HEALTH, HEALING AND HOPE KIM NEWTON OCTOBER 2010
MY AMAZING STORY OF HOW I CURED MY DEPRESSION USING AN INTENSIVE VITAMIN AND MINERAL SUPPLEMENT.
Table of Contents
1 Thankyous
2 Preface
3 Childhood/ teenager
4 Symptoms
5 Health food shop
6 Naturopath
7 Body Balance
8 Toxins
9 Empower
10 WINZ/Disability Allowance
11 Healing
12 My mother
13 Invalids benefit
14 Exercise
15 Food and Mood
16 Will’s healing
17 Devonport Gardens/ Organic food
18 My future
19 The future of mental health in New Zealand
20 References and Recommended reading
1Thankyous:
There are a few people I would like to deeply thank:
Nicola Grace from Health Freedom, I will never forget the trip to Wellington years ago when we stood in front of parliament with our Health Freedom Red
Umbrellas. This was our right to choose what supplements we wanted to take to stay healthy and alive. I will also never forget those anti-vitamin marches we went on. This is where I met the other lady I greatly admire, Green M.P Sue Kedgley. If it was not for Sue the anti-vitamin bill would have gone through. Sue is such a role model for me.
Linda Christianson from Framework Devonport Organic Gardens, Linda pushed to have Food and Mood into Frameworks Personal Development course. Linda has been very supportive to me and the other consumers at the gardens, and is a real greenie and is such an inspiration. She is a very determined and strong lady and very knowledgeable, my friend as well as my “boss”.
I want to thank David Hardy and Tony Stephan the founders of Truehope in Canada who gave me back my life. Obviously, also to Eric and Julie Blankenbyl from Strauss Herbs (the distributors of Empower in New Zealand) for their amazing kindness and support.
Adrienne Grace who ran the Food and Mood workshops with whom I assisted. Adrienne has been talking about food and mood for years and it is only now that she is being appreciated. Dr Glenn Twentyman, a true holistic doctor, “first do thee no harm”, a man with compassion.
Lastly to Jan my best friend who has a heart of pure gold.
2 Preface.
For six years I have been taking a broad spectrum vitamin and mineral supplement from Canada. Empower see http://www.truehope.com is specifically designed for mental health issues, particularly Bipolar.
Empower is very intensive, or therapeutic. It is not available through the pharmacy or health shop, but Empower supplies can be obtained if confirmed by your doctor or psychiatrist.
It has been micronised which means electronically charged and chelated (pronounced keylated) meaning the nutrients are attached to an amino acid. As well the synergy effect of having 36 vitamins, minerals, amino acids and herbs, makes Empower more bio available to the mind and body. The nutrients are also in a particular balance for them to work most effectively.
They say there is no such thing as a magic bullet, well there was for me! You are not supposed to use words such as miracle as this has religious connotations. If God did create the world, he created all of the plants and mineral rocks that these nutrients came from. Magnesium from the ores, iodine from the sea, vitamin C from fruit and vegetables.
I do believe this supplement saved me; it did not change my life. I did not have a life before; I existed as a walking zombie, a dead person.
My friend once said to me, “You are the most miserable looking person I have ever met; anyone would think someone has died”. I said ‘‘they have, me”. I am afraid the same is true when I look at my other mental health friends who look blank. It’s not just the medications which give them this look; because I was never on any, it may also be from them having massive nutritional deficiencies.
I am very excited to write this book, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I want other consumers not to give up hope and know that you can be CURED. We are talking about an 80% effect rate with a broad spectrum supplement. Dr Abram Hoffer (M .D, P .H.D) practising individual treatment talked about 90% CURE rates; did I say 90%? Yes, and did I say cure? YES!!
Dr Abram Hoffer was a psychiatrist who treated 5000 people in the 1950s with mega doses of nutrients. He ran double blind trials and he published 40 year follow up reports. Reference Patrick Holford “Optimum Nutrition for the Mind”, pages xii and 5.
Patrick Holford, who is considered by his peers to be one of the world’s top nutritionists and health experts, has treated more than 100,000 people (year 2003) including those with schizophrenia, has had similar rates of success. Reference Patrick Holford “Optimum Nutrition for the Mind”, inside cover.
What Patrick writes and talks about will become public knowledge in 10 years time. Or should I say it takes 10 years for mainstream medicine to catch up!
I also want mental health service workers to know about these incredible cure rates.
In the future some of them won’t have jobs anymore because consumers will be well again! Well as in vital and full of life and energy and clarity, this is the true meaning of health. Not just out of hospital which seems to be the conventional medical model.
I want people to know what has happened to me. I am not worried about being private when there is so much suffering in the mental (and physical) health systems. My friend Ross said that every day he spent in the mental hospital is like one day he lost from his soul. He said that he was so worried he would be so emotionless in 5 years time. I want people to know that other health issues from cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma and arthritis can also be cured or prevented using the same methods I have. A change in dietary habits, eliminating toxins and stress from your life, any food allergies; exercise, and top quality supplements or herbs (concentrated nutrients).
We are fed a lot of lies in society, and one of them is that health issues cannot be cured. Mega doses of vitamin C will kill cancer cells. Cancer cells cannot survive in an alkaline environment (like your body).Think of this. If these nutritional supplements were pharmaceutical drugs which cured people that has NO SIDE EFFECTS EVER IN THE 6 YEARS I HAVE TAKEN THEM, this would be all over the news as a new wonder drug. However, there is not a mention of nutritional support. But, there is however a little on Canadian Television on Empower (So things are beginning to come out). This is because the drug companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year lobbying governments to make sure they can maintain their dominant position.
In the last 20 years, and not one death from natural health. In contrast, death in New Zealand in 1998 (the last year of detailed official statistics available) caused by adverse reactions to pharmaceutical drugs killed 1524 New Zealanders. Referencehttp://www.Healthfreedom.co.nz Rebuttal to Annette King. This does not include serious drug reactions as well. These medicines are supposed to heal you, not KILL you.
In the U.S.A, a staggering 42,000 people die every year from psychiatric medications alone Reference “Making a Killing” the untold story of psychotropic drugging as screened on Maori television Oct 09.
Many retired FDA officials go to work as special advisors to the Pharmaceutical Industry. The fact is it has been widely reported that Federal Drug Administration officials are frequently rewarded with lucrative jobs with companies they were regulating.http://www.smart-publications.com/nutrition/fda.php.
In order to protect its authority and boost Big Pharma’s sales, the FDA went after numerous natural health companies in 2009. http://www.naturalnews.com/025347_n…
Of course the worse is that many medical schools training and research relies heavily on Drug Company funding and teaching a drug orientated approach. So a medical student only learns a minimum amount on nutrition.
Medicine is defined in Section 3 of the medicines act. A product is a medicine if it has a pharmacological effect and is used in humans primarily for a therapeutic effect. Pharmacological means drug action. Reference, http://www.medsafe “About Medsafe”’ “What we do”.
The activity of Medsafe supports Health Freedoms argument that a pharmaceutical biased regulator should not be regulating what amounts to the industry’s major competitor, the natural health industry. Reference Nicola Grace spokesperson Health
Freedom. http://www.healthfreedom.co.nz . Medsafe Witch hunt 2007-2008.
