"My purpose in life is to learn how to make my "Third Act" of life AWESOME."
"My God-given purpose is to share what I have learned with others."
3-Hacks 2-Quotes 1-Success Story
Since I returned from my Memorial Weekend celebration with over thirty friends, where I celebrated another birthday, I have been enjoying pleasant weather and completing a lot of yard work.
Over in the corner of our yard in this massive cactus. The cactus is special to Vicky because it was originally at her Grandfather's house, and her Grandfather was "THE" guy. When her grandfather passed, she uprooted his cactus and I planted it over in its special corner.
Vicky's cactus has been blossoming, and every day this week, I have told myself to take pictures of the blossoms, and of course, I have forgotten. However, this morning there is only one blossom left, so I decided I better take that picture or wait until next year.
The cactus is also special to me. I had a Golden Retriever named Sadie that was given to me by a friend who is no longer with us. He gave me Sadie as an exceptional gift when I was in my twenties. The dog lived sixteen years and was a most remarkable dog.
When Seth, our oldest son, was about three years old, he escaped through Sadie's doggy door along with Sadie. And, of course, they escaped during my watch. When I noticed that both were gone, I knocked on our neighbors' doors and eventually had most of the neighborhood looking for him.
After what seemed like hours, it was probably ten minutes, a neighbor found him and told me that when he discovered Seth, he was diddly daddling down a sidewalk. He said he couldn't believe what he saw because when Seth tried to walk into the street, Sadie nudged him back onto the sidewalk. Stories like this were what made Sadie so special.
When Sadie passed, Doc Kline, who was related to Sadie, had her cremated, and he had her placed in a special wooden box. I had been carrying that box around with me from house to house for quite some time. So when I planted Vicky's Grandfather’s cactus, I buried Sadie's ashes underneath the cactus. As a result, the cactus has grown to incredible heights and is about as healthy as any cactus I have ever seen.
So…
To get the picture of the last blossom, I had to step carefully between the spa and the cactus. I took a picture of its beauty, but I was too far away, and the shadow of my legs was in the picture. I stepped closer and took another picture, but I was still too far away. Then I placed my phone next to the blossom and took the image you see below.
I turned carefully and saw a piece of our palm tree on the ground. I bent over to pick it up. My butt went into the cactus, and I jumped to attention and grabbed my butt. I had dozens of glochids stuck in my right butt cheek.
What? Don't you know what glochids are?
"Glochids...are hair-like spines or short prickles, generally barbed, found on the areoles of cacti...Cactus glochids easily detach from the plant and lodge in the skin, causing irritation upon contact." Wikipedia
I ran to the back door and yelled for Vicky. She wouldn't let me into the house because my shoes were filthy, and she had just finished cleaning the floors. So as I stood at the opened door looking out over the lake, I dropped my shorts, and Vicky began removing these little SOBs from my butt. I will spare you a picture of my butt, which I lost a long time ago. It just fell off one day.
Anyways…Standing in the doorway, I thought of a song by The Animals.
“There I was, I was taken to a place, The hall of the mountain kings. I stood high by the mountain tops. Naked to the world. In front of, Every kind of girl.”
Songwriters: Brown / Scott / Miller / Oskar / Allen / Dickerson / Jordon
After Vicky got the last one out, I thought to myself…
"Be careful of beauty; if you get too close to it and turn your back on it, there is a good possibility that you will regret it."
So...
I may never get my butt back, but I plan on looking and feeling young as I travel through my "Third Act" of life.
Below are three "Third Act Hacks" I'd like to share with you.
THREE HACKS
HEY MR. SUNSHINE
Here comes the Sun, doo-doo-doo-doo Here comes the Sun and I say It's all right George Harrison
Most of us in our "Third Act" are out in the sun much more than our generation Z children and grandchildren.
Gen Z is the newest generation, born between 1997 and 2012. They are currently between 9 and 24 years old (nearly 68 million in the U.S.)
I don't know about the generation Zs in your family, but mine, including our youngest son, lock themselves in their rooms for hours playing video games.
As you can see from the story above, I'm at that age where I have more time to work in the backyard. And this is a good thing because being in the sun is so frigging important to our health.
The morning rays from the sun turn off your night hormones and turn on your day hormones. We have all heard of the circadian rhythm, we might not know how important it is, but we should.
Do you have days that seem like you are in rhythm and other days where you feel out of rhythm?
