The quietest day yet

Today was all about the oldies leaving and the newbies coming in.

A very quiet day... gym, steam room and meeting the new folk:)

The only key thing to report was that John and I went to the local pub, drunk 10 soda waters between us and watched a seriously emotional game of league.

Its not often I get to watch in Australia, NZ pound the Aussies in a very satisfying match. Proud to be a Kiwi! Now if only we could win netball games...

The End of Week One... Blessings

Today was very laid back and relaxing, no programmes, no Colonics!!!

We had one teaching session relating to the power of the mind to release chemicals in the body. We looked at the importance of positive or negative thinking on the way chemicals such as endorphin's, testosterone, serotonin and others.

Today was a day to reflect on people, the first group we came with are leaving, we will miss them dearly...there is something about journeying together which brings you together, even though you don't really know each other... you learn to respect everyones journey.

Tomorrow they leave, there are 3 of us staying and another 14 people come in, another chance to journey.

Today we had a small service on Hope. Hope is what all people are looking for when they come here. Hope that there is a cure, relief from pain, a better way, a second chance, a time out to think. Hope there is something that gives them value. Hope that tomorrow can be better.
In my love for Jesus Christ, I have many of this answered. Health wise I have hope in a better future and I am learning a lot from the staff here.

We have been blessed by the presence of 12 Aboriginal ladies who have been here for two weeks.

this is their last day. They have been on their own journey of hope that they can change their community in the way they view food, exercise and so on. They sang for us this morning. Can they sing. Not only did they sing but they danced for us, a beautiful way to worship with heart, soul, mind and BODY. they seem to be a very a kin-aesthetic people. What they read, when sung and put to actions hits the mark.
Jo and I in our own small way have tried to help these ladies, but I really think the blessing has come back the other way. These ladies have also made me see the similarities and bonds in Maori, many more than I had realised. Tomorrow they leave and I would love the opportunity to pray with them and thank them for the special gift they have given us. Very heart warming.

I was very sick today and I couldn't thinking back to what Adrian, Naturopath, had been sharing with me. I have been so sick this this week, yesterdays stats that I have lost body weight, but a lot of that has come off muscle. Today I resolved that I must be more active, perhaps more slow and steady at the moment. Losing muscle from what little I had is not a good idea!
Jo went out shopping and I took the challenge quietly of starting to push myself again with exercise.

Tonight we had the weekly prizegiving feast...I received a Diploma in Healthy Living...lol you'll all

start having to listen to me now...
What a feast it was... fantastic meats, veges, cheeses!!!, fruit.
It really tested me though...
A palm-sized meat portion
2 handfuls of salad
...being controlled over fruit and cheese.
...remembering to chew 32 times:)
and not seem to obvious on seconds...

They make this into a real celebration event. What is even cooler is that Adrian, my Naturopath came with his family. I think his wife and Jo have a lot in common. How awesome is it when your key medical person comes in for a dinner with you!

They asked us all to make speeches on receiving our certificates, I may have made the longest speech on receiving my certificate. Jo did pretty well as well. The great thing is that this happens next Saturday night... I can fast again with that in mind.

The rest of the evening was speeches, singing, dancing(Yes I danced to an Aboriginal dance) and farewells. Jo and I were blown away when we got a special mention from their team, so humbling.We were also moved to hear one of the Aboriginal ladies 'wail' as a farewell to the people and friends they were leaving behind. The wailing is so emotional and from the heart, that is was another special blessing that we didn't know we had in store. So many hugs, you really do feel like you are part of a family.

Day 6 - Some thoughts about my progress

I've lost 4 kgs and 5 cm off the waist in my first 6 days...success huh...but alas I wasn't supposed to lose any weight. The plan was that I would have a stable week of digesting and holding my foods, and liquids and that I would detox well. Sadly with the level of sickness I've had, this has thrown out his plans at this stage and he is re-evaluating what to do.

Food, glorious food! My first meal since Monday...What a glorious meal it was. They push the idea

that breakfast should be a strong meal, with fats, veges, proteins and no sugar. they also suggest we should not drink water 1/2 hour before eating and to 1.5 hours after eating, allowing the bodies digestive system to kick in full... and to bite each mouthful around 32 times, this breaks up the food more, makes us feel fuller and allows the saliva enzymes to get a decent crack. This is something I'm terrible at... and it would allow a family to enjoy time together.
Lunch should be the second largest, dinner should be a soup or something light.
I think I'm happier today! This was a huge meal though!!!

So we got to see our results...wow, my blood test comes out at the age of a 52 year old!!!. The good news is Jo's comes out at 33 year old...I am encouraging Jo to aim for the 20's and then I'll never need a mid life crisis!!! Jokes!!!
Jo has turned out yet again to have results that they don't normally see. They are asking her to increase weight, fat and muscle. She knows all that. Very proud of her!

