Finding a New Primary Care Doctor

A Big Thanks To Leslie at Wellparents.com for this great advice Thanks to Leslie at Read more

The Rollercoaster of Life

Grandma: "I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like Read more

Sheltering at Home/Covid 19

Never in the last two decades of my career as a physician would I have imagined that we would be using the same mask to see patients all day and then sterilizing/recycling them at the end of the day. Read more

Turmeric Health Benefits

Have you ever wondered what the paste is applied to the bride and groom's faces and arms in Indian weddings?  It's actually the spice turmeric.  Turmeric is the ingredient in curry that gives it a vibrant yellow color.  Actually, Read more

COVID 19 Precautions

With the scare of COVID here in the USA now, I wanted to post a little info about boosting immunity to prevent contracting the virus. Here are some important facts about Covid-19 It is spread by contact with Read more

Natural Tips for Avoiding Colds

This cold and flu season is still upon us and unfortunately, many patients are still being plagued by these nasty viral symptoms.  Here are a few tips to try if you feel like you are coming down with something. Of Read more

Sherry's Story

Sherry has a great story.  She has been diabetic for years and she has made some massive changes!   "I have been on a lifestyle change. It has been a year following a ketogenic food plan.  When I started this journey Read more

Pharmacy to Farmacy

Many of you may know Erin-- the fabulous Pharm D that worked in our office a few years back.  Erin is a phenomenal gal and we embarked on the journey  into natural medicine around the same time.  As we both Read more

family

The New Normal – A Modern Family

Let’s face it.  We aren’t living in a “Leave it to Beaver” world anymore.  That’s why I relate to Claire from Modern Family a little better than June Cleaver.  Do I have dinner on the table at 5 pm nightly?  Of course not.  I work and don’t even get home by five.    Do I like texting my daughter at college rather than calling her to see how her day was?  Heck no!   Unfortunately, calling her would leave me hanging for days.  Sensibly,  I text her and she responds in nanoseconds.  These days we are forced to ask ourselves, how can we connect without relying on the reality of what we were raised to believe was normal?  I think Theresa Mazza does a great job with this post. We adapt and reconsider what we value daily–it may not be “normal” for us, but it just may be what we do to stand for what we think is right.  Change is hard in the dance of  life.  Occasionally, we take a leap of faith.

 

 

Here is Theresa’s recent post–be sure to visit her blog at http://www.theresamazza.com

Cultural and societal norms seem to move as fast as the white waters of the Colorado River. The recent NBC series, The New Normal, highlights this reality. Every day it seems like there’s a new normal. What was normal 90 days ago is old school, out-dated, and irrelevant. Remember when paying for your flight included your luggage? That was then; now it’s normal to pay additional fees for each piece you check. Or remember when Christmas shopping meant fighting crowds and shopping till you literally dropped? But what normal person would put themselves through all that when you can shop for just about everything online and have it delivered right to your front steps?

The biggest question is, who decides what’s normal? The truth is, what’s normal for society doesn’t always become the norm in our personal lives. It’s normal for mothers to dress like their daughters these days, but maybe you can’t imagine adopting that as a personal norm. It’s more normal than ever to get a tattoo but, although I think tattoos are cool, I admit I’m all talk when it comes to getting one.

So what are we to do when we just can’t adopt the new norms that surround us? Do we picket and boycott, give in, do nothing, flounder in between, or do we resolve to continue loving people and allow Christ to shape our normal rather than society? “That’s normal” should never be the reason we accept something as a norm. Normal for the believer must come out of a relationship with our Creator.

In Genesis normal shifted as fast as it’s shifting now. It was normal for Adam to hang out in the Garden, walking and talking with God. It was normal for Adam and Eve to walk around naked. It was also normal for people and God to be so connected that God always knew where they were. But then, normal changed.

What happened?

Adam and Eve decided to adopt norms that were not in the interest of each other or their relationship with God, but self-interested. They left God out. This decision changed normal for them. In this Genesis story we see fear of God becoming normal over connection with God, we see blame becoming normal over caring for one another, we see a God who was normally delighted in his creation experience disappointment, we see a God who was able to give, now having to take away. It wasn’t just the first sin; it was the first time humans adopted a new normal outside of the normal God had established for them.

