390: Discovering Paradise: Hawaii Adventure Unveiled - Scuba Diving, Vegan Dining, and Heartwarming Dog Excursions in Maui & Kauai!

Episode Summary:
In this episode, Maya Acosta shares her rejuvenating journey through the picturesque landscapes of Maui and Kauai. From mindful hikes in the rainforest to underwater adventures, Maya and her husband explore the healing powers of nature. She dives into wellness practices, detailing breath exercises and the benefits of shaking off tension. The episode takes an unexpected turn when Maya introduces the Kauai Humane Society's unique field trip program, offering listeners a heartwarming experience of bonding with shelter dogs. Through all the adventures, Maya reflects on maintaining a healthy lifestyle while traveling and unveils her struggle with flight anxiety.

Key Takeaways:

1. Nature's Healing Touch: Discover how spending time in nature, practicing mindfulness, and engaging in outdoor activities can be a powerful antidote to stress and negative emotions.
2. Wellness on the Go: Maya provides insights into staying physically active, managing stress, and maintaining healthy habits while traveling, emphasizing the importance of adaptability.
3. Paws for a Cause: Learn about the Kauai Humane Society's innovative field trip program, allowing visitors to connect with shelter dogs while exploring the island, showcasing the positive impact of animal companionship on well-being.

Stay Connected:

• Follow Maya Acosta on Instagram 
• Follow Dr.  Riz on Instagram

Recommendations:

• Volunteer in Maui
• Maui Humane Society
• Kauai Humane Society
• Russell's Restaurant
• Earth Aloha Eats
• A'ARoots Maui

Note:

• Local "Walk With A Doc" events are taking a break in December and are set to resume on January 20, 2024.
• Don't miss the captivating interview following this episode, and stay tuned for more exciting conversations!

Transcript

Maya Acosta  00:00

Today we're diving straight into our reason journey exploring the beautiful islands of Hawaii and in kawaii. From the breathtaking landscapes to unexpected challenges, we've got so much to share on how we integrate it lifestyle medicine principles into our travels. Stay tuned. This is the healthy lifestyle solutions podcast and I'm your host Maya Acosta. If you're willing to go with me, together, we can discover how simple lifestyle choices can help improve our quality of life and increase our longevity in a good way. Let's get started. Welcome back. My friends Maya Acosta, here, the host of the healthy lifestyle solutions podcast. Listen, first thing I need to do is apologize for releasing this episode so late. Usually when I schedule a Monday episode, I schedule it at 6am Central, so that people from different areas of the world can listen, and we just returned from our trip. And I just sat down to record it, it takes a couple of days to recover after a trip. And I'll, I'll tell you what, I had a wonderful time. So there's so much to cover, I want to go ahead and get started with you. Also, I want to let you know that there will be some changes coming to my podcast 2024. I'm going solo again. So my husband is staying pretty busy, especially when we come back from travels. And we will be traveling again in December. So he will not be joining me for doctor in the house like we used to do on Mondays just because we are really heading into December. And it's a busy time. But again, I'm going to try to bring him in from time to time next year as a guest expert to do maybe an interview with me from time to time. But I want to be consistent with all of you. And I don't want to keep changing it up. I have now completed five years this year, I completed five years as a podcaster. And my show has been a variety show in many ways. I started off first by interviewing people locally here that were vegan, or that are vegan. And then I expanded mainly. During the pandemic, I started doing everything via zoom.

