Month: September 2009

Using the 5Ws and H to teach

Do you ever have your older children teach a concept to the younger children? That happens on a regular basis here in our home. There are so many advantages to it but that’s for another post. I want to share how I use the principle of teaching as part of the learning process. It’s a good skill for us to develop and a valuable skill for our children to develop as they get older.

Whenever we attempt to teach we must know the information- we must internalise it before we can put it into our own words. Using the tools of narration and the 5W’s and a H are very helpful in learning and teaching. These tools are valuable and beneficial regardless of age, gender, strengths or weaknesses.

Teaching should be as interactive as possible. Lectures can tend to bore students as their minds need to be engaged in order to go through the learning process. I’m not interested in simply filling my lesson time with facts and figures. I want to share ideas, hear their thoughts and questions. Repetition has a place in learning but we need to move beyond that into understanding. Simply telling a story or concept in different words or using pictures or literary metaphors can greatly engage a student, which is why a n older child teaching the younger is so effective.

I’ve taught my older children (girls) to teach using our Kerugma 4 step process and 5 W’s and a H. Here’s how I have taught them:

Have a quick skim over the material and see if you can ask yourself some basic questions. Use the Observation Sheet as a prompt if needed. In one or two sentences introduce the topic, asking probing questions as a way to capture their interest.

Then it’s time to read or make the basic points. My family often laughs at me as I can tend to waffle, despite my claiming to be as concise as possible!

Then, I’ll try to ask questions that are relevant to the subject:

Who is the main character? To whom is this passage referring?
What is happening in this passage?
What did the main character have to say about…?
When does this event occur? When did the main character realise he…[insert relevant question]?
Where did the event occur or when will it occur?
Why is this happening? Why do you think the main character said/did that?
How did this (event) happen? How did it affect the community/situation, etc? How does it affect you?

After some facts (or ideas) have been established, we can then spend a minute or so on looking at possible application to our lives. This doesn’t just apply for Bible study, although anytime we look for practical application it should always be within the boundaries of God’s word- it should line up with the Bible.

Lesson finished!

There are so many ways in which to use the 5W’s and a H. It is also a logical way to think…so you can also include critical thinking as part of your lesson scheduling when using the Observation method. I have devised the prompt sheet for download which might help…but simply using the 5W’s and a H as a natural part of your lessons will come easily and naturally after awhile.

Do you use the 5W’s and a H format in your home? Have you or will you instruct your children how to teach using this method? If not, do you have another method that you use in your home. If so, I’d love to hear of it. Any comments or thoughts?

You can download/print the 5W’s & H (observation) sheet here…the IDEA bookmark from here…see more downloads here.

If you’re new to reading my site and have no idea what I’m talking about when I mentioned the learning process, you might like to see here or this post asking, How Do You Learn? Other posts you might enjoy are:

Poetry using the observation sheets

Using the 5Ws and a H

You are who you are for a reason….

This poem really touches me…means a lot to know that I am not an accident and that God has a purpose for my life.

You are who you are for a reason….
by Russell Kelfer

You are who you are for a reason.
You’re part of an intricate plan.
You’re a precious and perfect unique design,
Called God’s special woman or man.

You look like you look for a reason.
Our God made no mistake.
He knit you together within the womb.
You’re just what He wanted to make.

The parents you had were the ones He chose,
And no matter how you may feel,
They were custom-designed with God’s plan in mind,
And they bear the Master’s seal.

No, that trauma you faced was not easy.
And God wept that it hurt you so;
But it was allowed to shape your heart
So that into His likeness you’d grow.

You are who you are for a reason,
You’ve been formed by the Master’s rod.
You are who you are, beloved,
Because there is a God!

Russell Kelfer (1933-2000) was an elder and Bible teacher at Wayside Chapel in San Antonio, Texas for more than 20 years. During his life time he was active in a broad variety of Christian projects ranging from education to a World’s Fair pavilion. His legacy of practical application Bible studies, poems, and fictional stories know no denominational boundaries.

Homeschooling Isn't About Education

I didn’t write this article, but it’s too good not to share. It was written by Chris Davis, formerly from Elijah Co.

