Headshot...doesn't reveal the 20 extra lbs.

We read every day about obesity problems from throughout the world. Well, what are we willing to do about it? I can contribute 20 lbs…which I know will help me live longer, feel better and begin reducing the deficit of health we have right now. What will you do? the research tells us that we need a community to help us along because we essentially are our friends. So, who’s my friend and willing to live a long life, beginning now? I need help through this next phase of loss and am here to help you. I knew it today when I had french fries for the first time in two months…and my friends didn’t say anything. Not about my stress or why I reverted to something easy. They weren’t sure they had permission to question my choice. Culturally we now have permission to stop each other from driving drunk and question when we’re not recycling. How about living? The more weight we hold, the more disease we have so let’s live this life together. I’ll let you know what I’m doing and help whoever needs it – and ask for your help along the way. It’s not easy but I like the alternative.

Finding Exercise in All Locations

With guilt I headed out for a power walk this morning and stumbled upon a great workout – the stairs that bring you to the best beauty and fashion in the world. At the end of Via Rodeo – an alley behind Rodeo Dr – stairs lead you down to Wilshire Blvd. Up and down 10 times did it for me, getting to exhaustion and wobbly legs…though invigorated by the accomplishment. The beauty as I walked away, viewing Versace, Porsche Designs, Tiffany and Jose Eber made it all the more worthwhile. Have you uncovered an unconventional place to exercise recently?

It amazes me how often our lack of confidence causes our defaults to be set to deficiency rather than greatness. At a conference a few weeks back a rather impressive woman was hesitant to speak in front of the group, providing excuses on why she might not be the best person to communicate what her break out group discussed. It stopped me in my tracks as I heard her. When I offered the view of setting her default to greatness and assume confidence opposed to already finding fault, she looked at me like I uncovered her secret.

Since that day I’ve been highly attuned to others’ language and the way we quickly and easily find fault in ourselves – before there is even any evidence that we won’t measure up. It seems far more prevalent with women than men and women acknowledge they feel a lacking in their life of being their own cheerleader. I actually think it could be an epidemic!

I’m staying with friends this weekend in Sausalito, CA and enjoyed their 7 year old son’s t-ball game yesterday. After the game – or hour of play since every player hits and runs the bases without keeping score – he declared to be the best player. Their 5 year old daughter has delighted me with her coloring and tells me she’s the best!

Let’s get back to this brightness of confidence that we had as children and set our defaults to greatness like we change our clocks for daylight savings time. We should automatically believe we will achieve success in all we do, and if that isn’t always the result, let’s go easy on ourselves. There are enough people to think otherwise but don’t let it be you.

Dr. Kelly Traver’s new book, The Program: The Brain-Smart Approach to the Healthiest You offers a 12-week program that focuses on becoming healthier by understanding your brain. It’s interesting in the explosion of information in neuroscience that Dr. Traver is able to translate the scientific information in an easy to understand way. She developed this program while leading Google’s wellness efforts as Global Medical Director. What a great group to be guinea pigs for her concepts – and the results are pretty amazing. Offered in the book is a step by step guide for eating, exercise, nutrition, taking care of your brain to take care of yourself. With all that I’ve been reading on the brain and personally understanding how lack of sleep and nutrition from Celiac begins to destroy your life, I have to say I connected with her writing. Tomorrow l have the pleasure of meeting Kelly…and then in earnest begin on the 12-week journey she lays out. I’ll let you know how it goes and report back to you. If anyone already started The Program let me know how it’s going. There is a free trial offer for the first 5k to purchase the book, as part of the online version with her company The Healthiest You.

Many people will tell you that life is short, particularly when it’s around some kind of tragic event. The reality is that life is the longest things we’ll ever do. Longer than most of your relationships – your parents, possibly siblings, not usually your children – but you get the picture. Those experiences that people are urging you to do is what makes up life, not the other way around. That being said, it seems that we don’t generally do a good job in planning out our life. As I hit 45 a few months ago I realized I’m not even midlife – I’m beyond. Based on family history I don’t envision living until I’m 90 years old, although I’ll give it my best shot.

Now that I’m focused on it, I have a better chance than my parents did because of their health. Mom made it to 54 and Dad to 76. Since my eldest sibling only made it to 53…I’m thinking I’d better get my ass in gear and focus on living healthy and not just living. I wish when I was younger there was a session on life planning, similar to financial planning. That way I would understand the development of my system: body, spirit, heart – throughout life, how it would change, what I needed to do and how to prepare for the future – the way we do with our 401k.

