Fibromyalgia and Nutrition 2018 – Weeks 2-5

Dearest Readers,

Thank you for all of your kind messages and comments over the past month. My absence on here has not been intentional, rather a necessity to just get through what is left of the winter. This time last year blogging came easy as I was off work having recently been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, and it was all I could to do distract my body and mind.

A year on and I am working full time, in a job that requires a lot of brain power for a fibromyalgia warrior who suffers dreadfully with fog at times and by the time I get home in the evenings I’m pooped. Which doesn’t leave much energy or time for blogging.

But there is something about February that has woken me up a little. Although winter isn’t quite over, and the migrating pain of the fibromyalgia still bothers me terribly, there is a little light at the end of the winter tunnel. The mornings are (very) slowly becoming lighter, making getting up just that little bit easier. The thought of the warm sun on my skin inspires me to work hard to feel good in the spring (although it was chuffing cold today). And March is oh so close… so close.

On the nutrition front I am looking forward to more seasonal fruits and smoothies, and growing our own organic produce in our allotment. Not long now until the ground will be soft enough to dig. Well not me digging, but my husband! Then we can get planting all of the things we love and enjoy our produce in the summer.

January saw me eating significantly less meat and moving ever closer towards a mostly plant based diet (because lets face it, junk food is nice some of the time). I only ate 2 portions of chicken and one of beef throughout January and for that I am super pleased. I didn’t miss it anywhere near as much as I thought I did, and on the beef day I think I must have needed some iron in my diet or something because the urge to eat it overwhelmed me. But compared to where I was this time last year I am pleased with my progress on the meat front. For me I work much better if I do a little at a time, I don’t have the strongest willpower in the world and so baby steps are better than no steps. The aim is to be vegan by the end of the year but saying goodbye to eggs and honey is freaking me out a little at the moment so I’m not quite ready yet!

Sugar remains my nemesis after doing so well before Christmas and then, well, it WAS Christmas and I completely fell off the wagon. Having cut right down on meat in January my plan is to cut right down on sugar again in February. Ive gone back over my old posts and enjoyed recapping with this post as to how I managed to cut it down last time and how good I felt.

Aaaaaaaanyway, I suppose a nutrition post wouldn’t be complete without sharing my recent food adventures, in the. hope of inspiring others to think about how what goes in effects what your body gives you in return, and so here we go!

I really do love pecans on my gluten and dairy free porridge in the mornings!

Gluten and dairy free sweet potato rosti with avocado and eggs

All the fruit and veg!!!

Homemade gluten and dairy free egg fried rice, super delish!

Felt extravagant having this porridge but it was all plant based and super healthy. Made with coconut milk and gluten free oats, and topped with homemade blueberry compote, cherries, almonds, and pumpkin seeds

More of that lovely blueberry compote with dairy free coconut yoghurt and topped with gluten free granola.

That vegan chickpea curry again!

Keeping it simple with gluten and dairy free porridge topped with banana and pumpkin seeds.

And thats me! Hoping that the new energy found in February so far lasts and that I can post much more over the coming weeks. But for now thank you so much for all of your support as always. I hope that you have been able to draw even just a little inspiration from my cooking adventures to make a positive change to your diet to help you feel good! I also just want to remind people that as I am usually tired in the evenings all the meals I cook are super quick and easy to make, but with a bit of love can be made to look super pretty, and we all love pretty food!

If you would like any advice or have any questions about how you can change your diet to benefit your chronic illness then please do get in touch. You can find me over on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, where I not only share my foodie adventures but also my daily life living with the F word.

Liebster Award 2018

Hey guys!

So despite my lack of posting throughout January (being reminded why Fibromyalgia and winter do not mix), I’m delighted to let you know that I have been nominated twice for the Liebster Award 2018, first by Afternoon Tea 4 Two and secondly by Mrs. Ram’s Jams, two great blogs I would thoroughly recommend you pop over to when you have finished reading this post! Thanks for the nominations guys!

The purpose of the award, which you have to be nominated for, is to encourage others to discover new blogs that they may find interesting and to congratulate fellow bloggers for their hard work by sharing their blog with your followers in order to boost traffic to their site. This award is especially directed to bloggers with a smaller following than others. So you can imagine I feel very lucky to have been nominated twice.

