In-Store Nutritionist Dustin McFarland Doing Seminars Inside and Outside of Natural Grocers - Let 2015 Begin!

I love the enthusiasm people typically have after the holidays and with the 'new year'. Every year since Lumigrate launched in 2009, I try to do something "around Lumigrate" to contribute. This year I decided to simply focus on the local seminars sponsored by one of the health food stores here, Natural Grocers, and in particular one being hosted at the Mesa County Libraries. ("Dream it. Discover it. Do it." is their motto.) 

I am updating this topic on January 7th as the presentation was last evening; 115 reads of the topic had occurred before I got to working on the edit today. I had printed out the first page of the topic and set it up to have all the who, what, where, when, how much (free) on the first page and suggested people could print it out and post it or otherwise distribute as a handout.  

At the seminar, about 30 people were in attendance, including the people putting on the seminar. Six that I was aware of had learned of the seminar because of my efforts. These included a teacher, a parent of a child with food allergies and illness, a pharmacist, a behavioral health therapist, and two massage therapists / structural reintegration specialists. "Oh that was YOU that got the flyer under our door -- that was a good thing you put that flyer under our door, it was the only way we knew about it, thank you!" People who said they wanted to come were numerous --- they either found out about it too late or they had other plans --- in one case the spouse works out of town and always Skypes at 6:30 in the evening.  There clearly is demand for this information based on the number of reads of this topic at Lumigrate in a week, and the number of people who wanted to attend as well as the actual number who got to see the seminar.  Here's the scoop as it was presented here in advance of the event:

Who: Dustin McFarland, in-store nutritionist for the Grand Junction Natural Grocers. Dustin is a Global College of Natural Medicine certified Nutrition Consultant.  

What: "Improve Your Diet, Manage Weight Gain, Cravings & Blood Sugar" -- Learn how nutrient-dense meals support a healthy metabolism and which nutritional supplements promote healthy blood sugar levels and appetite control 

When: 6:30 pm January 6 (a Tuesday) 

Where: The Mesa County Library's 160-seat capacity room at the main branch downtown.

How:  No charge/cost $-wise, just your time and energy resources involved. Parking in the east parking area is closest to the community rooms. PLEASE TELL OTHERS (copy this or Print page 1 to post or share with others if you wish). BRING A FRIEND, COWORKER, FAMILY MEMBER, NEIGHBOR, etc. -- including others around you in health changes has many positive side effects. 

For those finding a printed or copied page with the who, what, where, etc., that says is's page 1 of X#, you can go to the Search bar at Lumigrate to find the entire topic thread OR look at the forums tab way down in the list within a section about community resources, and tucked in there are some things about Grand Junction, Colorado.  (There is also Mardy's List which shows a few of the providers in the area people might consider using if they have complex, chronic pain / fatigue conditions). Grand Junction is said to have been used for market surveying due the people being very 'average', and I've felt that it serves as a good model for people to translate in their homelands to see what they can find similarly, or create similarly. 

Look at the comment following this topic if you wish to see what is covered at the seminar, I attended the in-store seminar and will also add more after attending the seminar on Tuesday evening at the library. 

WHY I am chosing this as a kick off focus for Lumigrate and me in 2015:

Blood sugar is of paramount importance for well-being, and has numerous effects on everything from mood and behavior (including with alcohol use/abuse) as well as cognition (as shown in studies on school children among many others), to nerve function (think "neuropathy:). This is my 40th year of being conscious of blood sugar, having had life-long 'adrenal fatigue' challenges which are a symptom of other underlying stressors on the body, mind, spirit (whole person). There are two major aspects to blood sugar regulation --- diet and exercise.  

And Dustin McFarland, it turns out, has quite a background with both facets, and in my 40 years of health ups and down (and plateaus), the times when I've not had or made/taken the time to exercise regularly are times when I've seen things deteriorate. In working with complex chronic fatigue and pain cases, I've always started them on exercise the first day (breathing exercises), learning about oxygen's importance, and hydration, and then gotten them going 'in the gym' with the available equipment that was 'interesting' to them.

The advantage of a treadmill is if you fatigue, you stop and rest on something nearby. Walking in your home can be done the same way; outside the person has to be better at gauging their fatigue level and in some cases that isn't possible. Many people with chronic pain and fatigue wish to work out in a pool but it's too fatiguing to get to the pool and in and out of it and dry and all that AND get back home and be able to function initially, so they benefit from starting on a program that is sensitive and supportive of this level of function and building up to being able to enjoy the pool work. AND in the mean time, what's going on with their blood sugar (and adrenals) is important.  

That's just a little about the growing numbers of people with complex chronic illness / fatigue / pain, blood sugar regulation is important for EVERYONE! And we can hope that every therapy clinic and gym has someone qualified to help this segment of the population, but in early 2005 -- 10 years ago -- the first doctor I marketed to was a local rheumatologist who said 'I don't need a general OT, we have tons of those in the area, I need someone to send my patients with fibromyalgia to --- they get referred to me but it's not truly rheumatological so there's little I can do for them -- what they need is ....." and we went on to have what was the seeds of change planted in my lap. 

And when this seminar's information in print and verbalized says 'get support', I have seen over these 40 years how critical that aspect is! And with ANY health issue, the person with the condition or lifestyle habit wishing to address the issue has to thoroughly understand it, at their level --- in their way. Which is a reason why there are so many diabetes educators in conventional, organized medicine but in my experience when working on teams as an occupational therapist, there was much more that could be done with the 'patients'.

Ironically, over four decades I came back around to an appreciation of the blood sugar facet in recent years thanks to seeing someone I helped 'advise' and navigate information and they took lifestyle changes on that were quite impressive. This included their getting a membership to a gym, where they entered a contest and some of the people from the gym also hung out at a 'watering hole', which became a new support system.

I remembered how in 1998/9 when my health collapse was reversing thanks to good advise from the conventional ENT I was referred to, and later the nutrition-oriented chiropractor a former co-worker and friend insisted I go to, I joined a gym for the first time and it was a significant reason why I recovered fully (which I maintained until returning to complete my college education when I had more toxin exposures from required vaccines before I learned that my body simply cannot tolerate them, as well as cadaver anatomy fumes NOT to mention the psychological stress of trying to be flunked out in the first semester of the OT program in the neuro class (which was the same one the pre-med students were required to take -- Organized Medicine / Organized Education 'the system' has some things that I now would maybe not take on in order to go about my future life's path but I have 'lived and learned').  

