Stinson Beach Mini-Retreat This Weekend!

So excited to head out to Stinson Beach today for The Healing Farm holistic mini-retreat happening tomorrow! This retreat will feature:

• Realistic and sustainable solutions to bring holistic healing into your everyday life
• Yoga session with Patti Cocciolo of “The Goodness” blog
• Cooking lesson (making stock!) and wellness lecture by Julie Mikos
• Acupuncture lecture by Sara Rankin of Alma Acupuncture
• Peaceful walk on the beach!

I had to keep the attendees limited since it’s a small location and one of my “test” runs, but will post photos of the retreat and start posting soon about the development of The Healing Farm brand and most importantly about the upcoming first in a series of larger retreats which will accommodate more attendees! Stay tuned!

Esther Gokhale and her "8 Steps to a Pain Free Back"

Last week I had to get my “Eight Steps to a Pain Free Back” out. How sad. After all of my work keeping gluten out of my diet and my chronic back pain at bay, I went overboard this Christmas and ate lots of gluten-full things. Oh the Christmas cookies and the Yorkshire pudding with the prime rib and why not eat pizza while I’m at it, oh and that Acme Bakery epi baguette at the San Francisco Ferry Building with a glass of prosecco! Screeeeech. Everything came to a halt. All of my between Christmas and New Year’s organization projects to help me be in a better state of mind so I can start my transition to building The Healing Farm concept?  Out the window. It started with that water feeling in my ears. Then the next day it turned into a raging sinus headache. Then later that evening a full blown cold. Just when the cold was starting to get better, in walked that Yorkshire pudding on NYE and lots of bubbly and two days later I found myself flat on my back for a week nursing the worst back pain I’ve experienced since I originally hurt my back seven years ago.

Out came Esther’s book. I LOVE this book. I was never able to afford to go to one of her workshops so my dear friend and licensed acupuncturist, Sara Rankin of Alma Acupuncture gave me Esther’s book “Eight Steps to a Pain Free back”:

What I love about this book is it’s simplicity. What was most important to me in glancing at it while on bed-rest this past week was how to position myself sleeping at night. Oh how it helped my back. Slight traction all night long! For a habitual stomach/side sleeper, sleeping on my back is almost impossible to maintain long-term, but what has stuck with me for all these years since originally reading her book is how to sit! Sitting in the position she recommends and staying relatively gluten-free through the teachings ofChris Kresser has reduced my chronic back pain (until this recent episode) probably by eighty percent! If you struggle with chronic back pain I urge you to visit Esther’s site and if you can’t afford one of her classes, at least get a copy of her book or look into one of her free workshops! It will change your chronically painful life!

Naturopath Chris Kresser and "Your Personal Paleo Code"

As I continued my healing path, I was fortunate enough to be introduced to holistic health practitioner, Chris Kresser author of “Your Personal Paleo Code” which is now out in paperback and renamed “The Paleo Cure”. You can go to Chris’ website at www.chriskresser.com to learn so much more about Chris’ incredible naturopathic teachings. Join his forum, listen to his podcasts, get on his e-mail blast because this man is full of healing information! What I loved about Chris’ approach is how realistic he is about lifestyle changes. He knows it’s hard to make major changes for your long-term health goals so is realistic in his approach. I would more than encourage you to read his book “The Paleo Cure” :

I was fortunate enough to be able to consult with Chris personally about all of my chronic conditions listed in my Fast Forward Three Years post and he encouraged me to try a “paleo reset” – a concept described in detail in his book. My heart sank a little when he first suggested this because I thought of paleo as such a trend. I was more than thrilled when he explained his concept about your “personal” paleo code and his “paleo reset” concept. Basically it’s a month-long elimination diet in which you embrace the paleo eating habits (but not quite as strict) for a month, see how you feel and then start adding different food categories back in (e.g. – dairy, gluten, etc) and then see if any of your old chronic conditions start popping up. This was a concept I could wrap my head around! At the time he hadn’t written his book yet, so gave me some detailed instructions and set me free.

