We had already cut nearly all the plastic out of our lives and replaced them with glass containers. I recycled almost all of my plastic tupperware and drinking glasses, and we made a sweep through the fridge. Now even the mustard has a glass jar.

We also installed water filters for drinking, cooking and showering. I found out that I am allergic/sensitive to manganese which is a mineral in our local water source. It was part of the problem causing my skin issues. Also, Jason wanted to eliminate the chlorine that comes from the tap water in our shower. The steam from the shower can cause lung issues and other irritation.
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So, now we only use the cell phones to our ears for very short calls, otherwise, we try to use speaker phone or a “blue tube” headset which is air tube based so that electric radiation is not carried up the wire.

In the car, we use a bluetooth handsfree solution which came with our Toyota Prius.

Music – we play music all the time. It’s an eclectic variety. We keep a list of artists and styles that we would like to explore so that we can pick them up when we have a chance. I have iTunes set up with a complicated playlist system that randomly picks songs based on some parameters like day of the week, exercise versus relaxing, keywords for the mood, how recently the song has been heard, and so on.  We might be listening to classical, Indian, punk, prog rock, new wave, experimental, African, anything at any time.

Hobbies – I love to cook and we both enjoy creating art and photography. We like to learn about new places to visit and learn about.

Skills – We try to pick up new skills both directly related and tangentially related to our careers. For example, I might learn all about High Performance Computing and Jason about Flash. At the same time, we’ll study something about medical history or linguistics.

Challenge both sides of the brain – I have slight APD (auditory processing disorder) which is a form of auditory dyslexia. Jason has slight visual dyslexia (he’s ambidextrous and has a hard time telling left from right).  We try to challenge ourselves with activities that overcome these problems. For me, trying to talk while doing something else is a huge challenge.

Physical activity – Another great thing to do is something that challenges your mind and body at the same time. I’m practicing using a hula hoop and try to mimic dance steps that I see on TV and movies.

All of these started in my teens and got progressively worse throughout my twenties, especially with weight gain and too much stress.

Now, except for a minor bump here and there, my skin is pretty clear all over my body. I’m going to share the things that made the biggest difference:

1) DIET – low carb. I used to drink a lot of sugary drinks – Coke, coffee, etc. I was also a carb addict – chips, pasta, rice, bread, potatoes…
I saw an immediate change in just about everything in my health when I cut back on carbs. Even as a vegetarian, it is easy to eat more healthy vegetables and proteins and limit intake of processed sugars and starches. It’s also important to embrace healthy fats – olive oil, avocado, nuts, coconut, red palm. Changing my diet, along with exercise, also helped me lose all the excess weight. And my skin took on a healthy glow and increased in elasticity instead of being doughy.

2) Stop taking  those pharmaceuticals. My doctors had me on antibiotics, antidepressants, crap. I stopped taking those and looked for natural alternatives. I take Vitamin-A, Horsetail, anti-oxidants, and other skin feeding supplements.

3) Sulphur soap – my new dermatologist told me to avoid tea tree oil (because I could become sensitive to it) and use a sulphur soap. In addition, we recently read that tea tree oil in constant low doses (like shampoo and body wash) contributes to the development of resistant bacteria like MRSA.  So we’ve rid our toiletries of unnecessary tea tree oil (now used for specific isolated treatments only in our house). I use the sulphur soap on my face and in the shower. I also exfoliate with a natural vegatable fiber face puff and a large scrubber that gets my whole body.

4) Drink lots of water. In fact, we like sassy water – not because it’s trendy, but it really tastes good and has lots of vitamin C. Hydration keeps skins elastic and helps your body get rid of waste products.

5) I cut back on mineral supplements and only take the ones I need. I noticed that if I got too much of certain minerals, my breakouts, especially the big painful ones, would get worse. My personal theory is that bacteria thrive in mineral-laden sweat.  I thought about this when I was reading how overfertilized soil run-off is a severe breeding ground for bacteria because of the magnesium, etc. We don’t take multi-vitamins. There’s evidence that they don’t absorb right and the over load of minerals isn’t good. We take each vitamin and mineral in a proper dose separately.

6) Salycilic acid astringent – I wipe down with it twice a day and after any kind of exfoliation or hair removal. I also take a low dose (81mg) aspirin every day.

7) Laser hair removal – yes it was expensive and it hurt, but it was so, so, so worth it. I got a brazilian and had my arm pits done. This investment probably cut my hidradenit suppurativa breakouts a hundred fold by itself.

Laser facial for rosacea – not as painful as laser hair removal, but did make me look like I had a sunburn for a while after each treatment. However, it nearly completely removed all the red spider veins around my nose and imporved my over skin tone. I need to get a touch up every few years.

9) Remove all chemical toxins from anything that touches skin. This means osmosis filter in the shower to remove chlorine and only organic and natural products for moisturizers and makeup. Also, only natural, color and fragrance free laundry detergent.

10) Thong underwear. Yes, it helps to have free air and circulation down there. Plus, run around the house nude for a little while each day and let the sun shine on you for a few minutes. Vitamin D and aeration.

Now, this was certainly not overnight. It took a good five years of following this regimen – with certain changes taking affect more quickly than others. But it was worth the wait and the effort.

Jason was reading about causes of cancer and there is some evidence to support that exposure to radiation, even at small amounts, may be enough to tip a cell into mutation.

So, I got a new toaster oven, with a dehydrator function, and built-in convection oven. I have to say that food tastes a lot better. Heating leftovers in the toaster oven makes them taste better than fresh most of the time.