My results also reflect what all of you would guess, too much weight, too much fat, dehydrated and a long road ahead! A good reminder if that I am to cure one thing, I need to look at my body as a whole! He classes me as concerning, not just that stuff, but the fact that I am not responding to treatment. He is concerned about how my cortisol will be responding and has asked if I will start to consider planning my life more around a structured day...I know I need to be open to that but can't see how that will help me measure and respond to my rhythm of life. The good news is though...that is what this year is all about, trialing new things!

I've done well with the detox...coped better than thought. Have started to think more about choices in food and the rest has been considerable...not much else to do:)

The rain certainly hasn't backed off today...and you know we've had a lot when the League test was cancelled.

We have been journeying this week with 5 other people who started at the same time as we did. We have come to enjoy their company a lot, even though we are all at different ages and stages and are here for so many different things. We're like a class of kids, some cheeky, some funny, some hard working, some strong willed, and even a teachers pet(Jo). We can learn a lot for each other as we journey and its good to do that... What have I learnt from them...

1. Its always important to find the lighter side...laughter is a great medicine.
2. Fitness is better if you are accountable to someone... share the challenge.
3. Never allow yourself to give up on the possibility of success.
4. Always question whats happening, know and be critical about what the next step is.
5. Its brave to step out to seek help, journey with someone.
6. It doesn't matter how long you been sick, change can make a difference.
7. Sorting out the smaller things can fix the big things.
8. Be open with people about what you're going through, if they're having a bad day, care.

So to B, J, S, J, J & E...thanks you so much for your help and support. Jo playing pictionary with the girls...have tried to make sure no one could do a facial recognition...man they made a lot of noise!

Day 5 Wet and Forget

Wow... so packed the wrong clothing... it is like a NZ mid winter day here today...cold wet and windy. Very cold for the Aussies, right in our zone.
Days like this make you hibernate a bit more... all in rooms, meet for meals and then away for our workshops and appointments.

Tomorrow is a big day for me, the team here have been all working on a programme for me that I will find out about tomorrow, it always fun to know you fall into the complex band...I'm kind of surprised that I have to wait to Friday to get a programme, effectively a whole week passing but they have been cleaning me up I suppose:)

The last 2 days have been tremendously unwell for me... but if we're talking detox...vomit and diarrhea levels that I have must be excellent for the system.

Tonight we learnt about the Endocrine system, this is very relevant to me. I decided that God must be with me every day in how this works in my body. Not having a pituitary gland to regulate hormones like Cortisol, Thyroxine and Testoterone and needing to self medicate in these areas...often seeming to be low. One of the key command and control centres in the body. All very humbling things.

The one thing I have incredibly challenging about this place is that they offer services like massage(that was okay), colonic hydrotherapy(pipe up butt...not that okay with that). Today I had another way outside my comfort zone experience... a clay wrap, clay all over you. The interesting thing is all these services have been done by the same guy...After my wife, he has seen more of me than even my mother would have. To his credit he does this job because he believes it will make a difference.

A friend of mine thinks all of this talk is making me sound more like a hippy...lol, I'm still coming to grips with what this all means for me, do I believe it all, not sure...after 10 years of public system health maybe I do have to change something, I still believe in medicine but maybe there are better ways we can look after ourselves.

The constant theme coming through is the danger of sugar. The World Health Organisation talks about dropping down to 6 teaspoons a day... pretty sure my coke would be around 10? This is an area I need to try to better at, Jo wants me to to go to 0 processed sugars...hmmm but I must try.
They did a special cooking session tonight where we learnt how you can make some yummy stuff just using natural products...that gives me hope:)

Day 3&4 - Fasting

An apology... missed a day and working through being quite unwell. I don't think it had anything to do with detox but was a day I get every now and then...but I will watch and see if it stays like this:)

So Scotty and detoxing... no solid foods. As a group we have to spend Tue, Wed, Thur finishing Friday lunch. So the goal of this is to allow the body an opportunity to give major organs a break, but also to allow the body to detox it self of everything...

The sad thing for me is that I am losing a lot of this food through vomiting and diarrhea. I wonder how I'll be by the end of this.

Have to admit being here is interesting and the same time relaxing but with huge parts of the day where you don't do anything.

On a side note, we have the privilege of spending some time here with a group of Aboriginal ladies...12 in all, who are being empowered to go back to a more natural way of living. It is a fantastic experience to see these 12 ladies preparing to go back into their community to transform the way they eat. They are currently caught in a trap of high carbohydrate and sugar diet... sounds like we could also benefit...lol coming from me:)

My biggest takeaway points today were
Meal sizes...palm size meat, 2 handfuls of veges and a thumb size of oils...
Our food pyramid is upside down... carbs, breads and grains...little of those. Veges great, protein is important
No snacking, the body needs a rest...kids are different though at a early growing age...
Fruit, a handful a day is enough, because of the sugar it contains
Coconut oil is fantastic in a diet
A funny illustration was to keep the barcodes to a minimum... e.g fruits, veges, meats are good to eat, foods in tins and packets...
Foods we eat can affect the ph level in our bodies.

