What if the path to overcoming life’s most daunting challenges was rooted in the food we eat? This is the question posed by Magic Barclay, an impassioned plant-based nutrition advocate and functional health solutions practitioner. Through her own gripping journey, from her parents' divorce, a battle with anorexia, alcoholism, and an eventual cancer diagnosis, Magic found solace, strength and healing in the embrace of holistic wellness and plant-based nutrition.
In this compelling episode, Magic candidly discusses her transformation from anorexic to morbidly obese and how she discovered the healing power of food. We uncover her brave decision to sidestep traditional cancer treatment, instead opting for a natural, holistic approach incorporating nutrition, exercise, and a spiritual practice. We explore her profound respect for food, viewing it not as a mere component of survival, but as a form of self-care and a means to nurture our bodies. We also delve into the wisdom she inherited from her grandparents who used food as medicine, and how she utilized this wisdom to revolutionize her health.
Finally, Magic illuminates the significance of mindful consumption, emphasizing the direct impact our food choices can have on our health and wellbeing. From a simple gratitude practice around meal times, to the power of adding more fruit into our diets, we journey alongside Magic as she shares her inspiring anecdotes and practical tips. She extends an invitation to us all to join her in this exploration of healing and wellbeing through plant-based nutrition. So, let's embrace this journey together, and discover the potentially transformative power of holistic health and plant-based living.
What if the path to overcoming life’s most daunting challenges was rooted in the food we eat? This is the question posed by Magic Barclay, an impassioned plant-based nutrition advocate and functional health solutions practitioner. Through her own gripping journey, from her parents' divorce, a battle with anorexia, alcoholism, and an eventual cancer diagnosis, Magic found solace, strength and healing in the embrace of holistic wellness and plant-based nutrition.
In this compelling episode, Magic candidly discusses her transformation from anorexic to morbidly obese and how she discovered the healing power of food. We uncover her brave decision to sidestep traditional cancer treatment, instead opting for a natural, holistic approach incorporating nutrition, exercise, and a spiritual practice. We explore her profound respect for food, viewing it not as a mere component of survival, but as a form of self-care and a means to nurture our bodies. We also delve into the wisdom she inherited from her grandparents who used food as medicine, and how she utilized this wisdom to revolutionize her health.
Finally, Magic illuminates the significance of mindful consumption, emphasizing the direct impact our food choices can have on our health and wellbeing. From a simple gratitude practice around meal times, to the power of adding more fruit into our diets, we journey alongside Magic as she shares her inspiring anecdotes and practical tips. She extends an invitation to us all to join her in this exploration of healing and wellbeing through plant-based nutrition. So, let's embrace this journey together, and discover the potentially transformative power of holistic health and plant-based living.
So I decided to study clinical nutrition, and that's where my eyes really opened to what is food, not the end of the journey, though. Not long after getting my advanced dip in clinical nutrition, I realized I had cancer, and it had spread very quickly.
Speaker 2:
Welcome to the Plant-Based Curious podcast, a place to explore and discover the plant-based and vegan lifestyle. Each week, we'll talk about our own stories and real discoveries, alongside our experts and experienced guests, about changing behaviors, whole food, living, nutrition and the amazing facts and positive curiosities about veganism. We're here for you as a guide and a place to gather resources, but with the simple click of our subscribe button, you're allowing yourself a little time and good energy To listen, laugh and indulge in the lifestyle you may love. Please welcome your host, a certified holistic coach and plant-based lifestyle believer, diane Randall.
Speaker 3:
Hello and welcome everyone. Today I have an exciting guest to talk about the topic of how to heal the body through holistic healing Magic Barclay, an immunity and functional health solutions practitioner, who's going to help us navigate the conversation, and I love that she's here all the way from Victoria, australia. It's just so amazing that we can connect anywhere in the world. And Magic, welcome to the podcast.
Speaker 1:
Thanks so much for having me and I still get a standard that I'm talking to. Yesterday people, whoops. So that's it, diane, here in Australia wearing your tomorrow.
Speaker 3:
That's right and that's so awesome. It's so exciting to just to be able to talk to you about whole healing, because you have a story right from the beginning of your life, so I'd love for you to share your childhood and bring us up to the present moment.
Speaker 1:
Okay. So as a child, my parents are splitting up. When I was very young and my brother and I were like ping pong balls in the divorce game and parenting wasn't everyone's main focus. We'll just put it that way. Veggies were particularly cooked till they were mush. It was like meat and two veg. Eat that, don't ask questions, eat it, don't eat it. It was the 70s and 80s, so you know, literally you'll starve if you don't eat whatever hell is on the plate.
