Project Description
Mark, BC, Canada
“Being here is just showing me that I can live a more pain-free life than I was and it’s given me hope for the future. I’m leaving Fresh Start as a completely transformed person on many levels. I think it saved my life.”
Improvements with: Acid Reflux/ Heartburn, Anger, Anxiety, Bloating/ Indigestion, Body Image/ Self-Worth Issues, Depression, Diabetes, Difficulty Walking/ Flexibility, Digestive Health, Emotional Eating/ Food Addictions, Emotional Trauma, Grief, Gum Bleeding, Headaches/ Migraines, High Blood Pressure, High Pulse, Inflammation, Insomnia/ Sleep Issues, Intense Sadness, Low Energy/ Chronic Fatigue, Self-Identity Redefining, Self-Love and Love for Others, Sinus Issues, Unhealthy Lifestyle Habits, Weight Loss/ Obesity.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
| Depression Score: 53 (extreme) | Depression Score: 5 (normal) |
| Anxiety Score: 41 (concerning) | Anxiety Score: 5 (low) |
| Emotional Health – I was really struggling emotionally, got to the point where I didn’t want to be in the world anymore. I lost hope and did not think there was a way out. I had counselling for 10+ years and nothing has helped. | My mental state within the first couple of sessions with the life coach, it just unlocked a lot of grief and a lot of past trauma that I was struggling to cope with. With the help, I just rewrote the narrative in a different way than the one I trained my mind to. It game me a lot of mental freedom and removed guilt and shame that I had around my trauma. |
| Counselling experience- I had counselling for the pest part of 10 ears and used to go into a room and would speak for 98% of the appointment time and the counsellor would interject for small parts, and I never really felt that I was getting help. | They had a completely different approach where I was guided through the sessions, and we didn’t focus on the smaller details, but more on how I was feeling and why I was feeling that way. There was more focus on the recovery rather than unwrapping every detail of what had gone in my past. This session, as I said, within my second session, started to unlock some grief. |
| Self-love. One of the things that was lacking in my life was self-love. | What my sessions taught me was how important self-love is and without that, it's impossible to feel good about life… One of the exercises that we did, I had to list things that I thought was positive about myself. In the first week, I listed only three things and I couldn't find any more or didn't want to find any more. When we did the exercise again, I think I had more than 30 points. And it felt good. |
| Low self-worth and low self-esteem – on the scale 1 to 10 they would have been zero. I felt worthless, I didn’t feel good enough. | I am walking out of here as a person that feels worthy. |
| I walked around with guilt, shame and anger - One thing I carried around with me was guilt and shame of not being able to be there for my children. The store I would tell was that I was robbed, my children were taken away. I came really from the direction of victim. | Just working with the life coach actually made me see the choices made by others robbed me of my ability of being the dad that I wanted to be, but it didn't mean that I was a bad dad or I'd walked away from my children. So realizing that and knowing that my door has always been open for my children and that it's not a choice that I'd made, it was a choice that had been made for me, helped me to realize that maybe guilt is not one of the emotions that I should have been carrying around. |
| Diabetes Type 2 – My blood sugars were 20+, which concerned me, but I just didn’t have the motivation to do anything about it.. | I've monitored my blood sugar levels, and over the last two weeks I've been here, my blood sugar levels have been in normal range 97 % of the time, which for me is incredible. |
| High Blood Pressure – it was 145/ 80 | Blood Pressure now is 116/70, and that’s been consistent over the last few days |
| Pulse - was 80-90 beats per minute | 60-70 beats per minute. I'm feeling relieved that things have moved in the right direction. |
| Low Energy and Motivation - getting up in the morning was really difficult. It drove my motivation to do anything physical or active away, and I just didn’t want to do it. | After spending some time with the naturopath and understanding that the medication that I was taking actually interfered with my vitamin B12 levels, I had a shot of B12 every week, which gave me so much more energy. |
| Multiple medications | I've decreased my antidepressants from three pills a day to one. And I reduced my antipsychotic, actually, removed two of the antipsychotic drugs that I was on, and 3 sleep pills. |
| Whole body pain - I thought that I would have to live with it and that it was normal. On a scale of 1 to 10, it was between 7 and nine. Simple things like getting out of the car, getting out of bed in the morning, and getting off the sofa caused pain. I’ve been in that may most of my life. | My pain within a couple of days had reduced and, apart from the obvious aches and pains I've got from surgery that I need, I would say that my pain levels are down to between a 2 and a 3 which I've just never thought was a possibility. My inflammation is massively improved (by 80%). I now can move around without the pain and it's given me a new lease of life to want to go walk in and take part in activities. Being here is just showing me that I can live a more pain-free life than I was and it's given me hope for the future. |
