days of the exercises provided. In that short time she saw the beginnings of results and decided to continue.

Her take away was it was the showing up for herself that felt the best.

Monica found a coach who changed her diet and that really helped with the weight loss but it might not be right for everyone. She eats meat and eggs pretty much exclusively.

We acknowledged that reaching a goal is one thing, staying where you got to or going beyond that takes a continued commitment.

Her mantra: Make every single thing that you do a vote for the person that you want to be.

Lots more juicy convo, have a listen.

Here is Monica’s site

She’s on twitter

Facebook

When you are ready to start your transformation journey and need to take stock of where you are now, have a look at my options. https://rebelliouswellnessover50.com/services/

Psychic Readings and Communing with the Dead

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 07 Dec 2022 12:30:00 -0400

What's it like to talk to dead people?

How about knowing with certainty that you can receive messages for people looking for direction or help with an area of their lives?

Karen Romine, is a psychic and medium but her roots were conservative, traditional. "Even when I was younger, I heard voices or I knew things that I really wasn't supposed to know."

And she had many careers before deciding to get trained to use her natural gifts to help others.

Karen had a few health challenges before she made the leap because she was stuffing down the calling to do this work.

Everything resolved when she stepped into this world fully.

Karen offers one on one psychic readings and mediumship readings should you want to connect with a person or animal who has crossed over.

And here's a really cool thing: she works with law enforcement to help find missing persons. She tells a chilling story about one recent incident.

We spoke about why some people would like a reading but are afraid of what they'll hear or experience.

It's really fear of the unknown. I've had a reading with her and I promise it's not scary and you don't have to engage with anyone you don't want to or hear anything a spirit has to say. Karen prepares you to let her know if you want her to stop at any point.

Others feel they'd be going against their faith to use this kind of energy.

Karen believes it isn't denying your faith or in opposition to it, it's simply using a different energy form-spirit if you will-to give you peace or answers.

She may be unique in her approach. She knows nothing about you when you book a call except your first name. (Unless, of course, you've had a reading with her) She doesn't ask for an intention only whether you want to speak to someone or an animal who is no longer in physical form, or whether you want a psychic reading. You can also do a hybrid.

There is so much packed into this call about how she reads or channels I encourage anyone who has ever thought about getting a reading to listen in and go to her website: Karen Romine dot com.

How do babies come through? What if someone has taken their life?

What if the spirit of a relative has advice for me?

It's important to find a medium/psychic who is ethical and the real deal.

Karen answers these Qs and many more.

She's offering listeners an 11% discount on their first reading of either kind or the hybrid. Use coupon code rwo50.

And if you want to have an experience of Karen in a group setting sign up here. You don't have to ask a question or respond to someone who comes through even if they are there with a message for you. Just be a part of the energy and get a feel for it.

Follow her on IG where she offers wisdom and announces her classes or special offers.

Facebook

And if you'd like to speak to Karen before booking anything you can email her at Karen@KarenRomine.com

I'm already seeing the manifestation of a few things that came through in my reading with Karen, I'll write about it in January when I believe more things will arrive.

Q & A Genes, Why You Are the Way You Are

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 10:30:00 -0400

Dr. J Ann Dunn was my guest a couple of weeks ago. As often happens, once we ended the interview, questions I hadn't asked popped into my mind.

Questions on cancer, mental health, (Which is why she started her company My Happy Genes) addiction and more.

I asked J if she'd come back again to answer them and asked people on my list to join us live or ask their questions ahead of time by email.

These are the topics we covered:

Why are some people more susceptible to addiction? Cravings, whether for sugar, booze, or drugs are symptoms that something is out of balance.

How knowing what foods best suit our genealogy doesn't mean we'll follow the advice--unless we will die or get sick otherwise. And, food sensitivities or contraindications to certain nutrients, represent something malfunctioning upstream. Knowing the whole pathway means a doc or other practitioner trained to read gene reports can make suggestions for supplements to restore balance.

Supplements--how to know you are getting something that isn't expensive urine

ConsumerLab is a great resource to see if your supplement has the amount it promises on the label, if the source is clean, and do they give you the results you're looking for.

Afraid to get a gene test? Here's why you can let that go

Methylation

How the My Happy Genes testing and reporting is like no other.

What is the cancer profile or information that I might get after doing your gene test?

How melatonin might or might not be the right sleep aid for you.

Why blaming ourselves for our mood, habits, or body is unnecessary and harmful. J is writing a book titled Compassionate Genetics. In it she'll explain her believe that we must take a kinder approach to what people are experiencing on the negative side of a life.

When you work with a practitioner who is understands the results you get in a report (Or 5) you'll do an intake questionnaire to match up your symptoms with the findings. You an always tale this questionnaire again after say 6 months to measure progress and reversal of symptoms.

You won't likely have to wait 6 months to see results though. Many years long problems resolve in days and weeks when the body gets the support in needs.

I've just sent in my test and I'll be reporting back on what it finds and what there is for me to adjust in how I do my day to day. I can't wait!

Don't Settle for Boilerplate Medicine!

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 15:00:00 -0400

People ask what it means to be rebellious about wellness, health, and aging. This shortie will answer that in part.

Boiler plate medicine is one-size-fits-all diagnosing and prescribing and it makes me nuts.

True, some aspects of being a woman or a man line up, like stress is bad for us and junk food in abundance causes inflammation and a host of other ills.

Most every other aspect of health must be filtered by, at the least, gender, age, lifestyle habits, and genetics. (Yeah, that’s me who used to say genes are not destiny. I still believe that, but new science has me expand on that idea. They are still only a blueprint waiting for a builder, (that would be you and me) but the more we know about our genetic profile the stronger we can build our house.

That's not the focus of this episode, but if you want to hear about the latest science of using genes for better mental and physical health, here's an episode on that.

What I hope you’ll take away is that every recommendation for a prescription or procedure that you get from a western trained doc isn’t necessarily what you need and might in fact be harmful over time.

This shortie is about encouraging you to get educated before you say Yes to a drug—especially if it's something you’ll have to be on for life.

I’m also hoping to give you a dose of courage to question, why this drug? What are the side effects? Is there an alternative? Something I can do?

Here are a few things I referenced:

Cholesterol, Statins and Women Part 1

Cholesterol, Statins, and Women Part 2

The Power of 5 Assessment Are your lifestyle habits going to give you the long healthy active life you want? The assessment is like a crystal ball for healthy aging.

Docs/Websites I trust for research or information

Dr. Axe is a functional medicine generalist so you’ll find all kinds of health information on his site.

Dr. Peter Attia is Stanford/Johns Hopkins/NIH-trained physician. His thing is longevity, biohacking, testing. He’s got a great podcast too.

I mentioned functional medicine docs a couple of times.

The functional medicine model is an individualized, patient-centered, science-based approach that empowers patients and practitioners to work together to address the underlying causes of disease and promote optimal wellness.

https://www.ifm.org/find-a-practitioner

Living Skillfully with Hearing Loss — Beyond Hearing Aids

Gregory Anne Cox — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 17:00:00 -0400

Hearing loss impacts 430 million people worldwide, including 48 million in the US. You may be one of them or know someone in this category.

My guests today are Gael Hannan and Shari Eberts. They both have hearing loss and advocate for others. They co-authored the book Hear and Beyond, Live Skillfully with Hearing Loss. Their book offer a new skills-based approach to hearing loss that is centered not on hearing better, but on communicating better.

People with hearing loss are stigmatized, seen as less capable than a hearing person or somehow inadequate.

There’s also self-stigmatizing. This can lead to not wanting to get help or trying to fake it in conversations. The worst of this shows up as isolating oneself. And isolation can lead to depression which is more prevalent as we age.

Untreated hearing loss can lead to falls, has a relationship to heart health,

In order to communicate better—Gael and Shari have what they call their 3-legged stool. Part 1 is attitude, part 2 technology and part 3 are behavioral changes. They form the basis of their book.

By the way, sign language is not for everyone with hearing loss. In the US, less than 500,000 — or about 1% — use sign language. As Gael told me,

“Sherry and I use Spoken language and those people who are in deaf culture and have brought up to sign and learning sign, that is their language.”

One of the skills they teach is to

“confidently tell people you have hearing loss and how they can help you in terms of communicating better. So maybe that's moving to another part of the restaurant. Maybe that's asking and letting them know they need to face you so that you can see their mouth and their face for speech reading.”

We talked hearing aids—and blinging them—cochlear implants, and the importance of getting help early. I learned quite a bit and am now looking for an audiologist to get a baseline on my hearing.

We also talked tinnitus which is common in people with hearing loss and ways to distract yourself from it if you suffer with it.

This conversation gave me more compassion for people who can no longer hear they way they used to or never could.

Groups mentioned for support with hearing loss

Living with Hearing Loss

Hearing Loss Association of America

Canadian Hard of Hearing Association

Imagine what it must have been like for people with hearing loss during the pandemic, when most of the world wore face masks. It was during that very scary time for folks like Gael and Shari that Shari joined forces with some colleagues to produce a documentary on hearing loss.

We Hear You is a groundbreaking one-hour documentary about hearing loss, the invisible disability that impacts 430 million people

worldwide, including 48 million in the United States alone. By shining a light on the hearing loss experience, it strives to build awareness, community and a more inclusive world for all.

An informative and humorous article from Gael titled

The Hearing Husband’s Top Communication Tips” on the Hearing health Matters site.

This Unique Yoga Practice is a Joint Renewal System

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 04 Nov 2022 14:00:00 -0400

According to my guest, Kathy White, Yoga not just another physical activity like Pilates or going to the gym. And it’s not just for the flexible, young, and fit among us.

If you’ve tried traditional yoga practices like hatha, hot, or vinyasa but felt the poses were too strenuous or complex, stay with us.

Kathy calls her unique blend of yoga styles, a joint renewal system and her goal is to help women rediscover flexibility and relief from joint pain.

Why so much pain as we age anyway?

“By the time we reach our fifties and beyond have compensatory patterns to avoid pain. Part of our recovery process from a lifetime of large or small injuries is that we compensate. We never really discover the source of our pain because docs and physios will treat what we tell them hurts.

In the practice I teach, and the joint renewal is we treat every joint, we get you into your joints into your body, and who knows what that knee is gonna say to the hip, you know, it's like knee bone connected to the thigh bone. It's all connected and as you move one piece, the others all realign.”

What I love about Kathy’s yoga is that she’s democratizing it.

“This is yoga for people who hate yoga. I've had people say, Is that yoga that we just did? Because what we are basically doing in the practice is, Breaking the postures, those very complicated postures that you see on the Instagram feeds and yoga books is we're breaking those down to the component pieces because most people, especially as we age don't have the agility, strength, or level of suppleness in their joints to be able to achieve.”

We talked about “comfort culture” which is a good thing—every aspect of life has been made more comfortable. Beds, cars with cameras so you don’t have to turn around, couches, etc. and how this contributes to pain.

Also, the importance of moving every joint and muscle. Our routines include the kinds of movement we get, what exercise we do (or don’t do). If we sit at a desk then get on a stationary bike chances are we are not moving our upper body, feet or ankles. When was the last time you worked your hands outside of typing and cooking?

Every joint needs a gentle workout every day.

Kathy’s website is here and this is where you can sign up for her Joint Renewal Guide. It includes the secrets to flexible joints and videos so you can practice a few of Kathy’s unique exercises.

She has a membership community which is really reasonable and features one live class monthly on Zoom, audio recordings, and practice plans.

She’s on Instagram

You can book classes with Kathy online by going here.

Taking the Fear Out of BHRT So You Can Feel Better

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 18:00:00 -0400

Dr. Michael Green loves delivering babies!

So why is he appearing on a podcast for over 50 women? Because his second passion is helping women feel better, feel like themselves so they can enjoy the second half of life.

He is the head of clinical operations at ByWinona.com, whose mission is “To create a world where the second half of life is even better than the first.”

He’s also a full time OB-GYN, still bringing those babies into the world.

The co-founder, Nancy Belcher, PhD, struggled during her own menopause journey and was reluctant to try hormone replacement therapy (HRT) due to outdated science of the Women's Health Initiative. Because of this old information, like so many women, she suffered unnecessarily for far too long. Today, Nancy is focused on reassuring women on the safety of HRT to help relieve menopause symptoms and prevent diseases associated with decreased levels of hormones.

So she started an online company to make getting educated about and prescriptions for HRT easy and convenient.

Michael and I discussed:

The Women’s Health Initiative Study, the source of much of the erroneous information on bioidentical hormone therapy.

Who is a good candidate for BHRT—

“For appropriately screened patients that start hormone replacement therapy before the age of 60, they actually have a decreased risk of cardiovascular events. Women that start hormone replacement therapy before 60 that are appropriate candidates on average will live longer and live healthier lives than women that have never been on hormone replacement therapy.”

Why 60?

Dr.Green says it relates to the risk of heart disease which goes up as we age but that he believes a doctor should work with the individual woman. 60 isn’t a magic number and if a woman is healthy and wants to try HRT, he would prescribe it.

ByWinona.com may be an online company but it is staffed by board certified OB-GYNs and general practice docs. When you fill in the initial questionnaire your answers go to one of these docs not bots.

The beauty of using a company like ByWinona, aside from their integrity and high standards, is convenience. No waiting for the doc appointment, waiting in the office, waiting for the script to be filled—if you can even get a prescription. So few docs have been educated about HRT and dismiss the idea as, once again using outdated science, dangerous.

Or they may just think, “This is what happens at your age.” I’ve even heard of women being prescribed anti-depressants to relieve hot flashes and other symptoms. #Notright

We talked all about the importance of estrogen for our long-term health. Progesterone for sleep and as a balance to supplemental estrogen. And DHEA which is a supplement that boosts testosterone.

Getting started with ByWinona is super simple. Start here on their site follow the prompts, and you’ll be hearing from one of their docs in no time.

If you aren’t ready to dive in to using HRT just yet, they have lots of great information on their site and host webinars to educate and dispel the old news that keeps so many women from experiencing life the way it once was or better cause now we’re older and wiser.

For tons of video testimonials check out their TikTok account

Find them on IG

Facebook

Turn Off the Genes that Cause Depression, Addiction

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 17:00:00 -0400

My guest, J Ann Dunn, suffered with depression for almost 50 years and with Fibromyalgia for decades. As a Doctor of Chiropractic trained in functional medicine as well, she tried everything she knew to heal herself. Nothing worked.

She had a successful practice in New Mexico for 30+ years and was bothered by those few patients who didn’t respond to tools she used on all her patients--nutrition, structural work, emotional work.

“As natural healthcare practitioners, we kind of park that stuff on the side and say, it must be genetic. You know, that was kind of the black box on the side that we couldn't really get to.”

Her father had died young of lung cancer which didn’t surprise J because he had been a smoker and drinker with a few other poor lifestyle habits. Her step-dad on the other hand, who shared his buddy’s bad habits, lived another 30 years.

All of those things had J curious about this genetics thing.

Many years of research and studying later, she is depression free, free of fibromyalgia, and has helped thousands of people heal from emotional and physical problems using gene mapping and biochemistry.

J started her company, My Happy Genes, to bring her discovery to patients everywhere.

What she discovered began with the word methylation. Thorne.com defines methylation this way, “Methylation is a simple biochemical process – it is the transfer of four atoms - one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms (CH3) from one substance to another.

When optimal methylation occurs, it has a significant positive impact on many biochemical reactions in the body that regulate the activity of the cardiovascular, neurological, reproductive, and detoxification systems.”

J decided to figure out how to use methylation in her work.

Genetic variants cause problems with hidden sources. As was the case with J, the inability for her body to absorb vitamin D—no matter how much she took. Wondering how she could boost vitamin D through other pathways she discovered that D is involved in how well your immune system works to fight off infections, like the virus that causes CFS or Epstein Barr. What really wowed her was finding that how we convert certain amino acids into neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, our happy hormones.

In other words, her inability to absorb D had a big hand in her depression and her CFS. Once she found Chris Masterjohn.he's a PhD biochemist, who told her that the co-factors for vitamin D are vitamin K2 and A, and then your body can absorb D,” she had to give it a try. Lucky for us, it worked.

“I started taking that combination and bam, my depression, my lifelong depression gone and I'm not kidding, I was like, I think I'm happy, I've heard about this. I've heard about it, but I don't think I'd ever really felt it. You don't know until you actually have brain chemicals that are happy hormones.” J

I know some of you reading would love to experience that!

MyHappyGenes has two reports, one comes free with the test, it’s the Mood and Personality Report, How likely you are to experience brain chemistry imbalances. You can add a second report that gives diet and lifestyle recommendations, how to fine-tune your genes for optimal mental and emotional health.

The first report is available to everyone and can be read easily by a lay person. Each marker or gene profile is shown as a graph from 0 to 100. Where you are on the graph indicates how likely you are, or not, to suffer from a chemical imbalance.

The second report requires a practitioner to walk the person through the results, some of which might cause concern. But also so that you can be guided through the protocols—usually supplements*—to put any negative gene to bed and enhance those that improve quality of life and longevity.

*They do not sell the supplements they recommend. No conflict of interest in their recommendations this way.

J told some great stories of people recovering from addiction using the protocols, people losing weight who otherwise could not. She even changed her diet from high protein and low carb, which she thought sounded smart, to the reverse based on her genetics. She feels better even though she wouldn’t have said anything was wrong.

Privacy—MyHappyGenes does not save your information, nor do they know you by name. The test kit comes with a bar code with a number and that’s who you are. They do not sell their data.

There is so much juicy information in this episode, read the transcript of have a listen.

Learn more about, and purchase the tests at her website.

If you’d like to get a test with both reports but don’t have a practitioner here is a list of ones certified by J’s company.

For practitioners who want to use Wholistic Methylation, her proprietary system, there is a certification training.

Wholistic Methylation™ combines the study of genetics, epigenetics, biochemistry and nutrition to help you assess and address the real causes of disease.”

is the I’ve long been cautious about recommending genetic testing to people

Not a practitioner but want to understand methylation? There’s a free webinar to do just that.

Find MyHappyGenes on Facebook

And LinkedIn

Entrepreneurs: What it Takes to Have a Successful Brand

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 16:00:00 -0400

You might say this is a departure for this podcast, for me as Rebellious Wellness. You have a point. Here's why I had Mary Henderson, international personal branding and digital business specialist, as a guest.

Many of my people are women entrepreneurs at Be More Marketable and here. Of the many, a good percentage of them are second careerers or looking to get into their own business.

Another piece of Mary’s work that I think is important for listeners, business owners, or not, is the idea of core identity.

“What I have found with women over the age of 50 is that even though we're at that point in our life where it's like, ‘screw everybody, I don't care. I could be unapologetically myself.’ That the reality is that women aren't unapologetically themselves.”

What holds them back is their core identity. The part of them, us, that keeps us in fear or “I’m not good enough, see it’s not working” and backing down or not doing what it takes to succeed.

“The identity is that a much younger version of me that's holding onto beliefs and behaviors around one or two areas of my life where I feel powerless and helpless. Once we can see that we are powerless and helpless in one or two areas of our life. And typically, it's around love and money. We know that's a clue to say that we have an identity that is showing up as that lesser version of, smaller version of ourselves.”

We both agree that to take on starting or growing a business, running for town council, learning to do stand up, the most successful women are really interested in their personal growth as well as the skills that new thing will take.

Without working on yourself, ourselves, that core identity will show up again and again. Another form of self-sabotage.

Mary has a process to work you through that core identity and it involves radical truth telling no matter how ugly it gets. (As do I when I coach women on their health.)

We have been groomed to work in the masculine and how important it is to balance do, do, do with come from the heart and let that show up. We need both aspects of us to be seen and become successful.

Why a side hustle isn’t a business and why DIYing your way into a business or other skill set isn’t going to result in great success. It will also take way longer.

Mary’s final thoughts, “I want people to know that they are sitting on a gold mine and that gold mine is a collective of knowledge, wisdom, and experience. Your life experience is the true currency, not dollars in your bank. Not gold, not silver. The true currency is your internal inventory. Once we can see that as currency, it's a game changer because you, it never depreciates, it never leaves you.”

Here's Mary’s website.

Apply for a 45-minute coaching call with her and get a full gap analysis so you need to know what you need to focus on right now in order to reach your goals.

Check out Mary’s podcast to learn more about her philosophy and strategy.

Mary is very active on LinkedIn.

This Sleep Coach Ditched Ambien for Better Sleep

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 13:30:00 -0400

My guest this week, Morgan Adams is a double certified sleep coach. Here’s how she got started.

“I was desperate to get a good night’s sleep after an unexpected crisis rocked my world in my mid-thirties. As a Pharma rep, I didn’t have the luxury of “sleeping in” after staring at the clock all night. That’s when I got my hands on a popular, physician-prescribed sleeping pill—because when you work in the Pharma field, it’s not hard to score a pill for any ill.”

This all-too-common scenario — woman can’t sleep, doc says “I have just the thing”—resulted in reliance on Ambien, pharma name, Zolpidem. According to medlineplus.gov, “Zolpidem is used to treat insomnia (difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep). Zolpidem belongs to a class of medications called sedative-hypnotics.

They go on to say, “Zolpidem may cause serious or possibly life-threatening sleep behaviors. Some people who took zolpidem got out of bed and drove their cars, prepared and ate food, had sex, made phone calls, sleep-walked, or were involved in other activities while not fully awake. After they woke up, these people were unable to remember what they had done.”

Morgan goes on to say, “I didn’t know that sleeping pills inhibit your ability to experience restorative sleep. Taking the pills may help you become unconscious, but sedation is not the same as sleep. I would wake up groggy, oftentimes to an empty box of cookies I didn’t remember eating, and trudge through the morning until last night’s pill would wear off. It’s a miracle I never got behind the wheel in these fugue states.”

So begins our conversation on how to sleep deeply and restoratively, without using prescription medications long term.

Once Morgan made the decision to get off Ambien, she wanted to spread the word about these potentially dangerous meds and help other women find alternatives.

We discussed the difference between deep sleep and being knocked out using Ambien and other sedative hypnotics.

There are two main types of sedative-hypnotics – benzodiazepines and Z-drugs. Common benzodiazepines include Xanax (alprazolam), Librium (chlordiazepoxide), Valium (diazepam), and Ativan (lorazepam). Common Z-drugs include Ambien (zolpidem), Lunesta (eszopiclone), and Sonata (zaleplon). Thanks for this to HealthInAging.org

We now know, in part thanks to the work of Matt Walker and colleagues, that of all the lifestyle habits we must pay attention to age in good health, none is as critical to the process as is sleep.

Some of Morgan’s tips mirror mine in The Power of 5 work. If you don’t sleep well it’s time to take stock of every single choice you make throughout the day. So much influences our sleep including, what and when we eat, blood sugar levels, how much or how little we move, stress, what we do or don’t do to prepare for sleep, the lighting and temperature in our pre-sleep environment.

Speaking of blood sugar, Morgan uses and recommends a continuous blood sugar monitor from NutriSense.What’s that? It’s a small device you stick onto your arm that monitors blood sugar levels throughout the day and night. The data is collected to an app on your phone. The idea is to see what foods, activities, and environmental influences push blood sugar levels up higher than normal or keep them high when they should come down to base level. I’ve not yet tried one but it’s on my list to do before the end of the year.

Why would you try one? If your insomnia is due to high blood sugar levels, even in part, and you know what’s driving it, you can adjust what you are doing.

Morgan also swears that her Oura ring has made a big difference in how she sleeps. It provides all kinds of data on your sleep and wake cycles. Once Oura gets to know you it begins to suggest the time to start winding down as well as activity during the day to keep you on track for a good nights sleep.

I’ve been using my Fitbit Charge to track my sleep recently and the information looks pretty much the same as Oura. It doesn’t have the depth of information though the Oura provides.

Between this interview and my Shortie on the subject of sleep I hope you get how important it is. If you have insomnia or interrupted sleep and need a nudge to move you to take action on sorting it, I’ll close with this quote from Matt Walker,

"Ambien (and all of its cousins in this category) induced sleep caused 50% weakening or unwiring of the brain cell connections originally formed in learning. In doing so, Ambien laced sleep became a memory eraser."

Learn more about Morgan and her coaching offers here.

She’s on Insta, and Facebook.

Today's Grandmas are Unapologetically Themselves

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 11:00:00 -0400

Are you a grandma? Fifty is old enough to have that title. By sixty many women will be lucky enough to join to club. I became a grandma-or Gigi as my grandson calls me—in 2021.

Like my guest, Marsh McLean, founder of Grandmas 2.0, I was not ready for that.

Welcoming a wee one into the family was not the issue. The connotation that comes with the title grandma was.

As Marsha says, “In the past, “Grandma” conjured up images of old and decrepitude. Today’s grandmas are more “Glam-Ma” and brings to mind confidence and style.”

Not only that but we aren’t living to babysit though that’s a fun option now and then. We are working, traveling, working out, dining out, and enjoying our lives in ways we enjoy.

At fifty, many women today are reevaluating their roles as kids fly the coop.

They, you, may want to redefine who are for people and how you spend your days.

Marsha says it’s time to redefine your ideas about what it means to be a grandma.

As the eldest of six kids she stepped into a planning and leadership role early on. Couple that with a crush on Diana Ross and a passion for fashion and what you get is a confident, professional woman with style.

And she’s on a mission to help other grandmas redefine, realign, and redsign their lives. This includes their mental and physical health, being fashionable, and feeling beautiful inside and out. She also helps women get financially and technologically fit.

We talked about the way our names help shape who we become and how today’s grandmas have so much they still want to do but can be held back by society’s expectations of midlife and older women and what we heard and saw growing up.

Whether you’re a grandma or not this conversation is a good start if you need to redefine yourself and how you express all of you in your next chapter.

You can follow Marsha on Instagram

Facebook

and

Youtube

Marsha offers a membership program and coaching.

https://www.grandmas2point0.com

End of Life Conversations Bring Unexpected Intimacy

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 15:00:00 -0400

Who among us relishes talking about death? Specifically our deaths or those of the near and dear to us. Which is weird because if you're alive, you're in for a penny in for a pound kind of thing, with death.

End of life conversations, though hard to start, can bring you closer to the person whose life you are helping to plan.

My guest, Jane Duncan Rogers, was throw into a situation where she had to have the conversation, ask questions like, buried or cremated, what kind of urn or coffin, party or quiet ceremony only — when her husband was diagnosed with a terminal cancer and their time was short.

