College Roomie & CME

I went to a continuing education conference this weekend on Amelia Island a couple of hours away. At times, I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. I was in a room full of hundreds of other doctors, and I was one of a select few of them who was actually a healthy weight and who was active and fit. It was tragic. Equally tragic was the almost total focus on pharmaceutical interventions as opposed to lifestyle modification and assumption of personal responsibility. We had multiple lectures on diabetes with only one that mentioned lifestyle modification for prevention and reversal. We had a lecture on ADHD that didn't even ONCE mention management with proper nutrition and avoidance of certain food additives. It was truly dismal in many ways. I did include a couple of pics from the syllabus on the one good lecture addressing lifestyle modifications for diabetes treatment. That one lecture was quite refreshing.

I kept my workouts up while I was gone despite having forgotten any suitable shoes for the job. I had one pair of dress flats and a pair of ankle boots with heels and that was it! Soooo...I worked out in my socks in the fitness room. To use the elliptical, I had to put towels in the footwell for cushioning. Some other folks started trickling in as i was finishing up. I'm pretty sure they thought I'd lots my marbles. I had to get my workout it though!
My nutrition was good but not perfect. I had one completely non-compliant meal while visiting with my friend but otherwise did well since I packed a bunch of stuff to take with me. The food at the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island was amazing, like they had a garden out back where they just walked out and picked everything and grabbed a chicken just for that one meal. I don't know how they did it, but man, did they ever!
Before I went last week, I did a little shopping, and for the first time in years didn't hate every second of it. I needed to get a top to wear to a wedding that I'm doing the photography for on New Year's Day, so I went to White House Black Market where I thought I'd be most likely to come across something and where I knew they were having quite a sale. I discovered while I was shopping that I am a remedial shopper. I must be led around by my nose to accomplish anything. Left to myself, I never find anything. Nothing, I tell you! Fortunately, the manager at the store grabbed a ton of stuff and threw me in a dressing room. I came out with a ton of stuff and wore lots of it this weekend. You see two of the outfits below.The gal you see with me is my college roommate, one of my best friends in the world. I had not seen her for six years before this weekend. We spent hours catching up, and I enjoyed every moment of her company. I miss having her as a daily part of my life.