If you are nominated and you accept you then go on to list 10 random facts about yourself along with answering the 10 questions posed to you by the blogger that nominated you. You then go on to nominate 5-10 bloggers whose blogs you particularly enjoy to continue the chain.

As I received two nominations I am going to choose 5 questions from each blogger, otherwise you may get bored reading 20 answers! Haha!

So here goes!

10 random facts about me

1. I’ve been qualified as a midwife for 13.5 years and now specialise in pregnancy loss, and love my job.
2. I spent my last three months of midwifery training in Stockholm, Sweden where I learnt so much and had the most amazing time.
3. I’ve been published in midwifery journals twice.
4. I own two cats (used to be three, RIP Poppy) and a hamster, and just today chose a puppy to join our family at Easter time.
5. I have 7 (nearly 8) year old twin girls, that took nearly five years to come into our world after a long battle with infertility and IVF.
6. I love to knit, sew and cook (although that last one isn’t a mystery).
7. We have a large allotment and throughout the summer are pretty much drowning in strawberries.
8. I’ve completed 4 London Marathons and countless other races prior to being diagnosed with Fibromyalgia a year ago.
9. I can stand on my head despite not being an avid yoga practice.
10. I currently have an unhealthy obsession with Swizzels Squashies.

Now onto the questions given to me by Afternoon Tea 4 Two and Mrs Ram’s Jams.

1. What prompted you to write a blog?

November 2016 through to last spring saw a difficult winter for me, and after a long time being unwell I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. I decided I didn’t want to dive straight into strong medications to treat my fibro yet could only find snippets of information about how to treat naturopathically. I also couldn’t find that many personal accounts of treating fibro with natural therapies. So I decided to bring my own journey and experiences in trying out different remedies and so far it has proved successful (on the most part!).

2. Why do you blog?

I continue to blog in the hope of helping others with chronic illness, whether newly diagnosed or long time warrior, to approach their illness holistically and to consider other roads away from the pharmacological route that they may find useful. While many people need medicine to help them manage their illness, I offer insight into complementary therapies that may also help, particularly nutrition. I know first hand how difficult it can be to cook when you have a chronic illness and how daunting dietary changes can be, so my aim is to make it less scary and super simple.

3. Where was your last holiday?

Our last holiday as a family was to Cornwall, on our traditional summer holiday in August. We stayed in a great place called Mudgeon Vean within our favourite part of Cornwall, the Lizard Peninsula.

4. Cat or dog?

Very difficult question, given that I’m a long time cat owner and soon to be pup owner! I’m going to have to annoy you all and say I can’t choose!

5. What would your advice be to a new blogger?

I would say not to get too caught up in how much you post, or the traffic to your site. The main aim of blogging should be to share something you enjoy, and if you write from the heart then your enjoyment will speak volumes to your readers. Much preferable to blogging to be fashionable or to get traffic. While it is nice to know that people are reading your blog, for me it is much better to have people reading that you can genuinely reach out to and have a positive effect on their lives.

6. What genre of book would you be and why?

I would be a nature book. There is nothing I love more than losing myself in a book that transports me to a peaceful and beautiful place, so well described that I can smell and feel all of the book enveloping me.

7. What is the one battle you struggle with daily?

No surprises here but it is my Fibromyalgia. More specifically the changing nature of the pain and levels of fatigue. Each day I wake I never know what lies ahead, and I get particularly frustrated when I can’t reach my potential because of heightened pain and fatigue.

8. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go?

This changes ALL of the time. At the moment I have a real craving to visit Copenhagen, but anywhere Scandinavian is right up my street,

9. What TV show is your guilty pleasure?

Again I go through phases, but generally anything dramatic and/or uplifting. I really enjoyed The Last Post when it was on, and at the moment am particularly enjoying Call the Midwife and The Crown. The husband and I are really big fans of animated comedy too! The sillier the better!

10. What makes you smile?

Always a good one to end on and there are many things in my life that make me smile or laugh everyday. For this blog though I would say anybody who gets in touch to let me know that what I have shared has inspired or helped them in any way really makes my day.

