People Who Have Inspired Me: Dr Joanna McMillan

http://www.drjoanna.com.au/

Meet Dr Joanna McMillan, Nutritionist.  I read her book "Inner Health Outer Beauty" about four years ago and was quite inspired.  On reflection I should have taken much more from this book than I did at the time but I failed to follow through on much of its advice.  Why?  I think that it all seemed a bit too hard to try strange new foods like quinoa and buckwheat knowing that the rest of the family weren't going to be very excited about them.  They still aren't excited about these by the way.  Since I added quinoa to some beef rissoles a couple of times quinoa has become known as "fish eyes" around our house!  Also back then I did not have the strong motivation of trying to find a way to rid myself of migraines, nor did I have any idea that changes to my diet could fix something like that.   At least now I'm eating what I want to be eating and what I know is right for me.  The rest of the family is catching up slowly.

One thing that I did take up from this book when I read it was Dr Joanna's advice to move more.  To build more activity into every day by making the most of every opportunity to walk.  Dr Joanna says:

 "Walking is such a basic activity that I always give it the utmost priority.  Regardless of whatever other activity and exercise you do in the week, walk whenever you can.  This is the cornerstone to being more active in your daily life."

Dr Joanna's Eight Great Reasons to Walk:

1. (Almost) anyone can do it.
2. No special equipment is required, except for a comfortable pair of shoes.
3. You can fit it into your usual schedule by accumulating minutes of walking across the day.
4. It doesn't cost a cent.
5. It's a great stress reliever.
6. It's highly conducive to brain-storming.
7. You can do it on your own, with a friend, as a group, or pushing a pram or wheelchair.
8. You can do it at any suitable time - morning, noon or night!

This changed my attitude.  I love that my job gives me the opportunity to walk everyday.  I've mapped my regular routine on google maps and most days I walk a total of 3 kilometres.  This is me exercising and I'm getting paid to do it!  I no longer begrudge the number of times that I have to hop up to go to the printer, the fax machine or the photocopier, or walk all the way down the other end of the office to the kitchen to make a cuppa.  It's all an opportunity to move which is doing me good.  I deliberately park my car a few blocks from the office so I have to walk.  OK it is free parking there too but I also do it to make myself walk!

~ take every opportunity TO MOVE and to put the good stuff in ~

This blog is about me, what I'm doing, what's working for me, and what's not. It includes my experiences and opinions. It is for general information only and is in no way intended to replace the advice of a health care professional.

Liquid Nourishment Cleanse

As part of my anniversary month I decided I was going to do a weekend liquid nourishment cleanse inspired by this post from Jessica Ainscough.  As it turned out on the Thursday before the weekend I planned to do this I got food poisoning from lunch I had out that day.  So as my system already had a pretty good clean out that evening, if you know what I mean, and I couldn't bring myself to eat a great deal on Friday, it seemed like a pretty good opportunity to do my planned cleanse and break my stomach and digestive system back in gently.

Twelve Months On . . .

This month marks one year since I commenced the "Eat Yourself Healthy in 28 Days" program.  I have learned so much about myself from that program, from my continued research and from a fair bit of trial and error.  I now know what I need to eat, and just as importantly, what I shouldn't eat, to feel great everyday from the inside out!  It has been a learning process and this is still ongoing.

After the first four months on my new diet we went on a six week driving holiday, camping mostly, and for the first few weeks, in quite remote areas with limited or no access to fresh produce. This made maintaining my diet extremely difficult. Looking back I don't think I'd like to have to do that again but it was all part of the learning experience which helped me to discover what my body needs.  We travelled with two Engel fridges - one that we maintained as a freezer and the other as a fridge. I did the best I could relying largely on canned fruits, nuts and seeds, and vacuum sealing and freezing vegetables before we left. This wasn't ideal and I found myself really craving to eat a big fresh salad at every opportunity we had to eat out.

When we returned home and settled back into a routine I got serious again about restoring and maintaining my diet.  I resolved not to eat anything anymore that would not provide my body with good nutrition.  For a little while this meant sometimes cooking two different meals.  Some changes inevitably have occurred in the general family diet so I'm not needing to do that so much anymore.  We have all lost weight and are all now maintaining a healthy weight.

We no longer consume any refined carbohydrates.  We eat only wholemeal bread, rice and pasta.  We eat much less bread than we used to and rarely eat pasta.  I use only wholemeal flour when baking.