If you have been a recipient of my eNewsletter or if you have heard me speak at a conference you know that I have a concern about the shift I have seen in the reasons families choose to homeschool. I would like to take this opportunity to bring us back to what I perceive to be the reason God began this movement over 20 years ago.

Our good friend Rob Shearer once told me something which I will paraphrase as follows:

About 20 years ago, a group of parents began to feel a deep desire to have their children grow up at home rather than in an institutional setting. Thus began what is now referred to as the Homeschooling Movement. These early “homeschoolers” my friend refers to as Pioneers: parents who knew God wanted them to take total responsibility for raising (including educating) their own children. These Pioneers were determined to have their children home during the day in spite of the difficulties (and sometimes the dangers) this decision created.

During this Pioneer stage, there was another group of parents who heard about the benefits of homeschooling, but who decided to wait to see if the Pioneers would be successful before becoming homeschoolers themselves. These my friend called Settlers. Once the Settlers were convinced of the benefits of homeschooling, they joined in. However, unlike the Pioneers, many Settlers weren’t sure they would homeschool for the long term so they simply copied the public schools’ curricula and sequencing methods just in case it turned out that homeschooling didn’t work for them. And, if it didn’t, their children could be mainstreamed back into “school.”

By the late 1990’s public schools were receiving such negative publicity, and homeschooling such positive publicity, many more parents began to consider homeschooling as a viable alternative. They knew little about homeschooling except that it had to be better than the public school. These families my friend called Refugees: parents who were escaping a negative situation, but with no real understanding of what they were doing or why; nor did many of them want to know. They simply wanted their children to be educated as if the children were “in school” but without the negative context they perceived existed in the public school setting.

As I have described the three kinds of homeschoolers above, you may have noticed a very subtle, yet most important, difference between the Pioneers’ main desire (to have their children grow up at home) and the main desire of the other two groups (to provide a better education, or a less negative context for their children).

The reason I entitled this article, Homeschooling Is Not About Education is because I think we have a tendency to lose sight of or, perhaps, we have never really understood why we were led to homeschool. I draw this conclusion because what I hear as most homeschooling parents’ primary concerns are issues such as, “Will this be the best curriculum for my child?” or “How do I know I’m going to cover it all?”

Let’s take another look at this thing called “Homeschooling.” We all know one or more families whose children would greatly benefit if their children were not in a public school setting. Yet, these families don’t bring their children home. We feel truly blessed to believe in homeschooling and we don’t understand why everyone doesn’t see the obvious benefits. Why do friends and relatives keep sending their children to “school”, anyway? Why do we seem to be among so few who are willing to do this?

I would like to offer my opinion as to why we have become “homeschoolers” and so many others have not: I have a conviction that a historical time is approaching for which a certain “kind” of person will be needed in this nation; indeed, in the world. When this time will come, I don’t know, but my sense is that it will come soon. What I do believe is that God has needed a very specific context within which He can grow up this particular kind of person. And, since a lot of these “persons” are needed, God has asked a lot of us to become homeschoolers. What is this context? It is simply a place where the hearts of the fathers have been turned toward their children and the hearts of the children have been turned toward their fathers. It is a place where children are raised to become proficient at the specific giftings, talents, and callings God has placed within them since their creation.

This is the context which every homeschooling family has the opportunity to create. Yet, what disturbs me is that homes-SCHOOLING has become the primary focus of so many of these families. Homeschooling parents are prioritizing something quite different than what was in the heart of God as expressed in the hearts of those early Pioneers when they brought (or kept) their children home during the day.

For those of you who have “brought the school home,” let me suggest that you rethink what you are really doing with your children. Do you ever consider what kind of person this little boy or girl is to become by the time he or she leaves your home? Have you ever wondered if God Himself, has placed some very specific talents, giftings and callings in this youngster that He expects you to discover and promote during the child’s stay with you? Do such things determine your family’s priorities, weekly schedule or the curricula you purchase?

Or as you look toward the “finish line” of your child’s time at home, do you simply buy a graded curricula and spend your days plowing through it, because you think the highest purpose of your parenting is to see that your child receives the best education you can provide so you can one day say, “My son has a good job.”

If the answers to these questions are something like, “I don’t know”, or, “I don’t want to think about it,” then you may be a “homeschooler”, but I think you’ve missed the point.

