Healthy Living

So this is a post I've started to write a bunch of times but never finished coz it just went on too long or I didn't know how to write it.  But I really do want to write it, partly for my own record keeping, and also coz it's something I want to share.

In the last year we have made a few lifestyle changes.  Partly it was brought on by a feeling that things just weren't working for us, weren't the way they should be, and needed changing.  And partly so we could more closely follow our Church's guidelines for healthy living.  I strongly believe that our bodies are a great gift from God, and we need to do whatever we can to take care of that gift.  And so here are a few things that we've been doing in the hopes of living longer and stronger.

Chiropractic care

It started with our little Lani, who, as a newborn, would scream bloody murder in the car seat, every time she was in there, no matter how far we were driving.  It got to the point where I would just purposely not go anywhere unless it was absolutely, life or death, required, because it just wasn't fair to her to have to be so upset all the time.  Then my cousin suggested taking her to a chiropractor (she takes her family), because if something isn't right they should be able to fix it.  I had always thought of chiropractors as being old men you went to when you had a sore back and they cracked it and twisted it and made you feel better and then you stop going.  Boy was I wrong!  Chiropractors are playing a huge part in promoting natural health and well being all over the world, and so much research is being done to support their effectiveness.  The jist of it is, that the chiropractor deals with the spine, the spine is connected to and plays an important role in the central nervous system and it's ability to deliver messages all over the body, and the central nervous system basically controls the every day functioning of your body.  So it makes sense that a chiropractor can have huge effects on your whole body's health by adjusting the spine.

So we started taking Lani, and within a few weeks the crying minimised and then disappeared.  She also started sleeping better.  In that time we also started taking the boys and myself.  For us it was a little different, because we didn't have any "problems" that needed fixing, but I found my posture improve, my balance, my moods, Malachi, who at that point was still in nappies coz he was wetting every night, suddenly stopped and has been dry ever since.  (All of these are normal and expected results from being adjusted by a chiropractor). 

Vili became a different story.  He has suffered from ear aches his whole life.  He probably has had one a month since he was a baby.  And it has started to severely effect his speech.  At one point the doctor checked his hearing ability and he was a flat line in one ear - completely deaf.  Because he constantly has this fluid build up.  He was on and off antibiotics constantly, which made him get thrush, he was grumpy, never slept well, it was really sad for him.  Well chiropractors are AMAZING at clearing ear infections, they claim to be way more effective then antibiotics, clearing it up 5 times faster.  And I believe it too! Any time he got infected we'd take him in to see Kylie and with in a day or 2 it was cleared.

So the health benefits for us from seeing a chiropractor have been awesome.  And the more I learn about their work, the more I believe in their ability to heal naturally and promote good health.  We see Kylie once every 2 weeks now and the boys look forward to their visits so that Kylie can "fix their backs".

Vegan-ism

This started with us watching a documentary called 'Forks over Knives' which basically looks at the research that's been done on the affects that animal proteins (found in meat and dairy) have on our bodies.  It spoke truth to me.  For a while I'd be wondering how exactly I could live the Word of Wisdom better, how on earth was I meant to eat lots of grain and eat meat sparingly?  This DVD was the answer.  And so in January our family began vegans.  Partial vegans at least.  We probably eat meat about once a week now.  It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be.  Alot of the recipes I would usually make were easily converted to a vegan version, and a few new foods were added in to make up the gaps.  I found that really, it's the taste of meat that we like, not the actually meat itself.  So if I make the food tasty, then you don't miss the meat. We were already pretty much dairy free because of me and Vili so dropping any remaining dairy wasn't hard.    Tui still has has had the hardest time with it.  But I'm grateful that he's been willing to go along with it.  We haven't been super strict with it, if we go to someones house, we just eat whatever they cook.  If we wanna have ice cream as a treat, then we do.  But in general, we are trying to avoid animal proteins.  Although every once and a while my kids will say "Mum, can we please just have chicken?!!" and so we do. :)

Juicing

After watching the other documentary I started doing some research and came across a bunch of others that were really interesting and enlightening.  One in particular 'Fat, sick, and nearly dead' talked about the benefits of juicing, and in particular, doing a juice cleanse.  Again this made so much sense to me, and so we bought a juicer and tried it.  We did a 10 day juice cleanse; we drank nothing but fresh fruit and vegetable juice and water.  I was amazed at how easy it was (after the first day or so).  We each lost a bunch of weight, and just felt so good.  And we've done it a few times since.  And juice is just part of our daily diet now, it's usually what I have for breakfast, the kids ask for it all the time, and I love giving it to them, knowing that it's got all those micro-nutrients in it helping their little bodies.

 Raw

 

We also have started incorporating waaaaaaaaaaay more raw foods into our diet.  And I've been blown away by what you can make that's completely raw.  I've made cheesecakes and cookies and icecream and all sorts of things.  And the more I research the more I learn and the easier it becomes.  There is sooooooooo much out there on the internet, so many ideas and recipes, it makes it totally doable. We've tried vegetables I'd never tried in life, and found that we like them! The kids don't ask for cookies or stuff like that anymore, they ask for apples and mandarins. It's been amazing to see how our food bill has changed from being 80% supermarket and 20% fruit and vegie shop, to be about 50/50. 

Exercise

This is something I had started getting into for myself for a while, but we've made it more of a family thing now.  We have severely limited the amount of time the TV is on every day, which has helped, and instead we spend our time walking and riding bikes and hiking and dancing and doing things with our bodies.  I've started actually talking to my kids about exercising and why we should do it and how good it is for our bodies.  Malachi has come for a run with me a few times which was awesome.  Vili often does zumba with me at home.  I see a change in the world that people are just becoming so stagnant and I don't want my kids being part of that generation, so I'm hoping to get them excited about moving so that they choose it for themselves.

It's all taken a bit of will power, something I didn't have alot of, but every change we've made has been for the better.  Nothing bad has come of any of our changes (except maybe for Tui feeling a little hard done when I serve him an eggplant curry instead of a beef one).  And we've talked about all the changes we've made in depth with our kids, so that they understand why we're doing it, and hopefully one day they'll make better food choices for themselves too.

Auckland Vaycay

In the second week of the school holidays we went and stayed with my parents for a few nights.  They live on an airforce base, so naturally the kids went and visited Grandpa at work, and he took them into the hangers to see the planes being repaired, and took them out on the runway to see a plane taking off.  I think Lani loved it the most (she's really into vehicles right now). 


We took a day trip up to the Waiwera hot pools with my Dad's military pass (gotta love military benefits!).  It was a beautiful, sunny winter day and the kids loved it.  I have to admit, I loved it too.  I am a water baby through and through and could have stayed all day.  Lani had been sick with tonsilitis the week before so we were worried about how she'd do, but she was in heaven and you wouldn't have known she was sick.  The kids had fun on the slides, and especially loved the movie pool.  Half of the place was closed coz it's winter, so we will definately be going back in the summer time so we can enjoy all of it.

 

 

  

  

 

  

Vili FINALLY got the confidence to swim on his own with his floaties.  And once he got the hang of it, he wanted to do it again and again.  He was so proud of himself.  Hopefully now I'll be able to take the 3 kids to the pools on my own, now that I don't have to hold 2 kids. 

Waiting for the movie to start in the movie pool.

 

  

They had jumping castles too so once they were done swimming we moved on to them.

The drive there is about 45 min up the coast and we stopped to look out at the beautiful Whangaparoa bay.  Another thing added to our summer to-do list.

 

When Dad would come home from work he'd fire up his motorbike and take the kids for laps around the house.  He used to do this with us when we were kids.  I love that traditions can be passed down like that, and that my kids can enjoy the same simple pleasures that I did as a child.

Making train tracks with Grandad.  Dad and Tui took them on a train ride too which of course they loved.

The real reason for us heading to Auckland was so that I could attend Time Out For Women with my Mum and Sister.  I had been to them at BYUH before and loved them so was excited to go.

My sister, Mum and Me before we headed out.