She put off asking "the questions" and had hoped to rush through them, just get it done. What happened instead was a 90-minute conversation with him. It was full of laughter and a sense of being in a project together.

Before her husband transitioned, Jane was a counselor and coach. When she wrote her first book, “Gifted By Grief”, about her experience with her husband’s illness, their time together, and caregiving, she figured it might get her a few new clients and not much else.

She was surprised to find that many people responded to a chapter in the book that reviews the questions. She kept getting nudges in the direction of helping others deal with end of life planning, grief, etc. The result is her business, Before I Go Solutions.

Jane sums up her why.

“I'm on a mission to help people be able to talk about it in more easily. Well before the time, well before it's really needed.”

Well before it's needed is key.

Imagine you find yourself with a spouse or loved one in critical condition, decisions about their care need to be made, and you don’t know how much or little they want?

Or imagine you are caregiving an aging parent from a distance and they die. They may have a will. You may know what they want for a memorial. Can you get into their computer? Phone? Safe deposit box? Etc, etc.

What I learned from speaking with Jane was that there is more information to gather than just the health and financial proxies.

Got secrets?

“There's another unexpected thing that people never think about, if you've got secrets in your life, whatever they may be, if you think that they might come out after you've died, please take care of them beforehand.”

Burn those diaries girls.

One aspect of end of life planning that stood out for me is, how do I/your person, want to be celebrated? Why shouldn’t that also be planned?

And if you are planning as a healthy 50 or 60-something and years from now you realize today’s plan no longer feels like a fit, change it up.

What if you’re single with no family to plan this with? We covered that too.

Learn more about Jane’s books, programs, and becoming a Before I Go facilitator, at her website.

Here’s a link to the quiz I mentioned. It’s about 8 questions and just answering them will give you a good idea what’s missing in your end of life plan.

If you want help getting organized or just getting started in the right direction, check out the facilitators. All work virtually.

Why Sleep Must Become Your Healthy Aging Priority

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 16 Sep 2022 11:30:00 -0400

So you think you know how a lack of deep sleep affects you?

Unless you follow someone like Matt Walker, the preeminent neuroscientist specializing in sleep, or one of his colleagues around the world, you may miss out on information that will encourage you to make sleep a priority.

And increase the likelihood of aging in good health.

It's no secret that as we age, regular, sound, sleep seems to elude us unless everything is Goldilocks perfect. Not too hot, not too cold, not too much on our minds, the creaky back isn't complaining, and on and on.

But, as you'll find out in this episode, it's possible to improve your sleep, though it's not likely to happen overnight. (Couldn't help myself)

Why dedicate a shortie to sleep when the internet is full of blog posts and articles on the subject? Because the negative impact of under-sleeping, as researchers call it, is in short supply. But it's information that can make a difference in how you age, so here we go.

Let's start with one of Matt's many thoughts on sleep.

“Sleep is the greatest life support system you could ever wish for. It's a remarkable health insurance policy. It is largely democratic. It's free and it's largely painless."

The greatest life support system...

He doesn't say it's a good idea, that it's one of the ways we stay healthy, he says it's the greatest, and goes on to say it is the foundation upon which all other good health habits rest.

We now know that lifestyle accounts for 70% to 80% of our health and risk of disease. Sleep de-risks us more powerfully than what we eat or how we move. (Those things are mighty important, but sleep trumps their effects.)

And, without proper, deep sleep most nights of the week, it will be harder to lose weight, control cravings, have the energy to move, and stay sharp throughout the day.

To get specific about the weight loss thing, when you under-sleep, 6 hours or less per night, are not as efficient the next day when exercising.

When dieting or calorie restricting and under-sleeping, you lose muscle rather than burn fat.

Cortisol plays a role with insulin close behind. And those two hormones in this instance, are related to stress. Managing stress during the day and or de-stressing before you go to sleep will make a big difference.

Sleep hygiene--creating a routine that you follow every night leading up to sleep-- is an important tool in your better sleep toolbox.

It includes things like checking your bedroom for light, temperature, comfort, and noise. (I go into all of them in the podcast)

What about sleeping pills like Lunesta and Ambien? Nix them. You have a higher risk of death, higher risk of dementia if you use them regularly. According to Dr. Walker, "Ambien isn't like sleep. You're confusing sleep with a lack of consciousness.

These drugs are termed sedative hypnotics.

"so like hitting you over the head and you're unconscious, it does not give restorative sleep." Matt says.

These drugs can also be addictive.

But what if you suffer from insomnia? Get help from a professional if the sleep hygiene tips and herbal supplements like melatonin don't work.

There are different kinds of insomnia and each has particular types of therapy to resolve. Here's the best place to start to find a professional specializing in insomnia therapy. That link will take you to a site that describes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia, in detail.

Listen to one of Matt's TED talks, Sleep is your superpower

If you want to learn more about my Power of 5 mini email course, everything a woman over 50 needs to know to create simple healthy aging lifestyle habits--and includes sleep--you can find it here.

Don't shrug off a few nights of poor sleep if they happen frequently. Even if you've always been a 6-hours a night, kind of gal, now is the time to give yourself the gift of more. The 8 hour rule is not something science made up. It's evolutionarily sound.

And so much of our healing, repairing, restoring, and releasing (the brain takes out the garbage in the wee hours, no noisy trucks involved), takes place in deep sleep.

It's time to make sleep a healthy aging priority!

Hormone Replacement — It's Safe and Now it's Affordable

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 06 Sep 2022 18:15:00 -0400

If you've been around Rebellious Wellness at all, you know that BHRT, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy, is a therapy I support for relief of perimenopause and menopause symptoms.

And that's what most people think of it for. But it's so much more than just symptom relief. My guest, Monica Molenaar, shares her story, the science, and the reasons she co-created MyAlloy.com.

We started with what exactly BHRT or MHT (menopause hormone therapy) as they call it at Alloy, is.

If you've heard negative reports about this therapy, it's likely because of The Women's Health Initiative. This study was flawed from the participants they invited, the data they did and didn't collect and the results released, and the way they used the HTs.

(TWHI is still gathering data on many subjects. I'm referring to a specific study on hormone replacement therapy and its influence on heart disease risks.)

This is a shame because hormone replacement was at one time commonly prescribed to women without incident.

Fast forward to today. Many studies on the safe, natural forms of estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone have been done and the results show that BHRT can improve health markers, not just relieve symptoms.

Monica was thrown into instant menopause with the removal of her ovaries to prevent ovarian cancer.

"What really nobody prepared me for was menopause. All of a sudden was left without any estrogen in my body. And I did gain 20 pounds pretty fast, and I didn't sleep through the night for six months until I started taking HRT. But the bigger problem is that I felt like nobody was talking to me about this. Nobody was giving me the information that I was looking for.

I will continue to interview experts on this topic and beat the drum about BHRT so that there are more conversations about it, to show women how it can help with aging and symptoms and so that no one has to suffer like Monica did.

We want to dispel the myth that so many women hear from medical professionals, "the sort of prevailing idea out there is like, it's natural. You should just deal with it."

As I pointed out at some point, if men had to go through menopause, we would not need these conversations.

One of the reasons Monica and her partner, Anne Fulenwider, started MyAlloy.com was to, as they call it, democratize menopause care. They want to make it easier for women to get information and prescriptions of safe, natural, hormones.

Their chief medical officer is Dr. Sharon Malone. Monica tells a great story about Michelle Obama and hot flashes on Air Force One. It was Dr. Malone who came to her rescue.

More on Monica's why. "I think for so many women is they don't really understand what the treatment possibilities are, what the safety profiles are, what their personal risks might be or not, usually less than they think."

MyAlloy.com helps the women who come to them find out those things. They also answer your questions.

If you want to see if you are a candidate for hormone therapy, you start on the home page of MyAlloy.com, where you'll see the take the assessment button. That information goes to one of MyAlloy's docs for review to see if hormone therapy is right for you. If yes, and you agree, the script goes to their pharmacy, is filled and shipped to your home.

Convenient and it saves time and money on an office visit. The fee for getting started with them is $0.

If you aren't ready to give BHRT a try, there are articles addressing the various joys of the post estrogen producing life, on topics like hair loss, meno fatigue, painful sex, and more. Learn all you need to know about estrogen and progesterone.

Besides the hormones, they offer peroxetine, which is a non-hormonal treatment for hot flashes, a low dose birth control, (seems we are more fertile than we realize in the last few years of transition) and a proprietary symbiotic, which is a prebiotic plus probiotic.

If you can't find a doc who understands what you are going through or have never considered using hormone replacement therapy but are curious, MyAlloy.com is a great place to be heard and get started.

PS, I am not an affiliate for the company.

I'm happy to share my experience with 2 decades of hormone therapy. Grab a time to chat if you've got questions.

Menopause is Not the Cause of Every Problem and Symptom

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 12:00:00 -0400

And every symptom doesn't tell the whole story. Matter of fact, so many states of ill health have overlapping symptoms. Menopause symptoms like poor sleep, weight gain, irritability, or lack of focus can also be caused by a thyroid imbalance.

My guest, Kyria Perero, is a total health/holistic health practitioner. She is trained in functional health coaching which means she looks at the whole person and the whole body when diagnosing and suggesting changes for her clients.

Like so many of the practitioners I speak with, Kyria got trained to do this work after suffering from major burnout. She was teaching high school in a low income school, wearing all the hats that teachers do.

"I just was very much very committed so my own needs and wellbeing went on the bottom of the to-do list. I don't even actually think they made the to-do list at all, but I just was like, At work, you know, 12 hours a day and taking it very seriously and getting very stressed."

I'll bet some of you can relate, teacher or not.

She did the brave thing and reached out--or as she calls it--reached up for help to figure out what was wrong and help her get well again.

After trying western medical professionals and Dr. Google her search led her to a holistic nutritionist who did a functional blood chemistry analysis. She made suggestions, Kyria did what they suggested and she began to feel better. So much so that she got her Masters in holistic nutrition.

The one word Kyria says differentiates the usual blood panel from the ones she uses is "comprehensive." Her clients get 50 pages of data and information.

We discussed what functional blood chem is and what she adds to her work with clients. The importance of looking at the person's life, their symptoms and blood analysis. Many of us carry issues from childhood or more recently that can affect our wellbeing today.

You know how blood test results give you a score, a number that shows where you are within a range? Those numbers are for average health. Average health will not get us to the finish line in good form. We want to aim for optimal health and so better than average numbers.

Chewing your food A LOT came up. Kyria says we should chew til the food is almost liquid before swallowing.

Kyria and I share a concept for clients. One small step at a time. All or nothing rarely sticks. And small changes can have big impacts.

We discussed using supplements and who might need them.

She's got a couple of great success stories and most of her clients are over 50, in their 60s and 70s in fact.

You can learn more at KyriaHealth.com

Want to dive deeper into the kinds of issues the result in poor health and annoying symptoms, check out her training.

60 is Not the New 50 — and Here's Why

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 16:30:00 -0400

It's a fun meme, the whole something is the new. Like fifty is the new forty. And sixty is the new fifty. Sure, fifty today looks nothing like it did just one generation ago when fifty was "over the hill."

We are more engaged, take better care of ourselves, are more active. This doesn't change the fact that there are physical changes going on in these more active bodies. Aging changes us on the inside and the outside.

Wrinkles get a lot of attention and money thrown their way because we can see them and mostly — except maybe for laugh wrinkles — want to banish them.

The more important changes, like those occurring in our cardiovascular system, our ears, and our bones, to name a few, get less. Unless we have a problem like high blood pressure or painful arthritis, we are likely to accept the changes as just what happens at this age.

To a degree, there are changes tied loosely to the decades. This shortie talks about what goes on inside in the fifth decade. Why should you care?

Well, when you know what's coming, you can up your healthy aging game to minimize the downsides of these changes.

This is what this shortie is about. To let you know what happens decade by decade inside so you can bring mindfulness to your activities, lifestyle, and how you think about your aging self.

One of the best ways to start, (after you listen to the episode of course,) is to grab my Power of 5 email workshop. It contains everything you need — really at any age — to slow down the effects of aging. (She says humbly)

I did a mini-Shortie inside a Shortie on genes because so many people believe our genes control of how we age. They contribute, but only between 20% and 30%. The rest is up to us.

Bruce Lipton introduced me to the concept of epigenetics. What's that? Epi means above or around. It's the science of what influences genes to turn on and off. And it's the foundation of my idea that Everything is Food! I did an early episode on that topic. A Shortie before I officially launched Shorties. It's my philosophy so have a listen if you haven't yet.

Another important concept I covered is testing. You may know my motto, test don't guess. Baseline testing at 50, if you haven't done them earlier, is important. Why?

So you can track changes that happen behind the scenes and not have a big, bad health surprise when you are fifty-five or sixty. We can reverse most lifestyle problems and diseases at any age but plan on it taking longer. Not to mention you will probably feel less than fabulous as the years go on when something like inflammation is building.

In this episode I mention my ebook on testing. If you don't see it on the website yet, email me and I'll get it to you. We had a glitch today but it will be up and running by Tuesday end of day.

Power Up Your Sobriety with CBD

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 18:00:00 -0400

What if CBD could play a role in helping people get and stay sober?

And not only get sober by curbing addictive cravings, but help them once they're in sobriety with depression, anxiety, and mood issues.

Today’s guest, Thomas White believes it does and he has the science to prove it as well as a large volume of testimonials.

His company, Exact Nature, focuses on helping people with addiction, overuse issues, and those who are sober curious.

Before I go any further I want to mention that Thomas has offered my listeners a 20% discount—For as long as you use the product! This is not a one-time offer. (I am not an affiliate btw) Use code RW20 at checkout and it will deduct 20%. Here’s the store.

Thomas started this company after learning about the benefits of CBD for people with depression and anxiety. He is 13 years sober and as he put it,

“When my active addiction moved out, depression moved in.”

CBD has been a lifeline for him and his son, a partner in the business and also in recovery.

I was heartened to learn that “the FDA has approved CBD. They're looking into it and they've approved clinical trials for CBD to use as an ingestible to help with people that suffer from opioid addictions.”

And one reason the FDA has been willing to go along with this is because they are seeing firsthand the positive results that come that come from this.

Always look for full spectrum CBD. Thomas explained why.

“Full spectrum CBD is what I always recommend because CBD and all the cannabinoids, flavonoids, and terpenes that go with it, create something or produce something called the entourage effect. So to remove that as does CBD isolate, you eliminate the chance for all of these very positive productive synergistic interactions with the body.

I specifically wanted to know if these products would support someone looking to cut back on drinking or take a break from it. He has plenty of testimonials that the answer is yes.

"If you're sober curious, then yes, these products will definitely help, but there are very few people that these products will not help. There is no downside to using these products. They just put your body back in balance. And everybody's endocannabinoids system gets a bit depleted."

One thing that sets these folks apart from the many CBD companies is their commitment to helping people. Thomas personally writes customers, answers questions by phone if that’s the best way to do it, and they offer a no questions asked money back guarantee on all of their products.

Our conversation got personal and left me feeling enlightened and hopeful for the future of addiction treatment. And that humans like Thomas and his son, Daniel, are providing products and personal and confidential support to their customers.

Don’t forget the 20% off deal Thomas is offering listeners. Code RW20 will get it done.

They’ve got a ton of great resources on their site here.

Insta where you will find links to articles and such

Facebook

Stop Hating on Supplements! But Do Your Research

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 02 Aug 2022 12:30:00 -0400

SO many haters!

It concerns me that today, in 2022, there are literally hundreds of articles spouting the worn-out line about supplements being nothing more than expensive urine. Years of research to the contrary also fill a Google search. Science advances, so does our ability to run studies and double-blind, placebo control for efficacy and safety.

In this shortie I talk about what a supplement is. What to look out for. What supps are supportive of health and healthy aging, and where to go for the kind of information on certain brands that will ensure you get a safe product at the best price.

Vitamin D, really a pre-cursor hormone, is a critical piece of our longevity plan. Optimal levels should be on everyone's wish list who wants a strong immune system, healthy hormones, bones, brain.

Always buy D3 and always a gel cap as D is a fat soluble vitamin and needs fats to be absorbed by the body.

Omega 3s and 6s are also important and proven to be so especially for women. Low levels of Omega 3s are related to a greater risk of depression and more severe symptoms than men if they do become depressed.

People and things I mentioned

Dr. Axe for great infographics and more info on Omega 3s and 6s.

ConsumerLab.com This independent testing lab provides detailed reports on thousands of mineral, vitamin, and other supplements and beauty products that include whether what's on the label is in the jar, cost per serving, any recalls, and more.

Vitamindcouncil.org This site has been paired down quite a bit but what it does still have is information on dosing of Vitamin D.

Speaking of test don't guess, if you sometimes wonder, (maybe while cutting short a walk because you just don't feel like it...) whether your daily rituals and habits are setting you up for a healthy next few decades and want a second opinion, check out the Power of 5 assessment. It's an easy, affordable way to work with me. You'll walk away with insights and upgrades to what you're currently doing--or not doing--so that you can age in good health and have a good time. There is no deprivation here!

Single Again After 50 – Expert Series

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 13:45:00 -0400

Kelli Nelson planned on living the happily ever after kind of life. But at 50 she found herself divorced. She told me, "until after my marriage ended, which was six months before my 50th birthday, I realized I had no retirement, no future, no anything to look forward to because I had wrapped it all up I'm gonna be married happily ever after."

She's not the only woman this has happened to and she knew she had to do what she could to help other women navigate the unexpected occurrences that knock us on our you know whats.

So she gathered 20+ experts -- myself included -- to teach women about the many subjects she wishes she'd have had guidance around.

Health and wellness
Finances
Self Esteem
Love and dating
Getting past the blocks that hold you back from trying new things
Rebuilding your life to suit you

Also, having successfully navigated her divorce and has rebuilt her life to reflect her dreams and possibility she created a program called Life By Design. Kelli says, "when you're living by design, you're literally doing everything with an intention of what you want the outcome to be."

Intention is a powerful creation tool.

You can join the summit by heading to this page. It's a free event and if you want to hear the speaker's you've missed, there is a replay of the whole summit over the weekend of August 5 - 7.

The summit live started July 20th and runs through August 2. My session will be live for 24 hours starting on July 31.

Kelli's final words were: "Don't wait, don't ignore your dreams or let fear keep you from exploring what's out there for you."

Good advice indeed.

Learn more about Kelli at her website.

She's got a cool quiz there to see how your lifestyle stands up to your vision.

Some of her other guests include,

Susan Bratton Sex coach with a wicked sense of humor

Star Monroe Bold, audacious psychotherapist coach

Kira Gould The "getting unmarried" (aka divorce) coach

And there are 17 more great conversations waiting for you when you sign up.

The Seniority Authority, Planning Now for Living Longer

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 19 Jul 2022 17:15:00 -0400

Cathleen Toomey, the brains behind the Seniority Authority website and podcast likes to say “Seniority Authority exists because of cocktail parties.”

Knowing she worked in a retirement community people often came to her with questions like,

“I think my mom may have dementia, but maybe it's typical age related, memory loss. How do I tell the difference?”

And

“What the heck is assisted living and how do I know what a good one is?”

She created the Seniority Authority podcast and a website with the specific goal of providing practical information to people who have questions.

And we covered many of the most common questions people have about helping their parents navigate their longer lifespans, how to have "the conversation," and the importance of connection and community for those we love with seniority.

This country has never experienced a demographic shift in older adults, as it's experiencing now. Today in the US 10,000 people every day turned 70.

Even if we work out, eat right, generally take good care of ourselves we are still aging. Things will change. We have to plan ahead for a time when we may not be as able bodied as we are now. And if we are? Great we might want to move into a place with a built in community.

"My strong advice is have that conversation with your parent or your aunt or your loved one five years before you think you need it, because there will be a wait list to get into the right kind of community."

Our parents experienced nursing homes as a place they put grandma in two months before she died. That's their experience.

Part of the planning must include sitting down to think about what brings purpose and passion to your life.

What kind of environment do you love?

Is it important to be near family or friends?

What do you want to be doing day to day in your longer than expected life?

"Don't be a cranky old person. Be glad for every freaking day you get up on the right side of the grass.

A study was conducted by Harvard for 83 years to determine what makes for a long happy life. They found it wasn’t financial success, spirituality, children, volunteering, their health. “It was good relationships keep us happier and healthier period. Good relationships did not mean in Harvard's study that you had to be married. It just meant that you connected with people. You know the name of the dry cleaner, or the mailman, or you stopped in to see your neighbor next door.”

“One of the biggest challenges about getting older is that people are not talking as much. You are more isolated. There are actually fewer conversations, 50% fewer conversations after 60 then between 30 and 60.”

The most important first step if you think someone has dementia is to get checked out, get a diagnosis. You can’t plan or treat without knowing what’s happening in the brain and body.

Things that were mentioned:

Ikigai

Dan Buttner’s Blue Zones

Dr. Bob Waldinger

Seth Rogan’s charity called Hilarity for Charity This is “a non-profit on a mission to care for families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease, activate the next generation of Alzheimer’s advocates, and be a leader in brain health research and education.”

Seven Steps to Managing Your Memory—a book by Cathleen’s colleague, Maureen O’Connor.

The Power of Five Assessment for women who want to know if what they are currently doing is enough when it comes to healthy aging.

Hot Flashes, Bingo Wings and Getting to the Root of Menopause Symptoms

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 17:15:00 -0400

Menopause can take a woman down with hot flashes, mood swings, sleep interruptions, weight gain, and even the dreaded "Bingo wings." What are those you ask? According to my guest, Magic Barkley, "They are the low hanging fat wings many women get as we age through menopause." At least that's what they call them in Australia.

Magic — that's her real name — is a (w)holistic healer who works mainly with women entering or out of menopause to get to the root cause of menopause symptoms.

I treat their root cause. So I get a full chronology of their path. and I look at what happened first. And when did it happen? Are the issues that you're experiencing at 48, something that happened when you were two?

She wants to find out...

Is this an infection that hasn't been cleared up? Is this a pathogen that's just taken over your body and you know, your doctors along the way have gone, oh, it's nothing to worry about. Take these antibiotics or take these antifungals or have this acid reflux med, but they're not actually addressing the situation.

Magic has survived cancer, Lyme disease, complications due to surgery, gained weight, lost weight, gained it back, got divorced, and raised her children alone.

She has been successful in the hospitality industry and even car racing. Being the best at things allowed her to drink plenty of French champagne and life the high life. It also allowed her to hide her eating disorder. Some weeks she would eat only once.

Then she got pregnant for the first time.

You know what comes next. The crash, the body on strike, and a woman with no idea who she was or how to heal.

She does what she does today to help other women come back from that place or keep them from going there.

We talked about happiness vs peace with ourselves and why peace is more stable.

She shared her morning routine, which is a long, gentle wake up and connection with the new day.

And about the role cortisol plays in menopause symptoms--I had no idea.

The importance of total darkness to sleep and bright light upon waking.

For those of us always trying to figure out why the body is doing one thing or another, she shared a quote from Dr. Perry Nickelson of Stop Chasing Pain which I love. He said,

"He says the human body actually has no obligation to make any sense to you whatsoever."

Never thought of it that way, still frustrating when we don't have an answer and Dr. Google isn't helping.

Magic has a novel approach to working with clients. She requires a long intake form to determine if she can help someone before bringing them on. Whether or not she will bring someone on she follows up that intake form with a 45-minute call.

"I go through your history and even if we don't end up working together, you understand exactly what's been happening in your body.

You can learn more at Magic's website.

Magic interviewed me on the power of 5, my core principals for aging like the fabulon you are and want to continue to be. You can find it here.

Find Goodness Everywhere — it's Good for Your Health and Soul

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 18:00:00 -0400

Lynda Ulrich is a long time dentist who promised to always put patients first, not insurance companies. She and her dentist husband (and high school sweetheart), practice like old time doctors. They listen, they care, they want the best for people.

It was one of Lynda's patients who set in motion The Goodness Exchange. It's a great story.

Lynda has a lot of great stories about the kinds of people we don't hear enough about. The people who are creating positive change, sometimes from almost nothing.

About people like Damien Mander who discovered that single mothers make the best game wardens in Africa.

And Tofer White who's discovered that we can use old cell phones to save every inch of remaining rainforest in the world.

But the point Lynda most wanted you to take away--aside from letting you all know about this amazing site with over 2,000 articles of positive, remarkable news from around the globe--is that we get more of what we focus on. Not just in an energetic way.

Social and other media sites are set up to track our eyes, track how long we stay on a page and exactly where on the page we are spending that time. How marketers use that is to put more news just like that in front of you next time.

Couldn't we all use more positive news?

Negativity is stressful. Stress is unhealthy. I'm not saying we should not read or listen to the news, get riled up about some decisions being made by people in power over our bodies, the environment, tribal lands, and voting rights.

I'm angry, you might be too and anger moves people to action. Plus, maybe, like me, you feel the need to be informed. Great but what if we balance out that side of our engagement with the world with some positive news?

Lynda's Goodness Exchange makes it easy to find all the positive news you could ask for.

Besides the website, there is an App you can download and a membership community.

There you'll find kindred spirits and projects to get involved in.

I was uplifted by our conversation and make it a point to visit the GE a few times per week.

As Lynda said,

If you know more about them, I tell you, Greg, you walk with a spring in your step and when the stuff comes at you, that's just one negative hit after another, you can hold both versions in your hand because you know, so much about what's already being done and what's possible.

We talked about

Harold Schulweiss

Lynda's podcast is The Conspiracy of Goodness

Find The Goodness Exchange on IG

Facebook and other social media sites.

Craft a Kick-Ass Next Chapter, Even if it Feels Impossible

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 20 Jun 2022 16:00:00 -0400

Jennifer Arthurton Was by all measures successful. Mom, wife, corporate exec, perks travel, all the things. Yet for a long time there was that small voice asking, Is this all there is? She had done what she was taught to do. Good grades, good schools, work hard, achieve.

Then, in the year leading up to her 50th birthday she found herself myself divorced, unemployed, empty nester. And I was bedridden with a stress related illness." She couldn't even be that avid gym goer. All of who she knew herself to be was stripped away.

