I am a counselor and coach who specializes in attachments,codependency and metabolic health I use Buddhist principles to aid in recovery and to help promote happiness. I also write and teach about these issues. I have a private practice in Reno, NV and work nationally on the phone 775 230-1507 and on whatsapp FaceTime and messenger. Email: mhappenow.happe@gmail.com
If you suffer from addictions of any kind and want to recover
Then follow these steps
1). Clean up your nutrition by reducing carbs, first sugar then grains then starchy vegetables. Reduce your carbs to 20 grams net and eat only whole real food. Eat moderate protein and replace carbs with healthy fats like animal fats olive oil and coconut oil.
2). Begin an exercise program like walking, weight training, swimming biking or playing sports at least 3 times per week.
3). Get adequate sleep shooting for 8 hours based on your own biorhythms. Whether you are a night owl or a lark accepting these rhythms will enhance your sleep experience.
4) Attend support meetings of your choosing. If you don’t like groups find a recovery coach, counselor or therapist. If you are dealing with previous trauma, make sure you find someone who is experienced in dealing with this.
This may feel like a very tall order but it is worth it to create a long and healthy life without addictions..
Live as clean a life as possible and you will not only reverse your addiction but will feel and function better than ever. These steps also reverse many mental health conditions and metabolic health conditions like obesity and diabetes.
It is clear from current research and scientific studies that there is a direct relationship between metabolic disorders and nutrition...but there is more. In this post I will be talking about trauma, especially consistent repetitive childhood trauma which clearly affects the mental health of the adult as well as the physical health.
What metabolic disorders do we see affected by trauma? I'll provide you with a list.
Obesity
Chemical dependency and addiction
Depression and anxiety
Personality disorders such as Borderline, Histrionic, Narcissistic, Dependent, and Depersonalization
Heart disease
Type 2 diabetes
Irritable bowel disease
Chronic fatigue and other autoimmune diseases
and more.
The energy in every cell in our body depends on the mitochondria in each cell. This is the powerhouse of each cell. When the mitochondria is damaged, the cell is weakened and becomes dysfunctional, resulting in all of the above listed diseases and disorders. Chris Palmer MD, a psychiatrist is another one of my heroes. He was surprised to find that when one of his schizophrenic patients who was morbidly obese asked for a way to lose the excess weight, the ketogenic diet he recommended not only precipitated weight loss, but also took aways his hallucinations and delusions. This was a patient who always rejected the diagnosis of schizophrenia before ketone adaptation. After his weight loss and resolution of his schizophrenic symptoms, he remarked to the Dr. "you know I think I was schizophrenic"! Dr Palmer has written a book called Brain Energy which addresses brilliantly the importance of mitochondria in a most compassionate and passionate way.
Poor nutrition, junk and over processed food and in many cases excess carbohydrates weakens mitochondria. Environmental toxins like smoking, pollution, chemicals, alcohol, many drugs and pharmaceuticals also damage mitochondria. And so does stress and trauma both emotional and physical. It is no secret that trauma of any kind causes an immediate spike in blood sugar produced by the liver by a process called neoglucogenesis. Prolonged stressors and trauma can contribute to hyperinsulinemia which causes insulin resistance, the precursor of all the above listed illnesses...and many more.
Now about trauma. I work with many clients who have endured unspeakable traumas. What I usually see initially are metabolic disorders like obesity and addiction. Once we do a rigorous history of family it becomes clear that without exception, trauma is the underlying comorbidity. So this trauma must be dealt with. The most common reaction to trauma is the effort to deny its existence or to push it away through aversion by saying, "that is in the past and I shouldn't be affected by it anymore".....only compounding the deleterious effects of the original trauma especially in the case of complex post traumatic symptoms, meaning chronic repetitive traumas of childhood.
Having suffered my own traumas of sexual molestation and corporal punishment as well as a sudden loss of my brother when I was 17, I have done extensive work of my own, in this area. I find that the most effective way to deal with trauma is to develop a relationship with it because it never really goes away. It rears its head after triggers are activated and learning self soothing and compassion as well as acceptance of the prolonged effects of the trauma are crucial. This relationship minimizes the stress caused by the PTSD and CPTSD, mollifying the negative influence on our mitochondria.
We must remember always that the brain is a part of the body and both work together in both health and ill health. They cannot be separated. Watch Dr. Palmer explain:
So if you have experienced trauma or if you have chronic metabolic illness it is important to get help through nutritional guidance as well as stress reduction and trauma work. If you are willing to take this deep and sometimes frightening dive into changing your life style and improving your overall health and longevity you will experience a promotion of happiness which is a profound healing force.
Until next time, I am Happe to help.
Call or text me: 775 230-1507 or email: mhappenow.happe@gmail.com
I have been sober since 1980...I have always been grateful for my sobriety because it has helped me clean up my act in so many other ways. But now I discover that the dangers of consuming alcohol are so much more profound than I ever knew. I will be posting a link to one of my hero's in the mental health and theraputic ketosis space, Dr.Chris Palmer, a psychiatrist at Harvard. He is working with the most "hopeless" mental health disorders schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Who knew ketones would be a profoundly helpful treatment to eliminate the heart breaking symptoms of these disorders.
Back to alcohol. What I have learned is that alcohol damages the mitochondria in every cell of our body. Mitochondria are responsible for energy created in those cells. This can even occur in what is considered healthy levels of drinking especially if you have a genetic predisposition for alcoholism. The most profound damage happens first in the liver (we all know that) and second, to the brain!
