Where my health journey began

The beginning of an incredible journey to healthy living, inside and out.

I always thought I was “healthy “ate salads, not fussy with veggies, exercised, but boy was I wrong.

Things started to spiral out of control after I hit 30, my IBS symptoms began to worsen which triggered my anxiety and vice versa. I had a traumatic work experience which in hand led to more anxiety oh and I had 2 kids in the space of 15 months WHAT!!.. My glands would swell constantly in my throat, and still do on occasion, but previously would be ALL THE TIME. I would go to the doctors to be only put on antibiotics over and over and over again UMM gut health? Yep that wasn’t there anymore. I used to be that person if I felt like I was getting sick, I would ring the doctors to get antibiotics to stop whatever was coming on, and guess what, the doctors would just keep handing it over telling me I was fighting a virus and send me on my way. I was just depleting by the second and my life was becoming impossible.

My IBS and anxiety ruled my life; I lived off Imodium, Panadol and Nurofen. I wouldn’t schedule meetings until after midday at work because I would be stuck in a toilet cubicle. I wouldn’t schedule outings with my family or friends until after I was comfortable I could leave the house. I would take my own food to BBQs and would never ever eat out! EVER if I did god I was in for a ride of suffering shortly after.

So I hit rock bottom in 2016 Christmas time. We booked 3 nights away in Phillip Island for the family to have Christmas away. We went to lunch on the first day and I had a massive reaction to something in the food which triggered my anxiety of being away and not being in my own home. This was a common thing for me at the time, no way did I ever want to be away from home, my anxiety would not allow us to go anywhere let alone away for the night. I don’t know what I was thinking, 3 nights away are you cray!

My husband looked me in the eyes and said “let’s take you home” I fell into his arms crying and felt immense gratitude to this man for getting me, not making me feel bad and just wanting me back to my fun self.

On the way back in the car we discussed my options. One was to start my cleansing journey with a woman who had approached me through an IBS Facebook group, or to take a pill to help my anxiety/depression and then in hand the doctor said would settle my IBS. We decided together as it was Christmas, I had time to adjust to the pill I was about to take and all would be great because heck why would I start a cleanse and not be able to DRINK (I loved my wine) and I loved dairy and I loved bread, but I was healthy haha (well as I said, so I thought).

Day 1 of taking the antidepressant and my heart was racing alllll night. I then took the Valium to settle me oh boy did that go the other way I felt worse, I had major headaches, anxiety attacks, nausea and felt HORRID!! This was not how it was supposed to be. I couldn’t parent, I couldn’t be a wife, I couldn’t be a friend. I was back at the doctors after day 3 and was put on an anti-nausea along with the anti-depressant WINNING!! I just wanted to stop taking it all together but they kept telling me you can’t just stop you have to keep going…UM NO!

I got back in the car called the health guru and signed up on the spot to start 2 days later on new year’s eve of 2016 and man did that change my life!!

This cleanse was a 5 week Plant Based Gut Transformation Program. A 5 week gut transformation program of insight and awareness for digestive disorders. It was not for the faint hearted. It was for someone who was at rock bottom and ready to do the work. The cleanse separates you from your friends and your family as you are not eating and drinking like them. You go through a lonely period as you begin to change and understand what health is and your mind becomes clear, you begin to change and understand the person you want to be, getting clear on your path and your direction in life. Hence a massive move to QLD as I always wanted to be near the water to continue my spiritual journey to figuring out who I am, what I wanted to do and who I wanted to surround myself with. Yes I had AMAZING friends in Melbourne, but the life style was not for me.

Week one of the cleanse was going vegan. I didn’t even know what vegan was. Removing all dairy products, eggs, milk, red meat chicken and fish. To replace your kitchen pantry with nutrient dense food, nothing in a packet, let’s make it all our self - WHOLEFOODS. Little fact about these foods, did you know that from ingesting so much dairy, it creates a mucus layer in our digestive tract which makes it impossible for our systems to absorb real nutrients. Our fish is swimming in polluted waters. Nearly all fish contains traces of mercury. People who have compromised immune systems should also be especially careful to avoid mercury poison as it play havoc on the central nervous system. Crazy hey!! The list goes on really!

Week 2 is going raw to prepare your body for the juicing phase. Eating a raw diet will not only improve your digestion and cleanse your colon; it will begin to oxidate and alkalise your body. Only thing with going raw, you will start to experience detox symptoms if you haven’t been eating healthy, such as cold symptoms the runs etc. NOT FUN when you have to go to work and look after kids.

After I completed a week of raw, I went onto 3 days of smoothies followed by 10 days of juicing omg it was epic. I won’t lie, I did snack on salad here and there, it was that freaking hard! Honestly I wanted to give up so many times, but I had come this far and I just needed to get better. Throughout these 3 to 4 weeks, I was doing lots of protocols to ensure I was healing. Making probiotic drinks, fermented foods, daily coffee enemas you name it I did it… did it work YES was it hard YES and was it worth it YES. I do not recommend doing something like this without guidance because there were many bumps along the way. Lots of times of feeling sick, having reactions to foods, headaches, emotional break downs it was a journey I will never forget.

Once you pass the juicing phase you move onto eating again but done very slowly. You introduce smoothies again from 3 days and then onto raw eating for a couple days then slowly adding cooked foods, steam first baked then experimenting with “normal”… and then that’s when my life changed.

I swear I was a different person after these 5 weeks. I was ready to move, I was ready to change our life, I could see clear, think clear, I mended relationships, apologised, was more self-aware of behaviours and just ready to begin my spiritual journey…. A path that is always expanding day by day…and its so so much FUN finding out about the person you actually want to be!!