Lo and behold, I discovered I had a very slight gluten allergy – certainly not to the degree of Celiac disease, but enough that I realized what was causing all of my manageable but uncomfortable chronic conditions. I added some things back in but in much more moderation (low lactose dairy, some whole gluten-free grains, a bit of caffeine, red wine, etc) but discovered that every time I ate gluten my old chronic conditions would start popping up. It has taken me a long time (three years!) and I still break down and eat gluten once in a while, but when I do my ears get the feeling of being under water. If I really go overboard, I inevitably get a full-blown cold. Even more than the cold, I get indigestion, I get bloated, I get sinus headaches, my chronic back pain gets worse. It’s really amazing and it’s all about INFLAMMATION. That danged chronic problem! If your body is constantly fighting against an invader (an allergy like gluten or dairy), your immune system is going to be constantly working against it and will weaken, allowing inflammation in and – aack – will allow all those pesky other things to start rearing their ugly heads!

I encourage you to read Chris’ book and visit his site and hope that someday The Healing Farm – Retreat Series will feature Chris and his realistic approach! I plan on posting more about my own healing journey and the small things I do to keep the inflammation in my body to a minimum, but Chris Kresser and his healing practices have done more for me in my life than anything else – bar none. After 25 years of chronic conditions, I know how I can keep them at bay. That’s a big deal.

Holistic Healing Mini Retreat, Stinson Beach - Take Two!

Early December is not a good time to hold a retreat! The Holidays are wonderful, but everyone has a million things to do, so please join me in our make-up retreat to kick-off the new year and your new path to health. Learn practical ways to improve your health in a beautiful and non-intimidating setting. Space is very limited for this intimate retreat so contact me at julie@thehealingfarm.org for more details and see the invitation below to get an overview of the day’s events.

The Healing Farm Concept

The Healing Farm – Retreats will be a series of tasteful and affordable holistic wellness retreats held at various retreat centers around the country. Eventually I aspire to open The Healing Farm as a permanent retreat center with possible franchise opportunities long-term. To gain recognition of The Healing Farm name, experience in the field and interest in my talents I will offer one-off retreats in existing retreat centers of varying affordability. Each retreat will have a goal of cultivating attainable and enduring simple solutions for our participant’s long-term health and wellness goals.

Follow along my blog and read about my first Healing Farm aspirations in the beginnings category. Let’s learn together holistic health practices that will help us heal in our everyday lives and keep track of the latest retreat offerings!

Sara of Alma Acupuncture and Patti of The Goodness blog

So excited to feature two lovely friends at my first ever in a series of The Healing Farm – Retreats! This will be a mini-retreat introducing my upcoming new brand launch of The Healing Farm. The Healing Farm – Retreats will be a series of tasteful and affordable holistic healing retreats bringing together educators and practitioners that will help plant the seeds to cultivate realistic and long-term holistic practices for your long-term health goals. Visit their websites for more information on these lovely practitioners and join me in experiencing their practices firsthand! See my invitation to this very special retreat.

“The Goodness” blog

A shot I took of Patti at the incredible Rancho La Puerta:

and Sara of Alma Acupuncture:

Announcing the First Healing Farm Retreat Featuring Talks and Application of Holistic Healing for Everyday Life!

Beginning Power Vinyasa Yoga - Core Power Yoga

OK. So I have done yoga on and off for over twenty years. Why would I choose a beginner video??!!!! Because I was a beginner in Core Power Yoga for one and secondly, I still needed to be careful with my back.

I realized I missed yoga, but still could not afford the luxury of going to a yoga studio once or twice a week and by getting used to the Jillian Michaelsvideo, I discovered I really liked the ease and low cost of working out at home. It was about this time that I was shooting a somewhat regular gig at a glorious place called Rancho La Puerta. This is a spa in Mexico and I’m lucky enough to do photography for their marketing materials.

I was down there for a week of shooting and my client told me the Core Power Yoga people were there that week. I had never heard of Core Power but was curious because I knew building my core was essential for continuing my quest to end chronic back pain. I didn’t have the chance to try a class while I was at the ranch but discovered a Core Power studio near my home so tried it out.

Sheesh was it hard. Nothing like any yoga class I had ever been in. We even used weights. I liked it, but needed something a little less intense and didn’t want to commit the time and finances to going to a yoga studio every week so I bought their Beginner Power Vinyasa video taught by Lisa Richards.