I am very scared of the drug companies and the power they wield. I have been very sick and now enjoy excellent health. However, if the drug companies (through Medsafe) have their way and ban or lower the doses of supplements as they tried to do recently in New Zealand with the anti-vitamin bill, then I will end up lying on my bed in a trance again. Also my friends will never have a chance to have a normal life. I believe in being positive, though. In reading this one more person knows the real truth about drug companies, and profit, and knowledge is power.
60,000 people worldwide are on Empower including about 5,000 in Canada.
Fortunately the nutritional supplement Empower has worked very well for me. I believe I may still be deficient at the time of my menses as I am still a little stressed, tired, and have brain fog.
Taking extra minerals can make Empower not work so effectively, as it throws out the balance. I used to take extra vitamin C when I had my menes. I also up my dose from 15 Empower a day to about 30, then also, but with time I am cutting back. This may seem like a lot, but I need this much! I had terrible PMS; however this has completely gone now.
I am a lot better than what I was. I am even better when I do not have my menses. Look at it this way, years ago my illness became 90% of my personality and only 10% was me, now I am 90% me and I am amazed! My mind is so calm, these days it doesn’t race anymore, and I am able to ring people instead of hide from them, and there is no more lying on the bed in trances!
You cannot put a price on health as it affects our moods and how we function in daily life. I am now 46 years old and from the age of about 19 have suffered with chronic low grade depression (dysthymia is the fancy word) for about 23 years. I say I have depression, but I do not say I suffer anymore. I stopped counting the last 2 years.
Remember, I had chronic low grade depression, but this was enough to completely debilitate me and take over my life. It’s only been recently that I have been well enough to write a book as my mind is clear enough to express itself more fully. At one time I did not have my health, and if you have ever had a health issue, you will know that my illness is virtually all I thought about every second of the day. Why? Because it sucks the life out of you.
This is my way for speaking up for my friends who do not have a voice. I was lucky in that I wasn’t under the mental health system or on medications; I was at home, not in hospital. I was also very fortunate in that I was determined to get better. Without determination you cannot help yourself.
I feel I am the new face of mental health like Autumn Stringam from Canada who cured her own Bipolar on Empower. We are finally healthy, full of vitality and function so well.
I know of people who have died of the medications. Ten people because of a combination of the medications, fatty and processed foods, lack of exercise, smoking and alcohol. Your liver simply cannot detoxify all this and you have a heart attack.
It is alright for businesses to make money, but not at the expense of people losing their health, their children, and income, and future, because of the Drug Companies and the mental health system as I have seen with my friends.
Anyway, this story is about the other side of health. I did this on my own as I had no friends or partner, and I had cut off from my family, although I do see them now. They are proud of me as they have seen the changes in me. My father used to tell me to pull myself up by my bootstraps, which although well meaning, showed he never really understood my health issue. He made me feel as if I was lazy and did not want to work, when all I wanted to be was well enough so I could work. I am now well enough 6 years later! You would not tell someone with cancer or arthritis to pull themselves up by their boot straps.
When I went on Empower, (2004) there was only internet support from Canada and Eric (Strauss Herbs) in N.Z. Now you have someone ringing you once a week or as needed.
Before we start, here are some basic facts I would like you to consider:
1 Our entire bodies are made from food. Every single cell – DNA, hormones, neurotransmitters, eyes, teeth, skin; bones are made from proteins, water (nearly 70% of our bodies), carbohydrates, essential fats, and coenzymes, vitamins and minerals to make everything function properly. A deficiency in any one of these nutrients has serious consequences for us.
2 We are told via the Drug Companies through the media, Ministry of Health and doctors, that genetics is responsible for our health issues. It is only a theory that our genes make us predisposed towards an illness. A stressful life event e.g. divorce, lost of job, exams, drug use; can certainly trigger health issues. Genes account for only about 30% of our health and lifestyle affects us 70%. This is according to Dr Moira Fordyce a geriatrician from the Stanford University’s School of Medicine.
http://www.articleslatimes.com2009/febA2007LAtimes . This is good news, because if we control our lifestyle we have a lot of control over our own health.
3 Stress depletes many nutrients from our body including zinc, magnesium, vitamin C, and all the B vitamins, which are all vital to the nervous system including of course the brain.
4 Our moods e.g. being tired, grumpy are often the first to become apparent, when we have any health issue. This is because our brains, although weighing only 2-3% of our body weight, use up to 40% of our energy from food.
5 We have the remarkable ability to heal ourselves if given the right raw materials from which we are made; this is called orthomolecular medicine, (correct molecule) which addresses the underlying cause of our health issue. Biochemical’s is another word for nutrients.
When our brain chemistry becomes restored on something like Empower, we need to lower our conventional medications. It is dangerous not to as we will become overmedicated and suffer adverse drug reactions. It is possible to completely eliminate your conventional medications, and be in excellent health without them when you have corrected your biochemical imbalances.
6 We have nutritional deficiencies because of conventional farming practices of depleting soils of nutrients, and not adding them back. Herbicides, pesticides, fertilisers, irradiation (spraying with toxins) and growth hormones, genetic engineering (g.e) are linked to cancers and neurological diseases. Then our food processing methods (e.g. fruit picked unripened and kept for up to 6 months in cold storage) pasteurisation, homogenisation, and canning. Processing food e.g. brown food to make white food e.g. brown to white rice, strips over 77% of nutrients from it. Then toxic chemicals such as preservatives, (salting, smoking and fermentation are more natural) colourings and additives are added. Then we over boil. We should eat raw, lightly stir fry, steam or boil in a little water for just a few minutes. Microwaves can be called cancer boxes. Reference Drs Blanc and Hertel from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. http://www.mercola.com/…/microwave/hazards2htm-United States.
7 For unknown genetic or metabolic reasons some people have a higher need for nutrients than others to function. Empower has a staggering 960mcg of vitamin B12 in it, this is 15,000 times the recommended daily dose. (This is halved for maintenance dosage, so it would be 480mg). My vitamin B12 reading is 1100 HH, 400-700 is the normal range; I need more to function properly. Of course we all need individual dosages and the support of a nutritional psychiatrist or a naturopath or holistic doctor concerning the amounts in relation to your medications.
8 In Germany St Johns wort is prescribed as the number one antidepressant over conventional antidepressants. St Johns wort is remarkably safe. Compared with Prozac and other prescription antidepressants, it has a very low incidence of side effects. Reference, prominent psychiatrist Dr Hyla Cass, St Johns wort: Natures Blues Buster, pages 83-84.This is funding choices over health choices otherwise countries such as New Zealand would prescribe St Johns wort over antidepressants.
Studied extensively by Commission E, the scientific advisory panel to the German government. http://www.holistic-herbalist.com/St Johns wort.
9 Antidepressants (S.S.R.I’s) recycle the serotonin in your brain, with side effects.
The happy neurotransmitter (chemical messenger in the brain) serotonin is made from the amino acid tryptophan which is found in high protein foods such as chicken, fish, eggs, cheese. Also it’s worth supplementing with 5- HTP (a derivatitive of tryptophan, that is one step closer to serotonin) and derived from the African plant griffonia. This travels across your brain barrier faster. Tryptophan BUILDS new serotonin factories with no side effects. So is it not better to eat your self happy?
10 The gut produces 2/3’s of the bodies’ serotonin, the “happy neurotransmitter” so in essence you are feeding 2 brains. The right foods make you happy, the wrong foods
depressed. There is definitely a gut-brain connection. Reference Patrick Holford “Optimum Nutrition for the Mind”, page 13.
