Echo Montgomery Garrett's Blog
February 28, 2021
Happiness Boost
I am working on being more mindful about what I spend my time on. Because I am a Type A personality, I can get sucked into busyness and my to-do list rather than concentrating on what really matters. This week I've been deciding what 5 things make me happy that I can incorporate in my life frequently:
* More music. My musical tastes span a broad range of genres as well as eras. Music almost immediately boosts my mood.
* Quality time with close friends and relatives with whom I share similar values -- even though it's limited to Zoom or phone for now.
* Allowing myself space for my own creativity (thanks, Jackie Dishner, for the encouragement in that realm). Running a startup is a lot of work -- especially during a pandemic. I'm learning to carve out time to pursue my projects simultaneously, along with the hobbies that bring me great pleasure: gardening and creating healthy, delicious meals.
* Reading for inspiration and pleasure. Like music, reading feeds my soul. Because I edit and read as part of my job, I have to consciously carve out time to read for myself.
* Making an effort to practice being fully in the moment of whatever I choose to do at that time. Giving my undivided attention to the individual with whom I'm communicating and never assuming that the other person knows the kind and loving thoughts I have about them. Focusing on the good and saying only what is for building up. Because the ongoing pandemic has ramped up my anxiety, I am setting strong boundaries and cutting off people, who are negative, critical, and gossip about others. I prefer to spend my time and energy with those who focus on ideas, dreams and positive actions that we can take to contribute to the world at large.
April 19, 2017
Lobster and a Love Affair
To celebrate our 35th anniversary weekend, my husband Kevin Garrett and I took an unusual step: We decided to play tourist in our hometown. So much is happening in our own backyard that we wanted a chance to explore. First, we headed to the Atlanta Botanical Garden where we are members to see what additions the $100 million upgrade had brought to one of our favorite spots. When we checked into Loews Atlanta, we knew we were in for a treat when we learned we’d been upgraded to a suite on the 27th floor with spectacular views of Midtown. Kevin made reservations for an early dinner at STK Midtown Atlanta, which we’d enjoyed as some of the first guests when it opened at the Camelback Inn Resort & Spa in Scottsdale.
We tucked into a spacious booth in the sleek restaurant. I couldn’t resist the special: Maine lobster stuffed with lump crabmeat, roasted corn and cilantro.
As a child, my parents always encouraged me to be an adventurous eater. Growing up in landlocked Nashville, Tennessee, Dad took delight in introducing me to lobster long before I finally saw the ocean at age 14. I fell in love with the succulent meat. Fast forward: On the last night of our honeymoon on Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas Kevin and I were treated to tempura fried Caribbean lobster tails by songwriter Hank Cochran on his yacht. His chef had prepared them perfectly and served them with a simple soy-based sauce with a hint of fire from a locally grown pepper. That simple meal still stands out in my mind. Dad, who became friends with Hank when they were both signed to Acuff-Rose as songwriters in the early 1960s, had arranged for us to stay at Hank’s bungalow steps from the sea where lipstick-red starfish the size of dinner plates were visible in the crystalline teal waters. That last night as we sipped champagne and nibbled on lobster bites while listening to Hank’s personal collection of local island music, we knew we had set sail into a life of love, laughter and adventure.
So that’s why if lobster prepared in a manner that appeals appears on a menu, I find it hard to resist. Food and shared meals connect us to a place. And lobster reminds me of that first trip to the Caribbean, the one that started our lifelong love affair with the region. We’ve since contributed to three guidebooks about the islands of the Caribbean and written scores of articles for magazines. Kevin has captured images on 31 islands and shot for the Jamaica Tourist Board. From Richard Branson’s Necker Island to Ian Fleming’s Goldeneye on Jamaica to Sandy Lane on Barbados — where we learned from our dinner host that the ancestors that Kevin and I both had on that island inhabited the same small parish – our passion for exploring and desire to share what we see and discover has given us a key that unlocked the treasures in the Caribbean. No matter where we go next, I’ll always have a soft spot for that sleepy little island where the full moon looked close enough to touch and lobster never tasted so sweet.
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March 10, 2017
To Russia with Love
Years ago, Kevin brought home a Russian soldier he’d met who was staying the YMCA in New York City. This was in May before the coup, and the man had come for a conference that he only learned was canceled once he arrived. Communication was poor in the USSR, so he’d never been notified. I quickly threw together a simple meal to share with him in our apartment on the Upper West Side. I was honestly somewhat embarrassed, because I only had the ingredients for spaghetti, a salad and bread. He ate heartily and thanked me profusely. He marveled at our furnishings – mostly antiques from our families – and asked if we were wealthy, which we most assuredly were not.
As it happened, I was leaving the next week to fly to Leningrad and then to Moscow with a small group of journalists. We all had assignments on the fact that the Soviet market was beginning to open slightly, and the focus was to explore what it was like to do business in Russia. Our new friend kindly contacted his girlfriend to alert her that I was coming.
Once our flight landed in Leningrad – now St. Petersburg — I was astonished at the poverty I saw everywhere. It was overwhelming. The city’s faded beauty reminded me of a stunning woman, who wasn’t aging well. Our hosts were obviously trying to roll out the proverbial red carpet (pun intended) for us, but food was scarce. I wept for the people every night I was there. Their eyes held such sadness.
At our high-end hotel in Moscow – a partnership with a French entrepreneur – one of the hotel managers told me that she had been allowed to leave work for three hours earlier that day to go stand in line to buy a bag of oranges – half of which were rotten. “There are lines for everything,” she said. At a shopping “mall” in Moscow, makeshift stalls held scant merchandise. One booth sold plastic combs. Another stall that was mobbed had just gotten in a shipment of Chinese toothpaste. I asked one of the men in line why everyone was so excited about this toothpaste. “Have you ever had Russian toothpaste?” he asked smiling. When I saw a brief window in our whirlwind tour, I called the number that our new friend the soldier had given us. His girlfriend made the enormous effort to meet me on a corner. When she arrived, she held out an abundant bouquet of flowers for me. By this time, I knew how much people struggled in her country, so I was stunned by her kindness to a stranger. I’d brought a copy of the Bible in Russian, because her boyfriend had said that there was a deep hunger to know about God. She wept when I gave it to her.