Many believe that the brain gets its primary energy from glucose...but this is not true. The majority of the world population are fueling their brains with glucose because of the over consumption of carbs. What the brain actually prefers are ketones, a fatty acid, for fuel. This is also true for the liver by the way. The harmful byproducts of alcohol sneak into the brain preferentially and at first make us feel better but ultimately damage the brains ability the receive the energy it needs to function. Not only do ketones heal the brain and liver and so many other systems in the body like the heart, but they also heal and reverse the whole metabolism.
Even moderate consistent amounts of alcohol can do damage to the brain, liver and even the gut promoting many types of cancer, demential and cirrhosis of the liver.
This is a brief intro to a wonderful video with Dr. Chris Palmer. If you want to be scared about you drinking please watch...he gives solutions to the problem at the end which are very hopeful indeed.
Lots of exciting things are happening in the scientific world about ketosis. Not only is ketosis good for weight loss it also successfully addresses and either minimizes or reverses:
TYPE 2 DIABETES
PCOS
HEART DISEASE
CANCER
IRRITABLE BOWEL AND CRONES DISEASE
ADHD
ALZEIMERS
SCIZOPRENIA AND BIPOLAR DISORDER
DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY
AUTISM SPECTRUM
ALCOHOLISM
and the list goes on
I have been in some form of ketosis for many years. This year I doubled down and became carnivore because I wasn't happy with an A1C of 5.9. Within a week of the change I started seeing blood glucose consistently under 100! There are so many benefits. No more hangry, mood leveling out, I get to eat lots of butter and bacon (who doesn't love bacon), really good sleep, no more cravings for anything, and memory improvement (barring difficulty with nouns and names....Im 74 in October) and a stable weight for the first time in my life.
I have been working with clients as a recovery coach, a mindfulness coach and in the last year as a metabolic coach. With gentle loving shoves, many of my clients have adopted the diet with wonderful results. One is off 3 meds for diabetes. Many have lost lots of weight and feel better. Many report stable mood and less anxiety. And all report a freedom for craving and addiction to carbs....because they have severely reduced carbs to under 20 total. I spend hours each day researching all the best science around therapeutic ketosis. It abounds and is fascinating and gives me a good foundation for helping others in my private practice. It also helps the I ran one of the first eating disorder units in the country in the 1970's.
I am on a mission. It makes me so happy for my clients to get such great results just by changing what they put in their mouth. I have started a text group for all of them and want to expand to others who are interested in healing their metabolism. If you are interested give me a call or text. All my practice is video now so it doesn't matter where you are worldwide. As a practicing Buddhist my commitment to kindness and non harm has enabled me to be of service with a small slice of the population in my endeavor to heal the world....
I am in my 60’s. As we age our body naturally deteriorates, we lose some brain capacity. Our hair turns grey and our skin and bones get more thin and fragile. I would like to define healthy aging as the ability to grow old gracefully and gently. We all have to accept that the natural progression of things is toward decrepitude and eventually death. As a Buddhist, I have contemplated death in the hope of accepting without fear its inevitability.
So how do we stay healthy while aging. First and foremost is to maintain a healthy weight. This does not necessarily mean having the BMI of a 20 year old. Skinny people do generally live longer but often that is a goal that is nearly impossible for some of us who have genetics that run contrary to skinniness. There are standards that have been adopted for older people that are much more lenient yet still promote health and well being. Overweight promotes heart disease, cardio vascular disease, diabetes, cancer and even Alzheimers.
Exercise is also incredibly important. Even a 20 minute walk is very helpful toward promoting health. I do yoga, kettle bell swings, walking and stationary bike which I vary each day. This helps build muscle and to circulate the blood. The blood is the clearing house for toxins in our bodies and in our brains. When our circulation is hampered it affects every aspect of our health.
MY OWN PERSONAL CHALLENGE
In order to maintain a healthy weight I need to eat very few calories per day. Before I lost this 30 lbs I was averaging about 1200 calories per day with lots of vegetables and very few carbs. Menopause had a very profound effect on my weight. I started the Take Shape For Life plan and rapidly lost the weight and began to feel so much better. Maintenance has been very enlightening for me. In order to maintain this weight I am pretty much staying on the same 5 and 1 plan that enabled me to lose the weight. The temptation is to say that this is not fair but as my eating disorder mentor, Judi Hollis used to say, “the fair is in Pomona”….
Many say well i will just carry this weight and continue to eat the healthy foods that I love…but this clearly contradicts the concept of healthy weight. So I am happily resigned to a regular diet of 900 calories daily in order to maintain my weight and believe me I am not skinny!! Acceptance is the key here. We have to accept the realities as they are. I am in acceptance and am so grateful that I can eat six times per day, food that I love while keeping my caloric intake down.
Getting older requires an attitude of acceptance of the erosion of our youthful vibrance. Complaining just seems to further erode our health. So the key is to focus on compassion for ourselves and others and to rely on the wisdom that comes with living many years on the planet. The result of this is joy and gratitude which in itself promotes health.
After having been a licensed addictions counselor since 1987 and running an eating disorder unit. I have retired my license and shifting my focus to coaching and using Buddhist principles to promote happiness. My focus areas are addiction recovery, nutritional coaching using low carb/carnivore nutrition, coaching high functioning autism spectrum, codependency recovery and general life coaching. I help codependent clients free themselves from the grasp of narcissistic partners and family members. I have been helping people for over 30 years, and I share my own recovery in these areas with my clients who I hold very dear.
If you are in recovery and having difficulty with life on life's terms but don't feel comfortable in 12 steps I can serve as a recovery coach to help you through issues that can cause relapse. I have expertise with neurodivergent clients. I am very low carb myself and have recieved numerous benefits along with exercise and embracing my own introversion.
Our mental and general health depends on lifestyle issues such as nutrition, avoiding toxins as well as toxic relationships, exercise, loving relationships and spiritual practice such as meditation.
Posts
