Jerky (paleo, gluten-free)

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I am not a hunter, but my family members are; so, deer season usually means venison.  Recently, a processed deer came creeping into my freezer at home and I thought “this is it; I’m going to make jerky and if it doesn’t work, then I’m never using the dehydrator again!”  I took a frozen steak and sliced it into jerky strips after letting it thaw slightly through.  I put a marinade on it that I got from Primal Cravings cookbook (Jamaican jerk).  I let it sit overnight.  The next morning I turned on my dehydrator to 160 degrees and put the strips down on parchment paper for easy clean up.  I let it go from around 7:30 in the morning until around 2pm. Mine may have been a little hard for some people’s taste, so next time I may go for an hour or 2 less.  Check it periodically to find the texture you like.  Since it doesn’t have preservatives, I am storing it in the fridge; however, supposedly you can store it for 2 days at room temp.  It was really good!  Venison is an awesome option, too, because it is really lean.  You don’t want fat on your jerky strips because the fat will go rancid. ;(

This was the spice mix I used, but there are tons out there to choose from!  You can also do this in the oven. My dad used to make his in the oven when we were kids, but I have never tried it personally.  You can also use regular steak or turkey, as well! http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Beef-Jerky

Jerky Seasoning (variation on Primal Carvings Jamaican Jerk)

1tsp molasses

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1 Tbsp lemon zest

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp powdered ginger

1 tsp salt

Will the Real Angela Please Stand Up?

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Many people that follow me online see me post everyday.  They see what I eat, what workouts I did, what my opinions are on the latest healthcare concern…but do they know me?  Is that the real Angela?

I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because as I meet people in the real world and they become my friend on facebook or instagram, I find myself saying this: “It’s my professional page, so it’s not real.  I mean it’s all real, but it’s not personal.”

Why do I feel the need to say that?  Is it because I don’t think I am portraying my real self and they will notice this when they see my posts?  Is it because I’m trying to hide myself from internet land?  Am I fake?!!?

The answer to that question goes something like this:

I am the least fake person you will ever meet.  Everything you see on facebook, instagram, my blog, etc is all real.  What you won’t see are things about intimate parts of my life.  I am a very private person, and up until a few years ago never had an iPhone or facebook and certainly no intention of ever doing so.  I would even go as far as to stay out of pictures with people if I knew they were going to post them on the internet even though they couldn’t tag me.  So, when people meet you in real life and become your friend on internet life, they sort of expect to see what they met in real life….just a whole lot more of it!  Since people won’t see that, I feel the need to warn them.  When I think about what this may mean to those that only know me on internet land, I have seriously questioned whether I am being authentic.  I quickly put that thought out of my mind though because the reason I decided to create an online platform was to be a resource for health information, inspire and give hope to those with health struggles, and to reach my audience that I never seemed to have enough face-to-face time with.

Does this pose a problem, this real Angela vs. Dr. Angela?

I don’t know, really.  In some ways, I try to share enough of myself and my thoughts that people feel as though they can connect to me.  I am a brand in some ways, but I am also a private person that values real connection.  When you run into people that you know from the internet, in some ways you feel as though you know them, maybe have a ton in common, maybe you even know when they went on vacation, with who, and where.  BUT, when you see them face-to-face and say “Omg, I see ALL YOUR POSTS and YOU CHANGED MY LIFE!” the person will feel grateful, humbled, and honestly…disconnected. (Maybe it’s just me.)  If you met this person in real life and had conversations, shared struggles, went on the journey of discovery TOGETHER, you would BOTH feel that way.   I am not saying this to discourage anyone from finding inspiration on the internet, but I am speaking to my tribe when I say that many of you have met me outside of your screen, we have talked, spent time, you have felt my vibe, and maybe you know a little about my life.  For those of you that haven’t, I save all that for when there’s an opportunity to connect.

I am that person at a gathering that gets into deep conversation and often times that means with one individual and I will talk all night!  That sort of thing fills me up.  I want to ask questions, I want to learn about you, I want to see you.  That’s just how I am.  I think many times we see the entire story unfold online and when we meet that person, it’s one-sided, and hard to connect.  There are some people that thrive on sharing the intimacy of their lives and feel connected to people by sharing their story.  I am just not one of them.

