Happiness at Bhaktivedanta Manor - by Sue De Cesare, Director at Yes to Life

This week’s blog has been written by the Director at Yes to Life, Sue De Cesare. She shares her story of our trip to the beautiful Bhaktivedanta Manor on 16^th June…

One of the most rewarding parts of my job is that I get to meet some incredible people. Saturday 16^th June was just one of those days. A retreat day at the Bhaktivedanta Manor near Watford for people with cancer. Edana and I were fortunate enough to have visited the beautiful, peaceful centre earlier in the year and met with JD one of the monks who lives there. Despite having been treated for cancer and still in hospital after surgery, JD pulled together an event with the support of Radhi and the result was a most wonderful and unforgettable day. Edana and I left London early by car and the sun was already out – we were both excited about offering our beneficiaries a chance to join us at the centre. People arrived at a warm reception from Radhi and her beautiful daughter along with Radha a monk who had stepped in to cover JD. 

The day kicked off with Radhi introducing herself – sharing her own journey with cancer and the lifestyle changes she made as a result. Now almost qualified as a yoga teacher, she runs yoga classes at the centre and is part of their wonderful family. Radha introduced himself and within minutes had the room in hysterics. His wit and humour played a big role in our enjoyment of the day. 

Not everyone in the room knew each other so we kicked off the morning with a game of Human Bingo. A sheet with several interesting human characteristics, personalities and life facts were given to each of us with the challenge to go around the room to find someone who fitted each one of them. A great ice-breaker. This was followed by a tour of the centre where we leant about the Hare Krishna movement, its founder and George Harrison’s involvement with the centre. We also got to visit the manor’s dairy farm and visitor centre where they have reintroduced a radical approach to farming. Called Goshala it shelters cows, oxen and one mature bull. Milk is produced in a sustainable and humane way and they are looked after with love for their whole lives. Some of our visitors even got to have a go at milking while the rest of us got to meet the cows, oxen and bull close.  

The group were split into two. A relaxing and calm yoga class was given by Radhi and Jaydev, who used to be a drummer in the 1970’s band the Rubettes, ran a Drumfulness class. Incredibly joyful having the chance to do both – calm yoga and then energetic drumming with a mindfulness perspective. Amazing. 

Then lunch - oh lunch - a delicious epicurean delight served by members of the team who worked at the Manor. After lunch we moved into the theatre and a talk by Emily.

It’s not always the easiest time to engage people after they have been fed and rested but she asked us all to think about what we understood about resilience. She shared her story of her cancer diagnosis and how it affected her. Such a positive and empathetic young woman who has taken her cancer diagnosis by the horns, turned her life around and is now an NLP Life Coach and Health Psychologist.  

After sitting rather comfortably in the theatre, Radha came back in full of hilarious anecdotes followed by lots of laughter. Split into groups of 5, we were then sent on our way – yes it was time for the Treasure Hunt. Each team had a leader and was given an envelope with a clue and instructions and off we all set. My group solved the first clue and found one of the volunteers – our challenge (should we have chosen to accept it – ok ok Mission Impossible just sprang to mind) was to make a 30 second film about our experience so far. Blimey – nothing easy about that, but after several bouts of hysterics we created a strange version of George Harrison’s song ‘Something in the way she moves’ interspersed with moo-ing in place of moving and drumming – a real challenge - we did our best. Each group had to solve 5 riddles and undertake 5 challenges whilst taking selfies of the group and the volunteer at each stage – again a massive amount of thought and preparation by Radhi, JD and Radha. It was a fabulous way to end the day with everyone returning to the theatre, happy, chatting and sharing and lots of smiles and laughter. We were all winners in the end and Radhi thanked everyone for taking part and sharing. Leaving with gratitude and a beautiful gift from the Manor as well as more delicious vegan cakes, everyone left feeling special, happy, calm and smiling.

For us, it was great to see old friends who have been to other Yes to Life events and to meet some of our beneficiaries for the first time. We loved being around people with such positivity and the feedback – well its understandably been fantastic. 

We will be returning soon. 

Sue 

You can see details of our upcoming events here. 

Top tips for optimal energy levels - by Maxine Sheils BSc DipCNM

This Sunday's blog post has been written by Maxine from Igennus. This week she shares a few suggested tweaks to help you boost your energy through this chilly period...

