Why
Healthy Life Simple?
Because we want to make the experience of “getting healthy” FEEL better.
We know it can be overwhelming. So we give you bite size bits of information to help you create simple, doable, reachable goals. We want you to see and feel the change that you want to make and have the tools to get there. Creating a healthy lifestyle that means something to you.
Hi…..I’m Dr. Plucknett, a physician who specializes in hormone therapy to help optimize a woman’s overall health and performance. I started this blog, Healthy Life Simple, as a way to offer smart, successful women -in mid-life – information, tools and resources that will help you thrive. This blog is not about diagnosing or treating the body. That is better left for one on one encounters in my practices or with your Physician. This blog is a place where together we can talk about what health means to you, what you most desire to feel in your body and some of the difficulties you are facing.
Why “mid-life”? Because a lot happens when you begin peri-menopause and menopause. Life changes. It’s a time to honor your body, your accomplishments, your wisdom. It is at this stage that you might begin to question the meaning and purpose of your life, assess what you have accomplished, what you need to let go of and what will come next. You want your body to be strong and healthy and yet you know that things “will change with age”. You just don’t know what to expect or how to set goals because the territory feels largely unknown and maybe a little scary.
I believe that if we move carefully, consciously and thoughtfully through this time in our lives we are capable of great things. Our bodies will change. There is a real experience of “aging” that takes place and we need to honor that. But what we are exploring here in this blog is how to understand some simple ideas that can help us navigate. Help us, as smart, accomplished women, use our intelligence, our intuition, our resources to experience a meaningful life in a healthy body.
Our definition of “healthy body” does not mean a body free of disease, however we realize this is optimal. A “healthy body” for us is one that serves it’s occupant in her greatest good. Helping her to thrive in life personally and professionally. And defining what that means on an individual level. YOU decide what “healthy” means for you. YOU find out, through exploration, education and intuition what your body needs (in an ever changing way) as you move through your life. We provide the fuel of information, inspiration and some motivation to help you on your path.
So let’s talk about the “recipe” to health that we propose here. Because this health and wellness blog is focused on simplicity we wanted to narrow our focus a bit into specific areas of life that we feel will be of most help to you in your life and health goals. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t other components that matter. There are many other great and wonderful areas of study of the female body that are valuable. But we want to be clear here and have chosen this specific recipe to help you design for yourself a healthy life.
Jaclyn
Contributing Editor
I happen to be Dr. Plucknett’s daughter and a person of interest on this topic of “getting well”. I am in my second year of study at Loyola University Maryland majoring in Biochemistry and minoring in Spanish. I am literally a serious Biochem Nerd. I love studying how all the parts of the body work and am mystified about how and why things work naturally and effortlessly when in balance. I am infinitely curious about traveling abroad and have spent some time recently in Spain studying Spanish language and culture.
What I will be offering here in this space is a viewpoint from where I stand. A young woman’s perspective about health and life. I am going to be exploring what inspires us as young women and how new and innovative technology and advances in the science of biology can bring us the life we want. I will be the voice of what is hip and new. On many fronts. You will find me in our social media and blog posts. I am excited about what we can all become in our lives, no matter what our ages.
Food. Fun. Resilience. Personal Brilliance.
Food. By now you have read endless articles, watched hundreds of videos about how to “lose weight, look younger, get rid of wrinkles, feel better” through food. You are not a novice and we know it. But there are food basics that are worth being reminded of and so we will go over those. And of course there will be some education on how to increase the nutrient value of the food you eat and how to find the best match (with food) for your body. You might see some recipes, fun facts about food and discussions about how food is such a central part of our lives.
Resilience. A lot has been said lately about this topic in health. Resilience has to do with how quickly and strongly you bounce back from difficulty or challenges in your life. This includes your mental health and your physical health. For example, maybe you’ve lost someone in your life to death, divorce or difficult circumstances. How you are/were able to be with and move through this loss speaks volumes to the state of your “health”. Do you honor or ignore your body’s needs through difficult times? Do you tend to overeat, overindulge in shopping, working, alcohol as a way to deal with your feelings? Or do you take time with how you feel, nourish your body the best you can and allow for the time you need to recover? These types of responses all play into how “resilient” you will be in a crisis or difficulty. There are also physiological factors at play here. Generally you can begin to notice how you “bounce back” in challenging times with regard to your strength, stamina, ability to rest and recover. Sometimes our bodies become overwhelmed by stress and it is important to see when our bodies need more (time, nourishing food, rest, fun, inspiration, etc) to “get better”. Our goal here is to give you the tools to better assess and improve your resiliency patterns, no matter what the circumstances in your life.
Fun. Well this is easier said than done sometimes. “Have fun” is often tossed around as if its so simple to do. Yet I’m not sure thats the case. Sometimes we plan to have fun and don’t. Other times “fun times” come out of the blue, when least expected- thankfully! What we want to highlight is how, for you, fun can be defined and what it looks like in YOUR life. Its about training your mind and body to notice when something feels good. And noticing when something doesn’t. Like doing something that someone else, or society, expects you to find entertaining, amusing or fun but doesn’t end up to be amusing at all. Or maybe you surprise yourself by noticing something simple that can be great fun, even for just a few minutes. No matter how you find or define fun in your life, it is of great value to your health.