So, how do you manage to be an extremely private person, that truly values the dance of conversation and body language to end up in a connected spot, that has a shared journey, and still be on the internet?   I do that by posting everyday, on my platform, about things that I feel are worthy and valuable to the health of my community, and I hold back the real Angela for real life.  There’s nothing more that I want than to inspire people, show them a side of me that gives them hope, and to be authentic in doing so.  I just also want to go on the journey of discovery WITH you should we meet in person.  So, the next time you scroll through my feed and wonder why you don’t see a lot of information about my life, know that I have consciously decided to leave some in the tank for that time I can connect and converse in person.  It is me.  It’s all real.  It’s just not the whole story…

 

Patient Journey: Hormone Imbalance

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  1. What health issues were you struggling with when you began to work with Dr. Angela?

I had/have been really working through a few different issues. Mainly, trying to have a menstrual cycle without the use of drugs along with my mental well-being. I have struggled a great deal with self-image, self-worth, depression and anxiety for many years and am exhausted from the strain of these mental issues.

  1. What treatment methods had you tried prior to Dr. Angela’s program?

My main treatment for these issues was medicine – a pill for my period, a pill for my depression & anxiety, and yet another pill for my distracted and “busy” brain.

I had also been to see a few different therapists who were helpful at the time but never seemed to permanently resolve my issues.

  1. What health benefits did you gain from working with Dr. Angela?
  • Natural weight loss
  • More energy
  • Better sleep
  • Confidence in my state of mind
  • How to improve my self-worth

4. What was your biggest struggle during the transition to a healthier lifestyle?

The biggest struggle was learning/knowing what to eat and planning ahead in order to prepare meals.

I also struggled with not letting the very anxiety I was trying to get rid of, hold me back from getting better. It was scary to learn the truth about the meds and I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to give them up. I had no idea how to act or who I was supposed to be without my meds.

5. What did you find most beneficial to you in the program?

My favorite and most helpful parts of the program were the face to face meetings and the homework given.

Dr. A. gave me so much perspective and really helped me work on my frame of mind. The transition to a healthier lifestyle was less confusing and less frustrating knowing that she was there to help us!

6. Did your food options taste good?

The food took some getting used too but once my mind and taste buds got used to the change, the natural foods tasted delicious. I love eating fruits and veggies along with other clean food options and find myself seeking out those foods more – even at gatherings where other dishes are in abundance.

7. Did you have an ah-ha moment that helped you commit to the change? If so, what was it?

This has been such a huge transition in my life and because of that there was not been just one single “ah-ha” moment, there were several. A few of those being…

  • watching my husband become himself again with his improved mental and physical health
  • On a random day discovering that I feel strong and healthy mentally and knowing that it isn’t just a phase but who I really am ;)
  • Stepping on the scale after several months only to discover, without even paying attention, I had lost weight!
  • Really feeling and understanding what sleeping well does for me

8. If you were going to give a piece of advice to someone on the fence of following a program like Dr. Angela’s, what would you say to them in order to help them decide?

Please give the program a chance and just try it!!!

Be honest with yourself about who you are (or who you think you are) and where you REALLY want to go. Love Ok, at least try to “like” yourself enough to sit and just listen to what Dr. A. has to say – you just might be amazed what you can learn about yourself…

Dr. Angela’s perspective:

There were a lot of moving parts to this case including anxiety, hormone imbalance, low self-esteem, and many medications.   This case happened to have issues with low progesterone.  It took some tweaking with her supplementation to balance that, restore her period, and maintain normal cycles.  Along with her hormone balance came symptoms of weight gain, hair distribution issues, skin issues, mood disturbance, and blood pressure concerns. It was definitely more than supplementing to get hormones in balance; it was lifestyle work AND HEAD WORK.  What you tell yourself on a daily basis creates your reality.  It was such a pleasure to watch this entire family transform before my eyes.  I often did these appointments on Friday nights, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.  It capped my week off with a full feeling because of their ability to be honest, vulnerable, and willing to examine all the aspects of life we brought to light.  Although many medication paths will lead women to believe there are quick pill fixes, or that it’s just your biology, I am here to tell you otherwise.  Your hormones decide so much about how you feel and look, and they should not be relegated to a mere band-aid solution.

