Leave A Light On Podcast
Welcome to "Leave A Light On Podcast," the podcast that brings you inspiring stories of ordinary people overcoming extraordinary challenges in their lives. Join us as we delve into the lives of individuals from all walks of life, exploring the adversities they face and the resilience they demonstrate in overcoming them.
In each episode, we'll introduce you to a new guest—a parent, a teacher, a healthcare worker, a student, a veteran, or perhaps your neighbor next door. Through heartfelt interviews and candid conversations, we'll uncover the personal battles they've fought, whether it's overcoming illness, navigating through loss, breaking free from addiction, or facing societal barriers.
From tales of triumph over adversity to stories of perseverance in the face of hardship, "Leave a Light On Podcast" celebrates the human spirit and the strength found within each of us. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and most importantly, you'll be inspired by the resilience and determination of these everyday people who refuse to be defined by their struggles.
So, tune in and join us on this journey of hope, empowerment, and the celebration of the human spirit. Because in the end, it's the stories of everyday people that remind us all that we are capable of overcoming anything life throws our way.
Leave A Light On Podcast
S2 Ep2 - From Health Crisis to Holistic Healing: Luke Whitby's Inspiring Journey and Mission
What happens when a life-threatening diagnosis inspires a mission to transform the world of health? Meet our first guest of Season 2, Luke Whitby, who uncovers his journey from overcoming a severe health crisis to establishing his own company focused on empowering others through natural health solutions. His story is not just about personal triumph but a powerful reminder of the importance of setting goals and taking charge of our well-being, especially as we age. As we reflect on our podcast's growth, we celebrate the rich conversations and shared experiences that lie ahead.
Luke’s passion for drumming, sports, and travel becomes the backdrop for a spirited discussion on community and wellness. From social media inspiration to health advocacy, Luke’s experiences offer a beacon of hope for those on similar paths. We explore the profound impact of his love for music and travel on shaping his identity, while emphasizing the communal support that aligns with our podcast’s values. Whether it’s his infectious enthusiasm for Blink-182 or his mission to educate others about health, Luke’s multifaceted life offers valuable insights into the power of community and shared purpose.
Navigating life with a chronic condition like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) isn't easy, but Luke’s transformative shift from conventional medicine to naturopathic healing showcases the potential of holistic health approaches. We delve into his journey with the Nourish Health Hub, highlighting the importance of personalized care and lifestyle changes. As Luke shares his story of overcoming adversity, we emphasize a clean diet and holistic health strategies as vital tools for recovery. By shining a light on natural treatments and the interconnection between mental and physical health, we reinforce our dedication to raising awareness and supporting health initiatives. Join us for this inspiring episode as we explore the resilience and strength found in nurturing both body and mind.
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Share your stories with us and lets Leave a Light On
Hello and welcome to Leave a Light On Podcast, a show that looks to tackle the everyday struggles in our everyday lives. It's time to shed some light on it. Leave a Light on Podcast is not a licensed mental health service and shouldn't be substituted for professional advice or treatment. Things discussed in this podcast are general in nature and may be of a sensitive nature. If you're struggling, please seek professional help or contact Lifeline on 13 11 14. Here's your hosts, shane and Shev.
Speaker 3:Hey, hey, welcome to Leave a Lot on Podcast with one of your hosts, Shev, and alongside me, Shano.
Speaker 2:Hey, shev, yeah, good, Thank you. I like to just obviously bring it in a little bit different you and that e-horn.
Speaker 3:You know what I'm going to get Mick to get onto that? No, no, no, no, no, no, You're banished.
Speaker 2:Well yeah, welcome. Thank you very much for that introduction, shev that was awesome. Leave a lot on podcast. You're back, season two, yep, and now episode two of season two. How cool I at least. Two people come back to me after that episode and say how thought provoking it was actually, especially the fact that they didn't realize, the older they were getting, the fact that the goal settings did definitely drop off substantially.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, that's what one of the points that I made in that episode was obviously more common in younger, younger people. Yeah, so you've got more drive, as you said.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it was pretty cool. So if you haven't listened to season one or episode one or season two, I suggest you start all the way at the beginning, at season one, and work your way through, just to get a good feel of what we're about on this episode. Yeah, because we're crazy.
Speaker 3:Well, you definitely see that we've improved, that's for sure. On the mics, yeah, the first couple of episodes we were real nervous, but I think Shane and myself have finally started to get our groove.
Speaker 2:Yeah we are Woo-hoo, yeah, and that's always a good thing.
Speaker 3:He's such a child with that thing.
Speaker 2:Take it off him. He's like a baby with a turd bloody rattle no no no, Well, yeah, so really excited about today's episode today we have our first uh guest of season two, which, which is really exciting and he's been looking forward to this episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he's, he's. He's an incredible dude, um, I've had some some short chats with him, um, and his story is a really, really, really inspiring story actually. Yep, um, and it kind of took me by surprise, because when you hear his story, you like um, he's quite a fit dude. He's a good looking guy as well by the way, he's a good looking rooster.
Speaker 3:It's okay for blokes to say that, especially nowadays. Yeah, it's all right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's all right. He's a good looking rooster. I just thought I'd get him a little bit uncomfortable next to me while he's waiting to come on. But yeah, he's a really cool dude and his story is really inspiring and I heard it. I actually took a step back and went. Well, I need to check myself here, because when you hear it, it's like maybe we need to take a little bit more of a closer look at ourselves and just make sure that we're really in a healthy, good space Looking after ourselves, Looking after ourselves, Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 3:So, without further ado, without further ado, I've got some information on him.
Speaker 2:Yeah, give us some information and then we're going to jump in with, obviously, our tradition on the show, which is obviously a theme song. Yeah, cool, and the theme song for this man is going to be a doozy.
Speaker 3:One of my favorites, that's for sure. Yeah, well, 2018, I'll start off with Luke Whitby as our guest on the show today. He's 34. Yeah, he's born and bred in Newcastle, so he's a local boy. 2018, he was diagnosed with a severe health condition that was life-threatening, so that's pretty incredible that it was life-threatening.
Speaker 2:Um well, yeah, well yeah, not incredible, it was life-threatening.
Speaker 3:It's incredible and he's still sitting here with his healthy as a horse yeah, absolutely it's good yeah in 2021, he founded his own company based on his journey to recovery. He wanted to offer others the same high-quality level products that helped him, and he had a passion to empower others to take control of their own health naturally which is awesome and have a better quality of life.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So I think that's really, really awesome that he's found the initiative to help others yeah, absolutely. That's what we're doing here today, which is awesome and have a better quality of life. So I think that's really, really awesome that he's found the initiative to help others, because that's what we're doing here today, which is great.
Speaker 2:My hat goes off to him. That's exactly why we brought him on this podcast.
Speaker 3:I can't take my hat off because I've got my headphones on, but my hat goes off to him.
Speaker 2:That's exactly why we're going to bring him on this podcast and give him the platform. Yeah absolutely so without further ado. Starting off with the theme song Lucy Welcome.
Speaker 3:Mr Luke with me Welcome. Luke Thank you boys Welcome Great intro track there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, buddy, how did you know?
Speaker 2:Blink-182 was my favourite band going on. It's a jam, I mean it is. When we were chatting, obviously before this, you said to me that you were a drummer which we'll get into. Yes, and I thought to myself straight away greatest drummer of our time, obviously, mr Travis Walker.
Speaker 3:A hundred percent, it had to be a Blink-182 intro even if you don't like the pop punk genre, he is still loved, he's still killing it, not just in punk.
Speaker 1:He's expanded his horizon since and yeah, you don't even like Blink-182, and you know Travis Walker, that's exactly right so welcome.
Speaker 2:Very, very cool to have you on the show. Thanks, boys. Give him another clap, since it's been inherited with Blink-182 and all the fans2 and all the fans clapping yeah, big studio audience who have?
Speaker 1:you with us today yeah, um cool.
Speaker 2:So, without further ado, we're going to get into the episode. Your story is pretty cool. Um, I met you. Well, I actually heard about you through my wife, to be honest okay, that's, yeah, shout out to shout out to my wife hello, she's like yeah, I had to give her credit for this. Yeah, she followed your journey.
Speaker 2:You big on Instagram in terms of sharing your story and what you do, obviously, with the business that you founded, which we'll get into a little bit later, but she's the one who put me onto your story, which is just mind blowing. And I came in and had a chat with you at the store the one day just to hear a little bit more about it. And the more you told me, the more I was just like dude.
