Changing Habits

As far back in history we can go humans have been eating seafood, both from fresh water streams and the ocean.  Some cultures rely very heavily on fish in order to survive even today. Read More

One food, one habit, one garden, one step, one day, one person. Changing a lifestyle can be daunting, but by starting with one step or one habit does make it easier.  

I'm 53 this year and it never ceases to amaze me what I learn every year and 2012 was no different.  I thought I'd share with you some of the things that I have implemented into my life, some from last year and others from the years before that have made all the difference to my life.  By implementing these into your life for 2013 you might find that your health and energy improves.

1. Stay Away From Wheat -   After doing the Changing Habits 4 Phase Fat Elimination Protocol, I realised that grain, but more specifically wheat was causing inflammatory responses in my body. It was distinctly causing aches, pains and weight gain.  I was puzzled by this, as grain has been a part of evolutionary eating for anywhere between 10,000 and 40,000 years.  I listened to lectures and read books and scientific articles to see why this grain was such a problem.  I listened to an interview with Dr William Davis and I had the biggest AHA around the problem with wheat.  Dr Davis is the author of Wheat Belly, this book explains the hybridisation of wheat to feed a hungry planet and how this hybrid is not good for human consumption.  I'm sure if we ate wheat occasionally it would not be a problem (for non-gluten intolerant people), but the fact that we eat wheat up to 6 times a day and that many food additives, including glucose are made from wheat is what is making it a huge problem in modern diets.  It has been 13 months since I've eaten wheat and feeling much better for it.  It's funny I've never been about stopping fat, salt and sugar (common dietary restrictions) but when I read about wheat I knew it needed to go.  It's worth trying and especially after doing the Changing Habits 4 Phase Fat Elimination Protocol.

2. Mindful Movement - The evolutionary body has always moved, we were not built for sitting in cars and in chairs for the whole day, so it is important that you move on a regular basis.  I'm not an exercise expert, I'll leave personal training to the experts and I wish they would leave diet to the diet experts (but that's another story).  Let's just talk about movement.  I do a lot of incidental exercise such as; always finding stairs instead of using electronic upward moving instruments such as escalators and elevators.  I park my car at the back car park, I feel so fortunate that I don't have to use a disabled car park and I celebrate that fact by being as far from them and allowing people who need these or closer parks to have them.  I find that there is always a park furthest from the shops.  When I clean my house I do it with my exercise gear on and loud music and with lots of vigour.  Every morning possible I walk with my daughter or daughters, then take a swim.  It is a wonderful time with them.  Other times I walk with my walking partner Rikki.  When I see stairs I take them two at a time, if I see a hill I walk it with a little more sprint then when I walk on the flats.  I love to stretch, so I make sure if I'm sitting down watching TV that I have some stretch time.  There are so many ways that you can move it is just about being mindful at all times about your movement.  Make 2013 a time to become mindful about movement.

3. Eat Fermented Foods - Every culture throughout the ages have learnt to ferment foods for preservation and have eaten them on a daily basis.  Cheese, yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, and pickles are just a few of the foods known around the world.  Fermented foods are foods that have micro-organism teeming within them. They are pre-digested foods which make them easy for the body to assimilate and it also makes the vitamins and minerals more available.  Probiotics are another name for the micro-organisms.  Prebiotics are the foods that keep the probiotics alive.  Many store purchased probiotics have no prebiotic and have been made in petrie dishes, with perhaps genetically modified or patented organisms. Probiotics traditionally should be within foods, not alone. Read More