Even Pioneers can slowly become Refugees. The very word “homeschooling” can cause us all to forget that what we are doing is not about home-SCHOOLING but about creating that context in which we assist God in raising the little ones in our homes to become His men and women who are truly prepared for what is going to happen in their own generation. To be like King David whom God did not identify as a man “with a good job;” but as a man who “served his generation well.”

Dust Storms

My dad called me this afternoon. That was a little unusual as we usually speak in the mornings. He had called to tell me that it was pitch black – at 3.30 in the afternoon! He said in his 50 years of living in Broken Hill, he has never seen a dust storm as bad as the ones that it there today.

Of course, people have already uploaded their videos to youtube…check out these videos of today’s dust storms. Freaky! I do not envy the cleanup…red dust would be everywhere and in everything.

More links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLw8dPlxDH0

Why is this of interest to me? Because I’m a Hill gal- born and bred!

Don't Make These Mistakes

As many of my regular readers will know I develop websites– big ones, small ones, ecommerce sites and blogs. Website development is a hobby that keeps me on my toes. The industry is always changing…there is something new to learn every day! Sometimes it is mind blogging, other times it’s just what I need. Mind you, there is a down side to studying web development. One of those downsides is that I have trouble just visiting websites and enjoying them nowadays. I want to look inside…I want to see its engine, know what is running the site, who designed it and what components the site is using. I just can’t look at a custom site and simply enjoy it anymore. Oh well, that’s not really a grumble or a downside, just a curiosity that springs from my delight. 🙂

Anyway I love blogging and studying pro bloggers is also an interest of mine. I have absolutely no aspiration to ever be a pro blogger. Goodness, I don’t even keep a stat counter! I simply do not obsess over comments, visitors or anything like pro bloggers do. Then again my motivation for blogging is quite different to theirs so obviously our sites will be quite different. (I actually started a blog as a place to collect my thoughts that I had been referring to frequently. Threads and posts on forums and email groups had me re-typing my thoughts so I started a blog to keep them all in one place). Despite my lack of blogging aspirations I still like to learn about effective blogging as a mode of communication. Blogging has been a great tool for my continuing learning about communication.

In my travels I’ve come across some beautiful blogs, some blogs with great content and some blogs that I can only read via my RSS feed reader due to the website/blog design. I have a few pet peeves when it comes to site design…and before I ask you to tell me your website pet peeves I thought I’d tell you mine.

Pet Peeves

Music players that are set to autoplay. Usually they are stuffed in a sidebar which makes it near impossible for me to find so I can turn it off. Sometimes I’m reading blogs very early in the morning or occasionally at night when the children are asleep. I may even like your choice in music…but I like to listen to music at a time when it is convenient for me. Bloggers could consider not having the player set to autoplay. As far as web development goes, this option is more courteous.

Spam is yucky. We all hate it but it is a fact of the blogosphere. There are a few plugins and features designed to combat spam but I really have to say that if you want me to leave a comment then please don’t make me jump through firing hoops to do so! make it easy for me to leave a comment. I just don’t like the captcha images where one is supposed to enter a string of numbers/letters. Sometimes I can’t even read the silly image…making commenting quite difficult. (However, this is largely my own personal preference. others may strongly disagree)

Cluttered sidebars…yes I know this is personal preference but for an adult who is highly distractable I find that the very popular trend of cluttering every little available space with images is just mental clutter. Too much for my lil brain. Images, widgets, buttons and ads- oh my! What is most important on your blog? Images, widgets or the content? (Darren is an Aussie ProBlogger who made a video blog on this topic. Take the 2 min to view his thoughts.)

Multiple blogs: let me explain this one. I used to have several blogs. A food/nutrition/fitness blog, a homeschool blog and my family journal blog. Aside from being difficult to keep track of it also made it it hard for my friends who wanted to keep up with my daily activities and thoughts. The beauty of blogging is categories! One blog- many categories. I’d much rather keep up with your one blog and its many categories than try to keep up with 3 or 4 different blogs by you. If I (cyber) know you and have a relationship with you then I want to hear all you have to say! make it easy for me, the reader! (exception to this can be business blogs- but even this should be assessed on an individual basis)

No contact functions. It’s important for readers to know how to contact you privately.

