Tag: dairy free

Brain Fog, Cured?

Posted in Eating Well, Mental Wellbeing, OCD GeneralTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Just over a year ago I wrote a post on Brain fog.  It is something I have suffered with for a long time and something I was slowly trying to unravel the cause of.  Having done a bit of research into it, it was starting to become quite obvious why I suffered from it but trying to pin point exactly the changes I could make that would clear my head was a lot harder.

I’ve mentioned a few times on here that I have Ulcerative Colitis and I am convinced there is a link between my brain and gut health and so my mental and physical well being as well.

A few months ago I went for some intolerance testing (I wrote a blog post about this at the time) initially it felt all very overwhelming and I still haven’t managed to implement all of the suggested lifestyle changes however one change which I have pretty much (about 95% of the time) implemented is removing dairy from my diet – this seemed like the easiest initial step as I had eliminated lactose for a long time already.

Get to the point!  I hear you shouting.

So I have recently noticed that I very, very rarely get brain fog anymore, I’m not saying it’s gone completely but considering I used to get it EVERYDAY this is MASSIVE for me.

I should probably mention that I have also started taking a probiotic drink for gut health around the same time as eliminating dairy.  I personally believe that both changes will be improving my gut health by reducing inflammation and so in turn improving my mental health.

I am delighted that I am now able to focus better on things.  I feel more
involved in life and not like I’m constantly watching it go by from behind a fog.  I also have more energy and want to do things which is HUGE for me.

I realise that I still have work to do and that I still struggle some days but I am getting there and I am starting to work out what works for me which is great.

Stay Strong xxx

Hangry

Posted in Anxiety, Eating Well, Mental Health, Mental WellbeingTagged , , , , , , , 2 Comments

So the definition of Hangry for those who aren’t sure is:

‘bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger’.

Now this is definitely something I’ve been ‘suffering’ from over the last fortnight.  As a result of some intolerance testing I had done (because of my Ulcerative colitis) I was advised to eliminate dairy, wheat, gluten and reduce my intake of some other foods like oats and soya, honestly the list was pretty substantial and very overwhelming.

I hadn’t really expected there to be a mental backlash from these tests, in fact I was expecting to feel quite positive about the outcome, maybe there would be something I could work on to improve my health?

However what I actually experienced was:

  1. The initial depression which hit straight away from having to eliminate so many foods.
  2. Having not seen a dramatic improvement, there’s an element of feeling like I’m making huge sacrifices for very small benefits, very discouraging.
  3. It’s super disheartening when you go out as you can’t find anything to eat and the thing you normally end up having is something you don’t even want just so you can eat something!
  4. but the one that has hit me this last week is the anxiety.  I believe this has come as a result of constantly feeling hungry and unsatisfied and therefore too much adrenaline being released into my body.

When your body feels hungry your adrenal glands release adrenaline to keep you going until you can eat again.  It boosts heart rate, blood pressure and energy levels which is great in an emergency situation but if this is happening constantly throughout the day you’re body doesn’t know what to do and you are just in a constant state of anxiety.  

My anxiety hadn’t been up at that level for a long time, I had no patience, I was teary, snappy, feeling overwhelmed constantly and like I couldn’t cope, getting out was really stressful and to be honest I was feeling like I needed to go to the doctors and get myself on some medication as I couldn’t seem to get my head sorted.

I hadn’t felt like that for years and so I went and ordered myself a big meal full of all the things I shouldn’t eat as a last attempt to feel better and you know what almost instantly my head felt clearer, my stomach not so much unfortunately but yesterday I had to prioritise my mental health and as a result today I actually feel human again today.

It has been incredibly scary for me to feel so out of control after having a good handle on my mental health for a good few years now, I really need to be more careful before making big changes and just removing things from my diet, I have definitely learnt my lesson.

Mental and physical health is such a balancing act, food and eating well is a huge part of this, the last fortnight has been a scary reminder of this.

Stay Strong xxx

It’s all about balance

Posted in Eating Well, Mental Health, Mental Wellbeing, OCD GeneralTagged , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

So I’ve chatted about my UC (ulcerative colitis) a few times on this blog, I’ve suffered with it for most of my life along with my OCD.  My diet has always been a bit of a balancing act for me and like probably with most people if I eat a lot of ‘junky’ type foods I know I’m going to suffer the next day.

For a while now I’ve removed lactose from my diet which has helped but more recently I’ve been advised to remove all dairy, wheat, egg and gluten, wow!  This really hit me hard, I already knew how hard just removing lactose was but I had found ways to make it work but then to have to remove two entire food groups and lots of foods I really enjoy – like cheese – was a real blow. It took me about two weeks to actually start to get my head around it, I really thought before the tests that I would feel positive afterwards and that they would give me something to work towards but actually surprisingly that isn’t how I felt at all.

So over the last month I’ve bumbled through at home and I do think I feel slightly better HOWEVER there has to be a balance for me because of my mental health.  One of the hardest things about cutting out lots of food groups is that it makes going out for lunch, dinner etc incredibly difficult, in fact I find most of the time there is only one thing I can actually have on the menu and even then I normally have to remove the sauce (the nice bit) to make it work.  It makes me not want to go to restaurants, to eat food that I don’t even want.  I know how important getting out and socialising is for my mental health so where does this leave me?  Well to be honest currently I’m not sure, this is the conversation I’m having in my head today.

Do I go and meet my friends for lunch and eat something I’m not going to enjoy or stay in and have a more enjoyable lunch but not see my friends?  This dilemma is coming up more and more for me and it’s tough.

So do I put my mental health or physical health first?  Of course we know that neither can work without the other and so I need to find a balance, not sure where that is yet but I’m working on it.

life is all about balance, anything done to the extreme is normally unsustainable and life isn’t black and white.  We’re all looking for that quick fix but unfortunately life doesn’t work like that.

If anyone else is experiencing anything similar and has any advice then please comment and let me know and as always,

Stay Strong xxx