A patient has kindly typed her story, hoping it will inspire other people to achieve their goals and to realise that whilst change is hard, the benefits are worth it. I dedicate this to my wonderful patients, and their journeys.
Getting Back Out There!
In May 2014, I received my diagnosis of Diverticulosis, I accepted it pretty much in ignorance of its future impact on my life.
Life, in its many forms, carried on....... Me, eating all the wrong foods, gaining more weight. Extra weight I did not need to carry as I also had arthritis. The blessed osteoarthritis - in hands and feet, which had made me give up the job I loved – Complementary Therapies.
The final straw – a much looked-forward-to evening out with old friends – I had to cancel – my bowel/colon had decided to go into overdrive. I rang the hostess who said she would be back in touch after that evening with a promise to help me – she kept that promise. She recommended a Nutritional Therapist to me – a partner and a circle of friends had benefited from seeing this lady for many different reasons and symptoms.
I made that ‘phone call. It brought me to Victoria Shorland.
6th January 2015 is a day I can truthfully say changed this stage of my life. A two-hour consultation was all it took.
A fairly strict eating regime was handed to me. No … regime is not a good word. It represents “must do”. Let’s change it to transition which represents “can do”. I will not deny it was hard at times. Eating white meat – chicken or turkey – day in, day out, can get very, well, very ‘bland’. I was allowed the occasional foray into the red meats, so I took the initiative to have red meats, coffee and quite a few other “no-nos” (let’s change that to “suggest-not”) purely on a reward system. My reward for tackling the ironing, sorting out my paperwork, writing up treatment forms … housework!!
I say reward because also during my initial two-hour consultation with Victoria, she and I discussed my life as it was up to that time. Although I bore in mind she is not a counsellor, she assessed me mentally and physically and imbued in me such a sense of motivation and a cheerfulness I hadn’t had a for a while. I was fair left reeling when I left – my emotions were indescribable.
The past six months have been quite an eye opener. I stopped blaming others for everything and something. You know, things like weight-gain. I gained it because I would not walk far “’cos my feet hurt”, it's too cold, too hot, it's too, it's too, oh, the list was endless. I gained weight because the biscuits and cakes were in the cupboard, because the bowl of fruit was purely for decoration.
I had blamed others for the fact that I was eating wheat and gluten and a hundred and one other things which aggravated my colon and blamed others for the fact that I had to run to the loo x-amount of times a day as a result.
With the food transition for the care of my sensitive and vulnerable colon, anything with wheat and gluten in it was a ‘suggest-not’. Cakes, bread, biscuits – things like that. Please note, I used that word ‘ suggest-not again. NOT BAN. The suggestion led me to a foray into the local supermarket. There are foods for sale, completely free of wheat and gluten!! Yes, bread and biscuits!! And a hundred and one other things!!
Now here’s one wonderful discovery – because it was suggested I avoid cakes, biscuits, bread, dairy products, sugars, reduce the intake of potatoes basically, and eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, there is one very obvious by-product – weight-loss! Yippee – 3 ½ stone to date. But I bore in mind that having to keep going to the toilet also can make you lose weight, but that is not a healthy way to lose one’s weight.
Also on my food-transition, was oily fish and supplements – oh and nuts which then produced another by-product – my muscles and joints improved and enabled me to restart my Reflexology Business.
I can almost hear you saying “You’ve made it all sound so easy”. No, it hasn’t been easy. It has been hard. There have been times when my halo could have slipped to bite into that big, sticky bun or fumble through that packet of custard creams just for the sheer hell of it. But when you have folk telling you how much better you look with both the weight-loss and skin condition due to drinking more water, comment on the new outfit, finding you have more energy by not carrying that extra weight around and not having your gut ‘bunged up’ with something not quite agreeing with it, who or what was I going to blame then?
Motivation is another by-product. There’s another word for that – proactive. Because I now had no one to blame anymore and found myself with energy to burn, I found myself starting to have another look at my world.
My world? The garden could do with sprucing up (gardening, I read, burns up those extra calories!) Wardrobe – needs some colour injection and updating. Skirts are on my shopping list – I must look at my dictionary to remind myself what a skirt means! Hair – could do with shortening to lengthen my neck! Sorting out paperwork – why do we accumulate so much?
WEIGHT-LOSS, A HEALTHIER COLON, CLEARER SKIN = VANITY OF THE BEST KIND
Oh, this list could go on … but I’ll close now. Not because I have to rush to the loo like I had to last year (this year, its perhaps once or twice a day, barring just three blips- sorry to be graphic) but there’s somewhere I need to go, there’s something I need to do, somewhere I need to be and it’s not the loo! …..