Speaker 1:a little bit more about it, and the more you told me, the more I was just like dude it is such an incredible story and I think even you know it's an incredible story because you share it so openly with anyone who asks about it yeah, but I do that for the reason of people, um, who, if they were in my position back pre getting sick, um, and they didn't know about health and wellness and, potentially, how to look after themselves.
Speaker 1:That's why I inform them of my journey and what happened to me, because if I can change one person's direction so that they don't get sick, then that's a win for me. But, yeah, I really do enjoy sharing it as well, because when I was sick, I had no inspiration that I could find anywhere on the socials or just in Google searches. There was nothing around at that time. When I did get sick, like you mentioned, chev, it was 2018. So I don't think TikTok was a thing and if it was, it was only just starting. So there was no TikTok to try and search for anyone that had, you know, essentially reversed the autoimmune condition that I had. So, yeah, whenever anyone's interested and wants to hear the story, I'm more than happy to tell it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, which is so cool, and I feel like more people need to be able to be open and share those journeys. Based on what you're saying, it's to help others, not to necessarily boast and be arrogant, and your own kind of achievement Definitely not. You've done this, yeah, I think to help others.
Speaker 3:Yeah, at the end of the day, isn't it really like that? And that's why I mean, shane are here to try and voice our thing exactly.
Speaker 2:People say it's awesome what you're doing and so that's why I said it's like your, your values of why you're doing it aligns perfectly with what we're doing here and trying to share the fact that we're building a community of people that want to do better, that want to get better, that live healthier. So, yeah, it's such a cool journey, dude, and such a cool story. So, yeah, I really commend you, first of all, for being open enough to share it, but also in the way that you do. It's just so beautiful and humble. Thanks, man.
Speaker 1:It means a lot because, yeah, it's really nice when people do resonate with my story and, I guess, do take in what I actually have to say. There's some people where they just glaze over, but other people they're like man, this is actually quite influential and, yeah, they're really on board what I have to say and then I hope that I've changed that person's direction, even if it's just a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, for sure, all right. Well, let's get into you, obviously, as a person and let's go right back. What does someone who doesn't know you today need to know about you in order to understand who you are? Well, that's a great question.
Speaker 3:That is straight off the bat. He doesn't muck around, okay.
Speaker 2:To know about me to understand me, even if he makes up naps, Jeez man.
Speaker 1:Well, I think a big part of my identity is sports. I really love sport. I grew up playing footy, yeah. So yeah, I love all different types of sports. I love traveling, which we'll probably get into a little bit later on, and all of that kind of stuff I guess does make the person you are so like. With my traveling, uh, man, I grew a lot after. You know a lot of my traveling adventures just got to get out and see the world and learn about different cultures and really reflect on who I was as a person. Um, so, yeah, probably sports travel, love my music as well, which I would then base my travel around, you know, certain music festivals. I really love my music, which I guess is why I've probably got somewhat of a creative side when I can actually tap into that when I'm not so busy. But, yeah, probably that's about it. I really do enjoy helping other people, no matter how big or small that may be, which is why doing what I'm doing now, it's really fulfilling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's amazing. I mean, that's a great answer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, now it's really fulfilling so, yeah, yeah, that's amazing, that's I mean, that's a, that's a great answer. So, yeah, yeah, let's uh, let's go back.
Speaker 2:You're obviously born and bred in new york, like you said. Yep, uh, what did childhood look like for you? You're obviously always on the sport field. You're out with your mates, obviously. Yeah, um, as much as possible beachy dude.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I did enjoy the beach but uh, I wasn't big in terms of surfing or anything. I did boog a little bit when I was younger, but that was about it. Uh, more into, probably, footy, like I mentioned before, really love my footy, backyard footy, footy on the weekends footy at school pretty footy, mad love footy. Um, I guess you know travis barker was one of my idols and then andrew johns had to be my other back in the day. Probably still is in some way shape or form.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, just growing up as a kid really just involved hanging out with my mates playing footy. And then, yeah, when Cena come along, one year I think I was 10, I got my first drum kit, or eight, yeah, eight actually. I got my first drum kit and then I really dove into the musical side of things and was pretty hard into drumming for a while, up until I turned 18, because then things changed. I was in a band for a little while with my old next-door neighbour who was 30-plus at the time, and I was like when he caught back up with me, I think I was like 16.
Speaker 1:So I was gigging with the boys underage obviously in pubs and clubs and stuff, which was a pretty cool early experience for me. There was some places that I had to get written permission from my olds just so I could play. So I guess that really did build a lot of my character as well. So, yeah, it was an interesting childhood. Growing up I moved around a little bit.
Speaker 1:I've got split parents, so I did the single parent thing, sometimes with my mom, then sometimes with my dad, and I've got a couple of half sisters as well. But pretty much growing up I was basically the only child. So yeah, I guess that also shaped me as a person as well. I'm probably a little bit more introverted than extroverted because of that, I would say, because it was always just myself and either my old girl or my old man. So yeah, I didn't have that sibling or siblings to communicate with. It was always me just preoccupying myself. So yeah, and that's been something that I've had to learn over the years as well, especially in the space that I'm in now, having to be quite present on social media. So yeah, it's been a learning curve, but so far, so good, I'm getting the hang of it.
Speaker 2:It's so interesting you say that, because one of the things I've always thought is that it's always the introverted people that are the people that have that deep train of thought and then having to then force that to then be extroverted. It comes across in such a unique way when you have to do that, because people relate to that and I think it's in the way that you're saying is that a lot of people tend to be very introverted nowadays and they tend to shy away. So when you have that person who then steps out of that in order to share this depth and this knowledge that they've learned and the value that they've learned, it really resonates with people. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think they can sense the authenticity about it as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And there's a side of raw on there as well. Yeah, yeah, I guess you get your extroverted people that can talk underwater and they can just talk all day and sometimes maybe there's a little lack in substance, yeah, whereas, yeah, if you're introverted, if you are speaking up, you're probably speaking up about things that really matter to you and it's really genuine.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's awesome. What is some of your influences in terms of your drumming? Obviously, we've spoken about Travis Barker being a big idol. Did you have anyone else? Because I know, for me, I mean, I've grown up, I've taught myself a few instruments, I've taught myself a few instruments, but I know, when I grew up, like Phil Collins for me was like such a legend on the drums.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:You cannot go past obviously in the air tonight and not air drum the crap out of that thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, honestly, I was just all in on Travis Barker and anything kind of fast like that.
Speaker 4:Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, my drum tutor when I was younger was really into Metallica, so obviously he tried to give me that kind of influence as well, which was good, and I guess the band members who I used to play with as well. They were influenced by Metallica too. So some of the music that we played was a little bit more heavy, that was aligned with kind of Metallica vibes. But I guess I kind of wanted to go in that quicker direction which created a bit of a divide there at times, but it was always very fun nonetheless.
Speaker 3:More like the hardcore sort of punk type of thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, quicker stuff, quicker stuff, yeah. What did school look like for you?
Speaker 1:School. It was probably a bit of a rat bag. In school. I've got inattentive ADHD, which I've only just found out in the last couple of years, oh wow. And the reason I found out is because I went to Oracle, actually just down the road from here the psychologist there and booked myself in for a complete cognitive assessment which is over the course of a few sessions. And, yeah, the diagnosis of that was inattentive ADHD. And the reason I did that was because I knew that I didn't function somewhat normally like other people in terms of how they received information or their memory retention and things like that. So I wanted to identify what it was so that I could then work on it. So, yeah, growing up in school, the the report cards always said Luke's a good student but easily, easily distracted. So I feel like that's like 40% of classic.
Speaker 2:That's a classic report card, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean in school, I probably I want to apologize to a few people Like it was bully or be bullied in school.
Speaker 2:Kids are savages man.
Speaker 1:So yeah, like definitely kicking around with the footy boys and stuff. There was a bit of that going on. So if anyone's listening, from back then my apologies.
Speaker 2:That was the younger me, not the newer me. Well, at least you acknowledge that Luke and I'm sure the guys are listening would be like you know what. He wasn't too bad. Hopefully, hopefully, yeah, hopefully. Let's move away from school and look at now obviously, 18 year luke um leaving school. You were obviously playing in a band, like you said at the time. Yeah, what did that kind of transition out of school look like for you?