Like many women who get laid bare by life (especially when we haven't been listening to the body talking) she compared herself to everyone. She judged herself and almost bought into society's framework for over 50 women.

She writes on her About page

"Is there anything more insulting than being called old? All too often our personal value is rooted in how we look, the shape of our bodies and even our ability to reproduce. As we age and all of this begins to shift it's easy to question our value and where we fit in. Am I too old for X? Will I be taken seriously? Can I still chase my dreams? Is it too late to start over?"

Whether it was too late or not she had no idea what she wanted for her next chapter and no idea how to find out.

But, since she is the founder of Old Chicks Know Shit, once she turned inward for answers, she discovered she knew a few things about herself that could become the foundation for direction.

Here's a key takeaway. Jennifer's inner work led her to recognize that,

"This is your life. You created it. That means you can also make something different of it if you want to. If I want to change my life, I have to show up differently in it. And it began for me, a process of healing and soul searching."

In the second half some of us rediscover who we used to be. For her, she was learning about herself for the first time.

Another important piece of Jennifer's message: listen to your body. It took an angel in the form of a trainer at the gym, to decline to continue working with her because the trainer saw she was not well to get her to let go.

Her self-care started with self love.

But not until after a big pity party. Yay Netflix, snacks, and a comfy couch. Have the pity party women. Big life changes take time to heal, process, and move through. Give yourself that gift.

Leakage protection and meal replacement shakes sent her off to find inspiring older women. Women otherwise like her who had created a kick ass life and lived that way at 50, 60, 70 and beyond.

From there she started her podcast and her business helping other women craft their kick ass next chapter.

I mentioned that I have a client who was ready to retire (62 years old) but didn't want to yet because she did not know how to create a life without her work.

Here's her response,

"Well, you can stay in denial for only so long before you have to face the thing. First of all, it's coming.

She goes on to say, "Stop doing, literally." Take time out every day to connect with you. Nature, meditation, walking, daydreaming.

If you'd like to get a taste of Jennifer's work, she has a guide, "5 Steps to Becoming Unstuck to Create Your Kickass Next Chapter" (When you are on her site a pop up will appear and you can opt in using that)

Jennifer is a kickass and loving coach for women who know they want more out of life but are scared or unsure how to create it.

She has a free Facebook group here.

She's on IG here.

If your main concern right now is, "Am I doing enough to age well?" a Power of 5 lifestyle assessment will answer that and give you next steps.

"Strong Like Her" Women, Strength, and Empowerment

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 08 Jun 2022 18:30:00 -0400

Running a marathon, summiting Mount Rainier, completing a double century bike ride, and competing in a bodybuilding show are the things my guest, Haley Shapley does in her spare time. Day to day she is a freelance writer whose first book, "Strong Like Her" traces the evolution of women and physical strength. She tells stories of elite athletes and people like me and you.

"I start in ancient times and go through today, looking at women and the many ways they've contributed to society throughout history that are related to physical strength."

Of course, we talked about the importance of physical strength for women as we age. And not only for health but Haley believes it's empowering for women, especially women who never thought of themselves as strong.

You'll meet Edie, a now 81 year old woman who, at 75, realized she could no longer lift a 25-pound bucket of cat litter. That pissed her off enough to do something. She began at a CrossFit gym, unable to do one sit up, had never lifted a weight. WIth the help of a trainer and the others at the gym cheering her on she made progress. So much so that on her 81st birthday, she dead lifted 121 pounds never mind that measly bucket of cat litter!

Edie and others like her are proof that it's too late to get stronger.

By now, you know the importance of strong muscles. As we age, we lose muscle. This can lead to dependence on others, a greater chance we'll fall, and a feeling of weakness--physically but also emotionally.

The best way to maintain our muscle is weight bearing exercise and weight training. Don't worry if you aren't a dumbell kind of gal.

"Your routine might consist of using weight machines at a gym.. It could even be elastic bands or just your own body weight."

Don't forget about the bones. Osteoporosis is common in women after menopause when we lose estrogen. Weight training can also help with incontinence if you include squats, glute bridges, or yoga bridge pose.

Oh, and then there's the weight thing. Lose muscle, replace it with fat, not a self-esteem booster.

Here's good news for those of us who might have lost some muscle or have never done weight training.

"Beginners build it way faster than anyone else. No matter what age you are, you'll get a lot of benefit at the beginning. So it's definitely worth incorporating, no matter what point you're at."

In case you're worried about bulking out with weight training, it's not going to happen unless you work at that. Or you might decide you like the idea of sporting big muscles, showing off some pecs. It's up to you.

Haley's website

Find her on IG

We mentioned

The Spartan Ultra World Obstacle Race

Catherine Switzer The first woman to run the Boston Marathon--it was harrowing.

Title 9

Fascia, Face Lifts, and The Bendable Body Stretching Method

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 02 Jun 2022 14:45:00 -0400

According to my guests, John and Sita, founders of The Bendable Method, fascia is little understood and definitely under appreciated.

Their method,

"is a specialized form of resistance stretching that works on the fascia along the energetic meridian lines that influence every aspect of your health.

The Bendable Body Method facilitates healing on multiple levels — biomechanical, physiological, emotional and energetic — enabling you to enjoy a life without pain or stiffness.

Theirs is not the stuff of foam rolling or FasciaBlaster. It's not the kind of stretching you see runners do after a race or that we are encouraged to do after a bike ride, stretch those hamstrings. There is usually little to no resistance when doing that kind of stretching so no fascia involved.

Back to the Bendables.

Not even sure what fascia is? Fascia is connective tissue. It surrounds every single muscle fiber. It also penetrates into organs and bones and throughout the whole system, the whole human system.

"When it's healthy, it's like a translucent watery, like collegen figure. But over time it doesn't look like that. It looks hard and matted and dried."

This is when we begin to feel negative effects like stiffness, crooked spines, ill health anywhere in the body really.

This system uses the concept of meridians in Chinese medicine to identify where in the body a problem originates and then where to stretch to allow healing. Did you know your iliotibial band, ( IT band) affects the gallbladder?

Many other things as well including crooked spines and an off kilter pelvis. (Which many people have)

What does all this have to do with facelifts? Believe it or not, in John and Sita's membership group they have what they call a "facelift flow."

"It's a series of stretches that focus on the meridians that go into the face to raise the cheekbones, to get rid of the crow's feet, to create more symmetry. When you do these stretches, you will feel your face relax, and you'll feel that fascial meridian connection."

Got scoliosis? Most likely that's a hamstring issue, as are most spine problems. And that IT band again.

John, Sita, and many of their clients have given up their former workout routines to do this resistance stretching. Not that you have to but it's a workout that builds strength and muscle. It can be aerobic. And if you do want to continue to run, spin, pump iron, etc, go for it. You'll find you are stronger and have less pain and stiffness afterwards.

This isn't just physically healing. Many people have had personal breakthroughs once they were out of pain, or it released something that they were holding on to.

There is so much goodness in this conversation. And their people are us.

Sita said, "between the ages of 50 I'll even say like 60 onward. It's a really underappreciated, undervalued, under-used part of our population.

And they that's our community and they're our biggest fans. And. We just love them. I mean, we feel just as supported by them as they do us."

Sounds like a great group to belong to.

There's a webinar on their site which explains it all, it's free.

There are videos on their YouTube channel, you can find them on IG, and Facebook.

Body got a mind of its own these days? My Power of 5 mini email course will help. It's 5 simple habits that will ensure you age in good health, in a good mood, in a body you feel good in.

Know anyone who would be a great podcast guest? Send them here to apply.

Overwhelm is Sneaky — How to Break Free

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 25 May 2022 18:00:00 -0400

Even this successful marriage and family therapist woke up one day and found herself in total overwhelm. She loved her work and the difference she was making, but she forgot about boundaries and self care until she was "toast."

My guest is Phyllis Ginsberg. "I had high stress. I was starting to feel the effects in my body, was disconnecting from friends, not exercising. And boy, did it take a toll on me."

She was lucky enough to step back and take a sabbatical. During that time she discovered delved into positive psychology, brain science, and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). Using herself as a test case she what she now calls her “Survival to Thrival” methods and got her life back.

Some of what she discovered may seem obvious but it's easy to lose track when we emmerse ourselves in work we love and are good at. Things like feeling the sun on her face, gardening,

" and doing things that I put off because I was doing important work, but all that important work doesn't mean a thing if you can't function."

We talked about patterns of behavior that keep giving us the same results we don't want or like. They become ingrained unless we see that there is something we can change to get a different result.

How labels can lead to feeling like a victim and the distinction between a label--cancer patient, widow, out of work--and an identity. Those labels are not who we are. We still have the power of choice regardless of what category we find ourselves in.

I asked Phyllis if she thinks people can change their personality.

"Definitely. Yeah, it takes awareness. You have to catch yourself when you're back in old programming."

I hope no one reading this lives in the space of "I want to live before I die. I haven't really lived the life I want to." That's a common complaint among her clients. If you have even a hint of that feeling, reach out, let's talk about what that ideal life could look like. Life's too short to spend it any way but your way.

We've all heard about the stress hormone, cortisol, but in case you didn't get the memo, this isn’t just for fight-or-flight. It helps control blood sugar levels, regulate metabolism, reduce inflammation, and assist with memory formulation. It has a controlling effect on salt and water balance and helps control blood pressure. (Read more about the effects of hormones post-menopause)

Overwhelm is like an invitation for cortisol to come play.

How to get out of overwhelm, maybe even prevent it when you feel it coming on? Phyllis is and EFT practitioner. She taps. If you're not sure what this is, head over here where she has a video that explains it.

About tapping Phyllis says,

"In the realm of energy healing, once you free stored, energy is gone forever."

That's what tapping does.

Her books, Tired and Hungry No More and The Brain Makeover make getting out of and preventing overwhelm easy.

You can get her free guide "Deal with Stress and Overwhelm in 5 Minutes or Less" by clicking this link.

Find Phyllis on Facebook, and LinkedIn

Money, Know Where You Are to Plan for the Future

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 19 May 2022 17:30:00 -0400

Russ Thornton knows what women want--and need--when it comes to money and planning for the future. He's unique in the world of financial planners in that he specializes in women over 50. This makes him the perfect guest for this audience.

His passion for working with women started with his mom. Although she could have retired more than comfortably, she didn't plan well, didn't have any sound financial advice, and didn't take stock of her lifestyle in relation to her income and savings.

Plus, he's a holistic thinker and "found that my approach to money and advice resonates better with women than it does a lot of men."

I got to ask many questions I've wanted to ask about money and living longer.

How much is enough?
When to start social security?
Will a financial planner work with someone who isn't wealthy?
Is it true you need one million dollars or more in order to live well til the end? (His answer is both a relief and a ruh roh)

We talked about the emotional side of money and how that can lead to poor choices.

And how building wealth and improving health share habits. One of his suggestions would be hard to apply to health though--automation. Much as I'd like my Peloton to ride on my behalf...

Many women, myself included, did not work in corporate, for a union, the government, or other institution that provided pensions and or 401Ks. Where does that leave us when it comes to planning for an unknown number of years ahead?

Take stock of where you are. Exactly where I start when coaching someone who wants to improve their health or reverse some scary numbers. We assess where the person is right now. Sometimes it takes courage to tell the ugly truth but it's the only way to know what's a keeper and what's got to go habits-wise.

If I can give your listeners one piece of advice, it would be to take an inventory of where you are today regardless of your age, regardless of your financial, position or station."

I got Russ's take on paying debt vs saving.

A couple of podcasts he likes:

I will teach you to be rich from Ramit Sethi.

Stacking Benjamins

Russ's website is WealthCareforWomen

As always if you liked an episode, please leave a review.

And if you're thinking of making a life or lifestyle support and are considering getting help, let's hop on a call.

Anxiety Making You Feel Crazy? Meet the Anxiety Sisters — They Can Help

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 09 May 2022 12:30:00 -0400

Maggie Sarachek and Abbe Greenfield are besties and have been for decades. They met as undergraduates at U Penn in the 1980s. Neither thought of themselves as particularly anxious. Sure they had bad stomachs, but didn’t most students on the Penn meal plan?

They also worried a lot, but we figure they owed that to our Jewish parents. What they didn't know then was that they were both experiencing the beginnings of a lifelong struggle with anxiety, and they did not know how important they would become in helping the other learn to manage her disorder.

As the Anxiety Sisters, Mags and Abbs, as they call themselves, provide a safe space for people with anxiety disorders, diagnosed or otherwise. People have said their lives were changed for the better because of their 200,000 people strong community and the support they provide.

We talked about the importance of a proper diagnosis and being your own advocate when it comes to treatment. They are big proponents of standing up for yourself with your practitioners to ensure you get the meds and or support that frees you from your symptoms.

We have a list of questions that you need to ask your prescribers so that you are informed about what you're putting in your body, what you can expect, et cetera."

Getting the right dose of medication — if you need that — is as much art as it is science.

They shared their ways of dealing with anxiety that creeps up on a person and suggested a "spin kit."

"Why we call it spin. We have renamed panic and severe anxiety, to spinning, which we think is a really apt metaphor because if you've ever had an anxiety attack, it does feel like you have been in your washing machine for the spin cycle.

A spin kit will have different things for everyone. It's like a first aid kit, something to pull out when that feeling arises. It could be a fidgeter, knitting or crochet, pictures, music. In short, something to ground you and occupy your mind until the anxiety lets go.

Their podcast is aptly called The Spin Cycle.

Their book, The Anxiety Sisters' Survival Guide is a rich resource for women suffering symptoms of anxiety both moderate and severe.

We also talked about the importance — scientifically proven — of connection with people we get, get us, we feel safe with.

Other things that contribute to anxiety like nutrition, hormones, trauma. You may never know what caused you to become anxious or experience OCD, agoraphobia, or panic attacks, but you can get relief from symptoms and keep them from smallen-ing (yes I invented a word) your world.

I loved this convo with Mags and Abbs, they are absolutely authentic, generous with their stories and the support they provide so many people. You can find them on IG, Facebook, and Twitter.

If you're new around here, check out the site for information on aging to beat the odds and love the ride.

Grab my Power of 5 email mini course, all a woman needs to stay fit, healthy, sassy and sane over 50.

Beyond Sixty — Becoming a Movie Producer at 65

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 03 May 2022 17:00:00 -0400

My guest, Melissa Davey changed careers at 65 and become a documentary filmmaker. For more than two decades she worked at GENEX Services Inc., where she was recruited to build and operate the company's Social Security representation division.

Prior to GENEX, Melissa had almost twenty years of diversified experience in the field of disability.

Her second act is fueled by a lifelong passion for film and story-telling.

Her film, Beyond Sixty, is a documentary feature film about women over the age of 60.

The film features the stories of 9 women, ordinary in the way we all are and just as interesting.

They include Susan Bennett, the original voice of Siri, the Madam CJ Walker biographer, Paula Yankauskas,who, in September 2016, became the oldest U.S. woman to swim the English Channel. To name just a few.

“From a very early age women are made to believe that our relevance has an expiration date. My goal with the film is to show the power of resilience and the wisdom of experience we bring to the table. I created Beyond Sixty to challenge the way we think about aging and the value of our own stories.”

We talked about how young people see us—some told Melissa they were tired of the stereotypes of aging women as irrelevant, feeble, unhappy—and how we see ourselves and others our age.

It’s not always pretty!

Do you think you’re too old to follow your big dream?...

I asked Melissa if this felt like a really big leap.

“Yeah, it was a big leap. However, my whole life has taken a kind of circuitous route at all times. Mainly because I'm so curious about things. So, I will change it up here and there and try new things. But never anything this drastically different.”

How our perception of things changes

“There comes this sense of self, which is a much deeper as you get older. Fear is lessened. It's not that it's not there. You don't want to fail. The fear, just it lessens somehow and it's manageable and you almost like expect it to be there. And it's like, okay, come on fear we're going to go try something else now.

I wondered how much she had to sell her idea, herself as an unknown film maker, etc.

“I really didn't have to pitch too much, which surprised me. I was just myself. And with the women that I brought in knew I'd never made a film before.”

The cool thing about the production company

“The three owners of this production company in Philly were three very young men. And I was referred to them just to have the conversation, to see if they could point me in the right direction. They were like, what a great idea. We want to hear these stories. These were 28, 30 year old guys. So that was exciting.”

Who says we can't get along with the younger gens.

Some of my takeaways

· You really are never too old to make your dream come true

· Aging does not diminish a person’s ability to be relevant and contribute

· Everyone’s story has the power to help someone else at any age

Find The Beyond Sixty project on Insta and Facebook

If one of your goals is to age in great health, looking like the fabulon you are inside, laughing and loving all the way then start with my Power of 5 mini email workshop. All a woman needs to stay—or get—fit, healthy, sassy and sane.

And if you’re at that tipping point called peri-menopause, you might be interested in my book, nickname, The Missing Midlife Manual.

Don't Give Up the French Fries and Other Unconventional Nutrition Advice

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 16:00:00 -0400

Keri Gans is a no-nonsense New Yorker who happens to be a registered dietician. She's also a bit of a celebrity.

She's been interviewed by or quoted in Forbes, Prevention, Women's Health and Newsweek, to name just a few. In part because she's an expert in nutrition and charismatic. But also because she has unconventional ideas about how to be healthy. (Sounds like someone I know...)

"Like, could you imagine life without French fries?"

This is a woman with a long list of happy clients who admits her healthy eating plan includes french fries but not kale (she hates it), Brussels sprouts (loves them) and a martini now and then.

She believes we focus too much on what we should leave out rather than what we can add. Diets like Keto (she has opinions), Paleo, and others like them, limit your food choices down so as to make that diet unsustainable.

"Nothing is a silver bullet."

And don't get her started on apple cider vinegar!

Keri introduced me to the concept of "post" biotic. Not pre, no pro, post.

"Why I love the idea of the postbiotics. This whole process happens outside your body. Fermentation creates these metabolites. And then they get dried into a powder, put into a little capsule."

Vs having to eat fermented foods like kimchi or yogurt.

All of the variations on this theme are tied not just to gut health but to immunity.

The brand she recommends and is an influencer for is EpiCor. Like me, Keri would only consider representing a company that had compelling scientific data to back up their claims. If science data is your thing, read the research here.

Keri's approach to a healthy diet is to look at the whole lifestyle of a person then the foods. Her book, The Small Change Diet, is about making small changes for lasting big change.

"The Small Change Diet isn’t about creating unrealistic, unsustainable rules—like counting calories, restricting choices, or eliminating entire food groups. It’s about turning smart habits into second nature."

She makes such a good point about how most people approach going on a diet. Pick a plan, like keto, follow the plan for say two months, see weight loss, get excited, fall off because who can really eat just meat and cheese forever?

And after all of that, what has the person learned? Nothing.

Keri's way, and those of us who teach people how to eat a healthy diet that includes their favorite foods with fads and deprivation, may take longer to see results but it will last a lifetime. You will have learned about foods but more importantly, you'll learn about yourself and how to create habits that last.

Keri also drinks chocolate milk. People might say "Oh no, I can't drink that, too much sugar." But she counters, "what else is in that milk? Calcium, Vitamin D, protein. We get so hung up on one nutrient but we don't eat single nutrients, we eat food.

Yes, too much sugar is to be discouraged but it's all about balance.

You can find Keri and sign up for her newsletter here.

And on IG

Here's Keri's Podcast, The Keri Report

How to Know if Your Thyroid is the Problem

Gregory Anne Cox — Sat, 16 Apr 2022 17:00:00 -0400

Thousands of (mostly) women have gone to a doc because they don't feel like themselves only to leave frustrated and sick to death of hearing, "This is what happens at your age", or "It's all in your head, nothing's wrong."

They—maybe you—have said things like:

I'm gaining weight, I'm cold all the time, my hair is getting thin, my sleep is awful, I'm in a fog. To be fair to the docs who hear these kinds of complaints, the cause could be one of many problems. Depending on your age they may get chalked up to peri-menopause though feeling cold is not on that menu.

Too much iron, low B12, certain medications, toxins, and viruses can also be to blame. But we're here to talk about the one problem that captures all of those symptoms to a T and adds many more: Hypothyroidism.

If you've Googled your symptoms Hypothyroidism may have come up more than once.

Women are five to eight times more likely than men to have thyroid problems.

One woman in eight will develop a thyroid disorder during her lifetime.

Naturally you'd want to find out if in fact your thyroid is healthy or in need of support. If you've had the above mentioned kind of doc visit and still feel like crapola, you are not alone. Help is here.

If you haven't yet gone to a doc because you don't know what to expect or what to ask for, this Shortie is for you.

And if you don't want to listen--it's only 14 minutes long--there's always a transcript and the resources below are great places to get all the information you need to understand the various forms of thyroid disease, how to get help, and what to ask your doctor for if you don't have someone who is fluent in thyroid restoration.

Dr. Chris Kresser for information on all things functional medicine but specific to this post, he has a great ebook on why people get thyroid disease, what stresses out the thyroid, testing, meds, herbs, etc.

Mary Shomon is a lay person but decades long thyroid health advocate and coach for those struggling with hypothyroidism. She has books, runs classes, and offers coaching including reading thyroid labs. I interviewed her for this podcast. Find it here.

Izabella Wentz specializes in Hashimotos thyroiditis which is the autoimmune form of hypothyroidism. She recommends lifestyle, natural foods and supplements for healing and dealing with Hashi’s.

Dr. Richard Shames, as mentioned above, is a thyroid expert who offers virtual consultations after testing. He was the first doc I consulted after interviewing him for a summit and I’m forever grateful for his insights and recommendations. You might want to start with his book, Thyroid Mind Power, The Proven Cure of Hormone-Related Depression and Memory Loss.

Finally, Stop The Thyroid Madness, Janie Bowthorpe’s website. In her words, the INFORMATIONAL MOTHERSHIP WEBSITE OF REPORTED PATIENT EXPERIENCES, OBSERVATIONS, AND WISDOM GAINED WORLDWIDE!

It’s a haven for those who can’t get treated satisfactorily or who need ammo to take to a doc in what else might be a better drug or dose for them. You feel heard here and will get answers.

And if you'd like to have a conversation about any of this grab a spot on my calendar. There is no charge. You can tell me what you are experiencing, what you've tried, and I'll point you in the right direction. If you need help with recommended lifestyle changes, start with a call as well.

Living the Enneagram, You Are More Than Your Number

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 08 Apr 2022 12:00:00 -0400

My guest this week is Erin Baute. She is an expert in The Enneagram assessment. She has been using it for 12 years and is a certified Enneagram teacher and trainer. Her background is in Human Health and Development.

Erin told me: I geek out, I get excited by making behavior change. So I studied public health in graduate school. I'm getting my PhD in organizational psychology now, and I'm really interested in figuring out how we influence behavior that has a communal impact that makes a difference.

Enneagram, if you are not familiar with it, "

as a behavioral model of personality, is meant to help us understand the why underneath our behavior."

Her take on this personality assessment is not like most of the Enneagram people out there. The way she uses it is expansive. She believes that our type, our number, is one window into who we are but it says nothing about why we are that way.

I asked Erin if taking this and other typing tests put people into a box or put a label on them that then limits them.

Here's her response,

"the clear distinction is that the assessment is not meant to tell us who I am. It's showing me why I choose the patterns of behavior I choose. Why did I learn to limit myself? Why did my life and whatever I faced say, Hey, Gregory, if you make yourself small in this way, if you limit yourself in this way, you're safer, you belong more, you cope better.

You make your parents happy. So actually naming our Enneagram type is naming the most limited version of ourselves. That is the box. Right? And so when we get to know the whole model, we hold it as a map. I am actually all of these things."

Erin and I share a belief in the idea of freedom being central to an optimal experience of life. For me the word rebellious embodies that, for Erin, it's wild.

To find the resources Erin mentions--the one free Enneagram assessment she can live with but says "it's okay to take a test. Just don't trust it all the way."--scroll down on her home page til you find 4 boxes, one is Digital Resources.

Or go to her shopify page to grab the free test and other content to support what you learn.

Erin's website

Erin offers one on one Enneagram typing consultations as well as group coaching for leaders and one on one coaching to fully live the Enneagram. Check out her offerings here: https://livingtheenneagram.com/my-offerings-and-philosophy

A book we talked about that made a big difference in both our lives coincidentally is What Happened To You?by Oprah and Dr. Bruce Perry. It's a reframe on how we treat people with trauma, what trauma looks like, and how to heal. I recommend it on Audible or from your library because Perry tells such great stories and with humor and compassion.

Move Better to Feel Better

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 14:30:00 -0400

Over 20 years ago, Sue Choi left her desk job to immerse herself full-time to understand meditation, movement, and body. Her journey to resolve chronic depression and autoimmunity without medication, led her to develop an approach that can save you years of frustration, but more importantly, enrich your daily life.

Sue has spent thousands of hours learning and training in a broad variety of modalities to give her the tools she needed to heal herself and now, us.

Her hands-on work is informed by trainings in craniosacral, visceral manipulation, manual osteopathic traditions, and proprioceptive touch. Her movement work is inspired by trainings in Emilie Conrad's Continuum Movement, Svetlana Masgutova's Neurosensorimotor Reflex Integration™, dance medicine with Marika Molnar of Westside Dance PT (NYC), yoga therapy, and pilates. Studies in perceptual systems include trainings in the Tomatis™ Method, Bates Method and visual perception. I’m also a certified expert in Stanford researcher BJ Fogg’s Tiny Habits® method.

This convo went in directions I did not expect but found intriguing. What if pain relief could be round by discovering,

What you pay attention to and how you do it make the difference.

The importance of answering this question: "How do thoughts, emotions, feelings, sensations interact?"

And,

What is the difference between them?

What can I do to change my patterns?

Sue teaches her clients to

"Speak your body's language in order to heal it.

Gravity, Light, Sound, These are phenomena your body understands."

In my 20 years' experience working with clients, I've seen how trauma lives in dysfunctional movement patterns and chronic resistance.

When you become versed in the way the body speaks, you build wisdom for a lifetime.

Sue's work is unique enough--and supported by lots of testimonials from clients--that I am going to join her class and community to see what comes up as I learn to resolve some earlier life events that might contribute to a crooked spine.

I'll keep you posted on what I experience.

https://coherentbody.com

Aging and Metabolism — Does it Slow Down, or Do We?

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 17 Mar 2022 15:00:00 -0400

This Shortie was born of getting any answer to “does our metabolism slow down after 40 and if so why?”

