Читать книгу Change your Body - Is your Body Acidic or Alkaline? - Monica Wright - Страница 5

I knew when I first met my husband, Matt, that my life would change forever. He had an energy and attitude about him that drew me in like an invisible force field. We met at Indian Head Summer Camp in Pennsylvania, U.S.A., on June 22, 1996. We were both summer camp counsellors to over 500 American children; I was running the gymnastic program, and he was teaching aussie rules, rugby and martial arts.

The summer camp lasted for nine weeks, and over this short time we developed a special bond. We fell in love and wanted to spend all our waking hours together. This attraction even got us in trouble with the camp’s strict curfews and counsellor guidelines, but we didn’t care. At the time, every minute was worth the risk. After the camp, we travelled around America for three amazing weeks. The experience of eating American food for 12 weeks was the turning point in our lives. We had never eaten so much processed food! I remember ordering a vegetarian pizza in a café and getting a pizza base with olives, onion, and cheese! The next time I ordered a vegetarian pizza, much to Matt’s dismay, I asked the waitress if they could put chopped broccoli on the pizza, if I provided the broccoli. They said, “No problem.” So, I headed out to the cooler in the car and came back with the broccoli.

My mum always served healthy meals at home, meals full of vegetables. So, it seemed completely alien to me to eat anything that wasn’t served with salad or veggies. When I was living in Melbourne with my flatmate, Serena, she served baked bean toasted sandwiches for dinner one night. I immediately jumped up and quickly steamed a big bowl of broccoli for both of us. My sisters and Serena even presented me with a broccoli bouquet at my wedding.

I’m not sure what Matt thought of my obsession with broccoli and healthy eating, but it made us both realise how important eating a clean diet was for energy and maintaining a healthy weight. We both put on weight while in America, and on our return to Melbourne got straight back into our training and healthy eating. Matt started his personal training business, and I went straight into full-time gymnastic coaching at Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak.

I had been back in Australia for about 18 months when a friend suggested I try fitness competitions. I had never heard of them before, so I went along to watch a competition and was totally hooked! Getting up on stage was the challenge I had been looking for and it didn’t seem that much different than gymnastics. My strength was the acrobatic fitness routine and I found that the weight training Matt was teaching me had really changed my body. I loved how I could manipulate food and training to achieve a muscular, toned body. When I walked out on stage in 1999 for the first time, I felt amazing and wanted to show everyone my acrobatic routine and inspire people to change their bodies. I won that first competition, with the biggest smile on my face. That was also the year Matt and I got married! I then went on to represent Australia in fitness competitions in America, England, and Europe from 1999 until 2006, winning a total of seven World Fitness titles.

Matt joined forces with me in 2002, to compete in the fitness pairs category in Germany at Fitness Universe. After competing on my own for so long, it was really fun to train, diet, and do a routine together.

I have wanted to be an author since I was 10 years old. So, in 2006, when Matt came up with the idea of writing a book together, I jumped at the chance. I remember documenting every gymnastic training session and competition I ever did when I was younger, and I remember nights of drawing up weekly charts in my bedroom to make sure I achieved my training and competition goals. The charts included things like making sure I got eight hours sleep, drinking water, practising my handstands, not eating junk food, doing my homework, and stretching.

I wouldn’t call myself obsessed with checklists, but for every fitness competition in which I have competed, I’ve always had a checklist of things to do every day to achieve my goal. Matt and I have these checklists on our fridge, and we follow them for the 84 day lead-up to a competition. They are very effective in keeping us on track. Now we are bringing them to you through this book and our 84 Day Body Challenge Action Manual which is sold separately.

Over the last seven years our involvement in fitness has been an amazing journey. We have learnt so much about the way the body works, have travelled all over the world, and have met some amazing athletes. Even though the training and diet is hard work, it taught us a lot about self-discipline, commitment, and time management. It has made us stronger, both physically and mentally.

Our last competition was June 2006 where we won our fourth World Fitness Pairs title, and I won my third Ms Fitness Universe title. This competition was our hardest ever because we filmed a documentary on our 84 day preparation to competition day. The pressure was on us to win again and we wanted to finish on top. The athletes we were up against were the toughest so far. The feeling of relief when we won our last competition was on par with our first win together in 2002, and we didn’t sleep a wink all night from the adrenalin rush!

A major turning point for us was midway through 2005, when we were introduced to the powerful effects of following an alkaline diet. Up until then we had always followed a high protein diet and trained up to 2 hours every day to get ready for a competition, both of which produce acid in the body. We found in February 2006 that we were at our leanest ever and only two kilos off our stage weight, and we were in our off season!

We completely put this down to taking 30-60 ml of what we call super juice (a high antioxidant drink) plus 2 green whole food supplements – barley grass and spirulina on a daily basis. We also had alkaline foods such as spinach, broccoli, raw salads, vegetables, lemons, avocado, PiMagTM water, complex carbohydrates and nuts throughout the day, every day, with lean protein sources.

We didn’t need to do the typical body building diet of training two hours a day anymore and going on a low carbohydrate, high protein diet to be lean. We breezed through the 84 day preparation for the competition and came in our leanest ever in 2006, eating a high alkaline diet. We had finally found the secret to a great body!

Now, I am at a point in my life where I have no competitions to prepare for. This is why I have decided to co-write this book with Matt. We have written this book together, over the last two years, with many years of research, but for the ease of you, the reader; it has been written from Matt’s perspective. It has been a huge project for both of us and all our spare time has been spent writing the book. So, as well as working together and living together, we now also spend all our spare time together. But, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Matt’s life experiences are inspirational, and we have both learned much about each other while writing this book. I hope you get inspired by Matt’s story and knowledge just as much as I do on a daily basis.

Another reason we wrote this book was that we wanted to reach out and help more people. The obesity epidemic is out of control. By owning our own fitness training centre, we can really be there for people to educate and motivate them to change their bodies. However, there are too many people in the world who do not have this assistance. Our book is aimed at changing that. We are determined to put an end to this obesity epidemic by educating people and giving them the answers they need to live a happy and healthy life, full of wellness. Be part of the solution and join us on our health revolution.

What we have taught in this book, we have been doing with clients for the last 15 years. It is a proven system that has worked for them and will work for you. Refer to the testimonials at the back of the book, and find out what our inspirational clients have to say.

So . . . let’s seize the day! Fit as much as you can into your 24 hours. Everyone has the same number of hours in a day; it is how you spend them that matters. My father always said to me, and I live by it every day, “Always go to sleep tired and not bored.”

It is our goal to change your thinking through this book. Once you are hooked on thinking wellness, you will never look back!

Enjoy reading our book and please refer to our WEBSITE that is full of more helpful information at...

www.fitnesskick.com.au

Monica Wright

Ms. Fitness Universe (2002, 2003, and 2006)

Fitness Pairs Universe Champion (2002, 2003, 2005, and 2006)