BBHC Podcast - Episode 6

Hi, how's it, Luna?

Good, and you?

Very well, thanks.

That's good. Welcome to the BBHC podcast.

Thanks.

Cool. So the reason why we wanted you on today is because you just recently finished our 2-month health program. That's very well done. Thanks. So we wanted to talk to you a little bit about how it affected your life. Um, but before we start, tell us a little bit about yourself.

So, um, I do conservation for, you know, I'm an environmental conservationist. That's my, my calling, or my job if you want to say. Yeah. Um, I'm fairly— I go through periods of high activity and then periods of off it, so it's very inconsistent. And, um, and generally I'm a fairly energetic I'm a very active person, um, and I, you know, I'm fairly healthy. I never get sick, but I had my motivations for starting this program. Good.

And what did you think about the program before you started it?

I didn't have much information. I know you guys were having huge success because I'd seen some other people on it and they were doing so well. Um, I never liked the idea of any sort of fasting, and, you know, so there was some like preconceived ideas that I had that stood in the way.

Yeah.

Because I was like, oh, that's for poops, and, you know, in what world don't you eat 3 meals a day? That's been like my standard stable day thing since I was, I don't know, my whole life.

Yeah.

You eat 3 meals a day, even if they're small meals. Every other diet I've done, not that fasting is a huge part of this diet, but it's, you know, it just turns out that you eat less. And you don't actually need to eat 2 times a day. Yeah. Um, so though I think that was my main kind of like block, I was like, you know, I'm not going to starve myself and I don't want to, you know, because I feel ill and then I'll feel weak and I need fuel to run.

Yeah. Yeah.

So yeah, that was, I'd say, my only—

Okay. Yeah. I remember you sending me a message once in the beginning of the program. You're like, I'll never, you know, I'll do it for these 2 months and then that's it.

Yeah, that's exactly what happened. And also, like, I'm gonna have my 3 meals a day.

Yeah.

And I think I was 3 days in and I was like, I cannot eat breakfast, I'm so full.

I know.

And it's not like that's ever happened. I normally, when I eat 3 meals a day, it's because I'm hungry. I'm hungry in the morning.

Yeah.

Sometimes a bit of a habit too, but, but I was just like, I was chockers, and I just thought, okay, I can't.

Yeah. I can't.

I'm gonna have to make a plan to kind of at least skip one meal. Yeah, I got, I got It gets really interesting as you move through the program as well.

Yeah, yeah. And it's amazing how one for one every person is like that. I'll never, and then, oh, I can't, I can't.

You just can't do it.

Yeah.

Your whole system changes.

Yeah.

That's what happens.

Yeah. Excellent. And, um, so when you started the program, were you nervous? What, what were your thoughts?

Um, no, because I could tell I was gonna be able to eat my 3 meals a day. I mean, that's you know, there's no restrictions, and it's quite a nice— it's quite a nice, like, relaxed diet. It's not like, um, at first I was a bit annoyed that I didn't have to weigh my food because it's like then it's very strict and, you know, you feel very sort of like you're doing the right thing. But as it turns out, you just don't need to, you know, you don't need to do that because you, you just— you're not hungry and you're not, you know— if I had to like now weigh absolutely a certain amount, it wouldn't work. And when I ate, I I ate well, you know, like I never, um, sort of tried to skimp on dinner or whatever. I ate until I was like super full. Um, so you don't need all those kind of like major restrictions.

Yeah.

And when I looked at the diet, it just, it looked fairly doable. It didn't seem like a, you know, like a hectic concept. So I was actually quite ready for it.

Oh, great.

Yeah, great.

And do you feel it was money well spent?

Oh yeah, absolutely. You know, I don't think on any other diet, and I've dieted many times over the years, but you're normally doing it solo. So you fall off the wagon, you have a conversation with yourself, you go, okay, whatever. But when you have somebody to just communicate to you about how you're feeling, I mean, some— in the beginning I had a few rough weeks.

Yeah.

And I just, you know, just having somebody check in and say, oh well, you know, do this and try that and whatever. And then finding a solution to, you know, treat your toe very bad. You know, there were times where in my hips and my lower back I had a lot of pain.

Oh yeah, I remember.

Yeah, quite a lot. Um, but I was detoxing so much stuff, and I knew what was happening. I felt that toxin, you know, coming out.

Yeah, yeah.

So I think with us, and I know a few other people who've been on the program with you, The mentorship part of it is, you know, just that daily communication. Yeah, it's a game changer, actually. It really is.

Yeah, yeah. And, um, I mean, when did you realize that you kind of like this lifestyle and that you want to continue with it after the program?

Um, so I realized that Probably about a month in, because it was going to be just like the whole year.

Yes, yes.

And I think you might remember that I was concerned about my liver. I felt very congested and I didn't feel healthy, and that's actually why I started the diet. Um, and I had this concern that livers are weak in our family. My dad died of liver cancer, my— his mom died of liver cancer.

Oh wow.

So that is like a bit of a consideration, like you've got to take care of that body part because it's not a strong genetic organ for us.