I’d grown up during the Cold War era when we regularly had drills where we practiced hiding under our desks in case the leaders went nuclear. Experiencing Russia firsthand was a revelation. In these times, I am reminded that travel helps break down walls, opens your eyes and your heart.
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March 5, 2017
Discover “Why Listening to Your Intuition Pays Off
As a child and a young person, I paid close attention to that small voice inside me — my gut feeling. My intuition often paid off in terms of getting me opportunities as well as by keeping me safe. On my first date with my husband, my intuition told me that he was the One. On the surface that thought might have seemed a little crazy. After all, I was only 19 years old. But now here we are, soon to celebrate our 35th anniversary.
I’d learned from my entrepreneurial father to identify and make the most of connections — especially the unexpected ones that pop up and then evaporate. Somewhere along the way, though, as I got older, I began dismissing my gut brain’s messages — yes, science has shown that our hearts and our guts have an intelligence like our brains do. I’d doubt myself or fail to follow up on the hunches that had led to my early successes as a published author with a six-figure advance for my first book shortly after age 30. I took in the messages that intuition was somewhat akin to superstition and started to ignore those inklings that I’d get.
A few years ago a friend suggested I read a book called When God Winks: How the Power of Coincidence Guides Your Life by Squire Rushnell. Now I’ve embraced that gift again and understand that my intuition is there for a reason. For me, it’s a spiritual thing. For example, when I’m on a plane, I try to ascertain why I’m seated by a certain person. When you look for connections, you find them. Since I’ve learned to listen to this part of myself again, my travels have led me to some unexpected adventures and friendships. Positive psychology offers hundreds of studies about the power of our intuition. Many law enforcement agencies are now training their personnel to pay attention to their hunches. Clay Mathile, one of the smartest entrepreneurs I know and my mentor, often told me that listening to his gut was a key to his success with The Iams Company.
Sometimes on the surface your decision-making may look odd to your more analytical, conservative peers, but I’ve found throughout my career and my life that, like Clay says, following your heart and gut feeling can lead you to marvelous places beyond your wildest dreams.
Here’s an excellent article on the topic:
Intuition Is The Highest Form Of Intelligence
Albert Einstein said, “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
forbes.com
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February 14, 2017
When Your Son Becomes Your Teacher
From the time our two sons were born, my husband Kevin and I have always been entrepreneurs who owned our business. Kevin travels around the world taking photographs for advertising and editorial. He also writes articles about his travels. He produces mixed media pieces and fine art photography and sells them as well. For most of my career I’ve worked from home, writing magazine articles and non-fiction books. When Caleb and Connor were young, Kevin and I frequently wrote about the Caribbean, producing guidebooks about the region, and often took them with us to the islands — the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Barbados, St. Lucia, Puerto Rico, Curacao, Aruba, the Bahamas, and Trinidad & Tobago to name a few. We wanted to expand their minds and expose them to a myriad of cultures and experiences. Most of all, we wanted them to understand that you could create a life as big as you could dream.
Both sons are now adults and out doing their own things. Our younger son Connor Judson Garrett has decided to follow in our footsteps and become a writer/photographer/artist/entrepreneur. Kevin and I both learned many of our life lessons from our entrepreneurial fathers, who had each grown up dirt poor during the Depression. My dad Bob Montgomery picked cotton in Lubbock as a teen before he traded that for picking a guitar and songwriting. He eventually produced and published some of the biggest artists in country music during his 60+ year career in Nashville. Kevin’s dad Warren Garrett went the University of Georgia at age 16 and got his degree in forestry. He worked in a paper mill until he saved up enough to go out on his own as a pulpwood provider. At the time of his death at age 61, he was one of the largest suppliers of pulpwood to Georgia Pacific. Kevin and I, both the oldest children in our respective families, worked for our dads’ companies. We got the message loud and clear that hard work and a clear vision could pay off. The benefits of getting to work alongside our fathers continues to pay dividends today.
What is astonishing is to see how that passion for following a dream is fully engrained in our sons’ DNA. Because Connor has chosen a path similar to ours, the rate of speed at which he’s blazing his own trail boggles my mind. When Kevin and I moved to New York City as young newlyweds after Dad sold House of Gold Music to Warner Brothers, I wanted to work in magazines and become a writer, and Kevin went after acting. But my first few years working at a women’s magazine, I scarcely wrote hardly anything. I think I was afraid to commit too much to paper for fear that it wouldn’t be any good. Eventually, I got over that fear and the words began to flow. Right before our oldest son Caleb was born when I was 29, I quit my job as an editor at a business magazine and went freelance.
Fast forward, and fresh out of college, Connor moved to Los Angeles to work on his first novel and an app he and some childhood friends created called StudyHubb.com. Since Connor has been in LA for the past year, he worked as a copywriter for a major company. He has produced enough poetry for two books — one of which will be published soon. He’s launched a blog called MillennialBeat.com and written most of its content. His novel will soon be finished, and he’s working on a screenplay adaptation for one of my books. StudyHubb.com just got its first investment last week. And last week, Connor published his first eBook in which he reveals the principles he followed to get himself back on track physically and emotionally when he thought his life was getting out of balance.
He asked me to help him edit the book and get it published. I was honored. Then I started reading, and I realized how good it was. As a parent, the most wonderful thing in the world is to see your child embrace the learning that you’ve tried to impart and take it to the next level. Connor’s skills as a writer far exceed mine, and his prolific output wows me. We are launching a new site together soon that will fill a gap in the market that we see. The site is geared toward Millennials like him, but he’s asked me to be a partner. Bouncing ideas with Connor and helping each other has infused my own career with a new clarity and vibrance. He helps me see everything through fresh eyes. He turns age 24 next month. I realized this week that my son has become my teacher, and that makes me smile.
