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Immune Boosting Remedies With Dr. Tim Moynihan

4 years ago

During trying times, it never hurts boosting your immune system, especially when these remedies can be done within the safety of your home. In this episode, Dr. Kevin Pecca interviews Dr. Tim Moynihan about his chiropractic journey. Dr. Moynihan gives his insights on the Coronavirus pandemic and shares some recipes that he’s developed that will not only boost your immune system but satisfy your palate while doing so. He explains the effect of each ingredient that he uses and also gives away tips on the best practices you can put in place to maximize the benefits.

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Listen To The Episode Here

Immune Boosting Remedies With Dr. Tim Moynihan

On the show, we have one of my favorite people in the entire world as a special guest, Dr. Tim Moynihan. Dr. Tim is my cousin. He is a Doctor of Chiropractic in Los Angeles, California at Rosewood Family Healing Center. He is doing some amazing work with homemade immune-boosting remedies and tinctures that you could make at home to help boost your immune system. With all the craziness going on in the world with the Coronavirus, it’s something that you can do every day to help boost that immune system and fight off whatever is out there to keep you and your family healthy. Without further ado, I would like to welcome Dr. Tim Moynihan.

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We have a special guest, Dr. Tim Moynihan. Aside from being a phenomenal chiropractor, a phenomenal remedy maker, he is also my cousin, one of my favorite people in the world. I love him to death. He’s talented at what he does and he’s doing a lot of great work. We’re going to jump in on how to make some homemade remedies to help boost the immune system because we are living in some crazy times and we are trying to spread the message of health to anybody that needs it. Without further ado, please welcome, Dr. Tim Moynihan.

Kevin, I am glad to be here. Thank you for inviting me to do this with you. This is great.

I am excited to have you on, Tim, because you are supplying the people with the medicine they need and they could do it all from the comfort of their home, which is huge. Before we jump into that, where are you from originally?

I am from Long Island, New York. Strong Island, in a little town called Garden City outside of Queens.

First of all, let me say a great group of people you grew up with because those are some phenomenal characters/human beings. I love all those kids.

I’ve got a solid crew. I’m grateful that we had to have some hilarious and epic adventures together and bring you in.

Tim, what were you into growing up as a kid?

I hate to say I was a jock. I was all about sports. I played hockey, lacrosse, soccer and wrestling. I was the youngest of six kids so I had some wiggle room. I had a lot of time to get in trouble with my friends and to learn a lot about what not to do.

You are the reason I played hockey. I remember the first moment I was on skates. We had a family party at your house on Long Island. You were probably three and I was five. You were zipping around the neighborhood in skates. I thought that was the most amazing thing ever. I’m sure I strapped on the skates and didn’t give them back to you that day. I fell in love with rollerblading and it was history from there on out.

That’s what I’ve been told. I learned to skate at two years old and it was two left skates.

Your older brother was probably six sizes too big.

Yes, playing with a lefty stick on the right hand explains a lot about my game. It wasn’t too far off that you took with it and ran. I remember you got better. You played competitively. I always loved going to your house and playing street hockey with Jesse Krauss and trapping it. She crushed her knees.

Tim, how did you think you wound up in the healthcare profession? Was it something you fell in love with at a young age of helping people? Did it come later in life?

My oldest sister, Maura, moved out to California in 2000 or 2001 to pursue her Doctorate in Chiropractic. She was going for acupuncture simultaneously. I was nine years old when she did this. She used to come home from spring break and winter break and use all of us kids as guinea pigs chiropractically and in acupuncture. She should find the spot whether it was hitting a couple of nerves and draw some blood. We were patient with her. She planted some seeds in me about how to take care of yourself and opened me up to a different way of healing and how to approach health not only the Western medicine route, which I appreciated. I remember at a young age, we stayed in good contact and calling her up and reading the ingredients on the back of my protein label. My dad and brother are tearing me a new one because I couldn’t pronounce any of the stuff on the back of the label. Maura was like, “If you can’t pronounce it, I wouldn’t drink it.” I got a lot of flack from my siblings and parents, but that molded me in owning the natural route and the holistic approach to healing.