Circadian rhythms are physical, mental, and behavioral changes that follow a 24-hour cycle. These natural processes respond primarily to light and dark and affect most living things, including animals, plants, and microbes. National Institue of Health
HACK #1--When the sun rises, bathe in the morning sun's rays immediately to be in hormonal rhythm.
I have found that the best thing to do is take your dog for a walk at dawn. If you don't have a dog, pretend that you do. The sun's rays will hit your retinas and switch your night hormones off and switch on your day hormones. This is very important to keep your hormones in rhythm.
Science has also shown that people that bathe in the first rays of the morning are happier. The reason why is...you guessed it...your hormones.
"The sun works through a number of receptors in the brain to affect our mental status and alertness," says Dr. Michael Roizen, Chief Wellness Officer at Cleveland Clinic, Ohio. Moderate sunlight exposure helps improve your mood and focus by boosting the serotonin levels in your body. Also known as the 'happiness hormone', it makes you calm and alert. Also, "sunlight decreases the risk of depression in those at risk of seasonal affective disorder (SAD)," adds Dr. Roizen.
HACK #2--When the sun rises, bathe in the morning sun's rays immediately to boost your happiness hormone, serotonin.
So we've learned that the sun will keep you in rhythm, and we have also learned that it will make us happier. That should be enough for you to get out of bed and into the morning sun. But if that's not enough, below is another reason.
"Unfortunately, about 42% of the US population is vitamin D deficient with some populations having even higher levels of deficiency, including premenopausal women, those with poor nutrition habits, people over age 65, Caucasians who avoid even minimal sun exposure, and those who take prescription medication long term ..." The Cleveland Clinic
Vitamin D is crucial in Phase One of HOPE due to its ability to reduce chronic inflammation, the primary cause of hormonal disruption and obesity. In The Journal of Immunology, March 1, 2012, a published study on vitamin D and inflammation stated.
“Vitamin D inhibits inflammation. Low levels of vitamin D failed to inhibit the inflammatory cascade, while levels considered adequate did inhibit inflammatory signaling.”
So...what does Vitamin D have to do with the sun?
The best way to increase Vitamin D is to expose your skin to morning sunlight. Science discovered that all we have to do is sunbathe nude for 10 minutes in the morning sunlight to keep vitamin D levels elevated. Here is a little story of how Vicky once made a Vitamin D chamber.
One morning Vicky had this great idea of using our balcony as a Vitamin D chamber. We live on a lake with other houses surrounding the lake. Vicky draped a blanket over the edge of our balcony for privacy. She made a great laydown area where no one could see us, and since the balcony connected to our master bedroom, there would be an easy escape if necessary. We went out onto the balcony, intending to produce Vitamin D by exposing our entire bodies to sunlight. I thought this was a great idea. 😜 We disrobed and laid hidden absorbing the sun's rays. I found this very exciting but as I laid there, I noticed the shutters of the house next to our house slowly open. I had never seen these shutters open in all the time we had lived there. I signaled for Vicky to look and she too saw the shutters move. Then, she saw two eyeballs! We covered ourselves and escaped into our bedroom.
Many years later, we were visiting our neighbor's home, and they gave us a tour of their home. We had been there many times but had always had conversations in their kitchen. We had never been upstairs in their spacious home. During the tour, we discovered that the spying shutters were in their master bedroom. They had a large jacuzzi bathtub underneath the shutters. If anyone wanted to spy through these shutters, he or she would have to stand in the tub. Vicky and I looked at each other and laughed.
So...
While Vicky and I were lying there, and the sun's rays hit our skin, a chemical reaction occurred. The light would transform cholesterol within our skin into Vitamin D. This is why vitamin D is called the Sunshine Vitamin. And sunbathing is a great way to reduce cholesterol.
Most people think Vitamin D's primary role is to help build strong and healthy bones, but low Vitamin D levels contribute to:
Cancer
Diabetes
Heart Disease
Strokes
Alzheimer’s
Hormonal Disruption
Obesity
Thyroid Dysfunction
In Phase Two of HOPE, we optimize thyroid function but be notified here that research has shown that supplementing with D3 improved thyroid function and deceased thyroid antibodies associated with the thyroid autoimmune disease called Hashimoto's.
Other symptoms associated with Vitamin D Deficiency include
Chronic systemic inflammation
Ovarian Hormonal Imbalances
Frequent bouts with colds and flu
Chronic fatigue
Back, Joint, and Muscle Pain
Depression
Slow Healing
Bone loss
Hair loss
There are several causes of deficient Vitamin D levels. They include...
