About
This journey probably started in 2009.
I was working as a receptionist after failing to get myself job in journalism which is what I really wanted to be doing. Each day I'd come home from work and sit on the couch, staring at the TV. I was tired all the time, I had headaches constantly. I did the bare minimum to get by and wasn't close with any friends or family. I visited my GP who convinced me I needed antidepressants, that I wouldn't survive without them. At the end of the consult I insisted on getting the name of a counsellor I could see. She didn't seem particularly interested in that side of it. She never actually said she thought I was depressed, or what it was, or what it meant, or what I could do to help it. Luckily, the next day at my six monthly review at my job I confessed to my boss my recent acquisition of prescription medication. It wasn't a brave thing, it was me covering myself so that when I eventually lost the plot and had a meltdown at work she would be a fraction more understanding. Every day since then I have been grateful I said what I did, because she put me in touch with an incredible life coach. I started seeing the coach immediately (as in that day). Her programme involved coaching and exercise at her specially designed studio. I never took more than the first dose of the meds. I started exercising four times a week and working on figuring out who I was, who I wanted to be an how to get there. Things got better, so much better. Life was fabulous. Years later, I'm still in very regular contact with that life coach. If I ever need advice or room to vent, I contact her and we work through what ever is going on at the time. But she also taught me a lot of ways to deal with my illness. In 2011 I got married and a year later we welcomed twin girls to our family. I don't recall most of their first year of life. I really don't think it was so much the pure exhaustion of having newborn twins, but that I was hit again by a dose of postnatal depression, which we only really realised when the girls were 10 months old. This time I needed medication for a short time. I went back to work very part time and very casual. In 2014 I was pregnant again and was struck down mid pregnancy by yet another serious dose of depression, this time coupled with anxiety. I managed to get it under control and in November my third baby girl was born. Which brings us to April this year. April was when I decided it was time to start thinking about losing the baby weight and getting fit again. I'd been keen to get started earlier but didn't have much motivation to actually stick to anything. But I was terrified of ever feeling the utter weakness and exhaustion I'd felt when carrying baby three. That pregnancy was so much harder than growing twins. So I started eating better. I cut out a lot of the processed foods I'd been eating as a quick way to refuel with three children under three. I joined an online community called Two Grand (now YouFood) which is a simple and effective way to log what you eat, which from experience is the most effective way for me to lose weight. Then I read Better Than Before, a book about habit formation by Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project (which is one of my all time favourite books). In Better Than Before, Gretchen discusses a lightening bolt moment she had regarding a low carb diet and how immediately she stopped eating cereal for breakfast. Since that day I haven't eaten cereal for breakfast, and the concept of low carb started filtering through my mind. One of my very best friends was starting out on her own weight loss journey and somehow our conversations always ended up discussing the real food concept. Eating fresh, unprocessed foods. My interest grew and developed. Then came the meltdown. I kept feeling under pressure, like I couldn't cope with life, that it was too hard. And I snapped. I called my husband home from work on the farm and begged him to help me. So he took me straight to our GP (a very different doctor to the original one I mentioned, whom I never visited again). We agreed medication was the best way to go this time around. To help me keep myself balanced while working on my other healing. After a few weeks I was so fed up with the meds. I had trouble remembering to take them and when I did remember regularly I felt the awful fog that is described as a side effect. Life wasn't any rosier than pre-meds. And then my friend told me about research explaining the diet's role in brain function. So we decided to try it. I had a hair sample taken (currently still awaiting results) to identify sensitivities. I cut gluten out. I got rid of processed sugar. I stopped the meds. And a month later I feel as good as I ever have. So here I am today. Deciding on changing my lifestyle was a gradual process and it's a process I'm still working through, it's full of experiments and questions and reading. But it's an interesting journey and one I'm definitely not finished with yet. |
About MeHi, I'm Lynda.
I live in rural New Zealand and am mum to three little girls, twins and a baby. My husband and I run his family dairy farms. He does all the on farm, outdoorsy business to do with cows. I handle the business/admin side of it. I'm figuring you'll learn more about me as we go along, so lets get into it! A few things to noteI'm no expert on any of this nutrition, exercise, depression, anxiety, mental health, parenting, living thing.
I make it up as I go along! I do the best I can, and I do what works for me and my family. I understand it's not everyone's preference, but it's mine. In regards to the food thing, a few comments:
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