The answer is yes.

#Bummer but also, you might be saying "I knew these extra pounds weren't all my fault."

Small comfort, but once you know why it happens, you can prepare yourself or reverse a trend if you are already experiencing the weight gain that comes with the menopause transition years.

Are we programmed to hold onto more fat after menopause, or do we eat more and move less, which is what the conventional Western medical model would have you believe? Guess what? Although that is a possibility, it is certainly not true for all women.

And it ignores the big role played by our hormones. Especially estrogen. Less estrogen, less bone, brain, heart, and gut health.

The body makes it easier to store fat because adipose tissue--fat--produces estrone, and it is the backup form of estrogen for post-menopausal women.

Bioidentical hormone replacement is a safe way to relieve symptoms and maintain some of our youthful energy.

Stress, sleep, less of some hormones and not enough of others means it's easier than ever to gain weight. But all is not lost and it might not be a bad thing. (More to come in another Shortie)

There is one diet/eating plan that works in study after study: Paleo.

For exercise, weight bearing and low-impact forms are best. But do what you can to preserve muscle. Not only because muscle burns more calories than fat but because muscles help us stay mobile as we age. They also help prevent falls.

Things I mentioned:

My site, to sign up for news and deeper dives

Waist to Hip Ratio

Mark Sisson Mark's Daily Apple

If you're experiencing unexplained weight gain or any other symptoms of the menopause transition and you are ready to have someone to guide you through all the ups and downs and help you create a plan to age better, let's talk. Send me an email. Gregory@rebelliouswellnessover50.com or go to the website and check out these services page and see how I work with people.

It might be just what you need to help you take back control of that ever-changing body.

Moving Energy, Spiritual Fitness, and Personal Power Presence

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 17:00:00 -0400

Vicki Dello Joio's life is an expression of her many selves; actor, facilitator, speaker, speaker trainer, Qi Gong and Tai Chi teacher. She has trained in all of those arenas with Master teachers. With her diverse background, Vicki has developed unique teaching methods that empower people to focus their energy with increased awareness, transforming obstacles into opportunities and enhancing their creative potential.

Our conversation began offline talking about helping women over 50 retain and live through their essense and communicate from their power--even when they feel diminished by society.

Qi is the word for energy or life force. Qi Gong is a practice of moving energy. When we learn to harness our personal energy that's when we can communicate from a place of power.

I really believe that women who have gone through what many of us have gone through, how we've adapted to our lives in different ways, as we get older, there's a lot of wisdom there.

So for me, the bottom line is energy. There's energy, both in terms of what you've experienced and then there's energy in the stories that you tell.

There's an element that in Qi Gong and that's called Wei Qi and it means basically outer energy in Chinese medicine.

It's what keeps you healthy from pathogens and allergens and those kinds of things. Another way to look at Wei Qi is the energy that you're putting out.

Vicki introduced us to Powerful Non-Defensive Communication. (She is a master trainer for this work) It boils down to this: How do you speak from a place where you don't have to be defended, which is basically not feeling safe, to a place where you're so grounded in yourself, stimulus or self doubts kind of fall off the edge.

In Chinese medicine, every disease comes down to stagnation, whether it's emotional, mental, physical. Similarly, in Western medicine many diseases boil down to microcirculation--how blood moves through the body. Of course in Westerm med, energy is generally "moved" by prescriptions and procedures. Moving energy via Qi Gong, accupuncture, and other non-invasive, energy based methods can heal without side effects.

What is spiritual fitness: "for me, spiritual fitness is alignment of all three, our wisdom, our sense of joy and love and connection, interconnection, and our sense of health and our sense of being able to really manifest and create what we want to our own sense of empowerment.

Being able to take steps in the path that we want, that we're choosing to walk. Spiritual fitness is all 3 of those in alignment.

My new mantra is to live in curiousity and exploration.

One thing I want to mention. Vicki teaches speakers how to be better from message to story to presence. Check out her site and watch her in action. She might be the speaker coach you've been looking for.

Vicki's website

Living Arts Playback Theater

Powerful Non-Defensive Communication

Shamanism - Find Your True Nature in Nature

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 07 Mar 2022 15:00:00 -0400

My guest, Mara Bishop is the founder of WholeSpirit and the Enatured™. She has over 25 years of experience as a shamanic practitioner, intuitive consultant, teacher, author, and artist.

Enatured™ draws from shamanism, psychology, mindfulness, and scientific research about nature, to help us consciously engage the environment for relationship, support, and restoration. Her Personal Evolution Counseling™ method provides an integrated approach to spiritual healing, personal growth, and emotional well-being.

Shamanism is the oldest spiritual practice on the planet and has been part of society on six continents. It is fundamentally a system of direct revelation. The word “shaman” comes from “šaman” in the Tungus language spoken by the Evenki people of Siberia. Many other cultures have their own words for the person who fulfills the role of the shaman. Although the term itself is imperfect as applied beyond its original culture, when distilled to its defining essence, shamanism is about a practical and personal relationship to the spiritual.

We often think about whether it's with Shamanic work or spiritual work or wilderness work is we want to go somewhere wild. We've got to go to the Amazon, we've got to go to Tibet and Nepal. We have places of power right outside our door, wherever you live. You could be in a city apartment, you can be in a suburban place. Wherever you are, that's where your power can be.

Our whole conversation centered on connectedness, to others, to nature, to our divine selves. As old orders crumble and the globe heats up both literally and figuratively, Mara's teachings on the way of the Shaman can help us stay grounded and centered.

She runs classes, trains practitioners, and has a free monthly group session, the thrid Thursday of the month. You can find out and RSVP here.

Her books: Shamanism for Everyday, 365 Journeys

Inner Divinity, Crafting Your Life With Sacred Intelligence

Her latest book: Shining Bright without Burning Out from Sounds True. “Turn your sensitivity into a strength with tools and practices for protecting, clearing, and nourishing your energy."

How to Do Online Dating so it's Fun, Successful, and Safe

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 12:00:00 -0400

If online dating sounds scary or you have tried it and not had any fun--nor have you found someone you want to spend more time with — my guest, Lisa Copeland, is here to make it all better.

She's an online dating coach specifically for women over 50.

After struggling to find a partner or a coach who could help her figure out the dating scene (they were all way younger than her 50 years so what could they know about the concerns and resistance a 50 year old woman experiences?) then spending a year or so figuring it out for herself and having a blast dating, she made a commitment to dedicate the rest of her professional life to helping other women over 50 be able to stop struggling with dating and instead find and meet quality men in record time.

She pointed to the biggest mistake women make when looking for a new partner — looking for "their type." Lisa says, "you're looking for your type, the same type you've always dated, but if your type worked you would be with him."

If you have just come out a long term relationship, no dating until you are healed and sure of what you want next time.

You have to learn how men work. And that doesn't include giving up your independence, reverting to a Donna Reed avatar, or trying to be something you aren't just to impress.

That said, men like to do things for women and for some women who have been doing it all on their own for years, that takes practice.

It's very important to write an honest profile and who up as who you are.

About the pictures...

Get a good photo of you, put on some makeup, wear clothes that make you feel good! And no pics of the grandkids. Don't forget to smile.

When you arrange that date, go with the idea that it will be fun not drugery. Be open and be interesting by asking interesting, conversation provoking questions rather than, "Where did you say you're from?" or "How many children do you have?"

If you've tried online dating and not had success, don't give up, you might just be missing some of the foundational pieces.

You can learn them in Lisa's ebook, 5 Little Known Secrets for Finding a Quality Man.

You've likely heard a story about or know a woman who was swindled by someone they met on an online dating site. Lisa shared ways to stay safe.

No more than 2 or 3 calls before a meeting
Don't spend hours on the phone with them until you know they are legit
Don't offer to pay for anything no matter how tragic the story sounds

She goes more into on the podcast.

We also talked about how many sites to get on, free sites vs paid, mindset, not body shaming yourself, and more.

You can find Lisa on IG, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Lisa has lots of testimonials from women who have worked with her one on one or taking an online course. If you're in the market for a friend, partner, lover, or other, Lisa can help make the process enjoyable and give you a better chance of success.

Your Heart is the One Muscle You Cannot Live Without

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 16:15:00 -0400

After seeing heart surgery--in person, standing at the head of the patient beside the Anesthesiologist--my understanding of how our lifestyle habits affect that little beast of a muscle expanded by lots.

The surgeon held the heart in his hand. (Real hearts look nothing like those things you see on medical dramas btw.) He pointed out the fat that had accumulated over years of poor dietary choices and a sedentary lifestyle. The heart was barely beating. Lucky for this 62-year-old woman, her quadruple bypass was a success.

The not so lucky thing was, she discovered she needed that surgery after a heart attack. Her arteries were so blocked that there was no hope of using lifestyle change until after she got through surgery and recovered.

In this episode, my first Shortie, I'm going to share a few stats about women and their hearts. Then I'm going to encourage you to get a home BP monitor if you don't already have one.

Heart disease is called "the silent killer" because you could have extremely high blood pressure and never know it.

It's not an old person thing. It's a smart thing.

As I said at the end, "Heart attacks are not necessarily more prominent in men than women. They're often more fatal. Plus, women are more likely to have a second heart attack in the five to six years after their first one.

One thing I mentioned is my Power of 5 email training. Use it to check in and see how you're doing with healthy lifestyle habits or get rid of symptoms like cravings, fatigue, or crappy sleep.

And if you like this Shortie make sure you subscribe on your favorite platform.

Pain-Free Living is Possible, Science Proves It

Gregory Anne Cox — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 11:00:00 -0400

When you know there’s something wrong but medical tests and Western med docs can’t find it, you need Debora Wayne.

She is the founder and CEO of The International Chronic Pain Institute, an internationally recognized energy healer and pain release specialist.

So many people suffer needlessly because Western medicine is just beginning—albeit mostly behind closed doors—to recognize the concept of energy medicine.

Debora has degrees and certifications in Psychology, Hypnotherapy, Chemical Dependency Counseling and has been practicing and teaching the Art of Meditation for 30 years. Add to this certified yoga instructor, Reiki Master, and the creator of The High Speed Healing method and you’ve got an expert in energy medicine and healing.

Her journey began with her own health issues and it took her years of trying everything—30 different healing modalities, Ben & Jerrys and Jack Daniels, and plenty of pills along the way.

Debora works with our Biofield so let’s start with what the Biofield is. If you geek out on science, read this article from the NIH. And here is Debora’s simpler explanation.

“The biofield is an actual field of energy and information. This term the biofield was coined by the National Institute of Health in 1992. It is biofield is a field of energy and light and information that surrounds your body. The body is a field, but it becomes more subtle as it extends out beyond the skin where you can't see it with the naked eye, at least most people can't. The invisible energy field is actually more real than the physical and it's the precursor to the physical.

It can be measured by very sensitive devices. If you’ve had or heard of thermography, (some women use this diagnostic to avoid radiation from mammograms) you’ve got an idea of what Debora is referring to.

Chronic pain can take the form of an emotional pain, depression, addiction, food disorders.

Debora made a really good point about the kinds of diagnostics we are most familiar with, like blood work or an MRI vs her kind of energy medicine, “All these tests, they're measuring the here and now, but the body can change like that. If you were to take all of these tests on different days, you would probably get different results. And this—her reading-- is more accurate because it shows the more subtle level of what has not shown up yet.”

What affects “the field?” (Our energy field and the whole field we live in)

Pretty much everything. It’s why I say everything is food. Or thoughts, emotions, environment, other people—everything affects our health and ability to heal.

Our emotions are the precursor to every choice we made. And then the choices we make that we rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat, become a habit. The habits become patterns and our lives are made of these patterns.

Where does chronic pain begin? “It's a pattern it's repeating, repeating, repeating, and someone's stuck in a loop. And not just chronic pain but the symptoms of aging—fatigue, loss of stamina, lack of interest in our usual activities.”

No matter whether you are trying to quit smoking, eating something, scrolling for hours on social, or looking for relief from some kind of pain, the people who finally quit are the people that never quit quitting.

And for the skeptics in the room, “What's so fantastic about this. It requires zero belief in anything. You don't have to believe in it for it to work. There's no dogma. It's not religious it's based on physics, but you don't even have to understand physics.”

Debora has a few ways to experience her healing method. You can head to her website, Find Debora here, and sign up for her introductory, free call which includes healing. She also has classes, a community for ongoing support, and one on one virtual sessions.

You can also opt-in for a copy of her ebook, Why Do I Still Hurt?

Hundreds of testimonials Her testimonials are off the charts convincing.

Find her on Instagram

Facebook

YouTube

If you are new to the world of Rebellious Wellness, click that link and explore. Or drop me an email, gregory@rebelliouswellnessover50.com.

You Are an Energy Body with a Soul Battery

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 04 Feb 2022 18:00:00 -0400

Former classical musician, journalist in the world of gaming, actor, and now energy healer and teacher, Alx Uttermann now teaches radical self-care on a global scale.

Raised by a surgeon and a nurse, has a special concern for medical professionals and frontline workers.

Our conversation began on the topic of energy healing and how we are energy beings as well as walking bones and guts.

Alx learned her healing techniques while living in India and studying under a saint.

“The energy system that we have in our body is also part and parcel of our body. You can't extricate the two from each other.”

So why does this matter in the realm of self-care?

“Human beings energetically on a subtle level, are like semipermeable membranes. That's to say we're porous with other people we absorb and exchange energy with other people all the time, whether we're consciously aware of that or not.”

This means we absorb the emotions, good or bad, of others. Sometimes what seems like a good thing, like we lovingly listen to a friend or co-worker complain about a spouse or boss til they are emptied and feel better, we often walk away feeling drained.

“The more open our heart is the more, we're like a big sponge absorbing, even more of people's stuff.”

[00:08:34] Enough of that, it builds up, builds up, builds up, and then you see anxiety, depression, insomnia, body pains, headaches, neck aches, compulsive thinking.

The positive charges, music that moves you to tears, dance, art, nature; these are things we want to keep in our energy systems.

So how do we get rid of the negative and keep the positive?

[00:10:19] “Negative charges, if someone yells at us, an argument, stressful, traumatic things happen, or we hear someone else's stressful, traumatic things. Those will stay in our, let's call it soul battery for lack of a better word.

[00:10:44] Those will stay in us until we can get those negative charges out of that battery. Let's say, de-charging, these are the techniques that I learned in India to pull the negative charges out effectively, give them back. But keeping the positive charges in our system at the same time.”

In order to not give already stressed out people one more thing to add to the to do list she structures her techniques so we can do them while at work or anywhere.

There are two series of trainings. One is for de-charging and the other is for the integrative meditation.

De-charging is a technique for releasing those negative charges of energy that we hold on to without realizing.

These techniques are for everyday annoyances too, like a persistent leaky faucet or barking dog.

[00:33:40] Negative self talk.

Where did the initial negative thought come from?

[00:34:18] “Was it a teacher? Was it another kid? Was it an older sibling somewhere? If you go back in yourself, you'll see, there was an initial input to the battery inside. A charge of negativity that was put into us and we accepted it. And now we're just replaying it over and over and over again.”

GAC: “Whether or not we want longevity, the fact is, most of us will live longer than we expect. [00:36:31] These internal processes are equally important as any of the exercises and the [00:36:40] good food and all that other fancy stuff that we hopefully have made habits for ourselves already. So yeah, as a holistic being, we need to take care of all of us, and that includes the energetic.”

Point is do what you can to get rid of excess stress and negative charges. Alx’s techniques might be one tool that you find helpful.

Her site is The Energetics of Self Care

We also spoke about:

Alx’s organization UCBK The Universal Church of Baba’s Kitchen. Here she and her partners teach the healing systems to those who want to use them in their lives with maybe clients or in their work life as well as doing personal healing sessions.

Garry Shandling

Tom Petty

https://energeticsofselfcare.com

Surviving on Caffeine, Wine, and Willpower? How to Thrive Instead

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 26 Jan 2022 16:45:00 -0400

This is my guest, Dr. Susan Lovelle, in a nutshell,

“I love the challenge of working with busy, successful women who are merely surviving on caffeine, wine, and willpower. Those who diet and exercise but can't lose weight, who are exhausted but can't sleep, and are consumed by doing everything for everyone else...except themselves.”

You already know why I’d want her on the show—too many of us are living this way. And it’s not the fast path to a healthy long life y’all.

Dr. Lovelle is here to teach us how to thrive, not just survive.

She worked as a plastic surgeon for over 22 years and loved almost every moment. Eventually, Susan realized that working only on the outside wasn't enough.

Her practice, Premiere Wellness was born.

Susan told the story of a male liposuction patient who gained a good bit of weight after the surgery. Find out why and why you can remove a fat cell but you can’t keep the remaining ones from expanding. [00:04:23]

Her work with clients now is based on her 4 quadrants.

· Eat elite

· Move more (This is #5 in my Power of 5 email program)

· Live wisely

· Love Divinely

Prescription pad medicine is not in our best interest. We talked about docs prescribing meds for everything from not sleeping to menopause.

“Got an ill, take a pill.” She says jokingly.

The conversation moved into hormone replacement. What’s safe and what to stay away from [00:16:16]

And then to testing vs guessing about what’s going on. If you’d like to get a read on where you are on the healthy aging highway, check out my Power of 5 lifestyle assessment. [00:23:30] It’s test don’t guess without the needles.

(Though I might recommend you get that kind of testing, depending.)

“I'm realizing now that I can do that same kind of transformation only from the inside out. Which is fabulous because not everybody can afford plastic surgery, nor would they want.

Diabetes for life? No way says Dr. Susan. [00:24:52]

“It's amazing how fast you can turn things around once, you know how to do that. And it doesn't take long, a couple of months you can literally flip someone from type two diabetes to being, you know, non-diabetic and not needing the medication anymore.”

Her website

How you can work with Dr. Lovelle

https://www.linkedin.com/in/drsusanlovelle/

How to Retrain Your Brain to Free You from Brain Fog, Pain, and More

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 14:00:00 -0400

At age 25, Ben Ahrens, a semi-professional surfer, became bedridden for over 3 years with Chronic Neurological Lyme Disease. Before that, he lived and promoted a healthy, active lifestyle as a trainer and an athlete.

Despite his best efforts and conventional medical treatment, Ben found himself truly stuck, unable to get better. Then he came across neuroplasticity.

What’s a young guy doing on this podcast talking to us seasoned women about the brain?

Giving hope to anyone who struggles with brain fog, chronic pain, anxiety, and other symptom that robs them of a full experience of life.

There’s a great explanation of neuroplasticity on Ben’s site: https://re-origin.com/what-is-neuroplasticity/

Neuroplasticity, says Ben, “is a two-fold process where old neuropathways can be pruned away and new ones can be formed.” [00:01:53]

How habits—conscious and unconscious ones--figure into the concept of neuroplasticity [00:02:34]

Ben’s story starts here: [00:04:24]

Why some people have allergic responses while others don’t [00:07:38] More on this and why eliminating the trigger or stressor is only one step on the path to healing the response.

A favorite quote from Einstein: “It's not about finding a solution but undoing the basis of the problem.” This is a perfect representation of what Ben’s course does.

Ben’s recovery from bedridden, stuck, nothing works not even years of anti-biotic treatments, began with one breath. [00:12:31]

Victor Frankl says that “between stimulus and response, there's a space.” Ben learned that “if we can get in that space and choose a new response, and all we need is a split second, then we can actually start to retrain the brain.”

Learn about Ben’s 3-step process here: [00:15:08]

I love this from Ben: “Every time you do this little thing or do something different than you previously have, it's like casting a vote for the new person that you are.

And we can be new in any moment, no waiting.

How can this help a midlife and older woman?

“Neuroplasticity does not distinguish or discriminate between age or gender or really anything or condition. The brain and every individual is absolutely primed for adaptation and for change at any age.”

“The thing about the neuro-plasticity training that we do is that it's really about systematically just identifying these negative neural feedback loops that are taking place and then removing them. So that health, which I really view as the natural state, can resume. With this type of approach, really what we're doing here is restoring self-management, restoring that feeling like you again.

Here is where you will find a (long) list of conditions people have resolved, gotten relief from by using this brain retraining program,

Ben on retraining the brain to eliminate brain fog [00:26:08]

“I think this is kind of the through line of this conversation here and something that's so fundamental to human beings is that our natural state is to be calm, it's to be happy, it's to be healthy, clarity of thought, clarity of mind. And what will allow for those conditions to flourish is the elimination of these old pathways that have been pulling us off path, what we call these old negative loops or vicious cycles.”

It might sound so simple as to be mistrusted but thousands of men and women have benefitted from Re-Origin and returned to feeling like themselves so they can enjoy life on their terms.

Ben mentioned Antifragile, Things that gain from Disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Ben's site

Information page for the program

Stories From the Eldest Among Us, You Are Never Too Old to...

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 17:00:00 -0400

Telling stories and captivating audiences is what Leslie Gold, aka, The Radio Chick, did for years before starting her podcast, A Life’s Story, and a business called, "Your Life's Story."

She built a top-rated show in New York City with 1 million daily listeners. In 2017 she left radio to focus on other interests and then came the pandemic.

She wanted to connect with people. Despite being asked frequently to do a podcast based on her radio show that seemed too self-serving.

She decided to interview people in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and older who had lived extraordinary lives.

And the stories she shared during our conversation are just that, extraordinary and inspiring.

She came to me to share her work because, she said, “you believe it's time to bust the myth that aging equals decline. And these folks that I speak to bear that out completely.”

And these stories changed Leslie’s life.

“I just meant to be a storyteller for these folks, but they ended up being very educational and instructive for me. They caused a paradigm shift for me on how I think about myself getting older and what's in store.”

[00:04:36] Leslie told stories about a 94-year-old, defrauded and battling the lies of some close to her telling others she had dementia—she did not. So she got help and went to work. She took everyone to court, including JP Morgan, and got $19M back. Half from JP Morgan and half from her miserable grandsons.

[00:08:59] And Eleanor Pendergraft, 86, who went from wheelchair bound with MS to walking, to running, to competing in the National Senior Olympics and won a medal.

“Everybody that I've spoken to has a philosophical approach to death that they accept the [00:16:00] inevitability of it. But they neither fear it nor welcome it. It's just a stage in the journey of life. And they accept that there will be a time for them as there has been a time for everyone, but until then they will ring every bit of sweetness and enjoyment and purpose out of their lives.

Are you familiar with the happiness curve? If not you can read about it here. Research shows that we get happier after 50. I love a bit of good news.

Leslie added “And if you're listening right now to the rebellious wellness over 50 podcast, and you're in your forties or fifties, the good news is you're likely to end your life much happier than you are now. “

At some point on this journey telling the stories of those with extraordinary lives, Leslie realized she wished she’d had the stories that her mother or father used to tell. Just to be able to hear their voices. From there “Your Life’s Story” was born.

Leslie and her team professionally produce a variety of personal audio documentaries.” We capture your life story or the life story of your parent or grandparent in their own voice and produce it into a masterful piece of audio storytelling that becomes a family heirloom.”

We ended with Leslie’s advice: “If you want to be, inspired, I would say, find a lively 80, 90, or a hundred year old person. And you'll feel a lot better about what the rest of your life is going to look like.”

Leslie’s site

A Life’s Story

Things we mentioned

Silver Sneakers

The National Senior Games

Double Standards of Care and Patient Advocacy

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 21 Dec 2021 17:00:00 -0400

Bari Ellen Ross did more than just survive cancer. She became a patient advocate and a voice for underserved communities of cancer patients.

She is currently the volunteer chair of the Winship Patient & Family Advisors (PFA), a member of the Emory Healthcare PFA Council, and a Winship Peer Partner. She was recently appointed to a three-year term as a patient advocate on the National Cancer Institute's Head & Neck Steering Committee's Metastatic Recurrent Task Force. She is helping to develop evidence-based strategies for clinical trials designed to improve the quality of life for patients with head and neck cancer.

Before all of that she had to come to terms with being a woman of color with a life-threatening diagnosis—at the same time, within 72 hours of her diagnosis, her husband was also diagnosed with cancer.

Here’s what she said about that time,

“Our world was already falling apart financially because of the hard-hitting recession, but nothing could prepare us for the devastation that cancer would wreak on our health, our family, our marriage and our future. When our cancer journey began, individually and jointly, we had no idea of the role reversals, disappointments, challenges, losses, let downs and betrayals that lay ahead.”

When her doctor delivered the diagnosis of head and neck cancer, he wasted no time telling her that none of the docs he knew took her insurance but that he “found someone in a book who does, And I don't know anything about him, he's in the book and he can't see you for six weeks.”

I love her response.

" You just gave me a diagnosis of late stage cancer. You're having an insurance conversation and I need to hear a save Bari's life conversation.”

Luckily her daughter was connected to Emory University in Atlanta and was able to get her mother and father moved to Atlanta and put in the hands of some of the best docs in the country.

If you need oncology care Bari says, go to the best hospital you can. Teaching hospitals are at the top and your standard of care will be far greater than at a regional hospital.

Once in remission, Bari began to think about all of the cancer patients who don’t have family as caregivers, or paid care, and great doctors. How would they get through all of this?

And Emory was just starting something called patient family advisors. And they were looking for people who were interested in this. And one of their requirements was you had to be out of treatment for two years. I was only out of treatment nine months and I literally demanded change. I said “I can't wait two years, I need to do this now. And you all need to help me do this.”

Her journey to the present allowed her to see how wide-spread this problem, (the problem of not enough patient education, listening, ensuring they are comfortable with the suggested treatment, follow up after discharge) was, but also how different treatment is for African-Americans and people of color and how different the overall response to it was.

[00:14:00] It took Covid to move the needle on outreach and support for people of color who need help with their health no matter the diagnosis. Many have one or more lifestyle disease or condition, and the medical world has known this but either it didn’t matter or not enough advocacy among those who did know it.

[00:17:00] Often times the reason people (African-Americans in this conversation) don’t go to the doctor is no or not great health insurance. They worry about the bills that will follow treatment.

Bari discussed a bit about what it was like to have your husband going through cancer but with different treatments and expectations and how that tested them.

She became her own advocate to heal in the time and in the way her body was going to do it.

