Recently I was discussing with friends how every year I read about something new I could be doing to improve our family’s health and often I’ll dismiss it saying “I haven’t got time for that”, only to find myself ‘having a go at it’ 12 or 24 months later. I guess it takes me a while to come round to things. Last year it was making my own bone broth, which I now do regularly. It’s so handy to have on supply esp during winter. I do a lot more chicken broth than beef, because of the need to roast the beef bones. In winter I’ll poach a chicken with carrots, onions, garlic, bayleaf and peppercorns. When cooked I’ll pull the meat off the bones and store it in the fridge, then throw the bones back in the stock to cook it down further. This means I’ve got cooked chicken on hand for lunches or for throwing together a quick chicken soup for dinner after work.
This year I’ve decided to have a go at making Kombucha, a fermented sweet tea that is great for feeding your gut flora. I never thought I’d do it, yet here I am, doing it. Hubby and I are trying to reign in our spending and Kombucha is expensive to buy, esp when 4 of you drink it. I’ll be blooging about the experience soon.
You’d be forgiven for thinking I’ve always been this ‘hippy jippy’, but far from it. It really has been a crazy journey getting to this point, 9 years ago I was a complete skeptic. I’ve outlined my journey below so you can see how one step has lead into another. Along the way I’ve researched a lot and put into practice what worked for me at the time. Wherever you are on your health journey just do what you know will work for you now, read about what you are interested in but do what works. You never know where you’ll end up.
2006 - The skeptic
I have a confession. Many years ago, before I had kids and started on this health journey, I used to think people who read packets were just being over the top. I mean, if it’s been tested and is in the supermarket, surely it means it’s ok for us, right? How wrong was I? I also, and this is one I feel bad about, used to think the rise in allergies in children was simply helicopter parenting. All in their heads. Ha! Didn’t the universe come up and smack me on the bum when I had my own kids! Clearly I had a lot to learn and it was well and truly served to me. But, I’m really glad I’ve been on this journey, even if it was very tough at the beginning.
2007 Enter the packet-reading queen!
We believe our first child had an intolerance to phenols, a naturally occurring chemical in most foods. I say ‘we believe’ because there is no test that can be done, only observation of symptoms. Usually our bodies can process out the phenols we don’t need, but my daughter’s body couldn’t so phenols accumulated in her system causing her pain and impacting her behaviour. After loads of tests to rule out other causes such as reflux, and visits to many specialists, we finally figured out that she needed to stay on a low phenol diet. Queue me becoming the packet reading queen! It took us 3 years of research to get to this point and many food diaries. All the way through I kept thinking “I must be meant to do something with this knowledge I’m gaining”.
For those who are interested in phenol intolerance I’ll write a more detailed blog of our experience at the later date. But long story short, baby no 2 came along and despite the experts saying ‘it wouldn’t happen again’ sure enough it did and we had 3 more years of severely broken sleep. You see we knew we needed a low phenol diet but phenols can’t be avoided totally. They are in every food to a greater or lesser degree. So while things had improved and we had found an amazing paediatrician to work with, they weren’t fixed yet. What I didn’t fully understand at that point was the role that gut health was playing in girls’ intolerances.
2012 Antibiotics held the key! (Bet you didn’t see that coming and neither did I)
Until the age of 5 my daughter had never had antibiotics. She hadn’t needed them and our paed wasn’t all that keen on giving them to her because her body appeared to be super sensitive. But when an infection took hold we had to give her antibiotics for the first time. Prior to having antibiotics we knew her gut flora was out of balance (too many bad, not enough good) and had been trying to fix this by giving probiotics, but now the antibiotics would kill most of the good and bad flora off, essentially giving us a fresh start. The paed advised us to give her lots of probiotics to re-establish her good gut flora and keep the bad bugs under control. So we went for it, giving 3-4 times the normal daily dose for a few months. Before long we noticed she seemed better. Less night waking, less sore joints, no more bright red cheeks or ‘child possessed/out of character meltdowns’ and best of all she could tolerate new foods. We had found the missing puzzle piece, probiotics and balanced gut flora. What a life changing moment for all of us.