Maya Acosta  02:22

And so my reach expanded to various areas of the world interviewing other people. And then I learned and became more focused on lifestyle medicine. And so that's where my passion lies is in talking to you about the things that you can do to take control of your health so that you don't have to always just rely on medications and procedures. And so lifestyle medicine is a legit field that trains health professionals on how to use things like a plant forward diet, movement, stress management, building healthy relationships, getting that restorative sleep and moving away from substances like alcohol and smoking. And so the American College of lifestyle medicine trains individuals, like I said, health professionals on how to teach their patients this stuff so that patients can walk away feeling empowered. And so risks my husband got certified in 2019. And I learned along with him. And so I switched my podcast to focus on those things so that you can be healthier, and I meet you. So I love implementing these things. Every time I learned something, I started to make those healthy lifestyle changes for myself. So that leads me to say why I decided I wanted to bring some changes to my podcast. This year, I worked really hard. I was putting out about two to three episodes a week, some of those episodes I did when I went to the vegan Women's Summit, where I interviewed great individuals who are doing great things in the vegan world. And so I did those on location. And then I released them on my podcast, which are very short episodes. And then I did some interviews at the National Health Association, annual conference and I released those on my podcast too. And then I just recently attended the lifestyle medicine conference in at the end of October, and I did interview and took some testimonials as well. So I'll be releasing those as well. So my whole goal now in 2024 is to practice lifestyle medicine, not just talk about it. I typically bring on health experts to come and talk to all of you and to me about each of these important areas. What I want to do in 20/24 is I really want to live this so it's going to be me speaking to you about the things that we can do together to get healthier and so I have a list

05:00

have ideas of how I would like to curate my podcast so that I connect more directly to you my listener. So having said all of that, that is the reason why Mondays I'll be going solo from now on. And I still have some episodes. By the way, the next two Fridays, I think I have some lectures that are recorded when I went to the peaceful planet foundation retreat that took place in Houston. And these were such amazing lectures that I wanted to share them on my platform. Now for the peaceful planet foundation that took place in Houston, I was invited to be the emcee. And because I had that platform of interviewing each of the speakers, I went ahead and record it. You know, with permission, of course, I recorded each one of them. And then I turned over all the recordings to the founders of the foundation. And it was such an honor this year. Oh, my gosh, I can talk more and more about that later on. But this year, I had so many amazing opportunities, and I got burned out, which leads me to our trip to Hawaii. So I knew that the two weeks we were going to spend in Hawaii, I knew that I wanted to take the time to take care of myself, no one puts pressure on me like I do. Okay, so I'm going to tell you, and I will be releasing videos, and short reels and things like that of my trip. But I'm going to tell you, you know what I did to take care of myself. Most people will say, Oh, well, you know, of course you're on vacation. So it's easy to take care of yourself, but not necessarily true. Some people can be so exhausted from day to day life that when they go on vacation, all they do is sit around and eat. I don't know, you know, my husband and I were very deliberate that we wanted to be physically active that we wanted to hike and all that good stuff. So I am going to tell you all of that. But before we do that, I want to start by first telling you that we first went to Maui. And then we went to Hawaii. And I'm going to cover a little bit about the devastation that we saw associated with the Maui fires that took place in August. And why we went ahead and made the decision anyway to go. It was not an easy decision. I will say we have a timeshare with the Westin in Kaanapali. I mean, that is exactly why we try to go every year. However, we have not been to the islands since 2019, when Riz was invited to speak for the Vegan Society of Hawaii. He spoke in Oahu and then in Maui towards the end of 2019. And that was the last time that we went to the islands. So we had already assumed that many changes would have taken place as a result of the pandemic. You know, like many restaurants, small restaurants went out of business. And so we were already concerned that we would see some of those losses. Typically when we book a trip like we did in November, we booked months ahead of time, more specifically, because my husband needs to put a lot of things in place to leave his practice for two weeks. That means scheduling his patients before and after a trip. It means you know, having things in place for the staff to do while he's gone and there were a lot of you know, arrangements I have to take place he can just randomly take a vacation. And so two things happen when we heard about the my Maui fires. The first I couldn't believe it. I was in shock. I saw the start of the fire but I wasn't following it too much until later say that day or the next day when I saw the true devastation of the fires. And we were so brokenhearted because we love Lahaina. It's a beautiful historic town. That that that

08:57

many of the places that we visited would be gone. The first thing that came to mind for me were the people. Oh my god.

09:08

What about the people? Oh my god, the people they didn't have time to escape their home or the vehicles that were trapped. And oh my god, the people that jumped in the water.

09:23

That was it's been difficult. I'm sure that many of you. When people suffer, you feel it. You're affected as well. And so we didn't feel like we were going to go to Maui to vacation. I'll be honest, it didn't feel like it was going to be such a good time.