Bari seems to have been brought to exactly the right place because of her cancer experience and she and her husband help both patients and those who want to become patient advocates.

https://bariellenross.com

Bari is active on IG here

Charles and Bari Ross Volunteers at Winship Cancer Institute

Disaster Readiness Means Resilience When it Counts

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 30 Nov 2021 18:00:00 -0400

When my guest, Katie Belfie, was three years old, she pestered her mother for weeks until she finally gave in and bought all the family members fire escape ladders for their rooms. Evacuation plans followed, and this emergency preparedness expert wouldn’t be lying if she said she’d been doing this all of her life.

Obvs this interest in being prepared for emergencies guided her career choices. In 2012, Katie gave up her private-sector gig as a commercial litigator and joined the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as an attorney. Two weeks into the job, Hurricane Sandy hit New York and, Katie says, “confirmed for me that I had found my calling in emergency management.”

Why a conversation about preparing for emergencies and disasters?

It’s not exactly the stuff of healthy aging.

Oh, but it is!

This conversation will not only help you assess what disaster means to you and what kinds of emergencies (outside of unpredictable natural disasters) you realize could use some preparing for.

“Just thinking about [00:04:00] preparedness is a way of investing in yourself. Being prepared neurologically actually creates a sense of wellbeing in that difficult situation.”

And you don't have to live in flood zones, hurricane allies, or the path of forest fires to consider what Katie shares in our conversation.

The first step in cultivating this type of readiness is really doing that self-inquiry.

When Katie asks people “why don't you prepare for disasters?” Their answers run from, “it gives me anxiety” to “I don't want to think about it.”

And the interesting thing is that...

if we can confront that initial anxiety and that initial stressor, it's going to pay off dividends for our stress response down the road.

Thinking through an emergency situation and allowing ourselves to almost embody it reduces that feeling of uncertainty around our own safety. And we give our brains a memory of us being able to handle that difficult situation.[00:06:00]

And resilience is what it’s all about. Planning ahead means you will likely come through what life throws at you in better shape than having not planned.

We don't all come to this road to resilience at the same rate. It could take a long time to get our aging parents, at-risk sibs or friends—heck even ourselves-- to discuss how they/we want to be helped and make a plan, but at least start the discussion.

If you want to take a comprehensive dive into how ready or not you are and have some Ahas along the way, take Katie’s "Ready or Not" assessment.

“What this assessment is intended to do is essentially help you establish your starting point.”

“You can't figure out where you need to go on your road to resilience, unless you understand where you're at today. And for a lot of people I'm asking questions that they've never asked themselves, even though they think they're in a place of pretty solid preparedness.”

I asked, “What's in your go-bag Katie?”

“So much stuff.” (Don’t feel judged people, she’s a professional.)

“So, a headlamp, reflectors, whistle. I have, a sort of thermal blanket, batteries. The one other thing that's in there is emergency cash. (Because ATMs won’t always work) highly concentrated caloric bars and a few packs of emergency water. And one of my favorite things for go bag is a LifeStraw. It's a portable water filter.” And that’s just half of what’s there. Listen in to get the rest 00:17:00

And I really don't want people to think that they need to have everything in order to be prepared. Having something is far better than nothing.

Find Katie here:

www.katiebelfi.com

To download her e-book, hang out on her home page for a few secs and a pop up will invite you.

Click that link to see and download her super smart infographic tools to help you get prepared. Including her S.I.M.P.L.E. acronym spelled out. It’s a short but easy way to hit all the most important things to consider when planning.

Individuals, corporations, and colleges can all work with Katie. Learn more here.

PS Katie says we don’t have to try to be prepared for every conceivable disaster. Start with what’s most important in your life to protect. The peace of mind both now and if you ever need to execute your plan is priceless.

Trust Again, Healing from Betrayal

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 24 Nov 2021 11:00:00 -0400

Dr. Debi Silber is a holistic psychologist, a recognized health, mindset, empowerment and personal development expert.

She's a speaker, coach and author of 3 bestselling books. She has contributed to FOX, CBS, The Dr. Oz show, TEDx (twice), The Huffington Post, Shape, Self, Health, Working Mother, Forbes, Psychology Today, WebMD, Ladies Home Journal, MSN, Woman's World and Glamour.

After suffering 2 major betrayals she knew something had to change. She wanted to understand betrayal so at 50 years old, with 4 kids, 6 dogs, and a thriving business she decided to get a Ph.D. in transpersonal psychology.

This led her to a predictable and proven process taking people from betrayal to breakthrough.

Some takeaways

00:06:00 There's a collection of symptoms. Physical, mental, and emotional, so common to betrayal it's known as "post betrayal syndrome."

We've all heard “time heals all.” I have the proof when it comes to betrayal, it's simply not true

She asked her thousands of participants in her studies, “If you've been through other traumas besides betrayal, does it feel different for you?”

Unanimously They said, "it's so different." Here's why, because it feels so intentional.”

We write the book for how others treat us.

Making it harder to get help is when we want to protect the status quo, the kids, our financial situation. “We protect the betrayer at our own expense.”

00:09:00 to find out what happens to those who protect the betrayer or refuse to acknowledge their betrayal or their need for healing.

Betrayal lends itself to creating an entirely new identity.

Here are some of the emotional and physical symptoms suffered by those who have suffered a betrayal. The data are based on 30-35,000 people, all ages, every demographic, almost every country is represented here.

78% constantly revisit their experience.

81% feel a loss of personal power.

80% are hypervigilant.

94% deal with painful triggers.

So in the beginning, maybe you can't hold food down. Later on you're using food for comfort, 45% have digestive issues, anything, [00:08:00] IBS Crohn's, diverticulitis, constipation, diarrhea. You name it.

The most common mental symptoms,

78% are overwhelmed.

70% walking around in a state of disbelief.

68% are unable to focus.

64% are in shock.

62% are unable to concentrate

84% have an inability to trust. That's like living half of life.

Therapy is one kind of help. If that therapist isn't highly skilled in betrayal, it does more harm than good. 00:12:00

Learning to trust again is such an important—and difficult process—Debi wrote a book about it called “Trust Again.”

Can trust be repaired? I say, no. Can it be rebuilt? Yeah. But it's a big process.

Nope, no, one's getting near me again." And that's clearly someone who isn't healed. They think it's strength. It's not it's fear.

There are 4 stages of healing from betrayal.

“Most people get and stay stuck in stage three. Transformation doesn't even happen. And doesn't even begin until stage four.”

[00:18:00] If the bottom were to bottom out, what would you do?

You'd grab hold of anything you could to stay safe and stay alive.

As we move away from the actual event we can think we’re healing because we get to be right. We get our story, we get sympathy. We get someone to blame. We get a target for our anger.

Betrayal can hold a person in its grip for decades and create unsupportive comforting behaviors.

[00:20:00] I see someone 20 years out and say “that emotional eating you're doing, that drinking you're doing, that numbing in front of the TV you're doing, do you think that has anything to do with your betrayal?”

You’ll be able to guess her answer.

As you begin to rebuild your life you are going to only bring with you the things—and people—who matter, support you, love you unconditionally.

“If your friends weren't there for you, don't take them with you.”

This takes courage.

“This is the hardest and the most transformative work you'll ever do. There is a version of you waiting to be birthed on the other side of your healing and you owe it to yourself. You know, you've been through the worst of it already.”

[00:30:00] “Even though it happened to you, it's not about you

If you're not trusting, that's like living half a life.

Find Deb at: https://thepbtinstitute.com

Take the quiz

Deb’s books

The Unshakable Woman: 4 Steps to Rebuilding Your Life After a Life Crisis

"Trust Again: Overcoming Betrayal and Regaining Health, Confidence and Happiness

From Hardened to Healed: The Effortless Path to Release Resistance, Get Unstuck, and Create a Life You Love

If you are interested in being certified to do this work: https://thepbtinstitute.com/certification/

Your Hair Care Products Could be Making You Sick

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 12 Nov 2021 13:00:00 -0400

How we feel about our hair has enormous power over how we feel about ourselves. #preach

Our hair thins for various reasons throughout our lives, but menopause can trigger it big time. I wanted answers to questions like:

What can we do to break the cycle?
Is coloring our hair really all that bad for us?
How do we nourish what we’ve got so it looks fabulous?

My guest, Natalie Palamino, answered those questions and more.

Natalie is a Master Stylist, Clean Hair Care Expert and Founder of North Authentic, a conscious hair care company.

She used her B.S. in Finance, JD/MA, and 12 years behind the chair as a hairstylist, hair salon owner and educator focused on clean products to start her company, North Authentic.

Why start an online company when life as a stylist is good?

She was diagnosed with Hashimotos and witnessed numerous clients and friends also diagnosed with similar thyroid/endocrine issues. So she had to find out what these cases had in common.

Her investigation pointed her to the thousands of toxic chemicals in household and beauty products.

As a hair care expert who knew first- hand how many chemicals there are in hair care products—and how little attention was paid to this situation-- she founded North Authentic, a conscious hair care-focused retailer that not only vets every product against their Barred Ingredient list, but also tests them for performance.

Natalie’s belief is that “just because it’s clean, doesn’t mean it works.”

Who knew that our scalp absorbs more of what we put on it than the skin on our arms? And maybe it’s just me but why then don’t we look for clean products to clean our heads (Hair) with? Ok, most of you may already be doing that. I thought I was until I saw Natalie’s Hair Crimes list. The list is comprised of the dirty nasty chemicals that can be found in even those products that market themselves as “clean.”

More enlightenment came in the form of our discussing what kinds of products one should have in their arsenal. I’m not the 9 products for my face kind of gal so I likely won’t do that for my mane, but some things make sense. Like a scalp mask or treatment to unclog pores and nourish the bed of follicles from which said hair sprouts. I mask my face so why not my head?

In order to help us aging babes know what products would be best for our hair type and concerns, Natalie created a quiz. (There isn’t a direct link to it but head to the home page, at the top of the header, under the address bar you’ll find a “Take Quiz” link.)

Just so you don’t think she recommends brands who pay her to do so…

Natalie and North Authentic are not committed to any one brand. They are committed to their clients. The Quiz recommends a hair care regimen made up of products spanning across its 14+ hair care brands based on what each client needs.

Anything we didn’t cover during our convo you can probably find at the blog.

Her site: https://shopnorthauthentic.com

Instagram

YouTube

Facebook

Don't Let Arthritis Keep You From Adventure

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 15:00:00 -0400

Dr. Alyssa Kuhn is a physical therapist in Salt Lake City, UT, arthritis specialist, and founder of Keep the Adventure Alive.

she has had extensive experience training people of all ages and medical conditions including those with spinal stenosis, osteoarthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome,

She started Keep the Adventure Alive because she was seeing too many people succumb to arthritis pain. She found that many times people didn’t know there were options available other than surgery and pain pills! She wanted to help educate as many people that she could that adventure is still possible with arthritis and surgery is not inevitable! She is revolutionizing the way people think and feel about osteoarthritis.

We talked about the lifestyle habits that contribute to arthritis and joint pain in general, as well as how to avoid surgery.

[00:05:34] The first part of overcoming limitations brought on by pain

[00:06:25] What arthritis really is

[00:06:57] -where inflammation comes from

When she talks about adventure, you might imagine climbing a mountain or horseback riding on a beach--and those are--but here's what Alyssa is talking about for the average gal like you and me:

And I kind of define adventure as something that makes you happy, whether it's playing with your grandkids, whether it's just walking with a friend around the neighborhood a few times. It can be hiking, biking, skiing, those sorts of things.

[00:16:10] – how to know what exercises to do

[00:26:21] – how to find her videos

[00:28:39] -how to decide whether to have surgery

[00:33:10] -find the right group for support especially on FB

[00:35:08] – Allysa’s message of hope to those who have pain or bone on bone arthritis

Her book, Move Well Age Well

Her free ebook, The Ultimate Arthritis Guide

The Arthritis Adventure Blueprint Online Course

Dig into all of the educational videos Alyssa has on her YouTube channel

Think UnBroken, Understanding and Overcoming Childhood Trauma

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 20 Oct 2021 10:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Michael Unbroken.

Michael is a coach and mentor to those who have been victims of childhood (or later) trauma. He has as many certifications as is possible in his field and his many testimonials are proof that he is the real deal.

“I don't consider myself an abuse survivor coach as much a Trauma Warrior Mentor. I don't work with victims. I help mold heroes out of the ashes of tragedy. “

His mantra-- Though Trauma May Be Our Foundation It Is NOT Our Future!

The best thing I can do here in the notes section is put Michael’s mission on the page, verbatim. I encourage you to listen to his story (or read it in the transcript) to get a sense of all that he has overcome. It is painful to say the least but shows that taking back your life is possible, no matter how cruel and punishing the circumstances or story of origin.

Here’s Michael:

“I didn’t sign up to be the spokesman for survivors of child abuse. In fact, this job sucks. I mean that.

“The truth is that the universe chose me for this role. I have been gifted the ability to navigate the most harsh and vicious child abuse to come out on the other side seemingly whole. I say seemingly because there will always be a part of me that was stolen. I cannot get that back. None of the rage, drugs, sex, rock n’ roll, or anger will give me that thing that was stolen.

The world is both beautiful and brutal and I have seen the best and the worst of it. I know that the abuse I suffered has given me an undeniable strength that I was only able to tap into after falling face first into complete darkness.

There is truth in understanding that Mindset is Everything. There are no shortcuts, trust me I’ve tried them all. There is hard work and on the backside of that is getting your life back.

Think Unbroken is about sharing the tools and skills I have created and leveraged over a lifetime to help other people break free of The Vortex and become the person that they know they are capable of being. If I can do it then anyone can.

After my “Mirror Moment” I created the life I wanted through self-actualization and mindset training. It’s taken my entire life to get to the place I am today.

Michael teaches, mentors, and coaches others who are suffering from any unresolved trauma. Your story need not be as severe as his. But your new life can be as happy and healthy as his is today.

https://www.thinkunbroken.com

Michael’s Self-Love course

His 6-week coaching program

Brain Driven Weight Loss — Heart and Science for Lasting Results

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 15:00:00 -0400

My guest is Jon McLernon, founder of Freedom Nutrition Coaching in Red Deer Alberta, Canada. He helps people say no to BS diets for good with his brain driven weight loss approach.

Jon has been a Nanotechnology Researcher, Marine Engineer (Navy), globetrotting English teacher (visiting 45 countries on 5 continents) and ran a Nutrition and Supplement store.

After experiencing a trauma while living in South Africa his weight ballooned to 328lbs, as he grappled with PTSD, binge-eating, and medicating his trauma with food. One morning he woke up and decided he didn’t want to be a victim to his trauma or his past anymore. He then embarked on what he says is the most challenging journey of his life.

One hundred pounds +/- a few later, we talked about his approach and why most diets don’t work to keep the weight off and what does.

Jon is not your typical guy coach. Though he used to live as a hyper masculine type guy that was not the truth of him. He’s sensitive, an empath, and well suited to coaching people on their weight loss journey not just because he’s been there and tried everything (before developing his program) but because he’s kept it off.

Lots of people lose weight by suffering through foods they don’t like and giving up most everything they do. Turning that into a lifestyle doesn’t work, it’s not sustainable.

So how do you sustain weight loss?

It’s definitely not imposing a bunch of rules on a person which many diets do

“Instead of diving into a whole bunch of rules right away, we say, let's start creating awareness around our behaviors because, really, that's the precursor to change.”

· I'm interested not just in what you eat. I'm interested in how you eat, why you eat, when you eat, and who you eat with.

· one of the very first things I have people do is take photos of their meals. When we take a photo of our meal that triggers our conscious awareness.

· Weight loss is a doorway, not a destination

About self-love Jon said “when my cup is full it's easier to offer the best to others.”

About intuitive eating (Which he does not recommend) “the idea of intuitive eating is appealing. And this is a simplification, but at its core, most people are going to interpret it as "eat what feels good" or "eat what I feel like."

What I feel like the problem is, our modern food products that we’re marketed to every single day, are deliberately engineered to bypass our ability to eat intuitively.”

We are a society that is conditioned to eat mindlessly, snacking while binge watching, because of the built-in irresistibility of these foods.

Bring awareness to the habit, educate people about what they are eating and how it affects them, they can then choose to eat the thing or not, they become informed eaters vs intuitive eaters.

How do you lose 100 pounds? One step at a time.

“It's so much a mental game because the biology or the physiology of fat loss, it's quite well understood. It’s not the science that’s complicated, it’s the human.”

The ultimate goal for the clients Jon works with both in his group program and one on one is to become a SLWM—successful long-term weight loss manager.

In order to stick with an exercise or movement program Jon suggests you create CMGs—can’t miss goals. What I love about this concept is that you set a daily goal that is attainable no matter what else gets in the way. And every day you check it off o a calendar or goals app. Eventually seeing those check marks will likely keep you motivate to “not break the streak.”

(Thanks Jerry Seinfeld for that)

Of course we talked about the importance of movement, self-love, eating what your body runs best on as critical to aging better.

Jon’s 4 phases of change

· Excitement phase—feel good hormones, we’re excited about where we’re headed

· Frustration phase—we hit a wall or plateau

· Acceptance phase—Ok I can do this, it’s not that hard

· Automatic phase-- we have new habits, we are in a rhythm, things are easy

Jon’s Lifestyle 180 program (People it’s really reasonable)

Hacking Chemo — How to Feed Your Body, Not Your Cancer

Gregory Anne Cox — Sat, 02 Oct 2021 15:24:00 -0400

Martha is a Registered Dietitian in Ontario, Canada, with over 30 years of experience working in many areas of nutrition. She currently works in Long Term Care (nursing homes, gerontology) and has a private practice, Primal RD, promoting a LCHF diet and lifestyle for healthy aging and chronic disease prevention.

And she is a cancer survivor who, after many months of research on “her kind of cancer” (Stage 1C ovarian cancer) discovered that diet could play a big role in supporting her through the chemotherapy she was facing.

Note: This is not a cure for cancer and Martha’s regimen did not prevent her hair from falling out. We are also not giving medical advice here. If you want to learn more about Martha’s protocol, start with her blog and I recommend the book. It contains all of her research as well as recipes and her exact diet for the time during her weeks of chemo.

I’ll let her tell you her story (transcript below or have a listen, it starts about minute 5)

But it starts with a perfectly healthy 58-year-old with not so much as an ache or a single medication.

As do most of when we have a symptom or diagnosis, Martha consulted Dr. Google and Pubmed to learn as much about her kind of cancer and what, if anything, she could do lifestyle wise that might help.

“It turns out that the metabolism of cancer to other cells or cancer tumors is different. The way that they burn fuel is different than healthy cells. And anytime you're talking about metabolism or fueling your body, then you're back to nutrition because that's how we fuel our body.”

“And I knew nothing about this. I mean, I've been a dietician for 35 freaking years, and I didn't know that there was anything that we could do about cancer, and that pissed me off, really.

Why not, you know?”

Cancer is a greedy hog when it comes to glucose uptake from the blood and its exaggerated rate of metabolism has been known for a long time.

Again, why don’t more people hear about this?

Most of what Martha had recommended—and many cancer docs and nurses will as well—is give the chemo patients anything they can keep down to keep their weight up. Usually, it’s a starchy thing like toast or soda, cookies. All the absolute wrong things to feed a cancer patient if they feed on sugar.

Did you know that cancer cells, unlike healthy cells, cannot turn themselves down or off? So healthy cells can upregulate or down regulate their energy needs based on the fuel supply that's available. If you're starving or fasting, or even overnight when you're sleeping, your body cells can quiet themselves down.

Why this matters is that chemo is looking for cancer cells, super active, always “on” and hungry for sugar. If you quiet down the healthy cells there is less chance of them being killed off. The chemo won’t find them.

Martha also realized that the nutritional interventions that keep blood sugar levels low and steady will make it harder for cancer to get what it needs to grow.

Her research brought her to Dr. Valter Longo, who it turns out, is a super interesting guy. Not to mention, he is the Edna M. Jones Professor of Gerontology and Biological Sciences and Director of the Longevity Institute at the University of Southern California –Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, Los Angeles, one of the leading centers for research on aging and age-related disease. Dr. Longo is also the Director of the Longevity and Cancer Program at the IFOM Institute of Molecular Oncology in Milan, Italy.

I include all of that to show that this isn’t some flake with a theory about sugar and cancer. He has written a few books if you are interested in the nutrition side of boosting your aging better protocols.

But I digress…

Martha told me, “What Dr.Longo proved with his research is that number one, fasting does not negate the effect of chemo in any way, if anything, it potentiates it, it makes it more potent. And secondly, that people experience reduced side effects when they're fasting because the healthy cells aren't impacted by the chemo drugs the same way.”

And so, she fasted. And followed a keto diet between sessions.

She explained why people lose their hair, experience mouth sores, nausea, peripheral neuropathy, etc. She did lose her hair. And here’s a little secret—you lose it from everywhere on your body. Eyebrows, eyelashes, privates—it’s all going.

I had no idea.

“What I found with my chemo experience with fasting is that I had almost zero nausea. I never threw up, not once in six treatments. I had minimal in terms of any sort of muscle and joint aches. I had no peripheral neuropathy.”

We delved into Martha’s inner journey, the unexpected reactions of people when you tell them, and changing her perspective about the cancer from “I’m in a battle against this thing to a position of loving her body—including the cancer.

“It's my own cells, they're misguided, they've gone down the wrong path, but they're still me. I needed to let them go. I need them to go away. But I couldn't do it from a position of hate or anger or any of those things.”

Post cancer she has gone back to her low carb lifestyle but not keto specifically. And she believes in ice cream, hand cut French fries, and all the good stuff just infrequently.

On her site you will find links to her course on Udemy on this subject as well as recipes and her blog.

Her site: https://www.marthatettenborn.com

Her book: “Hacking Chemo. Using Ketogenic Diet, Therapeutic Fasting and a Kickass Attitude to Power Through Cancer”

Inspiring Widows and Widowers to Learn to Live, Laugh, and Find Love Again

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 23 Sep 2021 00:00:00 -0400

My guest today, Marie Scott, is a Functional Medicine Health Coach who is passionate about helping widows and widowers to gain health, humor, and love back into their lives.

Imagine being crazy, happily married to or partnered with someone for decades. Then, unexpectedly, even though you are only in your fifties, that person dies.

This is a small part of Marie’s story. She shares honestly about her grief, her feelings of hopelessness, and her journey out of that time.

She now works with widows and widowers to find their own way out of all-encompassing grief and the sometimes, unhealthy behaviors that come along for the ride.

She has some pretty interesting stats about partner deaths.

“The average age of widowhood in the US and Canada is 59.”

And men tend to marry much sooner after a loss than women. Some research says as soon as 3 months after.

Women want a life back, men want a woman they think will put their life back together.

Marie discovered Functional Medicine when she tore a rotator cuff. She immediately realized this was a different kind of medical practice, one where she was heard and attended to. “Functional medicine, in my mind, is truly health care” she says.

She heard about a course to become a functional medicine health coach after Dave died and signed up.

Marie said “I lost my mom the same year as I lost Dave. So, it was a double whammy on the stress scale. And if it wasn't for functional medicine, I'd probably be unhealthy, overweight, alcoholic and with no purpose in life.”

Not only did she lose weight, but she found her new purpose and a new partner. By the time this episode goes live Marie will marry a man she met while discovering a new community—one of her tenets for moving through grief to rebuild a life. This during Covid!

Her new purpose is to help widows and widowers come out of a dark place and embrace life again. It” is really, really hard. And I want to help them take that journey and learn about how you can, in fact, live well, laugh more, and in love again.”

If this conversation sounds like one a friend could benefit from please share the link to the episode or, Marie has a book coming out any day now. Head over there to be put on a list to be notified when it does. The title is "Finding Meaning and Humor in Widowhood, Firehouses, and Organic Vegetables, Seven Steps to Healing "

Marie’s site

Things that were mentioned

Living Proof Institute

The Hospice Doctor’s Widow

Heal Your Gut Without Meds, Looking at You, Carbs

Gregory Anne Cox — Sun, 19 Sep 2021 18:30:00 -0400

My guest is Norm Robillard, Ph.D, Founder of Digestive Health Institute, is a gut health expert, author, and microbiologist. He is the creator of the Fast Tract Diet – Fermentation Potential (FP) system, author of the Fast Tract Digestion book series, and publisher of the Fast Tract Diet mobile app.

How he got here

In his mid to late 30s he was working in the biotech industry and he started experiencing acid reflux , not only heartburn, but waking up in the middle of the night with aspiration reflux going into my lungs. It scared the daylights out of him. And sent him on a journey to find out what was causing it.

At the time, his son recommended a low-carb diet and a treadmill to take some weight off. Low and behold, as he lowered the amount of carbs he consumed, he lowered and finally got rid of the GERD and aspiration.

This within a matter of days!

Tapping into his microbiologist training reminded him, “I know bacteria, ferment, carbs, carbohydrates very efficiently for fuel and I know that most of these strains produce a lot of gas.”

He wondered if… “My 39-year-old body is not digesting all of these carbs I'm putting down my throat, and I'm suffering from carbohydrate malabsorption.”?

After trying to disprove his theory and finding it sound, he changed the business he was into digestive health.

I’ve included a lot of links to explain some of the medical terms we discussed.

Diseases and health problems we discussed--that you may be experiencing

GERD Gastro intestinal reflux disease

IBS Irritable bowel syndrome

SIBO Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth

Aspiration reflux

SIFO small intestinal, fungal overgrowth

Many people—and doctors—assume that too much stomach acid is the problem.

Hypochlorhydria means too little stomach acid and can also cause gut issues.

Hashimotos thyroiditis

What has the thyroid got to do with the gut?

“If somebody does have an autoimmune condition, whether it's Hashimoto’s whether it's ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis or type one diabetes, it's very common for people with autoimmune issues to have other autoimmune issues. They kind of travel in packs.

And so if I was working with somebody and say we were doing that stomach acid, we were trying to determine if they had adequate stomach acid. And so that would be one of the things I wanted to know. If they had other autoimmune issues, I would look at autoimmune atrophic gastritis, which is also known as pernicious anemia.

What we eat matters to gut health but it’s not the only place to look

Nsaid enteropathy—basically inflammation or ulcers brought on by frequent use or overuse of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. (Aspirin, Ibuprofen Advil/Motrin, Naproxen Aleve, Celecoxib)

Diabetes can contribute to slower motility and Dr. Norm says “You need to keep things moving through your digestive tract.”