Self interest and the desire to know more and experience more allows normal to define us. Interest in others before ourselves and a desire to know God allows us to define normal. When our relationship with God is the deciding factor of the normal in our life we can influence normal instead of normal influencing us.

When we embrace God’s idea of normal, we can be a part of positive shifts in the society and culture we live in.

A “me” society can become a “we” society.
A violent people can become a peaceful people.
An exclusive local church can become an inclusive local church.
Global awareness can become global impact.
Followers can become leaders.

I recently spoke to group of teenagers about normal and left them with these two things:
Desire God first, and influence normal instead of letting normal influence you.

Where do we start? In the beginning…where God desired to walk with us, talk with us, share everything with us, create with us, and love us. Pursue God. Choose and live by his idea of normal for you. Then embrace and glorify him in your normal everyday life.

Romans 12 from the Message Bible says…

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Family, Guest Blog, Humor, Mind, Spirit 2 Comments

Labor Day Recipes

Happy Labor Day weekend!  The long weekend brings lots of get togethers with food as the main agenda!  Don’t waste your weekend slaving behind the stove—
Instead, load up your slow cooker with one of the following crowd-pleasing dishes. I’ve listed the  recipes in countdown order— if you have a favorite, please chime in below. Happy Labor Day!
10) Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup. This is filling, delicious, and is different enough to gain lots of attention on the buffet table. Easy to stretch by serving rice, and fixen’s like sliced avocado and tortilla chips.
9) Lima Bean Casserole Cassoulet. I love serving this to guests and listening to the conversation. “what type of beans are these?” “I’m not sure. some sort of large pinto beans or something?” I usually wait until the pot is practically empty before coming clean that they were lima beans.
8) Honey Lentils. Delicious, nutritious, vegan vegetarian, and such a fun offering to bring to a picnic. I get the nicest emails about these lentils!
7) Pesto Spinach Lasagna. I need to run to the store to pick up the ingredients for this! You have never had a better vegetarian lasagna. So so good.
6) Hirino Psito. This is a wonderful main dish to serve to guests. Worcestershire sauce, dijon mustard, and beer mix together to create a savory sauce that perfectly compliments the sweet contrast of brown sugar and cranberries. Win!
5) Brie with Apricot Topping. To make this more user-friendly for guests, insert an oven-safe dish into your large slow cooker and load the ingredients into the dish. Then remove the dish (use mitts!) and serve with your favorite crackers (we like Glutino a lot). Do not add water in the crockpot around the dish.
4) Pomegranate Beef. When we host a dinner for new friends, I usually make this. This keeps picky older relatives happy, along with the kids (note to self: I need to update some of these photos!). I’ve made this for television audiences, and served it at the Disneyland Food & Wine Festival, where the kitchen chefs gave rave reviews, which made me cry. This recipe was also featured on Oprah.com!
3) Cream Cheese, Sausage,  and Rotel Dip (mommy crack). The ingredients are odd, the taste is not. Make this and you’ll be happy.
2) Potluck Beans. We can’t have a potluck countdown without potluck beans, now can we? These beans have bacon. Nuff’ said.
1) Original Taco Soup. Feeds a bunch, easy to throw together, and everyone LOVES it. This has been our number one potluck bring along for the past 12 years.
 
Honorable mention: Black Beans with Cilantro. I ran out of numbers— this is a great bean recipe.
Enjoy your long weekend!
Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, disease, Nutrition, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food 2 Comments

Forty is the New Thirty

So I hit the big 40 yesterday!  I thought I would be depressed and sad.  Instead, I was thrilled!  With age comes experience, with experience comes wisdom, and with wisdom –confidence.  My crazy office family welcomed me with quite a production!  Then, I spent the evening with my beautiful family!  I have to laugh at their choice of posters to harass me with!  My poor friends and family are so sick of hearing me rant about eating healthy that they chose to really get me back!  They even made me eat fried chicken and brownies!  And yes, I felt kinda sick after.  When you walk the health food path for a while–you don’t miss the bad stuff.  Thanks to Kevin Deeth for the concept of the Cheat day because I can completely appreciate it now!  And thank you to all my friends and family for continuing to support my dream!  If you believe it–you can do it.  No matter how crazy anyone thinks you are!