Speaker 1:
But I was lucky enough to have my maternal grandparents in my life and my paternal grandmother, and all three used food as medicine. My paternal grandmother I would go and see her every Saturday morning and she'd make me stewed apples with honey and cinnamon. She'd be like eat this, it'll make you feel better. And I couldn't understand why it was so important to it that I ate the stewed apples. So I ate them like I didn't ask questions and I enjoyed them. But my maternal grandparents my grandfather was an alchemist and a company pharmacist, as he lived in a flat, so like an apartment, and they had this little kitchen garden outside the kitchen and he had an abundance of herbs there. So even though he was a company pharmacist, any time I got sick, he'd be like chew on this leaf, wipe that on there, like, do this, do that. And then my grandmother used food as lull so she would teach me how to ferment. She taught me how to pickle cucumbers and things like that.
Speaker 1:
So I did have some happy moments in my childhood but, as I said, my parents were going through a divorce. I struggled to make friends because my parents were just so bitter towards each other. The whole community got bitter towards the family. And moving into my teens, food was my sense of control. So I would withhold food from myself for control of my situation. So if my life wasn't particularly happy, I would punish myself with the lack of food. So I became anorexic, became an alcoholic by 16. And when I did eat, it would be a roast, so it would be a whole chunk of dead animal and that would be like eight in a week and I would eat once in a week. So I wasn't giving myself any kind of nutrients, like I would eat veggies and I would eat salad, but only in small amounts.
Speaker 1:
So I'd really, from how I was raised by all three grandparents to now, I can use food as my punishment, as my self punishment, my self loathing because I didn't know I was self loathing and I didn't know I had no sense of self because as a child I didn't know who I was. Now, as a teen, I had no idea who I was. And as for it again, I get married to someone I don't even particularly like. I just wanted to have kids, and somewhere in my brain you must be married to have kids. So I picked the next cab off the road and again used food as punishment. Was it healthy food? No, I would sink my face into a bag of potato crisps and secretly eat in the cupboard. So I'd go on from my grandparents nurturing me with food to me punishing myself with lack of food to now me punishing myself with an abundance of synthetic crap, no nutrient food. And then you have your babies and still no nutrients in my body. Because I didn't know it till I decided to lose some of the weight that I was carrying. So I was morbidly obese, post-kitties and raising a toddler and a baby going. What am I doing? I don't know what food is. I realized in my whole life. I don't know what food is because the only time I was educated about what food was with my grandparents, and that was for 20 minutes here and now I'm there like I wasn't immersed in it. So I decided to study clinical nutrition, and that's where my eyes really opened to what is food Not the end of the journey, though.
Speaker 1:
Not long after getting my advanced dipping clinical nutrition, I realized I had cancer, and it had spread very quickly. It had been there for a while, hadn't been detected, and it was now stage four. It was in my lymph nodes. So I'm left with this lovely lymphedema pillow under my chin, and so I really had to look at how am I going to treat this? I had the surgery and have a choice, because now I was going through a divorce. I say history repeats itself, and so I felt, post-surgery, what am I gonna do? I know I'll use food as medicine.
Speaker 1:
I realized what my three grandparents were trying to teach me about the compounds of food.
Speaker 1:
When you cook them with certain things and when I say food, I'm now talking real food of the earth, full of nutrients, plant food, and so when you combine ingredients and you cook them in a certain way and then you add, say, raw honey, at the end you've got a bowl of medicine and now understood what the stewed apples were, I remembered about all the herbs and I was like I now understand why, as a three, four year old, I was drinking tea straight from the garden. Get it now. I totally get it. And so I went plant-based to get my cancer into remission and re-nutrient my body, something that had been lacking for 40 years. 10 years on, I'm still cancer-free and, gosh, I hope I don't look like I'm over 50, because I really do try and fill my life with nutrients and when I can't eat plant-based then I use my own brand of essential oils because I know they're derived from plants. So I know that I'm getting the complex chemistry of the plant the way nature intended it.