Homemade Chicken Stock for the Lazy Folks

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Homemade month is moving along and next on the list is chicken stock.  I think this may be one of the easiest things you can do in your kitchen because it requires nothing but a crockpot and a chicken.  The picture is from a frozen chicken in the crockpot with veggie scraps from trimming them at other meals.  I believe I have onion tops, shallot tops, carrot ends, celery ends, etc.  I start a bag that goes in the freezer and accumulate scraps for the moment when I want to make a stock.  This is exactly what I did:  I put a frozen chicken in the crockpot with a little salt and cracked peppercorns and obviously veggie trimmings.  Cover for 10 hours (if thawed, 8 hours), and set crockpot on low.  Around 6 hours or so all the juices will begin to accumulate at the bottom of the crockpot.  After your 10 hours are up, remove the meat off the bone and put the carcass back into the crockpot.  Fill the crockpot with filtered water and let simmer for another 4 hours.  Strain your stock into containers!  That’s it.  I didn’t measure exactly but I want to say that it produced 10-12 cups of stock for me.  Typically, the ones you buy in the store come in 4 cup cartons.  So, that means I made the equivalent of 3 cartons of chicken stock with leftover bones from cooking a chicken.  I was already cooking the chicken and using the meat for tacos.  Therefore, it’s hard to estimate a cost savings when you are simply using leftover parts!  The cartons I buy of organic chicken stock at the store at $3-$4 bucks.  The entire chicken cost me $12 through Honored Praire.  For $12 bucks, I got about 3 lbs of meat and 3 cartons of chicken stock.  Not too shabby.  I put the stock that I will use that week in the fridge and the rest in the freezer.  I use the stock for everything from soups to simmering veggies.  It is packed full of minerals and healthy collagen for the joints.

Here’s my opinion on the whole homemade chicken stock ordeal: (1-5 with 5 being the best)

Ease: 5 (you put a chicken in pot and leave it for heaven’s sake!)

Price: 5 (I would have spent the same amount of money for 3-4 cartons of chicken stock at the store without the meat!)

Worth the touble: 5 (I am set now for weeks)

Taste: 5 (Way better tasting and way more nutritious than its processed counterparts!)

Patient Journey: Eczema

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  1. What health issues were you struggling with when you began to work with Dr. Angela?

I had food sensitivities like getting a headache within minutes after eating something sweet.  If I ate a mainly pasta meal, I would go into what I call a “Food Coma.”  This felt like I had been majorly drugged with plummeting energy levels and brain fog.  This would last about 15-20 minutes and my heartbeat would pound really hard.  After 20 minutes I would start to come out of it and about 20 minutes later feel completely normal, but sometimes I would have like a numb tingling all over my body for about a half hour afterwards.  I also would get terrible hemorrhoids.  My digestion was an issue.  Some foods I wouldn’t digest at all.  My energy levels were way down and it was awful to get up in the morning.  I would have to drink an energy drink just to get through the morning.  I was also slowly gaining weight.  And I had Eczema which is a horrible itchy skin problem.   If I didn’t put on my medicated steroid prescription cream for a week my skin would start breaking out.  Felt like someone was stabbing me from the inside of my skin, and the only thing that provided even a minute of relief was to scratch and scratch to the point of ripping my skin open.   I had Cystic Acne around my neck and ears and had Psoriasis on my scalp from time to time.

 

  1. What treatment methods had you tried prior to Dr. Angela’s program?                                                      When I was a kid a dermatologist prescribed a steroid cream to control my skin problem and it worked as long as I kept putting it on.   I had also learned a few principles of healthy eating and was taking vitamins and fish oil but nothing really worked that great.

 

  1. What health benefits did you gain from working with Dr. Angela?

My Eczema is gone!!!  My energy levels are up, and I lost 20-25 pounds with very little exercise.  I am not bloated anymore.  Didn’t realize I was continuously bloated until about 3 weeks into the program when the bloating left. My physical stamina has gone up and I can run farther and longer than I ever have in my life without getting side aches.  I am a professional juggler, and it used to take about an hour of practice to warm up before a show, now I only need about 10-20 minutes tops.