11 White sugar has around 90% of its nutrients stripped during the refining process. Eating excess refined sugar also uses up all of the B vitamins, magnesium and chromium during the digestion process further depleting you, many nutritionists call it deadly white poison.
Read your food labels, every known illness from asthma to cancer, arthritis, and heart disease are linked to sugar, as it weakens your immune system, and makes you more acidic. We get all the natural complex sugars we need in our diets from fruits and vegetables. Try molasses, (the nutrient rich matter from the first stage of sugar processing of sugar cane) stevia, (a natural plant sweetener) good quality honey, cinnamon, vanilla, ginger, and coconut.
Dates, pineapple, plums, bananas, strawberries, kumera, parsnips, pumpkins are other sweet ideas too.
12 Food is fuel for your body and mind not something to fill the gap. Fill it with junk food and you won’t function. Give yourself organic, natural unprocessed whole foods and you will feel alive and have energy. Optimum nutrition for optimum health!!!
3 Childhood/teenager
I grew up in a white middle class family with one younger brother.
When I was growing up my mum fed us cheese, nuts and fruit for snacks instead of sweets which was great. I had milk and fruit juices as well as raspberry drinks, raro, lemonades. We did have red meat and 3 veggies, but it was more organic then you could taste it. We also ate puddings and biscuits, but they were often homemade.
My mum was very diet conscious, but in my teenage years I ate a lot of rubbish such as K.F.C, pizzas, chocolate cakes, ice-cream, and fish and chips. I was buying some of my own food as well as eating my mums home cooking.
I had periods of overeating and vomiting because I had just eaten too much. I had some issues with food back then; I went to Weight Watchers, though I wasn’t even overweight. I do remember consuming a lot of cow’s milk, ice-cream, cheese, cream as a teenager and I had continuous mucus in my throat. At the time I did not know that these foods were causing this. Many of us can have a hard time digesting cow’s milk as it is not designed for human beings. Many food allergies, intolerances and asthma are linked to cow’s milk, organic raw unpasteurised, unhomogenised full cream milk (from the farm!) can be better. I now have no cows’s milk except the little I have in my yoghurt. Yoghurt is easier to digest than cow’s milk, and it contains healthy cultures. I would eat soya yoghurt, but they put sugar in it!
Back in my early twenties I would be sitting and my nose would just start to drip, I couldn’t seem to stop this. I was very moody; actually I had been since the age of 17 especially when I had my menes. I was also a loner, but that was about the extent of my health issue at this time. I had cut off from my family as we weren’t getting along.
At 28 years of age I was fired from my job, and I lost the routine of going to work everyday. I think this was when my depression was triggered, however I did not know what was wrong with me until my only friend pointed this out. At the time I had been living in dumpy little bedsitters, now at least I live in a Housing N. Z home.
My doctor prescribed 5 antidepressants which I took over the months. None of them worked, even though I was on each of them a few months or so. The last one I tried gave me a massive bruise on my leg and my friend advised me to stop taking that otherwise I might get a blood clot. Taking medication did not worry me, I was not against medication, but they did not seem to help me. So here I was just really living with my symptoms WITHOUT medications. I would go to the doctors, but they wouldn’t be able to do anything to help me. Looking back I wish they had mentioned about nutritional support, so my healing could have started earlier.
Deep down I knew there was not much wrong with me, it was more that I did not have my health than I was “mentally unwell”. I used to wonder why, if it was a head problem, I would have physical symptoms as well?
4 Symptoms
Flu. I continually had the flu or I felt as if I was just 2 steps away from getting it again. I was always coughing even when I did not have the flu. I have not had a flu or head cold now for over 5 years. My immune system is so strong it can always fight back.
My skin was dry around my eyes. At one stage my skin had a greyish hue to it, I went and had an iron test done and the reading was 9 (10-30 is the normal range). I started eating more chicken, and my reading went up several points.
My skin had no colour to it, with time a healthy glow returned.
Another time I had a sore which just wouldn’t heal, I instinctively knew this was because I wasn’t in good health.
Cramps. I would always have cramps in my legs at night and terrible stomach cramps when I had my menses. Every month on the nutrients these have slowly disappeared. I know that magnesium and calcium are among 2 nutrients which help with relaxing your muscles.
Brain fog. When my menses came I would go into a brain fog for 5 days straight. I could not form a sentence or a thought. I had to be on my own then as I was so depressed. Physically this was the same, as I had to tuck up in bed for that whole 5 days as well. The energy was sucked out of me. Slowly I became better until I used to rest just for parts of the days on the bed. I can remember when I first went for a jog then, I nearly cried.
I AM CERTAINLY NOT IN BED ANYMORE!
Hiding in the house. For approximately 12 years, I hid at home not answering the door or phone for days on end. I would take it off the hook, and hide behind the curtains if people came. I used to go out just for basics and for walks. Some days I was not always like this and would talk to people.
I walked around for 15 years with my mouth turned down at the corners as I was so miserable.
Exhaustion. I was exhausted all the time, and would have to lean on the hand basin or sink when doing the washing up. I would be exhausted just from catching the bus.
Sometimes when I walked my feet would go “thud, thud”, I was so tired.
Sometimes it took me 3 days until I managed to get myself out to bring the washing in. I used to stress at night about putting the rubbish bin out the next day as I knew that was about all I could handle doing in a day. I used to get the bin out, but not bring it in at night. This is hard for me to relate to now as I whip the washing in and out in 5 mins, I am up and down stairs all day.
Concentration. I could not read more than a few lines of writing, because I was so tired I could not focus.
Trances. Lying on the bed in trances for parts of the day was probably one of my worst symptoms. When awake I felt I was in a walking trance which meant that I could not think straight e.g. I would forget to eat meals, or why I had come into a room.
Stress levels were very high, hence I was always yelling and screaming at people.
I was quite aggressive. I was always touching my face and hair, I was a nervous wreck.
Paranoia. I used to think people had stolen my wallet whenever I misplaced it, which was all the time. Whenever I went over the harbour bridge by bus, I used to think the bus was going to go into the water. I was very scared to go in lifts.
Dreams and violent thoughts. I would have dreams of being attacked by animals and people, and nightmares that I was always drowning in water. In my violent thoughts I would think about for e.g. horse’s heads being chopped off when awake. I have none of these thoughts now.
Obsessiveness. I was worried about touching objects such as window levers for fear of getting germs. I would wash my hands continuously. I am still a clean freak now, washing my hands longer than normal, but not to the extent I used to before.
Racy mind. My mind would race all over the place, and I would always butt into conversations much to my friends disdain. I would blurt things out that I know I should not have said. It was as if I could not control my mind. I could not seem to express myself properly and people would misunderstand me.
Indecisiveness. I just couldn’t make a decision about anything.
Confusion and muddleness. I always got street names and directions completely muddled up and become confused easily.
Lack of appetite. I used to have my subconscious telling me not to eat or to eat very little. One day all I ate was a banana, and I would often go 8 hours without food. With time on Empower my appetite seemed to become stimulated and my appetite increased. I know that zinc and B vitamins can help with this. I also did not have any appetite signals; they had completely disappeared, so I had never known if I had eaten too much or not enough. After 20 odd years my appetite signals have now reappeared. Sometimes I get over stressed and eat too much. However, I have found now after being on Empower that this has disappeared with time. Lack of appetite led to the next problem:
Lack of sleep. As I used to often go to bed hungry I could not get to sleep, and I would be up and down all night eating and then trying to get back to sleep. I would have 4, 5 or 6 hours sleep a night. Lack of sleep wears you down after years, – 8 hours was a treat. I was always counting how many hours sleep I had each night. I now sleep 8 hours a night and have energy to spend.
