Happy SUN-day everyone. As you know I love nothing more than sharing peoples stories on here for you to read to give you a little or a lot of inspiration, and also to empower you, to know you are on the right track. I am committed and passionate about this way of LIFE that so many people are reaping the benefits from. Please tag and share todays story! Today our ORGANIC VEGETABLE episode of THE PALEO WAY TV series airs at 12:30pm on channel 7 around Australia and you can watch catch up episodes of yesterdays and further episodes at https://au.tv.yahoo/plus7/the-paleo-way/-/watch/25809374/sat-20-dec-season-1-episode-1/?play=1 All the recipes and extended interviews will be available to watch on the 10 week paleo way activation program, and a whole lot more, including meal plans, shopping lists and fitness exercises and motivational and mindful posts. If you want to join the TRIBE then jump onto thepaleoway and join the rest of us as we are going to change the health of this country, of this I am certain. We are also doing a national tour in Feb and March next year to teach the basics of how to adopt a PALEO/GAPS/LCHF/JERF approach to living and I am pleased to share with you one of our special guests that will be joining us on the Cairns date which is the super inspiring Jo Whitton from Quirky Cooking....she is amazing and I am proud to have her with me spreading the medicine to as many people as possible. Over to you Jo....we love you xo...... Hi Pete! Im finally getting around to sending you my story! Our podcast is up and running now, so I figured this would be a good time to share it, if you want to. Im getting a lot of questions about why Im doing GAPS, so heres the background story... Sorry its a bit long!! Please feel free to edit and cut some out if needed. Ive included a few photos to choose from, one of me, and a couple of my son Isaac (who is our main reason for starting GAPS), and one of my daughter helping with the food prep. Thanks so much, Jo :) Jo Whitton from @Quirky Cooking - author of blog and book, Quirky Cooking. I grew up in a family where wholefoods and home cooking were the norm. We lived in Cairns, FNQ, and ate local, seasonal fruit and veges, delicious wild caught seafood, meat, home baked breads and baking - all good old-fashioned home cooked food with real ingredients. We hardly ever had packet food or take away, didnt have packet cereal or very much bought sweets, didnt have cordial, and rarely had softdrink. Mum is an amazing cook, and we had our own garden plus bought produce from local markets each week, and always ate well. However, despite all the good food, I struggled with chronic hayfever and colds, sinus headaches, low blood sugar, and a sore tummy, and I was very thin and couldnt seem to gain weight. I decided that there was nothing I could do about it, that was just how I was, and I put up with it as best I could. As I got into my late teens, I began having hormone problems as well, and the acne set in. I began seeing a doctor and a nutritionist to try and clear up my skin, sort out my headaches and digestive issues, and to help me gain weight. I was told to go on the pill for the hormone issues, to drink milk with enzymes added to help break it down so I wouldnt feel sick, and to sprinkle sustagen on all my food and to eat lots of chops and ice cream so I could gain weight. I was told tinned food was just as good as fresh veges (I was at uni at the time and not getting my mums good home cooking), and that I worried too much and should get a life. I did everything my nutritionist told me to do for a whole year, and didnt gain a bit of weight, and still had all the same problems. Fast forward to marriage and four kids under seven years old, and I was exhausted. I knew there had to be a way to feel better. By this time, my health was worse, my kids were having food intolerance issues too, I had trouble breast feeding, and I knew I had to do something. I began seeing a chiropractor and a naturopath, and they set me on the path to healing. With the help of my naturopath, I kept track of what I was eating and was shocked to see that my so called healthy diet consisted mostly of bread! I hadnt realised how much I was eating - it was so quick and easy when I was tired to grab a sandwich or a piece of toast, and besides, it was healthy because I ground my own grains and made it myself, right? Well, he explained that all the bread I was eating had damaged my gut, and I wasnt able to absorb the nutrients in my food, which affected my health and my inability to gain weight. I began taking gluten, dairy and sugar out of my diet and changing the way I ate. Within two weeks my headaches were gone, I was less tired, my blood sugar levels were a lot better, and I wasnt sneezing so much. After a year of eating this way, I had gained 5 kg - which was amazing for me!! My skin cleared up, I wasnt getting colds (except if I ate some dairy), and I had heaps more energy! I went completely dairy free and gluten free for three months and all allergy symptoms disappeared! I found it pretty easy to eat dairy free, but I didnt always stick to eating gluten free, sometimes I got a bit slack, and symptoms would come back with a rush. Itchy skin, headaches, diarrhoea, sick tummy, flu-like symptoms... And then I decided to try going grain free and dairy free to see what would happen. Wow. I felt so clear headed and so much better. My husband and kids found it hard to stick to though, so we just stuck to gluten free, low grains, and dairy free as much as we could. And whenever I felt a bit unwell Id go grain free for a while. This went on for a few years until we hit a brick wall, earlier this year. My 13 yr old sons health suddenly plummeted. He was hit with anxiety and depression so bad that he couldnt cope, and neither could the rest of the family. He couldnt do his schoolwork, he couldnt have a shower or bath without help, he couldnt feed himself, he couldnt even go to the toilet without me helping him. I spent many many hours with him on my lap, holding him and rocking him, talking, singing, crying, praying, hoping he would be okay. We finally found out that he had severe OCD, and now have a wonderful support team - doctor, chiropractor, health coach, naturopath, counsellor, GAPS practitioner, family and friends - who are helping with his recovery. Im a big believer in food being medicine, and the first direction I looked when my sons health went downhill was his food. I knew about the importance of gut health for brain health, so I knew GAPS was the way to go - no matter how hard it was, I knew we had to do it. (GAPS stands for Gut and Psychology Syndrome.) My son, Isaac, wasnt the only one with gut issues, obviously Id been suffering from a damaged gut all my life, and so had my kids, hence the food intolerances and reactions. A gluten and dairy free diet had helped, but our guts were still damaged and needed healing, and my sons big crash woke me up to that. So we began our GAPS journey. I wont go into all that has happened since we began working towards GAPS in August, and the intro diet in early October, but I really think its the best thing we couldve done for our familys health. Isaac is doing so much better these days, and most times you wouldnt know he has any issues at all. Hes a happy, clever boy, who loves to cook and is very comfortable speaking about healthy eating in front of my classes! He loves to share how GAPS is helping him and what he has learnt, and how much more he appreciates his veges now. Im very proud of how hes taken this on board and put his whole heart into eating well and getting better, and he is already beginning to educate others about good gut health, also. We have just released a podcast called A Quirky Journey where we will be sharing our GAPS journey and practical tips for changing to a gut friendly, real food diet, with the help of my health coach @Leah Follett. Its available for download from iTunes, or via @The Wellness Couch channel, and wed love for you all to listen in and share it with your friends and family. Our goal is to encourage those who are struggling with changing the way they eat, and to share helpful advice, tips, recipes and stories to inspire and encourage them on their journey. Thanks for reading this long story, and thank you Pete for sharing - lets get the message of the healing power of real food out to the world! Jo xx Jos blog: quirkycooking.au A Quirky Journey podcast: thewellnesscouch/a-quirky-journey Like Jos facebook page here at https://facebook/quirkycooking Thanks Jo - you are awesome! We will be filming with the author of GAPS, Dr Natasha McBride in January in the UK, chewing the fat and cooking up some delicious food in her home for the Paleo Way series 2 which I cant wait to share with you all. Later today I will share yesterdays lazy mans lamb shoulder from yesterdays program. Keep cooking with love and laughter.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 18:30:01 +0000