09:41

Because the place that the historic town Mahina

09:45

is just south of where we stay. And so there's only one main road that goes around the island around the mountain to reach that area. And we knew we were going to have to go through the maze

10:00

main

10:01

section I'm going to call it town or neighborhood that was impacted is all kind of like sealed up, barricaded, protected from individuals who might be curious or interested in exploiting or exploring that areas. So I appreciate that. Because I feel like right now it's very sacred ground.

10:25

So I'll let you know what my experience was in speaking with people.

10:31

And, and before I move on to how we enjoy the rest of the island, and then kawaii so what we noticed immediately at our resort was that it was understaffed. It could be because some of those employees either passed away, they say about 100 or so people died in the fires or as a result of the fires. And there's still over 6000 people that are displaced living in other hotel rooms. It's not easy right now to get back to work when you don't have your basic needs being met. So I, I want to honor and be respectful of, you know, my interaction with people in Maui.

11:17

We went with the heart of being of service, that's something that I discussed with risks ahead of time was if we're going to go, let's do something, let's volunteer is something that we want to do whenever we travel is we don't want to just be tourist, we want to have dinner with people. We want to connect even with vegans in the areas where we travel, that's always been very important for me not to feel like a tourist even though I am you know, one of the things that we used to do when we would spend time at the beach is we would go to this local individual who would recycle umbrellas and chairs like beach chairs and other things that you might enjoy at the beach. It like little boogie boards, he would pick them up from the beach, and then rent them out for like 510 $15 a day. And then if you brought it back, he would give you back half of what you paid. His house is gone. Oh my gosh, it's so hard not to get emotional. But Maui didn't feel the same. This trip did not feel the same for sure. So

12:22

we looked into a couple of volunteer opportunities. And we were trying to figure out, like, how can we volunteer and still enjoy a vacation. And in one of those outings that we did, we went to a farmers market, just north of Kaanapali, where we stay it was close to closer to Napili, I want to say. And we noticed that there was a whole food pantry and tent that was set up right across from that market at a park just next near the beach. And so we went over there and asked questions, they said, Oh, yes, you know, we could use volunteers. When can you come by so we say immediately the next day we went and we volunteered and it was a you know, I went with this mentality of I'm going to put my head down and I'm going to be abused. And however they can. However I can help. So what really surprised me because what I wanted to do in in providing in being of service is connect like I wanted to connect with the people that were hit the hardest, you know, which were the people that were coming to the food pantry and like I said, we're talking about over 6000 people that have been displaced. Not all of them came to this particular location. But I was able to talk to people if people wanted to talk and just hear their story if they wanted to share their story. I wasn't asking questions, but I made myself available. One thing that really surprised me was how many Mexicans live in Maui, and West Maui. Many of them are from Mexico City. That's where I was born. And so immediately I could tell you know if they had an accent or if they they would have to provide me their name and their address as they were checking out with our goods. And so I found myself speaking to some of the individuals and hearing their stories. There was one particular woman who told me

14:22

that she and her children were at home her husband had just arrived, they were say up the hill in the furthest part of I don't know how to describe it but the furthest part in Lahaina

14:36

where they could actually escape from a back street behind their home. The fires were happening he arrived and he got them out of there.

14:47

Every they lost everything their vehicle their home, and she of course her family is still in Mexico so they were horrified when they heard this but she said this is something that she never like she's so traumatized.

15:00

iced by all of this as she never wants to ever go through anything like that again. So, you know, when you have the opportunity to speak with people and hear their stories, I can't say that I'm the best person

15:15

to offer to console people. My goal is always to hear what people have to say if they want to share a story and be there for them. My experience for the most part, when I was volunteering was just seeing how gracious the individuals that were coming through the food pantry were. And you know, this food pantry offered a lot of non perishable goods, vegetables, some spam, some rise.

15:43

In a so many basic needs, like small little bottles of shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, toilet paper, even kibbles for animals, you know, for the dogs and some food for the cats and some cat litter. We're talking about basic, basic necessities.

