On weight, wellness, and the moon

I am asked pretty frequently about how I lost baby weight following two pregnancies in two years. The truth is that I followed a very strict low-calorie and low-glycemic index eating plan that made the most significant impact in my weight loss; but that wasn't all I did. I have had a complicated relationship with food and weight for most of my adult life and resolving those issues involved a lot more than just counting and restricting calories.

My relationship to my own spirituality has been the key to losing weight and maintaining the loss over time without following a plan or counting calories. I credit my connection to nature and my observation of moon phases, funny enough, for much of my ability to see food as it's meant to be viewed - as a source of fuel. Eating is pleasurable, and was meant to be so. But it's a source of energy for our physical bodies, nothing more and nothing less. And the more we eat whole foods in their most natural state, the healthier we will be. The more aware of our own physical activity levels and the more we attune our eating with our activity such that we burn the calories we take in, the easier it is to achieve a proportional and maintainable weight that is not a burden to our circulatory systems. Your heart has to work so hard when you are overweight! If for no other reason, you should pursue a healthy weight just to be kind to your heart.

So what does it mean to attune yourself to nature and follow moon phases in order to lose weight? It means that as the moon waxes and wanes (grows full and then less full), so your body is naturally inclined to hold on to water and excess calories at particular times of the month (this is true for both sexes, by the way, but is exacerbated for women by the menstrual cycle). I eat fewer calories in the first half of the month because I find that it's easier to maintain my weight as the moon wanes, which is in the second half of the month. I also look to the moon for guidance about harvest cycles and direction toward which foods are seasonally appropriate and freshest at any given time. I create gemstone elixirs at the new and full moons that I use at other times of the month to maintain and boost my metabolism.

Most of all, though, in connecting to my own spirituality I am "doing the work" of resolving inner conflict and addressing shadow issues in my life that I propose are tied to weight gain and obesity for many people. The thinner you are, the less padding you have against the pains of life. People gain weight to avoid love, intimacy, connection; as they lose weight, they become physically closer to those around them. The discomfort with such closeness is in my view the primary reason so few people maintain weight loss over time. Spirituality is the channel I use to process my own challenges in life such that I can appreciate intimacy with others and not avoid it.

Here's to your health and optimal weight, and to the moon for her guidance.

Tuesday's quick tip: Anti-aging secret(s)

You can take the girl out of research land, but not the researcher mentality out of the girl. I like to collect data on random things. I love asking people questions about how they live their lives. And my favorite question to ask of beautiful women is, "How are you staying youthful?" Because we all have secrets. And if you ask nicely enough, most women will share theirs with you.

Here are the top five answers I've received and pieces of wisdom I've gathered over the years.
1. Exfoliate
Get a dry brush, use a facial exfoliant, buy a body scrub. However you do it, get that dead skin off your body! It will reveal a more youthful layer of skin below.
2. Oil up
Put a few drops of rosemary oil in your bath, and a few drops of lavender oil in your moisturizer. While you're at it, place a piece of mookaite jasper in your moisturizer jar too. It's the fountain of youth stone.
And make sure your moisturizer has a decent SPF.
3. Stop smoking. Like right now. Forever.
4. Meditate daily.
5. Drink water. Then drink more. Eh, a little more.

Want one more tip? Take all your vitamins, especially the Bs and Omega 3s (but not Omega 6s).

Tales of the talking stick

Lately I've been very aware of time - how it passes, how I use (or don't use) it, how others perceive it, how it's written on my body and my face, how it manifests in my children's growth. So it's no surprise that my birthday felt ... different this year. Not a milestone birthday, I'm 38. But definitely a different one given my orientation toward time at the present moment. In thinking about what to do to mark the day, I considered lots of options and finally decided to do something I was sure others would find strange. Well maybe not for me, but certainly not something most people would choose to do on such a day: I got up early, packed some snacks, and drove to the middle of California along the Mexican border to a sleepy town called Boulevard and picked wild sage with a wild woman on her wild sage farm. The two-hour drive from San Diego was absolutely breathtaking, though punctuated more frequently than I anticipated by border patrol. I arrived and it was hot - a blistering summer day in the southeast desert. I drove down the winding path to the farm and wondered if I was in the right place. And then I saw it - the field of sage growing as tall as I stand, blowing in the passing breeze. I was greeted at the main house by about 8 dogs of all sizes and ages (some raced to greet me, others barely moved or looked up). And then the owners emerged and welcomed me.

