Mal's Health & Well being
Project BriefMain Objective: To decrease body fat percentage
Aims i) Improve diet and patterns of eating. ii) Change negative lifestyle patterns to positive patterns and maintain them. iii) Improve levels of confidence. The above goals articulation came about for Mal after composing a mind a mind map (Click here for larger view) once we decided to use permaculture design principles to assist him lose weight and improve his health and well being. The whole process took close to two hours as we discussed all the areas he felt were important for his long term health and well being. I wanted to use Permaculture Design to assist in Mal's desire for a permanent lifestyle change. Mal is 35 years of age, busy with a full time job and a growing family. We wanted to make the journey enjoyable and include the family along the way. |
Mal's Mind Map regarding Health & Wellbeing
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SurveyThe next meeting with Mal included taking some pictures, taking some measurements and creating a blog in which he started to journal his diet, energy levels and thoughts and feeling about the ongoing process.
The blog was set up so Mal could send emails from his phone which published directly onto the blog. Making it very easy for him to journal throughout the day. 
Mal on 20 JAN 2012
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Mal's initial measurements
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Extract from Mal's Blog - Jan 2012
'I wanna feel like I did last Ramadhan. I wanna feel like I did in july 2009 when I ran my first competetive run. I want my breathing to improve. I wanna feel like I did when I wore the grey shirt and the waistcoat. I wanna wear that black pintripe suit, and the blue shirt and the silver suit. I wanna run again and play ball. I wanna show them on the pitch whose still the man I wanna be super fit and supple I want to be able to fight I wanna play the piano and guitar I wanna be the bollox I wanna be legend' Click here to see original blog entry |
AnalysisI subscribed to Mal's blog to recive email updates on his entries. I called and discussed areas I had further questions about. I discovered two patterns in Mal's lifestyle.
1) While breakfast and lunch were small meals, the evening meal was very big (averaging 3 full plates). This was due to the variety of curries (at least 4 each night) 2) The major food source in Mal's diet was white rice. He had also been quite sedentary for some time. He worked a desk job, drove to work and had no exercise or sporting activities. He previously enjoyed sports and partook regularly. But had stopped due to being unfit and overweight now. |
Design
I wanted the changes in Mal's lifestyle to be easy and transitory. We all have a reasonably good idea of what is needed. The challenge is the transition to where we are and where we'd like to be. Te overall plan was to use ‘small and slow solutions’
1. x1 table spoon virgin coconut oil first thing every morning
2. Drink green tea throughout the day
3. Mix one heaped spoon of physilum husk in water
4. Only two curries (one veg or dhal) to be cooked per day and only enough for packed lunches stored. The rest to be given away to friends, family and neighbours. (Produce no waste)
4a. not use vegetable oil and switch to pure ghee (Use and value renewable resources and services) As the majority of vegetable oil is made with soya bean oil.
4c. To drink a large glass of water before each meal.
5. Only to eat ONE plate in the evening
6. Cous cous with curry for lunch (Use and value diversity)
7. To run tree times per week for at least 20min (30min in total including warm up etc)
8. Switch to roll ups
1. x1 table spoon virgin coconut oil first thing every morning
2. Drink green tea throughout the day
3. Mix one heaped spoon of physilum husk in water
4. Only two curries (one veg or dhal) to be cooked per day and only enough for packed lunches stored. The rest to be given away to friends, family and neighbours. (Produce no waste)
4a. not use vegetable oil and switch to pure ghee (Use and value renewable resources and services) As the majority of vegetable oil is made with soya bean oil.
4c. To drink a large glass of water before each meal.
5. Only to eat ONE plate in the evening
6. Cous cous with curry for lunch (Use and value diversity)
7. To run tree times per week for at least 20min (30min in total including warm up etc)
8. Switch to roll ups
ImplementImplementing all of the deisgned changes at once was not easy due to Mal's new edition to the family (click here for blog entry about baby Mal, and here for a pic). But he did well and have now implemented all the changes.
Mal's purchased the Virgin Coconut Oil and Phylium Husk on line and purchased the ghee (clarified butter) on his next grocery shop. |
Extract from Mal's Blog - Feb 2012
'...I remember waking up on saturday morning feeling amazing. I hadn't felt so light and energetic in ages! I could feel individual parts of my body independently.... I know sounds crazy but true. E.g. My arms felt like they had seperated from my body. They usually feel heavy and are slumped but felt light and airy and it wasn't a mission to lift them up. Anyway, went up and cocked the feeling up afterwards by having a fatty breakfast. My energy levels went back to zero after the breakfast and didn't rise again for the rest of the day. Its funny, but I didn't actually realise how shit I normally felt until I felt that energy. I think I now know what people mean when the say the feel more energetic. Even now, its 5am and I feel good. I actually feel lighter and feel like my stomach is empty but I'm not hungry...' Click here for original blog entry |
Maintain
Maintaining the current changes require Mal is well stocked the items listed in the design list. Also starting to include his family on these changes. Family meals are moving away form the four to five curry feasts every evening they used to be. I have other changes planned which will be discussed in the tweak section of this write up.
EvaluateAfter a month I met up with Mal and repeated the taking some pictures, taking some measurements.
So far so good. While Mal only lost 3.3kg in the month, we want this to be a gradual change which will focus on more then just weight loss 
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Tweak
I want Mal's family to be involved and feel that a bit of gardening as a family will be an activity stacking many functions. It will encourage all to proactive grow some of their food, encourage the children (an Mal) to eat more greens, and as stated by Roger Dorian gardening is a gate way activity to many healthy life style changes. he
I'll be working with Mal over the next few months and will be updating this page soon.
I'll be working with Mal over the next few months and will be updating this page soon.
MiscellaneousProcess Reflection
Peer Review of This Project Tutor Review of This Project Mal's Customer Feedback My Peer Review of Toby's Project Post Project 3 check in with Tutor |