Nice to Meet You!

Hola, blog browsers and welcome to Hungry Hungry Hippy’s blog! I am very excited to start my first ever blog and hope that someone, somewhere is reading this getting a little bit excited, too. As this is my first ever blog post, I have decided that it would be a good idea to tell the reader a little bit about myself and what this blog is going to be all about! So, here you go reader, the inside-scoop on everything Linden! P.S. Linden = me.

So, now that you know my name, I’ll start listing off some generic get-to-know-you-type-details to get the small-talk outta the way. I’m a 20 something (well 20, but I’ve always wanted to use that phrase, it sounds so Sex and the City), living part time in Blacksburg, VA (huh?) where I attend Virginia Tech University, double majoring in Communication and Sociology. I also live and grew up in Arlington, VA, a suburb outside of Washington, D.C. (Insert OBAMA holler).

This blog will be about living healthy, the natural and holistic way. I should add that health has always been my top priority. I’ve been active and athletic for as long as I can remember. It all started with kick-the-can when I schooled every boy on my block, including Timmy Hall who, may I add, was five years my senior and the reigning kick-the-can champ.

In later years I pursued other sports, including soccer, basketball, kickboxing, track, swimming, and later lacrosse and field hockey. Now I play field hockey at Virginia Tech, and dabble in yoga, pilates, and coed sports, of course! Obviously, being active is a huge part of my life and something I pursue for both my physical and mental health. You see, I have a little something called ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)- I’m sure you’ve heard of it. I think that most people probably associate ADHD with that little kid that ended your babysitting career- however that’s not always the case (just the most memorable). I’ve discovered that I don’t need take medication to keep myself concentrated (most of the time). Exercise is my Adderall.

Anywho, growing up in and around D.C. and having parents who are very actively involved in the government has made me extremely interested in everything politics. (And everything Ovechkin. Surprisingly, not anything Redskins… GO COWBOYS!). It has also given me the wonderful opportunity to intern at an advocacy group, The American Association for Health Freedom, which has actually been the inspiration for my blog. This nonprofit organization works to protect the health freedom of consumers and practitioners to choose to use and practice alternative/integrative medicine! Now, at first I was like, huh? Ok. Alternative what? But after working with them I have become extremely inspired to begin leading a life that is much more natural, based on alternative health practices.

Alternative medicine, or an integrative approach to medicine, is one that incorporates diet, exercise, supplements and other natural health techniques, along with conventional allopathic medicine techniques.

The main reason this is so interesting to me is because I have a health issue that no conventional doctor has been able to cure. It’s called IBS aka irritable bowel syndrome. You know I’m dedicated to this blog when I tell the whole Internet community that my bowels are irritable. Basically, I’ve got a stomach ache almost every-single-day. They've run countless tests and I've even gotten the dreaded colonoscopy. The verdict? Nothing. Nada. Nien. Just the IBS label that has been given to thousands of other sufferers *shout out to my peeps.* So, I’ve decided to take things into my own hands and cure this painful and extremely inconvenient (bloating + bikini’s = argh) illness myself. My first idea? A gluten-free diet! We’ll see how that works…

This blog will be a sort of how-to on living naturally, full of links to articles, recipes, personal experiences and stories, restaurant recommendations, etc. And it will also be an account on my struggles to stay healthy, the alternative way. I’ll also be looking for advice from fellow bloggers. Finally, I’ll keep everyone up-to-date on what’s going on in the integrative/alternative medicine struggle to gain acceptance in the political/mainstream world!

Later gators,

Hungry Hungry Hippy

The American Association for Health Freedom Website