I remember going out there for Maura and Jason’s wedding. I thought California was the most fictitious place I’ve ever seen. The sun was out every day, mountains, beaches, and good weather. Growing up in New Jersey and New York, you don’t see that. It was like my mind was blown at her wedding because the wedding was in San Diego.

In La Jolla, right on the beach.

I was like, “This place is not real.” I’m sure that Maura was also the reason how I ended up out west and in chiropractic school as well. She was planting seeds all over the place.

It’s like heaven out here. Everybody is exercising. Everybody is in great shape and it’s inspiring.

Tim, when did you think you wanted to go to chiropractic school?

It was always at the back of my head. I always wanted to be a chiropractor, but I never thought I had the brains to do it. I come from a small town where everybody gets a job and moves into the city. That’s a lot of what my friends are doing and that is great. New York City is an awesome place to settle down and buckle up. I saw that Maura created a life of her own and followed her heart and did what she felt called to do. The voice in the back of my head, “I’m not good enough to be a doctor. I’m not smart enough.” I studied psychology in school. I had okay grades, but I didn’t enjoy school. I’m not one to sit down and study all day long. I have ADD. You graduated from Catholic in 2012. You jammed out to California and you were doing it. We were keeping close contact and I was seeing how you were navigating it. It was like, “Let’s do it.” I came out to visit you a couple of times and saw how you and Fish were living and the way you have to adapt to becoming a doctor. It’s no easy walk in the park, but it’s doable if you want it.

It is hard work, but I had a good time. It wasn’t like that was the worst three and a half years of my life. That was one of the best three and a half years of my life. You could also do that, have a good time, and you’ve got to keep your eye on the ball, but you can have an awesome time too.

Surround yourself with a community of people who are all working towards the same goal. I met some hilarious, wacky people that I’m blessed to call my friends, keep in touch with, and talk shop with whether it’s about patients or all of the things going around in the world.

Also, people don’t realize you bust your ass for three months, but you also get three weeks off at the end. There are no times in your life where you have 9 or 10 weeks off. It’s 2 or 3 weeks in a row every time. You get some good trips in there too.

That was my saving grace. That’s what I had to look forward to after all those finals. Those trips up the coast pulled me out of the gutter there, but I miss it. I miss going to a coffee shop, cracking down, studying, and it’s all such great information. They throw it at you with piles of things.

It’s almost impossible, but everybody gets by somehow.

Everybody has their way of making it stick. I’m glad I kept a lot of my notes.

It is good to go back to.

The internet is helpful too.

Tim, there is a lot of different directions you can go into after chiropractic school. Some people do straight chiropractic. Some people do exercise chiropractic. Some people do muscle testing. You went to a specific route, which is amazing. It seems like you love it and you’re doing well with it. The homemade remedy route is amazing, especially in times like these. You’re helping a lot of people whether it’s from your products or you’re teaching them how to do it at home. I find it amazing because I always love it when people can empower themselves without the doctor being physically present. You are helping out a lot of people. I would love to pick your brain on what you’re doing with these homemade remedies. Why did they work? How did you even get started doing this?

I’ll touch upon a little bit of what I offer to my patients. I studied Diversified in school. That’s what the school offered us. I was treated by one of your classmates, Tony Ly.

He’s my former guest, Tony Ly. He’s a healer for sure.

I was lucky enough to be under his care when I was in my first years in terms of school. When I was in the thick of it, as in the bookwork part of school rather than the hands-on, he helped me see the bigger picture of what I was working towards. He used network spinal analysis on me and that’s a gentle approach to chiropractic. It is no popping, clicking, or anything of that sort. It’s gentle touches on the spine and the sacrum. I would float out of that office and have to take a couple of laps around the block before I was able to drive anywhere.

In a good way because the spine is resetting.

The best way, if we take a stained glass window. When we experience trauma, everybody experiences trauma. When it happens, let’s say the stained glass breaks and it breaks into many different fragments that get caught in our body because we don’t have any time or bandwidth to process everything that happened without life moving on. This is a gentle way to help the body access those suppressed feelings, emotions, stressors, and guide them out of your system in a beautiful way. There’s a lot of crying and laughing.

You’re healing on all levels of the playing field, physical, mental, emotional, and that’s as real as physical trauma.

I do a little bit of Reiki. A lady that I work with is a Reiki master. She does a whole host of witchcraft stuff which I’m into. I had never heard of it until I moved out here.