I recently advised someone in Grand Junction whose health had collapsed and 'keeping moving' was something she followed through on, and when she'd have her child at lessons near a gym, she'd go in and ride a recumbent bike -- slowly. She credits that with one of the top things she did that allowed her to recover.  This was a person who did not use any drugs (including alcohol). They appear to have an ongoing progressive recovering / reversing symptoms. 

I couldn't help wonder what would have transpired if there had been different things available for support because it was temporary progress that didn't allow for completely addressing a complex issue.  Nonetheless, I was brought back in recent years to blood sugar in my work and then built a lot of information onto Lumigrate about diet and the paleo approach using a paleolithic psychiatrist often as a resource, and then onto addictions in 2014 with pyroluria information that I thankfully came across when responding to a former health team's request for advise about treatment programs for alcohol and other drug addiction. 

I am a true believer and supporter of Natural Grocers (formerly named Vitamin Cottage). I began shopping with them in 1996 when I moved to Denver from Fort Collins, where they didn't have a store in those days. My formative years were spent in the general area where the founder of the company established the business around the same time my family of origin moved to the mountains west of Denver.  I was to be born in 1960, but unfortunately my family didn't "tune into" what Vitamin Cottage and their amazing founder professed and sold. 

At about age three, I recall swinging on my swingset and seeing a strip of dirt with no grass by the fence nearby and recalling what I'd seen at the grocery store -- seeds in packets that you could grow vegetables with.  I asked my mother if we could plant some seeds and she had me do peas -- a good choice as they were large and made most interesting plants that climbed up the fence.  

I was hooked on gardening, and it was something she and I (and to a lesser extent other family members) did together until the time she passed in the 1980s. She fortunately took it in an organic direction, subscribing to Organic Gardening magazine. I labored harder due to the methods, and in some cases wished we would just use pesticides like 'everybody else'.  

The joke in the family had been that as a baby or toddler in the high chair, as food was passed around the dinner table I was in it with my hands and gobbling it up; I remember being 9 or 10 years old and every night at dinner eating as much as I could hold and then running to the bathroom scale to see if THIS was going to be the day that I would finally be 60 pounds and not in the 50s! I was teased by the area ranchers when I'd be a horse events at the local arena for having to hike my 'britches' up; even a belt didn't help -- I was just skin-nee.  

The home movies of my first birthday, which happened to fall on Easter so we were at a relative's home who was much into shooting 8mm film at the time, revealed much to me once I was in OT school and in the years after as I gained more knowledge and experience ('dots') and was able to connect them more for my health care and that of those I serve. "She was so cute" people would remark when we'd gather round for film night with the extended family, became "I was so NOT 'right' -- what the ....?"  Nonetheless, I learned to read, went to kindergarten and received a glowing report card.  Yes, I could count to 10, knew the alphabet AND could keep my hands to myself! (I'm so appreciative of having that gem of a momento of my formative years, grins!)  

I mention all this because I went through public school with a family that was more aware and educated than the average person, yet was completely not identified with debilitating problems which I started working on once on my own and with the resources to do so as an adult. I encourage everyone reading to look 'anew' and yourselves or those around you and see if there's something 'going on' that could be addressed with diet improvements or other products, services, etc. That is something YOU could do to make 2015 'grate'!

This is a good point to add in Dustin's story which I got from him after attending the in-store presentation of this seminar on Saturday, January 3, 2015.  He had mentioned to the group of 30 that were in attendance that he'd gotten into nutrition at the age of 10, and had gone to family gatherings teaching others about what he was passionate about at that time -- initially hydrogenated oils, then artificial sweeteners. This fascinated me, and I asked to speak with him and interview him about that specifically, to include in this topic.  He made time so that I could get it added in sooner than later. (Thank you, Dustin -- and it was thought-provoking to say the least, in light that I'd just prepared the base of this topic with my story and had included about how I got into gardening as a child and 'took my family with me' which was to everyone's benefit, etc.)

Dustin' Story:

Dustin is in his mid to late 30s at this time and was raised in Lander, Wyoming, which is primarily an agricultural area based on cattle ranching. It's near Cody and Casper and not far from the Wind River mountain range. I asked how he got into nutrition at such a young age as 10.  "I was sick, and no doctor could help" was where he started with his story.  He was breast fed until he was two and then he was put on cow's milk, and he had a lot of ear infections, antibiotics and eventually surgery for adenoids and tonsils.  His mother suspected dairy as the culprit but the doctor she appealed to for advise insisted children HAD TO HAVE cow's milk.  

He had upper and lower G.I. testing ("down the throat, up the butt" as he put it in his open, casual way that puts people at ease) and the diagnosis would be 'IBS' (irritable bowel syndrome), with resultant medication prescribed.  

At age 10 his parents divorced and he got interested in body building, which is when he started learning about nutrition.  He tried to teach the adults around him in his family s ystem, but 'the media moguls' had more impact on them than he did when it came to explaining about hydrogenated oils. If the television and print ads and information say margarine is what we're supposed to be eating, then that was what they were lead to believe and follow. 

By 15 he was bench pressing 315 pounds and was connected with Ron Jensen, who is a recognized name in those circles  At 16 he'd studied enough to realize that there was something to the dairy component and he had trouble coming off of it due to the way the body becomes addicted to things that it's getting a reaction from.  "Here's where the kicker is, though", he said -- he began eating rice, soy and almond cheeses which used cassein protein to make the consistency of cheese. (This I did not know and what an interesting twist to this story --- see how the experts have had to struggle through this just like everyone else?) 

Finally he eneded up having food allergy testing done through one of the non-insurance-based laboratories (one which we'd had as part of Dr Lepisto's 2008 seminar about food allergies we recorded and offered long ago as a video download from day #1 of Lumigrate) and found out that through 19 years of 'poisoning myself' as he called it, his body was reacting to over 20 foods! 

