September 2014 - Kirstie Howard Living Well

Auto-Immune Protocol Update – Week 9 – And A Roast Pork Recipe

Sunday 28 September 2014 Leave a Comment

Roasted pork with fennel salt

End of week 9 – well, well, well! Not too much has changed this week….after my adventure with almonds last week I decided to lay of trying to reintroduce any more nuts for the time being and instead decided to try adding back seed based spices. I tried fennel seeds at the beginning of the week and cumin and cardamom last night. All seemed to go well with the fennel seeds but I don’t feel that great today after the cumin and cardamom. Not sure if it’s related or not, but I think I’ll steer clear of cumin and cardamom for a few days til I feel better and then try them again! Continue Reading →

The Importance of Sleep

Monday 22 September 2014 5 Comments

sleeping like a baby (Jas Poole Photos)

We all know the importance of getting a good nights sleep don’t we. But I wonder how many of us are actually making sure that we do just that. I’ve never been a morning person, always been late to bed and late to rise, left to my own devices I’d be up til 4am and in bed til 12pm – but that’s just not how life works. So for pretty much the whole of my adult life (lets not talk about teenage years!) I’ve been burning the candle at both ends. Determined not to “miss out” on any fun by going to bed early, even when that “fun” may have been watching another episode of Midsomer Murders! And then I’d snooze my alarm til the very last minute the next morning, only just leaving myself enough time to have a shower, get dressed and run out the door. Continue Reading →

Autoimmune Protocol Update – Week 8 – Goodbye Almonds

Saturday 20 September 2014 4 Comments

Here you go squirrel – you can have mine too…

Last week was meant to be my week of macadamias. I bought them a few weeks ago in eager anticipation. I had them sitting there, in their brown paper bag in the fridge, counting the days til I could eat one. What I hadn’t anticipated was what a tough nut it would be to crack – literally! So after going nearly the whole week without anything new, I decided yesterday to buy some almonds and give those a go instead. I used to use almond flour quite a lot for baking, in fact it was pretty much the only four I used, so I was looking forward to getting some banana bread in the oven and on my plate – where it belongs! Continue Reading →

Autoimmune Protocol Update – Week 7 – Well, Hello Sunshine!

Sunday 14 September 2014 Leave a Comment

Well hello sunshine!

The end of week 7 of my autoimmune protocol journey and the end of the weekend – and what a beautiful weekend it has been! Such gorgeous weather and I think I managed to get my vitamin D levels topped up just in time for another whole week of rain!

Continue Reading →

Autoimmune Protocol – Week 6 Update

Tuesday 9 September 2014 4 Comments

This is how good this lifestyle feels…..

Wow……I’ve made it! 6 weeks was my initial goal and I’ve got there! We had a couple of hiccups in the first couple of weeks which I spoke about here, but despite that I definitely feel the benefits of cleaning up my diet. Continue Reading →

Autoimmune Protocol – Week 5 Update

Monday 1 September 2014 2 Comments

AIP rosemary and lemon roast lamb chops with roast sweet potato and kale chips

I’m into week 6 of AIP now, who would have thought it? Certainly not me! I remember first reading about AIP a couple of years ago and thinking “oh no, something that restrictive is definitely not for me”. I’d just been diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and I was still at the stage of thinking that thyroxine was going to put right everything that had been wrong. Then some more time passed and I experimented with cutting out sugar, cutting out gluten, cutting out processed foods and noticed I was definitely feeling better. Then I started reading about AIP again and the more it started to make sense to me… Continue Reading →

Homemade Deodorant – I’ve Finally Gone Full Hippy…

Monday 1 September 2014 Leave a Comment

Such a cute little armpit helper….who can resist?!

I’m so excited about my newest revelation! Very gradually, over the last couple of years or so, I’ve been moving away from shop-bought household cleaners and toiletries and looking into ways I can make my own. I started with household cleaners because it seemed pretty simple to make my own using the combination of a spray bottle, white vinegar, eucalyptus oil, bicarb soda and lemon juice, in various combinations. And it is pretty simple, and effective, and cheap (always such an important aspect of any project)! Sarah Wilson has a great post with more info about making your own products here. So that takes care of the household side of things, for the main part. Then I started looking at skincare – and there’s more on that here. Continue Reading →