The title of this post couldn’t really be more random if it tried but I wanted to write a little update about my life because it feels like there has been a lot of changes to it and instead of combining a post about vegan meal ideas and the Facebook app I thought I would separate the two.
Sooo a few months ago I began to think about what I could do to improve my life, now I know this sounds a bit self-indulgent because of course there is nothing majorally wrong with my life. I am truly happy being a mum, and in my relationship, but there were a couple of areas that needed addressing for me to improve things. First up was my health, I had reached the point where I felt constantly ill. I was falling asleep all day, couldn’t concentrate, had no motivation and kept getting headaches / feeling dizzy. I had been going to the doctors for months and my blood tests kept coming back showing that I had low iron levels and a low white blood cell count, now I know people might assume it was something to do with me becoming vegan but the two things were completely unrelated because my blood tests had shown these results for years.
I began taking iron supplements at the advice of my GP but even after four months they weren’t doing a single thing, other than carry on and keep retesting there was nothing else my GP suggested and it was around this time we watched some really interesting documentaries on Netflix (Food Matters and Forks Over Knives) so I knew that to find out what was going on I needed to take matters into my own hands. I knew that something I was eating was stopping my body from absorbing iron and after Googling it the most obvious answer seemed to be gluten so I cut that out but it didn’t do a single thing. I obviously wasn’t eating dairy either so wasn’t really sure where to go from there but then I remembered Mr C’s sister talking about an allergy specialist that she took her little girl to. She had eczema all over her legs and after finding out the foods she shouldn’t be eating it cleared up so I made an appt and I’m just so pleased I did because I finally got the answers I needed.
It turns out that my body can’t tolerate potatoes (or mushrooms), they say that you crave what you shouldn’t have and that was true in my case as I was eating nearly a whole bag of kettle crisps every night!! No wonder I was feeling so awful. It was upsetting my intestines and as a result I wasn’t absorbing iron, zinc or a few other vitamins. Now I know some people don’t believe there is a way to test these things, I was sceptical myself after reading about the tests online but within a few days of avoiding these foods I felt like a completely different person! It’s honestly unbelievable, I’m alert, can focus again and most importantly have the energy to stay awake.
The one thing I would say is to go to someone that has been recommended, this lady has been doing it for 40 years and she didn’t try to sell me anything or make money. She literally just told me to cut out those two foods and that would be enough. I’m actually due to go back and have my bloods retested at the GP surgery soon which will give me the ultimate answer as to whether it’s true too as if all my levels have gone up then that will be proof that it works, although I don’t need proof myself. I can tell by how I feel.
I’ve taken Tiger too about his constipation problems, he can’t have potatoes, apples or oranges which makes perfect sense. Apples would have been the first foods he was having back when I weaned him and all the problems started. Cutting out potatoes isn’t as easy as I first thought though, potato starch is in literally EVERYTHING! So we are doing a lot of cooking from scratch but that’s obviously a good thing.
And the other area that needed some improvement involved work / blogging / social media. The main thing being Facebook. There are lots of things I love about Facebook, it’s a great way to keep in touch with my friends and for home ed things it’s invaluable. Nearly everything we do has been arranged via Facebook so despite me originally wanting to be drastic and delete it, that can’t happen but I have deleted the app off my phone and that has made a huge difference. I’ve also left the blogging groups and communities that I was part of. I know for a lot of people they are a really positive place to be but I just found I was always comparing myself and feeling crap. From removing myself from it I feel like I am free to just do things how I want again instead of feeling like I had to do things a certain way to be ‘successful’. Comparing is such an unhealthy habit to get into, especially as my blog is becoming more and more niche. I am never going to appeal to the masses when I blog about being vegan and homeschooling but that really doesn’t bother me now, it did used to though and it was because I knew too much about the lives of other bloggers.
The same thing goes with knowing too much about anyone else’s life having a negative effect, that’s the downside to Facebook. I have heard so many people saying similar things lately though and just looking through my friends list I can see all the people who have deactivated their profiles, and there is a lot of them. Maybe things are changing and Facebook has had it’s day?! Or maybe not but at least if we are more aware then we can stop it from being too consuming.
Removing myself from the blogging world has really helped me to focus on where I want to take things too. I know that I love to crochet and have a few ideas about things I can make to sell so an online shop is on the cards. I would also love to publish a craft book at some point. And cutting out potatoes means I finally have the energy to make these things happen!
And obviously the biggest positive to both of these things is that I feel better and am less distracted so I can be a much better mum to these little monkeys, or maggots as we affectionately call them at home!