I asked him if he had mercury issues looked into and he indeed had, and he'd consulted with Dr Lepisto as well. Like he'd said to me when he first worked on my case and helped me (back in 2007), he told Dustin he was the highest he had seen in mercury. (I'd had mine done with an MD who was able to do IV as a chelator / provoking agent -- in Colorado N.D.s are not allowed to do IV, unfortunately, so Dr. Lepisto was having to translate the results and it's a bit like apples and oranges. However, the point I wish to have people see here is two kids, 17 years apart from neighboring rural, mountain, western states had similar stories once arriving in Grand Junction, Colorado and continuing to pursue solutions to life-long health issues (except in his case he was well up until age 2 apparently).  

In both cases we had amalgam fillings in our teeth, had vaccines, and ate tuna fish, etc. .. things that we can hope people are doing with more education, awareness and selective purchasing.  (I noticed Natural Grocers has on sale pouches of tuna that is line caught, smaller tuna fish so they do not have the same amounts of mercury as the larger fish do, as one example).  Another similarity in our family histories, similar to so many, is alcoholism in a grandparent who died very early as a result, and in Dustin's case at the age of 10 he made a commitment to never use the commonly used drugs and he has maintained that to this day. He mentioned that the only thing in Dr Perlmutter's book Grain Brain that he does not do is have a glass of wine every day, but Dustin looks to why that is suggested and then takes something as a substitute. This is a person who is very proactive and I hope by sharing his story here along with my own, people reading will see how much dedication and effort this takes, and that experts sometimes can really EMPATHIZE about the health issues and work involved in creating solutions. 

Back to My Story/History: Back in those days, you couldn't find organic produce for sale that I was aware of, at least. As that became available, and as I became a 'city dweller' and busy with things that were my ambitions and needs in life at the time, I ended up with yardwork and flower gardens and nothing consumable to show for my 'green thumb'. It was in that time period that my health collapsed the first time, and I fortunately sought out the advise of experts inside and outside insurance-based medicine and followed their recommendations, even when it was something my better judgment questioned.  I was learning a LOT about being an effective medical consumer, which I hope translates into my work you see on Lumigrate and if you work with me individually getting ideas from turning over stones together detectiving your history and looking for new ideas to look into on the path to health and well-being presently. 

I now recognize the superior food quality the organic home-grown food grown and consumed in my adolescence, which was probably providing about half of the vegetables I consumed per year, is perhaps somewhat responsible for why I was able to do as well as I did health-wise, considering what I now realize, know, or suspect was going on with underlying contributing factors for the symptoms I experienced. (Details are included in other topics at Lumigrate if anyone is interested, I hope it serves as an example for others as a backdrop about complex chronic illness and how to manage and reverse symptoms, etc).

I recently read of a case of an adolescent girl who had very similar symptoms as a child who as a teen is unable to attend school, uses a wheelchair even in the home, and these conditions and their average age of onset are becoming more common and with younger people. It is imperative people understand nutrition and put focus upon it, and due to the epigenetics aspect, it is thought that it might be a few generations turning things around before we see people being as healthy as our great grandparents were. 

I Appreciate the Importance of Public Libraries as Gathering Places in Communities: The local public library branch in our community was one of the first places I was spending time at 'off the ranch/farm'.  It was located inside the old one-room schoolhouse up the road about three miles. There were chicken wire-covered frames that would be put over the bookshelves by the librarian when she was leaving, so people wouldn't take any books when they were there for other purposes.  

My mother had learned after marrying my father and going to England with his career in the USAF to breed and show golden retrievers.  They brought three with them when he took an opportunity offered in the mid 1950s to get officers off the payroll; one male and two females.  The joke was that the people came back to the US on an old troop ship and the dogs were on the Queen Mary or Elizabeth, I don't recall which luxury liner.  Cherished home movies of the 'good old days' show my first steps as a baby pulling myself up on dogs outside, not on furniture in the home as most children do. Fur-niture we  might call the dogs.  

My mother's degree had been in art education and she later became certified in elementary education and taught at the elementary school. However, while she had children at home too young to go to school, she volunteered to be the area's canine 4-H instructor and organizer, and they used the library and the parking lot depending on the weather.  For those familiar with the show "South Park", the co-creator Trey Parker is a decade behind me in school, if that helps you paint a mental picture of what I'm relating here.  Libraries are important facilities in our communites and you-sers of Lumigrate or my Facebook friends know I recommend to people all the time to find books that will help them learn about whatever it is that will help their well-being -- whether electronic or paper is best is rather individual to the person and an evolving discussion around my circles looking at EMFs and molds.... I'll suggest people put in a request that a book be purchased so it will be available in the community; it's a little something people can do with their TIME and ENERGY resource that costs nothing but helps the fund of knowledge for them and others.  So clearly this event  a perfect marrying of organizations which I have long admired and supported. 

More about me: I have come to realize that I was never 'well', though I was not identified as having any particular problem, and was thought to be 'well', 'a good student', etc.  However, I basically slipped through cracks due to the inattention of the systems involved, and organized medicine was one of the main systems (education and family were the others).

I was born unwell, I came to realize, and what was all-to-common in those days unfortunately occurred with my birth --- a forceps delivery after less than eight hours of labor because the obstetrician had made a 3 pm tee time for golfing.  The story went that I was in an incubator for a short time and then came home when my mother was released a couple or few days later. "Your mother was so mad about that" my father would later say. It wasn't until my first year of college, about a decade into yearly eye exams and glasses for near-sightedness, that an eye doctor pointed out that there was nerve damage from the forceps. It was another decade before my health collapsed from adrenal fatigue cascading with the usual reasons of a multitude of stressors, before I sought out an optometrist advertising they did vision therapy. From there my world finally started turning around for the better.

It took another decade to whittle away at classes at CSU to get good grades and be accepted into the occupational therapy program, do the program and internships, graduate and get my first job as an OT, pass the national board exam and then get in trouble with my first employer for making errors on billing grids along with other processing problems with Medicare paperwork which was getting me lined out with upper management for them to be able to fire me when, thankfully, the area manager was an OTR who 'coincidentally' had sat next to me years prior when we opted to take a one week class to become certified in the Assessment of Motor and Process Skills (one of the best classes I've ever taken!).  