What about over the counter and prescription acid lowering drugs?

“You know, half of the people that take these drugs for heartburn related issues find symptomatic relief, half don't.

“For LPR, (laryngopharyngeal reflux ),the throat issues, it's in several studies and meta analyses, like the proton pump inhibitor, acid reducing drugs don't work any better than placebo.”

Those drugs were never meant to be a long-term solution. “For a couple of weeks or a month, probably not a big deal, but the list of long-term health consequences, side effects too, it just grows all the time. Every year there's a few new papers that come out whether it's heart problems, or kidney damage, or an increased risk of pneumonia.”

Another reason to skip the PPIs

Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that causes an infection of the large intestine (colon). Symptoms can range from diarrhea to life-threatening damage to the colon.

“An increased risk of clostridium difficile infection, which tends to come back more often and is more difficult to treat because imagine these PPIs are getting rid of the stomach acid, which is one of your control mechanisms for these bacterial populations.”

Only when absolutely necessary

Antibiotics wreak havoc on the gut microbiota.

“A lot of the antibiotics these days are broad spectrum, even when you don't know what the infection is caused by or you didn't culture it, you might kill it. Downside is they will kill an even wider range of microbes in the gut.”

Chew chew chew!

We have this enzyme in our saliva that breaks down starch while we're chewing it, before we even swallow.

We have too much access to sugar and high carb foods and it’s driving the diabetes problem. Many of Doc’s peers who work with diabetics are having success in getting them off insulin and reversing the diabetes diagnosis but getting them to eat low carb, higher fat diets.

FP points Fermentation Potential. A mathematical formula created by Dr. Norm. FP measures symptom potential in foods / drinks and is the backbone of the Fast Tract Diet for Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), acid reflux, GERD, LPR, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and other SIBO related conditions

There’s a free calculator on his website that can calculate the carbohydrate net food, what will stay behind and fuel overgrowth of bacteria.

His App, “The Fast Tract Diet App” helps you identify gut friendly foods versus hard-to-digest foods, track and chart your meals and symptoms, create shopping lists and quickly look up the symptom potential for specific foods & drinks at your favorite market on the fly. (That links to the Apple version, you can also get one for Android.)

His books Fast Tract Digestion for Heartburn or IBS come in paperback and ebook form.

https://digestivehealthinstitute.org

Bottom line? Look to too many carbs and or sugars if you have gut issues but if it’s bad, seek out professional help—like Dr. Norm.

From Lawyer to Psychic. Are you living someone else's expectations?

Gregory Anne Cox — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 15:00:00 -0400

Before you decide this episode isn’t for you because I’m talking to a psychic I invite you to read on.

This conversation is a deep dive into healing the aspects of ourselves that hold us back from doing what we know or sense, that we would be happier doing.

And ends with a way to learn to tap into your psychic powers. Liz believes we are born with them but they get covered up by the logical mind and outside demands to conform.

Even if that includes leaving the safety of corporate law practice—“the thing I was supposed to do” says Liz—to wander the woods of woo in search of her right livelihood.

And when I say “wander” I mean it started with a bit of research and soon became a burn the ships, no going back, commitment to using her psychic powers to live fully expressed, have fun, and make a difference while making a heck of a living.

May I introduce Liz Zamorski, Fem Genius, Tarot card reader extraordinaire, and happy woman doing something she loves. Find her on IG or YouTube you’ll see how much fun she’s having.

And it wasn’t always like this.

Sound familiar fam? If your life feels like a size too small itchy woolen sweater, listen in and see if you hear what you need to cut that thing off and breathe, deeply.

These show notes have more of Liz speaking than others. There is so much wisdom in her story that it feels right.

Anyone else have an experience like Liz’s growing up?

“I had this upbringing that had very strict definitions around what it was to be successful, having a corporate job, working my butt off, proving myself, making a lot of money and having security. There was no room in there for happiness, pleasure, joy, fulfillment. It was about coopting my experience for a paycheck and doing whatever it took to reach X number of figures.”

She did that thing, found herself working in Dubai, nose to the grindstone, making the big bucks, HATING IT, and feeling crazy burned out.

And then, in 2014, her brother suddenly died.

“it just rocked me to my core because I realized in that moment that I was not equipped to process the grief or the emotion that came along with that kind of experience. And I did what I knew how to do, and I just buried it. And I got back to work, and I just kept trying to override that emotional experience. And I didn't know at the time that I was really robbing myself of being able to honor my brother, honor our relationship, honor my feelings, and heal the things that I wasn't able to say to him before he died.”

After leaving that job and moving to Sweden where her husband is from, she spent a lot of time alone, walking in the woods, connecting with nature—and she said, with something more. She wasn’t sure what.

She also listened to spiritual podcasts (when the student is ready the teacher appears, right?)

“In December 2018, I ended up listening to a podcast where someone was talking about this Oracle card reading course that they were offering at a beta level. I had taken a job as legal counsel at a software company here in Sweden, and it coincided with me signing up for this beta Oracle reading course. And more and more, as I got deeper and deeper into this Oracle card reading, I started being able to understand that it wasn't just pictures on cards.”

She got hooked because of the way the pictures pulled up stories, memories, and ideas to use in her life.

“At that time, I realized again with the corporate lawyer gig, with the in house counsel gig, that I was miserable there.”

In April of 2020 she quit that corporate job and hung out her shingle “to do this full time, to be a Tarot reader, psychic reader, psychic coach.”

About the idea of healing psychic wounds

We all have learned behaviors, or they're learned coping mechanisms and especially with childhood trauma, that can limit us as adults.

This can lead to “denying our true experience, or denying the true depth of our experiences because we learn somewhere along the way, or we hold in our DNA, the trauma that it's not safe to be fully us. It's not safe to be fully expressed. It's not safe to show up in the world in your way fully and we make ourselves small, or we hide ourselves, or we edit ourselves, or we alter energy to fit in.”

“Conformity is safety and non-conformity is either unsafe or it leads to abandonment, or it leads to a lack mindset, we might lose something.”

When we can delve into our learned negative behaviours then we get to the root of what we're feeling, the route of who we really are and what's been covering that up.

“that process is a healing process. We're healing that programming. We're telling ourselves you are worthy, just as you are. Worthy of being seen, worthy of being loved, worthy of being respected and listened to. We get to tell ourselves that and then show up more fully expressed as ourselves, we really heal. And then we can help those around us also heal.”

I asked Liz if she met with resistance or ridicule when she “came out” about her spirituality.

"I did meet with a lot of resistance. I was really scared of what my family would say because I grew up in a very strict Catholic upbringing where the afterlife or past lives or tarot or psychic powers were all viewed as sinful or forms of possession."

On her last day of work, via Zoom meeting,

“I said to my team, I'm leaving to read Tarot cards on YouTube.” (That’s what she was doing at the time) It was dead silent for a few too many beats, and it felt like forever.

I knew people were Googling my name or seeing what would come up.

One of my colleagues found my website and he started reading the Google SEO tag line about healing through psychic readings and through Reiki healing.

He read it out loud and everybody laughed. And he said, I think somebody messed with your SEO or something. And I just looked at him and I said, "Nope, that's me." In that moment my worst fear had just unfolded. I was being ridiculed. I just felt like, well, at least it happened to my face so I can answer him right back.”

And in that moment, saying that to this PhD software developer and feeling so empowered about it, I just thought, "to hell with it, I have to own this. This is what I really want to do."

Much of the rest of our chat was about fear and how to unravel it when you have your own “coming out of the broom closet” moment.

“I find it so helpful in anything, not just spirituality, but with anything, is to have that community, to have other people who can validate your experience or who can even question you, but in a loving and respectful and constructive way instead of this doubtful judging way.”

“We hold around the fear of our own power, the fear of our own spirituality, because of these different periods in history where it wasn't safe to dabble in Herbology, or to use crystals, or to read palms, or to even be a woman and read a book--which was heresy. And so there's this collective grief and secrecy around exploring this wisdom or this part of ourselves.”

Are you ready to explore more of your true self?

Liz shared her one big concern when looking to join a group that might be your new community to explore spirituality or what it will look like to be fully expressed.

“My first red flag is if I'm looking through the comments on posts and I see a lot of unchecked judgment people saying that there's a right or wrong way to do something Or, “You're doing spirituality wrong.” If there's knit picking going unchecked in a community, that lets me know that that the people who are Guardians of this community, administrators of it, are not finding that problematic or addressing that.

Look for non-judgmental spaces and look also for guides or Guardians of spaces who do give push back on very strict rules that are coming up or judgment that's coming up from others because your spirituality is going to unfold exactly as you need it to.”

When we’re kids “we're taught "I need to please others instead of listening to my inner knowing." And this just compounds as we get older and older.

Liz offers a course called Get Psyched, a month long psychic development course.

“It’s not a typical psychic course where I’m going to teach you how we read a card and how we use a pendulum, how to read a palm. Instead, we start with understanding what barriers we've put up to our intuition, to our intuitive hits, to our psychic senses, and then start dismantling those in a safe way to see how much we're already perceiving the world around us through our own intuition.”

If you’d like a reading or coaching with the Fem Genius herself, head over to this page to learn more and get booked: https://www.lizzamorski.com/work-with-me

Boost your energy with music:

Her suggestions: Whitney Houston’s Dance With Somebody

Bill Withers Lovely Day

Some days for me it’s cello. Pump me up cello 2Cellos do Thunderstruck

Or classic Bach played by Yo Yo Ma

Her site: https://www.lizzamorski.com

Her YouTube channel where you can subscribe for her readings for your astrological sign, teachings, card readings. She even has playlists for the elements, like water signs or fire signs.

I’m about to have a reading with her this week. Will share the goodness once I process over here on my blogand on IG.

Energy Healing is Ancient, Powerful and Totally Normal

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 06 Sep 2021 18:45:00 -0400

Jennifer Herrera, my guest this week, is a practitioner of many of the healing arts.

Reiki master, certified coach with HeartMath, and Pilates instructor.

Not long ago she was working in real estate.

Seems many of my guests listened to their inner wisdom and took a leap into what the world around them might see as cray cray but was exactly the right move.

Been there and done that. What about you?

She had guides along the way, clients saying “You have amazing energy, you should study Reiki” and a health challenge which led her to dig deep into alternative healing.

When we talked about the Chakras she made a good point. I asked if when someone is experiencing something related to a certain chakra, the energy is blocked there.

She said “I don't like to say blocks, because I like to think energy is always constantly moving, right. But maybe it's slowed down.”

On being a Reiki healer: “I'm supporting their energy field, not doing anything to them. I'm just bringing them into a space where they are able to do for themselves.” It’s not that she is the healer, we are each our own healers. Sometimes we need someone to reestablish the connection to that.

Consider the simple importance of the pause, the deep breath in the middle of a busy day or frantic schedule.

Energy is a tough sell to some and that’s understandable. You can't touch it, you can't see it. What is it? Science classifies energy into two categories – kinetic (moving) and potential (stored) energy. And everything, including inanimate objects, are comprised of the stuff.

Habits can be a bear to create—unless it’s ice cream or insert fave indulgence here—but starting small, one minute a day of meditation say, is enough to get the habit of tuning out the world and allowing the mind to rest.

Gratitude and self-talk were topics we covered and are come up frequently because they are so important if we want to get the most out of life. You likely already have a gratitude practice. I hope it includes you, daily. Even on a day where you feel you could or should have done more. You still deserve good thoughts.

How about fun for now reason? Spontaneous fun in the middle of a work day? Yeah baby. It’s the stuff of mental health.

Let life unfold.

Jennifer’s book recommendation: "Frequency, The Power of Personal Vibration"

“If you think about energy and we talked about ocean waves, if you think about radio waves, like frequency waves. So we're just all swimming in a sea of energy.”

That’s what this book is about.

I’m a big fan of energy work, body work using energy like Reiki or Cranial Sacral therapy. If you haven’t experienced anything in this realm and are curious or have an issue—physical or mental—that you are struggling with, ask for referrals and give it a chance.

The way I describe the post energy work is: “Like when you come awake, fully awake, out of whatever state your brain goes to, it really is like you've been washed by the sea.”

Jennifer says they call it “Blissed out.” Amen.

You can find out how to work with Jennifer here: http://seaandstonewellness.com

She works with people in person in NYC and remotely.

Here she is on IG: https://www.instagram.com/seaandstonewellness/

And LinkedIn

She left us with this quote from Joseph Campbell: "As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm-- jump-- it is not as wide as you think."

We also talked about HeartMath.

Divorce at 60 — How to Recover and Create Your Best Life

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 15:30:00 -0400

If you've ever been blindsided by an unexpected divorce you know it can be devastating — at least initially.

Janie J’s story of reinvention and creating a life she loves began at 60 when her husband decided to leave after 35 years. She shares the fears, negative self talk, her decision to create a life she could love after years of being "just a mom" and taking care of everything.

She was working a commission only job in real estate and she wondered “How am I going to survive?”

She had the old mindset of “I’m just a mom and wife, not a real person” she knew that had to change if she were to get through this.

Her married life, to an enlisted man, was never easy or fun so Janie made the decision early on that she was not going to live from there so she started searching for help and learned how to tap into her intuition.

Books, podcasts, classes, she did all she could to learn how to create a life of abundance not fear.

Along the way she discovered 30 simple steps to get her life on track. You can get them in her book “Live the Life You Have Imagined”

Today her life is totally different.

At first, she wanted to get in shape but she was exhausted from the divorce, the many years of supporting husband, kids, moving. During her first month alone she discovered the power of sleep. “The first month he left, I changed nothing like I was eating the same, exercising the same, and I lost ten pounds.”

Women, lack of sleep contributes directly to belly fat and carb cravings; a double whammy of an insult.

But sleep isn’t a magic bullet alone and Janie began to work out seriously, even competing nationally as a runner.

As so many of us have had to do when solo she had to learn to fix things or hire the right people. Money was tight in the early days but she knew she had to take herself off of things that weren’t in her wheelhouse so she could work on making money to keep her house and have a life.

One thing she learned on this journey of reinvention was “You have to decide to go the distance, whatever it takes.” It takes courage, commitment, and persistence every day.

“I realized I do have control over somethings, I’m not a victim, and the parts I have control over, I want to do something about.”

In order to stay at a weight she feels good at she’s had to risk losing friends by asking them not to bring sweets or if they bring them — she will enjoy a bit now and then — they have to take it with them. That includes family holiday meals!

“You just have to be brave enough. And it took me a long time to be brave enough to step out and be brave enough to say anything. You can definitely.”

With friends “we still eat and drink too much sometimes, but we are making an attempt”

I say, excess in moderation!

The second half of our convo Janie shared her self-care tips and explained her books and her courses all designed to help women get out of their ruts or fear and create a life they want—at any age!

About her books

The first three books were to encourage women to live their best lives.

The next one that's coming out tells how I went from being a spiritually starved workaholic to being able to connect to all that is, it's about tapping into your intuition. It's really important and anybody can do it.

But the reason I wrote that book was so people would understand the book that comes after, which is called “The New I Am Document.” And that entire book, it's made up of one hundred lessons about why we are here and what we are to learn. The whole entire book was a download.

If everybody lived the way, that's explained in this book, the whole world would totally change for the better.

Janie’s site: https://www.janiej.net

To learn more about:

The positivity reboot course click this link.

C.H.E.A.T Your way to better habits course

Single and Sixty A Reflective and Sometimes Humorous Journey of One Woman's Quest to Deal with Divorce Later in Life (Live Your Best Life)

“One thing I want to remind people is that it's never too late to live your best life. So just keep trying. Just keep trying.”

The 100-Year Lifestyle — because you might live longer than you think

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 18 Aug 2021 15:00:00 -0400

Dr. Plasker may live in Georgia but he has a NYC energy and no-BS manner and we had fun.

Chiropractor, International best-selling author of the 100 Year Lifestyle book series, and speaker, Dr. Eric Plasker is on a mission.

He wants to help us all see our longevity potential as birthright time not borrowed time and develop a proactive mindset to create our own 100 Year Lifestyle.

Today, too many people believe that our health is dependent on a drug and our longevity is a matter of luck or good genes. If you've listened to this podcast before you'll know that genes play about a 30% role in how we age. Luck? I prefer not to roll the dice with my future.

He believes that everyone deserves to be healthy and express their full potential from the moment they are born through their last breath of life–and that more and more of us are actually living to be much older than we anticipate.

We are the first generation in history that is getting the advanced notice that whether you like it or not, want to or not, you will probably live longer than you ever thought.

Quotables

“If one person can make a difference for you, it's you.”

People say, you lost all that weight, Dr. Plasker. “I said no, I didn't. It was never mine. I haven't lost anything, but I'm not going to find it.”

We discussed the importance of being mindful of every habit, every thought. I like to say Everything is food.

2 of Eric’s 3 principles:

1) The magnet principle, “Change is easy, thinking about change is hard.”

2) The persistence principle, a.k.a. also known as the titration principle.

Ask yourself: Are you motivated by crisis or motivated by lifestyle?

“You have to decide if you're more committed to perpetual suffering then you are to making these changes.”

When people say “Diabetes/heart disease/insert lifestyle disease here runs in my family.” Dr. P asks, “Does the disease run in your family or does smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise run in your family?”

Your genes will change with your lifestyle choices.

You have an innate intelligence running your body.

You aren’t making anyone wrong by your decision to change your lifestyle. Changing yourself isn’t about them, though they might take it that way.

Change comes one choice at a time. Think progress, not perfection

It's not the first cookie that made you fat. It's all of them.

Dr. Plasker approaches change this way. "I make my short-term goals with a long term vision."

During one of Dr. P’s videos I heard him say something about “living to one hundred versus not dying.” We want to be alive and enjoying life rather than just hanging on, waiting for the reaper don’t we?

Set a long-term vision that gets you up in the morning every day and gets you excited.

Dr. Plasker’s site

His podcast

Things we talked about:

The Subtle Power of Shame And How To Kick It To The Curb

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 15:00:00 -0400

Today's episode has so many great one liners, ahas, takeaways. Listen if for all the goodness but I’ve listed the ones that grabbed me and I hope will give you something to think about.

Dee Wooldrige’s bio is rich with highs and lows just like many of us who have lived many decades. Her life began as the 9^th of 13 children. Because of this she felt, she said, “forgotten, invisible, fearful and unworthy. Because of those feelings, I became an overachiever to get the attention I sought from my mom.”

And overachieve she did.

Dee is a specialist in effective communication, success, mindset and resilience. These skills were accumulated over her 30-year US Navy career covering three wars. She was a leader at the executive officer level and a military consultant for Hollywood.

The military wasn’t the whole of her and you’ll hear about that at the beginning of our interview. Her next expression of her brilliance allowed her to become a best-selling author, writer of numerous self-help books and two training and development companies.

One of those helps young adults on the autism spectrum. She started with her daughter.

I was introduced to her as someone who might be a good guest to speak about mindset and learning to get rid of negative beliefs that hold us back. What grabbed me when I saw her talk topics was Shame. Why? Because I don’t think it gets enough airtime and it's a powerful saboteur if we don’t learn to kick it to the curb.

During our convo Dee tells us how to do just that.

During Dee’s time in the military she had a secret interest. The metaphysical world.

When in a new town she would seek out the metaphysical book stores and the people who lived in that world.

Dee was a closet woo!

As time went by she struggled with battle between what she knew was her life’s purposed and path—helping others with transformation—or stay in the military.

As you’ll learn, her heart won out.

The even that triggered the beginning of her own transformation began when her daughter was born severely premature. She said she knew she had to grow mentally, emotionally, and spiritually and become a better version of herself... fast!

Dee-isms #1

“You're only as healthy as your secrets.”

People believe that they're going to lose something or someone if they reveal whatever that secret is. That is a shame. It's wrapped up in loss.

When Dee was young she developed a stutter, and the stutter was because I was trying to be somebody I wasn't and lie about my background and where I came from. She had shame about being part of a family of 13, of not being the “right” race, or speak like the other kids in her school.

Dee’s steps to kicking shame to the curb

1) Identify the shame's presence, confront it, kick it in the face. Call it on its lies, say it "that's a lie, it's not true."

2) Be in that moment with that shame. And you have that conversation with it.

As I tell me clients, Tell it all, tell the ugly truth. It’s freeing and lessens the weight of the feeling we have.

3) Be brave. This requires courage

Dee-ism #2

“Whatever wound there was around this shame, it can never heal as long as you were holding it.”

Expose it to air, to medicine, the medicine could just be admitting it and then letting others that love you, if they if they're there for you, help you heal.

4) Surrender to whatever your higher power is, you surrender to the “I don't know what to do.” If you surrender to it, then you're opening the path to whatever your destiny is that the shame was keeping you from.

6) Have confidence that you'll overcome this.

This isn't the first thing you've ever overcome. It's not the first hard thing you've ever done. If it is, you would have never learned to walk or talk or feed yourself or have a conversation with anybody, get a job, show, show, love

Why are you still holding on to this crazyness?

Dee-ism #3

Guilt is projected at us, and we accept it as shame.

Guilt is somebody else projecting that at you. And the shame is the shame.

Dee-ism #4

“The guilt may be the action or the inaction, but the shame is the weight that you carry.”

Like many of us coaches Dee says, “I wish I could just open up people's head and go, that's shit's not true!”

Dee-ism #5

Shame is what you think you can't do. It can limit your earning power, your relationships, what’s possible for you.

My request to you, the listeners: Don't be shamed out of getting help people.

We all have dirty laundry; things we wish we’d done differently. The hardest ones to ask about are the things we are doing right now that we think we “should” have given up, be doing more or less of, letting go of.

All of those things are limiting you in some way and really, they are less of a big deal than you think. Don’t worry about what you’ll lose, imagine what you can gain.

Dee’s Website

The free programs she mentioned. She has lots more on her site

Detox Your Relationships.

The Power of No.

Dee has a membership designed to help you shift your mindset and have support doing it. You can find more info here: https://msm.deewoolridge.com

Things we mentioned

Human Design a unique type of reading

Debbie Ford, "Dark Side of the Light Chasers.

From Doctor of Pathology to Yogi MD — Yoga for Every Body

Gregory Anne Cox — Sun, 01 Aug 2021 17:49:00 -0400

Nadine Kelly is a retired pathologist, experienced yoga instructor, American Council of Exercise certified Health Coach and Senior Exercise Specialist, founder of YOGI M.D. and host of the YOGI M.D. Podcast. For years, she was a practicing physician in a thriving community hospital setting. But despite having reached what she thought was her ultimate goal, something was missing – a sense of true fulfillment. The time had come to focus on health, wellness, and prevention.

She started with her own and soon realized her true sense of fulfillment would be found in helping others.

Why yoga? It began with her mother’s cancer.

It continued with her wanting to find some peace from the realization that pathology was not going to be her “forever home” and all that this would mean to her identity and those who supported her on that long journey.

When she says that yoga is for every body, she means every age, stage, and ability. Everybody in any kind of body can do yoga.

And what you learn, feel, and experience might surprise you if you’ve not tried it yet.

Nadine says “Yoga is one long breathing practice. It's not about your headstand, it's not about crow pose. It’s not about judging what you can’t do but accepting what your body can do.”

She looks at yoga as a way to help her to live a better life. “Because all we can count on is change right now.”

For those who want to try yoga but feel intimidated or like you are just not flexible enough:

Arthur Ashe, one of Nadine’s favorite mentors said, "Start where you are, use what you have. Do what you can."

If you are just starting with yoga, look for something that's friendly, like a beginner class.

Hatha yoga is a form of yoga where they focus on a lot of alignment. It tends to be a gentler class for beginner level students as well.

She recommends you meet the teacher.

You have to find the right teacher for you. His or her energy is just as important as what kind or level of class you take.

We talked about Restorative yoga and how delicious it is, how you can melt into the poses. I highly recommend it if you need to destress.

I wanted to know about chair yoga.

Nadine describes it as an elevated floor practice.

“It's not about making the pose or making your body force itself into a pose. It's about accommodating the pose so that it works for your body.” The chair assists in this.

“Yoga is an opportunity to evolve. With the inevitable changes in your life, in your body, in your circumstances. I think yoga is magic.”

Flexibility? You acquire flexibility because you practice. You gain more as you do take more classes.

Speaking of comparing ourselves to others…

“Well, a yoga class allows you to stop and pause and listen to that voice that says ‘I should be able to do this, what's wrong with me?’”

Can you adapt, can you become more mentally flexible?

What is the story you're telling yourself in that moment?

“A byproduct of that showing yourself compassion is then you want to show the others around you more compassion as well.”

This realization came in handy during lockdown with her spouse of 25 years.

In short, yoga is malleable. For everybody, every situation.

Her site: https://yogimd.net

Nadine hosts virtual chair yoga classes as well as offering private sessions for those of you lucky enough to live near her in Michigan. Find the info here.

Why We Age — Genetics Are Not The Whole Story

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 11:00:00 -0400

You might think that a conversation with a genetics expert might be tough to follow or dry. My guest, Dr. Judy Ford, is both easy to understand and anything but dry.

She is able to explain how all the pieces of the complex puzzle that is aging fit together: Telomeres, Senescence, Fat Metabolism, Mitochondria and Inflammation, and more.

Here’s what you’ll hear in this episode:

How a game of backyard cricket and a little boy with Down's syndrome started Dr. Ford on her journey into the field of genetics.

She studied prenatal diagnostics, cancer—mostly luekemias—and started up a research lab with a large staff as well as a private lab.

She had success for decades until one day, in true rebellious fashion, she spoke out about a discovery she’d made.

“And then I got into trouble. And I got into trouble because I started speaking out, finding out funny results that showed that people who had been exposed to chemicals, particularly in the workplace, but sometimes where they lived, toxic chemicals, I was showing that they had broken chromosomes and they were very sick.”

That year, 2000, she lost everything.

Lucky for us she began speaking and teaching and had time to write her book. “Why We Age.”

How much influence do our genes have in how we age?

I asked Dr. Ford about a stat I have read more than once, “Genes are 20 to 30 percent responsible for how we age, what we get, or how we look is that you concur twenty to thirty?”

Her reply, “Some genes are very powerful, you know, and cause people to die very early, very young.

There are a lot of smaller genes that, if you like, smaller but less powerful genes, and you need probably more of them to have an effect. If you have one it won't have much effect. But if you have A plus B plus C plus D plus E, and then you may be very unlucky.”