16:06

This particular location at one time had clothing for individuals who had lost everything. And it looked like that wasn't available anymore. Not even north of us a little further north isn't appeal Lee. So it looked like that area didn't have any clothing available anymore. There are many tourists that I've met that are going and helping. I met one individuals, one lady who actually owns an apartment that she rents out as an Airbnb, and she was staying there for a month and has been helping whenever she gets a chance. And so there are many people that care. So with the Spanish speakers, I asked things like what brought you out here? Because I'm surprised with immigration. You know, we're so we're closer to the border here in Texas. So what brought you out to Hawaii? One lady told me that she felt it was a better community to raise her children and she felt safer, more peaceful environment. And

17:05

yeah, but you know, you wonder what's happening for her next, and are the children at school at all. So there are many, many things that that make you wonder like, what's going to happen with individuals. So that was really heartbreaking. We made the most of it, we weren't able to do things like dive for a couple of reasons. So we like scuba diving. But some of the dive schools burned down in the hyena. And then in other areas of the island, either the weather didn't permit, it wasn't safe enough. It's just different things. But Riz did was able to go to Kihei, which is south, the south west side of the island, and he was able to die. But even then I think he said that was a rough one. Because he went out on a boat. And the marina, that once existed, where many of the boats would take divers out, is gone. So people have to release the boat on a ramp and do that everyday to put the boat in the water, take the boat out of the water. So there are many adjustments that people will have to make. And so I had a lot of mixed feelings. I'll be honest, do we go? If we go, how can we help? Do we not go because there are locals. They don't want us there. I was met. And I'm not going to go into detail. But I was met with some hostility by two individuals who were volunteering in another location who basically had this attitude of why are you here.

18:40

And

18:41

my whole goal had been to use my platform to encourage people to go to Maui and to volunteer if you're there, I think it's a good way to help our fellow human beings. Another thing that I think is important to talk about and you probably see in the news is that many of those resorts that are along the west side of Maui, they immediately took in displace individuals and then didn't give them enough time to find housing and relocated them to another area so that they could receive tourists. So right now the feeling in my way is a very mixed one with you know a lot of people being very angry that the tourism industry is not prioritizing locals and the needs that they still have and and then you have these mixed messages that tourism is needed because that's what people rely on. So there's a lot there's so much going on. So my feeling after this trip was what I said to my husband was let's not come back for a few years. Let's let the island heal. There's so much construction that still will have to take place in Lahaina and then and then like I said, you know some areas are understaffed because the locals that we're working at these days

20:00

different venues are not able to go back to work. So there's just so much happening. And then at the same time, it's a beautiful thing to know that people are coming together to support those that are in need. So I'm going to make sure to put some links to let you know how you can find out more about supporting the individuals that suffered as a result of the hyena fires. As many of you know, Riz and I are vegan. So for us, it's very important to find a place to eat when we're not cooking in our resort.

20:32

And unfortunately, once again, a couple of our favorite places either burned down or are no longer functioning as a result of how they were impacted by the fires. But I want to give a shout out to a couple of places where we were able to eat and we're so thankful that there's still functioning so one of our favorite places is our roots. It's in Napili. This place is fully PLANT BASE, delicious bowls. We loved it the last time we were there. In 2019. We loved it this time around, we were very happy that they're still in business. And then our friends that live in Maui told us about a restaurant that was also displaced in the hyena. Now I don't know if the full the restaurant itself burned down or is just simply not functioning because the surroundings around it burned down. But so we drove over to key hit just so that we can eat at Earth. Aloha eats. And oh my god, it's another restaurant that is fully vegan. I had the vegan fish tacos and Riz had like though fajita tacos, and we loved it. I think we had cheese sticks as well. And we met one of the owner, owners. And so we were able to, we're very happy to know that we can support a local business. And so those were the really the two places that we ate, there was one other place that we ate, that is on the north side of the island closer to Bahia or on the way to light the road to Hana imbiah. And this one is called Mama's fish house. Now Mama's fish house, yes, it's known for fish. But that's not what we ate. We have heard that this place, you know, you have to make reservations in this place can book out can be booked six months out. So we were very lucky that we were able to eat there because during that time, I was communicating with my friend, Chef Juliet Dunaway, who is in Fort Worth, Texas. And she was giving me recommendations about what to visit in Maui. And she said, You have to eat our Mama's fish house. And I thought, well, I hadn't thought about it. Do they even have options for us? And she told us about a curry. And during that time, while we were messaging each other, she did a quick search and saw a couple of openings on their schedule. We I mean, how lucky are we? And so we immediately booked and drove over now from where we stay in Kaanapali to pi, it took us about 45 minutes to get there. And I was amazed the meat which is mainly the fish can be swapped swapped out for a seared or however you want to prepared tofu or tamping. And so Riz had the curry. With Tempe, I want to say, and I had a tofu and vegetables. And I mean, I'm telling you, it was the most delightful tofu plate I had ever had. And then for the first time ever, we tasted point. I think that's how you say it.

