What Team Are You On?

Hi, this is Dr. Daniels, and you are listening to Healing with Dr. Daniels. Today is the Sunday, July 25th, 2021 edition. Yay! I am so excited. So today's topic is, what team are you on? And today I'm going to share how picking your team can promote your health and happiness. And as always, think happiness. Yes.

But first, we have got to have an update on grandma. So many of you know my mother is 89 years old, and she was sent home from the hospital, I guess it's been, I don't know, two months now, uh, to die in a semi-comatose position or condition. And as they carried her body into the house and deposited it into the dining room where we had a little hospital bed for her, uh, many of her children and even my friends actually came by to check on her and report back to me. And they said, don't worry, she'll be dead soon. And I realized it'll be, it'll break your heart, but it looks like we can't hope for much here. So I said, okay, thanks for the report.

So here we are. Fast forward eight weeks and update. And the update is, uh, first of all, I need a little bit of background and I want to know there's a lesson here. See if you can find it. So last episode, as you'll recall, my niece, Ranelle, God rest her soul, died at the age of 33. Well, the whole family gathered for a memorial ceremony a few days back. And of course, grandma could not come, uh, and was left home alone. Now, while she was home, she got hungry and there was nobody to bring her food. Hmm. Uh, and guess what happened? I got a photograph. So I get this email and it says, where's grandma? And it's a picture of her empty bed in the dining room. And the next picture is a picture of her sitting at the kitchen table eating. Mom got up, walked from the dining room, her new bedroom to the kitchen, got herself some food, sat down and was eating it. That's a long cry, a lot of progress from semi-comatose. So major milestone. We are all proud of her and encourage her to do more of that.

Of course, mom has been, while in bed, as a little, uh, rubber band exerciser, exercising her legs, her good leg and her bad leg. And bam, here we are. So we are very, very, very proud. And, uh, in case you can't figure out the lesson there, a lot of times when you, uh, bend over backwards to provide assistance, you may actually be, uh, delaying, uh, progress. So with the proper motivation, mom did very well. And so now, of course, I talked to her about this. She says, well, I don't, I don't know if I can go to the kitchen every day. I said, mom, it's okay. Okay. Okay. Why don't you just try and walk to the doorway of the dining room and back to your bed? How about that? Okay. Okay. I can do that once a day. All right, good. So what mom was really saying was she did not want people to stop waiting on her, uh, but she would continue to exercise. And so that's, that, that is great. And, uh, you can take a look at your life in areas where you might be standing in the way of other people really stepping up and improving their lives.

All right. So we're, we're just thrilled. Next production, Vitality Capsules. Yeah. They are in production three to four weeks, and God willing, and the creek don't rise, they will be ready to ship in about three to four weeks. So that is really thrilling. All right. Next, my progress. Yeah. You know, I wish I could understand the technology better and I could show you pictures. However, I just have to describe this for you. I have isolated the joints—plural, it’s two. There were two missing joints that need to stretch to get my head to my heels in a backward bend. So I’m stretching those muscles and have achieved a personal best. In other words, my head is getting substantially closer to my heels. So all you 64-year-olds out there, go for it. You can do it. You can do it. There is hope. There’s hope.

So I hope that you are inspired and you don’t let anyone convince you that life is somehow over. Personally, I’m ashamed to admit, but I look at it. I did have a moment, actually an extended moment like that. When my husband died, I said, okay, this is it. I’m just going to have to get fat and out of shape and frumpy and start wearing mumu dresses. That’s what you do when you become a widow. And I tried that out for a few months, and I said, you know, I don’t, I don’t like this. And so I collected myself and pulled myself together.

So today’s topic. Oh, wait, I’m sorry. How can we forget? How can we forget? The answer is very easily because we don’t have our water here. No water. No water. Is there anything else we can drink? There’s nothing else in this room that’s safe to drink. So I forgot to skip the turpentine today. I’m so sorry. All right. But, uh, let’s move along, and we can get to the inspiration for today’s show. Cause every show is inspired. Uh, and so I get my inspiration from talking to other people and events that happen in my everyday life. So I would encourage anyone and everyone, especially if you’re over 50, for God’s sakes, talk to people who are, uh, you know, 20 years younger, just interacting with them is very, very stimulating. And I now understand what those people over 60 meant when they said to me, Oh, it’s so nice to be around you young people, you young people. What are they talking about? I’m not a people. I’m a person. Anyway, I didn’t appreciate it, but now I do appreciate it.