I AM WORTHY OF CHANGE – PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY
Getting Back Out There!
In May 2014, I received my diagnosis of Diverticulosis, I accepted it pretty much in ignorance of its future impact on my life.
Life, in its many forms, carried on....... Me, eating all the wrong foods, gaining more weight. Extra weight I did not need to carry as I also had arthritis. The blessed osteoarthritis - in hands and feet, which had made me give up the job I loved – Complementary Therapies.
The final straw – a much looked-forward-to evening out with old friends – I had to cancel – my bowel/colon had decided to go into overdrive. I rang the hostess who said she would be back in touch after that evening with a promise to help me – she kept that promise. She recommended a Nutritional Therapist to me – a partner and a circle of friends had benefited from seeing this lady for many different reasons and symptoms.
I made that ‘phone call. It brought me to Victoria Shorland.
6th January 2015 is a day I can truthfully say changed this stage of my life. A two-hour consultation was all it took.
A fairly strict eating regime was handed to me. No … regime is not a good word. It represents “must do”. Let’s change it to transition which represents “can do”. I will not deny it was hard at times. Eating white meat – chicken or turkey – day in, day out, can get very, well, very ‘bland’. I was allowed the occasional foray into the red meats, so I took the initiative to have red meats, coffee and quite a few other “no-nos” (let’s change that to “suggest-not”) purely on a reward system. My reward for tackling the ironing, sorting out my paperwork, writing up treatment forms … housework!!
I say reward because also during my initial two-hour consultation with Victoria, she and I discussed my life as it was up to that time. Although I bore in mind she is not a counsellor, she assessed me mentally and physically and imbued in me such a sense of motivation and a cheerfulness I hadn’t had a for a while. I was fair left reeling when I left – my emotions were indescribable.
The past six months have been quite an eye opener. I stopped blaming others for everything and something. You know, things like weight-gain. I gained it because I would not walk far “’cos my feet hurt”, it's too cold, too hot, it's too, it's too, oh, the list was endless. I gained weight because the biscuits and cakes were in the cupboard, because the bowl of fruit was purely for decoration.
I had blamed others for the fact that I was eating wheat and gluten and a hundred and one other things which aggravated my colon and blamed others for the fact that I had to run to the loo x-amount of times a day as a result.
With the food transition for the care of my sensitive and vulnerable colon, anything with wheat and gluten in it was a ‘suggest-not’. Cakes, bread, biscuits – things like that. Please note, I used that word ‘ suggest-not again. NOT BAN. The suggestion led me to a foray into the local supermarket. There are foods for sale, completely free of wheat and gluten!! Yes, bread and biscuits!! And a hundred and one other things!!
Now here’s one wonderful discovery – because it was suggested I avoid cakes, biscuits, bread, dairy products, sugars, reduce the intake of potatoes basically, and eat plenty of fruit and vegetables, there is one very obvious by-product – weight-loss! Yippee – 3 ½ stone to date. But I bore in mind that having to keep going to the toilet also can make you lose weight, but that is not a healthy way to lose one’s weight.
Also on my food-transition, was oily fish and supplements – oh and nuts which then produced another by-product – my muscles and joints improved and enabled me to restart my Reflexology Business.
I can almost hear you saying “You’ve made it all sound so easy”. No, it hasn’t been easy. It has been hard. There have been times when my halo could have slipped to bite into that big, sticky bun or fumble through that packet of custard creams just for the sheer hell of it. But when you have folk telling you how much better you look with both the weight-loss and skin condition due to drinking more water, comment on the new outfit, finding you have more energy by not carrying that extra weight around and not having your gut ‘bunged up’ with something not quite agreeing with it, who or what was I going to blame then?
Motivation is another by-product. There’s another word for that – proactive. Because I now had no one to blame anymore and found myself with energy to burn, I found myself starting to have another look at my world.
My world? The garden could do with sprucing up (gardening, I read, burns up those extra calories!) Wardrobe – needs some colour injection and updating. Skirts are on my shopping list – I must look at my dictionary to remind myself what a skirt means! Hair – could do with shortening to lengthen my neck! Sorting out paperwork – why do we accumulate so much?
WEIGHT-LOSS, A HEALTHIER COLON, CLEARER SKIN = VANITY OF THE BEST KIND
Oh, this list could go on … but I’ll close now. Not because I have to rush to the loo like I had to last year (this year, its perhaps once or twice a day, barring just three blips- sorry to be graphic) but there’s somewhere I need to go, there’s something I need to do, somewhere I need to be and it’s not the loo! …..
I AM WORTHY OF CHANGE – PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY
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