23:36

And so that was a lot, a lot of fun. That was the one time that I dressed up for dinner, because most of the time I was really relaxed. So Maui was a lot calmer. I didn't die. We did a little bit of snorkeling, but we had weather too. So the rest of the days did not permit for snorkeling. It was just different things were not as you know, lively, like we expected, I think, you know, people are really being affected by the fires and who can blame anyone, right? One particular day, we went on a hike. And I want to tell you, I love this. I my husband uses this app called all trails. Now that we've gotten into hiking and really enjoy it, and this particular place is called kaha kapow Loop Trail. And it was even raining during our hike. But because you're going into the forest, you know, you're you sort of have that canopy that protects you while you're hiking. So loved it. We did some videos there, stop halfway and had a lunch. So I definitely had some food there. But I did some kind of mindfulness practices, some forest bathing, taking in the forest and really enjoyed myself so that kind of spending time in nature always helps to shake off some of the negative vibes that I may have or some of the sadness or frustration definitely if I'm feeling blue nature always finds a way to bring me back

25:00

To remind me that everything is going to be okay. And so I was really happy about that. And like I said, risk drove down a key, hey, same place where we ate at the earth Aloha eat. So he drove down there and did a dive. And so he was pretty happy with it. And I'll tell you, what I was happy about to is that island life, when you're being physically active and outdoors and in the sun, I was very happy to know that I could go to sleep earlier and wake up earlier, even though I would say every day I'm going to sleep in, I would wake up around 730 or a 30. And I'm like, wow. And then it feels like the day is ending by six or 7pm. So it was an incredible experience to just get back to feeling restored. Because I have, like I said, I've had so much going on this year, that I'm going to start minimizing all the work that I do. Alright, so I talked to you a little bit about how we restored our sleep and you know, try to stay physically active and also managing stress. One of the things that helped me on the way to Hawaii, and during my entire stay in Hawaii is I put into practices, some things that I've learned from Dr. James Gordon, who, who wrote a book was written several books and has several programs on trauma,

26:25

doing these breath exercises that I called soft belly. And so I was definitely doing that on the flight. Because if you listen to me often enough, you'll know that I actually am terrified every time we fly. So I struggle with flying. But I am also not I'm trying everything to, to be to take a healthier approach to some of the anxiety that I have. And so during the flight, I was listening to his recording where he talks about having this soft belly and you breathe in through your nose.

27:05

And while you're breathing in, you say soft. And then when you breathe out through your mouth, in your mind, you say belly, and to remind you to keep a soft belly. And so I'm going to do a real quick just to give you an example of what that what that was like. But it helped me tremendously on the fly. And it's the way that we calm our nerves to say it in the most simplistic way is how we calm our nerves to get back

27:34

to the ability to think clearly

27:38

in any situation, especially when you're facing anxiety. And then the other thing that I did, at various occasions is the shaking thing. And I filmed him because Dr. James Gordon was at the lifestyle medicine conference in October. And he showed us how to shake but in his audio book, and in his books, he talks about shaking the body for a few minutes, so that you can relieve some of that tension. And I'm telling you that did so much for me, especially on the flight back from Hawaii to to the mainland.