Now for my nominations!

michelleslife2017 – I’m really hoping to start running again soon and Michelle is really helping by being one (or many) step ahead of me, really enjoying her journey into running again!

brainlessblogger – for ever informative informative and advice for dealing with chronic illness.

puddlesplashing – enjoying reading about positivity and beating fibromyalgia!

trippingthroughtreacle – Love reading positive posts about living with chronic illness!

fibromystory – great place to start if you are thinking about using exercise to fight your fibromyalgia!

My questions (trying to ask some thought provoking questions to find our more about you!) should you choose to accept are…..

1. What inspires you to blog about your chosen subject?
2. How old would you choose be if you didn’t know how old you are?
3. If you had the opportunity to get a message across to a large audience, what would your message be?
4. What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
5. Have you done anything lately worth remembering?
6. If you could start all over again, would you change anything?
7. Which activities make you lose track of time?
8. If you had to teach me one thing, what would you teach?
9. When was the last time you tried something new?
10. Time or money?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post! I hope you have all had the best weekend!

Fibromyalgia and Nutrition 2018 – Week 1

Good evening!

I can’t quite believe a week has passed since my last blog post and we are already 8 days into 2018! Crazy!

2018 has gotten off to a good start. My New Year Fibromyalgia flare up has settled and I’m now back to normal levels of symptoms, my nutrition plan is back on track and I’m feeling good. Hoping to hold on to the new year feeling for as long as possible!

The major change for me since new year has been the exclusion of meat from my diet. I’ve been considering it for quite some time now, and I’ve started off with just aiming to get through January, but I’m feeling so good I may just keep it out altogether (mostly). I’m not vegan (although I have had more vegan days than not and strongly considering it) as I’m still eating eggs, fish and honey, but they are the only animal products I am now eating.

So why the change? Well, I just wanted to see how it would make me feel, as I know from monitoring my fibromyalgia symptoms that I generally feel better on meat free days. My digestion is usually better and my energy levels higher, and these two areas can be particularly bothersome to me.

On top of that I’m beginning to have some real issues with the animal industry, and the way animals are treated for our own cheap personal gain. But that’s a story for another day and forum.

I imagined it would be difficult to cut out meat, as I’m not a massive carb eater and so wondered where on earth I would get my energy from, but honestly it hasn’t been all that hard. I’ve explored new recipes, gotten my zest back for cooking, and actually vegan and meat free recipes are quick and cheap to cook. So lots of wins!

I’ve found my favourite free from cookbooks as well as Vegan Life magazine particularly helpful in meal planning, and have enjoyed the variety of vegetables I am getting in every day, far exceeding my 5 a day for sure! I’ll try and reference back any recipes I’ve used below!

The only downside…. I’m hungry 😂 but let’s face it, we could all do with being a little hungry after the festive season, and it does make me enjoy my food much much more!

Anyway, without further ado, here’s this weeks highlights! Details at the bottom of the post!

Top to bottom

• Potato, pea and herb broth taken from the River Cottage Light and Easy cookbook
• Porridge made with gluten free oats, cocoa, coconut milk and topped with bananas and peanut butter
• Chickpea and peanut butter curry – recipe adapted from Vegan Life Magazine
• Homemade Socca pancake – recipe adapted from Free From Food for family and friends cookbook
• Raw cacao truffles received as a Christmas present from Frog Hollow Catering
• Homemade veggie burgers – recipe adapted from Vegan Life Magazine
• Poached eggs and avocado on toast – just because.

And that’s it!

Please do not hesitate to get in touch if you would like to talk about how adapting your diet to managing your fibromyalgia symptoms can help you! I can be found over on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Toodle pip!

See you in 2018

Dear all,

Apologies for my major lack of posting on here for some weeks now. However it is with good reason….!

With a lot of hard work and determination I have recently been successful in a new job which now see me working hard to establish myself in that role. Which is leaving very little time for blogging at the moment.

However, I am really keen not to let the blog fall completely off my agenda as I so enjoy writing and sharing my fibro experiences with you all.

So for now, what with the new job, working out what the hell I’m doing, and the festive season I’ve decided to press the pause button for now, and restart in January when I should have a little more time and energy!

So I guess this is a ‘see you soon’ but definitely not goodbye and I look forward to sharing my second year with fibro with you all.