Speaker 3:
Wow, what a fascinating childhood that your childhood wasn't that great, emotionally and mentally, and even physically. And then, to top it off, you grow up. Not only were you anorexic, you were also morbidly obese, and then there's cancer. That is incredible. Tell the listeners, with all of that turmoil in your life and I'm just using that word, because it's several things how did you pull out of that to even think clearly about plant-based food? How does that happen?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's a really good question and I wish I could give you a really succinct answer. All I'm going to say is, when I was morbidly obese, my eldest son, who was five at the time, said mommy, all I want to do is put my arms around you and hug you, like the other kids hug their mums.
Speaker 1:
And that was my wake-up call to my weight, wow. And then going through both of them being in primary school I think you guys call it elementary school all the mums would get together every now and then and there'd be parent teachers and all that kind of thing. We'd all meet in the hallways and they'd all talk about who they were and I'd be like hang on, I'm just a mum. What do you mean? Who you are, what you do? You mean you do something other than be a mum. Like I had no idea that there was a whole life of self-expression because I didn't have that.
Speaker 1:
And then moving forward to the cancer diagnosis, that was sometimes you have to be hit on the head three times, with the two by four. Well, that was the third time and I had to say to my kids Mummy might not be here next year if I can't get under control, that's it. And I had a lot of time in bed with my kids at the end of my bed just staring at me. We'd have these conversations and I'd say who do you want to be, kids? If I'm not here, who are you going to be? Who are you going to make yourself into? What do you want to do for the world? I had my eldest, henry, and said you answer it first. Oh, wow, and he was now 14. Oh goodness. And I went I can't answer that. I've got no idea.
Speaker 1:
So I realized that my lack of sense of self was something that was a recurring theme through my life, and so when I went plant-based, I had to teach my kids why we were doing this. What was the contribution we made back to the earth and being stewards of Mother Nature and using her gifts and her wonders and her colors and her tastes, and filling all of our senses with what came from our food and honoring where the food came from and then honoring ourselves in the process. And I had to teach them that what my mother could cook because she really couldn't cook, she probably still can't which was a piece of dead dried cow on a plate and three veggies that if you put your fork in it would drip through the fork and it'd just be mush. A bean never looked like a bean. So I had to explain to them the differences of food and then food.
Speaker 3:
Magic. Talk about how these experiences that you had shape your path to lead you to embrace a holistic approach to healing. How did that happen and how do you help others if someone's listening and they have cancer?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, look, it still takes me up now. Through my children's early childhood, I kept going to the doctor who I trusted and saying something's wrong. Something's wrong. I felt like I couldn't swallow, I felt like I was being strangled all the time and I would do the blood tests. Everything's fine, you're fine. Go home, loosen weight, eat better, move more. It's all your fault, like the standard thing. If you do this, then you will be well. It's got nothing to do with them. If I did it, I would be well. But they were telling me all my tests were normal.
Speaker 1:
And this went on for a decade until it culminated in oh whoops, we've just done a scan, you have stage 4 cancer. Yeah, so literally overnight my life turned on a dime, as they say. And so what I decided was well, you've let me down. You've gaslit me, telling me I'm making it up, it's all my fault. And now you've lied to me for years saying everything's fine when it's not. And now you want to use toxic methods to supposedly heal me. I don't trust you. I'm walking away, that's it, throwing myself into my study, and I still continue to study. You never stop learning, so I think I've got like four diplomas on the go at the month Ever since that include one including herbalism, that I started yesterday, and so I really threw myself into that, mainly for my own journey and for my kids' journey. And then I decided, well, I can do something with this to help other people, because there's other people out there being told it's all your fault and you're a nutcase, because you think you're sick, because all our tests are coming up fine, so it's all on you.
Speaker 1:
And I think it's really important that there are holistic practitioners that listen to people. So, for an example, someone comes to me, they get a it's now 38 pages of a questionnaire and they're like why do I need to say all this? Because I need the full history. The answers are in your history and not that a general practitioner in their office has given you 5.2 minutes to let them know what you're there for and what you need. I want the whole history. My first part of call with people is called a root cause analysis call Anywhere in the world. We do that and that's free. And so we go that 38 pages and I ask even more questions that I've pulled out from the information and so I've got the full history. Before we do anything, before we charge you anything. I know where we need to go with the treatment, so everything's quite tailored to people and again, the opposite of my experience in the medical field.
Speaker 3:
That's fascinating. It's really fascinating because here in the US we have the same sick care system. You get maybe 10 minutes just to deal with what's happening in the moment. I admire you looking at root cause analysis first, because that informed your healing is what I'm hearing you say yes, definitely. That is just awesome. And you talked about self awareness, self acceptance. How much of that helped you to prioritize your well-being. We have people that or listening who are sick as well and they don't have that self-awareness or self-acceptance. Can you talk about how you prioritize that with your wellbeing?