28:11

I couldn't believe how relaxed I was during my flight aside from the fact that I wasn't comfortable in my seat, right? Because you know, who can sleep sitting up? But it was it was great. All right. Let's move on to kawaii because I really want to wrap up this episode. I really like I said we're not a travel podcast. But I love to travel. And I work really hard at being healthy, physically active and eating healthy when I travel. And so I want to share some of these tips with you. As a matter of fact, I'm thinking of putting together a guide on how I make it happen, how I eat healthy when I travel. Because every situation can be different. Maybe I'm traveling in our band, maybe I'm traveling by car like when I drive to Houston Sometimes I'm in a car that's a four hour drive. You know if I'm staying at an Airbnb that has a kitchenette or a regular hotel room, how do I eat to stay healthy, and one of my tricks was traveling with a little blender this time and I made a smoothie every morning. So that was really worth it for me. I'm so thankful that I was able to do that Kawaii is such a gorgeous island. It was my first time I've been there a long, long time ago. So this is my first time going with my husband. It was about a 45 minute flight. It's often called the Garden aisle. It has about 72,000 people. It's known for its lush green landscapes, dramatic cliffs and stunning natural beauty.

29:41

Now we stayed there when we were looking again because keep in mind that we have a timeshare so for us our destinations really depend on what our timeshare can accommodate. And recently there have been some nice developments that have allowed us to stay at a Sheraton outside of the West End. So

30:00

So just to kind of explain the airport is on the east side of the island, and we drove down to employ poo, to stay at the Sheraton resort, and that was where our, we had our accommodations. However, this particular accommodation that we had did not have a kitchenette. And boy, that was really difficult for us because keep in mind, again, we're vegan, we do not eat any any animal products. And our goal is always to eat whole food plant based. That meant that I could not cook in my room. However, I was able to make smoothies every day, so at least I could do that to feel a little bit better. So I bought myself a bag of frozen berries and a container of greens. And I travel with my different powders, like I have the you know, like a peanut butter powder, and I have like omelet powder, and other things like that, that I can put into my smoothie. So it rained when we arrived and it rained almost every single day. So we had to buy the umbrella and have like because we wanted a hike as well. So we had to have a poncho for that. So we really planned for this. And another thing that Kawaii is known for aside from the pristine beaches is why may I Canyon, it's all really it's known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific and, and though of course it's also known for the new pili coast. We did not make it to Waimea because we did scuba dive, we did dive in kawaii and the particular day when we could have gone to Waimea, you're not supposed to go up in elevation too much within I think 18 hours of a dive. So we missed out on that. But couldn't do why mat in other days also because of the of the rain. So we were very limited in hiking. One thing that I want to tell you that I learned about when I was in Maui, I was researching what can we do in Hawaii, I learned about the Hawaii Humane Society and a field trip program that they have for dogs. And I immediately couldn't wait every day. I always say to my husband, can we get a dog today? And he was like No, not yet. Well, what day what day, can we go get a dog. And really what this program is, is it's a filter program put together by the Kawaii Humane Society that really encourages tourists and visitors but also locals to borrow a dog for the day and take them out. Just enjoy them. Take them for a walk to the park to the beach for a hike, spend time with them get them a little relief from being in the kennel. And you can do this for $40 That day, or you can pay a little bit more to have them to have another animal spayed or neutered. This program it results in at least two dogs being adopted a week by tourists I fall in love with them and then take them over to the mainland. So you don't necessarily get to pick out the dog they bring you the dog they think that they believe would be a good fit. And we had a beautiful hound mix. Her name was kava and Kava is one of five dogs siblings that were surrendered by the owner who had them as hunting dogs, which you know, is disturbing and sad that these dogs are used and then dispose stuff and so all her siblings were adopted out except for her. And so I did a video and I shared it on social media and two individuals who have also spend time with kava replied and commented and they say that keep checking for her to see if she's been adopted. Honestly, kava. Like for me, there's no reason why she should not be adopted. She's such a well behaved dog actually, fairly, you know, quiet, probably is just you know, waiting for that forever home so her beautiful energy and personality can come out. And just very curious. You can tell she was a hunter. So you she puts her heads in the bushes and other places like that just looking to see like she's hunting. But never did we have any experience where she was reactive in any way. But I really love this program. I spoke when I went to different shops, I spoke with some of the employees and I said hey, have you heard of this program? And they're like, Oh, yes, you know, our locals take them out. It's really because it's an ideal situation where you want to have these animals. You know, you can take them anywhere. There's such variety on the island. So I'm gonna put a link in the show notes for you to learn about it as well. In case you're traveling, apparently, Maui has something similar by when I went to their website, I didn't really see that option. So you'll just have to look. It's under field trips. And if you fall in love with a dog or cat because they also have cats, then you can adopt them and they'll help you