4. What was your biggest struggle during the transition to a healthier lifestyle?                                    Friends and family who didn’t believe this program would help me.   But as long as I had support from Dr. A who promised to stick with me for a full year and answer any questions I had through text messages, then it didn’t matter what my friends and family said.

5. What did you find most beneficial to you in the program?

The scientific physiological explanations as to why my body is doing what it is doing like leaky gut syndrome, and how that leads to an autoimmune response.   Also understanding how stress and not enough sleep plays a huge big role in physical health breakdown.  Understanding “WHY?” is what most helped me get onto the path of healing. The documentaries and books where helpful to fill in the gaps of the food industry.

6. Did your food options taste good?                                                                                                                                       Yes!!  Very much so. I eat waaaayyyy better tasting food now then I used too!

7. Did you have an ah-ha moment that helped you commit to the change? If so, what was it?           Yes 2 of them.    When Dr. A explained why the steroid cream worked to control my Eczema, and what it was doing in my body I was so upset that I was literally in tears the next day because of the realization of how I had been unknowingly abusing my body!!   2.  After I cut out processed sugar and then later restricted the amount of fruit I was eating and then cut out fruit all together for a little while, I was astounded at how the excess weight just fell off.

8. If you were going to give a piece of advice to someone on the fence of following a program like Dr. Angela’s, what would you say to them in order to help them decide?                                                                         If you are skeptical about Angela’s program I understand and totally relate.  It took me a long time to think it over and decide to do it.  There is a lot of medical quackery in the natural health world and lots of people in it who don’t know what they are talking about.   After taking Dr. A’s program I was able to see that I had learned a distorted version of the truth in the past when I first started studying natural health.  A has first hand experience helping many people overcome physical conditions.  She has all of the training any medical doctor has as well as an understanding of how the body works and how nutrition affects all parts of the body.  She doesn’t treat symptoms like my family doctor did to me.  She treats the underlying causes and takes time to get to understand you and your situation and your needs so that she can give you the care you need. When you talk to Dr. A, you’re not talking to an uneducated inexperienced novice.   With all of that said, it can be scary to make changes.  Food can be emotional for some people.  But I want to encourage you that it’s worth it!!  Dr. A gave me a quality of life I will enjoy the rest of my life.

 

 

Outstanding in the Field: A Magical Food Exerience

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I recently had a magical food experience with a company called “Outstanding in the Field.”  As a doctor, I can’t emphasize enough just how important connection TO your food and with others OVER food is to your health.  The simple act of seeing where it was grown, picking it, touching it and the dirt it thrives in, chopping it, and putting love into its preparation changes the physiology behind the nutrition, digestion, and health benefits.  You heard me right.  Your connection to your food changes how much it nourishes you.  If you add the way in which you enjoy it on top of that, I may even venture to say that even an unhealthy choice can then have health benefits.  That discussion is for another time, but today, I want to talk about this idea of going to a farm, meeting the farmers, touring the grounds, having a professional chef pour love into the ingredient preparation, and sharing a table with hundreds of other people talking and eating family style.  That, folks, is exactly what Outstanding in the Field has developed.

I arrived at Kinnikinnik Farms in the early evening with a plate.  Why would I bring a plate?  Because it is tradition at the dinners to have guests bring a plate to further enhance the uniqueness of each event.  Even a dinner on the same farm will change based on what is in season, the chef taking artistic liberty in preparation, and the plates that sit atop the table.  The conversations will be unique, the animals on the farm will be new, and the farm will inevitably be different from year to year. The moment in time is taken as a place in time to celebrate all those farmers providing us food to nourish our bodies and souls.  Without farmers, what would you eat?  To take it one step further and honor the hard work that goes into farming organically and sustain-ably, they choose farmers that exemplify this at these dinners.

