Saturday morning at the Echuca Farmers Markets and I interview Mark Rathbone from Biodynamic Food and Wine. Mark has been involved in chemical free farming for over 20 years and has recently made the change to build his family business called Save our Soil and Organic Food and Wine.

Mark’s goal is to provide lovers of fine food with – fine seasonal fresh food that is chemical free and grown using biodynamic and organic farming methods.

The Rathbone’s are located near Kyabram and distribute orders all over Australia. Mark can get a 15-20kg box of produce packed with ice to Echuca with in 2days of you placing your order for an excellent freight charge of $7.50

I love the Farmers Markets because I am pretty well guaranteed of purchasing a higher nutritional value product. This is becuase the produce is picked ripe or very close to it. I like being able to ask the farmer or stall holder what sort of farming practices they utilise.

Most of all I appreciate the freshness and great taste of the food as compared to what can be bought at the supermarket that has often been picked early and cold stored, sometimes for months. There is real value in buying fresh, seasonal and locally sourced produce and it helps support our local farmers.

Today I was reminded of the power of a minute by inspirational speaker Willie Jolley. Willie  quotes Dr Benjamin May on the importance of using our minutes wisely below. Further below are some further ramblings of my own in regards to thoughts on group exercise and using minutes well.

I have only just a minute

Only 60seconds in it

Forced upon me

Can’t refuse it

Didn’t seek it

Didn’t chose it

But it’s up to me to use it

I must suffer if I lose it

Give account if I abuse it

Just a tiny little minute

But in eternity it’s in it

What’s this got to do with training you might ask? Well often I prescribe a set of exercise for 1minute or less (30sec) usually. The reason I like to prescribe using time rather number of repetitions, particularly in a group situation is that it places the responsibility of doing as much work as possible on to the individuals in the training group to do as much as they individually can.

Granted, a number figure is a given clear and measureable goal to aim for and there is no rule saying you can’t do more than the given number of reps. So I do often prescribe both time and repetitions.

Therefore in one minute of exercise each person has the following choices to make:

a. Chat to a friend for a few more seconds so they don’t have to do as much work

b. Do the exercise half way right so they can get through the minute without feeling too fatigued

c. Attack the exercise like a crazy person and risk doing themselves some damage

d. Perform the exercise correctly to the best of their ability, focusing on what they are asking their body to do, visualising the exercise and movement pattern, keeping their breath control right and maintaining the highest intensity work they can safely do so. If they need to rest they rest for a few seconds and then complete some more repetitions to close out the minute of exercise

In a group training environment or on your own I like option d. A very fit and experienced trainer can continue working as hard as they can for as long as they can for the minute. A less fit trainer can do 1 or 6 repetitions correctly (or more) then rest and repeat until the minute is finished

That way each person has done as much work as they individually can in the minute.

All of the options a-d are OK dependent on your goal and how much you want to change. It is still beneficial to be outside doing any physical movement with friends which you would not have otherwise been doing. The mere social connection aspect is a healthy lifestyle choice and has positive health outcomes in a whole hours worth of minutes. Moving joints and even just lightly stressing the muscles and heart and lungs is beneficial to health and to feeling positive and happy. A group holds you accountable.

The greatest health benefits; increased muscle mass, fat loss, improved bone density, sleek and slender body shape changes for females and toned and strong shape for males, lowering of insulin resistance and positive mental outlook are achieved at high intensity work levels. High intensity might be described as >70%Effort (which is a conservative high intensity). I’d consider high intensity at 90% and greater. That would be option d.

Having said that, some folks who train in my groups are just not well enough to perform high intensity exercise. Exercise is a stress and on top of existing health stresses, high intensity exercise may be detrimental to overall health. So, in  1minute a less fit person may not get as much total work done, but for them the one minute will be just as intense. That is a tremendous step of faith being put into work and that needs to be encouraged.

I don’t consider walking for pleasure as training, but it is a very beneficial movement, and it is where we all originally started our 2legged exercise training from. So if walking is where you’re at, walk.

