This is a ludicrous conclusion.  Depression is an emotion, and as has been pointed out in numerous studies, an emotion that is chemical.  There are two possible triggers for the release of chemicals that bring on depression, external factors that create stress and internal factors that create chemical imbalance.  Now don’t reach just yet for the Celexa, Lexapro, Paxil, Prozac, Luvox, Zoloft, Cymbalta, Pristiq, Effexor, Strattera, Wellbutrin, Concerta, Elavil, Abilify, Seroquel, Lamictal… I’m even tired of typing them out, and this is less than half of the pharmaceutical anti-depressants available today.  Instead take a look at depression as a signal.  A signal our body is sending us for only one reason: change.

No one likes change.  We all avoid change like the plague.  We want our lives to be neat, orderly, unmessy, within our control.  So in order for true change to occur, there needs to be a shake-up of sorts.  Something that shakes us out of our cozy spot.  Sometimes we can have developed a cozy spot that is actually damaging, depleting, debilitating and even dangerous.  In this case, change becomes a survival instinct that the body expresses.  And the sign of the need for change is depression.

When the body and mind have identified the need for change, whether on the outside or on the inside, then the chemicals of depression begin to flow, and that is our sign that we cannot remain in the same “cozy spot” for much longer.  We need to begin to shake off the dust, look around, get our bearings and open ourselves up to new opportunities and healthier options.  In this way, depression is a good thing.  It is the sign that it’s time to reassess.  It induces us to be uncomfortable with our current situation (whether internal or external) so that change becomes a force, a desire to take us to a healthier, better “cozy spot”.

But if we simply take an antidepressant, simply block the depression so we can go on with our lives unchanged, then we are subduing our survival signal.  The more we resist change, the more we become standing blockages in the flow of energy in our lives, our work, our family and our community.  We lose flexibility and our adaptability.  We become, as Darwin pointed out, the weaker of the species.  We will not be able to withstand a severe challenge because we have become so rooted in our cozy spot.  This is why severe illness will often follow a lengthy bout of depression… because we ignored the signal.

This is not to say that you shouldn’t or couldn’t utilize mood stabilizers temporarily to help you function.  But you want to feel the signal, use the anguish to push you to examine your life and your health, being honest with yourself and others about your cozy spot.  This is the opportunity to consider options, review choices and open yourself up to the winds of change.  Open the windows and let the fresh air flow through your life.  Step back and really think about your depression and what your body and mind are trying to tell you.

How great is it that we have someone who really looks out for us, guides us, signals us and supports us!  And that someone is you… so good for you!

What I find myself missing is the silence and the time outs that were an inherent part of my earlier life; my life before cell phones, e-mails, texts, twitters, and the general oppressive and compulsive nature of technology.  After I came back, I found myself not answering my cell phone, not returning messages, not turning on my computer and generally craving being outdoors and unplugged.  And an interesting thing happened.  People were uncomfortable with that.  Even my newly acquired financial adviser who is just beginning to get to know me, and is probably around 70 commented to me that I don’t really respond to my phone.

So what have I noticed?  I’m sleeping better.  I’m losing more weight.  I’m calmer.  I’m actually enjoying life.  And best of all, I don’t feel the least bit guilty.  When did we sign up for around the clock availability?  What happened to our acceptance of the unavailability of people?  When someone didn’t answer the phone, we were perfectly content to call back. If we left a message, we didn’t expect an immediate response.  If we sent a letter, we didn’t expect an answer right away.  We allowed for time to pass, and in that time people were living their lives.

Now we expect instant answers, instant results, instant gratification, instant connection.  Even in relationships, I see people meet for the first time and think that they should be committed within a few weeks.  Come on people!  Where is our sense of relaxation? Why do we need 24 hour news, twitter updates, texts while we’re driving?  Why can’t we just unplug?

What I have found in my own life is that when I choose not to listen, to unplug my life, then my life becomes my own, not something I’m sharing with hundreds of other people.  My time becomes something that flows in the direction I wish (i.e. I’m the director of my own life) instead of flowing in the direction of greatest demand.  My grandfather used to tell me that you have to take as much time for yourself, as you give to others, which probably explains the many hours he spent out on the river fishing.  It allows reflection, processing, organizing and prioritizing.  It allows an objectivity to flow from your intuitive self which is oppressed and even blocked by the pressure and demands of technology.

And let’s think about the constant bombardment of our bodies and brains by electrical devices.  When I’m chatting with people about poor sleeping habits, I can’t tell you how many of them have so many electrical devices in their bedrooms, that their dreams must be filled with a constant hum just from the electrical fields.  Even James Thurber made fun of his grandmother who believed that electricity could actually leak out of electrical sockets and affect you while sleeping.