The darker our skin, the less our bodies produce Vitamin D.
Being in your "Third Act" of life.
Excessive weight. Vitamin D gets trapped in the fat.
The lack of fish in our diets.
Too little sunshine.
The use of sunscreen.
The Institute of Medicine has placed the recommended dietary allowance, or RDA, for Vitamin D at 600 international units (IU) per day for young adults and 800 IU per day for adults older than 70.
But, the Endocrine Society recommends 1,500 to 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily for adults. That is the society that researches our hormones.
For women in menopause, who nearly all suffer from estrogen dominance, here is a particular study of great interest. Fred Hutchinson, A Cancer Research Center, did a study involving overweight post-menopausal women. The study had the women take 2,000 IUs of vitamin D daily for a year. The study found that those whose vitamin D blood levels increased the most had the most significant blood estrogen reductions. This makes Vitamin D a major player in helping reduce estrogen dominance.
And that's what Phase One of HOPE is all about.
Here is another important study that was done on post-menopausal women. This study was published in the magazine Menopause in 2019. The study found that post-menopausal women with the highest vitamin D levels had less belly fat. And the study also showed that those with less belly fat had a lower chance of having...
High Blood Pressure,
High Blood Sugar Levels,
High Cholesterol,
High Triglycerides.
Okay, now what should you do to improve your Vitamin D levels? To be realistic, it is nearly impossible to practice nude sunbathing daily.
So...
If you are a menopausal woman or an andropausal man, the odds are high that you have low vitamin D levels. So it is crucial to have your levels checked. Most doctors routinely check Vitamin D levels. But if your doctor doesn't, you can test your Vitamin D levels with a simple testing kit from Amazon.
Vicky and I tested deficient in Vitamin D, so we supplement with 2000 IUs of Vitamin D daily.
If you are experiencing post-menopausal bone loss, another study has found that it is a good idea to take another vitamin called K2. Vitamin D3 and K2 work synergistically to improve bone health. Vitamin K2 has also been found to promote improved arterial blood flow and increase arterial flexibility.
Here are Amazon links for Vitamin D3. One link will take you to a supplement with K2, and the other is a brand that does not have K2.
Always talk to your healthcare practitioner before adding any supplement.
HACK #3--When the sun rises, get out in the morning sun to boost your Vitamin D levels or supplement with Vitamin D.
TWO QUOTES
Deepak Chopra, MD
Deepak Chopra, MD, has gained worldwide acclaim as a teacher and writer in fields as diverse as mind-body medicine, Ayurveda, the nature of God, and the path to success. Time magazine called him one of the 100 icons of the twentieth century, "the poet-prophet of alternative medicine."
“Our biological rhythms are the symphony of the cosmos, music embedded deep within us to which we dance, even when we can't name the tune.”
Gregory A. Plotnikoff, MD, MTS, FACP
Dr. Plotnikoff is a board-certified internist and pediatrician who has received national and international honors for his work in cross-cultural and integrative medicine.
“Because vitamin D is so cheap and so clearly reduces all-cause mortality, I can say this with great certainty: Vitamin D represents the single most cost-effective medical intervention in the United States.”
ONE SUCCESS STORY
Two months ago, our client, Sue, enrolled in our HOPE For Menopause Program. Her goal was to look fabulous when she attended a Boston wedding. The wedding was this past weekend, and she sent me this photograph.
Oh, and by the way, she lost 25 pounds and dropped several dress sizes.
Look at that smile; I am so proud.
WAY TO GO, SUE!
WOULD YOU LIKE TO LOSE WEIGHT AND FEEL GREAT?
Once your hormones become disrupted, you will...
Gain Weight
Not be able to lose the weight no matter what you do
Suffer from sleeping disturbances
Suffer from hormonal-induced anxiety and depression
Lose your interest in being intimate.
Lose your motivation to be social
And have marked losses of energy.
If you are suffering from these symptoms, please, talk to me. Like Sue, you can look fabulous at your next reunion, wedding, or vacation. I do not charge for you to learn the steps Sue took. You can be happy with your body and be "YOU" again.
Click the link below to schedule a FREE conversation with me
If you are not ready to talk, follow me on Facebook by clicking the link below.
PICTURE OF THE WEEK
This week Vicky and I parked our RV along this lake, and this is the view from our RV's bedroom window at sunset.
Making our "Third Act" AWESOME!
❤️ Doc
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