FAT LOSS + STRESS: HOW YOUR STRESS AFFECTS YOUR WEIGHT

I see this all too often -- "I'm eating healthy and exercising but not losing any weight? What am I doing wrong?"

I see many women who are so detached from their body, un-educated about their body, and cannot read the signals their body is giving them because they are more interested in their outer world than their inner world.

When I hear this my ears alert me to the word “healthy” – the meaning of which is something completely different for everyone, and their meaning of the word may not actually be what their body needs for optimum health. So I always dig a little deeper...

DR LIBBYS BEAUTIFUL YOU WEEKEND IN SYDNEY

The first time I came across Dr Libby, which was only a few months ago, I was glued to her every word. With a PhD in Biochemistry and having studied Nutrition, she was literally deciphering all the big confusing concepts of science into much smaller chunks that everyday people could take away and understand. Myself included. I’m currently studying Biochemistry and I do love it, only my teacher is not nearly as passionate or able to explain stuff in a way I get – every time.

So I went on and watched every You tube clip of Dr Libby’s and came across a weekend workshop she was doing in Sydney. 

Ooh I so wanted to go! But I had kinda just made a commitment to myself to stop spending so much money. Well… B and I had a chat about it and decided to go. I had the money anyway, every bone in my body had already decided I was gonna be there, and low and behold flights that weekend were half the usual price from Cairns. I booked it the following day.

5 Things You Must Do When You're Feeling Under the Weather

It's Spring. The sun is shining. The weather is sweet (ooh get ya groove on Bob Marley). Seasonal allergy's are flying high and people are doing their detoxes and cleanses. It's the second half of the year and (not wanting to sound like I'm wishing it away), Christmas is just around the corner. Argh!

I digress. I do that.

IT ALL STARTS IN YOUR GUT

 In studying natural medicine, gut issues crop up all over the place and we see them in almost everyone. It's where most therapists look to heal first as the cascade of events that follow are usually nothing short of miraculous. Our gut has everything to do with digestion of our food, but it is also inextricably linked to our liver health and function, our gallbladder, our pancreas, stomach acidity, how well we absorb the nutrients we are eating, our efficiency and ability to detoxify daily, our happiness and moods, ability to think properly, immune health, and so much more.

Dr. Sherrill Sellman chats about Womens Health, Hormones and Stress

You may or may not have seen bloggers and wellness practitioners posting about Dr. Sherrill Sellman of late as she has just wrapped up her Australian tour on womens health and hormones, but having had the pleasure of meeting her and hearing her speak last week, I cannot keep this information from you all!

Sherrill is a Naturopathic Doctor and having gone through her fair share of womens issues, she is now an expert on the matter. So without further adieu, here is everything I learnt in a jam-packed 2 1/2hr lecture...

Root causes of Hormonal Imbalance:

1. Adrenal Exhaustion

2. Hypothyroidism

3. Toxic Liver

4. Insulin Resistance

5. Poor digestion/Bad gut flora

6. Vitamin, mineral, protein, and fatty acid deficiencies

But the number #1 mess-er-upp-er-a is STRESS

Woman are cyclic beings; we need time out otherwise we pay the price. Taking time our for a walk with a girlfriend or an afternoon in bed reading are not luxuries, they are necessities.

So let's look at all these in closer detail.

1. Adrenal Exhaustion

Our adrenals are key too:

- hormonal balance

- energy

- sleep

- immunity

- libido

- moods

- blood sugar balance

- ideal weight

- anti aging

And they need vitamin C like no other organ. And lots of it! In fact if you are totally depleted (Sherrill had tester sticks that we pee'd on - yep - and whether or not they changed colour, you could see where your vitamin C levels were at), a dosage of 2g, 4x daily is recommended. If you know anything about dosages, that's a whopping dosage. So if you are to take this amount of vitamin C you're going to want to buy a product that will not irritate your gut as most store bought vitamin C products do. Check out this one.