The rest of the day passed so quickly, and there is so much to tell I could write a novel about the experience. I love that the couple who farm this land found the sage at the corner of their 22-acre property by accident on a hike about a year after they moved in and then used seeds from the mother plant to grow the others. They let me buy as much sage as I could fit in the back of my SUV, which is a lot. They know I make sage bundles and were happy to become my new wholesale supplier. I was amazed at the array of products they make (sage balms, tincture, essential oil, hydrosol) and the standards they maintain despite the incredible growth of their company. Most of all, I was inspired.

But perhaps the highlight of the day was a rare glimpse I got into the life of the owner as artist; she doesn't just run this farm, she creates all kinds of other things in other media using raw and organic materials. My favorite item she has created was also the oldest - it's the talking stick pictured at the opening of this entry. It is used by her family in all sorts of significant ways and is more than 30 years old. It gets passed around at Thanksgiving for people to speak their gratitude around the dining table; it gets used in ceremony to signal the opening of sacred space; and her grandkids carry it around the property when they visit, lending it additional wear but also additional beauty. Beads and feathers and other adornments are added each year. And the result is this beautiful physical cataloguing of what matters most in her life - art. And of course, love.

I am so glad I chose to drive out to this beautiful space on my birthday this year. Not sure how I'll top the experience next year. Not sure I need to. Or even could.

Crystal and gem basics

Tuesday's quick tip: Building your basic essential oil library

Healing work requires that you maintain a basic stock of essential oils at home. This can become an expensive hobby, or you can approach the purchase of your oils from a conservative place of just wanting to own what you need. I am listing my five personal favorites below. You can order them online (amazon.com carries an amazing selection from a variety of vendors) or go to your nearest Whole Foods/Sprouts/Henry's market to find them. Most can be purchased for between $5-7 per bottle.

1. Lavender - antiseptic, boosts mood, promotes relaxation.  A few drops in a warm bath after too much sun will help with sunburn.
2. Rosemary - also antiseptic, also mood-boosting, but this oil also helps with skin care.  It promotes smoothness of skin and with regular use and frequent dry-brushing, can eliminate cellulite and rough skin patches.
3. Eucalyptus - this oil you must keep on hand to diffuse into the air or just to put a drop under each nostril when ill.  It clears sinuses and helps prevent infection.  A drop or two in a warm bath serves the same purpose.
4. Tea tree or melaleuca - this oil clears blemishes and heals all kinds of skin and nail infections, even of a fungal nature.  It's a miracle oil!
5. Patchouli - is a strong one, so test it first to see if you like it.  It grounds you and calls you into present time, and can be used with the other oils to offer the grounding benefit as you heal specific ailments.

Others you might like include neroli, or orange blossom, which is pricey but beautiful and very intoxicating. Lots of people enjoy lemon and peppermint. A few drops of peppermint oil infused into a bottle of distilled water can be sprayed to stop ants from attacking indoors. That way you avoid the toxic fumes of ant spray! Lemon oil added to your kitchen cleaning supplies helps improve the scent and promotes effectiveness at cutting grease.

If you really want to take the oil collecting to the next level and already own "the basics", go here, to Young Living's site.  There you will find expensive but very exotic and incredibly high quality blends.  My favorite is Abundance, but I own lots and will be honest, they are all great.

Please use wisdom when applying pure essential oils directly on the skin; most need to be delivered via a "carrier oil" like almond or apricot seed, which you can get at your local markets as well, or you can add them to unscented lotion. Diffusing essential oils using a tealight burner (which you can also find on amazon.com) allows you to enjoy the scent without risks of physical contact. This can be very helpful in a child's room for example when little ones are sick, or in your own room when you just want to relax and unwind after a long day. And always with these oils, less is more; a little goes a long way.

Enjoy putting your oil library together!