Lastly, thank you to everyone who has supported me in this last year, you are all amazing and I definitely couldn’t have done it without you!

Big hugs and love to you all!

Sarah xxxx

Fibromyalgia and Me – Exercise

How have you found exercise since having fibromyalgia?

For me, in all honesty, it was initially terrible, but equally it could have been much MUCH worse. I think it all depends on where you have come from, what exercise you did before, and how much you compare your current self to your new self.

My fibromyalgia onset was pretty quick, in fact, just a few months before becoming too unwell to work I had just completed my 6th running race in 6 months. I was taking part in a personal challenge to complete 12 races in 12 months for charity, in memory of my younger brother who passed away from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and would have been 24 last year. It still pains me to this day that I was never able to complete the challenge, but in the first 6 months of 2016 I ran two 10K races, one 10 mile race, two half marathons, and one full marathon.

From June onwards it all went a bit/very downhill, I severely injured my achilles tendon which took AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGEEEESSSS to heal, and then I rapidly developed symptoms of Fibromyalgia. Come November I was off work sick barely able to move. You can visit this post for more about my journey towards diagnosis.

It took me a long while to pluck up the courage to exercise again, and a lot of input from my physiotherapist. At first I was incredibly frustrated, and even attempted to go for a run one day (which didn’t end well), but over time I learnt to forgive my broken body and to just let it recover somewhat. I also needed to give myself time to work out exactly what it was I needed to do just to be able to get through my day and function like a normal human being which took me about 4 months (and damn lot of hard work) following diagnosis. Returning to work was also far more important than gaining medals.

One thing I made sure I always did when trying to work all of this out, was to just keep moving. However slowly I moved, I always moved forwards. Initially it was just doing the school runs, then it progressed to the after school clubs. I then moved onto more gentle exercises, mostly stretching and physiotherapy, which felt wonderful for my broken body. Eventually when my symptoms were a little more ‘controlled’ I started going out for longer walks, and before long I was able to go out and walk a good 4 miles. I’d be wrecked that evening and possibly the next day but I did it and that sense of achievement was almost as satisfying as crossing the finishing line of a race (although what a feeling that is!).

Another (and possibly more important) factor is learning not to compare. At diagnosis I was constantly yearning for that woman who could just go out and run 10 miles and actually feel good afterwards. I missed the way my body used to feel and the way my clothes fit. I missed the glory of picking up a medals after months of training and doing it all in memory of my brother, raising worthwhile money for charity.

Today, I no longer compare. I no longer yearn. I do however still remain optimistic that I WILL run again, but only when I am ready, and only what I can manage.

What I am now able to do is get on with my day and cover most distance by foot. I cover a distance of at least 6 miles evenly across my day and it actually makes me feel better. In fact if I don’t cover this distance my evenings are absolutely terrible. I feel proud that despite what is technically a disability, I am active and I am doing all I can to benefit all aspects of my long term health.

This doesn’t mean I am now going to sit back and be 100% content with this equilibrium. For those who know me, they will know that running is in my blood and I’m not sure that I will ever be fully content if I don’t ever run again. It a big goal, but I don’t feel it completely unrealistic. Just one year ago, doing the school run alone was hell on earth, and it now doesn’t even cross my mind that it will be difficult, most days.

So what’s next? For me I am looking to work on my strength and flexibility, so I am looking to seriously get into yoga. I’d like to spend a few months working on doing some daily yoga, at home, to increase my core stability, and my overall strength. Why? Well, as I think you have gathered by now, I really want to run again, and building up this strength and power will help with that, not to mention the stretching element will benefit my joint pain immensely.

This is where I need your help. I am looking for a seriously good at home yoga workout. This can be on DVD or on You Tube, or wherever you know there is a really good programme for beginners. I really do not have the time or the energy to go after work, and so the mornings are key to fitting this into my routine. Recommendations are highly appreciated.

I would also really love to hear from you about what exercise works for you and your chronic illness. Are there any runners out there with fibromyalgia? If so I would really love to hear from you. Anyone recommend anything else that works well as exercise with fibromyalgia? Please do get in touch by either leaving a comment below or visiting one on my social media platforms. I am on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Toodle Pip!

The Fibromyalgia Sleep Chronicles #10 – Whats on my bedside table?