We began with firelight, then candlelight, then gas light, then electric light and now we have power grids, gigantic power lines and poles, underground cables and even transatlantic cables.  Our bodies are surrounded by a power that we invite into our lives and only you can decide how often you subject yourself to not just the stress of electricity, but the stress of constant communication.  We have to unplug, to truly connect with our inner selves, to listen without distraction to what our bodies and minds have to tell us, the wisdom they wish to share with us.  So many people are completely disconnected from their inner selves because they are so connected outside of themselves.

Some time ago, I had been harping on my mother about getting a cell phone so that if she had an emergency while driving, she could call someone.  Now my mother really has very limited familiarity with anything that arrived on the scene after the 70′s.  So one day she arrived to pick me up for a lunch we were having, and she was happy to tell me that she had discovered that she had actually had a cell phone for quite a while, and now was carrying it with her in the car.  I asked her what model it was and she pointed over her shoulder into the back seat on which rested her cordless phone from the house.  I think she really should just remain unplugged…

Well, once upon a time you were right – Chicago, Dallas, Boston, Los Angeles and Miami were all involved in drug trials.  In fact all drugs were only tested in the United States or Europe.  But no more. Recent research into the facts of clinical studies in 2008 discovered that 80% of applications for new drugs were tested outside of the United States.  Now you may be thinking that it doesn’t really matter, but does someone who is malnourished and living in abject poverty in Africa metabolize a drug the same way you would?  Even prevalent diseases such as malaria, typhoid and tuberculosis can be undiagnosed and skew test results.  Also, most people that are in these studies are not taking any other drugs, whereas most Americans are taking at least three drugs concurrently.  Many people that have taken part in these clinical trials are even illiterate meaning they cannot even confirm that they are the same person each time they check in.

But the biggest reason this is happening is that the FDA regulations state that if a study in the United States ends up showing that a drug has no benefit, the pharmaceutical manufacturer can instead use foreign trials to get approval.  Well, if it didn’t work in the U.S., then why approve it for the U.S. population?  Often drugs will even be tested on children as young as 6 months, for whom a fee is paid to the parents and the person conducting the trial, despite the fact that the results on children will obviously be very different from the results on an adult.

Some researchers have even forged their results to get money, such as the huge Ketek scandal by Aventis Pharmaceuticals.  This can happen simply because there is no oversight at any level of a clinical trial.  Many phases of testing are contracted out to independent contractors in many countries, many of whom are simply wage-earning technicians, not independent scientists.  They are paid to gather data from “volunteers” to the tune of $20 billion dollars every year.

And your physician is not an objective bystander.  The drug that your physician insists is safe for you to use may be collecting many bonuses from the drug manufacturer.  One study found that 17,o00 doctors across the U.S. had collected consulting fees, speaking fees and bonuses from drug companies.  And nowhere does the FDA look for conflicts of interest, failing to act even when they did find any.

So the long and the short of it is … do your own research.  Don’t just take the prescription your physician offers.  Ask why this particular drug, what are the side effects, are there any other drugs to consider?  In other countries it is the pharmacist or “chemist” that determines what medication should be given in light of the physician’s diagnosis.  But here, we leave everything in the hands of our doctors, hoping they have read all the recent research on every new drug coming to market, generally after they’ve put in a 10 hour day and written all their patient notes.  Are we asking too much?

That kind of “white lie” is exactly what the blood does.  Your blood tests are interpreted by the lab, by your physician and hopefully by you.  The truth of what the blood tests mean varies depending on the circumstances and how deeply you look into the tests you have had.  Any one test is an isolated event in time, so liver enzymes for example can go up and down virtually day to day.  So your physician may think you may have a liver problem simply because that morning you woke up naked on the beach when the last thing you remember was challenging a 300 pound guy to shots at your local watering hole last night.  Also your blood glucose can vary substantially depending on what and when you’ve eaten.  How many people have forgotten to fast before a blood glucose test, and didn’t want to admit it to their doctor?

So to really get a good interpretation of your blood test, you need to view it not as a single event in time but as part of a history of tests over time.  That way you can see trends, variations, and anything that is very out of pattern for you.  In this way you are establishing a normal range for each blood value for you.  The “normal ranges” given by a lab are simply the average of all people tested whether they have cancer, are malnourished, are alcoholic or take megavitamins.  So normal isn’t “optimal” it’s simply “the norm”.  You want to be optimal when you are considering your health and the most likely reason for your physician ordering blood tests for you is to confirm a diagnosis or a disease, not to judge your optimal health.  So blood testing is generally done when you are “sick” not when you’re feeling your best.  These  are what establish the normal range that labs use when interpreting your individual test.  So your blood glucose is being viewed in light of all the people who lied to their doctor saying they had fasted for the test, when they actually just came from Denny’s.