Speaker 1:um well, yeah, turning 18 meant that I was legal in terms of age and being able to go to clubs and, like I said, I really enjoy my music. So once I started going out, I'm like man, how good is this? Like I really enjoyed, you know a time at King Street or Fenny's back in the day. There you talk, old school, old school yeah, yeah, known as the Argyle.
Speaker 3:Now, for anyone that doesn't know, is it still Argyle?
Speaker 1:Yeah, for you a young crew out there.
Speaker 3:Well, I think it's still Argyle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I haven't been there in some time.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, and then I also discovered traveling too, and that was awesome for me. Like I mentioned before, getting around to different cultures and experiencing how other people live was awesome, and then also the party scene along with that was cool too. But then that also meant working life for me as well, which, yeah, coming out of school, my old man got me my first job, uh, in the construction industry. He was a water cart operator. So, um, yeah, he was working on a job site in Musselbrook and, uh, with Derek on back in the day and, yeah, I just come through as a laborer and um, from there, uh, that was me. I was kind of in the construction industry. I bounced from the subdivision work into the mining sector for a little bit, but with the maintenance division. So I think you boys operate in the mines.
Speaker 3:Is that right? Yeah, we operate. Yeah, production.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah. So, but we were more just the maintenance work around all the pits. But then the global financial crisis happened, so I got the books. I was one of the last ones on.
Speaker 1:So I was the first one to go, so I was technically jobless and then, uh, I wanted obviously wanted to keep earning some, some money so I could get back overseas. So, um, I was looking around for a bit of work and one of the boys at the time was working in the rail industry. And, um, that's essentially how I started working in the rail industry, because he's like you know, know, government-funded projects are still operating or maintenance works, which is why there was still work at the time. Do you want to come across? I was like, yeah, let's do it. What do I need to do? Got my tickets and then kind of didn't look back from there. Once I was in the rail industry, fast forward 10 plus years and, yeah, it took over. It consumed a decade of my life.
Speaker 3:So yeah, that's Did you. When you were leaving school, did you have any drive to sort your career? Or was it just happened that it was like you went jump straight into the construction, then you went straight to the rail?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Did you have an idea of what you actually wanted to do, or was that just Absolutely no idea. Absolutely no idea.
Speaker 1:I played around with the idea of doing a bit of photography or videography, which is still a bit of a passion of mine, but never really pursued it. There was actually a bit of a crossroads moment of my life where I just started getting all the gear to do videography with my sister who does weddings, but she does the photography side of things and enrolled myself in a videography course when I was living in Sydney. I was about 25 at the time. But then I got a phone call from a contact in Melbourne in the rail industry that said I've got this really good position for you. It's good money. Do you want to come down? And I was like just about to lean into videography. And then I got the carrot dangled in front of me and it was an offer too good to refuse. So yeah, that took me back away from videography. But no, to answer your question, I had absolutely no idea. All I knew is that I want to make some money so I could do some fun things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, fair enough there. Yeah, Sweet. You said a big passion of yours is travel. I can resonate with that. I love traveling as well. And you said it was based on not only the party side of things but obviously the different cultures exploring yeah yeah, what? What would be some of the most, uh, memorable places that you've been, and why?
Speaker 1:man, I get asked this all the time. Like I've been to europe a few times, been to states a couple times, been to, uh, thailand, fiji, cook islands, like um, they've all got really cool, cool things like on their own, in terms of like their own kind of way. So like for me, scandinavian countries have this authenticity during the summertime that no other place really had. For me, what I mean by that is during the summer, in like Finland or Sweden or Norway, they've only got like two to three months to really enjoy themselves before it's freezing again. So the vibe when you visit them places during summer is just a completely different vibe. Everyone's on holidays, everyone's enjoying the sunshine out and about and like they've got some really cool places.
Speaker 1:Everywhere that I've been, you can really tap into either some really cool rural places or, if it is the city side of things, yeah, they've got some nice places. Like you know, if we're talking New York, the Steel City is a great experience and great to tick the touristy kind of stuff. But for me I do prefer the roads less travelled, or the more scenic stuff. So croatia's absolutely beautiful climate's amazing, the fjords on the water, like yeah, incredible, um, but yeah it, man, I can't really say there's one like one place that's like the best out of them all. They've all got trade like. They've all got their benefits in some way yeah, yeah, no, that's cool, I mean.
Speaker 2:I just the reason I asked is because, like I look at some of my most memorable trips and like, for me, I went to india for three weeks, um, and it's not a place that I think many people would go as a tourist destination yeah, yeah, I've heard it's quite the experience.
Speaker 1:It is an experience, but it is the most life-changing experience you could ever do. I've also heard that, and the people are just the most life-changing experience you could ever do.
Speaker 2:I've also heard that too. Yeah, and the people are just the most beautiful people and they will give you the shirt of their own back. That's the kind of people they are, and that's one of many places in the world that are probably like that. But the reason I say that is because it's that culture that you're talking about there. Yeah, yeah, that just penetrates you in a different way, where you're just like whoa, like it hits you, it hits your soul, where you're just like I resonate, I like I can feel at peace in this place. Yeah, and it's just such a beautiful thing. And I think traveling and we've spoken about that on this podcast traveling just gives you a different perspective on life, sometimes 100%, and I think you would agree with that as well in terms of just yeah, man, it's that as well, in terms of just yeah, man, it's, uh, it's.
Speaker 1:It's incredible when you visit a place of proper poverty, um, but see how happy people are, yeah, um, and it really puts things into perspective that we don't need all these materialistic things in life. There's more to life and these people that have next to nothing, uh, than some of the happiest people that I've ever met. Interesting, interesting story in south africa yeah, they get a soccer ball from absolutely nothing and they're happy as to nothing than some of the happiest people that I've ever met. Interesting story and that's what you're saying about South Africa.
Speaker 3:They get a soccer ball from absolutely nothing, and they're happy as.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they're using like an empty Coke bottle instead, and they're still alive and alive.
Speaker 3:I just wish kids today would be able to go to those places and realise how good we've actually got it, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Because yeah it's crazy, that's when people diss on Australia. I yeah, that's when people diss on Australia. I'm like I bet that person hasn't traveled you know, because if they had, they would really put it into perspective for them.
Speaker 2:That's exactly right, yeah, I mean that's cool, let's go into. You obviously got into the railway and that was a big part of your life. Obviously, you said it was close to a decade that you were on the railway and construction. Plus yeah, 10 plus yeah yeah, what was that like for you? What that?
Speaker 1:entailed for you. What did, uh, you know, life look like during this period for you? Uh, it was great in the beginning, in the early days. I think, uh, the rail industry is definitely not for everyone. Uh, it is still quite a cowboy industry in terms of, uh, you know, safety in certain um settings, depending what kind of projects you're on or whereabouts in australia working. But the industry took me to so many different places that I wouldn't necessarily have traveled to on my own. You know, I've worked in multiple different states before and so, as a single young, young fella, getting to explore the country and get paid to do it and meet new people was great and that in itself, you know, gave me more context about Australia, and not just, you know, gave me more context about Australia, and not just, you know, newcastle or the bigger cities. Like I got to really tap into some rural areas and indigenous communities out in we're talking like from Cowgooly, you boys would know where.
Speaker 2:Cowgooly is right yeah.
Speaker 1:So you've got to fly to Perth and from Perth to Cowell and then from Cowell we took a five-hour truck ride on the Red Dirt Road into the middle of the Nullarbor and on the way out there we stopped in at one of the Indigenous communities there and really seen true Indigenous Australia, which was pretty amazing. And then once we got out to our working site, which was a derailment, I realised you know how remote we actually were. So there's no trees on the Nullarbor, it's literally just shrubs, red dirt and that's it. So we were 500 kilometres from the nearest civilisation. Yeah, yeah, and in the two weeks that we were out there you've got to take enough food and water while you're out there. For the two weeks there was one car that come through the whole time. That's how remote we were. So that's insane. So, like for settings like that, I don't think many other working opportunities provide that, no.
Speaker 1:So I really did enjoy that that side of things. But over the course of time that living away from home life did get a little bit old, always living out of a suitcase, always have enjoyed my training. So it was difficult at certain stages to continue training properly because I'd be in the middle of nowhere I'd have to make do with. You know, I remember one time we just got some old machinery kind of tool stuff from this old rusty shed from the back of a pub that we're staying at and put together like a makeshift bench because we're leaving for Europe in a couple of months. We had to keep the rigs in shape. So you know, just improvising gym sets. It wasn't ideal for the training life either. And then dietary-wise it was also hard in certain areas because if you don't take enough food there's not enough. Well, there is no takeaway options. There's no, sometimes there's not even any pubs or restaurants.