We have removed processed and packaged foods, store baked foods and takeaways. This greatly limits the amount of refined sugar and bad fats in our diet.

I've changed the oils that I cook with.  I use coconut or rice bran*(see note below) oil for frying.  I use grapeseed*(see note below) oil when baking.  I use olive oil to drizzle on salads or make salad dressings, mayo/aioli or pesto.

When baking I use a natural sugar replacement "xylitol" and use honey or natural maple syrup if I need to add a little sweetness to savoury sauces.

I don't buy fruit juice anymore and we drink a lot more water.

Since changing my eating habits I have been keen to prove to myself that it's possible to avoid colds and the flu by maintaining a healthy diet.  At first I was confused, as after completing the program and continuing the eating habits learned from that, which meant I was consuming a lot more fruit, salad and veggies than I used to, I still got sick and a few times too. But since I resolved to never again eat anything that would not provide my body with good nutrition, and added a daily green smoothie for an extra multi-vitamin boost, I have not caught a cold or flu.  My husband has been sick twice this season with the flu, but I didn't get it.  In the past I would certainly have picked it up as well or I would have been the one bringing it home to share with the family.  I have also worked alongside a number of people throughout the season who have had colds or the flu and "soldiered on" at work, but I didn't get it.  I have had nothing more than the occasional sniffle and when that's happened I have downed a green smoothie packed with goodness as soon as possible.  I should point out that I believe that regular exercise and getting a sufficient amount of sleep are also important factors here, but these are a topic for another day.

I am absolutely elated to tell you that I am completely free of the migraines! The changes I made to my diet went a long way to fixing this and the final part of the process has been to get off the artificial birth control hormones. If you want to learn more about doing that then here is a helpful link: http://ellegriffin.com/getting-off-birth-control-pills/

In all my seeking to know more about nutrition and how our bodies function two things have occurred to me:

1.    Man this nutrition stuff can get complicated!

and

2.    Michael Pollan was indeed very clever when he penned the words "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants".  If you live by this simple statement you don't have to understand the complicated science of food and nutrition because you will be getting it right anyway!

My mission is to continue a whole foods, mostly plants diet.  I believe that our designer and creator also created perfect plant foods to perfectly nourish our bodies and that by eating this way we can be truly healthy.

God said, “I command the earth to produce all kinds of plants, including fruit trees and grain.” And that's what happened. The earth produced all kinds of vegetation. God looked at what he had done, and it was good. (Genesis 1:11, 12 CEVDCUS06)

I want to be healthy now and as I grow older.  I don't want to rely on medications for conditions that could be corrected or prevented through a healthy diet and lifestyle.

"Old age can and should be graceful and peaceful" ~ T Colin Campbell, author of "The China Study". 

* since writing this post I have learned that although rice bran oil and grapeseed oil have a high smoke point making them suitable for cooking without oxidation, they are oils that are high in omega 6 fatty acids which we need, but tend to get way too much of in our diet in proportion to omega 3 fatty acids.  For this reason I have stopped using these and instead use coconut oil or butter.  For more information about vegetable and seed oils read this article: http://authoritynutrition.com/are-vegetable-and-seed-oils-bad/

~ take every opportunity to put the good stuff in ~

This blog is about me, what I'm doing, what's working for me, and what's not. It includes my experiences and opinions. It is for general information only and is in no way intended to replace the advice of a health care professional.

Roast Capsicum Dip

Last Friday night I had unexpected visitors.  I wanted to throw together some nibbles and I really wanted a dip but it was the end of the week and supplies were low.  I went searching in my cupboard looking for a can of chickpeas to blend.  No chickpeas.  I did however find a small jar of char-grilled capsicum and decided to use that.  I placed the capsicum pieces into my blender shaking off most of the (sunflower) oil.  I added a handful of fresh basil leaves from my garden, one clove of garlic crushed and finely chopped, a couple of squeezes of fresh lemon juice and whizzed it all up.  I served it with pieces of toasted garlic and herb Naan Bread and some chopped veggies.  My guests loved it!

I will try this again when I can plan ahead and roast 2-3 capsicums myself.  I would then add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil before blending.  In the meantime though I think that I will continue to keep a small jar of char-grilled capsicum in my cupboard in case of another impromptu visit.

~ take every opportunity to put the good stuff in ~

This blog is about me, what I'm doing, what's working for me, and what's not. It includes my experiences and opinions. It is for general information only and is in no way intended to replace the advice of a health care professional.