So I was around one of my good friends, a younger person. And so he visited me to check, uh, to see if I might need any more animal parts. So he’s been helping me navigate the confusing landscape of obtaining a cow brain, a cow large intestine, tendons, a pig brain, and so on to maintain my journey into fitness and flexibility. So as we were discussing the needed organs and how much of each, he paused and said, but doctor, he knows, he knows my doctor because he’s known me for like 12 years. He says, but doctor, uh, what do you eat to stay so young and strong and fit? I paused, I looked at him, and slowly said, the very organs that you are procuring for me, that is why they are so important. Well, then this is what really touched my heart. He became very sad. He looked down at the floor and it’s like, it’s like he was devastated. He was crushed. I felt so horrible. Like I didn’t mean to say anything that would upset him or make him feel bad. And then I realized that, you know, he was feeling somehow inadequate. I said, wait, wait, understand that, that this is very important. You know, I need many people for my life to work like you help me get these organs so I can be strong. I have someone who helps me exercise and stretch so I can be flexible. I have someone else who helps me out by paying my rent. And you know, a lot of people I need to help me. It’s a team. He said, ah, yes. And he lifted his head up, he smiled, he shook his fist and laughed and said, yes, yes. And then I realized that what he really wanted was to understand and be part of the team. And he assumed that the only way to be part of the team would be to imitate me and to be, to appear young and strong and improve his, his health and condition. That wasn’t really what he wanted. What he really wanted was to be a part of the team. And when he realized that just by procuring these organs for me, that made him a valued part of the team.

That’s when I realized, aha, people are on teams, and they need to pick their teams with their eyes wide open. So as you can imagine, he’s just, he’s so excited. And he has an assignment to find me 10 pounds of cow tendons because I’m having a little bit of a tendon issue, especially with all of the increased stretching I’m doing to lengthen certain tendons in my body. So how does that relate to us? Well, team sports is a metaphor for our society. You can be a member of the team. That means you’re on the field, you take the hits, you get the injuries, but you also make the touchdowns, you score, you get the rewards. You can be a spectator in the stands. No benefit to you of the, of you’re not scoring, you’re not getting any points, but you’re getting happiness, you’re getting excitement, and it’s fulfilling. You can be the team manager. An example of this would be a parent. So the team manager manages the team, makes sure the team has everything they need to function, to do well, and to score. You can be a coach, help the team members do what they’re doing better so they can score more points. Parent or a paid advisor. You can sell advertising for the sport. Salesperson, get a commission. Maybe you’re running commercials for kids’ toys or something. Or you can ignore it altogether, just walk by the stadium. Don’t even buy a ticket. You can sell fan paraphernalia to help the fans be better fans. You can collect tickets at the doors. Someone else gets the money, but you collect the tickets. Or you can just watch the whole thing on TV. You can choose what team you want to be on, what role you want to play, even switch sports or not play at all, right?

So you could play basketball, you could play badminton, you could play parchesi, you could play football, volleyball, all kinds of teams, sports. And it’s like the lottery. You have to pay to play, but even more precisely, you have to play to win. So I’m not suggesting you not play. I’m just suggesting you realize it’s a decision. Make the decision. Make it consciously and decide on an option that will optimize your happiness. This can happen at any position in any sport. You are the variable. Some people are happy to be players. They take the punches and get paid for it. And so in your health, you are the player on the field. That is one case. You don’t have a choice. You take the punches, you score the points, and you reap the rewards. It’s all yours. Even if your health bills are paid for by a third party, you are the one that endures the pain of the invasive tests such as they are, the pain of the disease, the condition of your body, and any side effects or consequences of any actions you may take with respect to your health. The consequences of every decision, the consequences are yours and yours alone. You are the gladiator, the captain of the ship. Others can be the crew that can assist you, but only you can be the player. Only you can feel the pain, and only you are the one that heals or doesn’t. Same is true in your life.