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February 11, 2017
My Brother John
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January 18, 2017
Is Medical Marijuana Good Medicine?
When Jeananne Rausch’s doctor first suggested that medical cannabis might ease her chronic pain from her severe hip damage, fibromyalgia, and social anxiety, she was somewhat surprised. The 54-year-old had never smoked anything and hadn’t considered the drug’s use as an option for herself, despite seeing it work well for her husband after his surgery for a ruptured disk in his neck. “I had no interest in cannabis, but my naturopath urged me to try it,” says Rausch, who was missing so many days on the job at a state-operated call center that she was considering taking a leave of absence in December 2012.
Rausch, who resides in Washington—one of the 22 states and the District of Columbia that has legalized medical marijuana—first tried cannabis in an edible form, but she didn’t like the way the drug made her feel. However, she continued to do research and learned at a local smoke shop about a website that focused on vaporization. For the past 18 months, she has been using a vaporizer to deliver a strain of cannabis that she has tested to make sure she knows exactly what she is getting.
Her anxiety and brain fog from her pain have eased considerably, and she rarely calls in sick now. “My job is highly technical and using cannabis helps me focus better for my work,” she says. “The inflammation in my body is so much better that I was recently able to get my bike out of storage after 10 years. Cannabis has made a world of difference in my quality of life. It’s nothing at all like the crazy stories that I’d heard. I don’t even suffer from the munchies. I’ve noticed that it makes me more aware of when I’m actually hungry versus eating because I’m bored or anxious.”
She notes that she’s actually lost a pound since using the drug. “Cannabis is one of the plants we’ve been blessed with,” she says. “It’s another herbal remedy, and we need to get rid of misinformation.”
No one argues that the growing use of medical marijuana is without controversy. Adding to the cloud of confusion hanging over medical marijuana is the push toward legalizing marijuana for recreational use.
The number one thing about medical marijuana that Bonni Goldstein, M.D., wishes people knew is that it can be used safely. “People who are using it for medical conditions can use it safely with little to no side effects,” says Dr. Goldstein, who has been involved in the specialty practice of medical cannabis since 2008 and is currently the Medical Director of Canna-Centers, a Member of the International Association for Cannabis as Medicine, the International Cannabinoid Research Society, and the Society of Cannabis Clinicians. “Patients can dial it in to address the specific issues that they are dealing with and get the effects that they want without risk of addiction, overdose, or toxicity.”
Because the field is so new and the regulations vary so much from state to state, county to county, and city to city in the states where marijuana has been legalized for medical usage, Dr. Goldstein is one of the many doctors heavily focused on patient education. “You can take ten medical marijuana patients, and each one of them will have a different mode of delivery that works for them,” she says. “They may smoke it, use a vaporizer, put a tincture oil under the tongue, put a topical rub into their joints, eat brownies, drink cannabis tea, or whatever works for them. I can’t tell what you are going to prefer and what is going to work for your body with your system.”
Dr. Goldstein is the medical director of the Ghost Group, which helps patients find legitimate dispensaries, enhance their experience with the drug, and give doctors access to a series of lectures that helps prospective patients gain a better understanding of the medical cannabis. “People need a credible source, so they can make an informed choice,” she says. “Most of my patients lived through the 60s. They never thought they’d have a medicinal need for marijuana, but they have arthritic joints and chronic pain; some have gastrointestinal dysfunction like irritable bowel syndrome; others have anxiety disorders or cancer. They want to know the science and understand how the drug will address their issues. But that’s a complex question because each person has a completely different DNA makeup. That’s why it takes some experimentation to figure out what works best for you.”
She estimates that about 75% of her patients are already on prescription medications—opiates, anti-anxiety medications, sleeping pills, and anti-depressants. “Many of those prescriptions can be highly toxic to your system and have far more side effects than cannabis,” she says. “Currently many growers are able to produce plants low in THC, which produces the psychotic effects, and boost the level of CBD, a cannabidiol previously thought to be inactive that has proven to be anti-inflammatory, anti-convulsive, and anti-anxiety. It also has neuro-protective properties that appears to protect the brain from injury or insult.”
TESTED MEDICINE IS AVAILABLE
In the states where medicinal marijuana has been legalized, testing sites have popped up where the potency of the plant—levels of THC and CBD present—is measured. Plants are also checked for pesticides, molds, solvents, and other chemical-based compounds. “My patients often already have compromised immune systems, so the purity of the drug is really important,” says Dr. Goldstein.
Salwa Ibrahim, founder and executive director of Blum, is a licensed dispensary for medical marijuana in Oakland, California, which was the first city in the country to mandate testing. She is partners with Derek Peterson, co-founder of Terra Tech, a publicly-traded company that is launching testing sites in states where the drug is legalized, and in some states applying for licenses that will allow Terra Tech to create a closed-loop process where the company will grow and test the product to ensure quality.
“We test everything, and create detailed reports,” says Ibrahim, comparing the role of her experienced buyers to that of a sommelier. “Drawing parallels to wine is a good way to wrap your brain around all the nuances that exist with cannabis. When product comes in our experienced buyers can look and tell if it was grown indoors or outdoors, whether it has any mold or impurities. They can tell you if something went awry like a light went out or the air conditioning quit during the growth cycle.”
If the product passes the first visual inspection, a batch of random buds is sent to a testing company and generates an emailed report showing the ratios of the active ingredients in that particular batch. “Then we are able to put it on the shelf and populate our menu with the results, so our patients know exactly what they are getting. “Different types of cannabis have different ratios can have a different effect on an individual’s body.”
One of the more curious mythbusters to come out of the studies being done on patients using medical cannabis is a long-term one from Harvard that shows that for some 4,500 patients tested, it helps improve carbohydrate metabolism. “Those patients have a smaller waistline,” says Dr. Goldstein, who practices in suburban Los Angeles. “Nobody knows the exact mechanics, but the cannabinoid receptors appear to have control over metabolism and energy and lower insulin resistance. It’s archaic to deny the thousands of studies done that prove the benefits for patients and to keep cannabis illegal is crazy. People should not have so much angst about taking a drug that is far less toxic than many of the medications out there. But there is such a terrible stigma associated with it. It’s not magic fairy dust. I am a big believer in the medicinal value of cannabis and policy should change.”
