I'm Felicity - my food journey has been a rather long one to date with the most recent players in it having been food allergies and illness causing diet changes to become necessary.
This blog is mainly going to be dedicated to food and recipes, but I may also post some tips for people walking down the health problems road from my experiences.
So who am I, where have I come from, and what the heck do I know about food?
I'm a young woman in my twenties, I came from regional South Australia and now live in the big smoke, and I've had to learn a heck of a lot about food.
As a child I was overweight - pretty much all my life. I can't remember being a "right weight" as a child, just knowing I was too big, and somehow that was a massive stigma. At 20 years of age I moved out of home for work, and shortly after that started losing the weight that had always been around. Over the next 2 years I lost over 30 kg. I'm now in a healthy weight range and have remained about the same weight since then.
So if you're struggling with your weight - I hear you, and I feel your pain. I have been there, and I know how much it can hurt. I'm also aware that for some people exercise is impossible, and if you are quite overweight, it can be very difficult to exercise. I lost almost the entire amount of weight due to diet alone, and I didn't go on any crazy diets, starve myself or any such thing. I just made one healthier choice at a time, and was disciplined enough to stick to my choices.
In January 2012 I came down very sick, and after a few weeks of being sick still decided something was more wrong than just food poisoning. I initially spoke to a friend of a friend who works with a naturopath and was able to provide me with a diet to try and sort things out, while I waited for the customary 6 weeks to see a (good) doctor if it's not an "emergency".
The diet helped, but only so long as I stuck to it religiously, and it was very difficult to do so when I had never seen anything like it before, I was sick and change felt overwhelming, and I didn't have the grid for it.
Eventually I got in to see the doctor who immediately gave me some antibiotics, and told me to slowly add foods back in my diet.
At this stage we discovered I was gluten intolerant, and I was sent for further testing to see if I was celiac. I was also very dizzy, and disorientated, totally unpredictable, couldn't think straight, exhausted and a general mess. I was next diagnosed with hypoglycaemia, which is a condition that can lead to diabetes if not treated. Basically my body had become semi-resistant to insulin, and we needed to cut the amount of insulin my body would release in response to sugars, thus major reduction in starch, carbs, and sugar, and increase protein to break the cycle and allow my body to heal. (Yes it is reversible!)
With this change came a marked response. I improved overnight, and those living with me started paying attention to what I was eating more than I did!
Over the next few months I discovered I was also allergic to dairy and have some level of allergy/intolerance to egg.
It's been a long road to recovery, and it's been a lot more than diet that has gotten me from where I was to where I am, but for anyone else who is making big lifestyle changes due to health problems I want to encourage you that it will get easier with time. The most important thing you have is your mindset.
Next post... food!
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