Energy Update: Natural Products Expo West

Last year I went as a guest of a friend of mine who owns a restaurant. I was new to RAW vegan, vegan, and the naturopathic way of life. I was overwhelmed with the choices, and for the most part, looked to see what 'medical claims' there were being made, as in 'practicing medicine without a license'.

What a surprise to me today when this year I returned as the guest of the same friend!

At first it was 'trick of treat' from the bus stop to the Anaheim convention center! So many samples being handed out! There was an Australian Yogurt, Nooni, there was Brown Cow Yogurt (both lemon, my favorite). There were squooshy things in those odd pouch drinkable containers. There was coconut chocolate milk and coconut tiny ice cream sandwiches.

It was delightful and fun.

Inside, it was mayhem!

What I saw were some very fascinating 'sales pitches'--and my bottom line assessment is that there was not much whole, raw, 'living' food present, no matter what the labels were.

The foods were processed, frozen, but with different ingredients. Mostly Gluten free. There also was a lot of Alkaline Water.

What I did not experience at any of the booths was nurturing, warmth, love or compassion.

There was no 'Light' present at any of the booths!

Instead I felt the 'buzz' of 'business', of fortunes to be made, and also, acutely, of the great expense for one to travel and represent their business here.

I saw Paleo next to Vegan, with lots of meats offered. There was one item, a 'straw' filled with powered balls 'with vitamins' you sip through, so that the milk becomes 'flavored' with banana, strawberry, chocolate, or peanut butter.

I think the entire event is a peanut allergy patient's worst nightmare! LOL.

But for the most part, it wasn't the usual 'spin' on business and expos. There were two 'free massage' stations which were kind, and many more tee shirts and gifts were given out than any medical anesthesia show I have ever been to, and I have been to many for cardiac anesthesia and also just 'regular' anesthesia conferences.

Next year it is my hope that instead of 'natural versions of today's products' in food, cleaning, nutritional supplements, it will be totally new ways of experiencing local community goods, with lots of LOVE built right in to the making of whatever is being sold, and that the Light quotient in the place is really really UP!!!

A woman offered me a popsicle on the way to the shuttle bus. She had a pouch. I took the coconut tea, and it was the best popsicle I ever had in my life! Her energy was the best in show.

I also appreciated the two white roses given to me and my son by the KIND company (I got their shirt too. Their new savory bars will be wonderful for those short breaks in the OR when I can't eat real lunch or dinner.) Like they said, 'do a random kindness'. So when my widowed neighbor was in her car when we came home, I gave one to her and she was delighted! It felt so good to make her smile. She is really nice and I am lucky to have her as my next-door neighbor.

More news updates tomorrow!

For now, that's how I call it! Much more clarity and non-judgement on my part.

Aloha and Mahalos,
Namaste,

Reiki Doc

P.S. The TEST!!! On the way to the bus stop, there were those 'religious people' who dampen the energy of any event with their fire and brimstone posters. These were huge, yellow, with big black font up as high and as large as a pro basketball backstop! JESUS SAVES OUR SINS, etc etc.

I don't like them. I don't like their vibration. I don't like their righteousness.

Ross called me on it.  He said, 'Love is the Solution For Everything--even THIS'.  He instructed me to smile, to keep my energy pleasant, to make eye contact, and to make sure they get a good look at my face.

I did.

I still was happy to get on the bus! LOL. But I obeyed my 'teacher' husband, who is smart enough for me to listen to even if I don't one hundred percent agree! LOL LOL LOL.

A Thousand Flowers

Back in time, there was a restaurant that I had forgotten now but had wished to go very much then. Mille Fleurs--one thousand flowers--the very best and the most French place in all of San Diego.

I wanted so much to go for a romantic dinner with the one I love, although I had not met them yet, I knew in my heart the perfect place for us to gaze longingly at each other over our plates of magnificent, expensive 'haute cuisine'.

