This started a search for knowledge spanning decades, to discover the keys to health & wellness.

As a child in New Zealand, I grew up in an era that saw a huge growth in dietary sugars, carbohydrate & grain intake, alongside the very purposeful demonization of animal fats. 

Looking back, few people expressed concerns about this, or discussed it much. My Dad & his mates proudly sported beer belly’s. The younger generations were into Paisley shirts, flares & platform shoes, & no-one’s body hair had gone out of fashion. A medical doctor’s word was considered Gospel, & of course with no internet, any other conflicting information was virtually non-existent. 

No-one I knew went to a Gym, or really talked about fitness. In saying that, there’s no doubt that there were a lot more physical jobs & manual work that kept people in shape.

By the late 1980’s, as a young & carefree bloke, I was flatting on the Gold Coast of Australia, with a great bunch of mates, much laughing & silliness. We spent disproportionate percentages of our time & incomes on cheap chemically created beer.

I trained at a local Gym multiple days a week, doing my best to be cool & tough & funny & attractive, with dubious & limited results!:-)

The extent of my nutritional understanding was to purchase a tub of Whey Protein Powder & maybe a bottle of Amino Acids, in the hope of gaining as much muscle as possible.

I was really burning the candle at both ends. 

At the age of 23, what I thought was a Flu, turned out to be Viral Encephalitis ( a virus in the brain). This was the first of multiple hospitalizations over the next 20 years. I went from paralyzed, to coma & near death, to wake up still paralyzed. 

I limped out of the hospital six weeks later, with an ankle to hip blood clot, the first of a number of Deep Vein Thrombosis, any one of which also could have killed me.

Lesson: Being fit & strong doesn’t necessarily mean one is healthy.

After a number of months taking toxic blood thinning medication & being told these & their ill effects may be for life, I rejected that course of treatment.

These experiences ignited a hunger for information & natural therapies that could rebuild & sustain my health, which continues today…. 

I found that medically trained doctors were largely dismissive or even ridiculing of natural therapies, treatments, or nutritional protocols that they considered alternative.

Lesson: No-one cares about your health as much as you do.

Question everything. Recognize that the country that has the highest taxpayer spend per year on healthcare, has the worst health outcomes.

My trade of building became impossible to continue with, I was in so much ongoing pain.

The great experience of diving for a living in the Pearling industry of Western Australia & the Northern Territory was cut short, as once again my health was simply not up to it.

By 1994 it was well apparent that physically demanding roles were no longer possible, which led me into a sales & marketing career.

Through the 1990’s & early-mid 2000’s I was regularly in so much pain that I seriously considered having a leg amputated. Nothing that doctors did gave any relief for any amount of time.

My search for health protocols continued, through books, then the gift of the internet, much reading, listening & dietary experimentation. 

I shudder to think how much money I spent over the years on different treatments, practitioners, diet protocols & supplements. Some of these had merit, many turned out to be pointless, expensive, & sometimes detrimental. There were many setbacks along the journey.

Lesson: You can’t supplement your way out of a bad diet.

I had enduring faith that our bodies have an amazing ability to self-heal when we create the right internal & external environment. This understanding continues to inspire me. 

I really learned that we are all different, & what works for one, wo/man may not work for another.

I also learned that there are some health principles that are common to all of us, that many people do not know, or may need a reminder of.

We may often think “I wish I knew then what I know now” & “You can’t put an old head on young shoulders”.

I am certain that if I knew all those years ago what I know now, I would not have gotten ill in the first place, & Primal Kiwi would likely not be here for me to share with you.

Wishing you the absolute best in health.

Nigel Dixon