35:00

used to transport your animal back to the mainland. And so I was missing my dogs so much because we can't travel with him to the islands. It's a very complicated paperwork. So it filled a little space in my heart to be able to spend time with another dog. But I'm going to tell you a little bit more about this. The Kawaii Humane Society. So the Kawaii Humane Society is dedicated to promoting the welfare of animals on the island of Hawaii. Their mission includes providing shelter and care for homeless animals advocating for animal welfare and offering programs to enhance the bond between animals and humans. Now the field trip program offers a unique and heartwarming program that allows visitors to take shelter dogs on field trips, and the program allows dogs to get out of the shelter, experience the outdoors and enjoy the time with people. How it works is you just visit the website, the Humane Society website and you just click on the field trip program. The program typically involves taking a shelter dog out for the day to explore the island, whether hiking, visiting the beach or simply going for a walk. And of course it's going to benefit the dogs the dogs benefit from mental and physical stimulation and being outside the shelter. So visitors get to experience the joy of spending time with a furry companion while exploring the beauty of kawaii so I was so thankful and I will say that it was so difficult bringing Cava back to the shelter like my heart is broke like Ah, she has to go back to that. So very thankful that we have these organizations that care and love for animals. Alright, so let me tell you about dining. I sort of already touched on it, especially in Maui. But dining was difficult in kawaii again, we couldn't cook in a room. And while I typically use the Happy Cow app, which is an app that tells you where you might have fully vegan options all the way to vegan options in a regular restaurant. It wasn't as useful, believe it or not. What we found ourselves doing is we've seen reviews, old reviews, because people have not been updating for kawaii and then arriving at the restaurant only to discover that know, the menu has changed and it changed many years ago. And so it was a little bit frustrating. I will say that we had to do more of the fine dining experience because those were the places that have alternatives. And so like I said, we went to the Grand Hyatt and we ate at the tide pools. And probably two of the restaurants that we went to had the best beet salad that I have ever had. I will tell you it's incredible what some of these chefs can put together and then the beach house which also had delicious beets. And I think we basically got sort of like their rice noodles. Oh, delicious. kale salad, and then the beet salad as well. We visited Brussels and Brussels is a restaurant very near just north of the airport. When you when we flew in immediately we went to Brussels because we knew that if we arrived on time, that would be the last place we could eat that evening. Again, because it's not like restaurants are fully open all the time. So Russell's is fully vegan.

38:31

And I think it's called like Russell's backyard. We arrived there and had now I had the most amazing kale soup. I think it's kale and potato soup ever. So on Thanksgiving Day, we returned there. Now let me tell you more about Thanksgiving Day because that same day, we went for a hike and we also explored to waterfalls. So I was really surprised how many people were traveling during the holiday. And it's not to say that people don't travel with their family. I was just surprised that throughout the day, people were out and about so you'd wonder like Do people have traditional Thanksgiving dinner while they're traveling in Hawaii? I don't know. I will say that I my husband and I started the day early. We had lunch at a Thai restaurant. And then we headed north like north of the airport. So northeast for two particular waterfalls. And then we pulled up the trail, the all trails app once again to find a place where we could actually hike that did not involve getting muddy. There were some other places that we really would have wanted to explore. And we looked up the YouTube videos just to see what people said about certain trails. But because we had rained that entire week that we were there. We did not want to get muddy or have incidents. So we found a coastal trail that was paved, and did a good I don't know maybe two mile hike and that was really nice for us. It allowed us to kind of still be in the presence of nature. And then we wrapped up after the

40:00

hike, we went over to Russell's once again. And so I'm going to put a link so that you can or the name of the restaurant so that if you're in Hawaii, you can visit it because I think you'll really enjoy it. So I didn't mention that we'd like to be physically active, and, you know, do things that are interesting to us. So I actually created more videos while I was in kawaii, of doing breath, work, grounding, forest bathing, really connecting with nature, because that's absolutely important for me and for my mental well being.