2012 Queue adrenal fatigue.
After 5 years of sleep deprivation my own body finally said “I don’t think so”. It had been go-go-go for 5 years with many a midnight hour spent searching online for information that could help us. In the end, I had zero energy left. I was fit and working out regularly but instead of feeling energized after a class, I felt exhausted. Literally had to go home and lie on the couch, not ideal with two young kids around. I wondered if it was part of getting older and felt I had to just keep pushing on because there wasn’t much I could do about the sleep deprivation I was still experiencing. That was until I picked up “accidentally overweight” by Dr Libby Weaver. In it she had a section on adrenal fatigue and I fit most of the symptoms:
· Brain fog
· Relying more and more on coffee to keep going
· Craving sugar for energy
· Periods that were heavy for first couple of days then virtually nothing
· Exercise leaving you exhausted rather than energized
I couldn’t believe it. Maybe there was something that could be done to help me. Off to the naturopath I went, many questions later and a number of blood tests, she confirmed adrenal fatigue and my recovery began. With her support, supplements and a number of dietary and lifestyle changes I got my mojo back. That’s why I’m now on a mission to help Mums look after their energy, because when you are without it everything is difficult.
2013 It’s all in the gut
Now that we understood how important gut flora is the girls went from strength to strength, able to tolerate many new foods. Probiotics became a staple in our household. There were times when we slackened off on probiotics and within a few weeks we would see a change in behaviour, night waking etc and would get back on the probiotics again. We also noted that the more gluten our oldest child had, the more anxious she became. So now we have our blueprint for eating. keep up the probiotics and eat a low gluten diet.
2014 I have to help other Mums
The whole way through this journey I’ve been thinking ‘I must be meant to do something with this knowledge I’m acquiring’. ‘I have to help other Mums who are in a similar situation’. From the way food impacts our kids behaviour, to the importance of gut health and recovering from adrenal fatigue, I’ve learned too much about health to keep it to myself. Then along came the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN) and the concept of Health Coaching. You know when something just keeps popping up on your radar from multiple sources? That’s what happened with the IIN Health Coaching course. My sister mentioned it to me, then Libby Weaver mentioned it during one of her workshops and it came up again elsewhere on line. I considered the course for about 8 months then took the plunge in Jan 2014. I graduated in Feb 2015 and began 1:1 coaching in October, working with busy Mums who are struggling to prioritise their own health in their busy family life.
2015 Bone broth & tasting Kombucha
For a while I’d been reading about the benefits of bone broth for a healthy gut, so I decided to pick up a few of Pete Evans books and check out his recipes. My first batch of beef broth turned out really awesome, nice and gelatinous. You want it to be gelatinous because that’s the good stuff from the bones that your gut needs. But I found making beef broth cumbersome because the bones need to be roasted first, so I embraced chicken stock which I find much simpler. I don’t seem to be able to get it gelatinous like the beef stock was. It probably would if I left it to simmer for longer. Now I make chicken stock every week through winter.
I went to a high tea one afternoon and tasted Kombucha, I was surprised it was so yummy. It was like a fizzy drink, but one that’s good for you. It had been flavoured with berries and I thought even the kids will like this. Around this time we started to see Kombucha in the shops so I brought some berry flavoured Kombucha home and the kids loved it. They’ve been having a small glass most mornings ever since.
2016 Brewing my own Kombucha
So here we are, early 2016 and I’m having a go at brewing my own Kombucha. It seems pretty simple so far. The most annoying part is waiting for the sterilized bottles and the next batch of tea to cool down so I can get on with it. I’ve grown a scoby (culture that ferments the tea) from scratch and very soon you’ll be able to read all about my results on the blog.
So there you have it, my journey so far. You can see life has really shoved me along at some points, but all the way I have done what worked for me at the time. I’m absolutely passionate about sharing the knowledge I’ve gained and helping other busy Mums look after themselves, maximize their energy, detox their homes and serve up healthy food to their families.
XO
Ange