Maintaining energy and motivation in the colder months can be tough at the best of times but when you are also actively fighting cancer, going through treatment or in recovery, the extra strain you are under can make this time of year seem exhausting. Whilst it’s important to give your body the rest it needs when you’re unwell, there are other ways of helping combat low energy. Many people may be tempted to turn to quick ‘pick me ups’ such as caffeine, cakes or a nap to help get them through the day but when used in excess they could exacerbate the problem. It can be hard to tell the difference between wanting and needing to rest so by looking at other areas of your diet and lifestyle that may be adding to feelings tiredness, you may be able to identify a few simple tweaks to help boost your energy, and support your health, this winter.

Diet: balancing your macronutrients to support energy stabilisation

The diet is paramount to energy levels as we eat to fuel the body in order to function optimally, therefore you need to ensure your diet is supporting your body as much as possible. A simple way of increasing your energy is to eat regularly, i.e. every 3-4 hours; ensure you are eating 3 meals per day and add 1-2 snacks in between, especially for any prolonged periods between meals, or if you are unable to eat much in one go due to nausea or low appetite.

Look at your body as a fire, requiring fuel (from food) to keep the energy of the fire going. Carbohydrates work as the paper to your fire, they’re great for a quick boost but they’re  quickly burnt up; protein is the wood to the fire, providing more longevity; fat is the coal to your fire and will keep you going for much longer. When it comes to carbohydrates, it is important to distinguish between simple carbohydrates, consisting of one or two sugar molecules (found in cakes, biscuits, sweets, white bread and pasta, fruit juices and fizzy drinks) and complex carbohydrates, consisting of many sugar molecules joined together, found in starchy vegetables such as sweet potato, legumes and whole grains. Simple carbohydrates are burnt quickly by the body providing instant energy but leave you craving more to boost your energy again. This is what we call ‘the blood-sugar rollercoaster’ and when you’re on it, it’s extremely difficult to get off. Complex carbohydrates, on the other hand, are burnt up slower than simple carbohydrates, providing a steady release of energy, and with a few food swaps, you should be able to even out the highs and lows to eventually maintain a healthy supply of energy to the body.

Starting the day with wholegrain toast (complex carbohydrates) topped with a poached egg for protein, and some avocado for fat; white pasta for lentil pasta or courgetti (spiralised courgette); white rice for brown rice, quinoa or cauliflower rice; biscuits for a protein smoothie, and cakes for homemade granola bars is a great way to optimise the nutrition in your foods without the need to eat huge amounts more.

Try to ensure you consume a source of protein with each meal/snack, as well as include healthy fats from oily fish, nuts and seeds, olive oil, olives and avocados in your diet, to help to maintain a steady flow of energy throughout the day.

Looking at your caffeine intake is another important factor, as many rely on this to provide them with an energy shot. Whilst one or two cups of coffee can carry many health benefits, some people are slow metabolisers of caffeine (thanks to inherited genes), meaning it takes much longer for the liver to detoxify caffeine from the body. If you drink caffeinated drinks and struggle to fall asleep, you could well be a slow metaboliser, with a lack of good quality, restorative, sleep driving low energy levels. Try minimising your intake to just one caffeinated drink before midday to see if this has a positive effect on your energy. Make sure to drink adequate water, ideally purified or mineral water, as dehydration can also be a factor in low energy. For those who don’t enjoy drinking water, try infusing it with lemons which will further increase hydration levels and help support the immune system.

Using simple lifestyle techniques to increase energy levels

Exercise is a great way to boost energy levels as it gets the blood pumping around the body, carrying nutrients to cells to produce more energy, and increases levels of feel-good and energy-promoting neurotransmitters, dopamine and serotonin. Whilst the thought of exercise might seem off-putting or impossible, it does not need to be a chore. Just start with what you can, be it a short walk to the local shops, five minutes around the block on your lunch break, or a weekend walk in the park is all you need to start with. Use this time to listen to your favourite artist, an audio book, or take part in a guided meditation and you’ll soon increase the length of time you spend walking. Over time, as as energy and other symptoms permit, you may want to try increasing your pace, some gentle stretch or signing up to a local gym to try out a fun exercise class, but the important thing is to take it in your own stride and enjoy being active.

