Subscription

I am moving my practice to a subscription model.

I agree.

It does sound suspicious.

Suspiciously, like a boutique practice.

Suspiciously, like less wait to see your doctor.

Suspiciously, like a “gym membership” you will, actually, use.

Suspiciously, like a cash practice.

Suspiciously, like care and not management.

Suspiciously, like functional lab work when you need it.

Suspiciously, like herbal medicine tailored to your needs and health goals.

I am a suspicious character. There is no doubt. I want to see patients and have them leave with what they need (vitamin D, UTI treatment, herbs, hydrotherapy instructions, etc). I am suspicious of things that take up my time with little to no benefit to my peeps.

One recent patient visit typified what was lacking in my practice and where, if I correct my course, I could be headed in the future. I met a patient for the first time, spent 1.5 hours with her discussing her health goals/concerns and preforming a physical exam. Once completed, we moseyed out to the front office.

No one was there. It was the end of the day. The tincture bar was all ours.

I asked her questions while I made my tincture selection. (No premixed concoction but something that took into consideration her, dare I say, energetics as well as her complaints.) She left, bottle in hand, and forgot to pay for her tincture on the way out. Her comment when the front desk called, “Sorry. I was having such a good time. I forgot to check in with you on the way out.”

Seamless.

I want seamless.

Suspiciously seamless.

Health insurance has its benefits. I have had amazing patients while treading water in the insurance pool. I don’t want to loose them but the current is stronger - paperwork, no increase in reimbursement, too many patients/too little time for what matters. Resistance is good. It makes us stronger but I want to swim with new ideas/new training. I want to be the BEST doctor I can be and give that back in a power-full way.

Suspicious? Shady? Cagey?

That is me.

I hope to be out of my cage, sitting in the shade, diving into a patient as far as I can and having the support staff with me to make their lives better with curated health care.

Wanna come?

Gratitude, Game Changers and Condiments

I am not well-endowed with gratitude. Cynicism is my main attribute. (As a naturopathic doctor this may surprise you, but I am not mistaken for Pollyanna.) People who blink their eyes at me, smile and tell me how grateful they are make me want to beat them with a reality stick. Nothing suggests “I am searching for a lovely glass of Kool-aid and I hear Jim Jones is the best mixologist in town,” like an overly grateful person.

Berkley’s Greater Good Magazine and The American Heart Association make an interesting argument that cynicism is not a sound prescription for health. Gratitude appears to be good for you. 

Annoying - I know.

Studies tackled the problem of analyzing gratitude through a number of different methods, and often, but not always, positive results were found. Different researchers asked people to keep a gratitude journal daily - list out their “blessings” or “consciously experience appreciation” for five minutes. Gratitude may help to lower your cholesterol and blood pressure. It may elevate your quality of life and enhance your sleep.

Could gratitude be a game changer for your health? I don’t think we can say that yet, but writing down the good things in your life for three months isn’t the worst way to spend your time. To be generous as well as grateful, I will tell you the highlight of my upcoming week:

The Game Changers movie is going to be released on September 16th. In this new documentary, James Cameron is, finally, going to reveal the work, the fun and the intensity of being an elite athlete who eats mostly plants. I have friends/compatriots who have been working on this film for years and next Monday I am going to a packed theater to see the show.

Should we now reanalyze all the old adages for possible health benefits?  Does misery really love company? I don’t think that is true. Misery sounds an awful lot like miserly and miserly does not want anyone around using up resources. I think gratitude likes company but I don’t know if I am coming over for dinner quite yet.

What can I say? I feel best when seated at the devil’s advocate table. Ol’ Scratch might be vegan and he always has the best condiments. 

Sources:

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/is_gratitude_good_for_your_health

https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-lifestyle/mental-health-and-wellbeing/thankfulness-how-gratitude-can-help-your-health

https://www.livescience.com/48904-gratitude-health-benefits.html

Fecundity, RVs and Baby Making

Spring is in the air. 

What does spring smell like? 

Fecundity. 

“What is fecundity?” you ask.

Well, what does it sound like? 

Yep. You would be right. 

It smells like abundance. 

That wasn’t what you were thinking? Get your head out of the gutter. Spring smells much better than you imagined and what smells better than a newbie human? (Ok a newbie human with a fresh diaper.) Just about nothing. 

I am here to talk to you about fertility. Spring equals babies in my world and what would a Dr. O blog be without a discussion on baby making?

Often the best kind of baby making is the low stress kind. The baby that shows up and parks in your uterus like your New Jersey relative’s giant RV which takes up half of your Anchorage driveway. (Not much forethought and requiring more power than you were prepared to pay for to Chugach Electric.)  This scenario means a bit of stress during the pregnancy but a frolicking good time before the plus sign arrives on the ClearBlue test. 

However, for many of us in our fast-paced, compartmentalized worlds, we place pressure on ourselves to literally “produce” at the perfect moment.

What if you are the person who cleans out her spare room, replaces the carpet with organic fibers, even redecorates in a tasteful midcentury modern design, calls all her relatives to come visit but to no avail? 

We have some tips for you.

First, what you eat does matter. There are no foods that are “guaranteed to boost fertility” but there are foods that have a positive influence. Start eating those fresh vegetables that are flourishing on the store shelves once again. Better yet, start a garden. You want your gentleman caller to have strong swimmers? Take that fried chicken away and hand over the greens and beans.

