Health is NOT over rated!

Hello Beautiful Readers,

What a huge couple of weeks I have had.

I’m starting to think that a little knowledge is dangerous. It changes your perspective and belief system on so many levels. Now I am sure you are wondering what I am going to chat about today, so I will tell you.

As you know, over the last so many months I have been on a health journey. I will admit that I have had a little struggle with it, due to a couple of disappointing moments where I could have literally thrown the scales out the window. While I haven’t been happy with my recent results I have decided to change what I was doing.

The first decision was to go back to the doctor. I needed to go anyway and get some blood tests regarding my thyroid levels. I was born without a thyroid gland so this needs monitoring on a regular basis. This thyroid issue has always been a pain in the butt, but I think the consequences of not having a thyroid as I get older are getting worse.

The second decision was to start arming myself with understanding.  Having children forces a mum to focus on health. Chanel has a wheat and lactose allergy so this has furthered my interest and desire to understand what I need to do to help her keep healthy, but it has opened my eyes as to what I also need to do.

Over the last couple of weeks I have been reading ‘Wheat Belly’ by Dr William Davis. It seems that wheat, is now considered the bad boy of the whole grain family. Who would have thought? With Chanel having an issue with wheat, I am now starting to understand why this may be so, and now I am really thinking that I too may have an intolerance to wheat – I seem to have many of the signs and symptoms.

Then I found a site that told me that many people with hypothyroidism have issues with wheat. I feel as though I have found a key to my struggle to lose weight. Its frustrating to feel as though one is doing the work and the sacrifice, but not achieving results. I don’t give up, but I do find myself feeling quite depleted and frustrated.

While exercise is a huge part of the process to lose weight and get healthy – I firmly believe in the idea that its vital to understand nutrition.   Exercise is a huge part of the process, but you have to get the food equation part right too.   We need to know what foods work for us and those that hinder our pathways.   I am wondering if everyone should see a food allergist – we are all made so uniquely that it seems logical for us all to know and understand what foods we should avoid or cling too.

My goal is to keep it simple, eat well, avoid wheat, and exercise.  I firmly believe that there isn’t a whole lot of point in exercising if you aren’t playing the game in the kitchen.

At this point, I believe the hardest part of a wheat free diet just might be school lunches.  I have come across a site called www.wheatfreeworld.com.au, which I am in the process of looking at.   From the brief look I have had at the site, I found some awesome information.    Our school is a nut free zone so I need to be very careful in terms of the ingredients I use for Chanel, but I do feel that I am starting to gain confidence in my ability to cope and deal with the issue of a wheat free diet.     It doesn’t seem to be so scary now that I have read ‘Wheat Belly’.  I think its probably more because I feel armed in the reasons for why its important to follow this way of living rather than not understanding and fighting it.

I would not yet say that dinner time will be a breeze, but it will be in time.  I need to learn a few tips and tricks as to how to make it work.  I have begun reading each ingredient list and have realised how bad these companies who produce foods for us are.  There is wheat in so many products – premixes, bottled marinades and sauces, our breakfast cereals, soups, pasta and the like.   As you read through your ingredient list you start to see words and numbers, and if you have to have a number for an ingredient – you know its more than likely something bad for you.  Seriously I am shocked at how much junk is in everything.

So I have decided I am going to learn the art of mixing spices to try and make our meals a little interesting.   I recently met the Guru of Spices, and it just so happens that she has a store in Caloundra – Vicki Taylor of The Red Hot Chilli Pepper Store.  I hear that Vicki teaches the art of blending spices so I’m quite keen to find out more.  I’ve been reading her blog and she truly is a wealth of good information.

The silver lining.  If Chanel had not had issues, I would not have taken her to the doctor, and I would not have been annoyed at the doctors advice, and I would not have gone in search of more answers, I would not have found Douglas (the food allergist guy at the Health Store in Kawana Shopping Centre), and I probably would not have looked into wheat intolerances in general, and I would not have asked my cousin who is a doctor in the States for some information, and I would not have been given the ‘Wheat Belly’ book.   I went in search of answers for Chanel, but I also found answers for myself.   Bazinga!

I think one might call this a good sequence of events.

The lesson I learned with regard to all of this is not to just trust your doctor, trust your intuition and do what you feel your intuition is saying to you.   Doctors are a great place to start, but you need to be your own advocate for your health and your child’s health, and if you feel you need a second opinion, do it.    I think it is especially important to trust your gut feeling – and follow your heart.