Personal Brilliance. This is where you shine. Your wisdom and experience tells you what you are good at. You have achieved many things by now in your life. Some good, some not so good but you’ve learned how to respect your failures as they taught you as much or more than your successes. What we feel is important is continuing to search for and locate what your particular brand of brilliance is in the world. You catch glimpses of this at work, in your family and maybe even in a brief conversation with a friend or stranger. Personal brilliance has to do with who you are inside, without all the identities attached to it (mother, daughter, friend, sister, co-worker, boss etc). It is the culmination of all your experiences, your knowledge, your relationships and what they have taught you. It is your own message inside about who you are and why you are important. Maybe you don’t know what this is yet? Or perhaps you have some idea but don’t know how to get clear about it. Or maybe you don’t have any idea who you are and why it matters to find this out. Don’t worry. It is here that we will help you explore this territory and find your true north.
And we will do it simply, one step at a time. There is no need to rush, to hurry, to “get it all done”. We are all already perfectly formed. We believe health is a matter of integration, balance, taking in and letting go. We have an internal ecosystem that knows how to help itself if we can listen and offer ways to support the body to do what it does best.
Thank you for being with us here in this place and on this journey.
We appreciate you.
A little about me and how I arrived at this place…
As a woman who has been practicing medicine as an MD trained Gynecologist and Urogynecologist I am intimately familiar with the female anatomy. I have been practicing medicine in this speciality for 25 years so I have had thousands of conversations with women about their bodies and their health. And of course as a woman and mother I have had my own experiences and challenges with my body. So about a decade ago I started to explore alternative health and integrative medicine and have been thrilled to integrate what I have learned into my traditional practice. I am not someone who has cast aside traditional medicine in an effort to take a more integrated approach but rather someone who has embraced both worlds. I believe in the value of integrating the best of conventional science in traditional medicine with the holistic view that encompasses a whole body approach to staying well- the basis of a more integrated practice. What I have really enjoyed in this journey is finding ways to incorporate the use of supplementation, food and movement into the discussions I have with patients AND seeing the results that can come from even the smallest of lifestyle changes.
My professional background…
I am an MD trained Physician who graduated from Hershey Medical School (PA) in 1991. I trained for 4 years in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Medical Center of Delaware graduating from there in 1995. I then went on to pursue a fellowship in Urogynecology at Greater Baltimore Medical Center and the University of Maryland Medical System. After practicing for about fifteen years in this speciality I began to study anti- aging medicine and became a member of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine and engaged in extensive training through a fellowship in Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine. Presently I am Board Certified in Obstetrics and Gynecology, a member of the Urogynecology Society and a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
And a personal story…
Just a little side note here on one of the reasons I chose to pursue integrative medicine. When I was a little girl I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. She was amazing. Especially with food. She had a lot of struggles in her life- she was widowed at a young age with two small children, had an 8th grade education and worked in a factory sewing clothes to provide for her children. But through all the challenges in her life she always maintained her routine of cooking whole foods and prioritizing meals (and treats!). Growing up she taught me everything I know about cooking. She had a ridiculously small kitchen but somehow we managed to get some amazing meals to come out of there with a spread on the dining room table that was spectacular.
Every time I visited she had some yummy baked good that she baked herself in a Tupperware container ready for me to pick from. Now today I might offer some alternatives to a plastic container and the types of baked goods I would like to have but my point is that she honored “all things in moderation” as she used to say. And she always hosted and engaged in relationships with food. She inherently knew about whole foods because she grew up on a small farm in northeast PA. She knew how to “make due” when there wasn’t much in the way of money and offered love and care to her family through her cooking and food. She spent time outdoors being active, she gardened and had amazing flower beds. Ever since those early experiences with my grandmother I have held a somewhat secret love of cooking (and flowers by the way). I was even going to go to cooking school instead of medical school at one point! But as the years wore on in my career I became insanely busy. I had three kids, was on-call alot and was juggling many things in my life as I worked to stay sane. I became overwhelmed. I was tired and worn out at times. When this would happen I knew I needed to look at my food choices. Like my grandmother had taught me I knew intuitively that what I was eating was either helping me or harming me. And I would simply return my attention to my food, meals with my family and time outside to restore my energy and health. In 2010 and 2011 I began to get increasingly curious about food, medicine and holistic health. I began a more serious study at that point and made many positive changes in my own life. I enjoy sharing what I’ve learned and I appreciate the opportunity to serve women in this way.
My choice to start this blog comes from my deepest belief that we can, as smart, intelligent, resourceful women, find ways to not only meet our basic health needs but find the moments and experiences in life that help us thrive. To live the life we so wish to live. It is possible. One simple step at a time.
As I mentioned, I do not offer any kind of medical advice here on this site. Should you wish to work with me one on one please contact me through barbaraplucknettmd.com or BodyLogicMD of Wayne, NJ. I’d be happy to talk about the services I provide at either location.