Stress cripples your mind, body and soul. In the words of Robert Fripp, that’s head, hands, and heart – what you think, what you do, what you feel. It can make you forgetful, fat, and cranky.

Here are some top ways that our household uses to cope:

1. Organize your life – stop procrastinating and get your shit together. I highly recommend David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.

2. Exercise – get sweaty. It’s good for you and makes you feel better. We invested in a punching bag. It’s a great stress reliever.

3. Stop caring what everyone else thinks. This is truly the secret to happiness. Stop worrying about what other people think of you. Be yourself and go boldly. You’ll have a lot more confidence, and mental energy, if you just let it go.

4. Yoga – cliche, perhaps; but it is tried and true.

5. Listen to music while you work. Commune with nature when possible. We have a host of creatures coming to our yard.

6. Meditate to clear your mind. Practice mindfulness. Try a guided body scan.

7. Lower your carbs. Eat more fresh and organic produce.

8. Feed your mind and heart with philosophy and spiritual learning. I just finished reading Hindu for Dummies, Everything Buddhism, and am always looking for new pursuits. Inspiration can come from those who have been inspired.

9. Have sex and make love every day of your life.

10. Never, ever stop asking why. Why am I doing this? Is there a purpose? Doing everything with purpose in mind will help you feel more productive, more fulfilled and ultimately, less stressed.

Disclaimer: BLOG RULE #1: Just because I read a book and mention it in this blog, doesn’t mean that I agree with everything in the book. I have a voracious and open-minded attitude towards information. I like to research every angle.

I was also reading a novel, Immortality by Kevin Bohacz, which is a fantastic techno-thriller. It was given to me by William F. Nolan (crazy enough, the author of Logan’s Run, and a personal friend and neighbor, referred to herein as ‘Bill’) who said, “Here, you might like this, read it and tell me what you think…”
Without giving away too much, because you really should read this book, it’s excellent; there are some nanotechnology elements to the story.

I had also just finished reading How Not to Look Old by Charla Krupp which is a style guide for middle-age women advising on how to look Y&H (“Young and Hip”). More on that to come in future postings, but for this article, I had been obsessing over the shapewear and lingerie chapter.

Melatonin is a wonderful sleep aide. I use Natrol’s Sleep’n Restore 20 Tablets, a product I found at Whole Foods. It does have an interesting side effect – it makes me have very vivid dreams.

I had this bizarre, but cool dream. Jason, Bill and I were far in the future. The moon had been destroyed and knocked out of orbit by an asteroid. Fortunately, some scientists had saved Earth by putting a replacment gravity sphere into orbit to keep the Earth’s axis and tides from being affected. Unfortunately, the thing was small, black and not visible. There was no illuminated moon to gaze at in the night sky. So some famous scientist was going to restore it. This guy is famous in the future. He’s old and he’s just a brain and brainstem floating around in a suspended holographic body. He’s kind of see-through and he’s been dubbed the first “holoborg”. He’s holding this massive event – it’s like a rock concert or an Obama rally. He’s going to project a holographic moon back into the sky – live.

So Bill, Jason and I are at the big event. The guy floats out onto the stage all ghosty with his brainstem bobbing about, gives a speech, and then flips the switch. But no moon appears. The projection just looks like a rainbow. This prompts Jason to start making Dio jokes (Rainbow in the Dark) and then Bill and I started going “Where’s the Moon?!?” (like from the Wendy’s commercial – where’s the beef?) We’re totally heckling this poor guy.

Next scene, I’m going to a cosmetic surgeon to get a new “nanobra”. The Dr. Rey of the future paints a thin liquid onto my topless torso. He calls it “nanofilm”. Next, he looks at a computer display where a special scanner and camera have superimposed the nanobra onto my real-time image. He controls the nanobra like a cad program and in realtime gives me a total boob lift. Perfect. He tells me that the nanofilm will gradually absorb and as it does, the little nanobots will restore and repair my skin and the underlying fat and muscle for my new boob shape. I won’t need a new one for a few years. Excellent!

I’m very inspired by this and sick of desiging search widgets for Microhoo, so I start a new comany for nano skin and hair care. The secret is that the programming is all in the bottle. When you buy a product at the store, you are buying a bottle that has the software and charging station and a starter set of nanos. You can buy multiple products at once and they can all share nanobots. When you use the product, the nanos perform their function that was set by the bottle. For example, the facial cleanser will exfoliate, open pores, remove makeup residue, and so on. The dandruff shampoo removes all the flakes from your scalp. When you shower, the nanobots are rinsed down the drain. But, new showers are designed to capture gray water so they don’t go to the sewer. The nanobots are reactivated by the water and they release any detrus (skin cells, gunk) into the water, then crawl back to the nearest bottle that’s advertising for replacements. As a bottle refills, it advertises less and less frequently until it is full. This way, the bottles are continuously refilled as needed. Also, refill blank slate nanobots can be purchased to replace the ones that stop functioning or get lost.

So yes, it sounds like a crazy dream – and it felt like it went on all night.

But I do have to say that I feel great after being on the melatonin for about 3 weeks. More energy, more relaxed, and I think my skin has improved.

1. Pizza – don’t eat the crust (any of it, not even on the bottom of the slice) – except you can pick one small piece to eat the entire thing. This means you have to scrape the and eat just the toppings.

2. Bread – we get a half slice of bread a day – usually at breakfast. If we go out to eat, we tear the crust off the bread and dip just the crust in olive oil and eat it.

3. Pie/quiche – eat the center, leave the crust.

I feel bad about wasting all that crust, so we always bring it home and feed it to the birds.