I used to shake because of my hunger, but I did not know at the time that was why. One time I thought someone was under my mattress shaking it, but it was me shaking. I would wake in the morning plastered in sweat because I had hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar levels). Of course it wasn’t just being hungry that deprived me of sleep, but it triggered it. The nutrients I was deficient in would have been a major problem as well. I had a happy feeling when I did eat. It was as if my blood sugar levels were going up. Again here is an important link between food and mood.
I only hallucinated once and that was because I had done 8 hours hard cleaning one day, (and 4 hours the day before) and I had not eaten all day. I thought my big black bag on the couch was the shape of a person for a second.
5 Health Food Shop
At the age of 38 I moved to the beautiful Whangaparoa Coast. By this time I thought my health and life were out of control. I was just plodding along from day to day. I thought to just keep going. I finished my relationship with my only friend and became very depressed. So I went and joined a support group for company up there, not even realising it was a mental health group. There I meet Ross a lovely Maori guy who I fell in love with. I weighed 132 kgs; I made an effort to lose weight and got down to 108kgs. I wanted to lose weight to be more attractive to him.
Ross suffered with schizophrenia which I knew nothing about, except for the recent film “Beautiful Mind” shown on TV, which was a nightmare of a movie in its portrayal of someone suffering with a health issue. Again this is the media for you.
I could not understand why Ross a young man of 38 was lying on the couch like an old person. I went to the library, looking for an answer and I took out a book called “Vitamin B3 and Schizophrenia: Discovery, recovery and controversy” by Dr Abram Hoffer. I could not help Ross as he was too unwell (stimulant use) and under the mental health system. He very soon ended up living on the streets of Auckland under bridges and at the City Mission. This was a real eye opener to me as I did not know people lived like this. I was brought up in Remuera. I walked around for 3 days trying to find him, (and I did), love! He loved me too.
I thought there might be something to the subject of this library book on nutrition which I was reading that could help me help myself. I went to Hardy’s Health store and the lovely assistant showed me an American book called “Prescription for Nutritional Healing” by James Balch M.D and Phyllis Balch C.N.C. The chapter depression and diet talked about eating natural whole foods and taking nutritional supplements. Fascinated, I knew I was on to something, I ran to the supermarket and threw in cans of fish, chicken, eggs, wholegrain oats, soya milk, brown rice and bread, olive oil, fruit and vegetables, pumpkin seeds, nuts, unsweetened yoghurt.
This was a real change from my usual highly processed and animal fat diet. I ate huge pieces of red meat, bacon, butter, cream, cheese, salami, sweetened yoghurt, white bread, rice and pasta, cakes and chocolate, and about 2 litres of Coco-Cola daily in the summer. I started drinking water, 2 glasses a day and then increasing it, this was a real shock to my taste buds after all that Coco- Cola! I started eating like this straight away. As it was such a sudden change, in the next day or two I noticed that colours seemed a lot brighter, and my mind felt a lot more alive. Although I have never taken hard drugs, I thought that the nutrients must have been hitting my brain cells with a drug like effect.
Another added bonus was that over the course of a year I lost 40 kgs, the weight just melted off. The first week I lost 3kgs, then 2kgs for the next few weeks till I was 68 kgs. While the weight loss made me psychologically a lot happier, I want to stress I was still chronically biochemically depressed. I also want to stress that I had lost this weight BEFORE I started on Empower. Some people think Empower is some sort of weight loss product – it isn’t. Although there are certainly some nutrients in there which could help you lose weight e.g. chromium. Even though I was not big anymore, I still was lying on the bed in trances, so I did not have any more energy. At least now though when I walked up a hill I could walk straight up, where before I would be stopping about 6 times to rest before I could continue, because of the extra weight.
At the Hardy’s Health store the week after my first visit they had had a free in store naturopath who gave me an iridology test (reading your eyes). Also a test with a little lap top computer from which they put wires on to you (I think this was a rife machine). She said I was lacking in all the B vitamins, magnesium, omega 3, coenzyme Q10 and I had a sluggish liver, which was not surprising considering my diet for the last 20 years. I bought some basic vitamin and minerals tablets and took the receipts to WINZ; alas they would not pay for them.
6 Naturopath
I went to a practising naturopath and had a quote written up for WINZ. This included hair analysing for nutritional deficiencies and toxic overload, food allergies I might have and the price for supplements that I would probably need. Again, unfortunately WINZ were not prepared to pay for this because they found hair analysing was too “out there”.
7 Body Balance.
By this time I had moved into the bottom flat of Jan’s house. Jan became my best friend. She suffers with Bipolar and rapid cycles 3 weeks (depression) and 3 weeks (mania), and this is a hell of a life. After lying in bed for 3 weeks not doing anything Jan would have to catch up with friends, chores etc when her high came around. Then when she had done this her low would come again. In mania she would spend 3 or 4 nights in a row without sleep. In depression she just spent this time catching up on sleep and resting from her excessive activity.
Jan describes her medications as torture. As well as the fact they only worked to a degree. Jan was also into nutrition.
A friend of Jan’s was selling Body Balance which is a colloidal (suspended in liquid, to make it 99% bio available to the body) tonic from the sea. Body Balance contained vitamins, minerals and amino acids. It even contained the mineral salt lithium, but in low doses and in the organic form, not the harsh form the doctors give you. Jan swore the Body Balance saved her life one time when curled up in depression she could not eat an old carrot out of the fridge. She took Body Balance and said it got her out of depression.
I ordered some through a doctor which WINZ thankfully paid for, and I started taking 2 capfuls a day. After a while I realised it was not working for me. About 6 months later I decided to try it again, this time I took 4 capfuls and yes, it was making me feel a lot less depressed. However, I needed something a lot stronger.
8 Toxins
About this time the skin on my face started to weep pus, it oozed out. For about 6 months this went on, it was horrible. Thankfully this finally stopped. I did not know what was causing this, but Jan said it was the toxins from my unhealthy diet of 20 years being excreted. Jan and I read a book from the library called “Optimum Nutrition for the mind” by Patrick Holford. When I first read this book it was too scientific for me to understand, however I did get the general gist of what this was about. This book blows me away! I have since read this book about 6 times and it is now like a bible to me. Patrick researches all of the latest information from around the world from expert doctors, psychiatrists, researchers and scientists. He goes through this and writes books (30 so far) and gives talks. He is also the founder of the prestigious Institute for Optimum Nutrition in the U.K. Patrick is backed by research and clinical experience of nearly 30 years and is a psychologist.
9 Empower
Jan’s psychiatrist, Dr Allen Fraser (Royal College of Australian and New Zealand
Psychiatrists) had met a Dr Bonnie Kaplan when she came to New Zealand about the year 2000. Dr Bonnie Kaplan is an independent behavioural and Empower researcher from the University of Calgary in Canada.