Things that make me subscribe or return to your site:

I love it when I can easily discern who you are, what you like to write about and, where you live. An ‘about me’ page or widget, with a photo. It adds the personal touch and immediately lets me know a little about you and the purpose of your blog.

I also love it when I can easily find content on your site. Give me multiple ways to find information! Search bars, archives, popular posts, recent posts, categories, tags and tag searches, etc are great ways for readers to find relevant content on your site.

When referencing a Scripture I love it when the author actually links to an online Bible! This allows me to dig deeper and run off on bunny trails.

Publishing your RSS feed. This was I can keep up to date with all your posts. (Publishing the feed for your comments is even better!)

Having a ‘contact page‘ or widget. Maybe I’d like to send you an email rather than leave a public comment…sometimes this is more appropriate. Let users know how to contact you.

I love it when bloggers write with paragraphs. Writing for web content is actually a little different to typical or proper writing. Web authors need to use more paragraphs, bullet points and typography than when writing for books or magazines. Breaking your content into more paragraphs makes it easier on the eye for people to read.

When a blogger is relating a story, thought or incident and they link to their previous posts in order to give the readers some background. If we are to develop an online relationship then it’s really helpful to not assume that I know your history or previous thoughts. Link them so I can find out. I love it when bloggers do this!

Okay, I’ve really put myself out there and possibly risked offending some of my readers…but please understand where I’m coming from – a perspective of website development. Of course, you may very well disagree with me and that’s fine too- tell me about it! I love to help homeschool mums with their blog design…I love to encourage the Aussie homeschool community, so let’s brainstorm and tell me what you do and don’t like about website/blog design.

10 Things I've Noticed

1. I get in and out of the car much easier.
2. My bigger size jeans are too baggy on me now.
3. I can do all the grocery shopping in one day!
4. I can leap out of bed rather than roll out of it.
5. I noticed a new muscle in my bicep!
6. I can actually do abdominal training now! (Previously I couldn’t as my back was too weak)
7. I can run for 1min (at10kph) on the treadmill during my HIIT workouts!
8. I feel stronger.
9. I crave less of the foods that aren’t good for me.
10. I feel more fluid and more flexible in my daily activities!

Exercises That Do No Good

CLIMBING
………………the walls

DRAGGING
………………your heels

GRASPING
………………at straws

SKIPPING
………………your meals

TILTING
………………at windmills

SPINNING
………………your wheels

JUMPING
………………the gun

PASSING
………………the buck

KICKING
………………yourself

PUSHING
………………your luck

STRETCHING
………………the truth

RUNNING
………………amok

Quick update

Just a quick post to let readers know that I updated my previous post ( the one with the piccies). For those curious readers who wanted to see a bigger picture, I have uploaded them so you can click on each one separately. The photo isn’t good as they come from a small phone with inadequate lighting, but you get the idea.

I was really tired and muscle heavy yesterday. I tried to do a Billy Blanks DVD but just couldn’t get through it. I had a feeling it was more than DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) from my weight workout. It feels like something else. I believe it is inadequate protein intake for the working out I’m doing. So I rested yesterday and today and will try to up my intake of protein. I might do my weights tomorrow or I might wait until Friday- I’ll see how I feel.

Food and eating has been going pretty good – could be better if I’d remember to eat more regularly but I’m a work in progress. We’ve been eating a large salad every night, taking care to get in protein and sufficient carbs. I can officially report that I am now totally loving my daily salad! I look forward to it every single day. The different tastes, colours and textures really do tantalise my taste buds and I can’t believe how much I enjoy my salads now.

All for now…

Before and…during

Jacqui (a dear homeschooling/health buddy) has recently rejoined Weight Watchers Online so she shared her ‘before’ pictures. She’s now dared me to post my ‘before’ pictures so here they are!

The top photos were taken in May, 2009.

Click here for larger photos: Top Left – Top Right

And the bottom ones were taken in August, 2009.

Click here for larger photos: Bottom Left – Bottom Right

Not much change yet (except my hair) but I’m looking forward to leaner, stronger changes. 🙂

Exercise Week 21: get dressed straight away!