Yeah, yeah.

And so I thought, well, I'll just do this. I'll get this out of the way. I'll detox. I'll reset my liver, you know, and then I'll go forward. And then I realized it's so much easier than the other way of life because you don't have to eat all the time. You're not hungry. My energy level, definitely completely different. But for me, I think the biggest change was concentration. I was really struggling to, you know, in the morning I'd get bored of my work and I'd feel like tired and I'd actually leave and go do something else or find some reason to go out of the office, you know.

Yeah.

But I knew and I felt kind of foggy. And then during the program at some point, I think it was on my birthday, I had a piece of— wasn't a cheat, but it was like a keto cheesecake. At about 10:30 in the morning. I was exhausted afterwards. I felt so tired. I was like, oh my God, I clearly cannot—

Yeah.

And when, if I don't eat breakfast, I don't do anything else, energy's there the whole day.

Yeah.

So I decided, okay, this definitely— there's huge lifestyle changes that will stay with me because it just works. And I, and I can do my work and I don't get tired. Yeah, yeah, great. Yeah.

And was there anything that happened, um, or changed that surprised you, that you didn't think would happen on a program like this?

Uh, not eating and having energy was probably the biggest one because I've never believed, you know, you eat, you've got energy, everybody's happy. But not eating, um, when you don't need to especially, yeah, just if you don't have that crash of energy.

Exactly.

That really surprised me because I have I've always had the complete opposite information that, you know, you eat and carbs give you energy. I've always been— I've known carbs aren't good and I've never been a big carb eater, but, um, but not having breakfast and then being so energetic until about 1, 2 o'clock, actually, then my— then I get hungry.

Yeah, yeah.

It was a huge surprise.

Oh, that's excellent. Yeah. And, um, So are you looking forward to the future and as a result of this and that type of thing?

Yeah, I am, because I know that if I go on with it, I will keep improving my health.

Yeah.

And I will also keep losing weight because I still want to get a little bit lower. I've lost over 8 kg so far, which, I mean, you know, it really— and all in this liver area where I felt congested. Yeah. And so my clothes are falling off. I'm gonna have to buy new clothes. It's a very expensive diet when you start buying all new wardrobe.

Yes, exactly.

Yeah, but, uh, yeah, so I definitely will also carry on with it. There's no reason not to. It's also interesting, so many things you can eat.

Yeah.

That, um, and that you can substitute for the things that you loved and that you sort of love. You can have those treats and, um, and there are substitutions.

Yes.

That are nice, super nice.

Yeah, so it's not like you're once for anything or anything like that.

No, definitely not.

Great. Well, we really enjoyed having you on the program. It was fun working with you.

Yeah.

And, um, before we end off, tell me a little bit more about what you do because I know, um, you do great work and You know, it's always good that everyone knows about it.

Um, so we do environmental conservation. We focus on 2 areas. We have— we do land restoration, so we get degraded land with a lot of alien invasive plants, erosion, stuff like that. Yeah, we restore that land, um, usually for game reserves and that kind of thing. Um, and then we do a lot of, uh, environmental education for children of all ages, adults. We have programs for you know, all different, um, sort of sectors of society, um, to really bring up awareness of people of what the current environmental issues are. Um, I have found over the many years of doing this that there's, there's generally a lack of understanding of the environment and what the issues are. So we've created very specific educational material to kind of handle this. Um, and then also sometimes we get to do cool stuff with the specific Species like rhino and elephants and, um, helping with some lion rescues and stuff like that. So, um, you know, that's also always the fun—

that's the fun part.

Yeah. Not that the other stuff's not fun, but you know, when you get to work with animals directly, it's very, very cool.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah, it's an interesting, um, career. It's not, um, your general, you know, thing.

It's not.

And I must say, I would struggle to just do office work. It would be quite difficult.

Yeah.

Because I do love being outside and that's kind of my whole passion.

Yeah.

So yeah, I do love what I do.

Excellent. And what's the organization called? And if they want to find out more about it, where are you?

So the organization is called the Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization. It was founded by the late Lawrence Anthony, who wrote the book called The Elephant Whisperer, where he discovered his passion for, you know, goes into the story, it's a beautiful story, but essentially it spreads the story about the importance of conservation. And then he started the organization and we just carried on, carried the torch on. And it's such a critical thing right now with the planet under such pressure that we have to start really being serious about the environment and what it does for us. And there's stuff that anybody can do to to improve the scene, what they can do themselves. So it's getting that message out and what people need to contribute to actually make for a better world for everybody.

Yeah.

Um, so yeah, so it's, uh, yeah, the Lawrence Anthony Earth Organization.

Okay. And you've got a website? Are you on social media?

We've got a website, we're on social media, we're on Instagram. I'm not great on Instagram, but anyway, we— I'm pretty good on, on social media, but we do have a website. Okay, great.

Well, thank you very much for joining us on the podcast, and, uh, good luck for your, your future and keeping the lifestyle and keep losing weight and getting healthy.

Yeah, thanks. I definitely will. 100% decided.

Okay, excellent. Cool.