She'd also let me utilize her clinic in Denver with the MS Society to assess people as was required to get certified. So she'd already formed an opinion of me before I was a 'problem' for the corporation she hired onto about the same time I did. She thankfully knew of a Denver optometrist guru of vision development, who I invited early on to be part of things at Lumigrate's forums -- author of See it. Say it. Do it!, Lynn Hellerstein. Coincidentally, Dr. Hellerstein became an author and speaker / teacher to bigger markets at the same time that Lumigrate arrived on the Internet in 2009/10.  

I bring all this detail here because in 2013 I ended up finding information about 'pyroluria' and 'pyrole disorder' which has among the many and varied symptoms created from the zinc, B6 and other interrelated deficiencies the EXACT kind of brain-based problems that I've stumbled through life with, as well as members of my family.  And with functional medicine you're always the looking at the next layer down of  'why' / 'what causes it'.  It turns out that the many bacteria and virus' that inhabit most of us that increasingly are giving us symptoms, partially or greatly due to our poor food quality and food choices for many generations now, are suspected by experts to be the culprits.  

I don't know if these are things that the vision therapy / behavioral vision / vision development experts are integrating into their practices overall, but generally it comes down to each person having the due diligence to look into these things for themselves or the children they are responsible for educating and/or raising.  Many of us have to pick that ball up at age 18 and take responsibility for things that were not brought to the surface by the family, education, or medical systems who took care of us before we got to the magic age where we are responsible things.   

Fortunately, I came into a family that valued reading and education. Both of my parents were 'life long learners' and there was a terrific spread between the two of them so I had diversity presented to me from my family of origin.  There were always multi vitamins of a chewable sort available in the kitchen -- in a clear bottle so you saw the pretty colors. Not having candy in the home except for special occasions, I used them as a 'treat' and over my childhood years I didn't take a full bottle of them... they were 10 years old probably before they were gone or thrown out, I don't remember finishing the bottle.  

My father had a strong chemistry background in school and with his work to some extent, and he was very analytical.  He was also steeped in the government system as the authority you turned to and followed and didn't question.  My health very much mirrors his, and as he aged I tried to get him taking supplements and doing a thyroid supplement with T3 in it and not just the T4 synthetic thyroid medication he took, and he would study his books about it, including the new books I'd give him as gifts, but he'd never take the steps to find an expert to help guide him with that, even when a woman MD left the practice his GP was at to hang out a shingle nearby where she didn't take insurance and would be able to advise people about nutrition and functional medicine (and sell appropriate supplements, etc.)  He was not limited by finances, it was his mindset limiting him, or his energy or his anxiety about meeting a new provider. He was not a 'proactive patient', ironically.

He told me near the end of his life that the only regret he had was leaving the military early. This was done because his work had taken him to England after he'd married my mother, and they had to move around a lot and at one place they rented she had to keep 14 fires stoked as they were the caretakers of the parsonage that went along with Oxford University. He had loved being in the US Air Force and said the structure of it was good for his personality. He admitted later in life that he had realized 'there was something wrong' with him, and that he perhaps should not marry and have children and pass it on -- 'something like autism'.  At the end of life stage he did admit that he'd taken my advise after my mother died and went to a 'doctor' once but didn't go back (psychology is what I'd suggested), who told him that he thought he did have autism.  The psychologist who worked with him when he fell apart and was in hosptial and rehab for a total of 9 weeks around the time Lumigrate was being constructed said that he believed my dad had fibromyalgia symptoms in the past -- yet he was never labeled / diagnosed / treated for any of these things.

Interestingly, when serving in the Army Air Corps in World War II (serving in North Africa and Italy, cold environments) he was not provided the thyroid supplemental medication he had been taking since he was a teenager.  Anyone who ends up feeling cold 'all the time' and has experienced what it's like to have the endocrine system being off in the way you're with hypothyroid symptoms would commiserate with how miserable that had to have been.  Towards the end of his life, the last decade or so, he was studying a lot about thyroid and doing what he could at home without seeking out advise from a professional, and he'd read in Thyroid for Dummies that corn was a factor in suppressing thyroid function. I asked one of my doctors at the time about that and he made a note to look into that; at the time my existing family members were all eating gluten/wheat free (or attempting to), so corn had become a go-to food.  This was almost ten years ago, and I didn't 'get the memo' about GMOs and corn and etc. until the years since starting Lumigrate, which I shared in the forums (use the Search bar and you'll see what I offered, and when).  

My father had an outstanding memory for details, and, like me, his first memory was of being in a crib! Fortunately, I remember a lot of what he said over the years. He remembered how his rural Wisconsin doctor had tested him for thyroid hypoactivity and by the time I had symptoms similar to his, organized medicine was doing the "TSH test" which I've reported on many places, as well as other experts in the forums and videos at Lumigrate, over the years, as inadequate.  

One resource I provided in 2009 was when I saw Dr Jacob Teitelbaum speak as the keynote at a chronic pain conference I was invited to present at as well --- he does a marvelous job with the analogy about shoe size and what is normal for one person versus another.   So, unfortunately, my health issues were always, and continue to be, something I've learned require dedication, time, work, energy, and money.  It's a work in progress.  Lifelong learners have an advantage if they have health issues; if people are not inclined to be learners then that's where their process can benefit initially --- learning why that is, and what they can do about that aspect FIRST.  Then go on to learning.  Promote health seminars and you'll see the range of responses from individuals. 

Both of my parents were teachers in various ways, my father in the military prior to his retirement around the time I was a child, and my mother ended up being a fourth grade teacher in my rural elementary school.  I was always cold, I was extremely thin as a child, and in my teens I would black out every time I stood up, to one extent or another. My father was diagnosed with hypoglycemia about the time I went to junior high, and even though it's very obvious to me now that it was a blood pressure problem, what the discussion was around the dinner table about my problems by the adults focused on the blood sugar aspect.  My mother had very low blood pressure and she also got very red in the face with exhertion in the heat.  I now believe she and I both had and have the symptoms of the vascular form of Ehlers-Danlso Syndrome, something I predict 'we'll be hearing a LOT about in the near future' as it is being positioned by the conventional medical establishment in 2014 to get sent 'up the flagpole' for people to learn about it via funding finding it's way to the national organization.