Anyone suffering from sickness, chronic disease, gastrointestinal issues such as irritable bowel syndrome, chrones disease, candida, yeast infections or others such as endometriosis, arthritis, chronic fatigue, just to name a few, are already under stress and will find it very hard to even be interested in thinking about exercising at high intensity. Just going for a walk or some mobility exercise will be sufficient challenge and benefit for them.

Speaking from my own experience, self observation and observation of people who have come to see me for help with exercise. I know I’m well when I get excited about training. If I am run down then I find it hard to get revved up about training As educated and brainwashed about the benefits of training as I am, it can still sometimes seem like an absolute chore to do.

On rare occasions after revving myself up to lift some heavy weights and not being able to better or at least equal my last attempts, I have decided to walk away and come back another day when I am fresher and more rested. Thats for heavy resistance training.

Running I can usually pull off even if I feel flat as a tack.  I don’t think that I’ve ever finished a training session and said I wish I hadn’t done that, I’ve always felt better for it no matter how tired I felt at the start of the session.

That’s along way round for explaining why I prescribe group training exercise in minutes or 30seconds bouts. In summary, it is so that each person, no matter what their health status, has their own time to do as much high quality exercise as they individually can perform in the time given. Meaning someone can do 20 full body push ups and say it was 9/10hard and someone else can do 10modified push ups and say it was 9/10hard in the same time.

Therefore there is no need or pressure to keep up with someone else, there is no letting the group down if you’re not as fast, fit or strong.

It is the trainers responsibility and the faster, fitter stronger participants responsibility to do more work if they feel they need it or want it. Please be comfortable  to just focus on making your own self improvements and forget wondering what other participants may think, becuse they’re probably focused more on their own phsyical discomfort or effort and group fitness is about team, encouragment and some level of discomfort that you chose to a larger extent.

That being said, the proven and fastest way to make self improvements is to put yourself in an environment where better skilled or equipped people can pull you up e.g. group fitness!! And that being said, it is no race, each person is where they on their individual journey. A trainer should understand and cater for that. Please discuss that with me.

So this week in your minutes, no matter where you are, work, home, family, training, nutrition, sleeping. Use your minutes wisely.

Other wise minute ideas are: reading encouraging, life enhancing books; journaling particularly feelings; loving eye to eye contact with family and spouse; non judgemental observation of your life; encouraging someone else, asking yourself solution questions, sleeping if you need it, researching nutrition for health, eating broccoli, drinking filtered water, eating one new vegetable and fruit each day.

If you do find yourself in a pain management mode, and your eating something that is not helpful to your health and fitness goals, flip it to a wise minute by observing your feelings at that moment and the feelings that lead you there and just observe… non judgementally and compassionately. You may even observe some of your own false truths or thought patterns that lead you to sabotaging your goals to change.

It has been said to me that I hold my own truths and I am always looking to reinforce my truth, even if it is not the real truth. One mentor said to me the truth will set you free, but it might annoy you at first

Have a great week with some powerful and wise minutes.

On Saturday morning I attended the Echcua Farmers Markets where I met up with John and Christiane Clifford of Gabes Olives. Gabes is a French name pronounced “Gab-ays”. However I can’t find the little graphe symbol on my keyboard that puts the little apostrophe thing over the ‘e’ in Gabes to make my French grammar correct, as you’ve probably noticed I’m struggling with my English grammar.

The point of this post though is to inform you of the health benefits of locally grown fresh olive oil and to promote a local business who are commited to offering safe personal care products to consumers.

If you haven’t completed your Christmas shopping then you may well find some excellent gift ideas from Gabes Olives, whether it be a beautifuly flovored bottle of extra virgin first cold pressed olive oil for salad dressings and dips or perhaps lip balm, body butter, shaving gel or a variety of soaps, all with an olive oil base (see video).

We have been using Gabes extra virgin first cold pressed olive oil for 12months, we use so much that we buy it in 10 or 20L drums.

Olive oil is classified as a mono unsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) and is labelled by nutritionist and dieticians as a ‘good oil’.

