Today is the first time in a lot of months I have felt like sitting down to write a blog post here. I have written posts but it has been more out of necessity than want and it has made me sad. My blog has been a part of my life for over 16 years and it has never felt like a chore but rather something I have loved doing. To not feel that for so long has been a challenge.
Turns out it was not just a case of writers block or life getting busy but rather it was body trying to tell me enough is enough!
Life with four kids is busy. We were always on the go. Someone always had to be somewhere or do something. Then lockdown happened and we were all forced to stop but, again, with four kids we didn’t really spend lockdown binge watching Netflix for 2 years – the kids kept us busy. We were still busy and I was keeping up until I wasn’t.
If I look back now the signs started showing when Cameron moved to Cape Town and our day to day life got a little calmer. Obviously I didn’t listen to them so they got worse and I started getting more and more exhausted, my weight gain was out of control, I was struggling to focus at work – life was getting increasingly hard.
There was a week in February where my body said enough really is enough and I literally couldn’t get out of bed for a week. I was just too exhausted. I wasn’t sick, just completely and utterly drained. It was a bit of a wake up call because I was not able to function. We didn’t do school that week, I barely did any work, it was just too much.
I made an appointment with a homeopath that week.
I kinda had an idea of what was wrong but after a mass of blood tests I had a diagnosis and a course of action.
The short version – I have adrenal fatigue with some issues with my liver and my cholesterol and insulin levels aren’t optimal.
My homeopath spent a lot of time explaining how the body deals with stress and the role of the liver in helping the body deal with pretty much everything. A lot of it I knew but when she explained it all in context it made a lot of sense. The main reason I opted for a homeopath over a doctor is because I didn’t just want meds to fix the symptoms but rather a holistic approach and she gave me just that.
The solution is pretty simple on paper but it hasn’t been as simple as I would have liked. My homeopath has me on some meds but I have had to make some radical changes in my diet. Basically we are now fighting the inflammation in my body primarily with the food I eat.
This means no sugar, no coffee, limited red meat, no gluten, no processed foods, limited dairy, no alcohol, limited eggs, no coconut oil.
I didn’t think my diet was that bad – I don’t have gluten or dairy, I have limited sugar, red meat and processed food but when I had to cut it out you realise where the hidden nasties are coming in. Sugar is the biggest culprit – it is in pretty much everything – mayonnaise, chutney, tomato sauce, milk. I knew coffee wasn’t particularly great but cutting it out has been HARD! It has been almost 5 weeks since I had my last cup of coffee and I miss it every single day.
The good news is that after 5 weeks on the new anti-inflammatory diet and 4 weeks of meds I feel a million times better. In fact I only realise now just how horrible I was feeling before. I am not exhausted any more, I can stay focused the whole day at work and I want to go out and do things for the first time in a very long time. And as an added bonus the weight is starting to come off!
I do believe that our diet plays a huge role in our overall health which is why we have made the changes we have made over the last 3 years when it comes to the food that we eat. But for my body it wasn’t enough – the stress was a little too much and so here we are.
The take away for me (and hopefully for you) is to LISTEN to your body. When it starts telling you it needs help, don’t make another cup of coffee and power through, STOP and LISTEN and ask for help.