If we continue to run the rat race, put everyone else first, push ourselves outta bed for that bootcamp when we really need the extra sleep, work overtime everytime, socialise all weekend, eat a poor diet, don't supplement when it's necessary, over-exercise or not exercise at all, and never give ourselves a break, this is what we might be getting ourselves into...

The effects of High/Prolonged Cortisol Levels:

- Hormonal imbalances (eg. estrogen excess)

- Progesterone and testosterone deficiency

- Blood sugar imbalances

- Lowered immunity

- Lowered thyroid function

- Infertility

- Increased abdominal fat

- Impaired cognitive function

- Decreased bone density

Sounds fun right? Stress leads to visceral fat which is dangerous. Struggling to lose weight with diet and exercise? Look at your stress levels.

2. Hyopthyroidism

This means low thyroid function and the symptoms can look a little like this:

+ Hair thinning

+ Feeling the cold more than usual or when it's not actually cold

+ Weight gain

+ Dry skin

+ High cholesterol

+ Infertility

3. Toxic Liver

+ Blood clots during menstruation = liver impairment

+ Very dark coloured blood during menstruation = liver impairment

+ We get more toxicity from our own home than we do from walking through the city these days; get rid of toxic chemical laden cleaning products, skin care products, fake candles, perfumes, etc Would you eat these? Then why are you rubbing them in your skin (to absorb) and spraying them around you (to inhale)? It's your liver that has to work to get these out of you again

+ Broccoli seed extract and milk thistle = liver support and help break down oestrogens

+ 95% of cancers are caused by environmental and dietary toxicity

4. Insulin Resistance

+ Don't eat any carbohydrate-rich foods after dinner if you have hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) or sleeping troubles; deep sleep is less likely to happen if you do eat carbs before bed, and therefore you will not be having restorative sleep needed for your hormones

+ Sugar and cocaine light up the same areas of the brain when ingested

+ Sugar and wheat make the brain addicted (to it/them) the same way cocaine becomes addictive

+ Wheat; increases appetite, increases weight, is so highly hybrodized these days and is completely addictive

+ If you have high cholesterol you need to get off the sugars and the (shitty processed) carbs; these both lead to inflammation in your arteries causing your high cholesterol in the first place

5. Poor Digestion / Bad gut flora

+ Antibiotics cause bad gut flora

+ Steroids cause bad gut flora

+ The Pill causes bad gut flora

+ Healing your gut lining (if you have leaky gut syndrome) should be your first priority if you have an autoimmune disease (and it's highly likely you do)

6. Vitamin, mineral, protein, and fatty acid deficiences

+ Eat good quality protein daily

+ Coconut oil daily is highly beneficial for hundreds of things including weight loss, preventing breast cancer and preventing Alzheimers disease; aim for 2 Tbsp daily

A little more about Hormone Health...

+ BPA mimics hormones messing everything up internally; it can also lead to early puberty and obesity. Ditch BPA by ditching plastic bottles and containers (ESPECIALLY plastic bottled water), saying NO to receipts at the shops, not buying tin canned foods and enquiring about dental sealants if you've got any

+ HRT (aka. Hormone Replacement therapy) which we usually only see in women over 50yrs is now being used in younger women, and is made up of TWO KNOWN CARCINOGENS (ie. cancer-causing ingredients)

+ Optimal vitamin D levels should be up around 250 (not 75 like some GP's will say). The more weight you carry the less vitamin D your body will have. Get in the sun at midday, everyday, for 15minutes, with 40% of your body exposed to the sunlight to get your fix.

+ 1 in 6 Australian girls are hitting puberty younger than ever before; the average age is now 10 1/2 years. This alone increases their breast cancer risk down the track.

+ Women in their 20's and 30's are now being diagnosed with breast cancer; a disease once only seen in women aged 60 yrs +. This is alarming as breast cancer is more aggressive in younger women, treatments are not as successful in younger women, and the side effects are often worse in younger women.

