Real Life Nutrition

I am quite excited at writing my first blog as I’ve been contemplating one for some time. So much information to share!

My earliest recollections of food are the attempts that my mother had at trying to get me to eat brussell sprouts (not a good outcome)

Fonder memories, although not as healthy were the chocolate royals at my Ma’s,  cup cakes with food coloring at birthday parties. (cringing now over the additives) or, when fifty cents worth of mixed lollies, was a whole bagful of lollies…

Healthier options abound from the back garden. Plentiful were the Oranges, the Walnuts and Almonds from their trees. The excitement over our first home grown Tomatoes and Sunflowers still brings a smile. I have vague memory of even the odd bug at my first attempt at some raw protein.

Suffice to say, a diet in favor of the more pleasurable options found me in my early teens in constant battle with my gymnastics coach and the myriad of quick fix diets on offer.  Believe me I had tried them all.  Grapefruit, Water, Cabbage soup… you know the ones!

Note:  One of the earliest definitions of the term diet could be found in the Webster’s Dictionary and means ‘habitual nourishment’.  From the Latin – diaeta and the Greek – diaita the literal translation is ‘manner of living’.  More recent definitions imply calorie restriction.   A key point in my program with clients is changing the mindset on this very point.

My passion for nutrition ignited fully after being a personal trainer for sometime and coming to understand how big of a role correct eating played in my clients achieving their desired result, or lack of.  It did not matter how many times they trained per week, if the eating wasn’t good, neither was the result.

So, I embarked on Studies in Nutrition and Life Coaching to learn more about the links to the patterns of emotional eating.  And yes we all do it!  Men are no exception to this.

Never could the timing of my studies have been more appropriate than when I found myself only in the last 6 months with a diagnosis of an invasive ductal carcinoma with measurements and spread equating it to an early Stage 3 Breast Cancer.

Based on my studies over the years and a consultation with an Oncologist I made a clear, personal choice to not have surgery or chemotherapy and embark on a healing journey encompassing natural treatments of a chemical, physical and emotional nature.  Along with a nutrition plan encompassing mostly raw, unprocessed anti-oxidant foods.

I will be giving you updates over the coming blogs how this experience has been and ‘is’ unraveling for me as that is what it has become.  A massive unraveling of past oxidative stresses, emotional traumas and spiritual repair, whilst connecting with some truly amazing practitioners.

I’m looking forward to sharing with you not only some of my life experiences but also learning’s from my nutrition and life coaching studies that have lead me to be doing the work I currently do with my friend and colleague Graeme Johnstone and Kapai Puku ‘The Seed of Life’.  Graeme also found his way through serious health issues by relying on the essential vitamins and minerals supplied by a balance of raw unprocessed seeds, vegetables, fruits and protein.

‘Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food’ – Hippocrates

We apply this philosophy to the products we produce and in the message we send to our clients.

Currently, we spend our days educating people as to the medicinal benefits of raw and unprocessed food but more importantly, the joys that food can bring us.

Throughout history in almost every culture food and its preparation are a ritual amongst families and communities. Unlike the modern processed foods we eat, for thousands of years seeds have been a food source and have not changed (with the exception of GM)

As I sat in the park writing this I observed the Dusky Moorhens selecting grass seeds being discerning about which ones they pecked.

I, through my own experience have felt a real need and a sense of urgency to get back to basics of eating and not be swayed by the attractive colors and flavors like the cup cakes I was as a child.