I love the softness of this image! This was taken in April by the talented and sweet Rico Mejia for Amour Luxury Swimwear. We got lucky with some nice weather out in Malibu, resulting in some fantastic images.
Page 135 of 199
Bleeding Money
Do you ever find yourself in a vicious cycle in which any influx of money leaves your hands almost immediately because a bunch of bills come at once, or unexpected expenses pile up? I have been going through a pretty consistent “money bleed” for the last few weeks, and it is extremely frustrating because I just cannot catch up. I take one step forward, only to take two steps back.It This has been happening when extra funds have come in, almost like clockwork. It’s just random and weird and it needs to end!
I am sure many of you can relate. Times are tough, and people continue to struggle to make ends meet. Salaries are not rising sufficiently to accommodate the rise of inflation, soaring credit card APR’s, and the mess that is the Obama Care Act. Sadly, many people are slowly trying to dig themselves out of financial holes, at times losing their ground and falling back. It’s enough to make one give up.
I have literally received payment in the mail for jobs I have completed, only to find 1,2 or more bills in the same stack of mail which equal or exceed the amount of the payment I received. Money in…money out! I have taken on more work to try to absorb expenses, only to find that such a tactic doesn’t work. It’s almost like I am meant to always scramble, that perhaps for the time being, that this is my karmic lesson. The strange thing is that I am NOT a spender, and I pretty much detest shopping. So it doesn’t make sense that the bottom always seems to drop out on me. I am a planner, a saver, and never gamble, qualities which I suppose have kept me afloat during especially rough times when others would have sunk.
The goal is to be one step ahead. I am determined to accomplish this, SOON!
Some People Text TOO MUCH!
I cannot believe how some people seem to be addicted to texting, to the exclusion of actually speaking to others in person (that’s because they’re too distracted by texting incessantly). Call me old school, but I much prefer having discussions via phone or in person chats than via text. One of the most annoying things for me is to be presented with a multi-part question requiring a lengthy response. If that text is followed up with a number of similarly epic-length scrolls, I will often resort to text responses such as, “too much to text” or “tell you when I see you”, because it is agonizing for me to text an interminable response.
I have determined a few types of texting addicts by their tendencies and styles:
THE ADVICE SEEKER: This person is always asking for advice, whether it be on what movie to see, what job offer to take, or what name would be most suitable for his new dog. Some people I know will regularly ask for medical advice which generally irritates me, since I do not treat patients remotely. I just recently had someone ask me detailed questions about an upcoming surgery. It took almost a half hour of my time to respond to all the texts, whereas if we had just talked on the phone, we could have covered the same material in about 5 minutes.
THE TOLSTOY: This person enjoys writing lengthy essays which, on certain phones, will come in 4, 5, 6 segments, each of which is lengthy enough to make your eyes cross. Such texts may take the form of a synopsis of the entire day, or if it has been a while since the person has texted, may summarize the last few weeks or months. If that’s the case, brace yourself for an endless stream of these essays.
THE WORD ASSOCIATION TEXTER: The word association texter employs a style of texting which reads like random thoughts which are wholly unrelated to each other. It’s a hippy-dippy, stream of consciousness style which makes little sense at all.
THE LAZY TEXTER: The lazy texter may get into a rhythm and text quite a bit, but the texts are full of typos and require you to play a guessing game and translate the gibberish. “Going to the gym around 7 am” may end up looking more like “Goidn ti the gtm arudhb 7 am”. What bugs me is that certain people have no problem sending an endless stream of these massively misspelled texts. It seems lazy and sloppy, and it drives me nuts.
THE “LOL” TEXTER: This person is evidently quite happy when texting, because he or she uses “LOL” like it’s a part of normal conversation. You may even see humorless texts from this person with “LOL” appended to them. An example of an actual text I received from someone a couple of years ago is, “Oh wow, that sucks about your dad in the hospital and all LOL”. HOW IS THAT FUNNY?
THE ABBREVIATION TEXTER: This person abbreviates everything from TTYL to SMH, IDK, etc. I wonder if people who have a tendency to do this begin to forget the actual words behind the abbreviations? Hah!
THE EMOTICON TEXTER: This person loves using the emoticons which have become so ingrained in our culture. You can open up a text exchange with this person and see smiley faces and frown faces peppered throughout the entire record.