There was a cocktail hour, where a fantastic Chicago restaurant, called North Pond, provided champagne and a craft cocktail called the Cucumber-basil cooler.  While enjoying the cocktails and walking around the farm exploring, bite size tastings were offered:

Watermelon gazpacho

Goat cheese mousse, pickle gel and spiced pecan

Buttermilk egg salad, dilly beans, and a tart cherry

Roasted eggplant socca crepe, nectarine, and yogurt

These were all one bite (one delicious bite), and I tried really hard not to fill up before dinner even started! Walking around, I explored the tents they rent out for those wanting to unplug and experience life on a farm, the apple trees that have been there for years as gifts to the farmers, and the donkeys that brought me back to my time in the Peace Corps.  Donkeys were abundant in Mali, and I remember how beautiful I thought their marking were.  After a word of thanks to the farmers and getting a little bit of history of the farm, they took us on a tour.  This particular farm used to be mostly vegetables.  The farmers used to have regular jobs.  Just as the market, demand, and life evolve, so did the farmers that bought the farm, lived in a trailer, then above the barn before they could afford to renovate the farmhouse on the property.  As organic vegetable farming becomes less lucrative, the animal husbandry venture becomes much more appealing.  It was fascinating to hear how they evolved, how their animals live, and what they see for the future of the farm as they age.

Then it was time for dinner at a long table in the field, at sunset, family style with strangers.  You know how sometimes you eat something you’ve had quite a few times before and somehow this time it feels like the best thing you’ve ever eaten?  That is how every course (of the 4 courses) were.  I don’t eat bread typically, but I could not NOT enjoy and partake in breaking bread with my neighbors, smeared with cultured butter.  The bread was laid out on the table for tearing and I am pretty sure many hands touched it.  In some ways this seems unsanitary, and in other ways, this is a traditional way to gain exposure to a diverse set of probiotic microbes.  History can often unveil how important certain things are for our health today.

Every course had its own thoughtful wine pairing and the heirloom tomatoes made my eyes roll back…and I don’t even like tomatoes.  This is real talk.  Another way you know your food is magical: when things you don’t enjoy become somewhat addicting in that moment.  I won’t go through every dish served because descriptions don’t do them justice, but I remember thinking to myself how impressed I was with the thoughtful simplicity of the food.  The chef did an amazing job letting the food itself shine without any crazy techniques or wow factors, and sometimes that’s exactly how it should be enjoyed.  The experience lasted about 6 hours, and guess what?  I didn’t have my phone, and I’m not sure anyone sitting around me looked at theirs once (if they even had them available).  It was refreshing to enjoy a meal outside, at sunset, without the interruption of technology.

Needless to say, I will be back and encourage all of you to consider it if you are in the area of one.  It’s an experience of a lifetime, and will certainly enhance your appreciation for the land, the food it provides, the farmers that tend to the land, the environment you eat in, and the people which you share the simple act of eating with. If I could sum it up in one idea, it would be: “An experience of food from the land to moment you realize the satisfaction and nourishment it provided you.”

I think it’s important to also point out that you do not have to participate in an event like this to get to know local farmers, grow some food, prepare food, or share your food.  I encourage each of you to do more of each of those things, and you’ll never look at food the same ever again because it will always have a story.  Life is nothing more than a series of stories that fill up your soul.  Enjoy it! These were the only pictures I could wrangle without a phone!

PB&C Chip Cookies

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If you are a peanut butter fan, then you need to get excited!  I often substitute sunbutter products for peanut butter since peanuts are a legume; however, sometimes people I love really like things with peanut butter.  When I saw a healthy option for peanut butter chips, I knew I had to make a cookie to combine chocolate chips and peanut butter chips!  I left it at that, but these would probably be really great with some nuts, too.  Macadamia nuts, pecans, walnuts.  The possibilities are endless. If you want a sunbutter/chocolate chip cookie recipe, click here.
PB&C Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup grassfed butter or coconut oil, melted
3 TBSP pure maple syrup
2 tsp vanilla (recipe for homemade here)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup peanut butter chips
1/4 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Mix all the ingredients together and fold in PB and C chips.  Drop balls of dough onto a baking sheet and press down slightly.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until slightly golden.