Speaker 1:
Look, I liken it to driving a car. Right, you can't drive the car if you don't know where you're going. True, right, sometimes we have aids like a GPS or a book of maps or someone in the passenger seat telling us where to turn, and things like that. Well, every point in your healing is that direction, that guidance, but it's the destination that goes first, and if you don't know who you are, you're not going to heal because you're going to be aimlessly driving around the block till you just happen upon the destination. It's just so important, and that's something that I had to learn the hard way, so I'm no longer just a mum or just a practitioner. I've got a whole laundry list of who magic is, which I didn't have before. So I've got that destination and I know if I get lost. I know there's safety points along the way where I can check in and go.
Speaker 1:
Okay, I'm good, I know where I'm going now, and so it's really important that we have that sense of self, and it's something that in society we're kind of shied away from, particularly women, right. And we see these days there's a whole I'm not going to get political, but there is a whole attack on the biological woman, the life giver, the caregiver, the nurturer. We are being eradicated in the media and eradicated in society while they're trying to and that's part of that. Hey lady, you can't have that destination. You can't know where you're going, because if we know where we're going, we're going to nurture everyone along the way, and so there's a big push for us to not have a sense of self. So all I can say, particularly to all the female listeners out there, is know who you are and stand in your truth. Stand for who you want to be, not who everyone else wants you to be. And for all the fellas out there, support your lady to do that, because when she's well and giving and nurturing, you will be too.
Speaker 3:
Thanks for that magic. So, someone waking up tomorrow. What is the first thing they need to do to get some type of direction as to who am I? What is it? Yeah, first thing is thank the day.
Speaker 1:
So, just before you bounce out of bed, to sit there for a minute and open your eyes gently and start with your alarm Don't have a like a bop, bop, bop, blab, blab. Have some relaxation music. That's still going to wake you up, but wake you up gently. Give yourself extra time to wake up. Then sit up in bed and just go. Thank you for today. I can feel my feet, I can feel my hands, I can breathe. My skin is intact. Take every part of your body and then thank the universe for the day. Then get out of bed and set a morning routine so that you've got your first checkpoint in there for yourself. Okay, so for me, my morning routine is I get up, I thank the day, I thank my body, I go for a walk, then I come back, I have a sauna, Then I have my shower, Then I get on with my life. Okay, now, yours doesn't have to be that long, but just thank the day, thank your body, thank yourself, give yourself some direction. So, whilst I'm in my sauna, I go through my calendar for the day and I go okay, I've got this, this, this and this. What is of the most extreme importance? What is next, what is next? So I'm not going to stress myself, for there's 50 things I have to do today and they all have to get done because they're not all the same importance. Obviously, meal with my family in the evening is my most important thing. That's our debrief time, that's our together time. So I know as long as I get to that on time, everything else in between will fall into place. So I'm designing my roadmap for the day, then I go through the next important things, and that will be talking to my clients, and then it will be fitting in some study, and then it will be in my garden, and so I'll get through my list and before I get out of the sauna, might be five things that are on my list for the day that really have very little importance. So they might be the things that I go. You know what, rather than stressing myself for the whole day, running through the day, I'm just going to knock those five things off. They're not that super important. They can wait.
Speaker 1:
And, of course, throughout the day, I check in with myself and I go wow, doing a good job, got this done and you got that done, and you got this done and you helped this person and you've gone outside and gotten some vitamin D and done the walk and done the sauna. So I'm going to say thank you to myself and also congratulate myself through the day. So by the time my head hits the pillow in the evening, I'm feeling good about what I've done for the day. I'm feeling good about myself. I still know who I am. Gonna say thank you to myself and to my body again before I go to sleep. I'm gonna have that gratitude moment again. Gonna make sure I'm really well hydrated. I make sure that my kitten's in bed and tucked in, and that's my day. So I've got these checkpoints all the way through and I know who I am.
Speaker 1:
And if at any point I check in with myself during the day and lose who I am sometimes it happens when I'm busy here in the office I'll go. Okay, I might need to just quickly message the next person that I need to speak to. Just go. Do you know what I'm gonna be like? Five minutes late, and there's an important reason, as I'll go outside and I'll sit in my garden and I'll recompose myself for five minutes and connect with myself again and then I'll explain to that next client. Hey, this is why I'm late. This is why it's important. I suggest that you check in with yourself too. That's my day, basically.