By the time I was in high school, my blood pressure and low body temperature never being a concern by the providers even when I'd inquire specifically, I had been diagnosed with pre-diabetic hypoglycemia. My then- physician of the primary care / GP kind stated that it was guaranteed I'd have diabetes as an adult.

I fortunately had the example of behavior modeling from my parents as a foundation; we ate breakfast, lunch and dinner every day, and dinner was always around the dinner table as a family.  I was expected to help start preparing the food with my mother when she started doing so, and we worked to clean up the kitchen as we went and then did the dinner dishes and had everything restored and the kitchen ready for the next person to use it in the morning before retiring to watch the 9 or 10 pm news or, in my case, do my homework.  

I realized in recent years when consulting with people about their wellness and the occupation of food preparation and consumption that many people know how to cook but we're out of the habit of doing real food preparation. I reflected and saw how my habits changed over the years and I encourage others to look at their lifestyle and choices on how they're spending their resources when it comes to the most important thing, which is what we nourish ourselves with. And generations of people then have grown up not with those skills and they are needing to learn basic food preparation. Fortunately there are a lot of videos online but there is a lot of benefit that comes from doing things collaboratively with others, as close to in-person as possible.  

In the Grand Junction Natural Grocers they put in a small seminar area with glaring lights and paint color, and there is no kitchen area for doing food preparation demonstrations, but other locations stores have those facilities; another reason I wish to promote and focus upon Natural Grocers with this topic starting 2015 off. 

"Functional medicine" is what Lumigrate is about, which is going to replace the conventional allopathic medicine we've had as the stronghold for the past 100+ years.  Biologic providers are often who I link to as well, those are other terms that some people are unaware of as 'search words'; biologic dentists are holistic dentists that practice things according to standards set out by their industry organization which are very different than general dentistry of the allopathic medical model. Apparently many dentists are now putting that term on their advertising but aren't subscribing to the conventions and norms of the biological dentistry organization and so it is important to know what those standards are when investigating a dentist that claims to be biologic.  These are just some baseline / foundational things to be aware of that I wanted to put into this piece as this might be someone's starting point this year or overall in reforming their health care. 

The other mainstay concept at Lumigrate is "integrative medicine" --- bringing together the best of the medical models and addressing body, mind and spirit is what Lumigrate is all about. Lighting / luminous .... and integrate (to bring together) melds to create the word "Lumigrate", which we launched with onto the Internet in 2009 thanks to funds that came my way due to family members who wanted me to have a cushion under me due to my complex medical condition history plus working for 15 years for a system that had it's own retirement plan, then doing work with employers that were social security based -- a messed up retirement I have and I am not alone with that situation, I know!  We are all in this boat together in a way, really. 

I opted to find a way to work differently and life-long, hopefully, and felt that creating Lumigrate with the funds was going to be in everyone's best interests.  That is the nutshell history of me and Lumigrate for those who are finding this topic and new to Lumigrate.  I believe in transparency and I ask for people to support my work with helping others find the website, reimbursing me in some way for my time if I give individuals help in finding their way to information, providers, services, and products that help them. 

My father was very conventional -- when it came to planning for retirement or for eating according to experts' advise. He was perhaps more compliant than the 'average bear' about eating the way the conventional system providers suggested for blood sugar regulation back in the 1970, which set a good example for my behaviors. Or maybe I was, like him, inclined to black and white thinking --- do this or don't do this, there is no in between.  

I really was very compliant with having only one piece of bread or that amount of a more simple carbohydrate. I limited myself on fruit and fruit juice, which was the hardest part for me as I was always a 'fruit freak', something I have since learned was a symptom of things that were awry in my system. Interestingly, what was causing my blacking out was likely a condition called POTS and not the blood sugar problem that was found (after we persisted and went to get a second opinion after the first physician said that after 3 hours the blood sugar being at 60 was in the normal range so not hypoglycemia.  

Later, in my 20s, I was further confused by a new primary care physician I had in Fort Collins saying that there was no such thing as hypoglycemia. Anything that would cause hypoglycemia was so severe you'd be dying if you had it.  THESE are ALL things that have gone into my experiences as a medical consumer which, combined with what I learned as a medical provider as a 'second career' in my mid-30s, I've been able to bring 'to the table' and help medical consumers and providers in a unique way due to my unique background of experiences.

I'm pleased to say that I have yet to have enough of a blood sugar problem that it has yielded me having that formally diagnosed and treated. Twice it has been getting into that realm and then I work harder and figuring out what has gone awry and why and then do something about it and so far, so good, I've always been able to get things reversed. This reversing of things is what I hear over and over today from people who step 'outside the box' of conventional medicine and become empowered with functional medicine approaches. And for me personally, the timing of this seminar from Dustin McFarland via Natural Grocers at the Mesa County Public Library on January 6th at 6:30 pm is good timing; it's time to get shored up again on a number of things that I've done better with in the past.  Fatigue with the efforts it takes to address the myriad of symptoms of complex chronic illness and pain is something I think we all can related to IF we've been proactive in trying to find solutions or make improvements to our wellness / illness state. 

Between the ages of 29 to 35 I twice had severe symptoms of chronic fatigue and then chronic pain and infections. These were diagnosed as chronic Epstein-Barr virus (CEBV), chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS), fibromyalgia (FM), etc. ... and often the insurance-based, conventional providers were baffled. As were some of the providers outside of organized medicine, those 'outside the box' I came to realize in recent months and years are perhaps being swayed away from underlying causes in order to inform their consumers about them, or they are aware and are for whatever reasons not letting the consumers in on the information -- I don't know which.  I know that I've found more information online in 2014 from NON professional-lead Facebook groups than ever, and those people are very good about finding professional sources which are relevant and helpful. And I have started including this information increasingly in topics in the forums at Lumigrate.  

Usually each provider would have one major thing they'd add to the mix of information that I'll call my fund of knowledge, and I'd check in with my gut and intution on and then focus in that direction. I joke that 1/3 of what I've done helped a lot, 1/3 was detrimental, and 1/3 I'm not sure about -- but overall the body is designed so strongly to survive that the benefits prevailed and I can say that I have about as good health today as I had a decade ago, which was an improvement of what I had around age 40 -- that was the worst stretch for me and I appreciate it today very much as I understand why there is a 15% suicide rate in the ranks of people who have the things that I have as causes for the symptoms. I remember thinking "if every day in the future is going to be like today, I don't want it".