+ Weight gain increases your risk of breast cancer. 2-10kg of weight gain after menopause increases your risk by 30%. A 25kg weight gain increases your risk by up to 40%.

+ Oestrogen's message is to GROW (secondary sex characteristics like female hips and breasts in puberty, but also CANCER cells). Progesterone's message is to PUT THE BREAKS ON estrogen. So these two must be in balance.

+ Oestrogen is in fact HIGH in perimenopause, and in EXCESS in menopause

+ Blood serum testing for hormone levels is FLAWED and a saliva test is the only real indicator of where your hormone levels are at. A blood test for hormones will always show up low, due to they way they test them.

+ Our MOBILE PHONES are increasing estrogens, increasing insulin, and decreasing progesterone (just to name a few) Go here to have a look at some products Dr. Sellman suggested to reduce EMR around you.

And The Pill...

Used for contraception once upon a time... I'm not going to debate this right now, but the pill is being prescribed by doctors these days to treat acne, menstrual pain, irregular periods, no periods, weight gain, excess bodily hair, you name it, left, right and centre. And this is causing us big big problems.

The potential effects from taking The Pill look something like this -

+ Blood clots

+ Birth defects

+ Cardiovascular disease

+ High blood pressure

+ Cancer (breast, uterine, and colon)

+ Osteoporosis

+ Depression and sleep problems

+ Weakened immune system

+ Loss of libido

+ Weight gain

+ Vaginal yeast infections

The Pill decreases our levels of vitamins E, C, B12, B6, folic acid, magnesium, zinc, selenium and tyrosine. It also works like an antibiotic and therefore contributes to poor gut function (Check out The Pill Problem for more info).

Are you on it? Perhaps chat to your local Nutritionist, Naturopath or Chinese Medicine practitioner about how to get off it and what to use instead. Your doctor will convince you it's fine so seek information elsewhere. After all you wouldn't pop a carcinogenic-pill everyday would you? I hate to break it to you... that's exactly what it is.

All in all it was a hugely informative talk and bumping into fellow students, colleagues, customers, shop owners and friends always makes it a tonne of fun learning together.

Did you get to see Dr. Sellman on her Aussie tour? What did you think?

Christie xx

!! All hormone imbalance is a symptom of poor health !!

Distorted Eating

More often than not I struggle to find words to begin a new blog post; unless of course they're something like "I made the best cake ever!", or "New raw desserts in Sydney" etc... With such statements as those it's not difficult to begin and the ball just rolls on it's own accord. But when wanting to write about something a little more meaningful I always find it tough to start. Ironic kinda, as here is an entire paragraph already!

So I wanted to put my fingers to the keyboard mainly so my own sake, so I can get a feel for and sort-of map out where I wanna go from here.

As a nutritionist-in-training with a background in vegetarian, vegan, and raw live foods, I've always continued to up-grade my diet. It's like a hobby to me; I enjoy trying new things, seeing how my body responds, tweaking things along the way, all in an effort to feel, BE, and look my best. But in addition to these healthy habits of mine, comes a darker side and a history tainted with eating disorders.
I've come to notice that it doesn't seem all that unfamiliar in the raw food world either - to have a past with an eating disorder. Perhaps because in a distorted way a lot of us were initially striving for the best food our body could get, but in the process we got a little lost. Or maybe it's because on raw foods the restriction of every other food group is so severe, it's an easy excuse not to have to eat breads, pastas, meats, cheeses, dairy, cakes, biscuits, chocolates, rice... and everything else. There are possibly some people out there that fall into the latter, but my intuition tells me that if that's the case, they are few and far between. I think raw living foods for anyone with an eating disorder history is a blessing, for more reasons than I care to mention here.

So why all this talk about eating disorders? 

I've been very much in the head of my eating disorder lately. That might sound strange and a little hard to grasp for some, so let me explain a bit first.
Some people recover from an eating disorder. Some don't. And some might have to learn how to manage it if it hasn't completely left them, but they are wanting a better life. I'm in the third category. I learnt this years ago and have been doing my absolute best to manage my ED, much to my success. Until recently.