 

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Exercise, Nutrition, Weight Loss, Whole Food 2 Comments

Parties, Parties, Parties

This last month has been filled with parties for the Henriksen clan!  Celebrations over high school graduation, softball championships, and birthdays!  Not that I am complaining about the wonderful accomplishments that we have to celebrate, but it does make it hard to stay healthy in mind, body and spirit.  The stress of cleaning, planning, shopping and lack of sleep have driven us all to the edge.  The menus can’t always include healthy food and scare away all of the partygoers.  The idea of serving kale chips, veggie kabobs, and vegan desserts to Sidney’s 12yo softball cronies was absolutely horrifying to her!  She said she would rather me try to sing “Call Me Maybe” than serve that disgusting food to her teammates.  Therefore, in effort to provide less ammunition for her to tell her therapist years from now after I have royally screwed her up with poor parenting antics, I settled on hotdogs, chips, and cake.  When we planned Emma’s 5th birthday shindig, I didn’t even try.  Instead, my adorable husband stayed up until 3 am pretending he was the Cake Boss making her a fantastic Lego cake while Emma and I played Martha Steward making a Pinterest wreath.  Sometimes, you throw in the towel–have a cheat day and then try to get back on track.  After all, YOLO!

Who couldn’t enjoy celebrating the accomplishments of these fabulous kiddos!

 

 

 

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Family, Humor, Mind, Nutrition, Spirit, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Father’s Day Anthem 2012

With Father’s Day approaching-I thought I might give a shout out to my own father! He may text and email me, however, I’m not sure he really knows how much I appreciate him! This man not only shaped my life, he formed my future. He is the influence that always said; “Make a career of what you love, be a professional so you don’t rely on anyone else to support you, and find a man who will always cherish you for being you.”  He also made me change a tire, check oil and tire pressure, and learn to drive a stick shift before I was allowed to ride in any car at sixteen years old! To my Dad on Father’s Day–I love you for being hard on me, making me tough, and telling me to mold my life out of reality!  I love you Dad!

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet Leave a comment

Even an 11 year old gets it!

Even an 11 year old gets it!  It is amazing how we forget the basics as we age.  We allow life experiences to cloud our judgement into thinking that this journey is about money, technology, and believing what we are told.  The perspective of child can really help open the mind to educate ourselves and seek out new truths!   This journey is about prioritizing yourself, the people you love, and opening your mind daily to new ideas and concepts.  Jeez, I hope Sidney marries this kid someday!

Posted on by Angela in Body, Call to action, Diet, disease, Family, Humor, Spirit, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

A Loyal Son’s Farewell

This tribute is in honor of one of my favorite patients whom recently lost her battle with ovarian cancer.  She was an incredible woman and the kind of person that really touches lives, including my own.  Her children are both patient’s and friends of mine and I wanted to share this with you.  I can think of nothing better than to have my son or daughter feel this way about me after I have passed.  Her kids may have lost her here on Earth-but, they will never lose the character and integrity that she gave them.

 

Her son writes the following final tribute after putting her to rest yesterday—

 

“Mom was a charter member of St. Susanna. Like many good Catholic mothers she was involved in choir, fundraising, Women’s Club, festivals, and other church activities, while being a devoted mother, daughter, and wife. So like many good Catholic families, when a special dessert or covered dish appeared in the kitchen, and we asked “Is that for us?” the frequent reply was, “don’t touch that, it’s for church.”

• Mom’s devotion to family was very real. She and Dad not only made sacrifices for their offspring, but each remained attentive to their respective parents. Mom remained a constant companion to her folks when they were in good health. When her parents and her husband, Ed, fell ill later in life, she was the consummate caregiver until each passed on.

• Mom’s move to Plainfield marked a totally new phase in her life. Despite being in her 70s, the change in surroundings from rural Mooresville to “city life,” brought her a lot of new and renewed friendships, closeness to church, and a remarkable range of new activities.

• Her outlook was a mixture of a mature experience and youthful enthusiasm. When she first moved to Plainfield, someone asked if she would like to transport the elderly. Despite her generosity, she hesitated, because she wasn’t sure she could spend so much time with “older people.” She was committed to physical activity going to water aerobics several times weekly until a few years ago, and recently renewed her interest in card playing, joining a euchre group in the area.

• In addition to continuing her regular attendance at Notre Dame games, and her relish of the pregame tailgating, she added the occasional Colts home game, and opened a new era of travel. As a child and younger adult, she had already seen much of the US with parents and us kids. She began traveling with St. Susanna friends to Great Britain, Ireland, Hawaii, and the Mediterranean.

