Lisa Curry's Wisdom......

Tonight I had the pleasure of seeing Lisa Curry speak in my small rural town. She made no apologies for the fact she was sponsored, there was full disclosure about who they were, and they were well represented. We listened to some stories from the road trip her and her partner have embarked on, in an attempt to help people find the motivation to improve their health.

I found her to be open and honest, really down to earth and I felt she had an honest desire to help change people's life. She didn't try to flog her program (she really only mentioned it twice) but she did talk of the heartbreak of seeing family members battle obesity, cancer and other disease. I truly believe her motivation for this trip is a desire to see the country, spend time with her spunky young man - and help as many people as she can along the way!

There was a lot of standard motivational spiel.... you can't want it to happen, you have to make it happen.....but delivered with good humour, and lots of dropped names (even Lady Di - I was impressed)... and with lots of great sporting stories. I enjoyed her take on self motivation.

Yesterday, I watched my first episode of The Biggest Loser in about 4 years. I saw Michelle Bridges screaming at and belittling morbidly obese people in a gym. I was upset and angered to see it. I don't care if she's told to do it by the producers, or if she's trying to change her brand to 'hard-ass' - yelling at a fat person, and trying to humiliate them will NEVER help them improve self esteem.

Lisa spoke of how it's possible to succeed with love, self-respect, and respect and love for team-mates or friends who are on the same path. She told a great story about how her rowing team's coach was asked instead of yelling at the team to get them fired up before an event,  could he tell them he loved them, was proud of them, and that they were amazing. He did - he told each woman he loved her, that she was awesome, and that he was proud of her. The team hadn't had any real success, and hadn't really trained enough - but when the coach gave them the talk, told them he loved them and that he believed they could do it - they went out and won!!!  - I loved that story!

Some of the most important things I took away from the talk were

1. Sleep. You must get good quality sleep - the lack of it will leave you unwell. (I'm currently very sleep deprived, and feel very ill - and that is after only 4 nights)

2. Make time for yourself. You are the most important person in the world. Not your husband, not your kids. YOU are the most important person in the world. You deserve time to look after yourself.

3. Your family is important. Take the time to spend with your family, do fun things, do silly things, do crazy things, make every day you spend with them count!!

4. 'Goal weights' are just numbers. Everyone's ideal weight is different - you won't know what it is until you get there. Instead of having a goal weight, aim to be the fittest, healthiest you!

5. If you have a choice  between fat, and 'low-fat' (which is ALWAYS sugar) choose fat. Fat can be burned, and doesn't affect blood sugar in the same way or contain chemicals.

5 Chemicals make you sick - the chemicals in our food and personal care products make us sick. From allergies to cancer things like shampoos, deodorants  spray tans, low fat foods, artificial sweeteners
  processed bleached flour - all make you sick!!! She suggested an app called Chemical Maze (which I'm yet to try) She then made her point by showing the artery of a smoker. It was in a state of severe arteriosclerosis  (hardening of the arteries and blocked arteries) - caused by smoking, and the chemicals in cigarettes.

6. PH and Oxidisation - These things I have spent a long time researching. I could go on about them      forever.

The body cannot work efficiently in an acid state, acidic foods create an excess of acid not only in the stomach and the entire digestive tract, but right down to a cellular level in the body. A body in an acidic state cannot fight illness, and people in an acidic state will more than likely be sick.

To change your body's state from acidic, you must ingest Alkaline foods - green juices, wheatgrass, spurilina,  vital greens, green vegies, fruits and vegetables the colors of the rainbow! The body's optimal level of function is a PH level of 7.36-7.46, with one being the bloodstreams desired level, the other the digestive tract. Measuring PH is easy, test strips can be purchased from any health food store for around $20. 

Simply tear off a strip of the paper from a roll (it's about the size of a roll of correction tape) and place it on your tongue. Don't do so until an hour after eating. If you want to ensure a good result, urinate on a strip as well. Sometimes the food you've eaten that day may have been particularly acidic and can give you a different result. Ideally, you'd like saliva and urine to match - which means that your diet is not too acidic. 

Today, I had 2 cans of coke at work. I decided to do a PH test just now to see how I am faring after some really bad choices lately. I know I feel like shit, which is a good indicator my PH will be off. I usually sit pretty much spot on between 7.2 and 7.4. I took a picture to illustrate how different the results can be if a lot of acidic food is ingested. The top strip is saliva. It is a PH of 5.8 which is VERY acid..... the lower one is urine and it's 7.0. Still slightly acid, but nothing a big feed of fruit and veggies and a green juice won't fix!