Some Reiki people don’t even put their hands on you. For me, I come out of a Reiki session and I’m like, “I don’t know what you did, but you reset everything.” Gratitude comes out of nowhere and you start texting people you haven’t talked to in a while and it’s like, “It’s crazy.”

It helps you access that heart space there and then some spiritual psychology stuff. I went to the University of Santa Monica and I learned about that, which is great and helpful. I’m all about making food, medicine for reaching for any supplement or prescription, but using the natural route in helping heal the body from within. It goes hand-in-hand with chiropractic, inside out. I made two supplements that I sell out of the office that I work at. One being elderberry syrup and the fire cider. Both are good immune-boosting supplements. I started making elderberry when I was still in school.

I don’t remember how I stumbled upon it, but I feel like it blew up in 2019. I started making this years ago and to sell in the office. It was something to help myself and my nephews because cold and flu season can last a little longer than we all like. I stumbled across a recipe that incorporates ginger, elderberry, cinnamon and honey. From there, in the years that I’ve been making it, I’ve incorporated rose hips, which is an herb that has a lot of vitamin C in it as well as cloves. It has a powerful immune-boosting property. It tastes delicious. I’m a big fan and kids love it too. That is the ultimate testament to good medicine.

Tim, why elderberry? What is elderberry? Why would somebody take something like that?

Elderberries are known for shortening the duration and severity of symptoms that we experience when we get colds or flu. There have been a bunch of studies on it. It increases cytokine production. Cytokines are inflammatory markers that latch on to infections more or less. They tell the white blood cells to go and get rid of them. I like that it’s tasty and I can buy it locally. They’re grown in Northern America and Europe, the two most populated places. The grocery store I shop at sells them, the leaves and the bark are all toxic except the berries. You have to cook the berries in order for them to express all of their health properties. I buy the dried berries and then I boil them in about ten cups of water with diced ginger, cinnamon, rose hips, and clove. I drain it and then add honey.

What gives it that syrupy texture?

The great part about the honey is that it sweetens it up and makes it good, but kids under one can’t have it because of the honey. I see a lot of kids. I work in a family office, a bunch of ear infections, colds, and flu. Kids bring back all the germs from school and give it to the family. Instead of getting the yearly round of antibiotics, they come into the office for an adjustment and get some elderberry. I’d say the majority of the time, they bounce back quickly as well as their head is not on their neck straight. The majority has to do with it. Majority of what their symptoms are presenting as they’re out of whack. Getting the nervous system in line.

What’s the serving size of the elderberry?

It is a tablespoon for adults and a teaspoon for kids. That is for preventative measures. If you’re feeling fine and maybe someone in your house is sick and you don’t want to get sick, I would recommend that. If you are starting to feel some symptoms, I would up the dosage. Its berries, honey, and herbs, not that you can overdose on it. I would say upwards to five tablespoons a day for adults and then space it out for the kids for precautionary measures. There have been a whole lot going on roundabout elderberries and the Coronavirus.

It helps suppress that and get over it quicker.

They’ve been saying that it’s been worse to take elderberries if you do have Corona because they call it a cytokine storm, so it causes more inflammation than the body can handle it. It winds up exacerbating symptoms, but the more research I do on it, I honestly think it was the same thing that came out about coconut oil. Coconut oil is bad.

It’s tough to decide who to listen and believe, especially in the midst of the Coronavirus because you’ve got one person saying that the hospitals are completely filled, everybody’s dying, and you’ve got another person saying there’s nobody in the hospitals, everything’s clear, the information is being completely misrepresented. There are people dying, for sure. Who knows? Tim, that fire cider too, I’ve had that myself and that will spice your life up a little bit, but in a good way. It hits you, but it tastes good. I like the taste of it. There’s a lot of good antimicrobial, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial stuff in that product that will kick whatever ass you’re fighting.

It will kick anything you got right to the curb. It is spicy. It is tangy. It kicks you right in the teeth, but I’m into that kind of stuff, so call me crazy. It’s habaneros, turmeric, ginger, horseradish, and sixteen cloves of garlic that I usually throw in there, lemon, orange, peels and all, and it sits in the apple cider vinegar for at least six weeks. Sometimes, if I have enough at the office, I let it sit for six months. It was the best taste.