As this series draws to an end (I don’t think I’ve missed too much out), I thought it would be fun to move it forwards with a once per month round up of whats on my bedside table. What’s on your bedside is really important when it comes to sleeping (check out this post as to why!) Think book recommendations, things that will help you to sleep, and anything else that I happen to find delight in. Simple really, and I’m going to dive on in by sharing with you what is currently on my bedside table. These are all things that help me with my fibromyalgia, in ways that aren’t always obvious but still work!

Candle – Sweet orchid and coconut candle from Sainbury’s, cheap and cheerful at £4 but it lasts for ages, and smells divine. I like a good sized candle on my bedside table to provide and gentle and relaxing reading light.

Tea – Currently drinking Heath and Heather Sleep tea, with spearmint, chamomile, rosehip and nettles ,amongst other lovely herbs. A beautifully relaxing cuppa before bed.

Magazine – The Simple Things. Really lovely magazine promoting mindfulness, gratitude and full of stories from awesomely inspirational people!

Book – Bring up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel – Sequel to the mazing Wolf Hall, this second book looking at the downfall of Anne Boleyn from Thomas Cromwell’s point of view, and a great view into life at the court of Henry VIII. Not everyones cup of tea but I love it! Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2012 and the Costa Book of the year 2012.

Book – Little book of Lykke by Meik Wiking, sequel to the Little Book of Hygge, a wonderful little companion book all about finding happiness from the simple things in life.

Whats on you’re bedside table at the moment? I am always very much up for recommendations! Remember, to keep it calm, relaxed and inspirational!

Come say hi on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram!

Toodle Pip!

Fibromyalgia – When you can’t see the wood for the trees

As featured in the August Edition of Fibromyalgia UK Magazine

For many, a Fibromyalgia diagnosis can come after a very long time of trying to work out what is happening to your body. There will likely have been numerous appointments, many tests, sometimes misidiagnosis, and before you have even embarked on becoming better, your brain is already full to bursting with information. So how can it be possible to know which way to turn? I’d like to share with you my way of working all of this out.

There’s the old saying “You can’t see the wood for the trees” and that can often be true when working out which treatment course to embark upon. There are many pieces or research, lots of data, even more articles, and there is alway someone who wants to tell you about their daughters, friends, cousins wife who has fibromyalgia and what works for her.

After diagnosis and my initial grief, I managed to dust myself down, and stand up against the fibromyalgia, but choosing which path to take was not always easy, and I had to do many u turns on my journey to becoming well enough to return to work and the life I love.

Which medication should I choose? Should I choose any medication at all? What about complimentary therapies? I’ve heard diet makes a difference, is this true? How do I even talk to specialists about treatment without a referral?

This first step for me was to think about what I truly wanted for my treatment. Now, I’m not somebody who takes even paracetamol particularly easy, so would I realistically be able to take the opiates and sleeping tablets I was being offered? Probably not, so while not striking this path off my list of options entirely, I did put them to one side. Which ultimately meant going down a less medicalised, more complimentary approach.

I started by looking at what was available to me either on the NHS or privately within my very small budget, and then looked at the research behind whether or not these treatments were effective. There was no point in looking up treatments for something I couldn’t afford as I would only have felt resentful that it may benefit me but I would simply never know. You also have to think outside of the box a little if you don’t want risk not being able to put food on the table in your quest to treat your fibromyalgia. Do you know someone who may be able to offer some therapy for mates rates? Is there a local college or university nearby that offers heavily discounted rates for essentially the same treatment overseen by a qualified practitioner? Are there any trials going on within your NHS trust that you can participate in?

Even with my limited budget and NHS offers there was still a wide range of things I could try, CBT, physiotherapy, mindfulness, acupuncture, looking at my nutrition, exercise, massage, but it was difficult to know where to start. In the end I started by looking at what I could get for free, for obvious reasons, before working out what I would need to fund myself. I asked my rheumatologist if there were any trials I could participate in and this is where I accessed my CBT, and I got it very quickly. I asked my occupational health department what they could offer and from this I managed to access Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy. I then asked around my friends and family via social media if they know anybody that offered complementary services and from this I managed to get acupuncture and nutrition very cheap. And finally I looked at what I could teach myself and from this I developed my own exercise programme in collaboration with my free physiotherapy and taught myself mindfulness with the aid of a cheap phone app. I’m currently exploring massage through a local college which offers an hour long full body massage for £18!