I highly reccommend everyone test their PH, and learn as much as you can about PH levels and alkaline eating. A fantastic rule of thumb is the 80/20 way of eating. If 80% of your diet consists of nutrient rich, anti-oxidant rich, alkaline foods - the other 20% can be whatever you like!

That brings me to the second part of part 6 - Oxidisation. 

Oxidisation is a chemical process of corrosion that occurs when oxygen and moisture cause a substance to corrode. The most obvious example is metal. If you have metal that gets wet, and is exposed to oxygen, it rusts (corrodes). Now think of an apple. In it's peel, it's perfect, moist, juicy..... but encased. Cut the apple, expose the moist part to oxygen, and what happens? It goes brown, beginning to oxidise quickly. What happens to the apple if you dip the apple in lemon juice - it doesn't brown. Why? Because lemon juice is an anti-oxidant! Internal organs of our body need oxygenated blood to work efficiently, which provides them with the perfect environment to oxidise. Eating anti-oxidant rich foods prevents this.

So mixing alkaline foods, with anti-oxidant rich foods, is the key to good health!

I really enjoyed Lisa's presentation, and I am going to take a good look at her KISS club. As many of you know, I don't love the idea of weight loss plans after doing 12WBT. I believe a program should foster autonomy, and give you the skills to succeed on your own. From what I can tell, this plan will teach me to put myself first, fit myself into my life, train despite a heavy work/study schedule, and help me love myself just a little more.

That's it for me tonight.....  I need some sleep. 

Facing my fear

So it's been ages since I've blogged, and in part, it is because life is now so hectic! I've commenced full time study at uni, working toward a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Environmental Science. It's a lot of hours, a lot of reading and it's almost a full day to listen to all the lectures - but so far, I'm really loving it.

I'd been keeping pretty on track with my diet, and had still been training twice a week despite the crazy hours I've been putting into study and chasing the kids around to sports and clubs.

Monday week ago, I got home from town after netball training, saw a message on the phone - that threw me into a tailspin. It was with that phone call - I fell off the wagon, and I did it in style! It wasn't what most people would consider a 'bad' phone call, it was in fact someone offering me an interview for a job that I hadn't actually applied for! I had applied twice for positions in this organisation last year, with no success. It seems they liked me, and they held onto my resume, and thought I'd be a good candidate for this position.

The reason it thew me into a tailspin, is because I had a plan - I knew what I was going to do for the next couple of years and I liked the stability of knowing where I was going. I have been busting a gut at uni, and working hard with the knowledge that I'd be around for the kids whenever they needed me, and that I could always fit study around kids. So with this phone call - I didn't know..... I didn't know if I would actually get the job - I didn't even know if I wanted the bloody job!

By nature I am an ambitious person, but not in the way most people are - I don't crave money, possessions or prestige. My ambition is to be the best mother I can be to my children. I dream of raising 2 people who will make the world a better place with their actions and attitude. That takes work!! Hard work - they need to know they are always my first priority.

In my mind, I've seen every one of my working mother friends have to make a choice between work and family, even if it's only missing something at school to be at work, or occasionally sending a child to school a little sick because they have a meeting or a busy day. To me, putting work before children is something I don't ever want to do - and it is my biggest fear as a mother.  So suffice to say, being a student, always accessible to my children was a wonderful and safe option to me. We struggle financially, constantly, but my children do not want for anything - they like me don't crave possessions. So to sacrifice things, or more money to spend time at home, was never a sacrifice to me.

As a lot of my regular readers know, I have 2 kids, and one is sickly. She's never been well, and while being on the mend, she still gets sick more often than most then there are the surgeries and school holidays to consider. Who will look after my baby girl when she is sick - she has never had anyone else look after her when she's sick but me. Will she think I don't love her as much if I 'fob her off' when she's ill? Who will take her? Will she resent me not being here for her when she needs me? I have an incredibly strong bond with my daughter, she is my youngest, and we've barely spent a day apart her whole life. In fact, the only other job I've had since she was born, was at the kinder she attended! The thought of prioritising something above my kids - is my biggest worry.....

So immediately after I got this message, I broke out in hives..... big splotchy hives. Itchy, hot, big, splotchy hives! Obviously I was stressed - this threw my certain future of the next couple of years into disarray. I got sick, that day - and nothing that went into my mouth was good for me. I mean I did not consume one single thing for about the next 10 days that did my body any good. As we all know, if we eat shit food, we feel like shit, and it's cyclic..... feel like shit, eat more shit. I have only done a couple of sessions at the gym in a fortnight, and to be honest, only for the social aspect of seeing friends. I certainly didn't work hard, and any calories I burned, were replaced with whatever I ate in the car on the way home.