What about those people who live to be 100 and beyond?

“There are certain genes that are found to be more prevalent in centenarians. So people who really live a very long time are more likely to have some particular genes and they definitely won't have than others.”

There are maybe 2% of important genes that will define us one way or the other.

Small buy mighty

We have to ensure we are getting our trace elements like sulfur, glutathione and selenium.

How do we take care of our glutathione?

Dr. Ford sakes MSM, Methylsulfonylmethane. Because it contains sulfur and glutathione requires sulfur for production. You do get sulfur from eating protein as well. If you are lucky enough to live near a sulfur bath visit regularly.

Selenium is also found in foods and three Brazil nuts a day will give you all you need.

Trace elements people, don’t go overboard.

NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is a key player in energy metabolism. I asked Judy about this supplement because I’m taking it and have high hopes about what it is doing for my aging mitochondria—our cell’s energy power plants. She said she isn’t well read on this one so we moved on.

She did say that “The best way to increase your mitochondrial function is by exercise.”

#moveitorloseit

Telomeres were on my mind

Here’s an easy to follow page explaining telomeres—beyond “they are like the bits of plastic on the end of a shoelace” most of us have heard.

Many of our lifestyle choices shorten telomeres—like sun burn and broken bones. Childhood illnesses can prematurely shorten them as do some genes.

Another fun fact: “The only thing that is known to increase telomeres is having an older father, older fathers produced sperm that have slightly longer telomeres.” Here’s to all the old dads!

Calorie Restriction as Anti-Aging Mechanism?

Dr. Ford’s says, “The other thing that we know prolongs life and also suppresses cell division is calorie restriction when we're young. I don't know whether the calorie restriction when we're older does anything much and there's not there's not a lot of evidence.”

Which is not to say it doesn’t have benefits for overall health whether it’s fasting or intermittent fasting.

We talked about nutrigenomics, or gene testing to tell us what to eat, and the future of medicine and genes.

Dr. Ford’s book “Why We Age” is focused on explaining this telomeres and what happens.

You can find Dr. Ford’s website here. https://the-lifestyle-doctor.com

Check out her Youtube channel for some interesting tidbits on genes, food, and aging well.

You Are How You Move — Need a Makeover?

Gregory Anne Cox — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 17:00:00 -0400

My guest, Annette Cashell, is a Restorative Exercise Specialist and Pilates instructor.

You may recognize yourself in Annette. For many years she had a “real job” aka, sit at a desk for a long time every day. She took up Pilates to help with her lower back pain and did that for 16 years.

“I still had issues with my wrist, with my knee, and eventually I had an issue with my neck. I had terrible chronic pain radiating down my arm. It got to the stage I was told I needed a fusion operation. I didn't want to do a neck fusion operation. I work with many people who came to my classes with fusions that hadn't gone that well.”

Why were things still falling apart I wondered? So, I kind of looked into the big picture and I realized that I was what people called an active couch potato."

Active couch potatoes, may exercise every day, maybe an hour or two every day but they're inactive the rest of the day.

A light bulb went off for me.

For Annette, “I had to reframe how I moved and I started looking at how many hours I sat and how sedentary I was.”

She trained with NutritiousMovement.com, avoided the neck fusion operation, is on no meds, has had no pain since then.

“I've also reversed the bone loss in my spine and my hips, which I contribute to adding movement to my diet.”

I’m now all ears…

The difference between movement and exercise.

“In my mind, exercise is something normally where you put on a particular type of clothing. You might wear certain types of shoes. You might have a tennis racket or a piece of equipment in your hand. You might even drive there to do it. And you also normally have in your head a certain amount of time allocated to it. And when you've done this, you tend to take it off your mental list.”

Movement is the rest of the day, which might sound horrendous, but it's not because it's very small, frequent bouts of movement spread throughout your day."

#wecandothis

In the good old days people moved a lot just getting through the day.

Washing clothes by hand, walking to stores or farming, cooking. Now we ride or drive everywhere, machines wash and dry our clothes, food is delivered ready to eat.

As Annette said,

“We have to physically crowbar a bit of exercise into our day.”

Nutritious movement has the argument, the training that she did, that movement is not medicine. Movement is nutrition.

#movementisnutrition

Our conversation about bare feet led to talk about kids and bare feet. Annette works with schools on the movement and kids thing and has had remarkable results with them when they take off their shoes.

“Our feet are sensors, sensory devices, you have twenty thousand sensory receptors in the soles of your feet. So, if you got your child and put gloves on their hands and expect them to thrive, you would realize that's ridiculous.”

Bare feet and women, the pelvic floor—two subjects I never thought I’d write in one sentence. Annette explains it better than I will—just listen or read the transcript.

The sneeze, jump, and cough pee are not inevitable. Back to the pelvic floor and balance, bare feet, and zombie movies. If you missed the episode on Escape rooms and zombies, it’s here.

Got "tech neck"? You likely do if you spend a good deal of time looking down at your phone or tablet and that’s only going to lead to problems down the road.

Annette recommends standing more in your day as an easy way to sit less.

Of course, you can move more while sitting but people might think you’re weird.

She mentioned a simple towel roll for our chairs that will align our spine.

What about exercise? Is one kind better than another?

“If you love the gym, go to the gym. If you love cycling on a bike at the gym, that's fine. But realize how much you're sitting the rest of the day. So, if the rest of your day requires sitting, cycling on a bike might not be the best exercise for you.”

#peloton4ever

Why she’s not a fan of treadmills and why our brains don’t do well while reading while walking on a treadmill.

Awareness is important. How can you build in little awarenesses that it’s time to move, at least to get up from the seat and do something for a few minutes?

You likely already get psychic hits from your body that it wants to move—give your body what it wants.

No conversation about movement (and pelvic floors) would be complete with including the squatty potty. Hey, humans were designed to squat.

Now that you’ve been introduced to this fabulous woman’s work, if you want to learn more she’s got a free webinar titled, Take the Pain Out of Working from Home.

Want to know if you are—or how much you are—an active couch potato? Sign up for Annette’s newsletter and she’ll send you her “How to sit less” package. In it you’ll find a calculator that will show you—honest answers only please—your health risk based on how much you sit.

If you recreate your environment to add movement into your routine you don’t need willpower anymore. Like replacing your desk chair with a yoga ball or get that squatty potty bench. She’s got lots more ideas too.

I shared TMI about camping and well, you know, squatting.

Annette’s website is here: https://www.malahidepilates.com

Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MovementMakeovers/

And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MovementMakeovers

She’s got a really fun video on her FB page.

If you could use a movement makeover I can’t think of a better person to help than Annette. That goes for the whole family and for your school if you are an educator.

Raw, Whole-Plant CBDa Offers Hope and Healing

Gregory Anne Cox — Sun, 04 Jul 2021 17:00:00 -0400

Justin Benton and his wife are the founders and owners of 101CBD products.

They created their Organic, Raw, Whole-Plant, True Full Spectrum CBDa oil to assist their child after a diagnosis of severe, regressive autism at age two. Their relentless search for a holistic solution led them to raw hemp as well as lifestyle changes.

Having experienced a miracle for their family, they are on a mission to educate the world about the benefits of raw CBDa, and provide the highest quality Hemp products so other families can try the same thing that worked for theirs.

The early days of their search led them to Dr. Raphael Mechoulam.

A special shown on CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta told the story of a young girl, Charlotte Figi who suffered from hundreds of seizures a day. When treated with this miracle plant in its raw form, her seizures were almost non-existant.

Dr. William Courtney the man whose work introduced Justin to juicing raw cannabis. And the guy who proposes high doses of raw THCA as an antioxidant and for reversing certain medical conditions. When not heated, these strains do not make you high but have enormous benefits.

Justin tells an amazing story about how fast this juiced version of hemp helped his son. From kicking and screaming tantrum to calm, playing with other kids, like nothing was ever wrong and it happened within minutes.

He is clear about CBD being part of a whole health program to help his child.

“And it's not just CBD. You've got to do the other work, too. You are what you eat. The water has got to be clean, reverse osmosis, natural spring water. You need to make sure that you exercise, and sleep needs to be right.”

He predicts the future for hemp is juice bars and farmers markets so we can juice it at home.

I didn’t know that hemp has all twenty-one amino acids, and a perfect balance of omega 3s and 6s.

There are different ways that you can consume the plant. Capsule, obviously, they're going to dry it and there's going to be some denaturing. Anything like that goes through digestive system and stomach acid, your liver, your kidney before it gets processed into your blood.

The real absorption rate of a capsule or even an edible anything is around five or six percent absorption rate.

Taken sublingually you can get up to 70 percent absorption by holding it there for seven minutes under your tongue.

People will also make suppositories by mixing it with cocoa butter and freezing it. Absorption then climbs to 99%.

About the taste? “You just got to grin and bear it.” Their product does come flavored. Bacon flavored CBD? They’ve got it.

Besides he said, when your pain goes away or is greatly reduced, when you can finally sleep, when your auto immune issue goes away, that makes dealing with the taste worthwhile, right?

My testimonial for their product:

I had gotten some upsetting news, a possible medical diagnosis no one wants. My anxiety was off the charts and I could not calm my mind. I knew this was exactly the kind of thing CBD is known for relieving so I took the recommended amount, held it under my tongue for as close to 5 minutes as possible.

Within 10 minutes I could focus. I was able to think positively again. I’m a believer.

(PS I'm fine, the tests were negative)

Justin explained why this works so quickly.

Caveat—although many CBD enthusiasts recommend taking it daily for health,

I found that I was a bit off when taking it twice a day as recommended. For now, I’ll use it on an as needed basis.

How about skin care products, does it really make a difference?

Another testimonial from moi. I tried the Raw Renew skin care cream and it def improved the brightness of my skin. It soothes dry skin too. Although they suggest using it twice per day it’s not my go to for a quick morning moisturizer. It’s thick, feels gritty—in a good way not harsh—and takes some time to absorb into the skin.

A little goes a long way so don’t let the price scare you off.

I asked him if there is anyone CBD is not good for. He couldn’t think of a single situation. As he’s fond of saying “CBD is in broccoli and kale, so just kind of use that as the driving force. So, like, what is broccoli bad for?”

And he also said, “consult with your physician” if you are on medications.

Rumor has it CBD helps diminish cravings for alcohol, drugs, and opioids. Justin has heard from plenty of people that have had that experience. My 89-year-old aunt says she doesn’t have the urge for wine like she used to since starting CBD.

Grab the transcript on Justin's episode page or listen in for why organic hemp, the importance of COAs for more than just his products, and more.

If you want to try it, reach out to us. We'll send you one for free and see for yourself.

Get a free sample of 101CBD (You have to pay postage)

Things we talked about

Justin’s site

Certificates of Analysis for their products

Find them on IG

Life is Like an Escape Room Complete with Zombies

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 14:40:00 -0400

My guest today is Christina Eanes and get this, she was an FBI agent and trained other agents. How cool is that?

Through more than fifteen years of public service with a California police department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Christina worked on an array of programs, including the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program and the FBI’s Leadership Development Program, where her teams helped train thousands of leaders.

From there—all before she was 40—she knew it was time to jump into entrepreneurship. In her leadership development and coaching company Christina inspires others to take responsibility for their success at work and home. Along with her team, she provides invaluable strategies that lead to better professional and personal relationships, improved communication skills, and, ultimately, increased productivity in accomplishing personal and organizational goals.

Which brings us to Escape rooms or games.

Really?

According to Christina, “Escape rooms help us see clearly how we create our own realities and how we experience life.”

She and her husband are pr0- escapeletes (pronounced escape-leets) with a 97% success rate. You def want her on your team when the zombies are approaching.

For those who don’t know what an escape room is, here’s a Wiki on them.

A good part of their success is setting an intention for the kind of experience they want to have. For them it’s always relationship first.

“When you walk in with relationship first, it really changes how you communicate with each other, the level of stress in the room and realizing that we're here to get through this together, it just creates more collaboration, too.”

It's great for emotional intelligence, too.

Like many of us having come through Covid, “nothing today is taken for granted” she told us.

And I’ve heard from other coaches that many more women are waking up to “I just realized that if this is all there is, this is not enough for me” or “this is not the way I want this to be.”

Have you experienced feelings like this? Dissatisfaction with something in your life?

When you are in that place there are plenty of new opportunity, a lot of excitement or enthusiasm. But I know that it can be scary when you don't know what to do or how to make change happen.

Christina’s latest book is:

The Secrets to Super Productivity

The secret to super productivity is all about managing your energy, not your time,

Here’s her 3 step system for productivity

1. Know yourself—know when your energetically the strongest

2. Know your "ECs" and your ECs are your energy consumers and energy creators.

3. Plan accordingly.

In her system she identifies 4 levels of energy

4. super productive, firing on all pistons

3. productive, getting stuff done just not bursting with energy

2. Meh, you can do things but not with great enthusiasm

1. Zombie mode, binge watching, lights are on, no one’s home

TL;DR -- know where you're at on any given day and be prepared to pivot.

CE: “A lot of people think that they can multitask. And they actually can. It's just their brain is switching back and forth constantly, which takes up more energy.”

And when energy management is the key to getting more done then maybe we should stop.

This is also true for willpower. We only have a certain amount each day and it is tied to the energy you get, the budget we’re given.

Living this way is not a one and done, it takes constant awareness.

Just like emotional intelligence. We must constantly manage our perceptions, our emotional intelligence, and our energy.

#adultingishard

Christina’s system gives us permission to practice self-care. It almost ensures we’ll do the work to find out how we protect our energy—the right food, water, good sleep, staying away from toxic people—if we want to be successful at it.

Like many of my listeners, Christina is experiencing the symptoms of peri-menopause. We agreed that hormones really drive everything. How she deals with unexpected hot flashes or other irritating symptoms is to ease up on her commitments and give herself some grace.

Did you know that the little three pound thing in our head, aka the brain, takes up 20 percent of our daily metabolic energy. The more breaks we can give it the better.

Who doesn’t love a pity party?

Pity parties are important but only if you limit them, as in, set a timer, wallow on the clock, feel what you want to feel and then get back to life.

CE’s final words of wisdom, “Keep going to be self-aware of your energy levels, your emotions, your perception, how that's getting in your way. And quit bleeping around and keep moving forward.”

Christina’s website

Quit Bleeping Around The Podcast

Secretive to Super Productivity On this page you can find a link to the book and the class

Life Is An Escape Room

Here you can find Christina’s recommended reading list

The power of Body Love Over 50

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 16:00:00 -0400

My guest today is Brenda Fredericks, mother and former middle school teacher turned Transformational Coach. She is the founder of Body Love, a method designed to show women how to create a new healthy relationship with their bodies so they can experience more joy, ease, and sexiness in their lives.

As a body love skeptic myself Brenda’s boldness about her journey intrigued me.

Here’s a bit of how she talks about the journey to who she is now:

“And with each iteration of ME, I have gotten closer to my core.

At the beginning of my journey, I was afraid. I thought I would lose something by following my deepest desires, but it turns out the opposite is true.

What has happened instead is that I keep becoming more and more aligned with my self. My relationships are deep and rich and I have way more joy.

I have become a woman I deeply trust.”

We had a deep and conversation and Brenda got raw and real talking about her 52 year-old body, bathing suit shopping, the thong woman who changed her life, and grieving the younger bodies we no longer have.

On the subject of body love and intimacy:

“Intimacy isn’t just sexual, it can happen in a conversation with a friend but if you are walking around with the weight of “God, they're looking at my wrinkles or I wonder if I look fat?” you meet a friend for lunch, then that's there. That's also present in the encounter, in the relationship experience, and that's not allowing for the full juiciness of it. It robs the encounter of intimacy.”

Our conversation covered relationships with others and wanting to be right vs recognizing an ego moment.

How to quell an argument or avoid it: Brenda says, “one of the biggest skills that I learned in intimacy in conversation was when you're stuck with someone when things are heated, to just say ‘You know what? I don't know what to say right now.’ And that adds breath to a conversation. It's just a little tool that I use when I remember.

It's a vulnerable thing to do and vulnerability is a superpower.”

Have you ever asked your body what it wants? Rather than wearing an outfit because it’s “expected” check in and find out what would feel good.

That’s body love.

Brenda offers a class called Reveal which has a daily practice component. It’s open to men and women and it’s for people who want to work with their mind and not necessarily believe their thoughts, people who want to come to the table and have connection and see what's possible.

“We do writing and meditation and practices that help us reflect on our behavior, who we are, and letting go of our fears so we can access our desires. It's like a little mini transformation every day” Brenda told us.

We moved on to the importance of right mindset. How we view our day, and how we choose to see our experience of aging, is just as important as the actual physical process and trying to take care of the body.

To close I asked Brenda what she would say to someone who’s new to the idea of body love.

“Just being with where you are right now, in this moment, just being with what's true in this moment. You know, whatever it is, whether it's grief, or joy, or I'm scared, or I want to make a change, or my ass is too big, or I love my breasts, whatever it is, just, like what's true for you. And just be with that.” She offered a simple exercise too. You’ll have to tune in to get it.

Things we mentioned:

Hormones Aren't Just for Sex — They Run The Show

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 04 Jun 2021 20:00:00 -0400

My guest today, Claire Snowdon Darling, is a specialist in menopause and hormonal imbalances, adrenal issues and chronic fatigue and emotional issues such as anxiety and the connection between them all.

She is the visionary founder and senior practitioner at Balanced Wellness, the UK’s leading Alternative Health Experts, and The College of Functional Wellness, a training School offering accredited training programmes in a new and exciting approach to health. At its core it focuses on the complex interplay between hormone systems and the root cause of modern health conditions.

All of this came out of her battle to find the cause of her sudden, very early menopause, endless fatigue, depression, weight gain—all of this before she turned 40! And started when she almost died in childbirth with her daughter.

Claire got into energy healing before it was cool in the UK. When she was a teenager she dabbled in crystals, took one of the first Reiki classes offered, and thought about a career in osteopathy. But the world of holistic health found her once again with the trauma that followed bringing her daughter in.

Many specialists tried and failed to diagnose Claire’s fatigue, sleeplessness, weight gain but western medicine had nothing for her. Anyone else feel western medicine has nothing for you?

She’s been doing everything right—or so she thought—in the diet and exercise categories. She researched every bit of science she could find for answers.

She trained in 16 modalities and finally knew she had to create her own model for treatment which she did with her partner. They call it the Triangle of Hormonal Health. And with that they opened the wellness center.

I asked Claire if I was overstating the importance of hormones in my course, The Weight Loss Express, when I say “hormones run every show.”

“I wish? No, you're not” she laughed.

We talked about all of the hormone pathways, organs, and disrupters. And all of the ways we get out of whack. The key players? Food, Movement, Stress, Sleep.

Did you know that “But if we're stressed, we actually have a hormone response that will, for example, shorten and tighten one leg, which is why a lot of us have pelvic instability.”

Other topics: Food sensitivities training, kinesiology,

Bioidentical hormone replacement, what kind, when, for what symptoms

Histamine one more thing to deal with at peri-menopause and beyond.

#nomoreprosecco

The importance of progesterone

Why BHRT is not just for peri-menopause symptoms. Estrogen is cardio, brain, and bone protective and bioidentical hormones are safe.

What works for dry nether regions…and what doesn’t.

Claire works one on one with people all over the world. Learn more here.

Things we talked about:

Balanced Wellness, Claire’s wellness center

If you want to see what your symptoms tell her, she has a Symptom Assessor. This could be your first step to wellness. Don’t worry, it’s free.

Larabar

Hidden Hormone Disruptors that hinder your weight loss

"Are you your own worst enemy? How to become your own best friend"

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 28 May 2021 18:30:00 -0400

My guest today, Deborah Ivanoff is a Master Business Coach, Certified Mediator, Speaker, Author & Facilitator. She helps people resolve the delicate "business in their heart" so they can "get back to their business" in the world.

Her signature approach addresses the root challenges that keep high-achieving people from the success and fulfillment they know they deserve.

With her “inner to outer” approach, Deborah’s happy clients and fans lovingly refer to her as “The Being Coach.”

“Negative” emotions are not bad—though many of us have been taught the opposite—but, as Deborah says, “they will keep you stuck where you’ve always been, until you learn how to use them.”

We discussed ways to coach ourselves through those bad times, like so bad you think you can’t breathe bad. Deborah’s divorce took seven long years during which time she had to raise two little kids and support herself.

In the worst of the chaos she had a spark of genius—or intuition. She realized that if she wanted to have the kind of relationship with her children that she’d dreamed of, she would have to find a way to get up out of the pit of anger and despair she felt.

And she did and it became her life’s work to help others do the same.

We talked about how the mean girl is always on call and how to tame her or at least shut her down rather than allowing her to run the show.

Deborah actually has conversations with hers but speaks to her as she would anyone who needs attention or help; kindly and as a coach.

You can do this on paper if talking to yourself isn’t your thing.

And often this mean girl is running the same song over and over. Deborah says it’s a pattern.

And most of the mean girl taunts, or negative things we play over and over were given to us by someone when we were young. We don’t question these limiting suggestions, like “Who do you think you are?” or “You’re not so smart.”

The importance of the question, “is this really what it seems to be?” In the heat of a moment things can feel insurmountable. Are they really?

We talked about releasing emotions, positive and negative and being comfortable doing it. Oh, and about the time I threw a chair an an ex…

What do you do to release stress, reconnect with your happy place? For Deborah it’s nature. Me too! But I also love Brain.FM and Headspace for guided or unguided short meditations.

Listen in for more stories and ideas on how to coach yourself back into the place where possibility lives and you are in your power.

Things we mentioned:

Brain.FM

Headspace.com

Deborah’s Website

Find her everywhere via Linktr.ee

Control Your Thoughts — Enjoy a Better Life

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 11 May 2021 17:00:00 -0400

Yes, you can control your thoughts in any situation

Erin McCollough is a Certified Infinite Possibilities Trainer, studying under Mike Dooley. While getting certified, it became clear to her that her life's purpose is to help businesspeople find joy, purpose, and meaning in their lives.

She coaches and conducts her own trainings on changing the way we think so that we are in control of what we can control—our emotions, reactions, and actions—in any situation.

Erin began this work when she had hit rock bottom after divorce and a dizzying work schedule that produced piles of stress. She woke up one day and realized she didn’t recognize who she was.

That’s when she began to seek personal development. Her life immediately began to look very different and includes peace of mind and finding the love of her life.

You may have heard that we are not our thoughts. When you drill down into what this means you realize it's a power tool for getting through life.

Erin says, “You can create separateness and recognize that you aren’t your thoughts, and you aren't the emotions that arise, they are just predictable things that you do based on past experiences.”

One powerful idea that has made a big difference for me and for her is having a thought about a person or situation, and then deciding whether I want to say it or not. The thought is not in control.

Find out what impenetrable joy is and why it’s important. Here’s a hint, it helps ground us so we don’t get rocked or knocked off our game when things get tough.

Don’t wait to feel joy or happiness until x, y or z happens, choose to have it now despite what might be going on in your life.

You are not the story, the things that happened to you.

When we decide to make a changes it’s sometimes not a good idea to tell those who love us.

Why? Because they want us to stay the same just as much as our reptilian brain wants us to stay the same. It takes them out of their comfort zone if we start to become different or be different.

Feeling irritable? Take a breath and ask, “why am I getting triggered here?” That pause is a chance to not react and have a different, better, outcome than what reaction usually leads to.

Erin’s Website

Find her on social media: Insta, Facebook, and LinkedIn

We talked about:

Meditation Doesn’t Have to be Hard or Take Hours

Gregory Anne Cox — Mon, 03 May 2021 09:00:00 -0400

Terry teaches adults and kids--imagine that--how to meditate. Our conversation was different than any others I've had about meditation in that, Terry makes the how to, simple.

He has helped clients get out of unhealthy relationships and into healthy ones, launch their business, start their careers, and explore their inner spirituality by teaching them meditation and coaching them into fulfillment.

As in we don't have to sit in a certain position, clear our minds completely--have you tried that lately--or go deep.

He told me, "I find it hilarious that I'm teaching this, while of all the wonderful skills that we've developed in the world, all the advances in technology, we have yet to really understand the breath and the value of it."

If you breathe, you are valuable. Think about the power in that.

"Why am I not able to build a consistent practice?" Terry says he thinks it's because we put too much emphasis on the idea of sitting and closing our eyes in contemplation. I have to agree but isn't that what we are supposed to do?

Not at all. There are many levels of consciousness and therefore many levels of meditation. How big is the question you are trying to answer? That can determine how deep you go.

Terry's book is, Meditate, Breathe into the Meditation and Awaken Your Potential, you can purchase it as an audio book or paperback.

His website is here:

You can find him on IG.

And Facebook

Are you really losing your mind? Brain Health Strategies

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 16 Apr 2021 16:00:00 -0400

Dr. Cynthia Green is a psychologist and a leading expert on cognitive wellness. We're talking about our brains, girls. Cynthia has written six books on the topic and has been featured as a media guest of all the great places in the world to be included. I

She even did a book with National Geographic on your best brain ever.

Her company, Total Brain Health offers brain training tools for individuals such as the TBHToolbox365, THB Toolkits for communities and TBH Academy, continuing ed for Professionals.

We might not think that the heart, for example, matters to the brain, but in fact, the cardiovascular system is implicated in the second leading cause of dementia, which is dementias that are related to vascular incidents like stroke and stroke as a major brain injury. But people always worry about dementia. They don't necessarily think about stroke as a brain injury is a leading injury and cause of death.

Leading a brain healthy lifestyle includes things like maintaining a healthy weight, getting regular physical exercise, not smoking, using alcohol in a moderate amount. And in one of those studies, doing cognitively stimulating activities could cut dementia risk significantly up to 60 percent.

Depending on the configuration of our genes we can be susceptible to Alzheimer’s. But one study did show also that you can modify that risk by the choices you make day to day in terms of how we live.

Dementia is a broad category that defines any disease that impacts memory and other cognitive functions.

When we diagnose dementia, we're looking at someone who had a higher level of functioning previously. So, there's a decline that's significant, that's impacting their short-term memory in general, but their memory and then usually one other area of cognitive function.

Alzheimer's is a kind of dementia.