Thankfully things would open up for me or I'd co-create some change in my life which would lead to the next step, then the next, and eventually things unfolded enought that I wanted to create a website platform to help share with others so they might benefit.  I also found advising people about the occupation of health care that I'd suggest they study on the Internet, or books, and it would be more efficient if I had a portal or collection of what I wanted people to be looking at. I was able to do that in 2008 with Lumigrate coming to reality and 'live' in March of 2009. 

And twice in the years since my first health collapse (in 1988/89 when I was 28/29 -- I was unable to climb a flight of stairs without resting halfway, or walk a block, work more than 7 hours, nor stand to cook a meal), I put tremendous focus on my wellness and lifestyle with the help of providers who helped me a great deal and I thought I was 'well' and would be that way forever if I kept doing what I was doing.  

But I wasn't living in a household with the kind of reinforcement like when I was in my formative years, and at times I had so many responsibilities on my plate with long commutes that I wasn't able to manage doing all the work that goes into obtaining the supplies and preparing the meals that I needed.  I see that today with people I've consulted with about their wellness as well. So round and round the up and down of the wellness / illness teeter totter has gone for me. Same as for you. Same as for everyone. 

I began shopping in Denver at the Cherry Creek Vitamin Cottage store when I moved to that area and got my mail at the post office nearby back in 1996. I was doing internships at the Denver VA (Veterans Administration) in both physical disabilities and psychiatric.  This was one of the timeframes that my health got much better; I lived across the street from the hospital and my work hours were 8 to 5. The physiatrist and the OT and PT department all gathered to eat their brown bag lunches together in the OT room at noon to 1 every day. We'd talk about things. I had already decided to do a yeast cleanse that summer and I had time to prepare the kinds of meals I wanted to consume.  On Thursdays I'd go to Chipotle's #2 store across the street and have them make a to-go gluten free burrito bowl for me using foil and their red baskets because at the time nobody else had asked them about gluten free and they had no to-go bowls as they later had created.  We joked that it was a 'nakedo burrito' and pretty soon the term naked burrito was used by other companies.  It's fun to have been part of the leading edge of the food movement in that way. 

I then went to work and passed the NBCOT board exam and became an OTR while working in a little nursing home in Lakewood, not far from where Vitamin Cottage's founder had, I have heard, began selling supplements door to door back in the 1950s. I then moved nearby their corporate headquarters and 'flagship' store on Green Mountain for a year before moving to Colorado Springs when my work in driving rehabilitation took me that direction, then 11 years ago this month I moved to western Colorado, where I have lived in or near Grand Junction since. Fortunately, it was about the time Natural Grocers opened a store in Grand Junction. Chipotle followed suit not too long after and I have been happy as a clam.

It's fun to see how many people today chose the bowl version of a burrito versus the one with the massive simple carbohydrate load with the white flour tortilla. I experiment by doing it both ways. Playing with fire perhaps but they are easier to eat and I don't like the hard surfaces and loud environment of the Chipotle establishment so eat in my car on my cushion and with music that suits my brain and vibe. People with complex medical issues have so many things going on with their brains and nervous systems that seating and lighting and noise (as well as smells) are very important factors to be considering in terms of making an environment appealing and comfortable to the consumer. So these are things I look for when promoting events or business entities.

I became more aware of this in 2009 when invited to present in Berkeley at a chronic pain conference -- the organizer took all of this into consideration and even had a way for people to be at the foot of the state on big mats! It was so fun to present to people who were on their bellies or whatever made them comfortable, as if they were in their living room watching TV!  

When I was at Natural Grocers leaving the message for Dustin to please call me (and picking up some natural groceries), I picked up the 'upcoming events' flier they always have at the checkout on my most recent shopping trip there -- "A Wealth of Valuable Information, Compliments of Natural Grocers" it says as well as "Empower Others! Bring a Friend".  Great planting of the seeds of change and helping to spread the word.  

In January I noticed that one of Lumigrate's expert information providers from the layer that was in 2012 and 2013, Jeff McCloskey, DC will be presenting on Hormones Balanced Naturally TWICE on Saturday January 10th (10 to 11:30am and noon to 1:30pm).  On January 3 (Saturday) their in-store nutritionist, Dustin McFarland ("sponsored by Natural Grocers it states) presents at 11 am (to 12:30) on Cravings and Weight Gain -- and the Blood Sugar Roller Coaster. On January 16th (Friday), he presents the seminar I attended earlier this year to check out how he and Natural Grocers are doing their seminars lately, "Building Meals for Super Hero Health".  

I got on the phone after that to the Front Range folks I'm hoping to be helping with their health and suggested they look at their local Natural Grocers' seminars and attend.  Both said 'do they have information on-line?' and they do have a ton of information on line now. Their nutrition message has been 'grouped up' with graphics and handouts that you are given when attending the seminar but they are on line for people to access as well.  

Their website (http://www.naturalgrocers.com) is totally different than it was in 2009 when I created Lumigrate and you will still see a link to Vitamin Cottage on the videos tab and the products tab ... that was there from day #1...  At launch, Lumigrate was focused on seminars in video, then after launch the focus was on making information blossom in the forums and readable information, and then finally we got to having some podcasts once we had the technical person and facility available to us at a time I had some funds to pay for the production costs.  That was now quite a while ago but all these things have helped Lumigrate continue to get up higher in the organic searches done by search engines used by information seekers around the world.

Still, I like the in-person and local aspect of wellness promotion and health education concierge / directing to connect people seeking to connect: providers/experts and the consumers.

Dustin McFarland became the in-store nutritionist at the Grand Junction, Colorado (USA) Natural Grocers about two years ago (which re-branded in the years since Lumigrate launched in 2009 from what they were long-known as: Vitamin Cottage).  I wasn't aware there had been an in-store nutritionist at the store before that for some reason, but there was. The first seminars they did at this store were given by the providers that are on our videos tab in some cases, and I was actually involved in mediating the issues between what the corporate seminar person in Lakewood responded with to the provider after submitting, as initially they turned some of the proposals down.