It popped into my head today. A lot. I looked it up. I thought about going there for lunch and possibly for dinner if my boy would behave himself enough.

I looked at the menu. It looked like a lot of meat. That was the first sign that I have changed. It didn't look appetizing. Of course, there were vegetarian courses that looked amazing. But something held me back.

It wasn't raw.

It wasn't fresh.

It was local, but the Vibration did not seem the right match for me.

Then I saw this: http://www.millefleurs.com/adieu-foie-gras/

It was a litany for the days of old, in the French Countryside I adore, written by the Chef of Mille Fleurs.

He was unhappy with the law that effective 7.1.2012, no more foie gras could be made in California.

He justified that the geese that they raised on the farm, in total sensory deprivation, in darkness, only to be fed for 3 minutes each two times a day, 'were drunk and happy their whole lives' and 'much happier than the geese that had to fend for themselves outdoors in the cold and heat.' The foie gras geese were sold at market--livers only--and the bodies made in to duck confit that was served 'each Thursday night'. The other ducks, the free-range ones, were one by one the Sunday dinner.

I am shocked by this.

I know enough about birds to know that gavage (force feeding down throat) is a sign of love in birds, as a parent forces partially digested food from their crop into the mouths of their young.

I also know enough about people that 'being drunk and happy their whole lives' might be a touch of 'projection' from a chef onto a bird, so to speak...

I had no concept of how far I have progressed in the Animal Rights and Nutrition for Me department.

Instead--I cooked in the hotel. A beautiful salad with endive, kale, lettuce, avocado and orange, with lemon juice and sicilian olive oil for me. Fried organic potatoes and onions for both of us. A microwaved Annie's Organic Burrito for the kid. A glass of Loire Valley white wine for me.

I made the right choice. I am most thankful for the miracle of my coming awake and not eating foie gras nor wanting it. I hope one day chef makes this step in his progress of consciousness too. As we develop a Spiritual Practice as we progress in our Reiki Training, we eat for our vibration, and not for our taste buds, or price, or 'cool' factor any more.

Namaste,

Reiki Doc

Fat Doctor. Fat Nurse. On Hospital Food--part 2

I recently began to follow a nutritionist on Twitter. I had just posted about hospital food trying to kill me when I was in the hospital. And I asked this expert if they had any ideas on how to make the food service in a hospital better from a nutrition perspective.

The response was shocking--'Hospital food is poison, just go look at the fat doctors and nurses eating Mc Donald's in the hospital'.

It was arrogant, dismissive, and completely without understanding for the situation most of our patients, doctors, nurses, technicians and other hospital employees are in. Coming from a teaching background, where I was a University professor for eight years, trained in the notion that 'there is no such thing as a dumb question', I felt extremely dumb after seeing help from this individual.

Like Nora Ephron's parents once said, "take your misfortunes and turn them into a story", I am sharing my story now with you.

First and foremost, anyone new to the working side of medicine needs to understand this: most of your caregivers are overworked, sleep-deprived, and hungry. Yes, we are in the business of health care, and in caring for our patients we are not exactly practicing what we preach.

When I was a medical student, I ate with the team. Surgeons tend to eat their meals in the gaps between cases. But while caring for patients on the floor, the interns sometimes go without. A colleague who was in internal medicine used to have soup for lunch because 'It was faster' (he could eat it while walking around taking care of patients). When I was in charge of the ICU and Burn Unit, the nurses would look the other way while I helped myself to ensure, because they knew that I was not able to eat due to my workload while taking care of patients. I did this so often, they showed me a way to make it more palatable: mix it with equal parts milk and pour it over ice. While I was on that service I lost twenty pounds.