Everything in my life seemed to be crumbling around me, according to my over-reactive self that needs to have everything a particular way most of the time. I'm not being too harsh on myself here, neither am I being too easy. It's been a tough few months. And I began to notice that in a bid to regain some control when I felt like nothing was in my control; I turned to my food. And began controlling that. I had a crazy thought that if I could lose a few kilo's then everything would feel better (even tho a small voice in me was trying to yell "BULLSHIT!! IT NEVER WORKED BEFORE!!") But that's how I used to cope. Controlling my food and food intake felt really good as a teenager coz I got the result I wanted. And I felt in control. Calmer. But it's a vicious cycle as with trying to gain control through calorie restricting, one always ends up over-eating due to initial starvation, and then comes guilt, then restriction, then over-eating... the story goes on. So in an attempt to try and gain control, we only spiral further away from it. Go figure.

This week gone I felt like I was stuck in 2 places - one where I wanted to continue what I was trying to achieve by calorie restriction and not tell anyone because they would think I was stupid for wanting to lose weight as I don't need too... and the second place was me wanting to eat proper food and feel amazing again! That second voice was the real me. But as my head went from one to the other and back again within the space of minutes, it was very hard to decide whether or not I actually wanted to call a friend... Ok I do. No, no I don't anymore, I want to stay here and try to eat nothing. But I want to be vibrant and energetic... No I want to be skinny again, don't let anyone know!!

I was beating myself up because I felt like a failure for not following through with my restrictive plans, but feeling like more of a failure for not knowing how to help myself! Then thoughts of "How am I to help other people if I cant help myself??" The thoughts kept on coming. And all negative of course.
When I felt enough courage and strength within to ask my partner for help we began talking. He asked me "why can everybody else fail, but Christie can't?" And then told me to stop thinking about other people coz unless I sort myself out, I'll never be able to help anyone else.
We spoke for a while as I really needed to hear the cold hard facts and truth about what I need to eat because my brain was not functioning, I couldn't think, I felt like a little girl again needing someone to feed me because I couldn't make the decisions of what to eat for myself. I made a vow to myself that the following morning was going to be different.

That was this morning. I didn't get up at 5am for the gym, instead I slept in til 730am then went for a walk/run before coming home to stretch and make a big banana bowl. It was the first decent sized meal I'd had in a week. For the rest of today I ate green grapes and figs, keeping it really simple, and dinner was zucchini pasta with a tomato-capsicum-nectarine-garlic-chilli sauce, and chard greens ripped up and thrown in!
My head feels so much better. I feel like I'm alive again. Functioning. Thinking straight. Smiling :)
Sitting here with tea and a few dates :) And all this has happened since breakfast. That's the beauty of raw foods. They are what they are and they will only do amazing things to our bodies, spirit, and souls.

So from here I want to continue this. I kinda feel like I'm back at square one. Getting fuel to my brain. Supplying nutrients to my cells. Fuel for my training. When I first went raw I was eating truckloads of fruit, and felt AMAZING! I wasn't interested in the gourmet-raw at all, and think I got into it when I first had problems in my relationship. Emotional eating I suppose, I don't really remember. Always a sweets fan though, I did enjoy the raw treats I made and bought. And I still do. But for now I'm just going to stick to fruit, greens and soft veggies. If I want a treat (let's say I manage to sneak a Saturday off work and duck over to Taylor Square Markets for the best raw desserts in Sydney...) I'll have one. But leave it at one. And have them rarely. I know how easily my body can become addicted to cacao as delicious as it is, it's not something I need to be eating everyday. I know it works wonders for some people, and as a transition food it's fantastic, but for my body right now, use sparingly! The same goes with nuts, oils and fats.

