The Live Lightly Centre

Why are follow ups important?

Well, apart from keeping you on track, supplying you with further information and your next steps, allowing you to share your fears and/or questions, giving you another boost to keep going or going through further blood tests or results – sometimes you need someone to explain to you why you don’t THINK you are making progress, when in fact you are making a LOT of progress!

When people come back in often-times if their presenting major issue has not completely cleared up, they don’t think treatment is working. I got news for ya, not even medications “completely clear up” whatever you are taking them for unless its maybe an antibiotic or painkiller, but even then if you haven’t gotten to the root cause, depending on the issue chances are it’ll come back.

When we are dealing with long term chronic issues, often the most subtle changes can be the most powerful.

If you came for pain and you’re still in pain I’ll ask questions like, “yes, but is it of the same intensity? Is it as bad for as long? Does it happen as often? Are other areas in your body clearing up and you feel you only have one major issue now?”

If they come for weight and they are still overweight I’ll ask things like “yes but how are the sugar cravings? Are you making it through the day now without needing snacks? How’s the bloating? Are your clothes fitting better? Do you feel stronger?”

If they come for sleep and they say they’re still tired (this one is SO common, you can’t fix decades of poor sleep practice or hygiene in three weeks guys!!!) I’ll ask “Okay but are you falling asleep more quickly? Are you managing to stay asleep for longer? Do you have less wakings in the night and if you do, can you go back to sleep more easily? Do you wake feeling a little more refreshed? How’s your energy through the day now? And motivation? How’s that going?”

If they come for depression or anxiety and they are still feeling that way I ask again, “Is it as bad as often? Do you feel like you can “logic” your way out of it a bit now? Do you feel it is becoming more situational rather than all day every day? Are you getting happy or calm moments in between bouts now? Are you finding ways to cut it off at the pass like I suggested? Are the attacks less aggressive or they don't last as long?"

If they come for bad periods and their periods are still bad I ask “So are they AS bad? Have they lightened up a little bit and are you getting less clots? What about the PMT? Are you still getting spotting, candida, headaches, rage, irritability, sore breasts?” In nearly every case at least one of these things has improved, and in some cases all of it has!

If they come for “adrenal fatigue” and they are still tired I say “Okay, but how’s the sleep, is that getting better? Are you having the arvo crashes as often? How’s your motivation going? Oh so you had enough energy to go for a walk this morning, that’s fabulous! How are you waking now, even just a little bit more energy? Not clinging to the sheets? How’s the body aches, are they clearing up a bit? How's the brain fog and memory? And the gut, is that getting better?”

And sometimes their presenting symtom really hasn't made much improvement, but they notice improvements in other ways such as sleep, energy, bloating, bowel movements, sugar cravings and weight.

So you see, healing is never linear.

It is messy. It is up and down and in and out. It is flowing and ebbing. Sometimes its subtle, sometimes its bordering on miraculous. You’ll have good days and bad but my main job is to tease out all of the good and put a laser like focus on them so you are motivated to keep going.

I can promise you now, in over 10 years of this job not one person has ever come back in with NO improvements whatsoever. Not one.

But a helluva lot have come back in thinking the improvements have been minor when in fact they have been really good because they didn’t know what they were looking for, and that we have to crawl before we can walk.

I show you that in our follow ups! 🙏💕

Side with dinner tonight! A mix of roast veg, including broccoli, cauliflower, tomato, yellow capsicum, pine nuts, sweet potato, and some home made halloumi. That’s a whole other story, post coming soon when I have the energy! 😆

Tossed it all in a marinade of garlic, lemon juice, fresh thyme leaves, mixed dried herbs, salt and some sumac, then roasted it.

When it was cooked, I pulled it out and dressed with a mix of honey and Australian bush something or other balsamic vinegar 🤷‍♀️ and tossed through some salad leaves.

It was really good, could have used some more of that halloumi though which is a shame because I still have a heap left in the fridge! 😆

I absolutely loved this article when I read it!

“For more than 20 years, Japanese immunologist Qing Li studied what happens to the human body when you spend time in forests.

His research found that when people spend time among trees, the activity of their natural killer cells, a type of immune cell that helps the body fight cancer and virus infected cells, can increase by around 50%.

Part of the reason appears to be chemicals called phytoncides. Trees release these natural compounds into the air to protect themselves from insects, bacteria, and fungi. When you're walking through a forest, you're breathing those compounds in, and research suggests they can help boost immune function.

Li also found that people who walked in forests had significantly lower cortisol levels than people who walked in cities. Their blood pressure and heart rates were lower too, showing a clear reduction in stress.

According to his research, about half of the benefits come from the forest's natural air chemistry. The other half comes from the calming effect nature has on the nervous system.

Nature isn't a replacement for therapy or medicine when those are needed, but it can be a powerful complement. The human body has a built in response to being around trees, one that affects many of the same biological systems modern medicine is trying to support.

The average person now spends over 90% of their time indoors. As a result, many people live with chronically elevated stress levels while spending less time in the environments humans evolved in for thousands of generations.

Qing Li is a clinical professor at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo and the president of the Japanese Society of Forest Medicine. The Japanese government has been funding his research since 2004, and the body of work he has produced is the reason forest bathing is now an officially prescribed clinical therapy in Japan and Korea.”

Me again! We have so much to learn about the powers of nature on our bodies and its always lovely to have something like this scientifically proven and then have it become clinically relevant.

Wonder if it will ever be “prescribed clinical therapy” in Western countries? I think not, but you can always prescribe it for yourself! This is one of the main reasons I’m moving down south, to be closer to nature! 🌳🪴🍁