| Knee Pain - I was not able to participate in a lot of activities and had difficulty walking. Using the stairs, walking down slopes, I was just in just in absolute agony. | I’ve been able to take part in all the activities from yoga to fitness to all of the lovely walks we’ve done. With one of my first massages here at Fresh Start, it released a lot of tension in my knee and for the first time this year, I actually walked from the Centre to the hotel without pain or knee support. So yeah, it was quite an exciting moment. The pain is till there slightly, but not at the same level that it was. |
| I could not clench my fists when I came | Now I can squeeze my hands and you know, have more full motion or a better motion in my in my hands. |
| Sleep - Taking 3 sleeping pills, I slept 1-2 hours at a time and it would take a considerable amount of time to even go back to sleep. My mind was always rushing, rushing, trying to fix the world. I’d wake up feeling like a zombie, in pain and feeling groggy from the sleep medication. I suffered with severe fatigue during the day. Sometimes I’d start to hallucinate and would experience a lack of focus. | Without medication, I have 5-6 hours of solid sleep and even though I’m still not getting my full quote of sleep, I don’t feel that it’s affecting me during the day. I do not feel fatigued during the day. Now I go to bed in a much more relaxed state than I did before, and the mind is also not racing like it used to. |
| Heartburn, bloating and erratic bowel movements | Since I’ve been here, I’ve had zero heartburn. The nutrition that we’ve been receiving has been really good on my digestive system. I feel a lot less bloated. |
| Extra Weight - I'm carrying more weight than that I would like, though it wasn't my intention to come here for weight loss. I thought that would come after. | After participating in all of the programs here, I ended up losing 12 pounds. So I'm now motivated to go back and continue that because it's been one of the easiest ways ever for me to lose. |
| Bleeding gums - for years, every time I would clean my teeth, I'd end up with bleeding gums and it used to cause me a little bit of concern | For the last two and a half weeks, I clean my teeth now and I have no bleeding gums. |
| Sinus issues - at home I was always blocked up in my sinuses | I haven’t here any sinus issues whatsoever. |
| Dry mouth - I was drinking so much, but my body was unable to take what it needed from the hydration so I was walking around in a dehydrated state. | Since I've been here, my hydration has been right I haven't had to dry mouth. I haven't needed to use the washroom every half an hour. |
| Headaches - recently these were quite frequent | After the first week, I haven’t had a headache. I feel that the hydration has helped a lot with the headaches subsiding. |
Experience Highlights:
- Colonics: I never would have thought before coming here that I’d ever do the colonics. I’ve had six now and the staff here have been amazing and have actually made it a really easy procedure to have. It’s just the education that you get around why it’s important. And I’ve completely bought into the colonics thing and it’s something that I want to continue when I get back.
- Flavour of the raw vegan food – I always thought that such food would be unfulfilling and not have flavours and would not have taste. The first meal that I had here at Fresh Start when I arrived was absolutely amazing, completely blew my mind and it was even vegan.
- No hunger or food cravings. I had a concern of how am I going to survive three weeks without meat and cheese and whatever. One thing that I just absolutely cannot fathom is that I’ve not been hungry once. Not just me but the people that have been in the group. We have three regular meals a day. We have a an amazing soup at 5:00 which for me has been life-changing and something that I’m going to implement in my in my new routine when I go home. But not been hungry once I had a massive sweet tooth. I would consume candy and chocolate. I’ve not had a craving for anything sweet since I’ve been here. I’m a person that needs to see proof or feel proof and for me to eat 3 meals a day and not feel hungry or not fulfilled or something I never thought would happen on a vegan diet.
- The level of detail– just absolutely blew my mind
- Balance of the program – people ask me what’s the what’s the best thing to take from here or what did you enjoy the most. For me, it’s such a difficult question to answer because collectively it’s been so balanced and amazing. It’s on so many layers and levels that I just can’t answer that It’s completely a collective in my opinion.
The information above is based on the following resources:
- Unedited Video Testimonial Materials
- Before and After Self-Assessment
- Program Participation and Progress Sheet
- Before and After Emotional Wellness Tests
Disclaimer : Results of participants differ and the Fresh Start cannot guarantee that you will experience your improvements in the same way as in this testimonial. The Fresh Start is not an allopathic medical facility and does not claim to either diagnose or treat any disease. The Fresh Start does not guarantee a recovery from any specific disease or a health symptom.