Speaker 3:I was just going to say pub feed, wouldn't it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, pub feed, and then in some places, like for instance when we're out at the Nullarbor, there's nothing. So some of the boys are running out of food. They didn't pack enough food by the end of the swing, so then the boys are getting churdy with one another. I mean, one of the boys ran out of cigarettes within a week and we still had a week to go.
Speaker 1:And so there was like freight trains coming past, but they were on a speed restriction because where we were working was the derailment site. So they would go and pass at like 10 kilometres an hour or whatever, and the boys are running next to them hustling the drivers for a cigarette because you know they're stinging for a cigarette.
Speaker 1:I didn't have to worry about that, I'm not a smoker. But the food situation towards the end of the swing we're starting to get down to rations and yeah, so that kind of got old after a while. But that's what I mean. Like, the rail industry is still somewhat a bit of a cowboy industry, Unless you're working in the cities. Then it's a bit better in terms of safety and stuff. But it was a contributing factor as to why I got sick eventually.
Speaker 1:Because, man, some of the things I did on rail was pretty crazy. Like you could easily do a double shift. So you could do your 6 to 6, so 6 pm to 6 am night shift, and if it's a shutdown and you know the boys are behind and they need extra troops for the next day, you just roll into the next shift and pull a double. So you know you're having a work bend, you're working 24 hours straight or whatever. I've worked three different states in the space of seven days. So fly in, we bang seven days to fly in. We'd banged a job in Queensland one weekend, flew back to New South, work there through the week and the next weekend I was in Vic. So, like it can be, it can be quite on the go if you really wanted to chase that away work and that contract side work, which was great for me at the time because I could stack good money, because the away money was better than at home money.
Speaker 1:And for me that suited me because I could stack the money quite quick, which meant that I could get back overseas quite quick too. So yeah, it was great while I was younger. But then, as I got a bit older, yeah it did start to wear off that novelty factor. But all in all, I don't really regret any of my time in the rail industry. It really served its purpose and definitely chiseled me into the person I am now. I'm a lot more resilient because of that industry, that's for sure yeah, yeah, I suppose you have to be here.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's the same with mining we would know you're like yeah, you, you just have to get resilient, you have to be able to, to not take offense easily and and just roll with the punches and just yeah, adapt and survive kind of thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's you's. You know, in terms of hours, you know big hours and then the shift work. That's a killer for anyone shift work. It is man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, all right. Well, let's get into the real.
Speaker 1:The nitty gritty eh.
Speaker 2:Let's get into the nitty gritty. Okay, life took a big change for you, obviously at some stage during this time that you were in the railway and construction. Explain what happened, how it came about, where you found this news obviously that you had a real life-threatening condition that happened to you and then we'll then progress into what this condition consisted of.
Speaker 1:Sure, leaving the viewers in suspense. It's been tricky not to drop it yet, the viewers in suspense, it's been tricky not to drop it yet. But so, yeah, I guess, when I first noticed there was an issue I'll never forget it I was working rural Victoria when I was living down in Melbourne at the time, and it was middle of winter, minus four degrees, and it was about one or two am in the morning and I needed to go to the toilet and, um, I was like I don't want to go to the toilet, man, you have to take all your layers off and it's, it's freezing, you know. So, um, I try to hold off and uh, and usually I kind of could, if I wanted to like, um, I, most of the time I'd wait until I get home, you know whatever. But um, no, I had to go to the toilet.
Speaker 1:So, off, I went to the toilet and when I wiped I noticed that there was some blood on the toilet paper and obviously that took me back a little bit. I was like that's not normal, but I just tried to play it off. I was like maybe there's, I've somehow scratched myself or I don't know, there's a pimple or something going on, you know, and I just shrugged it off and went back to work, but about an hour later I felt the need to go to the toilet again, which wasn't normal, yeah cool.
Speaker 1:And so I had to go back to the toilet and when I went back the second time, there was even more blood and I'm like, okay, that's not good. So the next day, luckily that was the end of the shutdown. So I'd been working for about two weeks by that time, which now, knowing what I know, makes sense as to why that was kind of the tipping point for my body. But, yeah, so the next day booked myself in with the GP and that started my healing journey. So, yeah, straight away they sent me for a colonoscopy to investigate a little bit further that way, and then I ended up having to get passed around from specialist to specialist, like go and see gastroenterologists and stuff. So, yeah, that was the start of my healing journey.
Speaker 2:Back in 2018, that was the first time that really hit home for me that something's wrong with my body yeah, I mean, just like you say, there was obviously that buildup of that two weeks, and then you kind of get hit with this Well, you know there's something wrong. You go to the doctor. Doctor says, hey, we've got to take a closer look. You got to get bounced around specialists. That all culminates obviously into your diagnosis. And let's go into that. What was the issue?
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, so the first concern was bowel cancer. Yeah, I think most people's minds go straight to that. You fear the worst, don't you? So, yeah, the colonoscopy ruled that out. Yeah, so no bowel cancer. I was like great.
Speaker 2:What's going on though?
Speaker 1:And they said you've got really severe inflammation internally, which is why you're noticing blood in your stools. Um, because you're you're literally bleeding internally. Um, and that's due to, uh, inflammatory bowel disease, uh, which some people may have heard of crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis that's a little bit more familiar with people as opposed to inflammatory bowel disease and if people haven't heard of either of those, as I mentioned, it's basically inflammation in the digestive tracts so bad that you're bleeding internally, which is why you experience blood in your stools. So that's what I was diagnosed with back in 2018.
Speaker 2:What was that news like for you when you heard it? Did you understand what it meant? Did the doctors kind of give you a bit of a kind of indication of what this meant for you, health-wise and future?
Speaker 3:What was your initial reaction?
Speaker 1:Well, my first question was how do we fix it? And they said you can't.
Speaker 1:And I'm like what do you mean? You can't, and they're like well, it's a chronic condition that you've developed and it's a forever thing. Now You're just going to have to learn to manage it with medication. And that was kind of it. And I'm like what, no way? Like, surely there's got to be a way to fix myself. I just need to find out how.
Speaker 1:So this conversation was with my gastroenterologist after I'd spent thousands of dollars, you know, going from different specialists, different types of tests even though I was in a private health fund for them to basically give me well, it wasn't a protocol, it was just a diagnosis that, sorry mate, you're going to have to take drugs for the rest of your life to help with the symptoms. That's not essentially going to make you better and come back and see us every three months for symptoms. That's not essentially going to make you better. And come back and see us every three months.
Speaker 1:And I remember just processing that live time while I was receiving that information from the gastroenterologist and my response was quite raw and honest and I just said okay, from what you've told me, it sounds like you want to sign me up for a lifetime subscription of consults and drugs, but those drugs aren't essentially going to heal me. And he said, well, I wouldn't put it like that, but if that's how you want to view it, and I'm like, well, that's how I'm seeing it, and the cherry on top for me, that I knew why I wouldn't be going back there ever again. Like he reached to the top drawer of his table and he got out some medication and he said I want you to take these because it is important that you stop your bleeding, both physically and mentally, which I did. Take that information on board. It was really getting to me mentally, you know shit and blood every day is not ideal.
Speaker 1:And I was losing a lot of weight too, and so, yeah, he gave me this trial pack of medication, but at the end, he felt the need to tell me now we're not endorsed by this company.
Speaker 3:I was just about to say it's pretty funny, he had them on hand straight away. I know.
Speaker 1:This whole thing reeks to me. Yeah, yeah, I was like thanks, but no thanks and see you never.
Speaker 1:I was like thanks but no thanks and see you never, and so on the way out of there I knew I was on my own in terms of they can't help me, so they're no good to me. But I knew deep within myself then there has to be a way to be able to heal my body. I just need to find out how, and so that started. That was the shift in terms of from, you know, western medication and specialists and things to the more natural, holistic approach. So I mentioned before that I couldn't really find any success stories online about anyone kind of reversing inflammatory bowel disease. The only thing I could really find was on Google. It was like this random article about a lady in America and it wasn't really definitive enough for me to commit to uh the things that she'd done to essentially reverse it. And she said it took uh like over five years and I'm like man, hopefully there's a quick way to do this. Um, so, yeah, and like, I tried a lot of um self-treating to begin with, um, uh, you know, I tried fasting because I read that potentially a cause of inflammatory bowel disease could be due to a bacterial parasite and, um, on one of my holidays, uh to you picked it up to um Budapest in Hungary.