However, even with all of these wonderful services at my disposal I was careful not to jump in and try them all at once. I staggered my trials of each treatment by a few weeks and kept a symptom diary to monitor the impact on my symptoms. Had I started them all at once, I wouldn’t have known what was helping and what wasn’t. By staggering my approach I managed to ascertain what worked well and what didn’t and as a result I have almost completed a course of CBT, have a manageable exercise program, have made permanent changes to my diet, made permanent changes to my work environment, and most importantly I feel a whole load better.

So I guess the trick to finding a treatment that works for you is to think about what type of person you are and what type of treatment you can commit to. Can you commit to doing your own physiotherapy everyday? Will you be honest and open enough for CBT? Do you mind taking medication? Do you have a needle phobia? What is available? What can I afford? Once you have answered these questions you can then start looking at ways to access the treatment and use them to hopefully, one day, thrive with fibromyalgia.

Recipe – Gluten and Dairy Free Yorkshire Pudding

The quest for a yorkshire pudding I can eat is over! I have finally perfected my gluten and dairy free yorkie, and isn’t it a thing of beauty??!

It took my some time to get this right but now that I have I am delighted to share it with you all!

Gluten and Dairy Free Yorkshire Puddings

Ingredients – makes 10 muffin sized yorkies

• 120g gluten free plain flour
• 2 eggs
• 175mls rice milk
• Olive oil to cook

Method

1. Place the eggs and flour into a bowl and whisk together until well combined
2. Slowly add the milk to the flour and egg mix, whisking together until well combined, ensuring there are no lumps, between each addition
3. Add a pinch of salt and leave to rest for at least an hour
4. Place about half a teaspoon of olive oil into each hole of a muffin tin, and place into a hot oven of at least Gas Mark 6/ 200 degrees until hot but not smoking (about 5 minutes)
5. When the oil is good and hot take the tin out of the oven, and pour the batter evenly into the holes of the muffin tin before the oil cools down. Replace into the oven and try not to opewn the door while they are cooking.
6. Cook for 20 minutes. or until golden and crispy.

Enjoy with your favourite roast dinner and gluten free gravy!

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do and it helps those who have missed yorkies as a result of a gluten or dairy free diet to become reunited with this neseccary part of any British sunday roast!

As ever, feel free to coment in the section below, or come and say hello over on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

 

Fibromyalgia and Diet – Going strong

Dearest readers,

Once again I am begging for forgiveness for the neglect I have bestowed upon the blog. Working full-time, kids in clubs every evening, keeping up the good diet habits to keep the fibromyalgia symptoms at bay….. it can all sometimes feel a little overwhelming.

So from last weekend I’ve been trying something a little different. I’m now working Monday-Friday 10-6 which means I am able to control my symptoms a little better (even though I am still screwed by the time I get home from work), and I now have weekends to get myself sorted a reset ready for a new week.

So last weekend I tried a new way of doing things which made the week a whole lot easier. I spent one day devoted to the kids and the family, going out for the day and making the most of our time together. The other day I spent cooking and meal planning for the rest of the week. This meant I didn’t once have to buy lunch, I didn’t have to cook when I got home and was already tired and as a result I have eaten so much better. I went meat free Monday-Friday, and moving towards being meat free pretty much all of the time soon.

This weekend I have repeated the process, spending Saturday with the family and enjoying the local festival and Sunday cooking, relaxing and just being free to enjoy my time at home. The only difference is that I am throwing in my blog planning and writing into the mix, writing and scheduling my posts for the rest of the week. I’m too tired to do this when I get home so the cooking day seemed like the perfect day to blog too. In fact, as I write this post I am halfway through a massive pot of quorn bolognese (you can find my bolognese recipe here and just substitute the beef for quorn).

As for the diet, its going well. Although I have to confess to giving in to a little gluten and dairy at the weekend 😦 which I WILL NOT be repeating!