The researchers that have talked about Alzheimer's as a potential type III diabetes come from the research about inflammation. And it's still theoretical. But it is very interesting because we really don't know what causes Alzheimer's disease.

It is true that as we grow older, our hair color changes, our vision changes, but also or certain cognitive skills change. It doesn't mean they go away it means we have to work on them.

Social engagement is huge. It's huge for our well-being. It's very big for successful aging and for our brains.

And as we grow older, we tend to be placed on multiple medications. Sometimes those medications can interact and impact our functioning. If you have concerns about your medications--and by the way, your supplements, because your supplements actually do do something,even if you can buy them in the grocery aisle-- talk to your doctor and to your pharmacist on a regular basis, review all the medicines you're on, even if it's not something that they are prescribing to you.

Sadly Dr. Green did not have a brain supplement to recommend. She’s a strong believer in the food as medicine theory. That said, Omega 3 fatty acides and B12 are two she feels can’t hurt and have some good science behind them.

We are social animals. It's good for our spirit. And when we can, we can even go out and exercise together again

Things we discussed

Nat Geo Book Your Best Brain Ever

The Blue Zones.

Total Brain Health You can check out all of her companies products there.

Injection Therapy for Pain Relief and Joint Regeneration

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 20:00:00 -0400

Dr. Angela Cortal is an Oregon based naturopath who has made it her mission to change how we approach and treat chronic joint pain by reversing the causes.

WHAT? Reversing the causes of things like arthritis or chronic pain?

Yes ma’am and without invasive surgery or prolonged treatments that keep you coming back for more rather than setting you free.

We're talking about reversing the causes of things like arthritis, one joint at a time

Dr. Angela’s journey to Doctor of regeneration therapies began when she tore her ACL at 19.

She was in pain for years but along the way to pain free she learned a few things.

Like: there's a lot more to joints than just wearing and tearing and falling apart.

And, when it comes to chronic pain and chronic joint pain, what we eat, what we do and don't put into our bodies every day plays a huge role.

Especially putting in too much of what doesn’t work. #justhtemessenger

Insulin resistance creates an insulin excess that is sort of spilled over, so to speak, into the actual joint tissue itself.

You can get tested for this specific issue. They do a sampling of the joint tissue.

Seven out of eight adults in the US have at least one of the markers which are related to a host of different chronic diseases like blood pressure, high blood sugar, diabetes.

Speaking of high blood sugar, we discussed continuous blood sugar monitoring or CGM.

Rather than a finger stick a few times a day, this is a patch type thing you wear that gives you the information that you can't get otherwise. It answers the question, “how is my body reacting to what I'm doing through the course of the day?” Not just what you are eating.

And this is not just for those with diabetes. They are popular with biohacker types who want to maximize their health by keeping blood sugar in a healthy range all day.

Here’s Dr. Cortal on hormones. “If someone has a deficiency in certain types of hormones, we do see that they get an earlier arthritis diagnosis and that it accelerates faster. So, they go from mild to moderate to severe in less years than someone who does not have that same hormonal deficiency.”

And this “It’s more likely, more prevalent that folks with certain hormonal deficiencies get more joint replacement surgeries. The top hormones that I see again and again in the research are thyroid levels and estrogen and testosterone.

Get those hormones tested peeps and if you need a boost, bio-identical hormones are safe. You can read more on that in my book.

About her injection therapies:

“First we have to identify what are your sources of pain, where is your pain coming from so that we can figure out would someone be a good candidate for injection therapies to those sites. Would this help that area heal? They different therapies, Prolotherapy and PRP (Platelet-Rich Plasma Injections )mimic what's called a stem cell migration signal, which is just a fancy term of saying we're kind of tricking the body, kind of biohacking.”

I wanted to know how long this type of treatment lasts. “If they stop coming to someone like you, will they backslide, will the pain return?”

She said that unlike some treatments like chiropractic—not saying anything bad about this modality—someone may go continuously for a long time.

With injection therapies the whole idea is that we have reversed that chronic, lingering injury. We've gotten a deeper level of healing that just wasn't happening previously.

And then they should go out and live their life. And they do. I'll see patients for a short period of time and then I don't see them until, I don't know, maybe they overdo it or have a tumble on a snowboard.

If you are reading this before May 3 and would like to benefit from one on one time with Dr. Cortal in a small group, you are in time to register for her Foundations of Resilience program. (If not use the link to get on the waiting list for next time)

This 4 week program comprises four pillars of health, each focusing on a different essential aspect of what helps (and what hurts!) when it comes to chronic joint pain.

It’s virtual—of course—and you can bring labs or questions and get Dr. Cortal’s insights on your specific problem.

Use this link to go to the waiting list page and use this code RWO50 to have access to the VIP tier at the intro tier pricing. (A savings of $70!)

If this sounds like something you could benefit from or are just curious, listen in for the whole discussion or grab a copy of Dr. Cortal’s book. I sent it to a friend who was contemplating knee replacement therapy and she reconsidered to do some more investigating.

By all means share this with anyone you know struggling with chronic pain.

AOAPRM, is the organization of prolotherapy and PRP practitioners.

Her website is: https://www.drcortal.com

Her book: Younger Joints Today, Your 7 Step Plan to turn back the hands of time and get your joints healing, moving, and feeling their best.”

There Are No Do-Overs In End Of Life

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 15:00:00 -0400

Jennifer O’Brien helps people talk about caregiving and end of life. She encourages compassionate, real conversation through her book, The Hospice Doctor’s Widow: A Journal, where she shares her story of caregiving through collages and writings.

After years of caring for people with serious illness as a physician, Jennifer’s husband, Bob Lehmberg, was diagnosed with a stage IV, metastatic cancer. But caregiving for the man who had made a 40-year career of caregiving as a physician was not easy.

I wondered, How do you be normal and allow the normal feelings that arise in any relationship when they are dying and you are going to live?

She related a funny story or two in that regard and one particularly ugly spat early on gave her an aha--she would never allow herself to go there again because she was responsible for the memories she would create during this time. Preventable regrets is the flip side.

Caring for Bob made her a better person, Jennifer said.

"A lot of what caregiving is about, is that you're self aware, hopefully, but you're also managing your future survivorship."

One of the first things Jennifer said to me before our call was, at the end of life comes death. How true and how few of us want to face that never mind prepare for it.

She stressed the importance of having the conversations now, before the illness, the accident, or the random act that finds you at the mercy of a hospital or ER.

She suggested the Conversation Project group for help with these conversations.

Or, if you want to have a little fun with the subject, she suggests The Death Deck. I'm adding it to my Christmas family games night.

Either way Jennifer said, "these conversations are as intimate as it gets as far as I'm concerned, to be the one who talks to somebody about what they want and don't want, at the end of their life, and then have that great honor of helping to carry that out."

We also talked about:

Anticipatory grief.

The Hospice Doctor's Widow, a journal

Slow Medicine, a group on Facebook

There are fifty three million caregivers in the United States, family unpaid caregivers, and that's a number that is pre-Covid19, that number is only going up.

If you are not currently a caregiver, you know someone who is. You know someone who has a spouse, a parent, a sibling, or a friend with a life-limiting condition and is struggling to feel supported and whole while caring for and ultimately losing their loved one. Caregivers are the ubiquitous, unsung heroes of our time, each of us is one, knows one or will soon become one.

Jennifer's book, which I bought for myself just to experience, would make a thoughtful gift for someone in that role of caregiver.

Don't let the topic put you off, this was a light hearted, fun, and important conversation.

Functional Movement for Pain Relief

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 23 Mar 2021 17:00:00 -0400

My guest, Carl Reader, addresses the root causes of pain. He is a Functional Movement Coach, Personal Trainer and have a background in Exercise Physiology and Pilates.

What this means for you is the possibility of exercising safely without risk of pain and injury or getting to the root cause of your pain so you get relief.

I had a virtual session with Carl during which he corrected my posture getting up from a chair to protect my sometimes achey knees, showed me a safer stretch for my hips, and approved my aerial yoga inversions. That was good news because I love to hang upside down!

He did suggest that one of my favorite core body exercises, the plank, might not be the best way to get the results I'm looking for. This was actually good news as my wrists are not so happy in plank pose.

But let's talk pain. Pain is a thief isn't it?

One of the questions that led Carl to do this work is "Why does the pain keep coming back?" after treatments even with Chiropractic or other so called functional movement therapies.

Because something is not being addressed he said.

Sometimes it's a habitual wrong movement we return to after treatment, and sometimes, Carl says, it's more than just balancing the muscles there are thoughts and emotions and beliefs intimately connected with out movements.

Yes we did get into the mind/body connection.

He has anecdotal evidence that I find fascinating.

Listen up women. He has noticed over the years that women's pain is often on their left sides. And women are more relational. "So any sort of relational stress--that can be relationships to friends, family, and even to yourself, how you view yourself, negative body images, thoughts can show up as pain. It's just is so connected. So men are on the right side. That's the ego side of the power, it's the striving and trying too hard. Worry, anxiety and fear are also right side pains."

He points this out to say that sometimes just hearing that your pain could be related to or caused by some kind of relationship--even to yourself--can start the healing process. Acknowledging this can move the needle.

More on that Carl said another reason for pain could be that we're carrying, literally carrying this emotional weight or pressure in the body, in the muscles.

Bottom line? Don't suffer with pain. Get help.

We talked about something called "The sit to rise test" When I described it to Carl he said he'd be surprised anyone over 5o could do it, In his practice he has people start on a short stool, maybe a foot off the ground. This test is said to predict how long a life you'll have. I tried it again before posting this and I've lost a point in the past few years. But as with all other forms of strength building, it's never too late to improve.

Here's a page with a video and directions: Sit to Stand Exercise

Carl has virtual sessions on offer on his website.

Carl's Website

Your Thyroid May Need Attention

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 15:30:00 -0400

For twenty-five years, Mary Shomon about that I have been out in the thyroid trenches fighting for decent care and awareness and doing what she can to help support her fellow thyroid patients.

She has written 15 books and the majority of them are on thyroid and autoimmune health and hormonal health, many of them are New York Times best sellers.

She took on the powers that were, back in the 90s but that haven’t changed much, to bust the myth that the symptoms of hypothyroidism—fatigue, weight gain, hair loss, dysregulated body temps, and more—were all in people’s heads. The message boards she was researching in were full of women saying otherwise.

If you are experiencing the symptoms mentioned above, or these from Mary’s site, and have been told “it's probably that you're stressed, depressed, PMS, menopausal, lazy, got to get off the couch, eat less, work out more and take an antidepressant”: know you are not alone. You need a doc or patient advocate like Mary to focus on the health of your thyroid.

The most common test a doc will give a person who comes in with symptoms is the TSH test, which stands for thyroid stimulating hormone. TSH is a pituitary hormone and it's what we refer to as a messenger hormone, it is not a thyroid hormone at all but it is one piece—and one piece only—of the thyroid profile one needs.

It is a secondary marker of what's going on with the gland itself.

Using only TSH as the measure of thyroid health leaves a lot of people who may have levels that fall into the so-called--and quite controversial--reference range, or the normal range. They may be looking normal on paper, but they certainly don't feel normal.

This is a huge piece of information people, and one I did not know, Mary pointed out, “If you look at the prescribing instructions for anti-depressants and cholesterol lowering statin drugs, both of them say very clearly a complete thyroid panel should be performed before this medication is prescribed.”

Some women who experience mild depression and are given antianxiety or antidepressant drugs, who never had this problem before, they get their thyroid diagnosed and treated, depression lifts. They're fine. It wasn't a mental health problem.

If you find it difficult to lose weight even though you are eating well and exercising, if you’ve seen a doctor about this, you might be greeted with, “You just need to eat less and work out more.” Weight gain or inability to lose weight are common with hypothyroidism.

She also warned, “Ladies, if you're penciling in those eyebrows, it's probably a thyroid get you need to get it checked.”

I asked Mary what age is too old to look at the thyroid for symptom relief. “There's never a wrong time to feel better and to get to the root of this.”

She talked about clients in their 80s who started to lose their usual energy, got the right thyroid tests, the right thyroid supplementation—meds or otherwise—came back to her and say things like, “I feel so much younger. I'm energetic, my joints don't hurt anymore. I'm out there gardening. I'm doing my dance class. I'm doing the things I love, playing with my grandkids.” And so, there's never a wrong age.

Shifts in estrogen and progesterone that women experience during the transitional period of perimenopause and after menopause and periods stop can be a trigger for the onset of various thyroid issues.

We discussed dessicated thyroid meds where all of the thyroid hormones are built in because they are formulated from the thyroid glands of pigs. And have been for one hundred years or more.

If you’ve been given Synthroid or another T4 only medication, and don’t feel well yet or feel worse—which is what happened in my case years ago—you can ask your doc to add some T3. (Mary explains it in our chat) or switch to a natural, dessicated version.

Dessicated thyroid meds are not FDA approved, but are FDA regulated legal to prescribe.

They have been around and saving lives since before the FDA was born!

Mary is the kind of coach you want if you can’t get answers to your stubborn symptoms and are tired of Dr. Google. She has talked with hundreds and thousands of people, read tens of thousands of journals, books, and articles, and can pull something together quickly for you so you don't have to spend all the time doing the homework.

Hypothyroidism

Hashimoto's Thyroiditis

National Library of Medicine

Mary on Facebook

Dr. Richard Shamas

Tirosint

Living Well with Hypothyroidism

The Menopause Thyroid Solution

Living Longer is the New Normal!

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 15:00:00 -0400

My guest is Dr. Joe Casciani. He has a 30-year history in long-term care as a psychologist and mental health, and an expert in mental health practices. He is most interested in the aging part, how the psychology of aging is applied and how we can age better. His new business is called Living to One Hundred

Joe believes that successful aging is more about a mindset than we give that attention.

"My whole career focused on aging and looking at kind of the upside to aging, not just the decline" Dr. Joe

What does "Turn aging on its head", The Living to 100 Club's tagline rally mean? It means we should stop using number as any kind of gauge of what we should or should not be doing. To give up that those self-limiting beliefs that really hold us back and foster those negative stereotypes.

Joe says, "we should dig deep and finding some some new energy and new potential and new interest. He thinks this is our future as we age.

He and I agree that it's super important to stay connected with other people.

We talk about the importance of waking up each morning with a smile on our faces, (in theory anyway 😎) and saying, what's my purpose today? What's my objective? What's my goal today? And we really need to have that, whatever it is, whether it's solitary or whether it's social and interpersonal, we really have to have something to look forward to.

We all know the importance of exercise but Joe has a confession, "I don't find it fun. I just find it necessary. So I do it."

Mindset figured bigly into our conversation and how, as Epictetus would say, "We are disturbed not by events, but by the views we take of these events." Joe mentioned this in answer to my question about how to deal with sudden upsets, hurdles, like illness or loss.

"How we interpret events, how we explain events that colors how well we cope with them, how well we manage them" will make the difference in how we heal or get through things.

Fire and determination are always within us and as we age this is an important concept to carry with us. And, to have people in our lives who will remind us of that, help us remember it.

Speaking of remembering, looking back on other times in our lives where we've done hard things, survived when we weren't sure we would, are also important ideas to hold on to.

Listen to how Dr. Joe answered my question; "Do you think that goals for life play into how we recover?"

And how easy it is--despite what it may feel like in a moment--to completely change a belief about ourselves and others.

"The future is often written by the past which limits our possibility of what could be in the future."

In short, bad things happen and we get through them.

And, More power to the oldies!

Joe's book: Living Longer IS The New Normal, Lessons from a Geropsychologist on Living Longer, Staying Positive, and Making it Over the Hurdles

His website: Living to 100. Club

Books and people we mentioned during our conversation:

The Blue Zones

Successful Aging by Dr. Daniel Levitin

Dr. Joe Dispenza

Bruce Lipton

Dan Sullivan

Steve Jobs Biography by Walter Isaacson

Vedic Astrology and Your Health — Mind and Body

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 09 Feb 2021 02:00:00 -0400

Vedic astrology is the astrology of India. Prema and I talked about how this ancient Indian science can be used to support us on our journey physically, mentally and spiritually.

There's no one time of life that we feel more drawn to get readings or explore our personalities, what makes us tick, but midlife is certainly a time when women especially begin to look inward after decades of being outward focused.

Relationships, habits, our health, our belief systems--everything is subject to examination in search of what fulfills us, what will fulfill us in the years to come. Often we need help sorting through.

Vedic astrology recognizes the physical body and all of its organs and systems within certain houses. If you've heard of Ayurveda--which is a western word that translates to "the science of life"--then you have had a glimpse into this bigger picture of the vedas.

Think of the information you get from a vedic astrology reading as keeping you appraised of the spiritual weather ahead for you. This allows you to prepare for shifts in energy. Since we are all energy we are all affected by the prevailing energy. Even skeptics now cite mercury retrogrades as the devil in their tech and their lives.

In addition, this ancient science gives you a bigger picture of your gifts and your shadows. Knowing both of these things--not just your gifts but your shadows--means you have more to work with when finding fulfillment or changing habits.

You'll find out more as you listen in to my conversation with Prema Lee Gurreri, spiritual and business coach, vedic astrologer with 25 years experience, and owner of Soulutionary. Learn more about Prema's Sacred Wealth Code Readings here.

Covid, The Vaccines, and Why We Can't Rely on Them to Save Us

Gregory Anne Cox — Tue, 02 Feb 2021 08:00:00 -0400

Dr. Bob Bollinger is a renown epidemiologist and currently a Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) School of Medicine, and serves on the Advisory Team for the Johns Hopkins Precision Medicine Center of Excellence for COVID-19.

He has more than 40 years of experience in international public health, clinical research, and education dealing with such global health priorities as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, dengue, antibiotic resistant infections and other emerging diseases.

I asked Dr. Bob to talk about how we got here, how we can get back to "normal" and why we should trust the vaccine.

Also, is one vaccine safer than another. How do we know we can trust the ones that are out there now? And what he would say to someone who is not sure they want to get this vaccine.

Bob is very clear, the vaccine is one way to move us in the direction of something like normal but we still must be practicing all the other ways we already know work.

Lifestyle Strategies for Optimal Health — and Good Looks!

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 03:15:00 -0400

Food is more powerful than most people believe and we discuss how you can change your life and your health, one bite at a time.

If we ate what our great grandparents ate, we would simplify the food thing.

Kristen endured an entire decade of soul sucking events, cancer--hers and her mother's, Alzheimer's her dad's--marriage challenges, overwork, under caring for herself, more wine, more coffee, feelings of hopelessness. She woke up one day to the realization that, "If I continue to live like this, I will die and it will not be pretty."

That morning she began her journey to a new and healthier life and her business, TheCulinaryCure.Com. because she knew she was not alone in her struggles.

Sleep is when spinal fluid comes up and does a power wash on the brain and it helps our brains detox. It helps solidify memories, just it helps the organs repair and restore themselves.

Forty three percent of what we do every single day is mindless repetition. When you can tap into that forty three percent and make those habits things that support you, you start to shift energy balance within yourself and you start to do more of the good things.

Hydration is the low hanging fruit of wellness. What to add to water to add back the minerals and electrolytes that processing takes out.

Look at your habits and you say is this habit serving me or is it no longer serving me?

Mindless eating is the enemy of mindful health. Ask yourself when you are planning to eat, what do I want from this?

We went on to talk about gut health--the quick and easy version--healthy fats, diabetes type 3, real sugar/fake sugar, blood sugar, diabetes, and the trio of healthy foods; fat, fiber, and protein.

Kristen's new book How Healthy People Eat and Eater's Guide to Healthy Habits.

Mastering daily food habits is a tool we can use to create culinary resilience, the ultimate wellness benefit.

Everything is Food

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 15:25:00 -0400

This is not about the song from the "Popeye" movie.

My version of Everything is Food is more metaphor meets actual life.

It's like philosophy made practical.

Did you know that your thoughts, what media you consume, and what comestible food you eat all cause many of the same chemicals to be released in your body?

If you listen for food metaphors in your day to day conversations, podcasts, even the books you read, you'll realize we associate food and feeding with every aspect of life. The significance of this is, everything is then food.

You "consume" information and information can "consume" your psyche good or bad.

Our legs turn to jelly, he or she is a rotten apple, her office needs to be spiced up. Food and feelings are unconsciously tied.

Did you know that an exhausting relationship may make you sick to your stomach with the same ferocity as an old piece of chicken? But you may keep eating because on some level that relationship feeds a need in you, even as you starve for a bit of love.

Armed with this kind of information means we can bring awareness to what we are consuming literally and figuratively and make sure that our choices feed us well for the moment and for our years to come.

A simple exercise to help you put this into practice: get mindful of all the people you interact with,

the messages and media you consume,

the food choices you make for every meal and snack

and ask, does this add to my health, my life, my joy?

Things I mentioned on this episode:

Horemsis

Marie Kondo

My Twitter

Mary Oliver's poem, "Don't Hesitate".

Bones are Our Foundation

Gregory Anne Cox — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 14:00:00 -0400

Every woman worries about becoming old and frail, has shuddered to think they might experience that fall that changes everything when we break a hip.

The way conventional wisdom says we should measure bone density is with a Dexa scan. And yes we should all get them at 50 for a baseline. But there's a new test in town and my guest Irma Jennings is going to tell you what it is and what it does.

Should you panic if the scan results determine "you've got osteopenia"?

What else contributes to bone health? Irma and I talk food, community, tooth and gum health, and lots of what Irma teaches her clients and those in her bone health community.

Here's Irma's website: https://www.food4healthybones.com

The Philosophy of Rebellious Wellness

Gregory Anne Cox — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 14:00:00 -0400

Too many women (and men) are dying prematurely or barely living due to symptoms of preventable lifestyle diseases and the medications given to treat them.

That's not a judgement. It's my why.

You might be shocked at the stats about women and heart disease and how women experience (suffer) with diabetes significantly more than men--but are treated the same.

80% of the diseases and symptoms of aging that make us feel and look old can be prevented, reversed or lessened by learning and incorporating new habits.

And it won't take all the joy out of life I promise!

Meet the Rebellious Wellness Over 50 podcast

Gregory Anne Cox — Fri, 01 Jan 2021 11:30:00 -0400

Here's a quick intro to what you can expect to hear from your host Gregory Anne. If you are a woman over 50 who thinks this whole getting old thing is a bitch and wants to know the keys to longevity and enjoying it along the way, then this podcast is for you.

I believe that standing up for your health and aging your way is an act of rebellion. But it's not always easy to find, let alone demand, alternatives to prescription drugs, invasive treatments, or recommendations by those in the know about diet and exercise.

There is no one way to be healthy and age well!

This short episode will give you the foundation of my philosophy and why I believe it's got the goods you need to age better and never settle for "This is what happens at your age!"

Rebellious Wellness Over 50

The Hidden Path to the Body's Wisdom with Dr. Mary Sanders

Prescribing Wellness: A Pharmacist's Radical Approach to Ending Chronic Disease

Ancient Wisdom Meets Modern Medicine for Chronic Disease

Key Topics

Resources Mentioned

Takeaway Points

Timestamp Highlights

Life Line Screening could save your life

Resources Mentioned:

Hot Flashes Cool Topics: Menopause and Beyond, The Good News

My guests today were Bridgett and Colleen from Hot Flashes, Cool Topics.

Episode Highlights

Key Takeaways

Angels, Awareness, and Creating a Joyful Reality: A Conversation with Seph Deitlin

Stop Fighting Your Body: A Pain-Free Approach to Moving Better at Any Age

Daniel Packard: End Anxiety Once and For All

The Great Menopause Myth with Wise and Well

Key Topics Discussed:

1. Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT)

2. Women's Health & Midlife Challenges

3. Body Image and Aging

4. Nutrition Insights

Insightful Quotes:

Action Items for Listeners:

"Stress Test" a memoir, becoming a female doctor in the '70s

End the Toxic Tango, how to reclaim your power in relationships

Veganism isn't always healthy, especially as we age

Dr. Michael Roizen, Can We Really Turn Back Time?

How to prevent Dementia with Mitchell Clionsky

Women suffer from our broken healthcare system

You can reverse osteoporosis, here's how

1 to 3 minutes a day to change your life in a positive, powerful way

Sandy Joy Weston

Cardiac surgeon says "Stay off my operating table"

A new kind of cardiologist talks tests and procedures you don't need

What if weight loss isn't the answer...

Behind the mic, what's new for RWO in 2024

Side By Side Aging, An exploration of Aging, Relationships, and Spirituality

Dirty little secrets about popular prescription medications

Memoir, the gift you give the world

Sobriety Might Just Put the Joy Back in Your Life

How to reverse MS and other autoimmune diseases

Sparking JOY even in the darkest places

Finding your Inner Badass: Elen Sentier's Way of Authentic Living

Are you a dirty girl? Dr. Wendy Trubow and I talk detox

Udo Erasmus says your body needs an oil change

Back pain relief starts with your core

Vedic astrology, planetary energy, and your sacred wealth code

Psychedelics for mental healing and expanded awareness

Women, autoimmune diseases, and how to finally get well

How this breathing technique can conquer out of control you

Over 60? You need to hear the truth about hormone replacement

Whole body wellness begins in the mouth

Diabetes and brownies for breakfast

The Hungover Widow, Loss, Grief, and Dating for the first time at 50

Never binge again, get out of food prison for good!

One man's journey to sobriety and the joy that followed

Yogi Aaron says Stop Stretching!

Declutter Your Life, Make Way for Happiness

Chiropractic Isn't Just for Your Spine

Too Young to Be Old with The Queen of Jeans

The Truth About Osteoporosis, Osteopenia, Fear and Bones

Fitness Over 50 —﻿ Be Safe, Get Strong

Why You Must Understand Metabolic Health to be Healthy

Stroke Takes More Women's Lives Than Breast Cancer

My New Year Wish for You All

Let Go or Be Dragged. One Way to Change Your Life

Psychic Readings and Communing with the Dead

Q & A Genes, Why You Are the Way You Are

Don't Settle for Boilerplate Medicine!

Living Skillfully with Hearing Loss — Beyond Hearing Aids

This Unique Yoga Practice is a Joint Renewal System

Taking the Fear Out of BHRT So You Can Feel Better

Turn Off the Genes that Cause Depression, Addiction

Entrepreneurs: What it Takes to Have a Successful Brand

This Sleep Coach Ditched Ambien for Better Sleep

Today's Grandmas are Unapologetically Themselves

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