• When the role of tour guide became too much, she enlisted her son Ed to be her chaperone for her continuing excursions to the Emerald Isle, around  7 or 8 in total. She reasoned that there were 1000 pubs in Ireland, and we still had most of them to visit. As recently as last fall, she was considering another trip.

• Until two years ago, when her health was beginning to decline, she still served as an ombudsman for the needs of her adult children and extended family. Our medical needs, transportation issues, and especially our day-to-day problems were never too much for her to try to handle.

• During her final years, Mom never lost her optimism, nor her acceptance of God’s will for her. As each of us is called upon to be Christ’s human presence to one another, Mom was a great example of that calling to her family and all who knew her well. Mom was not above human frailties, but our memories of her are of her unqualified love.

• Christmas was a shared passion with the rest of the family. Mom celebrated Christmas from Thanksgiving to the Epiphany and often beyond. Even when she was physically able to do much of the work, it took weeks to do all the decorating, cookie baking, shopping, and churchgoing.  Midnight mass was followed by a great breakfast in the wee hours of the morning, and she had her last yuletide gathering earlier this year.

• The church raffle/dinner/auction was an annual observance for Mom. She attended enthusiastically each year, and this year (not surprisingly) we bid successfully for a number of items intended for this coming Christmas. It was a standing joke in our household, from January on, “Do you know, it’s only *** days until next Christmas?”

• Throughout her life, even in recent months, her dry and sharp wit remained. There were a range of family inside jokes and sayings, and the slightest hint would raise Mom’s eyebrow and prompt a mischievous look.

• As we reviewed her photos and other memorabilia of her long and rich life, we were struck by one overriding impression, that of her goodness, her strength, her gentleness, and of a life well lived.”

 

A dear friend of mine shared this with me as well—hope this helps Ed!

~DEATH~
WHAT A WONDERFUL WAY TO EXPLAIN IT


A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to

Leave the examination room and said,
‘Doctor, I am afraid to die.

Tell me what lies on the other side..’
Very quietly, the doctor said, ‘I don’t know..’
‘You don’t know? You’re, a Christian man,

and don’t know what’s on the other side?’
The doctor was holding the handle of the door; 

On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining,

And as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room
And leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.
Turning to the patient, the doctor said,
‘Did you notice my dog?
He’s never been in this room before.
He didn’t know what was inside..
He knew nothing except that his master was here,
And when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.
I know little of what is on the other side of death,
But I do know one thing…
I know my Master is there and that is enough.’

Posted on by Angela in Benevolence, cancer, Charity, disease, Family, Guest Blog, Mind, Spirit Leave a comment

Ingenue

Kate Chaplin is a mom!  She aspires to pursue her passion for filmmaking, but is challenged by the economic demands of society.  She is currently filming her dream “Ingenue”.  Kate has chosen to follow her desires and be true to herself.  She made the decision to maintain her values during her journey in life.  Her goal is honorable and she is enacting her dreams within a timeframe that she can still afford;  offering her children an education, and remaining respectful to the morals only she was able to instill in them.   “Life is a journey, not a destination.” —-Ralph Waldo Emerson

Meet Kate Chaplin:

“When my oldest was born I promised her that she could be anything she wanted in this world. If she came to me at age 15 and said she wanted to be a magician I wanted to have the courage and the knowledge to say “yes, let’s learn what we need to learn to have you be the best magician you can be and make a living at it.” But I knew I could only do this if I truly gave it everything at my dream and showed them that it was worth fighting for.

Since a young age I wanted to work in film. I thought of it as the Wonderful World of OZ. I wanted to live behind the curtain where men pulled the strings. At the time I had my first daughter, I wasn’t persuing my dream of working in film. I was a stay at home and I was determined to be the best stay at home mom I could be – but I wasn’t happy. I didn’t feel whole.

Then I made a deal with my husband. I would stay at home with our children (I have two girls now) and pursue my creative dreams of writing and filmmaking. If by the time they were both in school full time and I was not making money, I would return to the standard workforce.

Over the last 7 years I have tried my hardest to balance my company, Karmic Courage Productions, and my family life. It’s a hard balance but I’ve been able to manage. In that time I’ve published 2 books (The Belief Test, The Celebration Diet), 13 short film projects, and worked on over 30 freelance film projects. None of it I can make a steady living on. The work is risky, I’ve been attached to more projects that get cancelled due to fundraising than I’ve actually worked on.