She explains that the compounds found in cannabis mimic the naturally occurring compounds in our brain that triggers the area that perceives pain. “If you can trigger those receptors with the correct dose, it can alter your perception of pain, which is the number 1 reason I see patients using medicinal cannabis,” she says. Her patients use cannabis to ease chronic pain from a number of conditions: degenerative disc disease, migraines, arthritis, and fibromyalgia. She also treats patients with anxiety, depression, and sleeplessness. “I see a lot of crossover.” In pediatric patients, she primarily uses it to address intractable seizures and epilepsy.
One of the more controversial uses for the drug right now is for people diagnosed with ADHD. “A lot of my ADHD patients find that cannabis helps them focus and counteracts the side effects of stimulant medication,” she says. “Combination therapy is very helpful.”
Medical cannabis is used on an as-needed basis, and a patient will be given a letter by a doctor good for one year that allows the patient to access the drug. “A lot of times patients are doing so well with their migraines or other conditions that they think they are cured and let the letter lapse,” notes Dr. Goldstein. “Then their pain goes out of control. Often it doesn’t take much cannabis to rein in their discomfort.”
“Thanks to this drug, I have patients who feel well, are getting good results, and are able to have a better quality of life and participate more fully in their lives despite chronic medical conditions. The science exists for us to understand this plant. We don’t need to be fearful, and we don’t need to propagate misinformation spread in the 1930s and 1940s when it was outlawed. We know better now.”
A NATURAL PAINKILLER
Michael D. Halperin, M.D., who specializes in interventional pain management, notes that the first documented use of medical cannabis was at least 10,000 years ago. “All cultures have had access to cannabis,” he says. “The Chinese wrote about it as 3000 B.C. The Romans, Egyptians, and Persians all referenced it. Almost every society has used it. In the 20th century, it was an additive to a lot of mainstream medications and was promoted by the early FDA. Then in the mid-1930s, a change in government politics led to it being outlawed.”
The active ingredient that causes most of the negative effects associated with marijuana—memory loss, anxiety, mood swings, psychosis—is THC. “Cannabis strains in which THC is minimal are extraordinarily useful for a variety of things: depression, anorexia, end-stage HIV and cancer, nausea, diabetics with gastroparesis,” says Dr. Halperin, who often prescribes the herb for patients in hospice. “A recent poll found that 52% of Americans favor decriminalizing medical marijuana. I’m always looking for ways to lessen my patients’ pain levels, and the herb itself is useful because it contains a broad number of medicinally active ingredients.”
“In pain management, we used to treat patients with very potent opiates, but I’ve found that many patients respond well to just a few puffs or vaporization of marijuana. Their mood improves and within 30 minutes, their depression lessens. Pain is the only experience that we all have in common yet we all react differently to it.”
Like Dr. Goldstein, Dr. Halperin doesn’t favor smoking cannabis as the ideal delivery method. “Vaporization is superior to direct smoking,” he says. “Some studies show that smoking it can be just as harmful as smoking tobacco. With vaporization the active ingredients in the herb are volatized in such a way that all the bad things are eliminated, and the pure cloud comes out with volatized compounds that removes the health hazards of developing cancer or COPD. This mechanism is heating a compressed herb that is packed into a tiny little pellet and vapors are brought through water. We can mitigate those side effects of smoking, and tightly control exactly what the patient is getting.”
The Oakland, California-based doctor, who in addition to his pain management and palliative care practice is a surgeon and anesthesiologist, says heated vaporization, which has exploded in popularity in the last year, provides a more comfortable solution to consuming medical marijuana or other natural herbs, such as?spearmint, lavender, and chamomile. “The simplicity of use, the portability, and?reliability of newer ‘desktop’ vaporizers is a step further towards the goal?of rapid targeted medication delivery through inhalation, which, in many?ways, acts in much the same way as the administration of volatilized general?anesthetics in common use,” says Dr. Halperin.
A recent national survey of doctors nationwide by WebMD showed broad support for legalization of medical marijuana although it varied by specialty. The doctors most positive about the drug’s benefits were oncologists and hematologists at 82%. Rheumatologists ranked the lowest on the question regarding medical marijuana’s benefits with just 54% saying it delivers benefits. At 70%, neurologists reported getting the highest number of inquiries from patients in regard to the drug’s usefulness for their conditions.
In some fields, medical marijuana’s reputation outstrips its usefulness. For example, ophthalmologists are being swamped with calls from glaucoma patients who think the drug can ease eye pressure. “I get inquiries all the time regarding marijuana efficacy in this potentially blinding disease,” says Benjamin H. Ticho, M.D.,?Associate Professor?University of Illinois at Chicago Eye & Ear Infirmary and?The Eye Specialists Center. “The goal of most glaucoma treatments is to reduce intraocular pressure, either by reducing aqueous inflow or increasing outflow. And yes, marijuana use can reduce eye pressure, but it is not a predictable or practical way of doing so. Glaucoma eyedrops have to be used every day, often two or even three times a day, to maintain efficacy. These drops lower eye pressure much better than marijuana, with far fewer side effects.”
Still, many healthcare professionals tout the drug’s usefulness. Vivian Eisenstadt, 41, M.A.P.T. O.C.S., a Pilates-based orthopedic physical therapist in Los Angeles who suffered with chronic fatigue syndrome/Epstein-Barr for 20 years and is now in remission, has seen plenty of patients for whom marijuana has eased anxieties or chronic pain symptomology. “They know exactly how much to take to address the symptoms without abusing it,” says Eisenstadt. “A good friend’s mother who has been dealing with cancer for over 10 years stumbled upon marijuana for her symptoms. Now she makes money creating chocolates and brownies and peanut butter cups with marijuana oil to help others suffering from cancer at UCLA. Abuse of marijuana can be compared to abuse of any substance, such as alcohol.”