Did you notice the difference?

You tasted much more rather than the acidity overpowering it.

Do you think it was stronger, too, when you want it to sit longer?

I think so. You’ve got to shake it every day with that bad shy. I used my immersion blender and shred it all up and let it sit for a week. That is the ticket.

When’s a good time to take the fire cider?

I take it every day. I like to cook with it. I use it in my salad dressings. People love to put it in their Bloody Mary’s, doing a stir fry with veggies, or marinating meats. It kicks it up, but this is a great immunity-boosting property as well as antiviral properties and a whole host of vitamin C, which our bodies are craving at this time to steer clear of any virus.

That’s what they say they’re treating the Coronavirus with is high-level, high doses of vitamin C.

That’s the placebo. That’s an interesting study, but that goes to show you that vitamin C is what works. I then make a couple of stuff for myself. I have been making kombucha and sauerkraut for years. I do a little pickling cauliflower, green beans. I make my hot sauce. I diced up a bunch of garlic and put it in honey. That has been tasty. I throw it on pizza and it’s good. I get creative. I feel like it is time to do that. It’s all on YouTube too.

You posted an awesome video that was helping out a lot of people. It’s something you could take every day. That’s different than the fire cider and the elderberries.

I posted about the flu bomb. It is accessible whether you have access to roots and fruits or you have the spices in your cabinet. You need ginger, turmeric, lemon, cayenne, pepper, garlic and honey. You dice all that up. If you have a NutriBullet or Vitamix, throw it in there, liquefy it, and then pour over some boiling water.

How much are you using each of those?

I say about a tablespoon of ginger, turmeric, two cloves of garlic, about a fourth teaspoon of cayenne, and pepper. I like it sweet. I use a tablespoon of honey, but I would say more if you want to work out the spiciness of it where you can add pineapple or orange to make it extra powerful and lighten up on the spice. That would help out a lot.

You blend it all up and it’s to-go.

Blend it all up like a hot toddy. Put some boiling water on it. It is a little chewy, but the fiber is what you want.

Why did you choose to use ginger and turmeric and ingredients like that?

They’re anti-inflammatory. Turmeric is good for everything under the sun, antiviral, antimicrobial. If you pay attention after you take something like that, your body heats up. You have a sweat going and that is mimicking fever symptoms. Your body is heating up anything that it’s trying to get rid of. It’s like boiling it up and out as well as it’s great to support your well-being. The garlic is in the allium family. Allium family consists of onions, shallots, and leeks. The onions defense mechanism is excreting this allicin compound, which makes us cry. That whole family has high antiviral properties. Garlic will help kill off anything and it will help you keep the six feet distance rule that we’ve got going on.

You would think garlic will be flying off the shelves. It should be fine off the shelves, but I’m finding that well-stocked. That and ginger, which I’m surprised because the people need to start downing that stuff to boost that immunity, which we want to do.

A lot of people don’t know. They’re all on Tamiflu and all of the antibiotics. It’s offering another way that our body recognizes and agrees with more than this man-made stuff. It is always my first route and go-to.

The new crusher was some chiropractic.

It is game over. It’s been an interesting time to stand in the truth of what I believe in and keep the doors open, whereas gotten a lot of crap from the patient’s family. It’s like, “Why would you expose and put yourself at risk?” It’s empowering to be like, “This is what I believe in. This is a time to share my light and my gifts and to be of service in the best possible way.” It’s awesome to see people come in who share like-minded.

You said something interesting. It’s the time for you to stand up in what you believe in. A lot of chiropractors, this is what they believe in, holistic wellness space practitioners as well. That’s why their doors are still open and it’s completely up to you whether you want to stay open or close. They’re both respectable options. If that’s what you believe, the power of the midbody heals the body and we have everything within us to heal, then stay open and help as many people as you can.

There’s no right or wrong way to do it. I respect everybody who is staying open or staying closed. We’re all doing the best we can. This is a part of the reason why I’m here, to share my gifts and take care of myself so I can take care of my patients and stand in my conviction of how powerful chiropractic is. If we have a clear nervous system, it comes out.

The power is on. Tim, where do you see yourself going with the remedies? Is it something you do for fun, a passion project? Is it something you want to keep the shelf stocked with? How do you feel about it?

