Hormones are amazing things aren’t they. I mean really, they are! They are wonderful little chemical messengers that do all sorts of vital jobs, like telling us when we’re hungry or full, controlling our body temperature and metabolism, and they conduct the whole orchestra of events that is our fertility. Truly wonderous stuff. Continue Reading
Puffy, fatigued and foggy brained in 2011 (around the time of diagnosis) and now 2019
In my life pre-AIP, things looked very different. I had a fast paced, high stress job in the fashion industry. I was “managing” that stress by eating out and drinking alcohol most nights of the week, and doing both to excess especially at weekends. Looking back, I’d been using alcohol to manage problems for about 15 years at that point. And I was in my early 30s. Continue Reading
An accredited nutritionist has received tertiary training in the field of nutrition (in my case an Advanced Diploma in Nutritional Medicine). They will also be a member of a governing body, holding them to a high level of professional conduct and ensuring they adhere to set targets for continued education each year.
However, “nutritionist” is not a protected term here in Australia, meaning anyone can call themselves a nutritionist. Make sure you ask what training / qualifications they have. Continue Reading
(Above image features my fave reintro foods – coffee and eggs!)
Before cleaning up my diet (pre-Hashi’s diagnosis back in 2013) I would eat out at least 4 times a week. And that was just dinner. Factor in work lunches and weekend breakfasts and that’s a lot of eating out! Fast forward to when I started AIP, and eating out had to be one of the first things to go. I just couldn’t deal with the stress of explaining to another person what I could eat and couldn’t eat when I was still trying to grips with it myself, and that look in their eye of “urgghhh….another customer with so-called “food allergies”!”. Continue Reading
As a clinical nutritionist it’s my job to help people make dietary changes to improve their health and symptoms. But changing your diet can seem really daunting, particularly if you are doing it to help manage chronic disease. I know, I’ve been there (read about it here)!
I initially made changes to my diet about 6-7 years ago, when I was diagnosed with autoimmune disease Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis (read about that here and here), so the tips I’m giving here are what worked for me, plus a few things I learned along the way. Continue Reading
If our blood sugar levels aren’t regulated (a rollercoaster characterised by sugar highs followed by the crash) we can experience symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, anger (the hangries!), sugar cravings, inability to concentrate, dizziness, palpitations, anxiety, “the shakes”, etc. Personally, before my Hashimoto’s diagnosis (and starting AIP) I’d experience these feelings on a regular basis and would “resolve” them by eating a processed carb or a piece of fruit (yay, back on the sugar roller coaster!). However, this wouldn’t actually resolve the issue and unless I ate a balanced meal I’d be experiencing that sugar crash again. I’d even experience panic attacks which, looking back, I think was due in part to poor blood sugar management.
le bump
Well, I’d say I owe you guys an apology…..it has been 9 months since my last blog post!!!! I do have my reasons, the first being that we started renovating our house (which is still on-going) so trying to stay my shade of AIP without a kitchen didn’t make for particularly creative meals, and intermittent internet just made the whole thing too annoying to attempt. Buuuuttt…..my renovations aren’t anything to do with the exciting announcement. No. The exciting announcement is, that after 4 years of trying, about 1 year of AIP and 4 IVF treatments we are finally pregnant, and in fact due very soon, towards the end of March! Continue Reading
Lovely legumes at Alfalfa House, Enmore, Sydney
Ok, so this post has been on my mind a bit lately. I first published it over a year ago and, nutritionally speaking, I was in quite a different place back then. Wholefoods were very much my focus, but I hadn’t considered foods beyond “wholefoods good processed foods bad”. I hadn’t yet decided that I was going to start the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), and I wasn’t Paleo either, and I’d probably eat tinned legumes about once a week or so feeling quite virtuous for doing so. But things have changed somewhat since then! And yesterday I received an email asking my position on legumes as a post AIP elimination phase reintroduction, based on the original version of this post. So I thought now would be a good time for an update! Continue Reading
Here’s part 2 of mine and Sophie’s chat about anxiety, panic attacks and how we manage them today (if you missed part 1 you can check that out here). This week, Sophie and I, along with Tara from Paleo Cajun Lady and Kate from Healing Family Eats recorded an episode of The Autoimmune Connection dedicated to living with anxiety. It was really fun to record and if you check it out I hope you enjoy watching! Continue Reading
This is a rather special little side project that I’ve been working on with fellow Hashi’s kid, Sophie, from A Squirrel in the Kitchen. We both guested on The Autoimmune Connection (the Youtube channel from fellow AIPer Christina at A Clean Plate) recently, and bonded over our mutual feelings of anxiety! Comparing my story with Sophie’s, I think they each offer a very different perspective, and I hope our stories are helpful in someway. I know we both found this experience a cathartic one. There will be an episode of The Autoimmune Connection on anxiety coming up soon, so, if you fancy it, check that out! Continue Reading