I like to go to the gym early in the morning. Sometimes I have been before John goes to work but I do prefer to be at home with him in the mornings to give him breakfast while we chat over a cup of coffee. But I think I’ve discovered a key to exercise! At least it’s a key for me!

Instead of getting up at 6am and putting my dressing gown and ugg boots on I have been having a quick shower and putting on my track pants and runners. This just seems to set the tone– I want to go to the gym ASAP. Rather than want to lounge around and potter I just want to get moving. I’ve been doing this for a few weeks and it really helps my mental attitude.

What about you? When do you exercise? Found any little tips that help you?

Exercise Week 21
	Rest Day
	Weights
	20min HIIT MA_running plan
	Weights +10min cardio blast at end
	20min HIIT (Wk 1 Day 3)
	Show Day! (rest from workouts)
	Weights +10min cardio blast at end

For the time being my weights workout consists of:

5 min warmup on treadmill or elliptical trainer
Leg Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 65kg
Lat Pull Down: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 30kg
Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 9kg (my weakest area)
Chest Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 23kg
Cable Row Pulls: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 28kg
FitBall Squats 3 sets of 20 with 10kg weight in each hand
Core training: Hover on ball until fatigue
Back extensions until fatigue
Stretching
Cardio Blast 10min on treadmill or elliptical trainer

Food Intake

A few days ago Jacqui mentioned that she’d love to see my daily food intake…so I did two days worth of food recording and then went to the show yesterday so didn’t get around to posting. Here’s what I’ve eaten on Wednesday & Thursday. Bear in mind that I am still not following my MassAttack plan perfectly but I am still feeling results- like a clearer head, less vague and much more energy. I also haven’t been able to start on the supplements yet so it’s amazing what some ‘good’ foods can do.

Wednesday

Meal 1:
30g of Carman’s: Muesli: Muesli, Original Fruit-Free(to which I add a few goji berries)
100 g of yoghurt: Low Fat, Natural

Meal 2:
Milk Coffee (had planned a protein shake but couldn’t find the blender: Magic Bullet: so got frustrated and resorted to Milk Coffee)

Meal 3: Lunch –
Green leafy salad with Feta Cheese
1 slice wholemeal bread with curried eggs. (1 whole egg + 1.5 egg whites)

Meal 4: (3pm)
Protein Smoothie which contains:
45g Aussiebodies Perfect protein Supplement
3/4 cup reduced fat milk
50g Mixed Berries (frozen)
50g bio organic yogurt

Meal 5:
Chickpea salad with feta which consists of:
Green salad, 45g chickpeas, 45g feta cheese, 45g shaved ham, 1 slice tasty cheese.

Meal 6:
Milk Coffee

I exercised approximately 250 calories. I only had 4 glasses of water.

I used approximately 1311 out of the net daily budget of 1400 calories and had 89 calories remaining. 39% of the calories are from fat, 33% from protein, 28% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.
I use CalorieKing to record my food and exercise occasionally, just to help me keep on track.

THURSDAY

Meal 1:
22g Carman’s Muesli (with a few Goji berries) with 100g bio dynamic yogurt

Meal 2:
1 skinny cappuccino
1/4 choc chip cookie

Meal 3:
Chicken, bacon & cheese on toast but I didn’t eat the toast because I also had:
1 full-cream cappuccino

Meal 4:
30g or so of raw cashews

Meal 5:
Corn Mountain Bread wrap with a tin of Tuna in springwater, lots of lettuce, some feta cheese and a teaspoon of full fat mayonnaise.

Meal 6:
Reduced fat Milk Coffee

You have used 1424 out of your net daily budget of 1400 calories and have -24 calories remaining. 44% of the calories are from fat, 26% from protein, 29% from carbs and 0% from alcohol.

Calories burned in exercise: approximately 250. I drank approximately 1.5 litres of water.

Many of my calories are still coming from fat because of all the milk and cheese, but the good news is that instead of ingesting 400 grams of Parmesan Cheese last week I only allowed myself a 200gram block. See? Progress! I know I have to eat more fruit and veggies and I am trying…slowly.