I attended the first seminar at this store, given in the back corner in 2009, I believe it was, without any microphone and the presenter had to speak to people at 90 degree angles to each other with the chips aisle nearby so it was rather comical with shoppers having to crawl over people in chairs to get to the freezers or chips and other things, or staff would hover and get what people wanted.  They were very well attended though -- I think I counted almost 50 people at one.

And then the concept of the clinic we'd collaborated in 2008 to get off the ground shifted and sooner or later all the providers migrated away and then who has been presenting at Natural Grocers shifted to being more often than not, Dustin. I'd notice this when I was in the store, but was focused on fluoride and water in 2012, then got into geoengineering in 2013 and the whole organized / system / establishment studying -- EMFs, etc.  Then pyroluria and Lyme and the coinfections in 2014. Finally, a new year, 2015 and I feel like I've gotten things shored up and can get back to the basics --- FOOD!  

As "luck" would have it, I was in shopping at Natural Grocers in April 2013 to get a product recommended by an animal health expert I'd consulted with when I had the problems surface again with the baffling condition that "SpoildeyCat" had (which turned out likely had Lyme and coinfections as a contributing factor, foods and diet, stress at the time the neurological sysytem was developing, etc.... same as with us people with complex, chronic illnesses that affect the neurological and neuro-endocrine systems and leads to hyperactivity, sensory integration issues, nervousness, etc.).  

It seemed the employees were very different than before and I wondered if there had been a change in management and who was doing the hiring. But I'd just been attacked by a "Cujo-like cat" who was not sure who I was really when at home and I was extremely stressed, sleep deprived, etc. so I wasn's sure if I was picking up on something that was accurate or if I was just off kilter.

There had been a management change as well as the in-store nutritionist change, which I found out when I was leaving and walked out with Dustin. I don't think that had anything to do with when the former nutritionist left and Dustin was hired necessarily, it just was around the same time. A "turnover". Something that's gone on with those I've had as experts and laywriters on Lumigrate as well, there's just always a turning over of things. As with tending to the earth/soil with gardening, that allows for new beginnings and perhaps things to flourish more than ever before. Or it can result in things that people do not work as well. That's why change causes people to feel uneasy. But I thought Dustin seemed very personable and solid and he certainly has a terrific voice for speaking to groups, and I looked forward to what I could learn from attending a seminar someday.

Which I did about a year later, mid 2014. I wanted to see if they were aware or had people asking about pyroluria / pyrole disorder in addition to just 'checking it out'.  I was impressed with the following he had in attendance, and in their sharing of ideas, products, recipes, etc.  I would have liked to have had a way to have them connecting after via Facebook, I remember thinking --- rather than everyone scattering and being out the door to maybe never interact again.  I'd stopped in a couple of other times to let him know of things that I'd uncovered, or to let him know I'd suggested someone come speak with him about a particular subject matter so he could be prepared if it wasn't something he was used to consulting with people about. 

So it was to my good fortune that I'd stopped in recently when in the area to purchase something at a neighboring store that I listened to my gut which said "go in and see if Dustin's available and let him know what you're finding out and see if he knows about (the last thing that I was researching in 2014)".  He saw me and said 'good timing, I was just now available for a bit'...  I mentioned the growing urban gardening movement and he directed me to something on the little bulletin board across from his office in the hallway that goes to the store's break room and bathrooms.

He's right around the corner from the bookcases of books they sell, so I never mind waiting for him --- I'm a bit of a book 'nut' it seems. I look in my free time there at books to see how many have 'pyroluria' or information about MTHFR gene mutation included when you turn to the index.  I was raised in rural Colorado, as I said, above,  where it was a BIG deal if you got to go to the little local library, which was inside the one room school house. 

That day I was wanting to connect him with a local teacher who had used my information concierge services in the last two years with good results, whose recovery had much to do with a book she found on the Natural Grocers shelves in addition to that she followed through to get a referral to a provider her GP had not known of to connect her to, which had been very successful, thankfully.

I wasn't sure if he could go out and talk at schools, but he excitedly told me of the schools he had recently spoken to, what grades, and how many were in attendance (aka 'the statistics' in health education circles -- I worked for the health education department at Colorado State University's student health center for two years when making application to the occupational therapy program for the years 1994 to 1996).  I was pleased to hear that he could go out to the schools AND that the public schools in the area were having him come!

I let the teacher / client know and she then connected with me after she'd connected with Dustin. She was very inspired and looking forward to 2015 and collaborating.  She had also connected with the church that had been doing gardening seminars in December. I was unable to attend any but I have the person's contact information. "The Movement" about food feels very underway, with good roots under it and is now beyond sprouting -- it may be really 'taking off'. 

If you want to get a message to Dustin to talk by phone or make an appointment you have to be persistent sometimes, the system is wonky for modern times: They have one phone number which is answered by the person working register #1 by the door (970/263-7750). They can take a message but don't always offer to do so and I can see why -- I've been at register 1 when they get a call and it means your cashier is multitasking. They also are the cashier that watches over the water machine and dry ice and basically facilitates the front of the store's activities.  Persistence pays off.  

Since I shop there regularly, I just figured I'd go in and leave a message for him, so I found an employee who had a moment to get paper and pen and they then gave the note to a manager who then handles it to get it to Dustin. You can see how there is a lot of room for error in that process and I only state this here so that if YOU don't get a call back, you'll perhaps try again.  In this case all went well and the message was received as Dustin called me as soon as he had available time yesterday, which allowed me to get going on this topic and be able to hopefully reach people who would be interested in attending IF they learn of the seminar. 

The Natural Grocers company is committed to doing outreach -- it's one of the foundations to their marketing and education.  I had recently spoken with someone from a local business who was interested in having Natural Grocers' experts in-service employees, so if you're reading this and work for a business -- whether in Grand Junction or not, whether you have a Natural Grocers in your area or not as we are fortunate to have with Dustin as the nutritionist, please consider requesting such a thing from your human resources department or whomever handles that where you work.