Dr Allen Fraser told Jan about Empower, so Jan and I downloaded all of the information off the computer. We had hundreds and hundreds of pages across the living room floor which we numbered and put into our own folders, this cost me $70 in photocopying. Jan (who is a scientist) and I made up tables comparing the nutritional content of Body Balance and Empower. Empower is 10 to 20 times stronger and in many cases some of the nutrients in Empower just weren’t in Body Balance. We watched the Empower DVD, but I was a little sceptical about it as these people who said they were getting better were from overseas and I thought they could have been acting. I suffered from some paranoia as well then, which did not help me in believing this. However, the more I read about people changing their lifestyles, taking supplements and curing their mental health issues, the more I became excited. There are over 600 references in scientific journals linking mental illness with nutritional deficiencies. The distributors of Empower came to N.Z in Dec 2003, however I did not know about this until months later when a friend said he had been listening to radio pacific. Empower was now available in N.Z through Strauss Herbs. Interestingly, Strauss Herbs are also quite well known for their heart drops.
10 WINZ/Disability Allowance
By June 2004 I had organised through WINZ a Disability Allowance of $54 a week, which they approved of because of Empower’s scientific backing. Their trials had been published in 5 psychiatric journals with very promising results. I was lucky that I did not have any other costs on the D.A e.g. lawns, phone, and I just had to put in $6 a week of my own money. A bottle costs $120 and lasts 2 weeks on full loading dosage which I am still on 6 years later. Maintenance dosage is 7-8 a day when you are symptom free, which I am not on yet only because of my menses.
I had Jan’s psychiatrist approve Empower for Strauss Herbs and WINZ. Dr Laurie Jo Moore was American and she said in her twang “these vitamins are not in high amounts, we take lots of vitamins in America’’.
I was lucky as well, because I wasn’t on conventional medications, so I would not have the withdrawal symptoms of coming off these, although this can be managed quite significantly with amino acids.
11 Healing
I remember I was still a little sceptical, taking the nutritional support and believing it was going to work, so this was not the placebo effect.
I took 3 pills the first day, and quickly built up in a week to the recommended at that time 18 pills a day (now 15 is the recommended amount as it is now more bio available).
In fact to be honest I did not think Empower was working, as nothing was happening for the first 3 months, and then I noticed small subtle changes such as I did not seem to be so tired or confused anymore. How I really noticed Empower was working for me was with my menses, every month I gained more energy. I do not have a heavy menses, but because of my massive deficiencies they drain me so much. This was a slow healing process – with time I would start to lie on the bed for just parts of the day, now, not at all. The brain fog over the years has lessened and lessened too, until it’s just slight now.
Jan started on the Empower just 4 months after me. She said she took the Empower, and then went to bed feeling like a 90 year old woman and when she awoke the next day she felt like a 9 year old child. Jan’s cycles soon lengthened to 6 weeks up and 6 weeks down (from 3 weeks up and 3 weeks down) which is incredible. Her highs and lows became more of a blended even mood. I liked those moods. Jan eventually discontinued Empower, because she hated the pills as they reminded her of psychiatric pills. They certainly worked to a large extent, and they can be taken as a powder. Jan had to go back on her medications as the nutrients were not strong enough for her.
In her high, Jan wants to again take them now; however her psychiatrist wants to look at the trials more. Her psychiatrist is actually breaking the Medical Counsel Statement by not letting her take Empower; I think he is just being cautious in a good way. Any blood test would show deficiencies as do her symptoms. There is also a free zinc taste test from some chemists which is very accurate in testing zinc levels.
Jan could make some changes to her diet which would have a big effect on her health.
I heard of a lady who had bipolar, and changed her diet to a raw vegetarian one and cured herself! I would hate to think what she ate before! This is without taking any supplements as well.
I try to eat raw food; approximately 70% of my diet is raw.
About 5 years ago I started to eat vast quantities of food e.g. whole chickens for dinner; I was horrified as I put on 25 kgs. This went on for six months, and then my appetite returned to normal. I believe I was trying to get my nutrients from my food-this was just part of my healing process.
I remember feeling whole, happy and complete about this time. I used to do something called the Empower dance. I would jump up and down and yell “I am cured; I am cured on vitamins and minerals”. I would tell every one at the bus stop, where ever I would go.
12 My mother
In May 2006 I learned that my mother had cancer and was dying. To be closer to her I moved to the North Shore so my brother could take me to the Waikato Hospital. Unfortunately the day after I moved down there, she died. I was asking the staff to use large doses of vitamin C on my mother, but nobody was very interested. One of the nurses said this can cause diarrhoea in the elderly. I now know that this is just a sign you should lower the dosage for the person to a tolerable bowel level. My mothers said she would do it the doctor’s way and then try the Vitamin C. Sadly; my mother was so weak after the conventional treatments that she was not eating and barely sipping water. My mum’s skin cancer started 17 years earlier. She should have done something to help herself back then. My mother may have left preventative treatment too late. When I think of all that lipstick that my mother swallowed over the years and all the hairspray she would spray, and other chemical toiletries…And my mum scoffed at organic foods thinking I was wasting my money.
I know they killed her with their toxic methods (radiotherapy) surgery, and by denying her nutritional support.
I was holding her hand and crying mum please do not die. Even though they said she did not know I was there, I was sure she could sense me. It was such a sad time for my father of course; he was very supportive to my brother and I, though he had not slept properly for weeks. My dad read a poem to us at the hospital which said to grieve is to have loved, which helped a little.
Mum had a simple funeral; she was into tramping and had some boots by the casket.
Why is it that when people are dying or die every one sends cards, flowers? My dad was so drained he could not reply straight away to everyone’s kindness. There are always those very practical people of course who turn up with casseroles, baking etc and offer to do the housework.
I came home a few days later. I had not seen my mother, except recently, for 20 years so I could cope with her death.
13 Invalids Benefit.
Back to my life on the North Shore. I thought I was so well by now, because I was comparing myself to how sick I was before. I made the silly mistake of going off the Invalids Benefit onto the Sickness Benefit too early. I lost $45 a week, changing onto the sickness benefit and the chance to do any courses except free little ones like the TOP courses. I cannot understand the logic of WINZ making you $45 less well off if you are getting better. This just puts financial stress on you.
Also, when people are on the sickness benefit and want to go back to work does it not make better sense that these are the people that have about $5000 a year eligibility for doing courses, instead of the people on the Invalids Benefit, who are in worse health than sickness beneficiaries? I tried to get back on the Invalids Benefit, but of course I had been going to the doctors telling them how well I was which was the truth. They were telling me how well I seemed too, and wouldn’t change my benefit back again.
Over the years my thinking has become so much clearer and I feel I can relate to people now, although I can be stressed and nervous inside. This could also be because of my low self esteem and confidence though. About 3 years ago I was feeling so well that I decided to cut down from 15 Empower a day to 10, and I was feeling fine for a few weeks, then my menses came, and I had no reserves and I felt exhausted, depressed and strange again. This gave me a big scare as it reminded me how reliant I was on the nutrients. However, it also gave me the confidence to really believe in how I needed this natural medicine.
I HAVE HAD NO SIDE EFFECTS EVER IN THE 6 YEARS I HAVE TAKEN THESE NUTRIENTS.
I have tried omega 3 pills, for about 8 months. However, I felt that they did not help me personally. I have heard you need to take a top reputable brand. With supplements you pay for what you get, and I was buying a cheap brand. I do eat a lot of fresh salmon and canned sardines. I even tried coenzyme Q10 pills which I did find finally tuned my mind; I even lost a couple of kgs on them. This nutrient is like the spark plug in a car and it gives us energy. The Japanese take them for longevity. I had to stop for financial reasons.
