My name is Paula and I am from Canada and I work as an IT Business Analyst.
I signed up for this course because I was having health problems (migraines, sore Achilles tendons on both feet, etc.) and I wanted to take control of it. I was tired of not feeling great. As well, a friend who also wanted to participate in the course pushed me to sign up. I’m glad I did, and I’m glad she pushed me.
My results have been great. I lost about 5 or so kgs during the 8 week course. However, I’m continuing to lose weight steadily about 0.5 to 1 kg a week, which is the safest, healthiest way to lose. In terms of cms lost, overall I think I’ve lost at least 8 cm from my waist, hips and bust. Enough to be noticeable. My clothes are definitely looser, in fact, I have a pair of jeans I can’t wear anymore without a belt.
But for me the biggest physical change was unexpected. I had just gotten used to having sore Achilles tendons in both my feet. I tried stretching, I tried Voltaren cream, I tried a lot of things. I had resigned myself to having to wake up and hobble out of bed every morning and really didn’t look forward to having to walk down steps because it hurt. I got so used to it over the past year or so that it took me while to realize that since I started on Rowana’s plan, the inflammation had died down. It just hit me one day when I was running down the steps at the train station to catch my train first thing in the morning that “hey, my tendons don’t hurt”…it didn’t hurt to take the stairs first thing in the morning anymore. When I get out of bed in the morning, I don’t grimace with pain anymore when I take my first steps. That’s been a real game changer for me.
In fact, just after we finished the course, my friend, her family and I went to London for a long weekend. We walked around, a lot. No pain. Her husband was so surprised by my transformation, he said “she’s walking faster than me” during our rambles through Islington. And he’s an athletic, basketball-playing man who is at least 190 cm tall. I’m 163 on a really good day. For me, getting rid of that constant inflammation, just by adjusting what I ate, was eye-opening.
For me, the biggest emotional result was the realization that all I had to do was make some subtle, easy-to-cope-with changes to how and what I was eating. For me, it’s all about the substitutions that Rowana suggested and then demonstrated in the cooking section of each session. For example, in one session, she made a cauliflower-rice “shrimp fried rice”. When she first suggested it, I was very skeptical, but then I saw how easy it was to make and then the taste! Fantastic. It helped me understand that her program wasn’t a “diet”, it was a change in eating habits. Making substitutions so that I wasn’t feeling restricted or deprived. And making a commitment to me and my own health.
I would definitely recommend Rowana and her program to a friend (more than one….). The cooking demonstrations allowed me to see what was possible…and tasty. The information she provided through the various sources were extremely useful in helping me understand that the pre-conceived notions that I had about what constitutes “healthy” food were inaccurate. She was very encouraging and positive in celebrating each little win.