I got the job, and tomorrow is my first day - and it turns out that my baby girl is sick. She has a fever and has felt like crap all weekend. I doubt she'll be at school tomorrow. On my first day at a new job, my biggest fear is being realised - I am choosing to go to work and leave a sick child. I feel like the universe is trying to tell me something! To put icing on the cake today, my 93 year old Nan, who is of ever declining health, had a little heart attack. She's in hospital, and they're not holding much hope that we will have her with us much longer. Going to work feels wrong when I have a sick child - a sick Nan...... and yet, I am still going......

The kids Dad has spent the last 11 years at the same job and fortunately has a lot of leave owing - he assures me the universe in fact isn't trying to kill me with stress, and that it's telling him he needs a day off with his daughter! His sister was kind enough to tell me today, she's only working 2 day weeks and would be happy to take the kids if they are sick.... so I am lucky to have them. So why does it hurt so much to go?

Anyway, long story short, yesterday it dawned on me, I have a job. It is a good job. The money is awesome and affords me opportunities that I don't have as a poor student single mother...... so I need to suck it up, leave the pity party and get my shit in order.

I am eating well again, which of course means I'm feeling better - and despite being petrified about this job, I'm going to face my fears, walk into the building, looking confident - head held high, and like my dear friend
Renée always says -  I'm gonna fake it till I make it!!!

Unexpected benefits of 12WBT!

Many of my readers know I did the 12WBT last year, and frankly, it just wasn't my thing. I did get some really good things out of it though - firstly my mindset to weight loss changed. I can honestly say, I threw away all my excuses. If I do the wrong thing now, I am fully accountable. That is huge for me.

I also realised that a plan that does the thinking for you takes away your power - it makes your weight loss dependent on other people. WELL OF COURSE!!! How would they make money if we could all do it ourselves - so the programs don't foster autonomy, they tell you what to think, but don't really teach you how to think.  So the next really good thing I got, was autonomy. I realised about 2 weeks into the round that it would be my only one - and I was gettin' my money's worth. I learned what I could - and expanded on it. I got control of my own weight loss.

I changed my mindset from 'weight loss' to wellness. Quite frankly, I don't give a flying f%&k about my weight anymore. I want to be well, fit, healthy and strong. Numbers mean nothing to me. I want to nourish my body, feel energised, happy and loved.

The most amazing thing that came out of 12WBT for me is Renée. I didn't go into 12WBT expecting to find a best friend, but I did. I am grateful every day that I did meet her though. She is beautiful, smart, funny, a bit of a dork (we Star Wars quote all the time), an amazing Mum and wife, and a very strong and awesome woman. She has lost over 55kg which is just unbelievable to me..... that is the weight of my friend B!!!! Renée and I both had such similar upbringings, and we both grew up with the same self esteem issues. There have been periods in our lives we have both been burdened by depression, anxiety and shame. We both chose food as our primary drug of choice to help us deal with stressors in our life.

We often joke about how similar we are, we really are like two sides of the same coin. We communicate almost every day, sometimes many, many, many times a day - and if we don't it's so weird - that we have to before bed! I can honestly say, I've loved very few people as much as I do her - she is family. She inspires me, she makes me laugh, she supports me when I'm low, and she picks me up - helps me dust myself off and get back to it. When I'm upset, sometimes just a text from her is all I need to smile.  I love her, and I'm so glad I did 12WBT or I would never have met her.

Well, actually - I have never actually met her!! You see, she lives in another state. So we spend lots of time on the computer, phones texting etc.... but we have not been face to face yet! In April, we are travelling to Melbourne, to meet. We are staying with my brother, seeing a comedy show and we are going t have an awesome time. I am so excited!!!!

We have both been struggling a bit of late, we have both really gone off the rails with our nutrition, and training. She has put on some weight, and it is really, really getting her down. It's really upset me - I can't just see her to give her a hug like you're supposed to - we can't just go out for a coffee or a drink to talk about it. It's kinda a pain.

We have decided to embark on a 3 day detox, followed by a really amazing, yummy healthy meal plan that will have us feeling ourselves in no time. We have made a commitment to each other to follow the plan, work out 5/6 days a week, and to support each other. I feel so blessed to have her in my life, and to have her supporting me on my journey to wellness.

I just hope that she knows she can always lean on me, because we all need somebody to lean on...... yep, sounds to me like we need some old school 80's!!

Guilt Free Honey Joys!