Secondly, get in your omegas. One of my favorite sources are walnuts. They pack a magnesium and Vitamin B-6 punch. Walnuts also contribute to your daily intake of folate which is key in helping to prevent neural tube defects in a developing fetus. Omega 3s not only benefits the ladies but has been shown to keep sperm well-formed and willing to travel. 

Physicals are not a bad word. Going in to your doctor to talk about your “baby steps” is a good first move. If you are under the age of 35, you should plan on practicing baby making for up to a year and technique should be refreshed every 2 to 3 days. If over the age of 35 years old, you should be practicing frequently and should give at least 6 months of concerted effort.

Here at Thrive, we love seeing patients who are/want to be proactive before they toss out their birth control. We have more tips and would love to personalize a plan for you in one of the most personal health care steps you will ever take. 

In closing, happy spring and remember:

Fecundity. It is my new favorite “F” word. 

Moose, Pumpkins and Mating

Moose, Pumpkins and Mating

I almost died. Ok, maybe not died but was probably close to being trounced.  Ok, maybe not trounced but I was inconvenienced. Minding my own high bush cranberry, rosehip picking business, I was waltzing my way through the most gorgeous fall on record when I came across a moose orgy.

I was off the main trail; I confess. At Windy Point I should have taken a left but I took a right instead. At first, it was a fantastic decision. Rose hips and waterfalls in abundance. The trail got a little perilous but who cared - jam was in my future. 

At first it was a small noise but then it demanded some attention. I saw a little cow moose running off to my right. (My favorite kind of moose. The kind that is moving away from me.) A small experienced hiker-smile touched my lips. “No sweat. Down the trail I skip.” Suddenly another noise grabbed my attention as a large, bull moose came out shaking his antlers to the beat of hormones in the air. 

Suddenly I found myself thinking about pumpkins. My mother had recently brought two small pumpkins from from the land of produce (also known as Portland, OR). Beautiful, fecund little orbs that were telling me that summer was over and autumn was imminent. As imminent as being stomped by a horny bull moose. Welcome to Alaska. Oregon has corn mazes and we have the ultimate test of dexterity known as sprinting for cover.

What does this have to do with health? Eat your squash. Those lovey gourds are full of fiber, vitamin A, magnesium, vitamin E, folate, phosphate and potassium. They are stress managers and cholesterol tamers. They are also the head of the headless horseman which I wouldn’t have been too surprised to see riding a moose. 

Eat what you can pull from the land. Rose hips are fantastic, vitamin C power houses and good for your skin. Vitamin C is key in helping produce collagen. I was thinking positive things about that little protein as I stared at the antlers of the largest member of the deer family. If collagen could help produce those gravity defying skull enhancements than my hillside, rose hip grazing was taking at least a decade off my face. 

What else would I have recommended? Take a nap. After watching the amorous landscape I felt like a nap in the sun may have been warranted. Nothing helps with weight loss, lowering your risk of a heart attack and boosting moose avoidance performance like catching a good amount of winks. 

As I eased back from the bull moose I thought about how lucky I had been to see such a magnificent sight. Retreating I heard another noise from my left and got to see the granddaddy of bull mooseary come out with another lady friend in tow. I felt a momentary twang for the first bull - he was so OBVIOUSLY outmatched. Moose debauch was about to commence without him. 

We all deal with disappointment but since my presence had not been much noted, I slipped back up the hill from whence I had come. Oh well, there is always next year. That’s what the first moose said. 

School, Love and Spiders

I am a humanitarian and, reluctantly, a spidertarian. 

(Yep. You caught me. I made that word up.)

My mother is an ex-hippie and insect activist. I couldn’t squish a spider as a child. Instead, I had to transport the eight-legged, mini Borgias outside. My father even used to take me black widow hunting while we visited my grandmother in Las Vegas. What else could put a young child into the state of repose like the nightly ramblings of black widow stalking? Those shiny, black torsos with blood red markings are the perfect thing to dwell on before engaging in a long night of sound sleep. 

So what does my weird childhood have to do with the new school year? Plenty. The fall rains have hit Anchorage and, no, I do not want to quibble this point. The rain is here and now the spiders are coming indoors. Children and arachnids start to appear in places that they have eschewed all summer. What doe this mean? Time for the back to school talk!

As much as you love your children, they are covered in germs. What can a parent do? You can strengthen that immune system. More mushrooms in your diet and water in your adult sippy cups. ENT probiotics are another great tool when you feel like those adorable, fingers are smattering bacteria and viruses all over your delicate person. They are a delightful, melt in your mouth boost of beneficial bacteria that help to make your mucosa less inhabitable for those pesky infections.

Keep your Vitamin D at an appropriate level. We live in Alaska. I repeat, we live in Alaska. I encourage everyone to go out and get some sun on their skin but we do live in Alaska. If you have not had your Vitamin D level measured lately, you should. That being said, 2,000 ius daily will help keep you in spider, fighting form. No reason to take insect cohabitation too far. 

The final tip will be my most controversial, cold stress/hydrotherapy. There is some literature out there supporting cold stress and hydrotherapy to boost immune function. Getting outside in the rain and taking a jog might be just the thing to keep you healthy this fall. So while the little uns’ and the venomous bitty beasts come in, you can head out. 

School is a marker of time passing, watching those you love grab another rung on the milestones of life and reminding yourselves just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t lurking in the corners ready to strike. (Just kidding - spider bites are way over diagnosed by anyone with access to Google.) 

Happy fall and remember - spiders eat other insects and we shouldn’t judge. Even a little assassin needs some love.