42 years of food. 42 years of knowing that if I feel hungry I have to have something to consume to keep me going, in all senses of the word.
As a child I did not have a conventional relationship with food. Although my mum brought my brother and I up on the same foods it soon became very clear that I had problem. Was I allergic? No. Had my early experiences been limited? No, my mum was an accomplished cook. No, all I can think is that I had a heightened sense of smell and taste. Perhaps it was also psychological, but for whatever reason, it made me the worlds fussiest eater. No we’re not talking that weird program where the person only eats cheese on crackers for every meal, I mean if my mother or grandmother hadn’t cooked it (although they were pretty limited to what would do) I would not eat it.
So what? You might be thinking. Lot’s of kids are fussy. Sure. But I would avoid eating at friends houses. When on holiday everyone was limited as to where we could eat, or would have to take me elsewhere before of after to find something I’d have. My Godparents actually still call me by my nickname ‘chips’. In extreme cases I was even sick at the smell of the food being cooked!
This went on for years. Then aged 18, overweight and covered in eczema which I’d had since early childhood, I went to see a homeopath. With the desire to clear my skin I got busy trying to concoct meals out of the ingredients I was limited to eating. And discovered that there was a world of different flavours out there! The eczema cleared, and the weight dropped off.
End of story? Well that would be a bit boring wouldn’t it?! No like most people, life carried on and with University came the inevitable slide into eating poorly again. Four years on with the healthy eating plan long gone, my weight had ballooned again.
What followed was classic yo-yo dieting, from Slimming World to the cabbage soup diet. The norm it seems in this day and age. 20 years, marriage and two children later Forever Livings Aloe Vera came into my life. And the wake up call to realising that what I was eating was the prime reason for my lack of energy and weight fluctuations.
I have discovered in the past year (and in that year my weight has been completely stable) that nearly all that we think we know about food is almost all made up! I feel how those people from history must have felt when they were told the world was round, when they’d always thought it was flat! Nothing to do with will power and exercise, and everything to do with societies obsession with the low fat and high carb mantra.
So my mission is to dispel the myths and give top tips on how you and those you love can live life to the full with effortless effort.
If you would like to know more about Aloe Vera here is the link to my website:
