I have heard so many amazing stories of transformation over the years. And there is nothing nicer than seeing someone transform before your eyes. I met Meredith Johnston last year. She was a beautiful woman, a busy mum who typically was giving to everyone else and yet constantly struggling with her own weight and state of health. Just by getting herself a Thermomix, which seems to have been her a-ha, her life has transformed. So much so she is now studying to become a Dietician. Check this out – it’s inspiring!
I am walking proof that the food pyramid does not work. We are not all out of one mould so how can one pyramid work for us all? How do I know this? Well this journey begins just over a year ago. It starts with me putting someone else first, sound familiar? As Kim says,’ as women that is what we do’.
My son was born with a lactose intolerance that, at the age of 5, I was told he’d grown out of. However after constant bouts of tonsillitis my gut instincts were telling me something was not right. His tonsils were healthy and doing their job, fighting off infections – something was attacking him immune system. Immediately I knew what it was. He hadn’t grown out of the intolerance at all. I was so worried about how I going to go back to making all our food from scratch with two busy kids and everything else I was trying to juggle? Then it came to me – I needed a Thermomix.
About a month before all of this, I had met Kim and Fleur at a friend’s networking meeting. I learnt so much that day about putting myself first and bought their beautiful products and Like Chocolate for Women book. Reading through the book I came across the Thermomix and what it can do. I just had to see one of those in action so I invited myself to a friend’s demo and knew I had to have one. However, as with so many others, the current financial situation had hit us also and we just didn’t have the money so I decided that I would become a Thermomix Consultant and earn my own. My original plan was to earn it and then get out – one Thermomix in hand, thank you. That plan went quite quickly out of the window when I met the rest of the wonderful, supportive Thermomix family and by the joy that I got out of delivering a Thermomix to my customers. I knew that it was going to improve their lives and their health, like it had for my family, I was hooked. So nearly a year on and I am still a happy Thermomix Consultant helping people to take the first step to changing their health.
My son was tonsillitis free and bouncing out of his little body and the rest of us were eating well and healthily. We were all fine – well everyone but me. I have struggled for the last 30 years of my life with my weight. I have been overweight nearly all of my adult life and have tried every diet going. I would exercise and eat the low fat, low calorie, low sugar, low everything and yes the weight would come off but at such a cost. For anyone who has been overweight – excercising is hard. Dragging that extra weight around the block is tiring, draining and hard. When you add eating a food that your body doesn’t like – make that 10 times harder. Here I was doing everything right but fuelling my body with gluten – something that just drained any energy left out of me that was left. It was just too hard to maintain so I would give up the exercise and then feel like a failure and the cycle would begin again. Also sound familiar?
In my desperation as my weight just went on and on, I finally went to my doctor who referred me to a Dietician. I had already decided to trial giving up gluten as I had a very strong feeling that it wasn’t good for me. After going through the food pyramid and the portion sizes, all of which I knew, I told her that I was going to trial removing gluten from my diet. She looked at me and said ‘well you can if you want’ and had nothing more to say except that maybe low fat yogurt might be a good snack for me! I walked away with no more information than I did when I walked in. I was bewildered that was all she told me.
It was then I met Cyndi O’Meara from Changing Habits Changing Lives. I first got to hear little pieces of her talk during the Maleny Real Food Festival where we had our Thermomix stand. Just from these snippets I heard, I was converted. I finally got around to hearing a full talk about a month later and it all finally made so much sense to me. Real food (not low fat yoghurt!). By this stage I had already started my gluten free journey. After day one, my food and sugar craving stopped – literally stopped. I wasn’t hungry all the time. By day two, I was jumping out of bed in the morning and my energy levels were remarkably fantastic – higher than they had been in years. I felt 15 years younger. And, yes the weight started to come off straight away. I had worked it out for myself and was proud of it.
So, am I sorry that I spent money going to the Dietician? Absolutely not. It was the biggest gift ever. After going to see her and then meeting Cyndi, I had an epiphany. I wanted to know more. I wanted to get the qualification so I could help others in an educated, whollistic and empowered way. I was going to become a Dietician. A Dietician with a difference. I do not want to be a Dietician that talks low fat, low sugar blah blah – I want to be a Dietician that treats everyone individually with real food.
I know too well what it’s like to sit on the other side of that desk, desperate for someone to understand that I am not a failure because I couldn’t keep the weight off and keep up the exercise regime. We are all different and because of that, because of my own personal experience I know the food pyramid does not work.
(Meredith Johnston is a passionate, and vibrant Thermomix Consultant. If you are interested in hosting a demo with her or wanting more information please email her directly here: meredith.thermomix@gmail.com)
This story is so amazing. I take my hat off to Meredith. She is on a mission and determined to be in control of her food, her fitness and her health. And even more beautiful is the fact she really wants to help others. Such is the power of her Thermomix a-ha!!
If you are confused, want to change, don’t know what to do or where to go then start with Cyndi. Get her book Changing Habits Changing Lives for a start. Check out her 21 Day Programme or the eBook The Hunter Gatherer Diet. But if you really want to get into this, make a start and get on your own mission making 2013 the year for YOU, then do the HCG. You can check it all out right here.
It is quick, it is life-changing and it is the best protocol I have ever seen and done. Of course, as Cyndi mentions, it is not necessarily easy. It can be a huge challenge but for the small amount of time it may be the shortest challenge with the most amazing outcomes you will ever embrace! In our ‘Up For A Chat’ podcast we discuss all things weightloss and HCG in weeks 4 and 5. Well worth a listen to if you want even more information.
So what are you waiting for? This is your chance to make your health and wellbeing a priority at last! Click here to get stuck in! And most importantly – ENJOY!