LOVE it and still do it to this day. It’s an amazing full body yoga workout and really does work the core. I’ve found over time that Lisa dwells a lot on some of the positions because she is teaching, but I’ve done it often enough that I know how to cut it down to about 45 minutes and still feel I get a terrific practice.

Read on to discover a trick to committing to exercise almost every day!

Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred!

Now that I had lost 25 pounds, I wanted to keep it off and really wanted to lose ten more. I was stuck again and terrified of re-gaining.  I needed another change-up. Increasing my exercise was what I needed to do!

It was about this time I went to visit my parents for the holidays (almost one year into my weight loss program) and I saw my 70+ Mother doing a Jillian Michael’s video. I don’t watch TV so didn’t know who Jillian Michaels was and that she was associated with the show “The Biggest Loser” which I had heard about but never had seen. My mother told me that there were three workouts on the video and that they were only 20 minutes each. I LOVED that idea and it seemed to be helping my mom stay in shape too.

Jillian Michael’s 30 Day Shred!

I bought the DVD and loved the idea of losing another ten to twenty pounds in 30 days! Alas, I could not keep up with it six days a week for thirty days and my weight didn’t budge, but I was gaining strength and endurance so committed to doing it at the various levels (depending on my energy level) two to three times a week. I also continued to run errands on my bike, walked with my husband and bought a Core Power Yoga video so I could alternate exercise, keep it interesting and stretch my poor muscles!

Read on about building in a regular exercise program and the importance of doing what’s best for you and keeping it diverse!

Developing a Weight Loss Program That Works for You

A couple of years after my sabbatical I realized I needed to try once more to get rid of my chronic back pain. I decided a good first step was to lose weight. I didn’t think I was THAT overweight and didn’t own a full-length mirror to be able to see what I really looked like on a day-to-day basis. I can’t remember if I even owned a scale. BIG mistake!

I bought a mirror and this is probably when I bought my scale, and was in shock when I discovered I was almost 170 pounds (5’6”)! I went into the living room and told my husband that I needed to seriously lose weight and was shocked when he agreed with me (normally he tells me he likes me just the way I am). This was the AHA! Moment. It was devastating and I broke into tears. I immediately started planning and told my husband I needed to do it my way and didn’t want to hear any push-back about how I was doing it.

The first ten pounds:

I decided I wasn’t going to do any fad anything this time and needed to start reducing portions. I started looking into various home meal deliveries and realized I couldn’t afford even the cheap ones. It was at that point I decided I could create my own system cheaply by going and buying the pre-packaged diet meals at the grocery store. I’m incredibly picky at this point about eating whole and non-processed foods and was a little bit back then so didn’t want to put anything in my body that was too fake, too much salt, etc. I did a little research and found the lean cuisine food wasn’t too bad. Neither was my local grocery store brand. Here’s how I ate almost every day for the first ten pounds:

• Pre-breakfast: ½ grapefruit
• Breakfast: three egg whites scrambled with veggies and coffee
• Mid-morning snack: an apple or ½ banana
• Lunch: a boxed diet meal plus a salad or carrots to supplement
• Mid-afternoon: a square of dark chocolate and coffee or tea (decaf)
• Pre-dinner snack: cut up cucumber
• Dinner: another boxed diet meal plus salad
• After dinner: (mid-evening ) an small mandarin or another square of dark chocolate
• If I was really dying (or PMS) I would eat a bag of Trader Joe’s organic single serve popcorn

I lasted about 1.5 months on this system and lost my first ten. I was also learning to run errands on my bike and was walking more with my hubby for increased exercise.

Next ten pounds:

I was stuck and sick of the diet meals  and needed to change it up! On to Weight Watchers!

Weight Watchers is still an amazing system for losing weight especially now that you can keep track electronically.  I stuck with WW for about three months and slowly lost the next ten pounds. I made all of my own food or supplemented with Lean Cuisines when I didn’t have time to cook BUT STAYED AWAY from anything that was fake (no skinny cows!).

Final five pounds

After three months and ten pounds I needed another change and was used to cooking for my new portion control so I picked up my exercise program and lost the last five pounds in another couple of months.  My next post will  be about the increased exercise!