Allergies 101 - My First Holistic Treatment

This is a longer post than usual, but trust me...it's worth the read!

If you follow my blog, you'll know that I promised to keep you updated on my new holistic venture.  My recent trip to Dr. Gwinnup in Chs brought to light a few things that I kind of new and many that I did not.  I was tested for 753 allergies - all from basic foods to amino acids to metals to you name it.  And of the 753 - 62 are currently being either rejected or fought inside my body when I come into contact with them.  Most people have standard allergic reactions - sneezing, coughing, stuffy head, hives, shortness of breath.  I have stomach pain and a plethora of GI issues that I don't wish to blog about - too much information.  But you get the point.

In a nutshell, I'm allergic to eggs, wheat, corn, dairy, pure cane sugar, guava, potatoes, iron, chicken, shrimp, haddock, crab, scallops, and a slew of other stuff.

So Friday was my first treatment.  It consisted of an exam and the treatment of eggs.  My body was out of balance so much that my left side was 28lbs heavier than my right.  This is because the discs in my neck and pelvic bone were misaligned.  To ensure successful treatment, he had to align them. 

From there, a strength test was performed.  My left arm was held out parallel to the ground with my hand twisted so that my thumb faced the ground.  He put pressure on my arm and told me to hold my arm up.  I did without any problems.  He then put little vials of egg white, egg yolk, chicken, and feathers into my hand and performed the strength test again.  I couldn't hold my arm up!  My body had reacted to the vials and caused an energy reaction that prevented my muscles from overcoming the Dr's pressure.

I was then told to lay down on my stomach on his table.  With the vials still in my hand, he massaged and stimulated various acupressure points up and down my spine.  When finished I was told to wait in the lobby for 10 minutes while I "cooked."  Still with the vials in my hand, I sat in the waiting room as my body slowly became desensitized towards the eggs, chicken, and feathers. 

When 10 minutes were up, the strength test was repeated.  This time I WAS ABLE TO HOLD MY ARM UP!  Amazing.

For the next 25 hours, I could not eat nor touch any substance that contained eggs, chicken, or chicken feathers.  So no breads, cookies, omelets, pasta, chicken sandwich, or pillows!  To some, this would be torture.  But to me, not so.  I've been avoiding all of those foods anyways for some time since bread contains wheat.  So does pasta and cookies.  Only issue was the pillow.  Try sleeping at night without a pillow - reminded me a little too much of Iraq.

According to Dr. Gwinnup and the N.A.E.T. protocol, I can slowly reintroduce eggs and chicken back into my diet and I should be free of this allergy.

I know what you're thinking....this is some crazy Voodoo shit, right?  But think about it for a minute....

Western medicine constantly treats symptoms, never the cause.  The cause is always a mystery - at least that has been my experience.  And anyone suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) or Crohns or similar disorder knows the run around from traditional GI doctors.  Treat the symptom - blanket the cause with a BS disease such as IBS.  If you have stomach issues, then the cause is what you're eating.  Period.  Garbage in = Garbage out.  America has the worst eating habits in the world.  Try to find anything in a grocery store without High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Good luck, because it's in everything.  And I'm allergic to it.

When your body reacts to an allergy, all it's doing is sending signals up your spin to your brain telling it to either accept or reject the substance.  If it rejects it, you'll have an allergic reaction.  In my case, I become inflamed in the stomach which causes my pain and a slew of other issues.  Obviously there are medical terms for these signals and reactions, but I don't speak medical - I speak financial and IRS.  I've done the research but don't recall the terminology - so I'll leave that up to you or you could just take my word for it.

The basis of stimulating acupressure points along my spin was to "reprogram" these signals to tell my brain that these substances were not malicious and that they should not be attacked.

That's it!  It's that simple.  Of course Dr. Gwinnup makes it sound so much more interesting and medical than I do.  But this is my blog and not his and is simply my way of tell all of you that I finally have some faith in Doctors - especially those that practice holistic medicine.

Wait though Justin......do eggs still bother you?  You didn't tell us....

I don't know yet.  I'm nervous to reenter them into my diet and it's only been 28 hours since my treatment.  I'll keep you posted.  But I'll never know if I don't try.  Next week is Amino Acids and Sugar!

S/F.  Enjoy!   

A Big THANK YOU to the Marine Corps

It's been a whoping 6 and 1/2 years since I landed at Willow Grove Air Station on a 747.  We finally arrived home from our 24+ hour flight from Iraq.  I thought nothing could be better...