Patient Journey: Anxiety and Depression

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As promised, I am sharing patient journeys without any edits or influence! I ask the question, and they give you unadulterated answers to your burning questions. What is it really like to be on a healing journey through my patients’ eyes. Anxiety and Depression is a common patient complaint that land on my doorstep and the current treatment methods need a lot of work. There should be an approach that addresses the problem at the root. That could mean doing something much more drastic than taking medications; it could mean changing how you do life, how you eat, how you think, how you ARE.

1. What health issues were you struggling with when you began to work with Dr. Angela?
Anxiety and depression. Constant (almost daily) headaches. Also some issues that I did not know “could be” helped, like eyes watering, or eczema, lack of energy.

2. What treatment methods had you tried prior to Dr. Angela’s program?
Anti-anxiety and –depression meds prescribed by my MD.

3. What health benefits did you gain from working with Dr. Angela?
I feel like a “better me”, I have more energy, my mind is sharper, my memory is better, my mood is better. I can clearly identify certain triggers that happen when I eat “bad” foods and I do not want to feel that way.

4. What was your biggest struggle during the transition to a healthier lifestyle?
The ups and downs. Feeling good for days then having a setback. Forgetting that I have been one way for 39 years and only “my brand new healthy self” for few months. Giving up sugar (candy) was difficult but finding sweet treats to make from healthier alternatives was wonderful.

5. What did you find most beneficial to you in the program?
Understanding how the human body works and how everything affects everything. Also, learning to set up boundaries for myself as far as how much coffee I can enjoy per week etc. I am still learning the little triggers that set off certain reactions in my body.

6. Did your food options taste good?
Yes everything tasted so good. In fact both my son and husband told me that I make the best foods in the world. I am sure not all of it is my cooking ability, it has to be the good foods we are eating too.

7. Did you have an ah-ha moment that helped you commit to the change? If so, what was it?
When my MD told me that I would have to take meds for the rest of my life for anxiety. The side effects were horrible. I did not want to feel addicted to a pill that I have to take for the rest of my life. To me that was not normal.

8. If you were going to give a piece of advice to someone on the fence of following a program like Dr. Angela’s, what would you say to them in order to help them decide?
“You will not know how amazing you can feel, until you try it”. In the long run with all the medications and doctor visits you will throw out more money and still not get better than what the program with Dr. Angela costs; the difference is Dr. Angela’s program will heal you inside out. And you will feel better than you ever can think of. It is amazing how many people are on the fence about it, even though they could only start trying it for 30 days. What’s 30 days, it is a short amount of time!

 

Dr. Angela’s perspective:

This patient case had some food sensitivities involved, so reactions to food stimulants, and some actual allergies, too.  It’s always a puzzle with many pieces to find a home for.  That takes time, which is why it’s impossible to successfully treat or correct complex health issues in a visit every few months.  It’s a process and if I didn’t take adequate time, I would have missed valuable pieces of the puzzle.  For example, once everything was corrected for this patient, she wanted to continue care to address some other things such as eczema.  Some simple investigation and it was completely cleared with a supplement because of determining her particular cause: an environmental allergy.  In some ways, I wish treating patients was simple, but then I wouldn’t enjoy the “investigative hunt,” and that is half the fun for me.  Like many patients before this person, she did not commit to care until traditional treatments failed her.  I’m always waiting when a person may want to try a different route.

How Good is Your Massage Therapist?

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I am the biggest fan of massage therapy!  I think EVERYONE should have a massage therapist, and I think everyone should get a massage at least once a month.  This article is not about the benefits of massage, but it is about whether you have found a good one!  Since moving, I have been dragging my feet to find a new massage therapist because the thought of vetting people sounds exhausting.  However, I got a massage this weekend and remembered just how important that appointment is to me, and how I assess whether I have a found a good therapist.  I get asked a lot for recommendations of good therapists, and just like doctors, there are different strengths within each therapist.  Because there is such an art to the practice of massage, you are really looking for someone that fits your needs. For example, maybe you’re a woman who would feel uncomfortable with a male therapist and therefore you need a certain gender to be able to relax.  That doesn’t mean the male is a poor therapist, but it does mean you need to find a female.  Having said that, there are a few things that I think are really important when determining if a therapist is right for you:

  1. Do they have a sense of where muscles are tight or may be sore without you telling them?

I think communication with your therapist is important, so being vocal about your problem areas is a must.  However, every single time I get a massage, I realize there are places on my body that feel tight or sore that I had no idea existed.  A good therapist will often pause at these places, revisit them, or even ask upon feeling them “Is this spot sore?”  When you use your hands for a living, you get really good at feeling tiny changes in the tissue, knowing what normal motion feels like, and seeing patterns in how patients feel when certain tissue changes happen.  This is the same thing with your chiropractor.  Without a patient even stating what is bugging them, often times the chiropractor can tell them just based on what they are feeling in the assessment.  This intuition comes with time and experience, so often times, therapists that have been around a long time will have a better grasp on this.  However, I have met a few young therapists that just have that intuition in their hands and you know it when you receive a massage that they have a bright future ahead.

2.  Do they have respectful coverage techniques?

Nothing makes people more tense (especially women) than feeling like they are exposed when they don’t want to be.  Your therapist should always make you feel covered, comfortable, and they should never go to those covered places unless there is medical necessity that has been discussed prior.  For example, there are a lot of muscle insertion points around the butt crease and front of the thigh.  They should be explaining what’s going to happen and ask permission to treat those areas before ever going there.  Your body parts should be fairly covered at all times except when they are working on them.  This keeps you warm, and it increases security and comfort which increases relaxation.

3.  Do you leave feeling better?

This one can be a double-edged sword because sometimes you have injuries or painful places that are sore after working on them, and you may not perceive that as feeling better.  However, when I say “feeling better,” I mean a few different things.  One thing is energy.  If you have a therapist that is negative, stressed, or full of poor energy, you receive that through touch.  I know that we are getting into quack world when we talk about this, but it’s true.  You are energy, you interact with energy, and when someone has contact with you, you inherit some of their energy.  This is also why therapists can sometimes be exhausted by the end of the day!  If they see people in pain, bad relationships, stressed out, etc, they inherit a little of that from their patients, too!  It’s important to enter a massage with the intention of focusing on how your body feels, relaxing your muscles, and being present.  That’s your duty as the patient.  It’s the therapist’s duty to come in with good energy, focus, and attentiveness.  With these two things alone, you will have a totally different experience than if you received the same massage from a stressed, distracted, angry therapist.  Trust me.  You can pass on the bad juju.

As far as physically feeling better, that can go either way in acute situations, but should be consistent with maintenance.  If you are going in for a maintenance massage, you should leave with a feeling of relaxation, better range of motion, and better awareness of your body.  If a therapist goes too deep and you can’t relax, you most definitely won’t have a great massage.  (There are times and places for deep, just for clarification).

This may be a short list, but beyond those three things, we are talking preference.  If you have found someone great in those three categories, then you may want to consider the following that I would consider exceptional:

  • great ambiance, lighting, temperature
  • calming music selection that you like
  • oil quality being top notch
  • use of essential oils for certain benefits
  • how well they explain what they found while working with you
  • how well they can dictate a treatment plan if you are injured

If you find the top 3 with the bottom bullets, hang on and never let go!  The first step is just to schedule a massage, try people out, and stick with one that you leave feeling great about.  Sometimes it’s simply an energy thing, and that’s impossible to measure on paper.

Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam Pancakes

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I had some frozen strawberries that were literally staring at me for months from the freezer.  I didn’t feel very inspired to find a destiny until I found these peanut butter chips at the store!  Pancakes that are peanut butter and jelly?  Sold.  Peanuts are technically a legume, so these are NOT paleo.  However, you could make them strawberry and use sunbutter like in the picture for the same effect.
Peanut Butter and Strawberry Jam Pancakes
Ingredients:
2 cups strawberries
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
4 eggs
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
Directions:
Place strawberries in a saucepan and cook until they breakdown and can be smashed into a thick jam consistency.
 Combine the pancake ingredients and add the strawberries and peanut butter chips. Cook about 3 minutes on each side.  Double the batch for freezing or for grab-and-go breakfast throughout the week.