Well I say it’s never too late so I’m creating a plan that will focus on the immediate 18 months (Peter Drucker tells us that an 18th month horizon is appropriate for your career so I’ll borrow from that). I’ll set goals based on my aspirations, my current health and financial level, create targets to achieve and check in 3 times a year for an assessment. I need to figure out who’s on my team – my own Dream Team. Any suggestions? I was thinking of it as my health circle – the different folks I’ll need to be successful.

While life may feel short and be short for some – certainly for my brother Arthur who made it to 3 – it’s the longest thing we’ll ever do, even for those who go young. I want to discover more rainbows like the one in the bay in Sausalito. So let’s make the best of it in a planful way. I’m starting – how about you?

In my furious procrastination to writing today I made gluten free pizza from scratch using Bob’s Red Mill Pizza Crust Mix. Positively delicious! This is the first holiday eating gluten free and thanks to gluten free pumpkin pie from Whole Foods and steering clear of stuffing, it was ok. I won’t trade getting sick and glutened but I do miss the old home cooking!

A bit overdone but really tasty!

After making the crust and breaking in a new mixer, I flattened the dough on a cookie sheet. Definitely heed the directions of keeping hands wet – without typical flour it is sticky. Then I piled on Amy’s spaghetti sauce with mozzarella and red & yellow peppers.

While the cooking time was only 7-9 minutes, the crust wasn’t done. Clearly I made it a tad too thick…20 minutes later and a pleasing shade of brown, it was done. The package makes two 12″ pizzas, so I froze the other one for another day and have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Too bad I discovered this now as I’d love to cook it on the grill!

According to trendwatching.com, we are currently in the state of Nowism. It’s called “the ingrained lust for instant gratification.” It’s an extreme focus on the current state and increased demand to get everything we want immediately. Hhmm sounds like a 3 year old. They show a variety of examples of this playing out. Let’s look how it’s playing out from a health perspective.

Medication – Finished at the doctor’s office and ready to take your medicine immediately? Just stop at the vending machine on your way out and let your antibiotics start working by the time you start up your car.

Food - Vending machines that carry fresh food and kosher food are now available with meals and fresh produce that are good for you where you are – instantly. Running from meeting to meeting and missed lunch?  Heading home and no time to stop at the grocery? Don’t worry, your choices now include fresh sandwiches and produce. For this category, I’m putting an order in for a machine with gluten free food!

Exercise & Weight – Instant gratification solutions continue to innovate here – from plastic surgery and lap band surgeries for those who want it quick, to Big Loser shows and the every-person boot camps for people willing to sweat it out. Fitting exercise into a daily routing gets easier when it becomes part of what you have to do, work. An exercise machine connected to your desk? Those are gaining steam, but it’s tough to be on a business call and go at a decent pace without sounding winded.

Health Diagnosis takes time and not always self evident without testing and review of years of health data, so instant here is relevant. The nowism concept has been in development with regards to medical home equipment for years, for people to have their own equipment at home to monitor and track their health. Tom Cruise comes to mind here in a weird way, with the imaging equipment he brought into his home for privacy when Katie was expecting Suri. While shopping at an antique store this weekend I came across this nowism concept – from long ago. I discovered an “old” medical home piece of equipment – a portable EKG machine doctors used when visiting patients in their home. I wonder how long it will be until Hello Health doctors are carrying a new version of this machine.

But how will Nowism intersect with Consumerism where intolerance is usually followed by people voting with their feet – creating changes in prices, business models and processes? How do you want your health, now?

According to a recent health.com article, some women live for 15 to 20 years in pain with an auto immune disorder before the right diagnosis and treatment. I’m one of those women. One of 22 million – a number absolutely staggering. And many of us think we’re crazy, are told we’re hypochondriacs and to just wait as the symptoms may go away. They don’t.

Having moved from Boston to Louisville, KY in midlife I had many stressful events that clearly added on to symptoms I was living with for years. The first doctor said I had Multiple Sclerosis. I knew this was wrong – I lived, ate and breathed MS my entire lifetime as my Dad was a quadriplegic from the time I could walk from it until six years ago. Doctor after doctor – from Lupus, Lyme Disease, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia – the tests were endless.