You also cannot view just one blood value and determine if there is cause for concern.  For instance evaluating your thyroid function takes more than just your TSH, but the TSH may be the only thing the physician looks at.  As long as that is within a “normal” range, they won’t even consider additional, more illuminating tests.  But is it normal for you?  When you compare it to your previous tests, is it in the same range?

So start keeping track of your tests today.  You can even contact your physician and ask for copies of all the blood tests you’ve had done for the past two to three years.  Also, be sure to get a complete blood test report, not simply an interpretive letter from the doctor.  By putting your blood test results to the test, you’ll get the truest possible picture of your health.

Are you worried about this?  Am I the only one afraid of becoming a Borg? Let me give you an example: a cellphone implanted in a tooth, contact lenses that function as computer screens, sensor-studs that can monitor our vital signs ora disposable electro-cardiogram machine the size of a Band-Aid.

Now I’m not a technologyphobe.  I love my IPhone 4, I’m drawn into the Apple Store just like the rest of the human current, I’m the sucker for the off-road SUV commercials.  But actually attaching any of them to me is another story.  I worry about electrical fields not to mention electrocution!  Well, maybe not electrocution, but what will it mean to have nanotechnology running around in my bloodstream for God’s sakes!  Talk about creepy… I won’t even eat calamari because all I can do is see all those legs under the breading!

This may be a part of my belief in my grandmother’s remedies, the natural options and my philosophy that you should always look for the simplest solution.  As the Nissan dealer said yesterday, the more electronics you have, the more that can go wrong.  Amen!

In fact, it’s in my favorite position… sitting down, although Gargi has tried to get me to do it when I’m sitting at my desk, driving in the car or even waiting in the line at the grocery store.  Because the benefits are dramatic. Honestly, there is not a single condition, symptom or disease that will not improve with this type of breathing.  And let’s not forget the increase in oxygenation which we all can use (some more than others).  And lest we forget the most important, first priority, ultimate effect… weight loss!  Yes, it is amazing for working the muscles of that stubborn area that you would actually consider paying money to have amputated, the abdomen.

There are runners and high-performance athletes that swear that Kapalbathi can boost energy comparable to the high you feel after a workout.  They claim it not only clears their head, but causes the muscles to shift into a pre-workout condition, ready for any challenge.  It can even help to promote emptying of the digestive tract (looking for a constipation remedy?).

Now this really is something you should consider.  Gargi would be proud, and we would all look like Gargi (gorgeous caramel skin, dark silky hair, thin as a reed with big eyes)!  Here’s the one, two, three of it all:
Sit cross-legged in a lotus position or in the more moderate butterfly position.  Keep your mouth closed and inhale and exhale quickly through your nose.  Each time you exhale, you will quickly pull your abdomen in as fast and as far as you can towards your spine, and let it out as you breathe in.  You want to try and get to where you do three in-out cycles per second and start with 20, then increase to 50, then 100, then 200.

Currently, Melanie’s adorable aunt who makes the most delicious custard on the planet, had a terrible virus that left her very weak, and she has been in a rehabilitation facility since Christmas time.  Every day, all day, Melanie is there doing everything she can to get her aunt well enough to come back home.  And you know what?  She will.

She will because there is so much devotion, love and support in that family of feisty Armenians that nothing can dampen their spirit or their resolve.  I really believe this is one of the biggest keys to living a long life and recovering from illness.

Loneliness affects people’s health.  Don’t doubt it for a minute.  Up until this generation, older people were always kept at home where there was a sense of belonging.  Where they were surrounded by their favorite things, ate the healthiest of foods, and were supported daily with love and devotion.  And now?  How many families have had to break up the family home of an aging parent and move them to a nursing home?  How many people have weathered a serious illness like cancer alone?  How many older people have simply given up the will to live and laid down and died?

When I go into my bank, there is a teller who just makes me smile uncontrollably because she is so warm, friendly and positive.  Her name is Shruthi and she is Indian (in case you couldn’t guess!).  We were talking about the idea of nursing homes and she found it astounding that people actually request and pay for long-term care insurance.  They assume that they will be chucked out of their home, denied a bed in the home of a family member and will live out their days at the hands of strangers with nothing more familiar than a pair of socks. Why have we gotten the idea into our heads that caring for those we love in the face of illness or disability is not our responsibility?  Why do we think that it’s not just not what we want, but completely out of the question?  Why do we choose to live hundreds of miles from our loved ones, or structure our life so we cannot even entertain the idea of caretaking.