THE ANGRY TEXTER: This type of person likes to argue via text instead of hashing it out via phone or face to face contact. Usually such arguments are the result of misinterpreted texts and are best avoided by speaking on the phone with each other, but the angry texter opts to communicate via text.
THE “WHATCHA DOING?” TEXTER: This person’s texts can follow you around like a puppy dog, with “whatcha doing?”, and “what are you up to?” used quite a bit. If you text “at work, can’t text now”, you will encourage this person to then send about 15 text messages in a row, with things like, “yeah, it’s a drag being at work”, “what are you working on?”, “Do you have a really busy schedule today?”, etc.
I honestly think people should rely less on texting technology and return to communicating by voice on the phones they carry around with them.
Botox Treatments Are NOT An Urgent Issue
While I appreciate the aesthetic benefits and self-confidence boost that injectables treatments confer upon the people who undergo them, I get very annoyed by the sense of urgency which some people adopt when it’s time to get treated again. I am not kidding you when I say I have had patients contact me asking for Botox, Dysport, Xeomin, Juvederm, Restylane, Perlane, Belotero, or Radiesse with a hint of desperation in their voices, as if it was a matter of life or death in getting a treatment lined up immediately.
In a way it makes perfect sense because these non-surgical fixes are a cost-effective way to smooth lines and furrows and restore lost volume. When the clock is turned back the first time and a new patient sees the results of injectables treatments, it’s a wonderful reveal which causes the patient to see himself or herself differently. The neurotoxins (Botox, Dysport and Xeomin) yield effects which last from 3 to 6 months, with muscle function gradually returning over time, along with the corresponding lines and wrinkles. Fillers have greater longevity and dissipate from 6 months to two years after the treatment is performed. The dissipation tends to be gradual, not sudden.
So when I have patients calling the office, calling me or texting me, insisting that they MUST come in IMMEDIATELY for treatment, I almost want to ask, “Where’s the fire?” Sometimes the request is on such short notice that I cannot accommodate it, which sometimes upsets the patient greatly. The response from the patient goes something like, “But I need it NOW! You need to do this for me. I’m sure you can find time in your schedule to stay late or somehow accommodate me.”
Such treatments are NEVER an emergency, and your face isn’t going to fall if you don’t get shot up with neurotoxin or filler immediately. Trust me on this!
How Men Misread Signals From Women
I am going to appeal to the female readers here and ask if any of you have ever discovered a man’s romantic or sexual interest in you completely by accident, and only through an awkward incident in which a man was forced to reveal his ulterior motives? Have you ever heard a man retort, “You’re lying…I can tell you’re into me”, after you made it very clear to him that you were NOT interested? If a woman is nice and friendly, such behavior can be misinterpreted by a red-blooded male to mean that she has the hots for him. Even if she is a bitch to him, he may still rationalize that she is interested and is simply playing hard to get. I always think of Lloyd (played by Jim Carey) in the film “Dumb And Dumber” and how clueless he is when Mary tells him there’s a one in a million chance of the two of them ending up together.
It almost seems pointless for a woman to try to establish a platonic relationship with most men, because the men invariably drift into fantasyland and convince themselves that the woman must somehow harbor romantic feelings, or at the very least, sexual desire for them. And it keeps happening over and over again. I also think that the more attractive a woman is, the more a man’s faulty rationalizations kick in because he is so dazzled by her hotness. The caveman brain is awakened by super hot women, and sadly, they must always deal with this primitive behavior in men.
Someone recently inquired about my relationship status on Facebook the other day. Let me pose this question: If I have not posted a relationship status, what makes anyone think that I am available or looking? Wouldn’t it make sense to assume that my relationship status is no one’s business and that you should not ask? It just feeds into that blind belief that men have that there is an open door. Granted, Facebook has added the asinine “ASK” button on relationship status if it is hidden. What if I don’t want to invite people to inquire? How about that, Facebook?
Speaking of Facebook, since when did that platform become an internet dating site? Even when I spent two years in a committed relationship and publicly posted it, I was hit on left and right by men who seemed to be patrolling the site, looking for hot women to hit on. I used to share such propositions with my boyfriend so that he was aware of the stupidity of many men out there.
Okay fellas, listen up. Please do NOT assume that a woman is into you simply because you are into her and can’t seem to control yourself. There are few things more irritating to a woman than a man making a fool out of himself, then wrongly accusing the woman of being into him when she has given ZERO indication that she has anything more than a platonic interest in him. I realize this will be a hard pill to swallow for men’s egos, but believe me, this advice is golden. If you ARE interested in a lady, let it be clearly known to her, and if she rejects you, don’t adopt a sophomoric defense mechanism and insult her or blame her. Just smile, be nice, and move on!