So below are some photos of a normal days food for Jo and I...it turns out they agree, with Jo's Father that she needs a bit of meat put on her bones. The below photos plus water and herbal teas are all we eat and consume...very different for me... going okay so far. Jo is a box of birds, loving what she is eating.

Jo"s Breakfast

Jo's lunch

Jo's dinner

Breakfast protein shake

Mid morning Juice

Dinner Broth...not my favourite

Lunch Smoothy

Day 2: A day of ponderings...

Kia ora...

After a 6:15 start for a morning walk and a 7am stretching and bouncing on rebounders session, which apparently is an excellent form of low impact fitness, we went for breakfast.

Now you may look at this and think Wow...Simone would... but this is very different for me, completely different. My wife gobbled this up in pure joy. I have to admit nutritionally this is an excellent breakfast. But I am a guy who love cereals or would have loved a bit of bacon... this is a change I know I need to make.

We had the hydrotherapy session today...first ever for those. Warm water goes in your butt and then at a point it sucks out everything... This keep going for 45 min. I don't know how to describe this experience...a lot of good jokes come to mind...and I have definitely identified this is not a career option for me. Funnily enough it made me feel worse and vomited... but Jo also was a wreck... she doesn't do headache pain well:)

I have been challenged today to start thinking about the way I do a lot of things.

The challenge for me is the triangle of a healthy body...
At the moment i'm trapped in a vicious cycle...
I struggle to sleep because of the pain...and I need to be sleeping before midnight
I struggle to exercise enough because of the head pain and nausea, which makes me vomit.
The nutrition, which Jo does a great job of is wasted because of a stomach and bowel system that are up the wazoo!

So a good starting point above. So today chatted to a naturopath who thinks my wife should become a naturopath! He listened well and our life stories have many great connections. He is consulting with his team before making a decision, apparently I am complex (have heard that before)

Some takeaways from today...

• Drink 1 litre a day for every 25kgs of weight... yikes 4 litres. Drink more if you do a lot of exertion.
• The body only allows a teaspoon of sugar in the blood stream, if you're not active the rest goes to fat.
• Faith and attitude to your sickness are key weapons in fighting the feeling/pain and a growing sense of depression and despair...yay I have those in abundance.

and lastly the steam baths...hot steamy room then out under a cold shower...hmmm today I witnessed the fact that my lovely wife...as thin as she is, deals with cold water much better than I do... not one of my finer man moments!

Living Valley Springs Day 1

Hey hey... we're here:)
I was so sensible and committed that I even turned down my free lolly on the Air NZ flight:)
Living Valley Springs is a 2 hour drive from Brisbane and we had to wind the clock back a couple of hours:)

So what learning have I made today... my first big moment was reading my personal programme and finding out I have 2 of these booked this week...

Colonic Hydrotherapy

The health of the body is greatly determined by the cleanliness of the colon and the practise of Colonic Hydrotherapy is the fastest way to clean and detoxify the colon.

At Living Valley Springs you will experience the Chevallum method of colonic hydrotherapy that involves a qualified therapist flushing the colon with water a number of times while the therapist applies gentle external massage over the stomach area above the colon to help extradite trapped toxins.

The wash not only helps to break up any old fecal matter, which can be trapped for significant time, but it also aids in strengthening and toning the bowel. The colon also has an incredible ability to absorb water as well as herbs and so you may also enjoy a special herbal mixture to stimulate and strengthen organs in the body.

So yikes...

We have also learned some interesting points about the way we should eat and drink.

No drink a half hour before and up to an hour and a half after dinner, this is to allow the digestive system to do its thing.

Big breakfast, medium lunch and a smaller dinner.

LVS operates around the 8 laws of health using the acronym NEW START

Nutrition

Exercise

Water

Sunshine

Temperance

Air

Rest

Trust in a purpose for you in life... I would call this Faith.

My other favourite moment was our steam bath...

We went up to the steam room... hope in this incredibly hot room for 10min, out for a cold shower, back in the heat for 7, under the cold, back in the heat for 5, and back under the cold...

Now this helps to draw out toxins...I was not much of a man, the heat I can cope with (but vomited twice afterwards) but cold water on me...yikes! If I ever have a heart attack, chuck cold water on me!

Tomorrow I'm off to see the head Naturopath to discuss a programme for me, as well as someone who is excellent on back issues.

Jo is excited about the 6:15am walk tomorrow...hmmm must have a positive attitude!

So very excited:) good group of people...I have wifi:) My only complaint would be our tiny room:) Not a biggy...Had some great feedback today from yesterdays blog...thanks!