I honestly believe that without the support of someone who loves you, healing from illness is a much tougher road to hoe.  In fact, loneliness should be listed as a cause of death, because it is.  The stress, fear and anxiety from loneliness can do more damage than smoking a pack a day.

Think about it….  Isn’t it possible that the most important thing you can do for your future health isn’t drinking more water, getting more exercise or even eating green vegetables.  It’s building strong family and friend relationships and establishing a commitment to be there for each other, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, as long as you all shall live.

So Karen makes everything you can imagine, all from natural and organic ingredients, including the vodka in her homemade vanilla extract.  Holy sh**!  Who even knew you could make homemade vanilla extract?  She used her bottle of homemade vanilla extract in the blueberry muffins she whipped up for breakfast in 15 minutes while I was typing this blog.  I’ve decided I love the Madagascar vanilla the best… Then there was the most amazing granola yesterday and I was totally mesmerized watching her microplane her nutmeg.  Now I didn’t even know a microplane existed?  In fact, I’d never even seen a real nutmeg!  I’d always just bought powdered nutmeg in a bottle and called it a day.

Now as I’m sitting here, she is giving me a lesson in natural vodka.  So apparently most vodka companies use synthetic and artificial flavors, but she found a guy who uses a secret natural distilling process and then uses only actual fruit to flavor his blood orange, grapefruit or red raspberry.  She explained to me that never in her life could she drink vodka because it would burn her throat, but that doesn’t happen with this vodka.  This company even makes a green tea vodka!

Now a while ago I discovered pomegranate vinegar, which also is organic.  Now I made the mistake at first of just buying the only pomegranate vinegar that was on the shelf at Whole Foods.  It was terrible… But then I found the organic one that I had to order over the internet and it was, dare I say, FABULOUS!

Now the reason I feel the need to rant about this is because many of my clients make the mistake of thinking that eating natural and organic is boring, uninteresting, tasteless.  That you have to somehow wait for your taste buds to return to a more “natural” state in order to get the flavor from the food that you had been used to.  But I’m here to tell you, well actually my friend Karen is here to tell you, that eating organic and natural is actually a blissful, enticing experience.  Even the investigation period is fascinating and fun – and all with an orgasmic finish!

Now this last holiday, they came and were sick at the beginning, got a bit better in the middle just in time for turkey, and then got a vicious flu for the last few days before they left.  Well, to be fair, we think my sister actually had food poisoning, but it was practically indistinguishable from her husband’s symptoms who had not been present at the offending Mexican meal with mariachi accompaniment.

I didn’t get sick at all while they were here, but now a week after they’ve left, I have a milder form of the symptoms they had, and my symptoms only lasted a day.  So may I tell you that this is what healthy means.  People always assume I never get sick – that is patently untrue.  The difference is that my symptoms are less, it is less virulent and it doesn’t last as long.  Real health means that your body can weather an immune assault with minimal discomfort and emerge on the other side intact.  This is the difference between suffering from lengthy debilitating disease and reaching St. Peter’s pearly gates relatively unscathed. This is actually the entire concept behind homeopathic medicine.  As an example homeopathy views Parkinson’s Disease as a condition that develops from ignoring or suppressing many years of varying symptoms that tell you there is a problem in your nervous system.  If these earlier symptoms were resolved instead of ignored or suppressed, then the Parkinson’s Disease might not have developed.  These symptoms begin as lack of strength, difficulty concentrating, headaches and dizziness and then progress to migraines and TIAs.  Then if you have an exposure to encephalitis or meningitis, it just speeds up the process.

This is why I harp on the idea of finding solutions for chronic symptoms, not just living with them, nor simply suppressing them with drug therapy.  Take the immune system for example.  I’m not a flu shot fan, as anyone who knows me, knows.  I’m a fan of building your innate immunity so you can weather whatever comes your way.  My belief and that of most holistic practitioners is that serious disease is the breakdown of the body’s systems and their ability to function normally.  This happens as a result of assaults to the system that are not resolved.  So the truth is that you actually have the ability to control all serious illness and whether it will develop in your body or it won’t.

So begin today with my core protocol for building your immunity and do it faithfully for three months.  Then maintain your health with a core regimen to feed your body (like you really think you get everything you need from our depleted food resources!), balance your endocrine (glands) system and boost your immune reserves.  Then you can weather anything that comes your way.

