The boys need to run (elder) and sleep (younger). It is damp. It is September. You are hungry. What do you do? Go blackberrying! Autumn abundance in Winnersh, Berkshire. Pictures by Vicki Clubley-Moore and Andy Clubley-Moore. www.vickiclubleymoore.weebly.com
0 Comments
SUGAR-FREE for a whole month. I (mostly) did it. I had a few slips, a few trips, a few stumbles. The aim was never perfection. The aim was to be focused on being as-sugar-free-as-possible-within-reason. SO when the ice cream came out at the end of meals, I politely declined. When the cakes and biscuits and chocolates went around at work, I politely declined. When my eye spotted cakes in cafes and said, 'err, Hello?' I politely declined. What have I learned in the end half of the project? More particularly, what have I learned after the project? A bit of background, I have a yeast-based infestation. It is an overgrowth and overabundance of a systemic (all the way through the body) fungal problem commonly known as Candida. Popular occurrences of this is thrush in women. The problem is particularly marked in my left foot, especially around the big toe, frequently looking scabby and splitting into nasty sore cuts - great for a climber, cuts on my major tool of ascension, ideal! BEING yeast-based this systemic problem loves sugar. Modern bread is made with sugar in so the yeast can grow faster and the bread will rise quickly, the Chorley Wood Technique. Rather than letting the bread rise slowly in its own sweet time and making (I might suggest) better bread. However, the bonus is that we do have lots of bread in the supermarkets to choose from and not a country buried under bakeries trying to be idealistic and slowly rise their loaves. That is another whole different argument. However, the point was that sugar feeds yeast overgrowths. Cut back, or out, sugar and you will cut back or kill off the yeast. Easy, right. THE best minds on dealing with this on removing systemic candida put a finer point on their sword. They recommend removal of all white flour - pasta, bread, cake, the list goes on! - all fruit; bread - as it contains sugars, flour, yeast… - And a whole raft, nay flotilla, of other fine foods. So, I have a bit of a trip to go on, a finely focused diet to indulge in. How long for? Three months! Seriously, three months of care-full focus on diet. ALONG with the collapse of toe health, I have discovered something interesting. My personal brand of candida manifests in scalp problems, lots of dead and itchy skin. How did I discover this? By having my cake - and eating it too! I would like to observe here that I am a master creator of a fantastic sponge cake. It really is good, let me know if you want to recipe. However, being white flour and (this time) icing sugar, it was not ideal for the process. It was the end of summer staff BBQ and also conveniently the first of September. So I blew the budget on sugar and ate, well, nothing more than I might in my End of July / Pre-sugar-free / normal meal times. THE result, two days of sneaking in a bit of sugar and my scalp has flared right back up again. Itching like crazy. So, at the end of August, and the beginning of September I have come to the Return of my Hero's Journey. That Return involves a need for introspection and examination. So, where do we go from here? WHEN I get into the ideal diet, this is going to take 3 months, I feel that - actually, really, truly - being sugar-free is not actually that much of a challenge, it is not really that difficult. I am politely declining lots of foods that I know are not really serving me very well. They are foods that I consume, and they blast through my body and ruin its equilibrium. Is that a sacrifice? No. Not at all. Roll of October! Thank you ACM Positive Passionate Power-full People If you are, or know anyone else, who is brilliantly positive and passionate I run a Facebook group for sharing your positive experiences with the world. The group is about posting things that you do well - letting others share in your success - and giving thanks for anything your are grateful for. Facebook friend me or my wife - Vicki Clubley-Moore and message us to join. There is lots of happy news out there when you go and make it! Make your life positive! Make your life passionate! Make your life extraordinary! (A fine starting point for systemic candida removal is Philip Day, nutritionist and inspirational speaker.) Have a lovely day. A Place to Pause
Grey-Shouldered Kite, Wal Wal, Victoria State, Australia. I was there with Vicki, doing some farming, enjoying stripping their kitchen floor out, fun times. They were also in a fourteen year drought when we arrived. When we left it had broken. There was a lot of rain. Hence the non-Australian beauty-full blue sky! We brought a lot of rain to Australia. As I write this it is to the first rain of September after the fantastically sunshiny summer of 2013 - best since 1974, or as I prefer to put it The Summer of Your Childhood That You Remember, that's what this summer has been. My t-shirt tan lines prove it! No we step towards autumn and the slowing down of the year. Welcome to September. I love September. Rain is permitted, reasonable, expected. Great news. |
Archives
December 2017
Categories
All
AuthorAndy Clubley-Moore: joyful outdoor sports activist, writer, father, husband. Lover of life, activity, success and barefoot living. |