Only you can engage in the habits that determine your health. You must not lie to yourself and pretend that you are not the one who will suffer or benefit, or that anyone can suffer for you, or exercise for you, or eat beneficial food for you. You’re the player on the field. Nobody can take the hits, make the touchdown, make that basket, or home run except you. It’s yours to do, and guess what? You can do it! So, you need to really feel that. Now, this doesn’t mean you should take a pill, or not take a pill, or get a surgery, or not get a surgery, but it does mean that you should understand the consequences are yours and yours alone. The surgeon, the nurse, the hospital administrator, the insurance company, even your relatives cannot experience pain, discomfort, or consequences, or even the benefits. For example, the things that I’m doing, the increased energy, the increased flexibility, the increased strength, the increased functionality, the things that I can do that I couldn’t do three years ago, I wish I could share that with other people, but I can’t. The benefits of my disciplines are mine. Now, I can go and personally, physically help other people, but I can’t give them help. I can’t give them the flexibility. The person, or a friend of mine who helps me become more flexible, who helps press the joints into all kinds of positions that maybe I can’t reach by myself, she’s not getting more flexible. So, the water boy or bat boy, sure, they can bring water, they can bring the bat, they can do this, do that, but they’re not going to get stronger. They’re not going to experience making the home run. They’re not going to develop the muscles and the tone of the person who’s actually out there on the field engaging in the sport.

So, the important thing to understand is you are it. You’re the main actor in your health. Now, the other thing that I’m finding is happening. So, I have some friends here, and I’ll send them videos. I’ll be like, oh, what are you up to? Or here, I’m just Jennifer. So, I’ll say, oh, Jennifer, what are you up to? And I’ll send them a video. Whoa! So, they are excited just to see the progress I’m making. They are rooting for me. They’re like the fans in the stands. And one particular fan takes these videos and shows them to other people who are a similar age to me. And I’m sure he’s made a perfect nuisance of himself with all of the bragging and sharing and everything. However, for him, being in the stands, so to speak, is a very exciting, encouraging, positive thing and brings happiness and fulfillment to his life and actually to many other of my friends. So, there’s nothing wrong with being a spectator in other people’s lives, and you should be. In my grandparents’ lives, for example, my grandchildren’s lives, as a grandparent, I am a total spectator. Cheer! Yay! I don’t have any within hand’s reach. I actually have sticks with pom-poms, and I shake them. Yay! And I cheer for them and congratulate them and help them celebrate whatever it is that they’re doing, their newest achievement, or what they’ve scored. And so, I can choose to be a spectator in other people’s lives, and I can choose different roles on their team. For example, I have a friend who’s a minister. He’s a church, so I choose to support. So, I ask him, what does the church need? Ah, okay, it’s Christmas, and people don’t have food. Let’s go to the grocery store. Great! I’ll buy, you know, some shopping carts with food, and we’ll pack the bags and hand out the bags. And so, no, I’m not the minister. No, I don’t deliver the sermon. No, I don’t organize the church. No, I’m not in charge of the finances or anything, but I’m a supporter.

So, in your life, you need to figure out what teams you’re on, and it’s important for you to make the decision. If there’s a team, well, first of all, let’s talk about the team you. I have a daughter named Lillian, and she talks about Team Lillian. It’s a cute concept because all of her friends, actually, they coined the term Team Lillian because they just get a kick out of doing things that are helpful to her because she’s moving in a direction that’s so different from the direction they’re moving in, and also helping her is just such an easy thing to do. So, you have a team, and it’s Team You, and this is your health, certainly your health, is your responsibility. It’s something that really no one else can do for you. So, make up your mind that you’re going to be a team player, a player on your health team. You’re not going to be a spectator. You’re not going to be in the stands. No, you’re going to be on the field. You’re a player. You get the ball. You decide how far to run, and if you pass the ball, guess what? You’re really passing it to yourself. That’s okay. It’s getting you further down the field, and the touchdowns, of course, are yours, but you need to take a look at other teams that you might be on.