I find a lot of joy in it. A lot of my pediatric patients enjoy it and coming in and restocking their elderberry syrup is great to see. To see them believe in it, I can do what my sister did for me, planting a seed. I get a lot of love out of doing it. I pour my heart into cutting these vegetables, talking to my tinctures. It has been a passion project. I do enjoy every part of the process in making it, but I’m at the stage where I’ve got to start opening it up to other people, whether it’s getting an LLC for it. I’ve had a couple of friends reach out and ask if they can sell it in their offices, but I’m not there yet. I would like to have a side hustle of making it because I know how beneficial it can be for others.

The interest is there, which is awesome. That’s always nice when you have a product like that and people are demanding it. That’s always a good thing.

Also, being able to ship it to my friends and family or bring it home for Christmas and let everybody try it. I enjoy it. My sister is a chef. She has a palette that is not like mine, so she can feel what flavors hit and what don’t. I always run it past her before I put it on the shelves. I am being open to her opinion.

Get that family opinion on it, which could sting a little bit.

It is a blessing and a curse.

No one’s going to tell you the truth better than that though.

Especially some siblings more than others, but it’s good. That blends into cooking and how I love to cook and take care of myself and explore different recipes. I shadow my sister on holidays and see what she’s doing and pick her brain. She gets a little frustrated with me, but it’s all for the greater good.

It’s all about the learning process. It sounds like you’re picking up a lot.

It’s a constant learn and progress.

Tim, what would you recommend for some of the people at home that are searching for some ways to boost their immune system, whether it is the remedies or getting moving? Anything that people can do at home to get through these times.

It looks fluid these days. It can be doing all of the Instagram Lives, yoga practice, exercise and breathwork. Some days and other days, it can look like crawling from your couch and binge-watch High Fidelity or Ramy, the two shows I told you about. It comes down to what you’re putting in your body, both visually and the sustenance that you’re feeding yourself, and trying to move as much as you can. It can be from the couch to the bed, but a little bit of sunlight goes a long way. Take a walk outside.

A little bit of exercise can beat the crap of the tiny bit amount of anxiety and depression that you’re feeling for no reason. You start getting moved and you come back, you’re like, “It’s gone.”

The times when you need it most are the times when you do not want to do it. You will need to be dragged out of the house, but that resistance is a sign that your body needs it and is craving it.

You can talk yourself out of it easily. Put yourself out. How many times have you said, “I regret getting out of the house a little bit and doing that?” I don’t think anyone’s ever said that.

Meeting your body where it’s at. Not like setting these goals for running a mile, but taking a walk around the block. It’s healing. As far as food, I would say go for the natural source rather than the supplement. Vitamin C is great, as much citrus as you can. Warm lemon water in the morning is good at massaging your digestive tract, clearing anything that is still there that hasn’t moved and replenishing your hydration levels. I would say colloidal silver is helpful. It works as a disinfectant and you can also take it orally. Oregano oil is good. Elderberry syrup, there are all sorts of gummies and lozenges. Shop for small businesses and support them. A lot of this shelf-stable stuff has not the best preservatives in them. You want something refrigerated and you can pronounce all of the ingredients. I would say healing broths. I also have a good post on veggie broth. I’ve been cooking a lot, so I have a lot of veggie scraps. I have an easy way to make vegetable broth on my Instagram page.

For most people that have been fortunate enough to stay healthy, it’s been a good time for a little reset button and to refocus and retrain on where you want to go, where you want to be, whip the old journal out and see where you’re at personally. You’ve got some time to figure life out, which is tough to do when it’s going and going. This was a needed break for myself and a lot of people.

This is a great reset for us and the earth and everything.

The air is crisp. I’ve never seen it this crisp ever.

It never tasted this good.

How stable is the smog out in LA? You can probably see right through.

I’ve seen a bunch of posts on Instagram about no haze or smog and you’re feeling the air.

People are rethinking some transportation. It’s noticeable to everybody how nice the air is.

I don’t want to go back to the way it was. I don’t think it is. Everybody is using this time to wake up and realize that this is a lot more than a virus.

Mother Nature is talking.

She’s been patient.

We haven’t been listening.