Well, grocery shopping has become just like that.  There are so many things you feel you should know, tricks that stores do to sell you things, research to be sure you’re walking out with the best deal, and not to mention the fact that you want to eat healthy!  It’s not so easy these days to know what to buy, when to buy it, where to find it or to have the time to get everything you need before the sun goes down.

Which brings me to my first pet peeve in food shopping: healthy and truly natural foods are always in a weird aisle with no label, in the back corner or on the top shelf.  Now let me tell you, the top shelf is a nightmare from hell if you’re at all below six feet tall.  And how often is the product I want not pushed to the front so I have to practically bury my arm up to my Tom’s of Maine natural deodorant armpit to get what  I need.

And then there’s my even bigger pet peeve which is that what is actually within easy reach and at eye level is all the food that packs on weight, clogs your arteries, shortens your lifespan and tastes so good you want to eat ten servings in one sitting.  Now I’m not just talking about the end caps which in every grocery store are filled with fake food full of hydrogenated oils that is no cheaper than anything in the aisles.  The end caps are just what they have extra of, or what they think you will be conned into buying in greater quantities.  Like the 10 for $10.00 ploy.  You can still buy one for $1.00.  You don’t have to buy 10, but it convinces you too, almost like a subliminal suggestion.  Like I need 10 packages of bread crumbs! But to be faced with brownie mix, cheddar cheese rice cakes, chocolate pudding and egg custard in front of my nose while I’m reaching for the sunflower seeds- come ON people!

OK, so Whole Foods isn’t quite as bad as your local Stop and Shop, Shaw’s or Market Basket, all of which are carrying more natural options … if you bring a flashlight to find them.  But I think we all agree that Whole Foods takes a whole lot more paycheck to put food on the table.  Just the other day I was in Wegman’s oohing and ahhing like everyone else at the 45 check out stations and the fresh-squeezing juice stand.  I came round a corner and face to face with one of my clients, who rather abruptly shoved the six packages of half-price Christmas cookies under the lettuce in her shopping cart.  Now, just above the half-price Christmas cookies … well, actually about four feet above, were some wonderful oatmeal raisin organic cookies.  So why didn’t she choose those?  Because they were twice the price, half the size package and she is only 5’2″ and isn’t about to stand on her shopping cart or corral some wandering basketball player into helping her shop.

And do you actually stand in the aisle and read the ingredients and the product shelf label?  You should if you’re not mowed down by those STUPID shopping carts with the car on the front for the screaming bratty child to launch Playmobile arrows at you while you’re bending over examining the shelf label.  I was in Wegman’s yet again, and had my foot run over by a handicapped nonagenarian flying around a corner of the bread aisle as I was reading the label on some organic bread.

But labels really are important.  There are things to avoid (hydrogenated anything, partially anything, concentrates) and things to look for (no preservatives or words you can’t pronounce).  Shelf labels are the way to know if you’re actually getting the best deal.  You can even compare from one store to another now with their online shopping options.  On a shelf label, you want to look at the left of the label where it tells you how much the item is per quantity.  Then compare that to all others.  For instance in BJ’s you would think that Bounty paper towels are the cheapest because it’s a huge package of 12 rolls for $15.00 ($1.25 each for those of us who are math-illiterate).  But if you look at the left of the label, it tells you that they are $1.50 per 100 sheets while the Bernard and Jensen brand (which is actually “B.J”‘s brand is only 85 cents per 100 sheets, so despite the fact that the BJ’s brand is a bigger package and more expensive, it’s actually cheaper.

This is true for everything from olive oil to tofu to Rice Krispies.  So you can compare not just store to store, but brand to brand.  When you do it this way, you’ll discover that many natural and organic options are actually cheaper per unit.  I found that the organic olive oil was actually 30% cheaper than any other conventional olive oil at my local store.

And then there are local farms, specials which can be frozen and sharing larger purchases with a friend to save some money.  I’ve been a fan for years of Trader Joe’s, but I have to say that getting organic produce at Price Chopper is worth it when I get to fill up my car for 50 cents a gallon.  And don’t forget vegetable washes and Kangen Water 11.5, both of which remove pesticide residue and other contaminants that water alone can’t.  It makes settling for conventional produce and fruit occasionally a healthier option… especially when the cherries look so yummy!!!!

And my last pet peeve?  The fact that the real purpose of computerized self-checkout is to allow stores to get rid of employees.  If you really want to save time and money, go to a real person where they are faster, know the sales, will often slide a discount card for you if you don’t have one, and can tell you which days of the week the fish gets delivered.  Plus I have to confess … I just love to examine what everyone else in line is getting!