It was such an uplifting day.  I wish now that'd I'd ordered the DVD of it so I could watch it again and again and share it with everyone.  The theme for the conference was 'Higher' which was very fitting.  Here are a few of the things that I got out of it.
- I learnt that I need to "say love"- that my words have a scientific effect on other people. 
- I learnt that I have a choice in EVERYTHING, and that I need to be brave and wise enough to make the choices that I have in front of me.  I mostly need to choice to 'show up' and not just turn up, but be present emotionally and spiritually, as well as physically, in everything I do.
- I learnt that the atonement is not just a remedy for overcoming sin, but that if I truely use the atonement, it will cause my life to change, cause me to change, to let the savior change me.
- I learnt that fear is the opposite of faith, and that God has commanded us to not fear.  I need to overcome my fears in order to reach the full potential that God sees in me.

And to top it all off, we happened to be sitting in the row behind some of my old roomates from highschool, including my best friend that I haven't seen in months! So we had a little highschool reunion, right there in Aotea center.  It was so good.

I can't remember the last time I had such a great weekend.  I got to be with my family and have my spirit uplifted and encouraged.  What more could I have asked for?

Crystal Mountain

The way the school year runs here in NZ, the kids are in school for a10 week school term, then have a 2 week break, then back for another 3 terms and breaks before having 6 weeks off over christmas/summer.  And so we came to Malachi's first school holidays.  We wanted to do something special with him, so we got tickets to go to Crystal Mountain.  They were 1/2 price, which is good, coz I wouldn't have paid any more then we did to get in.  The place was pretty run down but the kids had the best time.  My sister and her kids came with us, and so did my Mum.  We stayed for about 5 hours, but the kids wouldn't stayed longer.  They had so much fun.

 
On the bungy trampoline.  I was guttered it was a kids one and I was over the weight limit coz I REALLY wanted to go on it.

 

Riding on the train.

 

 
The mini roller coaster was by far the best part.  We must have been on it 4 or 5 times.  The first time I went I saw with my Niece who screamed to get off and made me put my arm around her.  Then the kids went with Mum, and then again and again by themselves.

 

 
They had these cute little automated tractors that the kids liked.  They each had a turn to  'drive'.  There weren't many people there so they went around and around and around and around and around until the guys had to go on his lunch break.

 

 

There were lots of animals to pat and feed.

 

 

They had pony rides.  Malachi has been on a few before, but it was Vili's first time.  I thought he might freak out, but he was so good.  The helmet was a bit big for him though. 

 

 

There was an underground museum with millions of different crystals, huge and tiny any everything in between.  We didn't stay long because Lani was already done and Vili wanted to touch everything.


We had such a great time.  I'm glad we spent the money to do something different.  The boys haven't stopped talking about it since we went.  It was a fun family day out. 

Vili starts Montessori

Turning 3 here in NZ means that kids are now eligable for 20 hours free care - daycare, kindy, babysitter whatever you choose.  Malachi had such a fantastic time at Montessori that it was an easy decision to send Vili there.  And he's been going there for 2 years to drop off and pick up his brother that he was already familiar with the place, teachers etc.  I knew it wouldn't be as easy a transition as it was for Malachi, simply because of their different personalities.  Vili had been a clingy baby and is a cautious toddler, he takes a while to warm to people.  But it went a whole lot easier then I thought. 




 
Super excited about his bag and lunchbox.

 
Cheesey boy.

 

 
He is a creature of routine by nature, so he loves the procedure of hanging up his bag, putting his lunchbox on the trolley etc.  Routine makes him feel secure.

 
Vili loooooooooooooves puzzles, it's the first thing he does every day.


The first few times he cried when I left him.  The next few times he cried after I'd been gone 5-10min.  He kept telling me "It's coz I miss you Mummy". (Tear!!)  But last week, after 3 weeks of being there, he didn't cry at all!! He was so proud of himself. He loves packing his bag and checking what he's got for lunch.  He has already asserted himself as the policeman of the classroom, reminding the other children to push in their chairs and not run inside.  He is excited to go everyday, and I look forward to him growing and learning to love learning the way his brother did.