#24: Randon Rosenbaum
"Exercise and a clean conscience go a long way."
Randon is a writer, astrologer and former student of sacred art. You can read more on her astrology blog, Good Horoscope.
At a glance…
Location: Berlin
Big 3: Libra/Gemini/Capricorn
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
Health and life force is divine. The healing of the body, the growth of a plant—it’s not something one can do on their own. There is no health without grace. I’d love to be an incorruptible saint when I die.
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
Unstable, precarious, chaotic. Not ideal, but staying healthy is always my priority. Due to the chaos I'm comfortable with cutting corners (protein bars, why not).
How do you start and end your days?
Cold water on the face, get dressed, feed the cats, turn on the kettle. My acupuncturist recommended warm water in the morning. I typically will drink two cups: one with lemon and salt, another with various powders (glycine, taurine, glutathione, baking soda, quartz). I adhere to the Huberman rule of waiting 40 minutes after you wake up for coffee. I have a SAD lamp to put “sunlight” in my eyes, too.
I have done morning pages for almost ten years now. I exercise every other day, in the morning. I eat after movement. I haven’t been eating breakfast but when I was, I was focusing on a warm breakfast, another recommendation from my acupuncturist. I aspire to eat soup for breakfast. Then I set a timer for 20 minutes and clean something. Sometimes this whole thing takes three hours.
I don’t have a wind-down routine but when I did, I had a set bed time. My last meal would be at least 2 hours before bedtime, and I would turn off all devices and unplug my wifi router 2 hours before bedtime as well. Then I’d bathe and read in bed. Examination of conscience nightly. Currently I would rather hang out with my friends. I’m always trying to find a balance between optimal and feral.
What’s your relationship to self-healing?
I pay very close attention to my body and what I put in it. I luckily have not been sick or needed to see a doctor in years, apart from blood tests for vitamin deficiencies. I go to acupuncture monthly. Anytime I feel off balance I know exactly what to do to make sure the symptoms don’t get worse. My health is my greatest blessing.
Was there a specific moment in life that made you change your approach to health, or become more conscious generally?
During the pandemic I broke out from tretinoin overuse combined with mandatory masking. My acne was painful and hideous. I would cry myself to sleep. After a blood test, a quacky osteopath told me I was sensitive to basically every single one of my favorite foods, including crawfish. This started a nearly four year long elimination diet, which damaged my relationship to food. I was gluten free and vegan except for butter, beef, lamb, fermented dairy, and low casein cheeses. I also was partnered with someone with mysterious health issues due to an intestinal parasite, who could only heal by being an advocate for his own health. We would diet together, but it was tricky. Sometimes I would be legit scared of salicylates and oxalates, but really he was the one sensitive to them, not me.
Where do you look to for information or advice?
My acupuncturist is mother. I try my hardest not to take anything I read online seriously. I also try not to look up “[x] health benefits" after I eat something that I like, but I’m just curious.
The ancient greek doctor, Asclepius, would heal patients through dream interpretation. It's possible that dreams hold a key to healing, but I just have recurring dreams of throwing women down the stairs, so I'm not sure what he would make of that.