It's actually been quite interesting the past 24hrs how my body and my brain have responded to what I have decided to begin doing. I was planning another 3weeks on a diet consisting of 2 pieces of fruit a day, 2-4 cups of greens a day, 2 protein shakes... and with that I was drinking espressos! Now, let me explain... espresso, espresso, espresso... oooh I love how the word just rolls off the tongue! It is such a tough one for me, I'm not gonna lie. I've gone loooooooooong periods without it very easily. But I wasn't a barista for 8yrs just to earn money. And I didn't travel around  and live in Italy to meet a sexy bronzed man. I love coffee! Good coffee - I love the culture around it, I love the smell of it, you name it! But it's got to be amazing coffee or I wont touch it. Anyway... even though my love for it is so strong, I notice that I'll drink it day after day when I'm in a self-sabotage mood. How does that work? I don't know. Coz when I'm happy as larry, loving life, loving me, and feel like a coffee, I'll have one also! It's no biggie for me and I don't think "omg it's not raw" I couldn't care less and figure if I'm loving it that much in that moment, it couldn't possibly be doing me any harm. I'd sit and love every teeny sip of my espresso. Get a high and be one my way. And might have another one 3-4 months later... I'm getting off topic here... where was I... Yes! Planning my 3week restriction, which was to be followed by a week long juice fast, and then another month long cleanse. My god Christie!

But like I said, I've been very interested today in seeing how once I spoke to my partner last night (who knows me better than anyone, knows how to push my buttons, as well as reignite my flames that have been burnt out), and made the decision to stop being stupid, my body fell into place. It knew where it wanted to go. It was my head that got in the way. An all to common theme with me it seems. Head stuff = easy. Heart stuff = hard. And that's ok. I'm not perfect (although I have spent years trying to get there). My body was waiting patiently in the wings until my head came to it's senses, and reunited with my body. And my body knows exactly what it wants. Fruit fruit fruit. Greens. And a few veggies. The odd avocado or coconut. More at different times of the year, but right now not so much.

I feel tonnes better than I did last night when I was balling my eyes out in a state of confusion, worry, fear and disconnect. Today I also moved all my gear out of my mums home where I've been staying, and into my grandmothers house where I will be living on my own from now on. I am very excited and feel it will be a big turning point for me. With a fridge all to myself, 5kg of grapes, 13kg of bananas, and then some... it's the perfect time!

Here's to tomorrow!!
xxx

Love Life Raw & Organic

Ok so it's a(nother) miserably cold rainy day for the first week of "Summer" (pfft; I'll believe it when I see it yeh) in Sydney; but a perfect day to be at home in my trakkie-daks to finally knuckle down with some study (and blogging) !!

Last week I told you guys I had ordered a days worth of organic juices from a place in Sydney, purely for curiosity sake as to what it was all about as I have seen a rise in 'juice-cleanses' and such around town with everyone jumping on the detox-bandwagon. I make my own juices usually and I've never actually done the whole get-a-juice-cleanse-delivered-to-your-door-thing, so was keen to give it a go. Only because I stumbled across one place that does 100% organic juice.



The company I ordered from is O-Zone and they are in Mosman, Sydney. I chose their 'Pure Cleanse' because of the juices (not smoothies) and price (mid-range), but they offer 3 different types of cleanses. Luckily I don't work too far from there so delivery was free and came nice and early (you can specify as to when you'd like delivery) to work on Wednesday morning; I was giddy like a little kid in a lolly shop with excitement!
I got my very own little green cooler bag filled with 4x 500ml organic juices, 2 organic coconut waters, 2 loose-leaf herbal tea sacks (yep, these are way cooler than tea bags folks), and a noni/aloe/filtered water mix to start my day. I wasn't particularly keen on how that would taste not being either a noni or aloe fan, but I was pleasantly surprised... for half the bottle... then the rest just got necked back!
 

Happiest little bee at 730am on a Wednesday...