Dr. Halperin predicts that the use of medicinal cannabis will go mainstream in the next five to 10 years and lose the stigma currently associated with it: “Cannabis is not a panacea, but it is another arrow in the quiver.”
THE EDUCATED PATIENT
In September 2014, Potbotics will introduce two products meant to help patients and their doctors make more educated decisions in regard to what cannabis and what delivery method best suits a patient’s need. BrainBot allows a patient to don a special helmet that tests what effect different strains of cannabis and different delivery systems have on the brain using brain imaging. “Our founder is working off 20 years of data doing pre-Alzheimer’s testing,” says David Goldstein CEO of Potbotics, the first biotech company to merge robotics and artificial intelligence with cannabis. “Our EEG gives a recommended prescription based on positive reactions the brain has to specific ratios and delivery systems within just a few minutes. It’s not like the old days when you had to shave a small patch of your hair and deal with electrodes and gels. This allows doctors to better recommend specific strains.” Goldstein estimates that the cost of the test will range between $75-$150.
The bi-coastal company, with operations in New York City and Palo Alto, is also launching a mobile app called PotBot that will allow a potential patient to plug in what issues she is experiencing and interact with an avatar to determine what strain and what ratio would best address those issues. “For example, a person might have insomnia but also suffer from anxiety,” says Goldstein. “Our app would recommend the best prescription and even guide the patients to the closest dispensary that carriers that strain.”
BENEFITS OF ACTIVE INGREDIENTS IN MEDICINAL MARIJUANA
Cannabidiol (CBD) appears to:
Prevent Convulsions
Relieve Some types of Inflammation
Reduce Anxiety
Relieve Nausea
Reduce Insomnia
CBD has also been shown to:
Have a calming effect
Act as an antipsychotic for people suffering from schizophrenia
Offer some relief for those suffering from multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and epilepsy
Inhibit cancer cell growth
Prevent the memory impairment and disorientation associated with THC (the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana)
CBN promotes uninterrupted sleep.
MAJORITY OF DOCTORS SUPPORT LEGALIZING MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Here’s a look at the survey numbers for doctors asked about medical marijuana:
69% say it can help with certain treatments and conditions.
67% say it should be a medical option for patients.
56% support making it legal nationwide.
50% of doctors in states where it is not legal say it should be legal in their states.
52% of doctors in states considering new laws say it should be legal in their states.
Source: April 2014 survey by WebMD/Medscape of 1,544 doctors
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Sam Kaplan
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December 29, 2016
Brain Power
Surprising neuroscience proves you can change your brain for the better. But it takes mindfulness and thought. Here’s the latest good news on keeping your mind sharp as well as debunking common myths about your brain health.
By Echo Garrett
Like most women at age 53 and postmenopausal, I now have moments when I go into a room and can’t remember why I am there. Common wisdom tells us that forgetfulness is just part of the natural aging process, but still I worry.
Brain health is on my mind. Both of my grandmothers developed dementia in their 80s, and my husband suffered a mild traumatic brain injury nine years ago. Many of my friends have aging parents with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other diseases that cause neurological impairment. Although we rarely let the admission cross our lips, our greatest fear is becoming mentally incompetent. We do brainteasers and take supplements to stave off what we’ve been primed to believe is inevitable.
In fact, that fear is not unfounded. The Alzheimer’s Association says one in three seniors die with Alzheimer’s or another dementia, and the numbers of those with high blood pressure—a risk factor for dementia and stroke—and diabetes and pre-diabetes, which have been linked to an increased risk for Alzheimer’s, are also off the charts.
The good news is that no matter our age, we can always improve our brainpower. The keys are exercising your brain, feeding it properly, and decreasing stress, which balances your hormones.
“Your brain is the most changeable part of your whole body,” says Sandra Chapman, PhD, a cognitive neuroscientist, founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas, and author of Make Your Brain Smarter: Increase Your Brain’s Creativity, Energy, and Focus. “Our brain peaks at age 48 mainly because we let our brain decline—not because it has to. A lot of people think they don’t have to worry about brain health until they are older, but what you do in your 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond matters. Your brain changes moment to moment.”
A 30-year veteran in the neuroscience field, Dr. Chapman insists that although medicine has actively promoted heart health for the past 40 years, experts are really just on the cusp of understanding the power we have to keep our brains healthy, well into advanced age. “Up until five years ago, researchers didn’t recognize how much growth of new neurons and new connections the brain was capable of,” she says.
Train Your Brain
Scientific evidence proves while certain common habits may harm the brain, cognitive training can strengthen it. Here are six core strategies Dr. Chapman’s research demonstrates that may be used to help your brain achieve optimal performance:
DITCH THE ROUTINE. Your brain hates being in a rut and loves to go into new territory. “Once we hit our 40s, we tend to settle into our comfort zones, but the most amazing way to get your brain turned on is to give it an innovative new challenge,” she says.
NIX MULTI -TASKING. As women, we often take pride in our ability to juggle and think that is good for our brain. “Multitasking breaks down your brain function,” Dr. Chapman says. “It causes poor performance, increases errors, and takes longer to complete a task than if we’d focus on one thing at a time. Chronic multitasking increases stress levels significantly. When we push our brains too hard, higher levels of cortisol surge and are literally toxic to the memory part of your brain.”
WORK SMARTER. Rather than working 24?7, take a step back. “Our brain loves down time,” says Dr. Chapman. “Take five minutes, five times a day to let the brain settle down. That promotes deeper level thinking, and you’ll often find that’s when you’ll have your ‘a-ha’ moments. Our brain works for us when we shut down—particularly during sleep. Whatever you were thinking about before you went to sleep, the brain pulls together novel ideas on a whole new plane of thinking. That’s why you sometimes wake up and have a solution to a problem.”
