A full week!  Monday brought the arrival of the grandchildren at Charleston airport.  First trip alone for the two of them together.  They are seasoned travelers so from their perspective it was nothing.  Their mother and I, however, were very excited for them.  I followed their trip on Flight Aware, a very cool app.  My challenge was to give them my undivided attention but still get my studies done.  Early mornings worked out as the best and quietest time.  Teens and pre-teens sleep a lot!  We filled our days with golf, movies, kayaking, Marine Colors and Graduation, a trip to Asheville and The Biltmore Estate and a baseball game.  I am now exhausted and ready to reclaim my quiet life of studies and learning to be a health coach. I would not have missed this week for anything!

Our subject matter for this week was Functional Medicine and Food is Function and our two speakers were Susan Blum, MD MPH and Christiane Northrup, MD FACOG.

Susan Blum explored with us how food influences our cells.  Some foods are protective and strengthen our cells, such as berries and other food such as caramel food coloring damage our cells.  We discussed the difference between food allergies and food sensitivities.  Food allergies cause a specific response, for example hives, breathing issues.  Food sensitivities are when you feel better if you don’t eat the food.

You can test for food sensitivities by removing foods for a period of three weeks.  The top 5 are, gluten, dairy, corn, soy, and eggs.  After three weeks, reintroduce one food at a time for four days and eat it 2 to 3 times a day to see if there is a reaction.  If there is a reaction no need to keep eating it, just eliminate it.  Seems simple enough, right?

I just loved listening to Christiane Northrup.  I have followed her for years and have loved her perspective and read her books.  She has a new book just recently published “Goddesses Never Age” am adding it to my library.

Dr. Northrup is a functional medicine doctor which is simply a doctor who treats the whole person and the underlying causes of disease.  Not just treating the symptoms of the disease.  As Dr. Blum said remove the tack don’t just take an aspirin for the pain caused by sitting on the tack.  Amusing analogy.

Dr. Northrup explored the link between food and love from infancy to adulthood.  I loved her analogy that eating organic whole foods is like breastfeeding from Mother Earth.   Ok by me.

It seems to me that there is a definite link between health and the food you eat so why not make sure it is the best possible food you can consume.  Sometimes it takes time to find what works for you but isn’t it worth it.  A few weeks or months of exploring and the result could be years of great health and fitness.

We are ending our week of being full-time grandparents on a high from spending time with those we love and may I say admire.  They are growing up into wonderful, smart, creative and fun to be with people.  Who can ask for more.  Sometimes life isn’t perfect, not everything goes as planned, but this week exceeded all our expectations.

May you all have a wonderful week and may it be filled with healthy food and love.

LouLou