After I changed specialties to anesthesiology, I was given a fifteen minute break in the morning, thirty minutes for lunch, and fifteen minutes in the afternoon to attend to my personal needs. This time was watched closely. I would get in trouble if I did not return promptly from my break. If the patient was unstable, or it no one was available to give me a break, it was understood that I would go without and not ask for a make up time since I was salary, not hourly, worker. Can you imagine the lines in the cafeteria? They are long. As a consequence, I learned to eat my meals as fast as possible. At a restaurant, I eat so much faster than friends and family, that it is embarrassing to me when they point it out.

These breaks went away once I graduated from the training program. Now I eat in the gaps between surgery cases in the O.R. But when work is busy, or I have a pushy surgeon who will not begrudge me the ten minutes it takes to buy and eat a sandwich, I do not get to eat.

Everyone knows that hungry people tend to make unhealthy food choices, and overeat.  I find in the hospital, the thought about mealtimes is eat while you have the chance because you do not know when the next chance will be. I actually pack my lunch of organic, wholesome food even though I do not have to. Doctors at my hospital have access to hospital food at discounted rate. But I find my own food is faster. I don't have to run to the cafeteria. It saves time. And I feel better, too.

I think hospital workers are Innocent bystanders in the Hospital Food Conspiracy. We are a captive audience. Where else to go?  When there is time, we escape to Fast Food. One of the staff will make a food run and usually the doctor on call will treat. Many times, the food that is served at dinner in the cafeteria has been on the steam trays since lunch and is unappetizing. (I also do not eat any of the chicken dishes, because the chicken is of low quality and I suspect full of hormones and antibiotics. The same is true for beef and pork, and most of the fish that is served.)

Work hours start at seven in the morning, and often last until seven at night, or longer, for many of the workers in the medical center. Consequently, there is very little time to exercise (I take stairs whenever possible to compensate.) The hours and the workload can be stressful.  But there are always little treats around the hospital, like donuts or a candy jar. It is difficult sometimes to pass these up. The stress is even worse when we are stuck at work on holiday. Because we miss spending time with our families, we often have a pot luck to make ourselves feel better. You can imagine what kind of goodies everybody brings in.

In the hospital the work is demanding physically, mentally and emotionally. There is not much aerobic activity although we are on our feet most of the day. (I wear compression stockings to keep my feet from swelling up after my shift.). We also see misery and conditions that are disturbing, such as death, suffering, and fear. If anyone is in need of excellent fuel and optimization to do their work, it is the workers in the health care field. Many are forced to make the choice between time spent with their family and taking care of themselves with exercise during the short hours they are awake when they are away from the hospital.

What has our workplace done for this? Sneaky changes that are touted as healthy but are only stop gap measures in the big picture:

* the ice cream freezer 'broke' and was never replaced three years ago
* January 1st we learned of NEW HEALTHY FRIES! Baked, not fried. The deep fat fryer was taken away. The sweet potato and regular fries are tasteless and not edible.
* Doritos, Lays', and Fritos got the boot January 1, too.  Healthy Chip options are pita chips and whole grain baked. Not even Sun Chips. Again, Kale chips would taste better than these.
* Unfortunately they still have Coke, Snapple, Minute Maid Juice, fountain drinks, and energy drinks. But Honest Tea, sweetened with honey in glass bottles,  is gone.  Wouldn't this have been one of the first places to have made a change for health like the others?
*Although a salad bar is always open, a food worker once told me, 'you don't want to see what we have to do to the food so you can eat it--regulations'

The changes are inconsistent, without buy-in from the staff, and promote the American Heart Association recommendations for low-fat, low-cholesterol diet that is now being found to increase rates of diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.

My favorite vegan surgeon actually met with the CEO to discuss the possibility of having hospital food meet more current demand, such as organic, vegetarian, and locally grown foods. His ideas got shot down with laughter by the head of the organization, then and there in the administration's highest office.

And that, dear friends, is the opportunity that lies in front of us: to bring health back into the health care industry, one hospital, one patient, one worker at a time. Your knowledge and input is crucial to making this a reality. Ask for it. Don't accept the situation as it is. 


Namaste,

Reiki Doc