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Archive for March, 2011

New Perspectives

March 31st, 2011

I am all for telling people to push themselves out of their comfort zones. Yet, it is a very different story when you have to do it yourself. It is so much nicer to stay where you are and pull the doonah (duvet, if you are not an Aussie) over your head. We all pull the duvet over our heads all the time. The last few days have had the duvet pulled right off and my world has been exposed to different ways of managing your health, wellbeing and longevity.

So much of the time, we are marketed to, told something is good for you, yet evidence to the contrary is suppressed for whatever reason. We complicate our health by processed foods, fast living and convenience. In the busy worlds we live in, it is easy to fall into bad eating habits because it is just to hard to put some planning and thought around it. We have the knowledge a lot of the time, but creating the habits is challenging.

What I have learnt on the last few days is that I eat the wrong things, not hideously, but the margins do make a difference. I don’t need nearly as much food as I think I do to keep me energised, in fact some of what I eat is making me tired. I have been amazed at the energy and changes in my body after 4 days. What could this look like if I managed to stick to it?

It is 9:30am, I have done a 5 km walk, a stretch class, had the most amazing healthy breakfast…I guess I should sign off and go into the steam room, so that I will be in time for my clay wrap…aaah, bliss!

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Ten Day Health Retreat

March 29th, 2011

The year started with a lot to deal with. My normal carefree family, slightly thrown by unexpected illness. I knuckled down to what I was supposed to do, care and work. Everything else fell by the wayside. You do what you need to do, when you need to do it. Then things began to turn around and I decided that for all of us, I was going to get healthier and learn to cook better. We face so many onslaughts of toxins in our daily modern lives, that I decided to get better educated. So since Sunday, I have been flying solo at the Living Valley Springs Health Retreat in Kin-Kin, Queensland (http://www.lvs.com.au/).

The Health Retreat principles are simple, fresh air, good water, sunshine (well, there has not been much of that), nutrients, exercise, rest and finding your spirit. So far, it is Tuesday morning and I have not eaten a meal since Sunday lunch. Let me be clear. I LOVE food. I NEVER skip a meal. I make sure that I don’t faint, don’t get low blood sugar and don’t go hungry! I am a foodie. I seriously have few addictions, don’t drink coffee, don’t drink alcohol, don’t smoke or do drugs…but gimme a cuppa tea and a meal and I yours…so how is this girl going having no tea and no food?

It is easier than expected. Besides a small headache and some nausea, which lasted for about an hour after I woke up on Monday morning, it has been fine. I have had juices and protein shakes and my body has been left to heal itself, from the daily onslaught of modern life. I have been surprised that my blood sugar has not gone awry, like I thought it would. I did briefly contemplate rugby tackling the man on the ride on mower and taking off on the little machine in search of “civilisation” and a burger! But I restrained myself, held back my primitive urges to be a carnivore and continued strolling up the hill in search of my personal trainer…

The days go something like this – wake up at about 5:30am, get up and go for about an hour’s walk, attend a stretch class, breakfast (aka Protein shake for the first three days), treatments – massages, facials, lymphatic drainage and others during the day, more juices, more protein shakes, steam baths, dinner (known as broth! My father would die laughing!) and then a lecture. Bed by 8:00 and generally straight to sleep. Starting to feel ok…I can do this. Who would have thought!

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