My Story of Food

If only I knew then what I know now. 

If only my mother had known and fed me differently when I was a child. 

If only!

When I was told that my pain was ‘normal’ I knew, deep down, I was listening to the wrong person. 

After my second child was born things got bad. I was travelling quickly into an abyss of pain and exhaustion.  In the morning my feet seared with pain when I took my first few steps; my body felt bruised after the gentlest yoga stretches;  I got flu-like symptoms and achy joints at least once or twice a week;  I had to go to bed pretty frequently as soon as my husband got home from work. It wasn’t fun. People told me it was normal postpartum stuff, but I knew it wasn’t normal.   I’d never understood how people got to this frail point but here I was, one of ‘them’ and suddenly I could relate to how many of my chronic pain clients felt.

When my little boy was about six months old, I finally decided enough was enough.  I’d spent a year visiting health practitioners trying to get answers.  I took matters into my own hands and did something I should have done as soon as I started to struggle.

I took gluten out 100%.  I thought that being 95% gluten free was working but I discovered very quickly, that once I’d taken it out 100% just how badly I was struggling with gluten toxicity affecting my joints. Within days of taking it out my joints were hurting less and my energy was improving.

Then I heard a podcast with Diane Sanfilippo talking about a book she’d written called the 21-Day Sugar Detox. I figured it was now or never.  I knew I consumed far too much sugar and I’d never tried taking it out.  There was nothing to lose so I bought her book and my husband and I dived in. 

Taking out sugar was hard.  I really craved it, especially at night when I just wanted a little something to feel satiated.  I didn’t have any detox reactions, but I just couldn’t wait to be done.

When we re-introduced sugar I felt TERRIBLE!  My energy sank into a deep dark bog each time I had something sugary.  My husband and I were surprised by how much it affected us when we hadn’t noticed much change throughout the detox.  Looking back I can see that my energy was pretty stable throughout the challenge, but I just took this for granted. I realise this is often the case—when normal health returns it’s so normal that we forget some of the ‘abnormal’ responses of being unwell, until we are reminded of them when we slip up in our diet. 

Since then, feeling great has been a priority.  I’ve introduced this program to hundreds of clients and have had astounding results.   I’ve loved playing around in the kitchen to discover new ways of eating and feeding my family.

My most sincere wish is that we all change our eating habits and get our health back.

Check out the blog post on Bone Broth.  It’s a great place to start, as is The Community Table Cook Book which contains my 14 day meal plan that will radically improve your health.