BUT... (and no, there is not always a but) as an unfortunate series of events unfolded that day (and unexpected excrutiating period pain that was close to debilitating), I kept on with my juices (herbal teas, essential oils, tissue salts, visualisations, you name it!) but had a few medjool dates mid morning, and a couple more later on. I had bad news call me, then couldn't get out of babysitting that evening, but the adorable family I sit for bought me the latest Wellbeing and Yoga Journal magazines to read whilst dying on their lounge, and their beautiful girl made me a drawing and a card. Awww. I was very touched by their kindness.



So anyway, the juice day would have been totally wonderful if not the few thing that kinda shook me up, but I was very impressed and happy with the service, juices, quantities and price!

Today I actually wanted to write all about Gabriel Cousins lecture in Sydney last Sunday... but I'm going to save that for a few days coz I really want to get a few things off my chest here and would love your feedback.
So fair warning here I can be a bit of a rambler - but it seems that no matter if (to me) my ramblings seem a little disjointed and all over the shop - they seem to resonate well with others (maybe we all have a little scatter-brain inside) so allow me to ramble...

Only this morning someone very close to me said "I think you're really stressed" - and followed it with "I don't think you're breathing" -
two very strong yet gentle pieces of prose. And only in hearing such did I stop to think maybe they were spot on.
Ok I know I've got alot on my plate at the moment juggling extra work shifts, trying desperately to fit my studies in which always seem to get pushed aside, and on top of that my personal studies (college work aside) to research and follow up on things that get my insides bubbling with excitement!! Then there's my training that I love and go mad without, helping mum out with her yoga assessments playing guinea pig, taking orders and making xmas cakes, blogging, and only recently remembering I need to fit in my prac hours for college too somewhere! Ontop of worrying and dashing to and from the hospital for an ill family member, which I've been very lucky to have never experienced before, but it really takes it's toll on you. Like now. It's the one day I can study this week. Every other day is a right off with work, appointments, making cakes, work again, a xmas do I need to make more food for, then work again... and I get a call that maybe I should go to the hospital coz it's not looking so good... But it wasn't looking good 3 days ago when we were there all afternoon and evening... but it was great yesterday. It's up and down. I have faith. But at the same time I don't want to have regrets. I don't want to sound like a whinging bitch with "too much on" to see a sick loved one. But when I get to the point where one mention of a change in plans brings me to tears and in a panic, something's gotta give or I'll break! I've got to say no to something but from my vision it appears I cant say no to any of it just yet - it's all as important. If anything, my study is what always gets the "no", but I love it so not doing it plays on my mind in terms of falling behind, but also because it gives me great joy that I keep missing out on. When it's me and my books, the words, (the laptop,) reading, writing, learning, and getting so excited by new things I discover!! It's when I don't have the time to do that, everything seems hard, and tough, and not so fun, and long, and never ending - "where's my study day?"

"Just make sure you're eating right and getting enough sleep" was advice from the man I love, and it's probably very good advice. What else can you do? I'm the first to suggest to others that maybe they are doing too much; particularly easy to see when one's health is suffering. But it's almost as if until there are true physical signs of deteriorating health, we don't do or change anything! "It wont happen to me" mentality. And for the most part, that's not me at all. I'm very good with my health. I can honestly and easily say it's one of my top values. But it's the stress-side of things that I'm still trying to learn about and understand. At one point I sincerely thought I had never experienced stress in my life. Only later I came to realise I had more than likely lived with it everyday of my life from about age 7, only a much milder version that I was completely unaware of. But long term milder stress is no way better than short term chronic stress.

So that;s my rambling... now I'll get into my study and pump out as much as I can with a smile on my face, and decide about the hospital later. I wouldn't be going right this minute anyways, so why think and worry about it now?

If you have any hints, tips, suggestions, things that work for you, stories of your own, please share as I would love to hear them. Thanks for listening to my ramblings :) I'll write up about Gabriel Cousins later this week if I can find the time to do so. It was an amazing talk overflowing with valuable information I cannot wait to share with you guys!