Like most things it is better to try and get nutrients from your food first. Eric used to tell me to go and squeeze 10 New Zealand spray free lemons or oranges a day, – before I took extra vitamin C supplements.
I visited a lovely student naturopath, Katie from Wellpark College of Natural Therapies. We had a holistic 1 and ½ hours first consultation for only $20 and a couple of ½ hour follow ups. The only tests Katie gives are iridology and zinc taste tests. I gave her a hug after the first time that’s how much I felt warmed by her. She gave me some great dietary tips.
In October 2007 I had my story in the front page of the North Shore Times; I was holding an apple and Empower pills in the other hand. I was very proud of that story, and thankfully the reporter wrote exactly what I had said. I had 13 people call me; they wanted someone to talk to who understood them. One young woman has become one of my best friends.
I gave a talk in 2008 at an A.U.T psychology department class in Northcote. This was such a buzz for me; I was so excited that they wanted to listen to me. There was a time when I hid from people. The tutor even uses my 2 page story as a case study.
14 Exercise
I wanted to make a special note of how this has helped me. Although it did not cure me as I have always exercised; once I was on the foundation of nutrients I found going for a walk or jog or dancing took away my feelings of low self-esteem. As well once those endorphins kicked in I felt so happy, and as if I could take on the world for the day.
I heard of a guy who in mania would do really hard physical exercise to exhaust himself. I know that there is nothing better than having a good sleep because you are worn out even if your legs are aching!
15 Food and Mood
I cannot recall exactly when I met Adrienne; however it would have being at a mental health meeting. We clicked and years later decided to start doing Food and Mood workshops. These were created by Amanda Geary from the U.K. Amanda Geary is a former registered nutritionist and founder of the Food and Mood project. Amanda received a Millennium Award from MIND, the U.K’s leading mental health charity for this highly successful Food and Mood project. We facilitated 2-3 hour workshops which we did for consumers at supported accommodation, support groups and for staff. Everyone loved them, and it was such a good feeling spreading the word on healing. The 11 basic questions are on:
Drinking water? – water is essential for the transport and elimination of toxins and absorption of nutrients. Dehydration affects your ability to think clearly and to concentrate. Drinking 6-8 glasses of water is recommended daily.
Oily fish? – brain cells need “oiling” with essential unsaturated fats if they are to communicate properly with each other. Eat mackerel, sardines, salmon, herring, trout, and pilchards 2-3 times weekly.
Artificial additives? – a rapid change in behaviour within minutes or hours after eating additive-containing foods or drinks. Be suspect of colouring such as tartrazine (E102), flavour enhancers such as monosodium glutamate (MSG or E621), artificial sweeteners such as aspartame (E951), preservatives such as sulphur dioxide (E220) and BHT (E321).
Caffeine withdrawal symptoms? – caffeine is a stimulant; long term affect can be adrenal exhaustion and dependency on caffeine. Try cutting down and see if this helps. Healthy alternatives can be herbal teas, roast barley, chicory, dandelion, (coffee substitutes) small pieces of dark chocolate, carob (a caffeine-free chocolate alternative from the carob bean).
Did not have breakfast? – eating breakfast is an important meal for establishing an even blood-sugar ride through the rest of the day. Good mood foods include porridge, wholegrain cereals, “live yoghurt” with fresh or dried fruits, nuts and seeds.
Eating live yoghurt? – (for digestion) the state of your mind is closely related to the state of your digestive system. Try eating “live” yoghurt containing the cultures ABC
acidophilus, bifidus, casei.
Five a day? – (fruit and vegetables) – specific phytonutrients (plant nutrients) are essential to mental health. Eat at least 5 portions (one is a handful) of fruits and vegetables daily to see how you feel from a rainbow of colours.
Has food intolerance? – takes time for a reaction to take place.
Has a food allergy? – the reaction is usually immediate, severe and never changes.
These both can contribute to a wide range of physical and mental health symptoms. Common culprits are wheat (bread, pasta, pizza, cakes and biscuits), dairy (milk, cheese, yoghurt, butter) yeast (bread, cheese, yeast extract, wine, beer).
Discover alternatives e.g. rice, rye, pumpernickel, cornbread, buckwheat, spelt (an older form of wheat with much less gluten) chickpea, millet, potato, soya.
We also liked to touch on super foods which will really lift your moods e.g. bananas, broccoli, avocadoes, blueberries.
Adrienne ran the course and I assisted. To be honest back then I was so unwell, I do not know how I managed to do this; of course I was a lot better than I was, however you must remember that nutritional support is a healing process. It takes time to build up from your massive nutritional deficiencies.
One of the consumers wanted to know what Adrienne and I ate for energy. For me this is foods like fruit and vegetables, eggs, fish, avocadoes, eggplants, mussels, lentil dhal, hummus, organic chicken, kidneys, kidney beans, buckwheat, brown rice, quinoa (pronounced keenwa), mung beans, brazil nuts, sun flower seeds, potatoes, pumpkin, kumara, pure filtered water. I like to cover salads in herbs, sea salt and lemon juice.
I have an addiction to Bio Farms organic honey and Cyclops Greek yoghurt. This is better than ice –cream. I only eat a little as it’s very fattening. Dried figs and prunes can take care of those sweet cravings, but just a couple – they are very concentrated.
Some people call me a health freak, and this offends me as I am just eating the foods that our bodies were designed to eat. My health is my number one priority and I do not care about my food bill. I save though because I do not eat ice cream, biscuits, red meat, cakes and I only drink water. Interestingly enough, organic food might cost more however; it is alot higher in nutrients, so you eat less. Can you put a price on preventing a health issue one day? is the way I think of this.
Many people have to fill themselves up on vast quanties of white bread, pasta, meat, dairy products to be satisfied. That was me too until I discovered good health! I now eat vast quantities of fruit and vegetables as we should. Eating this way I know I am not just making myself physically be in good health. It also gives me a psychological boost by knowing I am feeding myself “live” food full of enzymes and life healing properties. I have also noticed that I seem to be looking really young these days; I have also slowed down my aging process!
The last workshop that Adrienne and I would do was on clinical nutrition. We would show a film called Masks of Madness- Science of Healing. This is put out by the International Schizophrenia Foundation and is narrated by Margot Kidder who played Lois Lane in the superman movies. She had bipolar and used the orthomolecular approach herself with success. The movie has consumers, nutritionists, psychiatrists, and doctors in this field talking.
My hope is that the Food and Mood workshops will become part of the mental health system.
16 Will’s healing
Three years ago in May 2007, I spotted a lovely looking Maori guy who had moved into my apartment block. I did not want to go and knock on his door and say welcome to the neighbourhood as a way of meeting him, that’s not my style. I just waited until I saw him and said welcome in the hall. One time I saw him on his balcony and I gave him a wave, he looked petrified. I found out from his flat mate he had schizophrenia. She told me he was very spiritual. The first thing I did when I met him was say that I had depression, and I had cured myself and that schizophrenia can be cured too. I was jumping up and down so much because I was so excited to tell him. Actually I was just trying to impress him with my knowledge. He said later that he did not even catch my name then. I knew he liked me because he would stare at me in the eyes; I was rather flattered since Ross had gone back to his old girlfriend. Actually, he looked just like Ross complete with Maori moko on the nostril. That was probably some of the attraction, his resemblance.
