Primary Food

Do you ever wonder why some people can just eat junk food and sugar, and smoke cigars, and still be healthy? It hardly seems fair. And then you meet some people who are super-careful with everything they eat and they seem so miserable and look pale and weak.

Often when we see something like this we chalk it up to genetics or good luck, but there is one factor that can’t be overlooked, and that factor is referred to by Joshua Rosenthal (head of the school Institute for Integrative Nutrition) as Primary Food.

Primary food... what does that mean? It means your work, your relationships, the fun you have, how meaningful your life is in general, and how much you are enjoying it.

It seems that how happy you are with your life may be even more important than what you put in your mouth, as far as determining how healthy you are.

Think about it... the times you’ve been in love, or consumed by joyful work, such as making music, or doing art, or anything creative- you forgot all about food, didn’t you? And yet you felt great.

My acupuncturist once said to me that you send little “live” and “die” messages from your brain to your body all day long. So it’s really important that you have something to live for. Not just something to *not die* for (people need me at work and at home) but something to *live* for (I can’t wait to start on that project, or go camping with my kids, etc.).

So that, my friends is why I’ve been absent from the blogosphere for the last 3 weeks. I decided to fill up on some primary food, because my life was getting out of balance. Too much grunt work at the computer (zillions of e mails, networking, book promo, etc.) and not enough joy.

I decided to go back to this awesome music camp in New Mexico where I taught during the summer 1999-2004 and have myself a week of fun, sun, mountains, stars, great kids, awesome fellowship with other teachers and music, music, music. I’m pooped, my clothes are covered in camp dust, and I had a blast. I feel full.

So... primary food! What brings you joy? Who are the meaningful relationships in your life, and are you getting enough time with those people? Can you schedule more Vitamin F (fun) into your week? Tell me about your primary food-  who in your life fills you up, what you like to do that makes you feel alive and happy to the core, and so on.

cycles

So here's something I've been mulling over for a very long time: vicious cycles. And whatever the opposite of that is- heathy cycles?
When I'm in pain, I can't sleep. And when I can't sleep, it runs me down and I'm in more pain. Here I am, the person who needs sleep the most and I can't get any. How do I break this cycle? It has to be interrupted with something like ice, heat, massage, acupuncture, pain pills, death... The last option works, but it kind of misses the point of getting rid of pain, which is to me, to get back to my life. The problem with pain pills (and most pills) is that if you never get to the bottom of what is causing the pain and eliminate the problem, then you become dependent on the pills. But I digress. This post is supposed to be about cycles. So let's look at another cycle.

Let's say something really bums you out. Like you lose your job. It's much easier to find a job when you have a job, because you believe you are hire-able, desirable, kinda of like in high school when you tell your friend you like a boy and now all of a sudden she wants to go out with him. ( I really should have told that so-called best friend I had a crush on some dirtbag just to see if she would go after him, too. But I digress, again). So now you can't get a job because you don't have a job. The person who has a job is getting lots of offers, but the one who needs a job the most can't get one. How do we break this cycle? Volunteer work? Internships? retraining? more school? Affirmations? I don't know- something has to interrupt this cycle.

This happens in personal relationships as well. Like say someone doesn't help with housework, so the other person decides to stop cleaning and start hoarding junk in the garage. Then they get into a sort of Mexican standoff and neither one will change until the other does. It can get so bad that the only hope is to call the TV show CLean House and have them rescue them form their own behavior and broadcast their insanity for all the world to see.

When we are sick and in pain it can be hard to keep a sunny outlook. Chronic pain can really drag you down. Sleep deprivation can drag you down at least as fast. The double whammy of the two can make you forget how to laugh or even smile. But it is so important that we find a way to send positive vibes through our body, because unhappiness creates disease.

Something has to come along and cause a "pattern interrupt."
A good laugh, a fun activity, some affirmations, a massage (a bunch of massages...), playing with a dog, making a collage... What do you do to create positivity in your life?

Happiness is Good for you

I read a study a while back that said a negative stressor like getting yelled at can negatively affect your immunity for up to 12 hours, whereas a positive experience, such as getting together with friends for fun, can positively affect you immunity for up to 3 days.(It really shouldn't seem like some radical notion that being happy enhances the immune system.

In fact, in the DVD "The Secret," this same principle is touched upon: we have 60,000 thoughts a day (!). Thankfully, the positive ones have more power to affect your reality than the negative ones. Of course if there are no positive thoughts... that could be a problem.

The lesson? it's more important to have fun than it is to avoid stress.

My still newlywed husband and I (not quite 6 months yet) were invited to a big family gathering. We were extended family, as in Joe's sister-in-law's family. We've met a number of these folks before at birthday parties, etc.

So the Patriarch of the Day was Florio, who every year rents a big party bus, gives all his grandkids some money, and we go into New York City (from Yonkers) and go to Toys R Us. Then we go see the big tree at Rockefeller Center. some of us, including me, also stopped into St. Patrick's Cathedral, which is beautiful and has a life-size nativity scene in he sanctuary. I lit a candle ad said a prayer for my Aunt, who is struggling with cancer and related problems.

At the tree, which is also where the ice skating rink is, I was so fortunate to have ended up at that place during the very time that a Tuba Christmas was going on! Every year, for many years now, a bunch of tuba players gather under the Big Tree and play Christmas carols. Only tubas allowed! there were 450 tubas this year! I had heard of this because I played tuba in high school. I never thought I'd see it in first person!

We also saw the friendly neighborhood Spiderman on the sidewalk, 2 cops on horses, and Santa driving a stretch limo.

We all then had a huge Italian dinner at an authentic Italian place that feeds you for 2-3 hours straight. whew.

To top it off, we arranged for our neighbor to visit our little dog with her little dog for a little while and she kept them together for 5 hours! So even our dog had a great day.

We should be immune to anything tomorrow, always a good thing on Monday!

Speaking of fun- hear some funny songs at
http://www.thesingingpatient.com