So, here I am, sitting on a plane between Melbourne and Perth I thought I’d reflect on my holiday and I realised something profound.
Firstly, this is the first time I’ve flown in seven and a half years because, pre-eating clean, my Crohns stopped me. I didn’t trust my body being able to hold going to the toilet if there was a queue or the seatbelt light was on. Life was a mess and it took hold of me and strangled my self-confidence.
Thanks to Pete Evans, Nora Gedgaudes , Dr Libby Weaver, Tim Noakes, Donal O’Neill and a host of others, I am now fully fit and able to travel again. I have my life back.
And it made me remember something…
Years ago a friend of mine was about to embark on starting medical school and before he did he wanted to take a year out of studying and wanted to just do a ‘just job’ that required little thought, so he could concentrate on having fun for a year before he knuckled down.
He became a taxi driver. Now, no disrespect to taxi drivers, but he wanted to do something simple.
At first it was great, he went to work, did his thing then went home and forgot about it and did the fun things he wanted to do.
But after a while, the frustrations of being a taxi driver encroached upon him and began to affect him. He became involved in the banter with the other drivers and soon started to despise some passengers; the drunks and the rude people. He became involved in local government issues where taxi drivers were having problems with reduced space at taxi ranks and losing work. He spoke to me one day about such issues and was really passionate and I reminded him he was only doing this for a year!
He looked at me and smiled. He had become a fully-fledged taxi driver.
Our work or lifestyle defines us. Even if we don’t really want it to.
We are, simply, what we do.
So, back to the holiday….
This was the first holiday I’ve had that involves more than a four hour drive since changing my lifestyle.
Mel, Cal and I have had a great time. But we’ve changed so much in comparison to holidays in the past.
We have exercised EVERY day (not like fanatics, sometimes a walk or a game of tennis) and stuck to the way we eat rigidly. We’ve taken almond milk with us for decaf coffees or cooked ourselves or hunted down (how Caveman!) low carb high fat friendly eateries.
We only eat twice a day anyway nowadays and it’s been liberating on long days out not having to stop for lunch!
We’ve met warm wonderful people who were strangers through social media, who will now be lifelong friends (the first time we’ve ever done ‘internet friend dating!’).
We’ve had heaps of fun but never now do we equate holidays with ice creams, naughty food or excess alcohol, like we did before. Letting our hair down doesn’t mean letting it all go.
Don’t get me wrong, we had a taste of good quality dark chocolate and the odd glass of red. We haven’t ‘denied’ ourselves. But the holiday didn’t have to spiral into excess. We know our bodies and respect ourselves too much nowadays.
We have, simply, become defined by eating clean.
A lifestyle change has finally kicked in for good. There is no turning back for us.
This is how we live now.
And once you’re there, I reckon you’ve cracked it.
Gary Benzies – suffered from constant and numerous gut issues, so he did what any typical man would do and ignored it That is, until it got so bad he had to raise his head above the parapet and find out what was going on. He then decided that he didn’t want to live this way anymore. To find out just how fantastically well he is now, please visit his website @ www.paleonutter.com to find out how he did it.
Gary Benzies suffered from constant and numerous gut issues, so he did what any typical man would do and ignored it That is, until it got so bad he had to raise his head above the parapet and find out what was going on. He researched nutrition and holistic health and completely cut out wheat, sugar, legumes, processed food and alcohol and caffeine. The weight simply fell off and almost immediately his symptoms lessened until they stopped.
Gary lost a total of 25 kilograms and went from 31% body fat to 14% and lost 11inches from his waist. He’s now fifty and fitter and stronger and healthier than he was at 25 and has had no symptoms or medication (of any kind) in two years.
