My recipe for feeling 75% better

After collapsing at Christmas with utter exhaustion, chronic back pain, sciatica and a lack of motivation for anything, I knew I would have to make some drastic new year’s resolutions. 

Normally, these would involve giving up drinking and doing some exercise for a month, but this time, I was barely drinking anyway, and my body was so broken that it just wasn’t capable of exercising. 

Perhaps the worst thing about being 42 with 3 young kids is that their energy far exceeds any I could ever hope for. I was finally feeling my age – if not 10 years older!

Drastic action was needed. A full overhaul. 

I started seeing a chiropractor to address the nerve pain I had every time I moved. 

I signed up with a nutritionist who gave me a strict gluten-free diet plan. 

I cut out toxins and started taking liver detox pills and iron tablets for energy. 

Seven weeks in and I’m starting to see signs of improvement. I have more energy and zest for life again, some of my aches and pains are gone so I’m able to start exercising again and my allergies have settled down. I notice now every time I accidentally eat wheat (who knew wheat was hidden in everything?!) my lips feel like they’re swelling up and I start clawing at my incredibly itchy face and body. 

I’m told this is a sure-sign of a wheat allergy, which could explain why I’ve been so exhausted for so long, and suffered with other allergies such as dust, cats and hayfever for 20 years. 

My chiropractor has got me tuning into my body and noticing where I feel movement in different muscles in my body. It’s all connected, she says, and I’ve got to get back to some harmony and start looking after myself if I want to live another 40 years. 

It’s making me think about the cycles of life and the way our rhythms, routines and consciousness naturally renew themselves every seven years into new life cycles. Without a doubt, seven years ago I entered into a massive life change when I gave up work and had my first baby. 

And now I’m evolving again. I definitely feel I’m done with babies now, my kids are growing up and so am I as a parent…. Onto the stage where I can let them build their own wings and learn to fly. It’s a lovely sense of freedom, not to be weighed down by nappies and constant mothering, because they’re starting to do more and more things for themselves. Hourah!

And finally I can say I have more energy and patience, thanks to these few simple things I’ve put in place since the beginning of the year. I've even stopped taking my underactive thyroid pills, and I'm still functioning well.

So here is my recipe for feeling 75% better: 

1, cutting out wheat and gluten 

2, discovering new grains such as millet and quinoa

3, using a €10 foam roller to stretch out my hunched spine: http://breakingmuscle.com/mobility-recovery/what-is-a-foam-roller-how-do-i-use-it-and-why-does-it-hurt

4, using a tennis ball on my pain points: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uhRgaaojaw

5, drinking less coffee and more chamomile tea

6, taking iron, ashwanganda, milk thistle (alongside my usual supplements of Evening Primrose, Omega 3 and Glucosamine)

7, seeing a holistic chiropractor who's helping me to understand my body

8, taking walks and exercising again (core conditioning classes and yoga)

9. avoiding alcohol

10, not letting the small stuff bother me anymore.

Now, I'm not saying I'm fixed, probably a long way off that, but I'm on the right track, finally.  The motivation is realising that I want to be around for years to watch my kids grow up into stunning adults.

So that's my new manifesto for life, it's tough but I'm not going to beat myself up if I fall off the wagon now and again, so long as it's not back to the way I was. 

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Swashbuckling and Cantering into Spring

There’s a new hero in our house and his name is Puss in Boots.

The kids are obsessed with him and the great thing is that he appeals to all of them, from age 3 to 5 and right through to 7. I've also been known to sit through an episode myself with them - and enjoy it too.

He’s cool, he’s fast, he’s strong and he’s a better swordsman than Zorro. On top of that, he’s funny and cute – well he is a cat after all – and he wears cool little boots and a rather fetching hat. What’s not to like?!

We heart him.

So we were delighted when Netflix released the first five episodes of the new series of The Adventures of Puss in Boots last month, which the kids have watched ad nauseum ever since.

But Netflix is teasing us a little...

Apparently there are 26 episodes in the first season, each 22-minutes long, but we don't know when the next batch of 5 will be released. Whatever happened to the much-loved Netflix strategy of bulk release every episode all at once for binge-TV obsessive fun?

For us grown-ups, February is a huge month on Netflix, with two big TV hitters: Better Call Saul and House of Cards: Season 3. We can’t wait until the dastardly exploits of Francis and Claire Underwood come back onto our TV later this month. What else could they possibly do to shock us?

Along with the Breaking Bad spinoff Better Call Saul, it’s going to make the cold, dark nights far more enjoyable until we hit summer.

In the meantime, Spring (yes February is classed as spring in Ireland!) is seeing us all going a bit swashbuckling in our house. And our youngest doesn't walk anywhere anymore, he canters around like a cute baby horse. I've started copying him as it's so much more fun than walking. Cantering is the new cool!

And Puss in Boots too, of course.

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** I am part of Netflix’s Stream Team **

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