Speaker 3:
That's so beautiful. You have given us some things to start with in designing a roadmap to support our life Magic. I have listeners who are plant curious. They're not plant based yet they're more curious than anything and I also have listeners who have been on the path. Can you talk about how adopting a plant based diet helped you with your cancer? Because people think I have to have the radiation, but how did you feel that the plant based diet would help you more so than radiation? If you could share that with us.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, look, radiation and chemo never set well with me. Like I said, I had my surgery and then I was supposed to go for radio and chemo and to me, putting poison into your body to kill something, that's really collection of toxins. It didn't feel right. It didn't seem right. No, it certainly wasn't right for me. I'm not saying it's not right for everyone, for me it wasn't right.
Speaker 1:
And so I really looked at well, if cancer is a collection of toxins, so what cancer is is a collection of dead cells that is stored in the body and the body doesn't know what to do with it. So it causes this or creates this cancer. It's like a hefty bag full of rubbish. If we're going to burn and poison that, it's going to come open and spread through the body. So I thought why did the cancer start? Was I devoid of nutrients? Well, in my life, yes, I was, and that's often a trigger for an accumulation of toxins. So if I put the nutrients in in a way that I am keeping them as true to their natural structure as I can, I'm not a raw foodist. I would eat a lot of raw stuff. I would cook some stuff as well, but, like I said, it's in the process of cooking it, not cooking it within each of its life, making sure it's still got some structural nutrient integrity. So if I do this, what happens?
Speaker 1:
And the amazing thing was, when I did that, my body said thank you and, yes, I'd had my cancer cut out. But the first thing they said was oh, and now we have to do radiation and chemo because we may have less themselves there and then they'll proliferate again and then you'll be back here. So I thought, rather than do the poison, give me a chance. Let me do the nutrients and start actually building and nurturing my body, which is something I hadn't done For me. That was my decision. It worked very well. And I say to people out there if you are plant curious and you still want to get the chemo and the radiation, by all means give yourself a helping hand by being full of the essential nutrients. First, give yourself every chance to fight this, because just relying on chemo or radiation, you're causing more damage. So if your body is not as strong as it can be before you do that, you're really opening the door to more problems.
Speaker 3:
Wow, what a journey you've had to whole health. I really appreciate you being here, and is there one more thing you'd like to share with the listeners regarding starting a journey to whole health and well-being?
Speaker 1:
Yeah, just start somewhere, don't overthink it. The first thing is eat some more fruit. There's no ward in the hospital where there's people sick from eating too much fruit. It doesn't exist. Okay, start with fruit.
Speaker 1:
We all have a sweet tooth. As humans, we've managed to nurture and develop a sweet tooth. So, rather than the refined sugar and the packet foods that are soaked in high fructose corn syrup and all sorts of rubbish, grab a piece of fruit, start there and really start thanking your food. Take that moment. There's a reason why we do blessings before meals Not only thanking God, spirit, universe, the family, the hands are prepared, whoever. We're thanking the food as well for being there. Really comprehend that food.
Speaker 1:
More natural food comes from an amazing, complex system of nature. So look at the apple and just go wow. Look at all the nutrients in this apple, look at all the fiber and vitamins in this apple, and it tastes great and you don't have to eat it raw. I can't bite into an apple. I've got to lose teeth Through lots of years of sport and managing to bump my face all the time. I love stewed apples, like my nana used to make, so I grind my own cinnamon quills and I make sure I use organic raw honey and I use organic apples, and so I'll stew those with the cinnamon and then, when they come off the heat, I'll add the honey. And I've got a bowl of medicine there that I know, because I've prepared it, that it came from those apples. So start thanking your food and really start enjoying your food. They say that digestion starts with the eyes, that you have to look at the food and then you smell the food and you know there's a whole lot of stuff going on before you even taste the food.
Speaker 3:
Magic. I thank you so much for sharing your incredible story and valuable insights for us today. Your journey is an inspiration to all seeking a holistic approach to health and well-being, and to our listeners. Remember that healing is possible and by embracing a plant-based lifestyle and integrating holistic practices, you can create a life filled with health, joy and magic. Stay tuned for our next episode of the Plant-Based Curious Podcast, where we'll continue to explore transformative stories and practical tips for living a plant-based life. Thanks everyone, stay curious.