I do not know how to put this in a nice way other than to say that Will was completely mad when I first met him, and looking after him for the last 2 and ½ years has been a nightmare. Again, this was amazing considering I could only just look after myself years ago.
Will was madder because he was blowing his brains out on marijuana every day when I first met him. It did not mellow him out, it made him aggressive, paranoid and confused. He would also babble on for hours and I could not get him to go to sleep normal hours. He would come and go all night waking me all the time. After a year or two of this I told him I could not take anymore and I would leave him if he did not stop his marijuana use. He would lock himself out of his apartment and have to climb up the balcony to let himself in. He would stare in the mirror for ages. This was a real sign his schizophrenia was triggered. He was so out of it he would sit there incapable of cooking dinner and when he did he would spill everything everywhere, and he would not make the bed or bring in the washing.
I was even so desperate on a couple of occasions I visited the tinnie houses in the area
and told them not to sell marijuana to him as it was making him unwell and he could end up in hospital. Talking to these types of people was a nightmare!
Eventually he did cut down to just once a week and then it was just once in a blue moon. This made a big difference to his moods and mine!!
The other problems were that Will would stay up all night chain smoking cigarettes and drinking Coco- Cola. He would have no sleep, which made him aggressive as well. I could understand Will’s aggression because of my own illness; some of our symptoms were similar.
I did some Food and Mood on him. Coco-Cola has a staggering 42 teaspoons of sugar in a 2 litre bottle. It is also high in caffeine which is a stimulant. Will was addicted to this as well as to the 17 large mugs of coffee he had, each with 5 teaspoons of sugar, (yes that’s a staggering nearly 100 teaspoons of sugar a day). This is not including the Coco -Cola or his sugar in food. Will started to drink gallons of water when I first met him which was great; he said it was detoxing him. He eventually changed from coffee to black tea then to Milo which is also full of caffeine and sugar. He has gone back to black tea with less sugar. We tried him on better forms of sugar, and even stevia.
One time he went and bought an $18 jar of top quality honey and he used it up in a day. Will has also lost a massive amount of weight because of so much less sugar.
He started drinking orange juice replacing the Coco- Cola which was a real blessing.
Now he just drinks water. Will used to be an alcoholic for 15 years and though he isn’t now there were times when he would buy 18 cans of beer and drink them one in a row until he would fall asleep. He was like a child with lollies, he had no control.
Again, I was desperate and I would go the neighbours and pick up the box of beer and say you have had enough and hide it. It doesn’t help that our neighbourhood is full of drunks and druggies. Eventually he has really cut down and will only have a few in a row now. Once in frustration, and worn out I threw a box of beer cans over the balcony. I know this was not the way to handle it, but I saw he was just sitting on the couch like a vegetable after drinking for 4 days straight. I know that alcohol depletes you of nearly every known nutrient from your mind and body.
When I first met Will his schizophrenic voices would tell him to only eat once a week. He would get to 4 days and have to eat because he was so starving. Unfortunately, it was a greasy pie, or cake or some fatty pork, or at home white bread and noodles.
He used to eat with me the types of foods I ate and he had become a lot better. He loves Tofu! I raved on about blood sugar levels and energy and how he needed to eat regularly. A lot of the issue was he was just too lazy to cook. Now thankfully he eats two meals every day. His lack of appetite of course is also caused by his chain smoking about 40 cigarettes a day. I detest smoking and this is why we have now broken up and remain just friends.
It is a bit different than a normal person who smokes cigarettes. With Will the problem is also that the smoking actually triggers his psychosis and stops him from curing his schizophrenia. He will chain smoke for hour’s non-stop and then he starts talking like crazy. Will has a personality change when he does not smoke, he laughs and jokes and is very calm. Smoking makes him tired and depressed. I was hoping that once he stopped smoking his appetite would return and then by eating he would get some more nutrients in himself. I do, believe Will will stop one day; he has tried on a couple of occasions. A few of Will’s teeth have already fallen out because of his massive vitamin C and other deficiencies. So he already has scurvy, a deficiency disease. When I first meet Will I was trying to get organic carrot juices into him, it has not worked very well…
I even rang up ASH and told them, they where not aware of psychosis, logically though we know smoking causes lung and heart disease, why would it not do the same to the brain? This is because it creates nutritional defiencies especially vitamin C. Pronounced vitamin C deficiency makes you go crazy as reported by Professor Derri Shtasel from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia. D.Shtasel et al psychiatry services vol 46 (3) march 1995 p 293. Low zinc is implicated in schizophrenia. Reference Patrick Holford “Optimum Nutrition for the Mind” pages 55-56.
As well because of his sugar intake Will has something called toxic tongue where his tongue is coated in bacteria which have a white appearance. He has candida, a yeast overgrowth of sugar in his gut. Will has bad breath because of this and his smoking.
Will and I could not even kiss; it was that bad for me, even after he did much teeth cleaning. With the use of all these stimulants I wondered why Will did not just pass out. He is always lying on the bed sleeping and sitting around though. Will gets his schizophrenia confused with his spirituality. He is scared if he goes on Empower that he won’t be spiritual anymore. He links hearing the voices with his Maori mana. Will thinks he has special power with the weather and the Wairua (spirit, soul) of the land. The point is he doesn’t talk about the weather and 3000 epileptic children dying anymore, as when I first met him. So I would say this is more because of his marijuana use.
Will is a beautiful person from the Hokianga harbour; he has family on the North Shore. He just sits in his flat all day because he doesn’t really like going out, except to walk down the road to buy his milk, cigarettes etc.
I have finally realised that Will will heal in his own time when, and if he is ready and that I should worry more about myself. He has given me a lot of love and we will always be special friends. My feelings for Will have gone from love to absolute hatred, and anger and frustration. His drug use (I include sugar and caffeine in this) was just too much (because of his moods) for me to be around because of my own mental wellbeing.
After nearly 3 years I was physically and emotionally drained. I have some hatred for his mental health workers as well as they gave him a clean slate of health and say he has always been able to look after himself. I should have never burdened myself with him. I think mental health should have paid me for looking after him since they failed to with the right biochemical support. They are now however open to having him on Empower, so they are changing their ways too.
17 Devonport Gardens/Organic foods
In August 2008 I started at the Framework Devonport Organic Gardens, where I have learnt about organic gardening. Consumers have their own gardens, and bring home our produce. Healthy soil, healthy food, healthy people, healthy planet are the green philosophy there. The staff gives us a lot of support and set goals to help us go back to work. This is not bad considering I have not been well enough to work for 17 years. For ages before I started at the gardens, I wanted to go there, however I just could not initially cope with this work type situation. I am now doing a computer course, volunteering at the hospice shop and I am looking for paid part -time work.
Food and Mood workshops are my ultimate passion and Challenge Trust (a holistic mental health organisation) are interested in me doing one next year.
I buy some of my organics from the Takapuna markets too, and it’s not dear. Beautiful Pacific rose apples for between $1.50 and $3.00 depending upon the season, lemons $2.00 a kilo, tomatoes for $2 a bag, veggies e.g. broccoli $1-2 a head.
Luckily enough I buy free-range chickens from the supermarket for only $10,I buy them just before the use by date as they mark them down by half price.