For example, I joined a bicycle team. To be on the bicycle team, I need to get my little spandex outfit. It’s not easy to put on those spandex outfits, and even when you squeeze yourself into the spandex, there’s more to come. So, you put on a spandex outfit, then you have the bicycle shoes, then you have the bicycle gloves so you can grip the bars, and in long rides, you don’t get really sore on your hands, and then you have the helmet, then you have the goggles, and depending on where you are, you might even have a mask, then you have the backpack with the water on it, and you hook that into your mouth so you don’t get dehydrated, and just getting all that together can take easily 20 minutes, but that’s not all. Then, there’s the bicycle. Is there enough air in the tires? What about the pressure in the shocks? Is that going to be enough for the type of ride you’re going to do that day? So, then you have to check the bike, maintain the bike, and so we’re now 20 minutes into getting dressed, 15 minutes to maintain the bike, then you got to toss the bike in the truck, drive half an hour, so now we’re up to an hour and a half, call it two hours, and when you get there, you got to do a few stretches, you know, exercises, get all the joints moving, so now you’re flexible, and you can ride, and you won’t have an accident. Okay, so we’ve got two hours of prep time. Just imagine, imagine I’m actually not going to ride the bike, I’m not going to ride the bike, then why would I want to have all the gear, put on all the gear, get suited up, check my bike, drive to the location, do all my loosen-up exercises, and say, okay guys, I’m good, I’m not riding today. Yeah, that’s a lot of energy and resources diverted, so this is why it’s so, so important for you to examine your life, look at all the teams that you’re on, and quit, quit every team that you’re not on.

For example, I’m 64, I am not on the gonna-have-a-baby team, right, so I don’t occupy myself with or purchase birth control, there’s no birth to control. I don’t occupy myself with how I would raise my children, I’m not going to have any more, I’ve already raised the kids. You get the idea, so if there’s a team that you are not on, or that you don’t plan to play on, or participate in, then just remove that whole getting ready for gearing up, suiting up, don’t even show up, just let it go, and people want to, what are you, how do you get so much done, it’s because there’s so much that I don’t do, but there’s a team that I’m not on, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, no, I don’t even get started, I don’t put even a penny, or a dollar, or a minute in that direction, and once you do that, you will find that you have so much resources, so much time, so much energy, so much even money to do the things for the team that you’re on. Now, mandatory, you’re on your own team for health, but there are other teams you may choose to participate in. For example, when I was younger, I had children, I was on team family, team family, build a team, fed the team, house the team, clothe the team, yay! But now, you know, the kids are all grown, and so they have established their own team family, and occasionally they might invite me to participate, that’s nice. So, you’ve got to realize that the one team you’re on, you’ve been signed up for, you can’t escape, is team you, and certainly your health.

But still, others will actually create a life for themselves and assemble a team. For example, this brings us back to grandma. So, my mother got married, that would be a team of two people, and had six children, that’s eight people on the team, she clearly has a team of, or had a team of seven people, at least. Now, this team, which she devoted her life to, has done very well, actually, there are two members who have been, who are deceased, her husband, and one of her children, her oldest, but the remaining seven have had more kids, and each of these kids are rotated in to assist her in various ways. And so, this has been a major team that she has assembled. Now, so each one of us has to advocate for building, or has responsibility for building our own team, or not, and you know, you neglect your team at your own peril, but I want to encourage you to think of your team, your health, and what you want to assemble to help you with your health. Of course, we have Vitality Capsules, the internal cleanser for everyday use, that’s comfortable enough for everyday use, that cleans you out internally, and that helps you heal and improve your health, and helps you maintain your health. So, Vitality Capsules is a good player for your team, and in fact, I have Vitality Capsules on my team, and I take them every day, yay! And yes, it makes a difference, and I feel so much better, and it’s a wonderful thing to be able to take something that gets you feeling better when you weren’t even feeling bad, yay! So, you’ve got to build your team, and the good news is, there are so many people, and so many tools that you can use to build your team.