Health benefits of buying locally grown fresh olive oil that is extra virgin first cold pressed:

1. It contains many minor components such as beta carotene (pro-vitamin A) and tocopherols (vitamin E) which has a protective effect on our heart and arteries. Much of this is removed through refining which you would find by buying an inferior  ‘lite’ olive oil
2. Unrefined extra virgin first cold pressed olive contains magnesium rich chlorophyl. Magnesium is often deficient in patients with cardiovascular disease

Other health benefits found in the minor components in unrefined first cold pressed extra virgin olive oil include:

1. Beta-sitosterol which lowers high cholesterol levels
2. Triterpenic acids have healing and anit-inflammatory effects
3. Caffeic and gallic acids stimulate the flow of bile
4. Gallic Acid is helpful for people with liver malfunction
5. Phenolic compounds protect agains the peroxidation of fatty acids and cholesterol
6. 2-phenylethanol stimulates the production of fat digesting enzymes in the pancreas
7. A combination of 2 phenylethanol and triterpenic acids slows down cholesterol digestion and decreases cholesterol absorption from foods

As John states in the video above, olive oil detiorates with age, unlike wine which improves as it matures. Therefore to gain all the health benefits of olive oil we need to buy local and fresh unrefined products.

3 Points on how to buy the best possible olive oil?

1. Make sure it is a  greenish cloudy colour indicating all the minor components and beneficial plant phytochemicals are still present in the oil
2. Ensure it is Australian grown from this year and not an imported variety that may have detiorated by long shelf life
3. It should state Extra Virgin First Cold Pressed on the labelling

If you would like to purchase Gabes Olive oil or any of the skin care products they have on offer for your self, or for last minute Christmas gifts you may contact them here or see them at the farmers markets (see below):

Gabes Olive Grove

PO Box 425

Echuca

Victoria 3564

Tel: (03) 5483 7730

email: gabesolives@echuca.net.au

Web: www.gabesolive.com.au

Echuca Farmers Markets 2010

Wednesday 22nd December 5pm – 8pm Alton Reserve, Hare Street, Echuca which is the Echuca Christmas Twilight Farmers Market

December 31st 8am – 1pm Alton Reserve, Hare Street, Echuca

The above video demonstrates some very introductory exercises

1. Lower back mobility drill from standing position, pelvic tilts
2. hip and lower back side to side mobility drill
3. upper body rotations
4. standing backstroke mobility drill
5. wall pushups
6. mini squats

Jacinta Martin’s application to training and nutrition have allowed her to achieve a reduction from a large size 12 to a size 8 and a total of 20kg over the last 9 months.

28-11-2010 Jacinta wearing her old jeans that are now 4 sizes too big!

Jacinta states the importance of having a clearly defined vision. In Jacinta’s case she kept a dress that she wanted to fit into and she would pull that dress out and visualise and feel what it would be like to wear it.

Another important point Jacinta made was being surrounded with a group of like minded people, that being for her, a group of dedicated training partners made up of family and friends.

Jacinta also keeps a fridge topped up with fruit and vegetables and she prepares whole food, home made meals for herself and her family. Packaged and processed food hardly exists in Jacinta’s home.

In summary Jacinta puts her success down to these points

1. strong personal vision that she can easily revisit
2. social support and training partners
3. understanding coach/trainer/mentor
4. clean nutrition habits – no junk

Congratulations Cinta on your achievement.

How many times have you, like me, found yourself going to the fridge, the cupboard, the pantry in search of a must have snack? Maybe we should be honest and admit that perhaps its a bit more than a snack.

As you might see from the video above, a good question to ask ourselves when we go in search for that food we “absolutely must have or we’ll die” is “what’s eating me”?

It brings me back to a time about 10 years ago when I once worked on a feedlot out on the Hay plains. I would get back to the quaters after a 12 hour shift feeling hungry, angry, lonely and tired (HALT). I knew I was tired back then, I knew I was hungry, but I didn’t really know that I was angry and lonely, I hadn’t thoughtfully and carefully processed those emotions.

What I did know was that I wanted something sweet and creamy and since I purposefully did not bring sweet, sugary or dairy products with me I was left with three choices.