TAKE IN LESS INFORMATION. Learning what to focus on and what to block out—a skill called “strategic attention”—can improve your critical thinking that takes place in the frontal lobe, a key factor in boosting your brain health. “The more we are exposed to, the less we are able to make decisions—we get paralyzed,” she explains. “Smarter people, who are higher level thinkers, figure out what two or three things are the most important and then focus on going deeper on that information, rather than trying to take in an exhaustive amount of information on a subject.”
FOCUS ON THE BIG—AND SMALL— PICTURE . Learn how to use the brain booster of integrative reasoning. “It’s the power of zooming in to get the information and then zooming out to get the broader perspective,” says Dr. Chapman. “Otherwise your brain is presented with a bunch of factoids that the brain can’t remember.”
Dr. Chapman’s overall message is a hopeful one: The brain can change for the better whether it’s healthy, injured, or diseased, and every single person needs to think about brain health, no matter what your age.
“The research we are doing shows that the more you develop your higher thinking, the more you can compress the number of years with dementia,” she says. “Complex thinking does not cure Alzheimer’s but it helps clean out the vascular system of beta-amyloid, the plaque that is so damaging to the brain.”
Top experts agree that you need to think of your brain more like a muscle. “What you do in your life—especially during your midlife—makes a huge difference whether you stay sharp in your 80s,” says Majid Fotuhi, MD, PhD, founder and chairman of the Neurology Institute for Brain Health and Fitness in Baltimore. Fortuni is an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School and author of the new book “Boost Your Brain: The New Art and Science Behind Enhanced Brain Performance.” In his book, Dr. Fotuhi lays out new findings about preventing the brain drain of age by focusing on all dimensions of brain health—exercise, diet, social well-being, and mental engagement.
In a study conducted at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago that recently appeared in Neurology, 294 people over the age of 55 were given yearly tests that measured memory and thinking. When their brains were examined for the markers of dementia, like brain lesions and plaque, those who kept the brain stimulated by reading books, writing letters, and other activities linked to mental stimulation slowed cognitive decline by 15 percent.
“You can grow your brain, especially the memory part of your brain, in a matter of three to six months,” says Dr. Fotuhi, who tested female patients with concerns about Alzheimer’s or memory deficits and whose own cognitive issues ranged from mild to major. The women visited his center three times a week for a total of six hours, for 12 weeks. They worked on stress reduction, meditation, exercise, diet, and counseling. They also had cognitive stimulation to improve memory skills, starting with learning a list of 20 random things and working up to 100. Afterwards 96 percent demonstrated dramatic improvement in memory.
“In the beginning,” Dr. Fotuhi explains, “people make excuses, ‘I can’t remember names.’ But I encourage them to be positive and change their attitude. We act like a trainer and have high expectations and push every week. Exercise, keep your brain active, meditate, and take DHA, an omega-3 fatty acid. Those four interventions can produce dramatic success.”
A popular online site that provides more than 40 brain exercises designed by neuroscience researchers is Lumosity.com. Researchers found users show improvement in problem solving, attention, memory, speed, and flexibility. “We have 38 ongoing research collaborations going on all over the world to figure out what effects the training has on the brain,” says Joe Hardy, Vice President of Research and Development for the company.
Get Moving to Fire Up Your Neurons
Your weight and physical fitness are directly tied to your brain’s fitness. “Obese people have 4 percent shrinkage of the brain compared to people of normal weight,” offered Dr. Fotuhi. Leading a sedentary lifestyle puts you at risk for developing prediabetes and diabetes, which doubles or triples your risk of developing Alzheimer’s.
Dr. Mark Herceg, Director of Rehabilitation Psychology and Neuropsychology at Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in New York and assistant professor of Psychology in Clinical Neurology at Weill Cornell Medical College, says that physical exercise is one of the best things you can do for your brain. “It increases blood flow to the brain,” says Herceg. “Increasing oxygen delivers enriching nutrients and helps brain tissue stay healthy and active. Exercise can demonstrably increase the size of your hippocampus, which consolidates new information and stores it in long-term memory.”
Limit Stress and Deal with Depression
Other enemies to your brain’s health are stress, anxiety, and depression. All produce cortisol, which causes the brain to shrink. “Studies have shown that people who meditate, pray, practice yoga, or do tai chi for three months experience an expansion of the memory part of the brain,” says Dr. Fotuhi. “All calm your mind.” The doctor personally practices what he calls the ABCs of destressing. First, think of what action is stressing you. Then try to shift or change your belief about what’s going on and you can change the consequence. It’s about changing your expectation and being more realistic.
Take Even “Mild” Head Injuries Seriously
New research is showing that even “slight” concussions can have repercussions, and each year more than 1.7 million traumatic brain injuries occur in the US. So if you played sports in your youth (women soccer players have one of the top incidences of head injuries), have been in an accident where you hit your head, experienced domestic violence, or anything of the sort, your brain health has likely been compromised.
Feeding Your Brain
Neurologist David Perlmutter, MD, medical director of the Perlmutter Health Center and president of the Perlmutter Brain Foundation in Naples, Florida, says that simple carbohydrates from grains and sugar are destroying our brains. “It’s almost sacrilegious to say that even whole grains and fruits can cause dementia, but that’s the reality,” says Perlmutter. “We are the only country in the world where the Department of Agriculture is setting our nutritional guidelines and telling farmers what to grow.” Perlmutter new book, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar— Your Brain’s Silent Killers, explains. “How could I be bashing fruit and bread? They are the cornerstones of our modern maladies. Good fat is a super fuel, an antioxidant that powers our cells and relieves inflammation. The diet I propose is very different from the government’s recommendations.” Dr. Perlmutter adds that when consumed moderately, fruit has nutritional value, and recommends consuming one piece of fruit or one handful of berries each day.
The doctor points out that how your body handles blood sugar is the most powerful predictor of your risk for Alzheimer’s. “Anything high glycemic needs to be avoided,” he says. “Whole grain bread is higher on the glycemic index than a Snicker’s bar (71 vs. 42). A 12-ounce glass of concentrated orange juice has 36 grams of sugar (nine teaspoons)—about the same as a glass of Coca-Cola. High glycemic foods cause inflammation, and Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are both inflammatory conditions. If we can keep people from becoming diabetic, we can cut these numbers in half.”