Speaker 1:Uh, I did contract a bacterial parasite at Zagat Music Festival. It essentially ended my trip. I was so crook I had to come home early. I got admitted into the John Hunter. They said I was in a critical condition because I'd lost like 14 kilos in the space of two weeks. I was severely depleted. So because of that that was two years before I got sick I was like, well, maybe that's what's going on and I need to address that and to address that. I read that by fasting you can rid yourself of parasites, because you're essentially starving the parasites. If the host doesn't have any food to live off, it needs to find another host that is going to feed it. So I did a fast. It's recommended minimum seven to 10 days. I did seven, seven days fast like of a fast. Um, absolutely no food whatsoever, just fluid. My first ever fast. Apparently that's a pretty good that's a pretty good effort.
Speaker 3:I haven't eaten in two hours. I'm hungry.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, I'm the worst for it, my partner could vouch how bad I am in terms of my in getting hangry. Yeah, I'm no good. So seven days was a pretty good achievement for me, but during that seven those seven days I was researching a lot, and from what I researched, I was like I don't think that's it so. But after all of that I'm trying a bunch of other stuff as well I come to the conclusion that I need additional help, and so that's when I first reached out to a naturopath.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:And yeah.
Speaker 2:So let's start with this For someone who has zero idea of what a naturopath is or does, break it down in the simplest way for them.
Speaker 1:Sure, okay. So if you think of a doctor, doctors treat symptoms with medication pharmaceutical medication whereas a naturopath, if you were to consider them a doctor, but more on the natural holistic side. They aim at treating the underlying cause via natural holistic supplements. So that would be the difference between the two. Some people, if they haven't heard of a naturopath, they may have heard of a nutritionist which is essentially a naturopath. Naturopaths are essentially nutritionists, just with an extra year plus kind of degree, and they're more professional in herbal prescriptions as opposed to just strictly nutrition.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so using a lot of natural remedies, natural substances, vitamins, all those kind of things in order to help treat conditions like obviously, like you're saying with your one, or any other conditions that are just out there For sure. Yeah, I remember when I didn't know much about naturopaths. Uh, initially my um, my wife was actually the one that was like told me a lot more about it. My initial perception of a naturopath was very like airy fairy, tree hugger kind of vibe for sure, man, same same I apologize to all the naturopaths out there, in all honesty, honesty that was my initial perception was like don't they have naturopaths in South Africa?
Speaker 3:I'm sure they do. They would now.
Speaker 2:I think it's grown in popularity. Oh big time. Big time over the last couple of years. It was, it wasn't. I can say, go back five years ago and it wasn't massive back then even Well, go back to 2018.
Speaker 1:On social media, there was barely any health orientated pages dedicated to natural, holistic treating methods. Fast forward till now. Nearly every second page is about you know, holistic health.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's definitely become more popular, which is a great thing, and it should be, because, well, I'm living proof that if you do treat your body naturally with the right things and implement a few other things as well in terms of lifestyle changes and dietary changes, that your body does have the capacity to heal from even chronic issues like I had. So, yeah, I'm glad that it's becoming more and more popular. But, yeah, naturopaths in my eyes, they're the real specialists in this world because they actually heal you versus offering medications for symptoms.
Speaker 2:that's basically a band-aid approach yeah, yeah, I mean that's yeah, it's pretty much a great way of putting it and, like you say, a simple way is just to say, like you, you treat the underlying, some underlying condition rather than just the symptom for sure, which is great. All right, let's. Let's talk about your healing journey now. Yep, um.
Speaker 1:So you obviously approach, you approach this naturopath that you then said, okay, I need help because you, you were like I can't do this on my own yeah, well, like yourself, um, I I kind of considered them as as woo woo as well back in the day, and, um, it was actually my mom that recommended, uh, that I speak to a naturopath. Mum was working with a lady at the time who knew a really good naturopath in the North Shore of Sydney, a really reputable guy, an older fella who'd been in this space for a long time. So, yeah, that's who I reached out to initially, but I reached out to him while I was living in Melbourne. So there was no face-to-face connection and there was just something about that that didn was no face-to-face connection and there was just something about that that didn't feel right at the time for me.
Speaker 1:Whether it was his protocol or just the lack of connection. I felt like I needed to seek additional help or at least another perspective from another naturopath. So I went to a second naturopath not too far from our place in Melbourne at the time, uh, and I'll never forget it, uh, but I showed her my, um, all my tests that I'd had done up until that present time and, um, she was like you are too much for me, but I know a guy and I'm like, okay, who is he tell me?
Speaker 1:and um, yeah, she told me, and I'll drop his name because I love the man, because he's essentially who helped me get my life back Daniel Kearney. He's a great bloke and a great naturopath from Fern Tree Gully in Melbourne. I hope I got that right. It's not Fern Gully, I'm pretty sure it's Fern Tree Gully.
Speaker 2:I always get it mixed up with that cartoon from when I was a kid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's Fern Gully, fern Gully, okay. So, yeah, I think it is Fern Tree Gully in Melbourne. So I went to see Daniel at his house and instantly had that connection with him and he sent me for a stool analysis test. And when he told me about it I said, oh, I've already got results from the gastroenterologist who sent me for a stool analysis test. He said no, no, no, no, no. What we're going to do is send you for a comprehensive stool analysis test that's going to give us a complete overview of the levels in your body that we need to know about to then treat you. And I'm like, why didn't the specialist send me for those? And he said that that's not how they're trained.
Speaker 1:Basically, the stool analysis that they'll essentially refer you for is like the most bare minimum test you can get. That doesn't really show you too much significant at all in terms of results. It's basically whether you're dying or not and obviously I wasn't dying per se, but I was very sick. But yeah, that stool analysis test didn't give us any proper information. So I said, sweet, what do I have to do? He said it's about 400 bucks. Get that test done and then come back and we'll go over the results. So I got that stool test done which, by the way, for people, I love telling people this because we're not taught any of this. So if you were to get your own stool test done, you'd go through a naturopath so they can refer you, but anyone can do it and basically you do the test at home. You send that sample via the post to the pathology.
Speaker 1:You send your poo via the post. There is parcels of shit flying around out there.
Speaker 3:I just want to do a share out to our posties out there. Good work to the post there is parcels of shit flying around out there.
Speaker 2:I just want to do a shit they really do deal with shit.
Speaker 3:Yeah, they really do so.
Speaker 1:Um, that goes up to the pasty yeah, uh, so you send it back and, um, they will then analyze your sample and then you receive the report which then gets sent to a naturopath. And so I did that. I went back, seen Daniel and with that information he could identify everything in my body in terms of marker ranges that we needed to know. That was out, and so the main one for anyone with inflammatory bowel disease or Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis is the inflammatory marker, which is the cow protector marker, and so that one for me was off the Richter. So your normal range, what's considered normal with those tests, is zero to 50. I was 1,400 and something.
Speaker 3:Oh, my goodness, I said just a small number. Yeah, so nearly 50 times higher than the normal range.
Speaker 1:That's huge. And Daniel at the time said mate, I've never seen this in anyone your age before. It's usually in rare instances of like 70, 80 plus year old men. And I'm like, great, uh, what else does this tell us? And so, uh, basically I was also diagnosed, um, chronically fatigued, uh, malnourished, and the thing that regulates your toxins in your body, basically mine wasn't doing its job.
Speaker 1:So which made so much sense to me once he diagnosed me? Because just before I got sick, or like leading up to me noticing the blood in the stool, that night at work, during night shift, if I was to go to a wedding or event and I'd have a few drinks or a big night or a big weekend, I was rattled for like a week plus after that. And that was because my body couldn't regulate the toxins, it couldn't disperse of the toxins. So because when I was drinking, because my body couldn't get rid of it, I was literally poisoning myself and my hangovers were like a week plus long. And I'm telling people something's not right here. Yeah, people were shrugging it off like, mate, you're just getting older. I'm like man.
Speaker 3:I'm 28 years of age.
Speaker 1:I should be in my prime, I shouldn't be pulling up like this and um. So that was a significant red red flag that obviously wasn't, uh, listening to at the time. And so that was my diagnosis, based off that one stool test. And it was just that one stool test that then enabled my naturopath to put together a protocol. And he said now you are on the extreme end of chronic, which means this is going to take a long time to reverse. And he said and if you're going to reverse it, it's going to take 100% commitment in terms of lifestyle changes, dietary changes and a supplement protocol. And I was like, what do I have to do and how long is it going to take? And he laid it all out for me. And he basically addressed the industry that I was working in at the time.