1) make and eat something natural and healthy

2) get out of the kitchen – but I was hungry so that didn’t count

3) eat something of someone elses

So there I was eating my third bowl of coco pops with full cream milk and itwas as close to heaven as I could imagine, I felt like all my tiredness had gone, I felt peacful and comfortable and safe… until I realised I had to explain to Luke that he had no coco pops left and his milk was half gone becuase I had consumed them in a feeding frenzy that would have compared to a pack of ravenous sharks.

Have you ever been there?

Do you know what your comfort foods are?

Have you ever, like me said after a lengthy battle with yourself, “I don’t care, I need it now, I’m eating it”.

Because I was in pain, and I wanted comfort, I would give in and eat it. I didn’t have a weight problem, but I had health problems and my naturopath and my mother told me I needed to cut out sugar, wheat and dairy products, fast food, potato chips, soft drinks, you name it pretty well everything that is considered comforting in the food department.

My mother had realised that this hardline approach helped her with her overcoming her own health concerns.

It didn’t particularly feel helpful when Mum lectured me at the time that I can’t expect to feel well and be well if I continue to eat junk. I would feel guilty and depressed that I wasn’t strong enough to resist, and then I would want comfort again, so my search for the sweet or super tasty food would start again and around the addiction cycle I would go.

When I lived in England for 12 months, I shopped at Sainsburys which is like a big Coles or Safeway, I remember on a number of occasions being able to eat the entire biggest block of chocolate before gathering up all my groceries and getting to the checkout till.

Needless to say, the dentist has done quite well from my sugar addictions.

Well 10 years later, having attended a few courses,  reading many books and  much pondering I have learnt to understand a little more about my out of control feeding frenzies and how to combat them.

I have not mastered perfect health 100% of the time yet, but I’m a vast improvement on 10years ago.  So here are my tips thus far for avoiding binge eating attacks:

a) Get in touch with your feelings, women are OK with this but men, we have a hard time with telling anyone how we feel. As people we make decisions based on emotion and then we back it up with logic. Sales and marketing people know this inside out. Paul Blackburn from Beyond Success said to us in a workshop to ask ourselves how we feel several times a day and he said to do it like this: Ask yourself how you feel when your in the shower, ask yourself how you feel when you close the door of your home and head out to the car to work, ask yourself how you feel when your driving to work and so on.

Once we learn how to identify how we are feeling then we can start to take some control on our emotions instead of our emotions taking control of us. We can start to work out why we are feeling sad, angry, depressed, anxious and then we can start to work out if they are legitimate thoughts or that we are being very irrational with our thinking. We might need some help with this. Paul stresses that we do our self exploration very gently and compassionately.

Some folks might do this in a conversation with God. Other folks might have difficulty with this concept so just gently walk through exploring your feelings and reasons behind the feeling with out giving yourself a hard time.

This has helped me with the concept of whats eating me instead of what can I eat, is something eating at me? Is something bothering me? Can I drink a glass of water then walk away from the food and find in 5minutes that I no longer desire the food? Yes I can.

b) Read books that help you with emotions. Leaders are readers, and we need to be able to lead ourselves first. We are so ruled by emotions/feelings and we don’t even realise it many times, so its important that we learn about our emotinal intelligence. For people of Christian belief, I’d recomment looking at Koorong Book Stores for books like Deadly Emotions by Dr Don Colbert MD and Transformation of the Inner Man by John and Paula Sandford. The latter is a pretty heavy going book but if you have tried and tried to change but can’t then you, like me, might need some new input for the computer.