40:32

So the other thing that we did is we did dive and we dove separately this time, and I'm so glad that we did, because we each had our own experiences. So Riz did a boat dive. And he actually said that the waters were so rough that about three people quit. But he said that a couple of people were very nauseous before they even actually arrived at the dive site. And so he said it was rough, he said, and I believe it or not as much as I travel and enjoy the boat, for example, I actually get seasick. With too much commotion, I think it was in. Yeah, it was actually I was snorkeling in coypu, just south of Hawaii. And I was feeling nauseous because the waves are pretty heavy. And so I'm so glad that I didn't do that. What I did is I did a refresher course right there near the Point Beach, it was a, like an offshore dive with one instructor. And I expected more people to be in my class. But as a matter of fact, I wish she had the most amazing instructor, but she told me that a lot of people should consider doing refresher courses because they, I got certified in 2019. And that same year, I did a couple of dives in Maui. And then we had the whole pandemic that we didn't dive. And then this year in Cancun, I did dive again, but it was not a refresher course. And so what I wanted was just to, once again, remember what are those safety things that I should take into consideration? And how can I feel calm underwater when I'm breathing in and out of my mouth. And so we did two dives there. And I had one instructor. So it was amazing. And, you know, it was just such a wonderful experience for me to be with another woman who says that she actually has to encourage her fiance to dive because he's a little scared, he won't dive in this. She's there, it was just nice to see that she could encourage me that way. And because both of us dove separately, and we didn't want to pay yet again, another photographer to photograph us underwater, we don't have any video of actually haven't been underwater. But I will encourage you to consider that if you're interested in learning how to dive or you haven't taken a course in quite a while do a refresher course it's it's really worth it. You know, there are things that you want to take into consideration, like my instructor told me that sometimes people drink the night before and then they get nauseous, and hungover. And so they have a difficult time diving. I know that she was telling me and I've had people say this about my breathing underwater is that I don't take I don't use up my air as fast as other people. Because I do breath work. However, she did encourage me to reverse how I breathe, I usually breathe in more and breathe out less. So she kind of asked me to reverse that and breathe in shorter breaths and take more time releasing that air. I saw turtles and other types of sea life that I really enjoyed. Anyway, our trip back, like I said, because I've been doing breath work, it wasn't as intimidating.

43:54

And I was able to really feel the difference in my body. Now keep in mind and I'll talk more about this and in future episodes, that I promote sobriety but one of the things that I used to do in the past that I did, in order to calm my nerves is drink which is not like the best thing to drink while you're flying. But you know, I never really helped I thought it did. What I'm finding is that during breathwork and even the shake in the body has really helped me to feel safer when I'm flying and because it's all mental, but my body really retains a lot of anxiety. So friends I am so excited to share more content with you about the trip that we had to Hawaii. I hope you enjoy this episode follow both of us. My husband is Dr. Risk Bukhari and I'll put a link to his social media because we'll be releasing more content that we filmed in the islands and then of course I am at healthy lifestyle solutions. I'm going to share a lot more footage that I filmed while I was in kawaii again, you know really putting into place those principles that are taught by lifestyle medicine and

45:00

Now following this episode, there's an interview that I have for you. I have a couple more interviews left this year.

45:07

And then next year on my social media, I'm going to try to release more clips of some of those wonderful conversations that I had this year. Mainly because I fell behind on my social media, we will be traveling again the second half of December. And another reminder, if you walk with us locally, if you're part of our Walk With A Doc, remember that we're not walking together in December either mainly because of our travels. So look for us, January 20. That's the third Saturday of the month 2024 That's when we will be walking again. And as always, my friends I hope you enjoy this episode, and thank you for being a listener. Till next time, you've been listening to the healthy lifestyle solutions podcast with your host Maya Acosta. If you've enjoyed this content, please share with one friend who can benefit. You can also leave us a five star review at rate this podcast.com forward slash H L S. This helps us to spread our message. As always, thank you for being a listener.