In the last of my series of interviews with Community Detox Rockstars, I chat to Louise Crowe about her journey. She not only lost 6kg but both her psoriasis and chronic back pain radically improved! Louise is incredibly inspiring, honest and one committed woman. I am so proud of her and simply can’t wait to see her back on board in June.
What was the biggest achievement you experienced on Community Detox?
Gosh where do I start?
My biggest personal achievement was actually sticking to the plan. I’ve tended to be somewhat feast or famine where my diet is concerned and any attempts at healthy living quickly saw me fall off the wagon and I’d inevitably just throw in the towel (wow that’s a lot of metaphors!). I viewed the Community Detox as the first step towards a long-term lifestyle change.
As for the biggest physical achievement, I lost over 6 kg during the program. I’m not a big woman by any stretch but in completing CD I came within 1 kg of my optimal fat levels. I had some tests (live blood analysis and bioimpedence tests) done at the beginning and end of CD and received an unequivocally positive result, with the phrase “you’ve got just about a perfect score card” making me extremely happy and proud of all my efforts.
My biggest health achievements were seeing my psoriasis improve radically as well as a massive reduction, if not cessation, of the chronic lower back pain I’ve had for the past 8 years (I spent almost two years unable to lift my infant children off the ground). I was diagnosed with sacroillitis and a bulging disk a few years back and have been treating it with daily anti-inflammatories and Pilates and restricting certain exercise (even walking on an uneven surface was enough to send spasms of pain up my spine). I had already started to see the link between my diet and my psoriasis but I had never connected the pain and inflammation in my lower back with what I was eating. Not only has my back stopped causing me any pain, I’ve stopped all anti-inflammatories and I’ve even started jogging and doing some strength training to regain some muscle tone after years and years of neglect.
Oh and cutting out gluten means I don’t get crushing sleepiness during the day. I had so much natural energy during CD that I’m trying to stay gluten-free and I’ve decided to stay off caffeine because I just don’t need it anymore.
How would you describe Community Detox to someone?
Absolutely brilliant. I did post about my experience on Facebook saying it is a closed Facebook group run by Emma. As a group we cut out alcohol, caffeine, sugar, (cow’s) dairy and red meat. We had access to regular Q&As with experts in their fields such as naturopaths, personal trainers, etc. We also had the opportunity to ‘buddy up’ with someone else in the group. There were those who were returning to CD and had invited a friend along, and those of us who were first timers and found someone to connect with organically (my buddy happened to live a suburb away, has four fb friends in common with me and has since become a real life friend! We go walking together once a week and chat uninhibited about the wonders and discoveries of CD friendly recipes and preparation techniques. She’s my CD BFF!).
The entire process has been a revelation, extremely empowering, sometimes hard work and required will power to stay focused on my goals. I would never have imagined I would feel as connected to all the other CDers, the majority of whom I never met other than via fb. The saying goes “It takes a village to raise a child”. Well I reckon “It takes a community to raise a detoxer”.
Any short term pangs at missing out on a glass or more of alcohol, or having to miss out on a food item that I would normally crave were far out-weighed by the daily joy I felt while on CD. Yes I’m evangelical but as I say it was a revelation!
Can you explain exactly how you achieved your amazing results? Do you feel there were any specific elements of Community Detox that really helped you?
I was loyal to the allowed ingredients, I planned, I tried to have healthy snacks to hand, and I reset my way of thinking to mindful eating rather than constant emotional and mindless eating. I also did the Level 3 CD, which included some supplements plus two days of Intermittent Fasting (IF). IF definitely wasn’t for everyone but I found it really helped to drop some weight, remind me what it’s like to actually go hungry for a very short period of time and surprised me that I didn’t need to gorge on food the next day.
I’ll admit I had quite a lot of time during CD as I was looking for work so I had time to concentrate on exercise. But with all the focus I had on researching and preparing CD friendly meals I really couldn’t bare the thought of thinking about exercise as well (yes I’m a bit lazy at times – according to my original tests I had about 3kg of muscle to put on).
Instead I chose to do the cheapest and easiest form of exercise I had available to me – I walked. I walked a lot. I walked to the local markets on the weekend (8km loop). I walked around the bay and back (12.5km loop). I walked with my CD buddy once a week (7km). I walked into town to have lunch with a girlfriend or to attend interviews or appointments (10km loop). I walked to meet friends for dinner or to go to the movies. And even just walking the kids to and from school. I just kept moving as much as I could and tried to have a destination/objective in mind so that it didn’t feel as much like exercise.
Now that I’ve eased off on the strict CD, I’m starting to do some strength training. It’s amazing how much I’ve improved in my core strength and the weights I can lift. I absolutely equate that to my healthier eating and the walking.
What was the key lesson you learnt on this Community Detox?
I can do whatever I put my mind to. There will be lots of ‘haters’ out there. Lots of people kept saying “there is NOOO way I could do that” and my response was always “yes you could but you’ve got to want to do it”. There were so many different people doing CD for very personal reasons. What worked for one, didn’t always work for the next person but we were all there together offering support and encouragement throughout the entire month. There wasn’t one ounce of judgment or rudeness. I owe a lot to the other participants for the support they provided.
Tell us your favorite Community Detox meal/snack/drink and why you love it
I loved the “life changing bread” that was shared during CD. It was super easy to make, used up lots of my pantry ingredients and it helped when I needed a snack to grab on the run.
I loved bread pre-CD, so the gluten free bread by Common Ground was a lifesaver and super tasty.
I relied heavily on Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes and just tweaked them to remove the sugars, gluten, etc. They are uniformly delicious and I love to eat this way anyway so it made meal planning easier.
Emma’s Gluten free muesli recipe is now a pantry staple.
I mostly stick to goat and sheep dairy (although I still can’t resist Parmigiano-Reggiano!).
Do you want to share anything else?
Not only did I get the obvious benefit of losing weight and feeling like I had a brand new wardrobe because all my clothes fit so much better, but I benefited from so many other physical changes that I had never even anticipated were caused by my diet. Who new those endorphins from exercising really existed (and that was just from walking!)? I used to get ‘heat rash’ anytime I exercised, leaving me very hot and itchy – it has completely stopped. I don’t seem to sweat as much. Deodorant has become almost redundant. My cheeks don’t go as red. I hardly ever fart and yes even my poo isn’t as smelly!!!
I want to say a massive thanks to Emma and her team for the wealth of information and support they provided as well as the incredible discounts we had access to throughout the month.
Lastly, to those of you who are reading this thinking goodness I’m not sure I have the will power to do this, you absolutely do! Don’t think about the end result. I swear it’s a journey and one that you will never regret. Good luck and I hope this inspires you to join Emma and the next CD x
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