It’s now coming up on the eve of both of the girls being in full time school. I have till Fall 2013 to hope for a miracle or get ready to say goodbye.

I knew that if I looked back 50 years from now I’d regret never making a feature film. So this summer, which maybe the last big project I get to do, I’m making Ingenue. It’s a film I’ll be able to show my daughters when they ask again, “What did you want to be when you grow up?” I’ll be able to say whether I am currently working in an office cubical or flippin’ burgers that I tried, I gave it everything I had and it was worth fighting for. Fighting for your dreams is always worth it.

Odds are filmmaking and writing will never truly leave me, regardless of what happens this year.  I’m sure I’ll find weekends to make something small and fun but it won’t be a career. I’d be trading in the idea of making indie feature films for earning my kids college money. And I’m okay with that because when it comes down to it, I’m a mom.

But I’m not giving up without one hell of a fight. I’m going to put my heart and soul into Ingenue this summer. I’m so excited about this project, it’s themes and story fuel me. It’s the story that’s been hiding in me since I started this journey. It’s the cornerstone of everything I’ve learned, everything I’ve fought for. It’s the perfect piece to see if I can make some kind of money in this crazy film business.

Please, if you’ve dug my work. If you like what I’ve stood for: compassion, human rights, family and strong female characters, please continue to support me. Like Ingenue’s page on facebook, donate to our campaign (ends May 22), see my filmsbuy the DVD’s, or write me a note.

Win, lose or draw it’s going to be an awesome year. Because of you, my kids and my family I’ve gotten this far and I truly appreciate every moment of it.”

http://katechaplin.wordpress.com

Posted on by Angela in Call to action, Guest Blog, Mind, Spirit, Uncategorized 1 Comment

Juicing

I am frequently glanced at oddly in the hallways of the hospital when people see me carrying in my ball jar full of juice for breakfast.  If it is green, I get eye rolls or mysterious lurks.  Since my staff and I are all experimenting with juicing and recipes for tasty juice, I thought I would explain the differences between juicers.

Centrifugal vs Masticating

Centrifugal juicers work at high speeds and tend to be noisy.  They are wonderful at juicing fruits and vegetables quickly and are easy to clean.  However, they can juice green leafy vegetables but are not as efficient as a masticating juicer.

A masticating  juicer is especially good at juicing the green leafy vegetables such as wheatgrass, spinach, parsley, cilantro, kale, Swiss Chard.  One benefit of a masticating juicer is that it requires less veggies to create more juice than a centrifugal juicer.  It can also be used to make baby food, pasta, nut butter and ground meat.

I have a centrifugal juicer now since I am still a novice.  Eventually, I may upgrade.  I found my Omega 3 juicer at Georgetown Market for under $150.  There are juicers that are much less expensive and work well.

Tonight–I will be adding Kale and Parsley to my juice and disguising it in a colored glass so my kids will try it before they realize that it is green.  Baby steps and devious manuevers are required by this mom to change our family’s diet

 This is my juicer–so far so good although it is rather loud.

 Here is a link to a great article that is much more in depth on the differences in juicers —please check it out

 http://www.juicingwithg.com/types-of-juicers/

Posted on by Angela in Body, Diet, Nutrition, Organic, vegan, Weight Loss, Whole Food Leave a comment

Whitney’s Tribute

So I’m questioning myself after my 18yo’s graduation today , in which I found pride and faith once again;   Why did Whitney Houston lose her faith?  She claimed that she found the “greatest strength to love herself ”  but,  she lost it when she allowed herself to succumb  to her disease.   As I honor her and miss my childhood memories of singing her greatest tunes –I pity her for letting life and “outside forces”  bring her down.  We all need to remember that we are warriors –crusaders and not the victims of life.  We are “smart, kind, and important.”   The diseases we bring upon ourselves are only the results of letting others that are more worldly become the winners. Please trust your inner Angel and remember that life is a journey –it doesn’t have to be a battle.  Ask your higher power each day to make you attentive to all the signs that you may be given.  I thank my id, ego, and superego daily these days for allowing me to find my “greatest love of all” –myself.

Posted on by Angela in Benevolence, Body, Call to action, Diet, Family, Mind, Weight Loss Leave a comment