So again, here I have looked after Will for 2 and ½ years and I was also supporting another friend for many hours a week. I was also spending many hours a week helping to make the suburb I live in a safer place to live, as the social organisations failed to. They ran a pilot programme which protected the criminals and not the victims. They also lied about what was happening here so they could keep getting funding from the government. They tried to make out this was a very low crime area. Every one knows Northcote Central is notorious. I spent about 9 months doing this, unpaid. I felt I had to though, as I was so depressed by living here and could not handle the youth crimes, burnt cars, intimidations, and one man was lucky not to die from being beaten. It has really quietened down now, the Police, Housing N.Z and Council take the credit for this though! Reference, put out by the Council and governance groups. “Northcote Child and Youth Devolvement programme 2005”.
Although only on Empower for 6 years I feel like it’s about 20 years ago as it’s very hard for me to remember what I felt like before, again my menses only giving me an inkling. I would have a voice inside my head saying “you are mad, you are mad” at this time! Hopefully I will get some other treatment which will help. I would like to have my mercury fillings taken out as I know that they are toxic to your neurological system. One lady I know was labelled Bipolar and she has a mouth full of mercury. She had mercury poisoning which used to make the top hatters go crazy, when they shone up their top hats with mercury.
Mercury is one of the most toxic elements in the world and they put it in our mouths! The University of Calgary has a film linking mercury with dendrite (branch of a nerve cell) damage.
So now I feel I can take on the world, when I once hid from life. I am full of energy and life and vitality, because of nutritional medicine. In some ways I feel like I am only 25 years old and that I have lost 20 years of my life. I have also probably lost out on a chance of having children. When you do not have your health or any friends and now I have them both in abundance, you feel rich. I now have an opportunity to educate and inspire other people. Once, I had a little cry thinking what would have happened if I had not gone to the health food shop and they had put me on the right track. My message to anyone with a health issue is not to give up hope and that you can heal and be happy and have a full life. If I had started on biochemical support years earlier when I started to get unwell, I am sure I would have healed a lot faster. I must remember that taking 6 years to heal when I have been unwell for 23 years is not a long time. Physically I am very healthy, with a cholesterol level of 3, and my heart rate is 54 beats pm. My blood pressure is 100/58. I feel like I will live to 100, I am so healthy.
18 My Future
My future is looking very bright. My 250 word abstract was accepted for the Building Bridges conference to be held in Wellington in April 2010. I will be giving a ½ hour talk on my healing and showing the Empower DVD in the other room. The conference is expected to have 400 mental health consumers and staff over 3 days.
I am really excited about this. I am pleased that there is a lady talking about yoga straight after me. It is good to see the holistic way coming. These conferences are a great way to talk to people. Adrienne and I attended the Nutters (what a horrible word) conference in 2006. We handed out 160 pamphlets out of 170 people!
I just found out that I was not granted full scholarship, to the Building Bridges Conference because of lack of funding for travel and accommodation. The funding is just for registration fees to the conference, and so I won’t be going. I will reapply in three years time, when Building Bridges comes to Auckland.
I am not concerned about studying this year. I would love to do the Diploma of Nutrition at Wellpark College. At the moment I have enough basic knowledge to talk to consumers who I really want to help, and I feel confident enough to be able to run the Food and Mood workshops on my own now. I want to keep doing public speaking to build up my confidence and social skills.
There is not much use me studying if the Drug Companies ban supplements and there isn’t anything to give people. They have already done this in Germany and The European Commission under Codex wants to ban or lower nutrients totally world wide. Organic food is even under threat as it does not use chemical sprays made by the pharmaceutical/fertiliser industries, and it is densely rich in nutrients which keep illnesses abay.
We are not even allowed to say an apple a day keeps the doctor away as it has therapeutic claims.
I sent my story to Dr Jonathan Coleman my local National M.P and he returned saying he did not realise deficiencies caused these problems, and thanking me. I met him again at election time, (2008) and I gave his lovely wife Sandra, Autumn Stringams book “Promise of Hope”. I talked to John Key for a second and told him about what happened to me and that pharmaceutical drugs kill 1500 people in N.Z every year. He looked uncomfortable and said people have to die of something. I said not of the medicines which are supposed to heal you. At least National believes in competition between companies, (e.g. natural health and drug) so National is against the anti-vitamin bill. Dr Jonathan Coleman is also friends of Dr Glenn Twentyman, something to do with coaching rugby.
When I walk down the street I do feel pretty special, like the future of medicine. We all need to take responsibility for our own health and heal when we are ready. When I was unwell I used to have a big problem with never knowing if I had overreacted to what people had said or not, because I did not know if it was my illness or my personality. I am quite a sensitive person and I have high morals and values, which does not help, but at least now I know my feelings are all mine and all real.
Again, if it wasn’t for nutritional support I know that I would still be lying on the bed in a trance. They are like my foundation, although I still have to work out my life with where I live, work, relationships, and family. For years I did not want to be around my nephew, who I dearly love because I thought I was too much of a weirdo. He is 11 and I am just getting to know him now. I just know that I could work out very little of my life before.
19 The future of mental health in New Zealand
Many of the consumers are very interested in what Adrienne and I have to say. I have noticed a real change over the last year or so. Consumers want to have a say in their treatment. There are some other very holistic mental health organisations such as Challenge Trust. They are sending consumers to Dr Glenn Twentyman. Dr Twentyman prescribes Empower from the Manurewa marae and Living Proof in town. Although getting permission from your own doctor first is best, as they know you and your history.
Here in New Zealand we have a very good regulatory model in place to make natural health products safer and to the highest standards. We are set to become world leaders in functional foods and natural health.
20 References and recommended reading
“Optimum Nutrition for the Mind” by Patrick Holford
“The New Optimum Nutrition Bible” by Patrick Holford http://www.patrickholford.com
“How to stay healthy by supplying what’s lacking in your diet” researched by David Coory
(An excellent N.Z book that you keep referring to over and over again)
“Food and Mood handbook” by Amanda Geary available from the Mental Health Foundation and in the library system
“Why food is a better medicine than drugs” by Patrick Holford and Jerome Burnes (an investigative reporter)
“Fight for your health by Byron Richards”. A stunning expose into the secret world of the FDA, Wall Street and drug companies
DVD’s
“Masks of Madness – Science of healing”
Try the Mental Health Foundation Phone 300 7010 A 50 min film
Produced by the International Schizophrenia Foundation phone 001 416 733-2117
“Food matters”
By nutritionists turned film makers. An amazing film made in 2008.
Magazines
“Healthy Options”
“Organic N.Z” (both brilliant N.Z magazines available from libraries)
Website addresses
http://www.Healthfreedom.co.nz
http://www.N.Zhealthtrust
http://www.naturalhealthnews.com
http://www.westonaprice.org
Weston was a dentist who studied our rural tribes around the world untouched by the outside world, they were all very robust. After years of study he found they are in remarkable good health, with good teeth free from decay. After considering many factors he soon found that they all had one thing in common: their diets. Eating the whole animal raw including the organ meat e.g. heart, liver. They soaked their grains, nuts and seeds. They ate fermented foods and beverages e.g. whey, kefir.
Their diet included an abundance of live enzymes, probotics, vitamins A and D, high in saturated and omega fats. These people had no doctors, dentists or police because everyone was virtually free of disease and well behaved!
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