Speaker 1:The rail industry was a massive contributing factor as to why I got sick, and so if I was any chance of reversing my autoimmune disease, I would have to step away from the industry, at least while I was focusing on my healing. And for me at the time, I had not long started a business in the rail industry with a mate of mine. So that was a big life call for me, but one that I knew I would definitely make, because, no matter how much money you've got, you could be a multimillionaire, but if you don't have your health, none of that money is worth anything, because you can't do anything with it.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I made the decision to sell my shares, move back to Newcastle and really focus on my healing. And then, yeah, in terms of the protocol, there was the dietary changes as well, which we can get into, but I did want to touch on the severity of the symptoms that I would experience for people to understand, basically, how messed up it is to have such an autoimmune disease. So for anyone listening out there that's got Crohn's or ulcerative colitis, they're definitely going to relate to this. But I love telling people this as well, because you don't need to be diagnosed to experience some of these symptoms.
Speaker 1:And when I tell my story, a lot of people come back with feedback and say, man, I experienced. A lot of people come back with feedback and say, man, I experienced a lot of the stuff that you've just mentioned. So, in terms of symptoms, obviously there's the blood in the stools, which I've mentioned, which is a clear indicator that you're experiencing inflammation, but opposed to that, you've got bloating, which lots of people experience, bloating at all different levels. Then there's the stomach cramps as well. You've got very limited control over your bowels, and what I mean by that is if you need to go to the toilet.
Speaker 2:You need to go, and if there's no toilet, there's no stopping it.
Speaker 1:So when I was sick, I shit myself in public more than 10 times while I was sick, which is super debilitating stuff, which then impacts you mentally, which is something that we can get into as well in terms of my mental state while I was sick, which is super debilitating stuff, which then impacts you mentally, which is something that we can get into as well, in terms of my mental state while I was sick, but not only that. You could go to the toilet like 30, 40 times a day during peak flare-ups.
Speaker 3:It'd be hard for you to go anywhere and do anything Exactly.
Speaker 2:Well, I suppose that's also why you say it affected your mental health, because if you had the anxiety of leaving the house, because everywhere you had to go, you, you would be like, well, I need 10 pairs of. I need to know where a toilet is yeah and if I, if I, if I don't know where I'm going and I don't know the facilities I'm going to, I, if there's nothing that I can see or is near a bar, you know, there's the anxiety. That's then. The anxiety was crazy.
Speaker 1:And all my mates eventually, after they learned about milder immune disease, knew that wherever we went we always needed to keep an eye on the toilet. So it was great support from my closer mates. They were always like, oh, I know where a toilet is here, man, we're good.
Speaker 3:That's awesome that you had that support, though. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, while I was sick, I really made sure to let people know that I was sick so that people could understand what was going on, and especially in a work setting, because if you could imagine working in the rail industry, you can work in some remote locations where there's no toilets, man, yeah. So maybe there might be a portal at the crib, the main kind of pre-start area, but when you go out onto track, you could be kilometres away from where you pre-start area. But when you go out on the track, you could be kilometers away from where you pre-start and, um, there's no toilet. So I always had to carry a roll of toilet paper in the bag and, um, yeah, if I needed to go, there was no holding it, so I'd be, I'd be ducking off on the side of the track into the bushes. You know, getting out myself and coming back and you know that mental aspect of always having that anxiety hang over you was really hard to combat, because my naturopath, daniel, said, like, if you're to get on top of this, it's also a mental battle and you really need to reduce your stress, which is why I could no longer work in the industry. Um, but yeah, like the, the shitting yourself in public thing was probably the most degrading I'll never forget, probably the worst time, and I love telling people this so they can really understand your head space going through that.
Speaker 1:Like we come back, we're working away it was a weekend shutdown, rura Vic, and we're staying in a motel and after work I really need to go to the toilet. So I was rushing back to the motel and I was staying with another bloke in the same room and, uh, he left work before me so and he had the key, I'm like, oh, he'll, he'll already be home or back to the room. So I'll be sweet, get back. He's not there, I'll ring him. He's, um, he's down at woolly's or whatever getting some groceries and I'm like, mate, how long do you reckon you're gonna be? He's and he's like, oh, at least 10, 15.
Speaker 1:And I'm like I'm cooked here, like I'm not going to last, and I'm looking around and next door to the motel was a pub and they had an outdoor sort of terrace area and, being the weekend, it was packed and we were the end room on the run of this motel kind of area and next to our motel room was just the grass in between the motel and the pub, and it was either in the middle of the road, in the car park section of the motel, or it was on the grass in front of everyone at the pub. Oh wow. So drop the dacks in front of everyone at the pub and you've got nothing to wipe it with. So shirts coming off to sort yourself out. And then I'm waiting for my mate to get back to the room so I could get in and clean everything up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, sure.
Speaker 1:And one of the most degrading moments of my life. I can imagine you know, sit there and so you could imagine how badly that affects you mentally.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I can imagine.
Speaker 1:And it wasn't until a hard conversation from my partner one night that really brought to my attention that I was either depressed or very like borderline depressed. Yeah, because I had been experienced the blood, the weight loss. I lost 22 kilos while I was sick. I was a hundred kilos, very fit, not much fat on me at all, kind of jack when I rolled down to Melbourne, got sick, lost 22 kilos back to 78 kilos and so all of that build-up mentally really weighed on me. And it wasn't until my partner Casey mentioned to me one night like I need to point out to you that you're really struggling mentally here. Yeah, that's nice.
Speaker 1:And she needed to address it because I was becoming too bearable to live with at the time. So, yeah, that was the big wake-up call for me, mentally as well, to get on top of my mental healing as opposed to my physical as well.
Speaker 2:So let's look at the recovery side of things. Obviously, you've gone through all of this. Now, like you say, you've now found out from the naturopath. This is what needs to happen in order to get your lifestyle correct. You've moved out of the rail industry. You've come back to Newcastle. What was that? What was that recovery journey like? What did it look like for you?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So obviously big calls, big decisions to make. To do that, initially, like I mentioned, sell my shares in my business, navigate all of that with my mate slash business partner at the time, which was, as you could imagine, stressful. And then also, I forgot to mention that, while all this was happening, a little thing called COVID arrived and we were living in Melbourne at the time, which had the most draconian lockdown measures in the world, uncle Dean Mate we were locked down for four months straight.
Speaker 1:It was brutal. So on top of my already very fragile mental state, there was that component as well. So we just-.
Speaker 2:I mean, the only like light at the end of that tunnel I could think for you was that you're at home and if you had an issue you didn't have to leave yeah, well, by that stage I really had put uh work on the back burners.
Speaker 1:I was trying to work as less as I could because my that's. By that time my naturopath did identify like if I'm actually going to heal myself, then I can't be doing so. I limited myself, I no longer done shift work because he pointed out to me how important obviously our circadian rhythm is and by working shift work, as you boys know, it throws that completely out. So I didn't have a circadian rhythm for 10 plus years essentially. So he's like first and foremost, you need to stop working nights if you want to actually heal this. So, yeah, I dialed myself back to day shift. But yeah, with the whole lockdown thing, after that first kind of massive four-month lockdown period, once the borders finally opened up, we were out of there back home in Newcastle, and so that's where I really started to hone in on my healing, because I was back around my support network in a much better living environment, not that brutal lockdown, better climate as well. Melbourne weather sucks man.
Speaker 3:It's cold for like three quarters of the year. My missus is actually born and bred from Melbourne.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you understand.
Speaker 3:She's from Melton. Yeah so she knows exactly. She said yeah, same thing as what you just said, luke, that Uncle Dan sort of look after you. Well, it was a massive exodus.
Speaker 1:It was like 50,000 in the negative in terms of people fleeing the state off the back of the whole lockdown thing, and we were one of them. So, yeah, we got back to Newcastle and that that's when I really started to make some progress with my healing for those things that I mentioned before back around my support network, so the mental weight of the lockdowns and getting out of that environment. But then, also, because I was technically jobless, I was just 100% committed to my healing, which I was luckily enough to be in a financial position where I can do that and doing what we do now with our whole food shop. I understand how expensive it can be and how not everyone is in that position to be able to commit like I was able to. So, yeah, luckily I was. And then, yeah, that's all I did.