These are basically the ingredients I used for my honey joys. It isn't at all difficult to make them. For me, it was just a matter of getting better quality cornflakes, with less sodium and sugar, replacing the cup of icing sugar with a better quality sweetener, and replacing the butter with a better quality oil. With most of my recipes, I try to incorporate a superfood - just because you can never have too many..... so I picked white chia for this one.

This recipe is nut free/gluten free/wheat free/ dairy free. 

Melt in a saucepan

100g coconut oil
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp Stevia

2 Tbsp Rapadura Sugar (or organic raw sugar if you have it) 

1 egg - which is used to emulsify the ingredients. If you don't use egg, add another 2 Tbsp coconut oil

once melted add 2 Tbsp white chia seeds.


Add too 3 cups of Corn Flakes - I use freedom foods low sugar/sodium corn flakes and mix well.

Place mix into 24 patty pans, and put in moderate oven for 15 mins.

The kids won't even know these are a healthy alternative! They taste just like the real thing, but with a fraction of the refined sugar, salt, animal fats.

Enjoy xx




NB. I would like to state that I no way commercially endorse any of these product. This blog is not a sponsored blog - I use these products because at the time of publishing, they are the best I can source in a small country town!

Puffed Chocolate Slice

My son started at school yesterday - and my daughter doesn't go back till Monday. We have had a kitchen date planned for weeks,  her and I - alone, no boys ............. just some cooking.

Yesterday at the wholefoods we got some puffed rice. They have only rice. No sodium or sugar, no sulphates - just rice. We were looking for something to make with them, so we decided to make a slice.

In a saucepan combine -

100g Coconut oil
100g Cohpa (which is also a coconut oil - but is hydrogenated and has soy lecithin ---- but is much cheaper)
4 tablespoons Honey
2 tablespoons Stevia (or  1/4 cup organic RAW sugar)
1 egg white

The coconut oil has a very low melt point - much lower than the honey/sweetner -  it will not mix with the other ingredients. The egg white will emulsify all the ingredients when whisked together.

In a bowl combine

2 1/2 cups puffed rice
4 Tbsp Cocoa or Raw cacao
1 cup dried cranberries (or any dried fruit)
1/4 cup peppitas
3 tbs chia seeds
1/4 cup shredded coconut

Once the ingredients in the saucepan are melted and combined, (they will thicken like a gravy) add them to the dry ingredients and press them into a tray that has been lined with non stick paper. Place in fridge to solidify

Melt 50g carob (or chocolate if you prefer) and melt in the microwave. Place melted chocolate into a snap - lock bag, and cut off the tip. Pipe over the slice. Add nuts and seeds on top if desired.



We made this recipe today (making it up as we went along) and were so happy with the final result. It made around 24 serves - and looks like it'll be a lunchbox fave!

xx

Healthy Eggplant Parmigiana

Eggplant Parma with Cauliflower mash and green beans. 

I always hated eggplant. My friend Bek, made a great eggplant parma for Mr C.K one day, which I tasted and fell in love. Me being me, I had to try to put a healthy spin on a breaded deep fried classic - this is what I came up with. Ingredients (to make 4)

1 Eggplant cut into inch thick slices

1/4 cup rolled quinoa

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup wholemeal breadcrumbs

4 stalks parsley

50 grams silken tofu or 50 grams feta chese 

Small bunch basil leaves (reserve 1/2 for sauce)

Tablespoon Natural Yoghurt

Clove of Garlic

1/2 red onion

1 tin diced tomatoes

60g reduced fat cheese shredded

60g Parmesan cheese  shredded 

Put quinoa, oats, breadcrumbs, parsley and 2tbs parmesan into blender and blend till fine. 

Mix tofu and Yoghurt until smooth then coat one side of the eggplant with tofu mix (about 5mm thick) then layer basil leaves over tofu mix. Then lightly coat entire eggplant slice with tofu and yoghurt mix. (alternitevely use egg as a binding agent instead of tofu and yoghurt)

Press into crumb mix.

Heat rice bran oil in pan, and cook eggplant in oil until brown. Then put on cooling rack in a baking tray to cook in oven at 180 for 15 minutes. 

Dice onion, garlic and reserved basil and fry gently until onion becomes translucent, add tinned tomatoes and simmer. 

Remove eggplant schnitzel from oven, top with napoli sauce and cheeses and return to oven until cheese is brown. Serve while cheese is bubbling and hot......

Recipes

So I put it out there today - do people want me to share some of my experimental cooking with them. I love using different ingredients to see if I can healthify some of the classic dishes - or add extra nutrients in some way. Many of my friends responded really positively to the suggestion I share - so I shall do just that. I hope you guys enjoy them as much as we do!!

xx