With everything, life is about balance so it’s also important to notice when you need some down time and to ensure it’s productive. It is all too common today to be stressed, with stimulation from mobiles, laptops, televisions, the radio, from the moment we wake up to the moment the lights are turned off. Listen to your body and notice when you are in need of ‘switching off’. When we are stressed, the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated, putting us in ‘fight or flight’ mode. Taking a moment to have a few deep breaths, or a short mindfulness exercise can relax the body and switch the nervous system from ‘fight or flight’ to ‘rest and digest’ mode, vital for restorative rest and recovery. 

Nutrients that will provide additional support for energy production

Omega-3: EPA & DHA

Omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA are required to aid the function and structure of every cell in the body, allowing nutrients to flow into the cells and toxins to flow out. If cells are lacking such vital nutrients, it is easy to see why a general feeling of fatigue and low energy may follow; your cells simply aren’t able to function optimally. Consuming two portions of oily fish such as mackerel, anchovies, salmon and herring will aid with increasing EPA and DHA levels, however a typical western diet consists of high levels of omega-6 arachidonic acid (AA) from foods such as grains, and animal produce fed a diet rich in grains. An imbalance of omega-3 to omega-6 within the body, in favour of omega-6, can lead to silent inflammation, which can in turn affect energy balance, as well as affect immune function and cellular health. Supplementing with high dose omega-3 fish oil will help to restore the balance of omega-3 to omega-6 to a healthy ratio, and maintain optimal levels to keep inflammation in check.

Our recommendations: Pharmepa Restore & Pharmepa Maintain and Opti-O-3 blood spot test.

CoQ10

The body naturally produces an enzyme called Coenzyme-Q10 (CoQ10) which aids in the production of energy in the body. As we age, the body’s ability to produce CoQ10 decreases, peaking in our 20s and declining after this point. Low levels of CoQ10 are also associated with many health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, muscular dystrophies, CFS and ME; so it may be worth considering supplementation with CoQ10 to support the body with energy production.

Our recommendation: VESIsorb Ubiquinol-QH

B vitamins

B vitamins are important for energy production: vitamin B1 is required to turn carbohydrates from your diet into energy; vitamins B2, B3 and B5 aid with energy production from carbohydrates, protein and fats consumed; B6 helps break down stored energy from muscles and the liver; B12 is critical for producing cellular energy in the body. A complex containing the full spectrum of B vitamins will ensure optimal wellbeing and assist in energy production.

Our recommendation: Super B-Complex

Personalising your nutritional requirements

We hope that the above arms you with lots of information to start tackling your energy levels. We hope you start to see the benefits over the coming months by putting some simple practices into place. Igennus have witnessed confirmation over the years that the path to individual health is unique and you cannot generalise a plan as a ‘one size fits all’. We are aware that many factors could be at play and effectively preventing you from progressing with certain areas of your health. MyOnlineCLINIC has been developed from years of experience of working with customers, and provides a platform for everyone to gain access online to an experienced clinical nutritionist who can look at your personal circumstances, health and needs, and guide you towards feeling revitalised, refreshed and ready to take control of your health.

Use the code YESTOLIFE for 15% off all Igennus products bought at their online shop: https://shop.igennus.com

Maxine is a Nutritional Therapy graduate of the College of Naturopathic Medicine in Manchester who has recently joined Igennus as a Customer Support Nutritionist and is based here in Cambridge. Her interest in nutrition was sparked after working as an Au Pair in Australia to a family who were living on a raw food diet where coincidentally, she started to endure severe digestive problems. She joined CNM as a student to further her new found passion and was able to support her own body in regaining health. Maxine is passionate about nutrition and her ability to help others achieve their optimal health. She specializes in female hormonal problems such as endometriosis, thyroid problems, stress, autoimmunity and digestive disorders. Her degree in Psychology provides her with a strong ability to understand and motivate others to achieve their health goals.

Rock Bottom - by Tamás Vincze

Today is world cancer day. In light of this we have another from Tamás Vincze, who was diagnosed with cancer when he was on the cusp of adulthood. Here he kindly shares with us a chapter from his recently published book...

My name is Tamás and I’m a former cancer patient. In the earlier post I spoke briefly about my experience with cancer and Eighteen and Cancer, my recently published book. In this post I’d like to share a chapter from the book about a moment, which I think we’ve all experienced during the journey with cancer: Rock Bottom. This is my experience of that period and the beginnings of moving out of that place.