Little did I know that the next 6+ years would be filled with daily paydays from whatever had infected my body in Iraq.  I would spend countless house at various hospitals, visits with GI Drs doing not-so-pleasant GI things.  All with the same results - NOTHING IS WRONG WITH YOU!

Bullshit.

So here's to a big THANK YOU to the Marine Corps and a big FU to all of the traditional western doctors who collected a paycheck from my insurance company.

I'm going Holistic and not looking back.  I will blog about my experience in the very likely case that you too should go holistic.

S/F

Good Lord! I am out of shape.

Wow.  So my wife's new obsession is estate sales (see her latest blog about it) thanks to our neighbors.  And yesterday she brought home a tarnished water pitcher. 

"Oh that's easy to polish...I was a Marine and we'd have to polish the red off a fire extinguisher in boot camp!"  I said.

"Go for it..." my wife says.

So I broke out the old can of Nevr Dull and had at it.  I polished that pitcher till I could see myself in it...just like a mirror! 

**Insert me patting myself on the back**

But when I saw my reflection, I could see my beer gut and the evidence of pre-teen mammary glads.  In case you're not in the know...PTMGs progress into full blown Man Boobs.  It's a fact, check it out on WebMD. 

Time to do something about it.  So I went for a run today.  And Good Lord!  I am out of shape.  Consider this pre-phase to my quest to forever change the mirrored image in the newly polished pitcher. 

The time has come.  Damn you PTMGs!

What I'm Drinking: The Balvenie Caribbean Cask - Aged 14 Years

It's been two long years since my studies began on what I'll call The Art of Single Malt Scotch Whisky.  And all this time, I haven't purchased one bottle of the stuff. 

Until last weekend.

A close friend and neighbor of mine and I went to Total Wine, here in Charleston.  If you've never ventured into a Total Wine you're missing out.  It should be called Total Worth the Trip in Here.  And what I picked up was a bottle of white Bordeaux for the wife (which was aweful and don't recommend) and this:

My years of studies took me through the regions of Scotland where Scotch Whisky is produced, the various flavor profiles of the regions, and the best methods of tasting and enjoying.  But most of all, my studies taught me that this is the most misunderstood alcoholic beverage on the market.  Everywhere I go, I see men drinking it the totally incorrect way and even bartenders serving it incorrectly. 

This is what I'll call the idiots way of drinking it:





And the correct way:

The difference?  Shape and what's floating in it.  The proper Scotch Whisky glass is bell shaped like a tulip.  The Scotch Whisky sits in the bottom of the bell and as it's swirled, the nose (aroma) of the liquid is concentrated at the top of the glass.  From here, the die hards take a sip and enjoy while the majority of drinkers add a few drops of cool water.  NO FLIPPIN' ICE.  The water technically dilutes the scotch, but it also opens it up to allow the drinker to pick up the vast aroma and flavor profiles in each bottle.

So the bottle I purchased was aged in Caribbean Rum barrels instead of the traditional Oak and Sherry casks.  The sweet rum flavor and aroma is definitely noticeable.  The Balvenie is a Speyside (region of Scotland) distillery and as such doesn't contain a hint of peat, or rather smokey smell/taste.  The professional tasting notes suggest that I should pick up vanilla, toffee, dried spice and tropical fruit on the finish.  I must say that my palate is still so young that I can't pick up these flavors yet....maybe a little vanilla, but none of the others.  

My first rule of thumb when choosing a bottle is to read about it first here.  If I like the different flavors the Pros are saying are in it, then I know I'll like it.

Oh and for you ice nazi's - leave the frozen stuff for the blends - Dewars, Johnnie Walker, Bourdon.  And don't order a Single Malt on the rocks....you may impress the stewardess, but won't impress anyone who has a clue.

Enjoy!

My First Post...and Why?

My wife blogs. My wifes' friends blog. Their friends blog. And I READ THEM! So many blogs about decor, food, clothing, shopping, weddings, chic this, luxe that, domestic diva, aprons.....

I was beginning to feel a little girly -or- rather less-than-manly. Kinda like this...

So I'm snapping out of it and starting my own blog with the hopes that those who I read will read mine. And not because I want to be famous or want people to care about what I do with my life.

Not that at all.

It's because I want others to see how I view life from both sides of the wedding isle. I'm a Marine. I love my wife, classic cars, cleaning the house, drinking wine, smoking cigars, champagne, and our doggies' pink leash.

You'll read about the manly stuff and the girly stuff - but most importantly, what you'll read is the complete unedited truth about what it's like to be a real man in a world that tries to define what a real man is.

Enjoy!