The low sugar bit is good, I’m just having a little at the weekend in a bar of dark chocolate and maybe a can of two of San Pellegrino a week, and I’m not craving it anywhere near as often as I once did. Best step I’ve made in years. Even lost a little weight, which is always a bonus when you have a good covering 😉

Anyway, I’ve obviously eaten A LOT since my last post, so here are just a few of my anti-inflammatory, gluten and dairy free highlights from the past month. Remember, it can sometimes be scary and feel impossible to make a change, but if I can do it anyone can! Going gluten and dairy free has been a massive change for me this year but it is now just second nature and I don’t even really have to think too hard about it now. Hoping these pictures inspire some to make a change for the better and help people to realise that you can still eat delicious food even if you are gluten and dairy free. Enjoy!

 

Coconut porridge with strawberries and Pip N Nut peanut butter

Homemade granola with fruit and Coconut Collaborative yoghurt

Three of my favourite things, salmon, eggs, and avocado, just on a plate together!

Vegan, double chocolate cookies, homemade of course!

Soya hot chocolate from Cuppacino in Clapham Junction Station.

Mushroom and spinach omelette, yum!

Homemade Granola with Coconut Collaborative yoghurt and the freshest, yummiest cherries.

Maybe a bit heavy of the breakfast sharing now, this time Lizzie’s Granola with fresh fruit and coconut yoghurt

More coconut porridge, this time with fresh fruit and pecans

Homemade stir fried tofu with brown rice and pak choi

There’s the salmon and eggs again!

The last takewaway a had a few weeks ago from Naturally Chinese, the best gluten and dairy free takeaway menu ever!

Simple but very tasty, green beans in a tomato sauce served with brown rice. You can find my recipe under the recipes heading on the side of the page!

Sometimes I have to praise the lord for Pret, really saved my skin over the summer with the long commutes. This is their coconut porridge with red quinoa, toasted seeds, and jam.

Homemae blueberry and honey cake, refined sugar free!

Of course had to end with my favourite thing, porridge! this time with raspberries, pecans and honey!

That’s not even the half of it! Will share some more next week!

 

I wanted to thank everyone who have ben reading my blog still, despite the lack of recent posts. Your following and readership absolutely means the world to me and please don’t interpret my lack of posts as me not caring. I do! Just working out how to fit this all in. Oh how I wish this paid, then I could do it all the time!

Anyway, for now, doodle pip! See you soon and please feel free to come and say hello over on social media, you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.

Recipe – Green Beans with tomato sauce and brown rice

I’m often looking for something quick, easy, and cheap to cook. Even better if it is something that reheats well so I can take leftovers to work the next day. I’ve also been trying to eat much less meat recently (don’t worry, I won’t cut everything out and stop eating!), and I obviously like my dinners to be healthy. Finally they have to be gluten and dairy free.

We also like to eat seasonably. Green beans are in season right now and my husband keeps bringing them home so I needed to find a recipe that would jazz them up a little. However lovely green beans are just steamed or quickly boiled, its always nice to try something new.

All of the ingredients in this recipe are things that most families will have in the cupboard or the fridge. Theres nothing fancy in this, but the ingredients all work well together and create a simple yet tasty midweek supper. It is also very easy to double or even triple up for batch cooking.

Green beans with tomato sauce and brown rice

Ingredients – serves 2

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 red onion – finely chopped
• 125g green beans – roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves – crushed or finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp ground all spice
• 250g passata
• Lemon – cut into wedges
• 150g brown rice

Method

Heat the olive oil over a low-medium heat in a large saucepan and add the onion. Gently fry for 10 minutes or until softened and translucent.

Add the beans, garlic and all spice. Stir gently until all of the ingredients are coated in the all spice.

Add the passata and about 50mls water. Bring to the boil and then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile cook the rice as per pack instructions.

When the rice is cooked, drain and divide between two dishes. Spoon the beans and tomato sauce into the dishes and garnish with a lemon wedge to squeeze over to taste.

Easy peasy! So simple, so cheap, and so tasty. I made a double batch this evening and will be taking leftovers to work tomorrow which is always a bonus for the tummy and the purse! Saucy dishes always make the best leftovers.

For more gluten free, dairy free and anti inflammatory food inspiration please follow me on Instagram. For all things fibromyalgia, then stay up to date over on my Facebook and Twitter pages!

Toodle pip!