If you're a parent who sends your children to school -- public or otherwise -- same suggestion of the organization.  If you home school..... same thing.  This store has an employee who used to live where I 'grew up' (which is SW of Denver and the area is the inspiration for the show South Park) that had incredible suggestions for me; I am so glad she works in the supplements area of the store now so that I could have the opportunity to meet her and speak with her recently (when waiting to talk with Dustin), as someone had suggested I speak with her sometime when she was working and I fortunately remembered her name and general description of her as it was a while before we were both there at the same time. She said that three employees used to live where I lived -- and it's been my experience that almost everyone from that area has been affected to some extent or another by what we'd term 'environmental illness'. This is the banana belt of Colorado so many people moved here, plus it was much less expensive AND was 'booming' for years due to petroleum exploration and production as well as being the medical hub for the region. 

AGAIN: The title of the seminar Dustin McFarland will present on January 6 (a Tuesday just after everyone goes back to school after the holiday break) at 6:30 pm in the Mesa County Library's 160-seat capacity room at the main branch downtown is "How Changing Your Diet Can Manage Weight Gain, Cravings and Blood Sugar". 

I asked Dustin if he will be referring people to Beat Sugar Addiction Now! by Jacob Teitelbaum, MD (who was our last registered user new in 2012 in order to write on the thread sending off our wishes at end of life to expert Gary King of ITC Compounding and Natural Wellness Pharmacy, who I'd met in 2009 at the chronic pain conference I referred to here). Dustin is using that as a resource suggestion and has ordered copies to be available at the store to meet any demand from the seminar.  

I shared with him that BSAN! used to be THE book that I was talking up to 'everyone', in the year after I did the same thing with Adrenal Fatigue by Dr Wilson (who is a DC and PhD and etc.). While waiting to talk with him recently, I was drawn to a book when looking for what resources on their shelves have information about pyrole disorder / pyroluria (aka HPU, PKU and etc. as the topic I created at Lumigrate earlier this year states) that is 'my new favorite thing' that I recommend to virtually everyone and put it in the forum with the others at Lumigrate titled "The Lumigrate Bookshelf": The Mood Cure by Julia Ross, who has a masters degree and was a counselor who got into nutrition and mental health long ago.

The Mood Cure was published over a decade ago and does include information about pyroluria / pyrole disorder (and that springboards a person into MTHFR gene mutation which is all the rage lately and applies to about half of people in the US today).  I talked it up so much or else people somehow otherwise wanted to purchase it that it went from 3 copies on the shelf when I grabbed the one I purchased a couple of months back to none!  And now that I've put a bug in Dustin's ear about my enthusiasm for the book and why I purchased it, I hope in 2015 he might have time to read the book a bit and then present on something along the lines of what it presents.

For this seminar about blood sugar, cravings, weight management he is also utilizing the book Sugar Shock as a resource. I have not yet looked at that one and look forward to.  Maybe the public library has a copy of it -- I'll have to check and see. 

I plan to attend and then add to the information here at the Lumigrate forums about the presentation so that people who were unable to attend, or those who did, have some resource to look at afterwords beyond what is at the Natural Grocers website.  The link to get you to the Grand Junction portion of their website is http://www.naturalgrocers.com/gj. Their store is located at 2464 US Hwy 6&50, Grand Mesa Center, Unit 124, Grand Junction, Colorado, 81505.  The way locals would tell you where it's at: between Bed Bath and Beyond and Michael's.  

I also connected by phone with Jennifer Murrell who Dustin had told me was his contact person at the Mesa County Public Library, her responsibilities include overseeing their adult activities / programs. I let her know I would plan to come in later that day, which I did and that was good to get to see the facility and meet some of the people responsible for putting on these events. While there, I also connected with the woman who is the person responsible for their website, so it was good that I went in-person and made that in-person connection. I suggest people do the same when it comes to getting education, if something is going on in your geographic area.   

The east parking area is closest but people can park anywhere. The seats are padded and much more comfortable than what was in their public seminar room prior to the recent remodel, Jennifer said. I had difficulty finding any fliers out and there were only two copies of the bookmarks so I took both of those and then Jennifer provided me with the number of fliers she wanted me to have when I related to her that I was making the rounds to businesses that would be able to post the flier and tell others about the seminar.

Since I was on my last one when I got to the health club I had selected to approach, they made more copies for me.  (Shout out to Crossroads Fitness at the airport location .. they were doing a program in 2015 where people get points for attending events so that was very welcomed by the staff I spoke with late in the afternoon on New Years eve).  

In terms of making the public aware of this, in speaking with Jennifer by phone initially, she stated they put these events on their events calendar at the website, on their marquis out front, have fliers at their locations and it's on the bookmarks they use to help people connect with what events they have ongoing. Jennifer said they also put out a press release to The Sentinel newspaper and from there "anyone else that picks it up" (so I hope The Grand Junction Free Press picks it up too as I had a LOT more people attend the 2007 seminar series I put on in the Primary Care Partners building than I had from the Sentinel, and I connected regularly with both to place free ads in the community calendars they offer in the papers).

When I helped launch the marketing seminars in 2008 for the integrative medicine center, which morphed into different providers being at the center by 2009/2010 when Lumigrate and I were no longer affiliated in any way, we had not gotten to using all those mechanisms because we were often having to answer the phone and turn people away as our capacity was so limited for seating (to 20) due to an unfortunate cost issue for having the initially-planned large seminar area get cut into to allow for another provider and treatment room to be in the center.

Lumigrate's fabulous full time assistant from spring 2008 to summer 2009 and I got the Constant Contact / database together with teaching from our consultant which allowed us to reach those who contacted the clinic and target those people initially. The more is not always merrier, sometimes it's preferred to create a group of people who are really invested and come time after time and the people get to know each other to some extent and go from there.  

I asked Jennifer what kind of turnout they are expecting and she said it's very hard to predict -- "it could be 1, it could be 40".  I would hope there are more than 40 people in the Grand Valley are of CW Colorado who would like to come out on January 6th and learn about achieving your healthiest weight by working to address blood sugar control and the nutrients that are so critical for overall well-being.  Here's the main link to the Mesa County Public Library's website:  http://mesacountylibraries.org/locations/central/

And no matter what, I hope YOU are looking to 2015 as a new opportunity to address your wellness and this topic has at least inspired some new directions in thinking or understanding for any YOUsers reading it. 

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! ~~ Mardy