If your dead against anything of Christian authorship then The Power of Now by Eckart Tolle could be a good start, there are many books in the self help section of your local bookstore

c)If you’re really feeling stuck with addictive eating and you’re struggling to work out the emotional feeling stuff, then seeing a professional psychologist or councellor periodically would be a great way to get some new tools for operating your operating system. It’s called a checkup from the neck up. I’ve done it and I recommend getting qualified help from an outside source.

d) journalling is a very helpful way to get in touch with feeling and to access the subconscious mind. Just start writing anything on paper, writing stimulates more thoughts. We can journal and get some insight on what’s driving our behaviour. We can journal our day and reflect on the events that occured. We can journal at the start of the  day and start writing down how we want things to go, creating the vision, start giving our mind instruction rather than just passively letting things happen to us.

e) sharing with a friend, if you haven’t got a friend then your journal will be your friend.

f) quiet time alone, genlty and peaceably pondering and reflecting and imaging.

g) attend seminars, workshops, lectures, retreats etc where you are likely to get new insights on how you work.

h) remove all temptations from the home

i) the best defence is a strong offence, take prepared healthy meals to work so you can eat healthy when you need to every 3-4hrs whilst avoiding starving and getting into a state of low blood sugar and then craving all the wrong food.

Hi Folks,
this is part 1 of how to lose fat safely and permanently. This is a huge topic and I need to break it down it to some bite size chunks. I could start with nutrition and exercise instruction which are key to achieving fatloss and living a holistic, healthy and happy life.

Since each of us are like the rest of us, I think I’m pretty safe assuming that you already know that you have to eat differently, move differently and move more to lose unwanted body fat.

Today we are inundated with instruction, books, websites, audio programs etc that can teach us how to lose fat, many of them promising quick and rapid fat loss done easily.

Well I’m not promising quick, rapid or easy. I wonder if you have come to the realisation that it can be hard or it can be easy dependent on our mindsets and beliefs. If I believe it’s impossible for me to achieve my dream then it will be very, very hard to achieve my dream

I also wonder if you, like me, have observed folks who have strong personal belief that they can achieve their goals, and we watch them do exactly that, leaving me wondering what is wrong with me. Why can’t I do that?

So, today I’m asking you just to believe in the possibility that you can achieve safe and permanent fat loss. I want you to create a vision. Start with “what if”, just what would it be like if I achieved my ideal body shape?

If your serious about your health, serious about setting an example to the significant other people in your life, children, spouse, partner, work colleagues, relatives then I want you to build a strong and specific vision.

Step 1) start making notes on a piece of paper now about how you want to look, just start writing down some ideas, e.g. I respect myself, I am happy looking at myself in the mirror, I feel comfortable in front of my husband/wife, I am receiving complements about how good I look and I feel great, I am outrunning my grand kids!! I am __kgs, my waist measures __cm, my blood lipids and sugar are in perfect range, I feel excited, I feel in charge of my health, I feel confident, I am happy etc, etc

Step2) Get a vision and goal book for your life. On the right hand page glue in a picture of what you want. I suggest you get an old photo of how you once looked (that you liked) and glue that in, or find a magazine with a picture of a person with a body shape you want to attain. Then find some pictures of healthy active families and put them on another right hand page. In addition to that, put some healthy food pictures on another right hand page, full of fruit and vegetables, nuts, lean healthy meats (providing your not vegetarian, then you’ll have to put more beans and lentils in) plus some pictures of healthy fats, extra virgin olive oil and avocado’s etc

Step3) write down some positive statements, stated in the present beside your pictures, you may have to use some imagination here if your feeling really stuck about achieving fat loss and health goals. This is like journaling, get your feelings onto paper, get some strong positive emotion behind your pictures and vision.

Step4) view your goal book as soon as you wake up and just before you go to sleep every day. The goal of looking and reading your goal book is just to do that, without any judgement of yourself. Do you understand? Just look and read and feel good about how it would be, imagine yourself in that place of perfect health and bodyshape. Do not judge yourself for not being there yet.

This is what I have realised, as I think in my heart so am I. Have you come to this realisation too? That your thoughts dictate what you feel and what you feel often dictates what you do?

An ancient text says “without a vision people cast of restraint”. That is why it is so important to have a clear specific vision of what you want and a strong reason why so that when you become weary and tired and feel like giving up, your vision and your reason why will drive you on, it will help you stay the course, it will help you stand when your challenged by life circumstances. And life happens to us all.

That’s why I will not promise an easy journey, the great teacher said “enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction and there are many who take it; for the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life and their are few who find it”

So when the going gets tough and you want to give up, give up the discipline, give up the training, give up on clean eating and drinking, you need to return to your vision and your strong reason why to regain the strength you need to carry on.