Dr. Perlmutter claims that Alzheimer’s, though it has no treatment, may be completely preventable. He recommends using turmeric, a powerful activator of antioxidants. “India, where turmeric is used generously in cooking, has less than one-fourth the incidence of Alzheimer’s that we do,” he says, noting that what is spent on Alzheimer’s annually is double the cost of coronary disease and triple what is spent on cancer. His father, a retired surgeon, has the disease, and he sees him every day, so he understands the emotional toll the disease takes.
A graduate of Harvard Medical School, Jon Lieff, MD, a practicing neuropsychiatrist specializing in the interface of psychiatry, neurology, and medicine and a pioneer in geriatric psychiatry, agrees that diet plays a critical role. “If you eat a lot of red meat, your body chemistry has certain microbes that make a substance that causes plaque and is associated with brain disease,” says Dr. Lieff, who practices in Newton, Massachusetts. “People who eat a vegetarian diet do not have those same microbes, so they don’t show those levels of inflammation.”
Dr. Fotuhi pushes DHA (Docosahexaenoic acid) for the brain. “People with higher levels of DHA are less likely to get dementia and their brain is bigger,” he says. “We’ve learned that our BDNF [brain-derived neurotrophic factor], a critical protein created by neurons, is even more important than we thought. It is a kind of fertilizer for the brain, and the right diet helps increase levels of BDNF.” He recommends 1,000 milligrams of DHA a day and twice that for anyone who has suffered a brain injury.
Pharmacist, homeopath, and co-founder of the Organic Pharmacy, Margo Marrone, who has offices in London and Los Angeles, sees many patients who are deficient in magnesium, which she claims leads to anxiety and depression due to poor sleep. “A lot of people don’t associate magnesium with brain function, but magnesium and calcium facilitate the electrical signals in the brain,” she says. “Flax and fish oils also help increase the levels of serotonin and reduce inflammation all over the body.”
When it comes to herbs, she recommends gotu kola, which may improve circulation to the brain. “It’s a bit like taking aspirin without the side effects,” says Marrone.
The post Brain Power appeared first on EchoGarrett.com.
October 14, 2016
Project Thanksgiving: Decorating and Serving Ideas
At Thanksgiving, you should be thankful for good food and good company without having to stress out about your turkey or how to decorate your centerpiece. eHow spoke to four experts in their respective fields to harvest the best advice on crafts, decor, special treats and food all designed to make your guests grateful to be at your table.
Decorating
Keith Watson, CEO of Keith Watson Productions, an event design and production company in Gainesville, Florida, has produced holiday parties for clients including New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art to entire towns in Florida.
When it comes to decorating, Watson is all about multi-purposing.
“I use a lot of realistic-looking ceramic pumpkins that you can get at craft shops. You can put them outside your front door with a bale of hay and pots of mums that you wrap in burlap and tie with orange ribbons,” he said. “Then closer to Thanksgiving, you can use the pumpkins as the centerpiece of your table. I like to put one in the center of a vine wreath and surround it with seasonal fruits and vegetables that represent the harvest.” The challenge with using real pumpkins is that they begin to rot. You can use the ceramic pumpkins throughout the holiday season. Paint it gold for Christmas and then tie a black bow around it for New Year’s.
Of course, at Thanksgiving a bounty of decorations is all around you. Just take a look outside.
“On your front door, hang vine wreaths, and if you live in an area with spectacular fall foliage, gather leaves and use them in the wreaths,” Watson said. “Cut branches with beautiful foliage and put them in simple vases on either side of the pumpkin centerpiece. Just keep them away from candles, because they are highly flammable. Another good look is using tall cylinders filled with cranberries on your buffet. When it’s over, you can cook them for a salad or string them together to decorate your Christmas tree.”
Paying special attention to the table settings also will help create a memorable holiday, Watson says.
“At Thanksgiving, I like to use my wife’s family china and my china that I inherited from my family,” he said. “Mixing and matching can also be fun. Go to a local thrift store that supports a nonprofit and buy different odds and ends, so that each place setting is different.”
Shane Meder of Black Sheep Interiors in Atlanta says that for the centerpiece, you don’t have to stick with the tried-but-tired cornucopia.
“I find soup tureens clumsy, but I use a big soup tureen as a centerpiece,” Meder said. “Fill it with potting soil and then put a mum surrounded by ivy in it. Then I spike different vegetables on wooden spears and arrange them in the tureen.”
You don’t want the centerpiece to be the center of attention, either, he says.
“Instead of doing a big flower arrangement in the middle of the table that all your guests are straining to see over, I break that apart and put four or five flowers in highball or juice glasses at each guest’s place and then put the garden spike in the mini-flower arrangement. It looks more casual and is so much better for conversation.”
You can even enlist the help of youngsters for decorating.
“If you have kids, ask for paper at your grocery store,” Watson said. “Trace their hands on the brown paper bag and use those as a place card. On the back, have the children write a note about how thankful they are for that guest being there.”
For the Guests
Annette Joseph, a photostylist for 20 years and regular contributor to “Better Homes & Gardens,” “Southern Living” and “The Today Show,” is working on her first book on parties tentatively titled “You’re Invited” (Rizzoli, Fall 2013). Her biggest piece of advice for ensuring a fantastic holiday: Be thankful for your guests.
“I love for my guests to have things to take away,” she said. “Make a batch of giant oatmeal pumpkin or molasses cookies and put two cookies per guest in a small sandwich bag. You can include the cookie recipe, get labels from the container store and put a simple message on each, or have your kids decorate the bags.” Put them all in a basket lined with a napkin in orange, green or gold and set it by the front door.
“I also like to make homemade apple butter. You can buy small jars at the grocery store, and use your computer to make a gift label, and put a label on the back instructing to refrigerate and use within one week. Use twine or yarn to tie a bow around it. You can put the jars or cookies at everyone’s plates and use them as place cards.”