I spent all of my energy focused on working and then collapse in the evening at home to regenerate. We just lost my sister at 53 to cancer, and I didn’t want to burden my family with how sick I really was. I also knew I couldn’t live my life this way. Looking back to the way my father was able to keep himself alive for so many years, with the help of a health circle – those around him to manage the various needs. His will to live was unbelievably strong – even when my Mom died 23 years ago. His intake of food each day was based on the nutrients he needed – no cheating. This was done without complaint. When his doctor said he needed to lose some weight – he cut out red meat and off came 20 pounds. This is for a man who cannot move, walk or exercise. When the MS further constricted his eating as his swallow muscles began to go, his food was cut and mashed. Still no complaint. Dad had a plan. He was going to live and the system around him was built to make that happen.

He inspired me to find the answers to my puzzle. I pulled out my baby books and receipts throughout my lifetime and mapped out every symptom, shot and hospitalization. I work on Insights in a large health organization and used the process I created – to gather seemingly unrelated information to develop deeper meaning – Insight – into the problem. Then at the grocery check out I read an article that hit me between the eyes – I found my diagnosis.

Heading back to the doctor with my health map and he was amazed. “What are aliens” he asked, which started showing up in my 20s. I was afraid he would ask that. But once I switched from that white zinfandel wine (ugh) to bud light, every Saturday morning was spent in the bathroom. And the aliens would come out every so often with things I’d eat, but there didn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason. Symptom after symptom – starting since I was six years old and rushed to the hospital for what they believed to be appendicitis and ended up as gastroenteritis. Ah, gassy girl. Pretty.

The doctor diagnosed me with Celiac Disease and over the past five months I’ve been detoxing from gluten. I have my life back and when they say you don’t realize how sick you were until you get better – I understand. It seems to me that with complicated diseases we need better tools to help people. Like the ones developed to diagnose me, what we used to keep my father alive for so many years, and a way to help people manage their health and communicate better. Thus, I’m writing a book on the lifetime lessons from caring for people and myself – essentially project managing your health. I’m a blessed person and hope to help others figure out the system to live a better life.

Ok, so now I’ve outed myself as a Reality Show junkie, although now I’m gleaming insights which could be dangerous. In the Rachel Zoe Season Finale, we get a glimpse into her world and how she and her husband are managing her issues with Vertigo. Not fun to have and clearly she’s on the path to self-destruction if she doesn’t make changes. Never did I think I’d be putting Rachel Zoe out as an example for how to manage your health but there are three lessons from this show to draw upon:

1. Tell the Truth – why go to the doctor – many times – if you’re not going to be honest about the severity of your symptoms, whether you’ve followed their direction for activities, diet, etc? Doctors can only help you if you let them and as they are processing your information to come up with the best solution for you, why leave out important information? How many other places in life do people want to authentically help you – so help them do it!

2. Get a Bulldog – most think of this as the “advocate” for your health, though thinking of them as a bulldog puts them in the right framework to get the job done that the sickly friend can’t. We rarely have the energy to drive ourselves to the doctor when sick, never mind waiting alone, telling your story, listening to the directions, and then following the directions. Let someone else push through it all and make you the priority and at the very least join in on the visit to hear the doctor’s instructions. As we saw on the show, the bulldog can also push back on the patient – though Roger was going a bit over the edge for Rachel’s liking – he did manage to push through the spinning cycle to make change.

3. Make Changes – big kudos for Rachel and Roger for creating a plan to change the stress in her life that’s causing the Vertigo. Let’s face it, she’s a creative talent trying to run an operation, so putting her husband in that role probably should have come earlier since the staff is made of creative types as well. I have a feeling the passive aggressive behavior will change in the future, definitely aiding to reduce stress. In any event – she’s breaking the cycle and making changes. That’s the hardest thing for people to do, and more difficult to sustain it.

Guess we’ll have to wait until next season to find out whether the change stuck and if she’s doing better. Meanwhile, I wonder what other shows we least expect to teach us lessons about managing their health will come from Bravotv!

The blogging begins, to start the conversations on health – yours, mine and ours! Regardless of who I talk to, whether its a close friend or new acquaintance in an airport, each person has a story to tell about their health. It seems that it’s the new way for us to relate, empathize and connect. To share information, solace and insights about something we personally experienced or perhaps a friend of a friend. With health and healthcare being so complex with its many dimensions, there isn’t one silver bullet, or answer for what may ail us. And we can’t expect our doctors to be the holy grail in it all. It’s about owning our own health…with some help!