In my case, I take Treprantine every day, I take supplements, I take my Shilajit, I exercise, and I stretch, and stretching is so much fun, that now, yes, I take it to an extreme, but that’s my choice, not that anyone else has to do that, but my choice, and I found that my personal functionality, in terms of moving my body, ability to do things, is literally moving back to where it was, when I was, I would say, 10 to 15 years old, somewhere in that range, and that is just an amazing thing. Of course, on my team, I have friends that help me stretch, I have friends that help me procure the unusual animal parts that I need, and I have friends that I’ll go to the beach with, and I’ll walk up and down the beach, run up and down the beach, roll around in the water, just have fun. So, you’ve got to assemble your team, and you as a player, need to understand how you want to play your game of your health, and assemble the team, and tools to achieve your goal. You can do it as well within your reach, no, you don’t have to be decrepit, you don’t have to have arthritis.

When I was a kid, the adults would say, oh, my friend Arthur is visiting, and they would kind of work their hands, and try and work through the pain, and I didn’t understand, but now I see my friends, and I’m like, oh, Arthur, which is short for arthritis, those of you who are too young as I was to catch the joke, but yeah, go for it, and remember, it’s your team, and you are the player, you cannot escape that with respect to your health. All the other areas in your life, yeah, you can be the assistant, the fan, the team manager, or don’t even buy a ticket, just walk by the stadium, and wish the players well. All right, as I always think happens.

That brings us to our questions. Yay! Hi, Dr. Daniels, this is a lot of questions, so it’s probably the only one I’ve had time with before. I just wanted you to know that. What things I, I just want to know what I can do in addition to Vitality Capsules, turpentine, pooping, and eating foods that are not processed. All right, so we have an important thing missing from this list, which is water, water. Let’s listen and see. There’s still some swelling in the legs and feet, that means it’s much better. My father is taking 25 milligrams of carbidolol. He’s been keeping track of his blood pressure. No matter what his blood pressure is in the morning, it’s usually 190-ish over 89, and he’s 90 years old. That’s a normal blood pressure for, for 80, for 90 years old, okay, and his doctor is trying to give him more medicine to control it. It seems fine. Usually, it’s gone up a couple of times within a month, it usually is in the morning, the doctor said that he needs to stop eating, stop eating potassium, and that would be difficult since he is vegan. He at least needs to increase his water. I don’t know why he would, I don’t understand what the doctor is thinking of, but he needs to increase his water, that’s his problem. Should you take the extra strength Vitality Capsules to help this, extra strength Vitality Capsules are generally more beneficial when a person has hypertension, other specific foods to target these issues, water, he needs to increase his water, he’s 90 years old, and typically his blood pressure is between 160-170, that’s an excellent blood pressure for a 90 year old, and his doctor says that it is too high and will damage his other organs, that is not true. At the age of 90, that’s not true. Can you please advise, he says he feels fine, major green flag, and he walks and does some weight lifting every day, and does not have pain, I’m going to tell you right now, he’s doing better than his doctor is doing, and his energy level is good, since the doctor told him about the medicine, he now feels discouraged, the doctor is trying to add amlodipine, 10 mg, and calcitrol, 0.25 micrograms, I have no idea why, so he does not need any additional medicine, if indeed he needs the carbidolol, I would increase his water and start tapering the carbidolol, as long as his blood pressure remains between 160-170 systolic, really below 200 systolic, I would just keep cutting back the carbidolol.

That is it, good time for one more question. Hello, and thank you so much for your work, I appreciate you. Well, you’re welcome. I was shopping for trepantine and found the two companies I found so far, Sourcer Trepantine from Pine Resin, I’m looking for trepantine from the pine tree, or should I look for only spruce, let me know if you can, thanks. Okay, so trepantine from pine resin is absolutely fine, although the truth of the matter is, there’s a very fine like nomenclature issue here, so trepantine is made from the sap of the pine tree, which is distilled, separating the trepantine from the resin, so once you have resin, the trepantine is gone, it’s not in the resin, so you can’t make trepantine from resin, just saying, so a lot of times people are very careless with their language, when you get into trepantine and resin and pine and blah blah, it’s easier if you’re a little more precise, so the answer is, if you’re finding trepantines made from pine resin, what they’re really telling you is it’s made from the pine tree, it sounds like it would be the proper thing. All right, and that is it, we are at our 32-minute mark, and I will see you again next week, as always, think happens.