You can even turn leftovers into a special gift for your guests, Joseph says.
“Get a big stack of to-go containers from the grocery store and a stack of gift bags. World Market carries beautiful ones that are inexpensive,” she said. “After the meal, line up all the leftovers and let everyone take home their favorites from the meal. Put it in the gift bag and tie it with a cute little ribbon. It is the little extra touches that make it special for not a lot of money.”
And be sure to thank everyone for coming, Watson says.
“If you are hosting the dinner, have a plan to talk about how thankful you are for the guests and how grateful you are for being together with friends and family.”
For Food, Think Outside the Box
(photo: Gus Philippas/Demand Media)Michael O’Dowd, the executive chef at Kai — the world’s only Native American-influenced five-star/five-diamond restaurant — at Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa, in Chandler, Arizona, says to think outside the traditional Thanksgiving fare box when planning your meal.
“As you think about your menu, consider adding some twists to the traditional Thanksgiving spread,” he said. “Roast hazelnuts and make your own hazelnut butter to drizzle over the traditional French green beans.”
You don’t have to cook a turkey, he says, or if you do, there are other ways to prepare it.
“I like to serve smoked pheasant and throw in some wild game like smoked venison served charcuterie-style,” he says. “If I do a turkey, I cold smoke it over mesquite and then finish it off in the oven. I’ll use the turkey as a centerpiece and surround it with lingonberries and cholla buds.”
Don’t skimp on the sides, either, O’Dowd says.
“Part of what makes Thanksgiving so special is offering your guests a ton of different sides,” he said. “I serve a tepary bean salad (a bean that’s a staple in the Pima diet) with local pine nuts and local goat cheese.”
In the end, though, O’Dowd says, good food and good company go hand-in-hand.
“The lazy Susan is making a comeback, and it’s great to use it as a centerpiece. If you’ve got a large, round table, put the food on the lazy Susan,” he said. “Everything is all centered around good eating. I love to serve the Thanksgiving meal family style, because this holiday is all about sharing and talking.”
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September 14, 2016
Into The Woods
Learn the unexpected ways in which Mother Nature can nurture you.
The invitation comes at the perfect time. My good friend Judy is planning a visit to Primland (primland.com), a 12,000-acre resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and asks me to come along. “We’ll be staying in a tree house,” she says.
That’s all I need to hear.
I live a high-octane life, and my doctor had just told me that I was suffering from adrenal exhaustion. His main prescription? Have more fun. “What did you enjoy doing when you were younger?” he said as my mind raced back in time. “Get back to that.”
One of my favorite things when I was a kid was to climb trees and explore
the woods behind our house. I had just read about the many health benefits of Shinrin-yoku, which translates to “forest bathing.” The practice of spending dedicated and mindful time among trees has been popular in Japan and Korea for almost three decades and is now catching on in the United States. Several studies by Tokyo-based researcher Qing Li, M.D., Ph.D, president of the Japanese Society of Forest Medicine, show that breathing in phytoncides—a substance released by plants—lowers stress levels and blood pressure while boosting your immune system and your mood.
One of Dr. Li’s studies shows that spending time in the forest significantly increases a positive mood and decreases levels of anxiety, depression, and anger. Forest bathing is now routinely recommended in the East to minimize stress-related diseases. His other studies on immune function have found that a two-night, three-day stay in a forest along with three daily walks among the flora and the fauna significantly boosts a person’s natural killer (NK) cells, a key component in the immune system that fights cancer. The increase lasts as long as 30 days after such a trip. Even one day spent communing with nature means that the NK cells did their work for the next seven.
All of my life’s worth of travels left me unprepared for the wild beauty of this retreat, owned by a French family who is dedicated to the preservation of its pristine state. Judy and I are ushered to Cooper’s Hawk, our luxurious tree house, perched on a ledge overlooking the Dan River Gorge. We watch the sunset in silence from our rockers on the deck while observing hawks riding the wind currents at practically eye level, and listening to the spring green leaves rustle. I feel myself unfurl.
The next morning, our guide takes us on an ATV-tour among the woods and fields of wild flowers in the Meadows of Dan, where Primland is located. We
spy deer, pheasant, quail, geese, ducks, and wild turkeys as we wind up and down the trails that are wet with recent spring rains. The fresh mountain air feels crisp and cool in my lungs, leaving me invigorated as we splash through
the stream overflowing its banks. I start to understand that this feeling isn’t my imagination. My body craves the oxygen-rich air yielded by the old-growth forest that surrounds me.
On tap for the afternoon is tree climbing. I’m curious, wondering why we need climbing expert Bob Wray to guide us. I soon see why. Wray has developed a method for climbing the most challenging trees, similar to mountain climbing. He greets us with a smile. We put on helmets and harnesses, and he coaches us on how to use the system of pulleys and ropes to hoist ourselves up the 70-footer we will be scaling. The first branch is 20 feet up. The sugar maple in my front yard that I used to conquer with the help of my tricycle was no match for this challenging climb.
Judy and I climb for the better part of an hour. Our reward is that we get to rest in a hammock, 40 feet up above the ground, swaying in the breeze. A sense of peace envelops me and I drift off to sleep. When I awake, a hummingbird skims a nearby branch, so close I can almost touch him.
We are having lots of fun, so we consider moving our spa appointments to later in the afternoon. We don’t want to leave our incredible perch. Wray laughs at this. He understands our tree-loving dilemma.
On our last morning at Primland, we sign up for a guided fly fishing trip
that takes us to an upper part of the Dan River, one that isn’t easily accessible. We hike down the gently sloping woodland path, admiring the many types of ferns and the passionflower and trillium in bloom, punctuated by splashes of purple and sunny yellow wild flowers. We spend another half hour walking near the river before our guide instructs us to try our luck.
The wild trout elude us that day, but I don’t care. I soak up the sounds of the forest and the flow of the water. In this moment, I am exactly where I need
to be. What I have seen on this trip is far more valuable: The beauty of nature really can gently wash away my stress and restore my health.
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