A quick update

Posted at 18:33 in Personal

Please hold onto your seat, yes, I am posting an update!

A massive hello to anyone still checking my blog, I knew I’d be back at some point but didn’t think it would take me as long as it has. HUGE thanks to everyone that has messaged me on facebook/twitter or emailed to ask how things are going in Swansea and asking when I’d be back to blogging – it’s always nice to know others are thinking of you.

Life has been pretty hectic since I moved back in October and it’s only now things are finally settling down.  I’m really loving my new home…

Living by the sea is awesome, even in Winter…

Diet and exercise are on track though I will admit it all went wrong in the first few weeks in my new home. Stress levels were high and my man and I had a 2 week wheat binge. Having suffered from wheat indulgence in the past you’d have thought we’d learned our lesson but no, we didn’t. 2 weeks of bread, pizza and cakes left us feeling utterly disgusting and again, my mouth flared up and was sore and inflamed for over a week after I’d took the wheat/gluten out.  Because our diet was so bad inclination to train went out the window and I had possibly my longest ever exercise hiatus of 3 weeks.  However, we’ve been back on track for a while now and diet and fitness is going swimmingly.  In fact, it would seem that our junk food binge helped in some way as now the bloat has gone, we are both looking slightly more muscular and we are both stronger in the gym.

In fact, I got a new deadlift PB last week of 110kg!

To say I was over the moon would be a total understatement – I could not stop beaming. I’m hoping for at least 150kg by the end of 2012 – watch this space!

My new job is going well though I’ve only done a couple of shifts due to the amount of training I’ve been doing.  I trained for two weeks in phlebotomy and I am now a fully fledged phlebotomist – hurrah!

My first day I expected to just be observing and shadowing so imagine my shock when after I’d observed 3 blood tests, I was told it’s now my turn! Though I’d completed the theory and knew what to do, I was terrified and would have hated to be the person I took blood from, seeing me coming at them with a needle trembling in my hand! However, I did it successfully and by the end of the first day my confidence was building.  On the second day, I was literally left to it and worked alone, though in a room with others and it actually did wonders for my confidence. My time was spent in between working in the path lab clinic and doing rounds on the ward and by the end of the second week, I was a pro. It’s funny now whenever I see bare arms with good veins I’m thinking “damn, I’d love to bleed you”

I’m going to leave it at that for now but I promise I will be back to more regular updating now and I hope to include some training videos of me in my next blog post.

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and New Year :-)

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Goodbye

Posted at 22:43 in Personal

“What is Swansea, is it an animal?” – Neil Sutherland, The Inbetweeners

No fear my lovely blog readers, I’m not saying goodbye to you. I’m saying goodbye to my life as I know it.

Yes, I’m moving to Wales! As you know, I’ve been in a long distance relationship for the biggest part of the year with my gorgeous boyfriend, best friend and soul mate…

Back at the beginning of September mini JAG approached me and asked if we could move to Wales. We’d discussed the probability of us moving once his GCSEs were over on numerous occasions but sadly, he’d been having some problems at school with a group of lads who used to be his closest friends. He had finally had enough and wanted to make a fresh start.

I interviewed for a job back at the beginning of October and found out a week later that I’d been successful. It’s a complete job change for me, moving from working in a clerical role in a GP surgery to working as a Nursing Support Assistant on a busy Acute Assessment Unit in a hospital.  There is a lot of training available to me and could even lead to a secondment for Nursing so I’m extremely excited.

I’ll be sad to be leaving my current job and of course, my family and friends but I’m massively excited to be starting this new chapter of my life.

I’ll still be writing my blog, nothing with diet and training is going to be changing. I’m gutted to be leaving my awesome gym so soon after finding it but it means I get to join my boyfriend’s gym, which I really love, and we’ll get to train together a lot more frequently. With him motivating me, inspiring me, pushing and encouraging me, I can only see my training going from strength to strength in the future.

So, until I’m settled into my new life I may be quiet on the blog front but it’s only temporary – take care all!

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Wheat Binge

Posted at 17:36 in Food, Personal

Earlier this week, my boyfriend and I had a craving. A beer and pizza kinda craving.  As you all know, I’ve been wheat/gluten free since March 13th this year and though I’ve indulged in non-gluten grains a couple of times, I’ve been pretty strict with the whole grain elimination.  My boyfriend suffers with Crohn’s disease and has been wheat/gluten free for over 18 months. Out of all the medical advice and medication, eliminating gluten grains has been the only thing to keep my boyfriend free of flare ups in the last 18 months.

However, this craving was strong and we decided to go with it, indulge in what we craved and then get back on track with our regular diet.

We enjoyed pizza, dough balls, banoffee pie and a couple of beers. We both thoroughly enjoyed it and there was no guilt whatsoever.

The next day, we were out enjoying the sunshine and we both craved a full English breakfast.  As we both practice intermittent fasting, breakfast became a thing of the past a long time ago but our little taste of normality the evening before felt kinda nice and we decided to go with it. We found a lovely little cafe in the Marina and sat outside in the glorious sunshine…

Typically, a full English would be a safe option as long as you steer clear of the sausages (they contain gluten) and the toast that accompanies the meal.  However, on this occasion we enjoyed both.

I’m not going to lie, I bloody enjoyed eating pizza and sausages and drinking beer. I’m not enjoying the after effects though.

First came the bloat…

The first picture (a gratuitous picture sent to my boyfriend to show him what I was wearing to cut my grass!) was taken 5 days before the second. The comparison is purely to show that I haven’t secretly become a heffer and am blaming the wheat ;)

The second side effect I noticed is the most INTENSE wheat cravings. I’m not kidding. You guys know how strong my willpower can be, how I don’t really struggle with compliance and how much better I’ve felt in myself since eliminating wheat and gluten grains.  However, despite bloating me and making me feel tired, drained and lethargic, I still wanted more.

This is a side effect of wheat and is why your body goes through withdrawal type symptoms when it is deprived, such as irritability, shakiness, intense cravings, light headedness, etc.  It has an opiate type effect on our brain chemistry and produces those kind of side effects when it’s eliminated.

I’ve craved bread, cakes, biscuits – you name it, I wanted it.  I’ve struggled to keep those cravings at bay and have given in a couple of times.  What harm can a few wheaty products do right?

My entire mouth is sore, inflamed and ulcerated.
My throat is swollen and sore.
My joints are painful even though I’m not exercising.
My head is fuzzy and aching constantly.
My IBS has flared back up with stomach cramps, diarrhoea and bloating.
I’m so tired and lethargic in the afternoon that I have needed to take a nap in the afternoon for the previous 3 days.

These are all problems I suffered with on a regular basis before eliminating wheat and within a week of re-introducing it, the problems have all flared back up.

Today is the first day that I’ve not consumed wheat and even now, as I type this, I’m craving it. It’s so difficult to not give in but I really can’t stand feeling like shit any longer and there is no way I’m giving in, as much as I might want to.

You’re probably wondering why I’m sharing this with you but I felt like you deserve to know. You’ve followed my paleo/primal journey from day one and I wanted you to know that I’m not infallible and that I do slip up occasionally.

But, the most important reason for sharing this with you is to show you just how much my health is suffering at the moment, after re-introducing wheat for a mere 4 days.

Death warmed up does not even come close!

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