The best testimony I can give this week is to share what happened earlier in my week. The weekends are my worst for food intake. I tend to either not eat much but when I do it is all the wrong foods. However this week I carried that through to Monday as well. I went to the gym on Monday and I had nothing! No strength, very little energy. I was still weakened on Tuesday although I tried to eat a lot more on Tuesday which gave me more strength and energy for my Wednesday workout! what have I learned the hard way? I have to eat properly!

Anyway, Thursday and Friday I had lots more energy! We went to the show on Friday (which is always tiring) and I made it through the whole day!

Fallen

Well, I’ve been going quite good lately! I’ve been able to up my weights at the gym, add a 5 min cardio blast to the end of the workout and even got to running for 1min, walk for 2 and repeat for 20min. Finally, I have been feeling good!

But I have fallen over the last 2 days. Had some things going on here at home and I have just forgotten to eat! Some might find that hard to imagine but if I drink enough water/tea/coffee I just don’t feel hungry. I ate a good breakfast yesterday and then did weights…and then I’ve eaten very little since then until tonight when I had an omelet on toast with feta cheese. Hmmm, not good Susan! Not what my MassAttack plan says at all!

After tea, I headed outside to get on the treadmill and do my cardio. I haven’t felt energetic all day so I’ve put it off…better get on to it now, I thought. Alas! I could only manage a few minutes before feeling very faint, like I was going to collapse.

So I’ve learned one very valuable lesson. Yes, I’m getting fitter but it’s not just due to the working out – a lot of it has to do with the nutritional food I’m eating. Take that out of the equation and I’m still not doing real good.

Again, I’m reminded of what Bill Phillips says,

“When you eat the right foods, in the right amounts, in the right combos, at the right times, you simply cannot go wrong!”

So tomorrow it’s back to eating properly, which starts with actually eating! Doh!

Exercise: Week 20

Exercise Week 20
	Rest Day
	Weights +20min Exercise Bike +Kathy Smith Core Workout DVD & Stretch
	20min HIIT MA_running plan (Wk 1 Day 1)
	Weights (added calf raises with 25kg)
	20min HIIT (Wk 1 Day 3)
	Rest Day
	Weights (continued with calf raises +added 20kg to the fitball squats)

For the time being my weights workout consists of:

5 min warmup on treadmill or elliptical trainer
Leg Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 60kg
Lat Pull Down: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 30kg
Shoulder Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 9kg (my weakest area)
Chest Press: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 18kg
Cable Row Pulls: 3 sets of 10 reps @ 28kg
FitBall Squats 3 sets of 20 with 10kg weight in each hand
Core training: Hover on ball until fatigue
Back extensions until fatigue
Stretching
Cardio Blast 5min on treadmill or elliptical trainer

** HIIT Running plan = (see image)

click for larger image

My MassAttack

As I wrote yesterday, I don’t eat much food…much real food. The quality of the food I eat also isn’t the best as I’m not able to swallow and take many foods that I used to like. I loved oranges but I can’t eat them very well now. I like lettuces but can’t take many of them. They get stuck in my upper stomach area and cause me to be in violent pain, which often results in a vomiting episode. So strangely enough I can eat chocolate, Tim tams and all manner of yummies that aren’t nutritional yet I can’t take a lot of god foods. John often makes the most delicious stir fry meals but it usually ends up with me in the bathroom. I’m real fussy when it comes to meat and bread. Sushi. It’s such a good, healthy meal and it’s nice…but not when it ends up in the toilet, which is what happens when I try to indulge in one sushi. So, over the years I’ve found it very easy to just live on tea, coffee and foods which don’t cause me pain or give me other violent reactions. But nutritionally my body is starving, which is quite likely why my body starts to crave certain foods. But often with cravings our body craves that which can be its worst enemy. This is so in my situation.

Anyway, I did say I’d write about my week with MassAttack, instead of blathering on about what I can and can’t eat. I’ll try and cut a long story short so here goes:

Even a slight undetected hormonal imbalance can cause weight gain of approximately 5kg per year.