Speaker 1:Man was made sure that my diet was on point. My supplement protocol was on point, like no days off. I didn't drink alcohol for like nearly a year Funny story, I broke that. So the first time I had a drop of alcohol after nearly a year off was at Burning man in America. So have you boys heard of Burning man.
Speaker 3:Yes, I had Burning.
Speaker 1:Man.
Speaker 2:So I went from one extreme to the next.
Speaker 1:basically that's pretty cool that you guys ate Burning man. So I went from one extreme to the next. Basically, that's pretty cool that you did guys have a burning man?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was one of the best experiences of my life.
Speaker 1:But yeah, so fully committed, was able to fully commit myself to my healing protocol and my naturopath said we can reverse it, but it's going to take at least two years, and it was nearly two years to the day that I fully reversed it and I was off all medication with no more symptoms.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. That's incredible, that is awesome. Yes.
Speaker 1:Beautiful Take that thing off him.
Speaker 3:Take it off him?
Speaker 2:No, it's all right, honestly, that is awesome just for what you've said.
Speaker 3:Everything you've said is amazing. You've had a hell of a ride, that's for sure. It's crazy.
Speaker 1:It's been a hell of a journey, eh yeah. So, and then, because I was technically jobless and I had healed myself, I was like, okay, so what do I do now? Do I go back to the rail industry? That wasn't really serving me anymore. It was just a job in the end, and it wasn't really a passion project at all. It was just a way to earn a bit of cash. Or I had this passion ignited in me now to help other people with their health, because if I had known back then what I know now, I wouldn't have got sick. So I spoke to my partner. I'm like, what should we do? Should we open a health food shop? And she's like, yeah, let's do it. So, yeah, we started nourish health hub and um first. When we first launched, it was in 2021. Yep, um, but it was just online at the time while we tried to figure out what exact location we're going to open a shop in. And then, yeah, in uh, 2023 is when we opened our shop. And, man, it's just been guns blazing ever since it's awesome.
Speaker 2:It's a great location for anyone who wants to go there. Give yourself a plug, Luke.
Speaker 3:Give yourself a plug.
Speaker 1:Plug. Yeah, so we're in Walls End. If anyone knows where Wildflower Coffee Shop is, we're literally right next door to those amazing guys Such good coffee.
Speaker 1:The reason I mention them is because they're somewhat famous in Newcastle, like for Walls End. If you're talking Walls End, you're probably talking Wildflower, because so many people know about Wildflower Coffee Shop. So that's where we are. Otherwise, if you don't know where they are, it's 4 slash 71 Cowper Street, walls End. If you know where the iconic Henny Penny is on Cowper Street, we're just up the road, a little bit towards the old Walls End Plaza, but a bit towards the old.
Speaker 1:Warzend Plaza, but, like you said, it is a great spot because there is nothing out that way that does what we do. There's a few options in town, like we're in the mall here and there's a great shop just down from us here that I used to get my sports nutrition out back in the day. But for out that way there's no real options, so it just made sense to go out there.
Speaker 2:I mean, I mean, I've been into your store a few times now and and actually you and I've had some good conversations. I mean, um, I said my initial uh kind of perspective, perspective, perspective. Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 3:Any records.
Speaker 2:My initial perspective of, of of the whole health industry was, just like you say, woo, woo. I love the way you describe that, but you've actually got me onto a few things that I've started taking, and one of them being the Bright Minds.
Speaker 1:Complex. Yep, I had some before we come today. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I lean on that, so much it is honestly been game changer for me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and like I know people are going to be like, oh, you're just giving it a plug because you're on here, but honestly, that stuff has just been such a game changer because I could feel how bad my cognitive side of things was getting. My memory was just getting worse, my attention span was really struggling and I would forget things so easily. And I've started taking this stuff that you recommended for me and it's literally just it's been a game changer. Like I can feel my attention span has just been so much bigger. My memory has been so much better.
Speaker 3:Hey, maybe I should get myself down there then You'd need a big dose.
Speaker 2:I'm not saying you should.
Speaker 3:No, I actually I'm not going to lie to you. I threw my hand up when Shane and Mick were first telling me and I actually, yeah, jumped on your Instagram and had a look, and I'm definitely going to come down and have a look and, yeah, hit you up with a few things, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:For sure. Yeah, it's definitely a welcoming space mate. Whether. I'm there or our naturopaths, like obviously we're there to help.
Speaker 2:So, no matter how big or small the questions may be or the issues may be like, that's why we're there, man, so that's awesome. I definitely will now, because you, you guys, have got naturopaths that you also then partnered with that are part of the store that you can have consults with, yeah, yeah, and actually have a full-on um assessment from them.
Speaker 1:So 100 it's not just a store per se where you can buy um, just retail products, yeah, yeah so the the vision that we had for our health food shop, nourish Health Hub, was not just to be a retail store. I think if you're a health food shop, that's retail. Only moving forward in this world that we're living in, where the big grocers have identified the market trends of health food products and so therefore they've started to adopt a lot of the brands and products that used to be exclusive to health food shops, I think you're in trouble. But if you have services attached to what you do, then I think you'll be okay, and our vision for Norwich Health Hub was to definitely have those services attached to what we do as more of the main thing of what we do, as opposed to retail products only.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, we wanted to be able to provide the things that essentially helped heal me that when I was sick, and that means that naturopaths had to be a part of what we do as well as nutritionists, herbalists, which basically you know if you're a naturopath you're across all of those things. Then, being able to offer herbal tinctures, so practitioner herbal liquids, which was a massive weapon in healing my autoimmune disease, being able to provide that Once we were able to launch that, it was such a surreal feeling because it's like man, this is it. This is one of the big weapons that helped heal me, and we can now offer that to our community.
Speaker 1:But the main reason of having Naturopaths in store is so that anyone can come through and have a chat to a practitioner face-to-face. As providing that access, so you don't have to go out and spend $180, $200 plus on an initial consult with a naturopath. You can literally just come in and have a chat or you can book a free 15-minute consultation where it's just one-on-one, just to unpack what's going on in terms of your health issues and then going from there, because not everyone needs an initial consultation. Some people are only just dealing with minor issues and for those people they don't need to spend that $180, you know, for the initial yeah.
Speaker 1:So a big part of what we do as well is accessibility trying to make health and wellness accessible, because, like I said before, I spent a lot of money throughout my healing journey tens of thousands of dollars to get my health back, yeah, so I understand and appreciate how expensive it can be. So everything we do is to try and make things more accessible for people to access natural health, because that stuff's no longer on private health.
Speaker 2:Like it used to be.
Speaker 1:It used to be Vitamins supplements, naturopath consultations used to be able to claim on your private health. Not no more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, that's amazing. I know my wife knows Alicia oh cool, there you go yeah. So she often has good chats with her about stuff.
Speaker 1:Alicia being a naturopath for people that don't know. She's great. She's the nicest person in the world.
Speaker 2:She's benefited hugely from having that kind of expertise. Like you say, she's got her bunch of supplements that she's now taking and she's noticed a massive difference in her health even just from that.
Speaker 1:Today, while I was in the store, just for a short time, there was like three herbal tincture refills and everyone that come through were, you know, praising basically. Uh well, sarah was in store today, one of our naturopaths, and just saying like, thank you, so much it's helping me so much.
Speaker 1:I've noticed such a benefit since taking it. Obviously that's why people are coming back to grab it and, like I said before, I'm living proof that this stuff does work. So that's why we wanted to be able to provide a space that offered all of those things. But we're called Nourish Health Hub because we essentially want to be a hub one day, a health hub that has lots of different modalities under the one roof, as well as all your best high quality products on the market, as well as additional testing services as well, like at the moment, we're currently doing a lot of blood work assessment training with a doctor from South Africa, actually, yeah, I've been used to this accent.
Speaker 2:I'm glad he said that. Doctors from South Africa oh, here we go.
Speaker 1:He's dodgy, we run the world, he's the man in terms of blood analysis, blood analysis and live blood analysis, I should say, uh, so yeah, in a few months, you know, we'll be able to launch that we'll have the microscope in store where people can just come through and get it, get a live blood check, which is cool, like just offering all of these additional services where there's not much of this around. Uh, the holistic, uh offering yeah, that's.