Breathing Mechanics During Weight Training
Now that I have been weight training for over 25 years, I have an intuitive sense of proper breathing mechanics when I lift weights, as many seasoned gym beasts can also attest to. However, those of you who are not as experienced or comfortable around a weight room might not know how to breathe properly.
The basic concept is that you will EXHALE on the exertion phase and INHALE on the relaxation phase of the exercise.
Let’s use the wide grip lat pulldown exercise as an example (which incidentally should be performed so that you bring the bar to your upper chest and NOT behind your back). You will exhale as you pull the bar down, then inhale when you return the bar to the starting position.
Most exercises can be performed using this basic technique, but if you are lifting very heavy weights, or even lifting heavy boxes, you can employ a breathing technique called the Valsalva Maneuver, in which you inhale deeply, then hold your breath while lifting the weight. This increases intra-abdominal pressure and thug confers support to the back. However, if you have high blood pressure, this movement can cause your blood pressure to skyrocket. Other relatively common symptoms which can occur during the Valsalva Maneuver are dizziness and fainting. As an alternative, you can simply contract your abdominals, keeping them tight, and continue to breathe normally during the movement.
Block The Haters
It certainly seems to me that people have been extremely edgy these days, and I keep running into them. I know that a far more evolved response to people who spread negative energy is to approach them with compassion, but my sass level has been amped up lately, largely due to the fact that I am deep in contest prep and dealing with a ton of petty frustrations in my life. So at this point I will just hate the haters, until my level of enlightenment enables me to come from a place of neutrality, because it sure isn’t going to happen ten days before a competition!
Here’s a prime example of the weird and random stuff that has been thrown my way. The other day when a dog suddenly jumped on me and scratched my leg, and I went, “owww!”, the owner decided to get all snippy, saying it wasn’t HER fault the dog jumped on me, and when I said to let it go, she KEPT talking to me, getting literally up in my face, screaming, “No, you don’t understand!” I had to walk away from her nastiness.
Thankfully that incident was isolated, but one day every week I deal with the meanest people on the planet. There is a valet where I need to leave my car when I work at one facility, and it is run by four incredibly rude men who never smile, mumble angry things in Spanish under their breath (which I can UNDERSTAND), and get upset when I ask them for a receipt each time. I know they deal with an upper crust clientele which can be very demanding, but I certainly don’t see the point of being unfriendly to everyone who has to go through the valet there. I drive away with such a sense of relief, knowing I will leave that ugliness behind.
Lately I have also been getting negative energy from a few individuals who have decided to take issue with some of my social media posts. I do not tolerate such energy and always automatically block them, and if they are especially nasty or threatening, I will file an official report of abuse. I realize that I am more susceptible to such contentious people because I have built a name for myself and I put myself out there constantly, but it is not fair to blast me when my posts are primarily meant to inspire my fans and followers and entertain friends. The fact that some people go out of their way to be mean and to spread hate is mind-boggling to me. I begin to wonder what kind of karmic load they are carrying to spread so much negativity.
I am trying to hold onto the idea of a force field of positive energy around me, and hope it will somehow protect me from any further incidents before I step onstage. Perhaps this concept will blossom into compassion at some point, but this is definitely something I need to work on.
What is the best way to defuse hostility? It is always best to refrain from reacting to it. Physically walking away, ignoring hateful statements, employing the blocking feature on social media sites, email, and cell phones, smiling at the person who is being difficult can all work in neutralizing the bad energy.
Incrediwear Is Incredible!
I have spent the last few days experiencing Incrediwear products, and I am blown away by them! The quality is exceptional and the technology is phenomenal. I give this company and its products my complete and enthusiastic endorsement, both as an athlete and as a physician.
Here is a great description of the technology, taken from the Incrediwear website:
Incrediwear Technology
What are anions?
Anions are negatively charged atoms that, when absorbed by the body, stimulates molecular vibration and circulation.
How does our product work?
When the body warms our unique carbonized charcoal and our carbonized charcoal/germanium products, they release anions.
What does this do for me?