I was so tired of feeling sick and tired. I read a testimonial in a women’s magazine about a woman who had depression after the birth of her baby…how she couldn’t lose weight, had no energy, etc. Then she started MassAttack and she felt like she was ‘cured’. So, of course, as to my nature I researched it until the wee hours of the night…and the next day…and then next and the next. Hey, it is a lot of money to fork out for something that may or may now work, right? I try to be very careful with my husband’s money, which is partly why I’ve put off something like this- preferring the option of trying to learn it all by myself. I spoke to a naturopath, who told me that she has no idea of why I can’t help my own body get better as I seem to be on the right track and have lots of knowledge (despite the fact that I know knowledge doesn’t necessarily mean application). Anyway, when I search for reviews I never search for positive ones. That’s rather quite silly I think. Any company itself will always promote positive reviews so why start there. I want to make as an informed decision as possible. Therefore I want to hear as many perspectives as I can so I search out negative reviews. Incredibly I couldn’t find any. I found one lady who said she was disappointed with the whole program as she wanted a complete meal plan (meal by meal planning) but that didn’t bother me as I wouldn’t use it anyway. That to me, wasn’t a real negative review.

If I went to see a naturopath IRL I would be seeing one person…with many consultations which take time and cost money. My one time payment covers me with MassAttack for 12 months of free naturopathic support via the Internet, which is my preferred option.

So I went in and signed up!

I liked that it wasn’t just one naturopath…rather a team of specialised health professionals. Apparently my information was to be reviewed by the main naturopath, Narelle, who would go on to speak with her naturopathic team.

Then came an extensive questionnaire for me to fill out. I hit the send button and then waited. It can take between 7-14 days for your plan to arrive but my plan only took 7 days. During this time I tried to clean out the pantry, which is never a bad thing to do anyway. I moved sugars and white flour products to the very top of the pantry where I need a chair to stand on. I put all the healthy foods in the shelves with easiest access. I put nuts, seeds and other nibblies into containers for easy access.

Narelle emailed me to say that my program was ready for download so I headed over to MA, logged in and began downloading and printing! My Hormonal Profile, Food Charts, Nutrient Protocol along with many other pdf documents were all part of the program.

The Food Charts are assembled like stop lights. Green is my go-to list…65% of foods eaten for the day should come from this list. The orange or yellow list are important foods too…very nutritious but must be in balance – about 25% of my daily intake and the red list are foods which I can east occasionally or to be added to a meal = approximately 10%. I like this system as I can still eat with the whole family, no weighing of foods or counting calories and still allows me the occasional treat. I’ve learned some things too.

Narelle sent my Hormonal Profile and believes that I will improve by eating for conditions such as: Glucose Imbalance, Adrenal Burnout, Thyroid Imbalance and Hormone Imbalance. I have long suspected all of these conditions but how to go about fixing them was beyond me!

I knew that my caffeine addiction would need to be addressed as would my craving/weakness for Parmesan Cheese. I knew I’d have to drink more water and all those typical things that we all know but don’t do. What I didn’t realise is that some good foods are not necessarily good for me, and my conditions! All my research over the years has led me to certain foods…but not all of them are best for me!

eg: broccoli is my favourite green veg, along with spinach but they aren’t good green veggies for me. They are in my red list but silverbeet, fennel, cucumber and avocado are in my green list! Goji berries are very much on my green list so I’ve added them to my plan. (I put them in m muesli because I don’t like the taste of them) They’re great for building thyroid function though! Pine nuts and bananas are great foods but they are on my yellow and red list. These are two foods that I did eat a lot of. I would eat about 5 bananas a week and a few years ago, before my Parmesan Cheese craving, I craved and devoured pine nuts. So when I did eat real food they seemed to be the wrong foods for my condition.

I was sent a lot of information…much of it I already knew, some of it was new to me. but more than that, I am committed to the APPLICATION of the program.

Next Narelle gave me a list of nutrient supplements that I would benefit from. These supplements have been selected for me and my needs. It is recommended that you use the nutrients for about 3 months. The recommended nutrients are listed in order of significance. I haven’t yet started on the nutrient protocol…but hope to next week. I will only be starting on one or two of the supplements for now as that is all I can afford. During all this time, I’m supposed to keep in contact with MassAttack regularly…letting them know how I am going all the time.

So for now I have been eating more…and eating more regularly. It has not been hard although I am yet to totally get off sugar and caffeine so I know that will slow any progress. So, that’s enough for week one…I’ll write more later.