If you earnestly seek fat loss and are committed to achieving it, you will find it.

For a little additional reinforcement about the importance of having clearly stated goals and a vision. A study was done at Harvard university on a group of students. Following up on them many years later after they entered the workforce and their respective careers, 3% of them were so financially successful that their wealth was greater than the other 97% of the research group. The difference was that the 3% had specifically written goals.

So get your Dream/Vision book started, this is the most important part.

In response to the “What Women Want Survey” I discovered that women want more energy first and foremost.

If you have received my “How to Get More Energy” email you will have a full page mind map summary of the main areas that can be adjusted or worked on to allow you to feel more energised through your day.

I broke “how to get more energy”  down to 7 main points

1. Sleep
2. Purpose
3. Breath or breathing
4. Hydration
5. Movement
6. Nutrition
7. Re-creation

1) By far the most bang for your buck is to get a consistent 8hrs sleep each night. Some folks can do well on 6hrs, some require 9hrs. From the reading I have done, it is recommended to get to bed at or before 10pm every night and wake up near sunlight which is closest to our natural circadian (sleep -wake) rhythm

Obviously it is very hard if you have new babies and your facing sleep deprivation torture (they use sleep deprivation in the military for interrogation). I found some research that showed that parents who breastfeed their newborn babies achieve an average 45min/night extra sleep as compared to formula fed newborn babies and their parents

(Journal of Perinatal & Neonatal Nursing. 2007 Jul 1;21(3):  )

So if your sleep deprived then your going to have a tough time feeling energetic and alert no matter how much caffeine you guzzle in the name of staying charged up.

2) Feeling purpose driven is a great way to be feeling full of energy. Alot of other life stuff falls into place when we are on purpose. If your not feeling on purpose, or that yournot on an important life mission then I have suggested to start reading, developing your curiosity, researching, attending seminars and workshops that interest you to develop a keen interest for yourself. This could be learning how to be the best mother you can be and then sharing it with other mum’s so that your giving back what you have received and feeling good about helping other people.

3) By performing deep gentle breathing we can utilise more of our lung space and oxygenate our blood better. To see if you are diphragmatic or belly breathing place one hand on your stomach and one on your chest and breathe in. If you belly rises first and chest after then your doing ok. If your chest rises first then see if you can relax, slow down and breathe with your belly. Deep gentle breathing helps our rest and digest nervous system, it helps us relax and repair so that we can be more energised when required.

4) Drinking adequate amounts of clean filtered preferably rain water is very important as all our cells rely on being well hydrated. If your urine in not clear, but is dark yellow / brown then your well and truly dehydrated. If your dehydrated then your blood is sticky like honey and harder to pump around, so your heart has to work harder. Your performance in every area will be diminished due to being dehydrated. Fatigue is one of the indicators of dehydration.

There is no doubt that caffeine can give us a perk. Caffeine stimulates the sympathetic nervous system (fight, flight, freeze) and if we stay in fight, flight, freeze response (chronic stress) we eventually become exhausted because our parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) has not been able to operate to balance us out.

So you may drink some coffee, but I would recommend you go and get some quality coffee, not the stuff out of a can. Make sure you really enjoy it and remember it makes you go to the toilet more, so its helping you become de-hydrated not hydrated.

I picked up a tip at a health seminar 2 years ago from Hollywood Cosmetic Surgeon Dr Andy Bermann, the Doc said to help keep skin hydrated keep sipping from your water bottle all day long. If it’s good enough for Hollywood, its good enough for Echuca.

So get your water bottles out and take them to work, keep them in sight and sip every 15 minutes, swish the water around in your mouth, see if you can taste it.

Women need to aim for 2L per day on top of water in food and other beverages, especially if its caffeine

ELIMINATE SOFT DRINKS

I’ll allow mineral water with some pomegrante or lime juice, or a squeeze of lemon, don’t load up on cheep and nasty, sweet, high energy, zero nutrition drinks or foods. Yes it’s energy in the strict sense of the word but its not going to leave you with long term lifestyle vitality through your days

5) Move your body, get the blood circulating around the system. Stand up and stretch every 30mins or every hour. Stand up and reach up to the sky, gently lean back a little, if youv’e been hunched over a keyboard, see if you can stretch out in the opposite position/direction (extension).