God bless her. This is a graceful way of bringing everything to the surface that needs to be cleared and healed. It is beautiful. There are much positivity and blessing to see in this dark, scary time that’s good to focus on.

America’s been spending time with the family. How about that? That’s something us as a culture has been crappy at doing. You get up, you leave the house, and you’re not back until 8:00 or 9:00 PM. You’re gone the whole day and that’s at least five days out of the week.

It’s the system. I would imagine everybody is coming to the realization of this and getting to know the people you surround yourself with every day. It can be coming out with new kids or divorce papers.

You’re getting to know the person you’re bunkering down with well and it’s probably a great thing. Either way, you’re going to figure it out and it’s going to get a lot of people out of the middle.

Communication goes a long way. I don’t know a whole lot about that.

We were talking before, it’s a serious, unfortunate thing that the planet’s going through, the people are going through. There’s also a flip side of the coin. There had been aspects I’ve enjoyed without all this craziness.

I appreciate slowing down, unplugging, and finally getting around to that to-do list that I’ve been because it’s been for years.

I remember I took a planned vacation the week that everything was shut down. I didn’t know what was going on. We went on vacation anyway. I remember thinking to myself, “I love what I do, but if work starts up again and I continue that schedule, vacation isn’t changing much.” You get that nice little short break, your body relaxes, but you’re right back at it. There have been subtle aches and pains in my body that have been there from bending down every day that I perceived as a new normal. I’m not bending down 120 times a day and it feels fantastic. The rest, the sleep, exercise, and more, I was always too tired to exercise.

It’s been nice going back to the basics. That’s what I’ve appreciated. Sleeping is healing for me. Getting outside, finding, making time to take a walk around the block and cook myself a nice nourishing meal. It looks different every day, but I am trying to make the most of all the people that have graciously opened up their channels and are offering their gifts on Instagram Live. I missed it, but it’s always something to do.

It’s changed the way America has done things and it’s going to change the way I do some things. I’m always going to make the time because you get caught up in that cycle of go, go, go. You think there’s no time, but that’s a false curtain that appears in front of you. I’m going to make some schedule and enjoy life a little bit more because if you’re not doing that, what’s going on?

It makes us realize what matters and appreciate the community. It is interesting to be without because we are using the community to the best of our ability these times, which has been fun. I feel like the power of the touch is one of the only things we’re missing.

Which is a, “Who would’ve thought?” That’s also another good thing that comes out of it, that power of human touch.

Those heart to heart hugs.

I see a lot of people dying to reconnect physically, which sometimes you’re like, “I don’t feel like going out at all.” Maybe that last 3 or 4 weeks, you don’t want to see them anyway, but now it’s like, “Where is everybody? What are we doing?”

We are aiming for it.

Dr. Tim, where can people find you online and your social media platforms to see all the great work you’re doing?

I am on Instagram. My handle is @ChiropracTim. I work at Rosewood Family Healing Center. ChiropracTim.com is in the works. I’m hoping to have that up and running. I’m on Facebook as Timmy Moynihan. I don’t use that much, but I’ll open up there for you.

Tim, if there was one piece of advice that’s resonated with you over the years that you would like to give the audience, what would it be? It could be anything.

A couple of comes to my mind, but one that carries the most weight is to offer yourself the ability to connect with a higher power, source, spirit, God, Buddha, whatever resonates more with you, and to call upon this being, this source, whenever you want. We are never doing anything alone. There are many supporting beings, angels, spirits always around us, supporting, guiding, and holding us. This has been helpful in doing hard things and then not. It’s always good to call your tribe. I do it when I work. I do it before I do the show. I do it whenever. It’s healing to know that we’re not alone and you can call on all of these people whenever we feel called to.

People, put your feelers out. Feel it around you. Thank you for coming on the show. I loved all the info about the natural remedies that people can drink at home. I’m going to fire some up. I’m excited.

Do it up and let me know how you like it.

I’m going to do it.

Cold showers, I know you’re about it. I’ve had some tough cases and I tell people to take cold showers and all their symptoms go away. I don’t know what to say about it.

That’s home cryotherapy.

That cold stress. Thank you for doing this, Kev. You are an inspiration and I am honored to share some of my learnings with your people.

I would love to have you back on anytime there.

Thanks, Kev.

Love you. I’ll talk to you soon.

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