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Rock Bottom

 

The treatments over the next few weeks were some of the worst I experienced. Medication arrived late to the hospital, and I sometimes waited half a day for sessions to begin. Nurses couldn’t insert the IV, or there simply wasn’t a bed available due to emergencies. I would sit in a dark corner of the hospital before treatment, far away from people, not practicing mindfulness but thinking of how and why I got there. Everything that had been going right was going horribly, horribly wrong. After some treatments I could barely stand up and had to spend the night at the hospital. The sights and sounds of the cancer ward are depressing at best during the day, but they can be terrifying at night.

I had always made sure never to stay overnight. It’s an impossible place to rest. There is something about darkness that can be very disturbing, and night-time silenced the ward and turned it into an alien place. I couldn’t see my fellow cancer patients but I could sense and hear them loudly. Raw unfiltered human emotions, begging, pleading or praying. Bargaining for a bit more time, hoping that there’ll be another and perhaps better tomorrow. Begging for more time with families and loved ones, praying that this is not yet the end. Occasionally this quiet would be interrupted by an emergency and a patient would be taken out and gone for hours.

At nights like these I could hardly find the peace to sleep and struggled to process what I saw. I was only 18, but here I was seeing people more than twice my age encounter enormous suffering. I had no idea what to say that might help them. All I could do was observe, seeing and feeling their fear of death: “Please don’t let me die just yet.” I had known from the beginning that my cancer was not terminal, but I couldn’t help wondering how different things might have been. What would or could have I done in their circumstances? What emotions would I have had to face?  The details of our lives were all different – age, name, hometown, occupation – but ultimately we all wanted the same thing: life without cancer.

The sessions became worse. One day in late March I arrived at the hospital and somehow knew that it was going to be bad. I had been becoming increasingly fearful of chemotherapy and the horrible physical side effects. At some point it got so bad that I was thinking of ways to escape, but common sense prevailed at the end. On this day, after the customary tests, I was escorted to a room with about eight other cancer patients (private rooms were hard to come by). When I looked around I saw the familiar landscape of white beds, IV poles and colourful medicine bottles, but more than that I saw misery, mine and theirs.

After about an hour of treatment I saw and felt darkness closing in on me and felt a burning pain moving through my body, gathering force with every breath I took. I started sweating, tossing and turning in the bed. The pain kept intensifying, and I felt my arms and legs go completely stiff as the throbbing pain spread from the IV needle in my right arm. As it moved further up into my body the burning turned into a strong, pulsing sickness. My mind shut down and I lay there, eyes closed, clutching onto my life. This shock was so sudden that there was no time for self-pity. Instead I begged and pleaded: “Please let me get through this.” “Please let me survive.” “Let me live and I’ll never take anything for granted, especially my health.”

After a while I felt a cold soft hand touch my forehead and then my cheeks. I looked up and saw a doctor sitting by the bed, looking down with kindness. I was in agony and searching for hope to help me through. She touched my arm where the needle was inserted and said quietly “Just breathe, it’s going to be okay”. What I went through had been so violent that having this loving, human experience of sitting with her for a few minutes was like the ray of sunshine after a storm. While the burning sensation didn’t stop yet, her presence was soothing. After a while she gave me a glass of water and a pill. It calmed me further and lulled me into quiet sleep for a few hours.

The last thing I remember before passing out was asking her for the name of the pill: Xanax. That was my rock bottom. I had never needed anything external to keep my sanity, but on this day I was in such pain that I was completely helpless. There is a danger that, once you get used to receiving outside help, your self-reliance will weaken. I had tried to avoid that as much as possible: I always thought that only people with much more serious ailments took pills such as these.

I’m not sure why I attributed so much weight to this incident, but it marked a turning point for me and another moment of grace. After I woke up and regained my senses I was grateful for this to be over but I had had enough. The last few treatments had been awful, and looking back at how well the first six had gone I was amazed to realise, through a very painful lesson, how much my emotional state influenced the outcome of the chemotherapies. After the ‘victory’ of reaching the halfway point, I had thought of little else but my own significance. I paid the price for not being present to my own health, which was a sure way of losing. The other sure path to defeat was to fall back into despair. As long as I could avoid both these extremes I was going to be okay.

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If you are a kindred spirit, have an inspiring story, have any questions or just want to chat please feel free to reach out on www.tamasvincze.com. My book is available on Amazon.