Go for a quick walk, then get back to work. Aim to get 30mins per day of exercise in. This can be broken down to 3x10min chunks. Get hold of some stretching books to learn how to improve your posture and stretch out those tight muscles. Find an exercise physiologist or personal trainer to show you how to do some stretches. Alternatively you could join in an exercise group. There are loads of options in Echuca. There are personal trainers at the YMCA, at least 3 gyms and curves just to name a few, apart from me.

6) Nutrition is absolutely key. High sugar, highly refined, high fat, high salt comfort foods, do exactly that, comfort us when we are stressed and challenged.  They do not provide us with the nutrients, vitamins, minerals, proteins, plant phytonutrients that help us operate at a high level. They do not make us feel good long term. I have had to get the cheap and nasty stuff out of the house, and I have had to learn how to prepare food and cook food. I’d recommend the CSIRO Total Wellbeing book as a great start to learning how to eat well.

Taking food to work that is healthy is a great way of keeping good nutrition coming in, feeling satisfied and therefore keeping the cravings away. We need to return to eating the way our ancestors did, that means shopping from the outside isles of the supermarket and leaving all the processed nutrient devoid food in the middle isles. Well maybe that’s a little harsh, but if you reading the packet and you can’t pronounce the name of an ingredient, then I’d recommend not adding it to your shopping basket.

Eat the fruit and vegeatables that you know you should, say no to processed for a week and youll find that your taste cravings settle down to real taste sensation not artificially boosted taste. Much easier to achieve if you buy local fresh food and organic usually tastes much better (usually)

7) Re-Creation. This probaly could have been first on the list. It is vital to be able to get quiet, be still and reflect, ponder and think, plan, dream, journal. Figure out some thoughts, leave some thoughts alone, rest from busyness. Recharge by re-connecting with your dream and the reason why your doing what your doing. Wait quietly for the creative thoughts to arrive, the new ideas, old friends to contact, someone to encourage. I have found doing a gratitude list to be helpful when I feel discouraged.

If stillness and gentleness are not achieved, then we often crave to be satisfied, often with things (addictions – foods, drinks, bahaviours) that are not constructive to peaceful, calm, purposeful,  harmonious and energetic living.

So do your quiet time and your spiritual study

Last Saturday 30th October saw 250 women meet for the third Girls Brunch where women are recognised for their contribution to the Echuca community. Two amazing women received some great gifts and heart felt recognition for the roles they fulfill as mothers to their own families and to community who have come to rely on their help and nurture.

I was invited to attend and provide  health and fitness advice for you if you had such questions.

As part of this I decided to ask you what you want, so with the help of my Aunt Bern,my mum Anne and Fiona Johnston we were able to distribute quite a number of surveys so that I could find out “what  women want” at least in terms of health.

Of the 250 women who attended the Girls Brunch, 68 completed the “what women want survey”

Despite the fact that only 27% completed the survey, we did get a reasonable sample. Probably not scientificallyand  statistically correct and my university professors may not approve of the sample method, however, I am grateful for the response and for you trusting me with your questions and contact details.

Below is a table summarising the results of “what women want” in Echuca in terms of health interest.

Most respondents were 45-55years of age N=21 and the least respondents were age >65years N=3

Results indicated:

1) 54 Responses for how to get more energy

2) 53 Responses for how to lose fat safely and permanantly

3) 39 Responses for how to keep my skin looking good whilst avoiding harmful products.



Please stay in touch for later updates where I will address “How to get more energy”

This will not be an easy answer as getting more energy or feeling more energetic / feeling less tired will involve covering a number of factors. By and large I will need to discuss self management, some teachers call it self care. Maybe we might call it learning to care for ourselves so we have enough fuel in our tank to care for those we care about.

Stay tuned for the next installment. Thanks for trusting me.

Keep on keeping on

Cameron