Incredibraces and Incredisocks, due to the release of anions, are constantly therapeutic. Infrared anion technology has been used for years at medical clinics to address vascular and circulatory health, and professional athletes have slept in ionized environments since the 70s. The technology has been used by chiropractors and physical therapists to accelerate recovery—and it’s all thanks to anions.
How fast does it work?
Results have shown that most people who experience muscle or joint discomfort and try an Incredibrace feel a difference in 20 minutes, and sometimes sooner! Incredibraces have helped those with discomfort from sprains, arthritis, inflammation, cramps, and fatigue. Incredibrace wearers have reported a reduction in discomfort and an enhanced range of motion while walking, working, running, biking, dancing, competing in martial arts, lifting weights and even sleeping.
Do the socks work the same way?
Yes. The socks are also made from carbonized charcoal, and some have a mix of germanium in them. As your body heats the sock, it releases the therapeutic anions, resulting in increased circulation. Each garment is laser Doppler studied showing up to 17% increase in blood flow and blood speed. Increase blood flow can result in accelerated performance and recovery!
Is there anything else I should know?
The enhanced circulation results in more oxygen being supplied to local tissues. This, combined with the increase in blood flow, allows your body to regulate your temperature much easier, keeping you cool in warm weather and warm in cool weather, and even warm when the socks get wet! The natural fibers are antimicrobial and odor absorbing.
What does Germanium do?
Organic germanium is the subject of Dr. Asai’s book ‘Miracle Cure – Organic Germanium’—and for good reason. Germanium helps supply oxygen. Dr. Asai mentions that cells which are deficient in oxygen, in order to survive, begin glycolysis and turn anaerobic, meaning they no longer efficiently use oxygen. There are many factors which can lead to a reduced amount of oxygen in the blood including air pollution, food pollution, and the effects of stress. Dr. Asai states that germanium fuels a mechanism called the dehydrogenating reaction, which combines oxygen with hydrogen and supports cellular defenses
Benefits:
Increased blood flow and oxygen
Wick away moisture
Regulate temperature
Reduce swelling
Anti-microbial
Reduce pain
Supports improved range of motion
Accelerate muscle recovery with increase blood flow
Physical Properties:
High comfort 200 thread count (socks) 360 thread count (braces)
One-of-a-kind medical design
Patented technology
Quality 3D weave design
Anion emitting thread (braces)
Carbonized charcoal germanium thread (braces)
PLEASE MAKE SURE TO VISIT THE INCREDIWEAR WEBSITE:
http://www.buyincrediwear.com/
LHGFX Photography – Image At The Smith Machine
This was a preliminary shot before the actual shoot began, one in which the photographer was checking lighting and angle. I still really like this shot though!
How Weekend Drinking Binges Make You Fat
One of the reasons why people tend to look forward to the weekend so much, besides being away from work, is the ritualistic imbibing of alcohol and consumption of rich foods which many tend to engage in. I have clients who will follow a sensible and healthy meal plan during the week, only to abandon all self-control, put on party hats and eat and drink during the entire weekend.
I will explain to you why this practice is a sure way to keep you from attaining your fitness goals. When you drink large amounts of alcohol, say 3 drinks or more, your body gets a sudden influx of alcohol which puts your body’s metabolism of nutrients to a grinding halt. Why? Because the body cannot store alcohol and must use it immediately as a fuel source. What happens with nutrients is that they are converted to fat and then stored in fat tissue for later use, so alcohol essentially prevents the body from utilizing fat. High consumption of alcohol also impairs the cerebral function (specifically the prefrontal cortex), flattening inhibitions and increasing the appetite. That is why you will often crave greasy foods when you drink, because the body turns to rich foods to replenish nutrients. The combination of increased appetite and behavioral changes are enough to get you to eat a calorie laden, fatty meal which is then stored as fat.
I enjoy the occasional cocktail and as a result will never tell people to avoid drinking altogether. However, I have several recommendations which will minimize the fat deposition which alcohol consumption triggers.
1. Always eat a meal with PROTEIN, FIBER and HEALTHY FAT before you begin drinking to offset the surge in blood sugar which occurs with alcohol connsumption andto slow the absorption of alcohol once it is introduced to the gut.
2. Drink two glasses of water for every drink of alcohol. Alcohol is a diuretic, meaning that it will dry you out. Because of this, it is important to maintain a high level of hydration to offset the diuretic effect.
3. Limit consumption to 1 or 2 drinks in an evening. This will keep calorie consumption down.
dr. stacey naito's blog 