Speaker 1:Uh, that's definitely put you above the rest, anyway, um offering all these different things in your hub, so yeah, yeah, well, I mean, there's places you can definitely do it in newcastle, but um, yeah, you know, one day we want to have it all under the one roof, which, may you know if we're actually looking at it as a point of difference, then obviously that would be, but for now, though, we we're not, uh, but we are working towards that.
Speaker 1:But yeah, in terms of, like, live blood work analysis, I don't think there's many places where you can just walk in and get it done, which is why we're pushing for that, which will be cool, but yeah, we've got a whole bunch of other stuff that we're working on behind the scenes as well, that's awesome, yeah, which is great.
Speaker 2:Let's bring this into land. Luke, I think for me would you say, um, you wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for the fact that you've now gone on this health journey, um, mentally, physically, um, if someone was maybe in a position you were in, what would your advice be to that person?
Speaker 1:Well, uh, since I've told my story online, like in terms of on the socials. That's why I've put videos out which are very old. I've got to update them. By the way, I watch them back now and I'm like man, we need to upgrade them.
Speaker 1:But I told my story as raw as I could for people to find, to stumble across if they were lost, like I once was, because I couldn't find anything at the time while I was sick. For any inspiration like hearing someone being able to fully reverse inflammatory bowel disease would have been so big for me at the time, but I couldn't find anything, which left me quite isolated and quite lost. So, because I have told my story on the socials, so many people have reached out and it's pretty hard to really give people some advice, like general advice, when they're dealing with such serious symptoms or chronic issues. But if I was to give advice, just general advice, it's, I guess, in terms of eating and our diet. That's one of the main drivers for a lot of disease these days, with all the highly processed foods, all the sugars we consume nowadays, all the seed oils.
Speaker 2:So if there was All the hormones and meats and things like that as well? It's just insane.
Speaker 1:It really is. So, if there's one piece of advice I'd give to someone that's struggling with their health, supplements are great and there's a time and a place, but you need to first look at your diet and clean that up as much as possible, and the way I explain that to people is however, your grandparents used to eat back in the day. Try and eat like that, because they didn't have all the bullshit that we have today, all the processed foods.
Speaker 3:Is it the three meats and veg type of thing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, like any type of just whole foods in general. Stop eating McDonald's and KFC. I don't eat McDonald's, I hate.
Speaker 3:McDonald's. I love KFC. Stop eating KFC, Dude. Kfc is like my all-time favorite.
Speaker 2:Save me brother Save me.
Speaker 1:I don't really go there too.
Speaker 3:It's probably once or twice a year now and it reminds me why I don't eat it anymore, because I feel like shit after Once or twice a month for me.
Speaker 4:It used to be once a week for me, pre-having sick.
Speaker 3:Especially when you're hungover.
Speaker 1:So yeah, that would be my advice, would be just dial in on your diet, because that's where you would start in terms of your recovery. And then I would secondly say, ask like, seek help from more of a holistic approach versus a pharmaceutical approach, depending on what's going on for the body. So what I mean by that is like there's still a time and a place for doctors, for specialists. There's certain infections where you need antibiotics and without them, you know, you might have to get an arm or a leg amputated, you know. So in those circumstances, western medicine is great. But in terms of identifying underlying causes and working on that and on working on fully healing the body, then seek help from a naturopath or a nutritionist okay, yeah, cool, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Well, luke, we're gonna land it. We're gonna end it here for you. Um, it was an absolute pleasure and an honor to have you on the show. Thank you so much for your time. Um, definitely love to have you back in the near future, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, boys I'd love to. I love what you guys are doing. Uh, that's why I come on to the podcast. Uh, I did. I guess we didn't really touch too much on the mental aspect, like we. We lightly touched on it, but I thought we'd be discussing that a little bit more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, uh, but that was a big reason why I come on to today's show and before the show you accidentally called me luke connors instead of would be, and well, I know who that is, because we've also had talk to me, bro at the shop for, uh, a bit of a charity day, yeah, um, for newcastle's healthiest barbecue event that we put on with our grass fed and finished meat supply, which was really cool.
Speaker 1:A lot of other brands supported the event as well, but we got them, boys in to raise a bit of money for mental health, because everyone in some way, shape or form is affected by mental health, whether it's personally. Everyone goes through the ups and downs of life, but definitely points of contact in terms of their friends or family that have mental health issues like absolutely it's crazy at the moment. Last year was really bad for mental health in newcastle. I had a you know, some closer friends passed due to mental health, uh, and there was a lot more of it last year for some reason, and so that's why I really want to come on the show and support you guys, because I really enjoy what you guys are doing in that regard.
Speaker 3:Yeah no, well, no, we appreciate it. Trying to get a name out there and trying to help someone out there. Yeah, as you said yourself at the start of the episode if we can just help one person, we're happy.
Speaker 1:That's it, man.
Speaker 2:Likewise, yeah, so I love your work Well yeah, we appreciate it, no-transcript the effects of that at the same time. So I think it goes hand in hand. It sure does, man, and vice versa. When you start to get a hold of the mental side of things and you start feeling like you're gaining momentum and that side, it automatically leads to physically kind of feeling better and healthier and and those kind of things. So I think it's it's such a give and take in both areas. You know, and I think even though today maybe it might have been more new nutritional side and the physical, physical side of things that we've discussed, even though we touched briefly on the mental, it's so, it's so easy to see how one affects the other.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's definitely intertwined and both go hand in hand. So yeah, once you stop shooting blood, that goes a long way to helping your mental state.
Speaker 2:So yeah, yeah, but I mean, we love the work that you do in terms of, obviously, the nutritional side. We just love the message and, like we said in the beginning, the message that you are portraying is that you want everyone to be able to access healthy living, definitely, and for us, that's exactly what we're saying. We want to access that healthy living for everyone and create a community where that is accessible, and so you align with exactly what we want and what we're fighting for in this podcast. So keep up the good work. We love your work and we are one of your biggest supporters.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100% behind you.
Speaker 2:Thank you boys, so thank you very much for being on this podcast with us. We really appreciate you. And, for those of you who don't know, check out Nourish Health Hub on Instagram.
Speaker 1:Yep, we're on Instagram, we are on TikTok a little bit, but basically that's just secondary posting for anything. We on Instagram. Yeah, facebook as well. We've got that Facebook community, which is probably the slightly older demographic and the slightly younger demographic.
Speaker 1:It's a bit more on Instagram and basically a big part of what we do as well is education. So this year we're really going to dial in on educational workshops that will hold, whether it's online or in person, but basically educating people about all things health and wellness, so that it just provides again more access for people to learn about this type of stuff, so they can implement this in their everyday lives to hopefully not end up like I did one day, or just to better their overall life.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely love it, so I also can also say that your Instagram is super entertaining.
Speaker 1:Thanks, man. You do a great job with it. If I had more time it would be better. It's a necessary evil, the whole social media thing. Check it out, even just for the entertainment side.
Speaker 2:So it's nourishhealthhub. That's on Instagram TikTok.
Speaker 1:Facebook, like you said. Yeah, nourishhealthhub, just all one word.
Speaker 2:And located up in the walls in New York.
Speaker 1:One of the best coffees in in Nui and that's a wildflower. I'll tell you the taste is a good tea. The taste is a good tea. There you go, shout out wildflower. Jack and Marie and the team awesome.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, luke, we're obviously way behind you. Congratulations again on, obviously, the journey that you've had personally with your health. We obviously are fully behind you, and so thank you and well done for sharing your story with everyone. I know that there'll be people listening to this that'll really take a step back and maybe assess their own state of living and maybe where they're at with the health physically and mentally.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if there are any people out there that do have questions based on what I've spoken about today, please, by all means reach out. That's literally why we're doing what we're doing.
Speaker 2:Well, I can personally attest to that and the fact that I've come into your store not knowing who you are, or you not knowing who I am, and had a conversation for about 20 minutes to half an hour with you, just sharing that's probably more on the shorter side of conversations.
Speaker 1:It's a safe space for all things there and we can have some really in-depth and quality conversations with people and about their health. Like I said, we love educating people and I'm no naturopath, but from my healing journey I have learned a lot, and so I love passing across that information to anyone who's prepared to listen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so if you're planning on going in, just make sure you set a good chunk of time aside, that's it definitely. Yeah, well, let's play out with your song, luke Whitby. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very much. We appreciate you and I hope to have you on soon.
Speaker 4:Thank you, boys. Yeah, appreciate you. Hey, thanks for listening. We hope you managed to gain some insight from today's episode. Jump onto our socials and reach out, and until next time, wherever you are, let's leave a light on.