Eating Healthy - results so far,

It's been around a month and a half now since we started mostly eating healthy.  We haven't been quite as good as I had originally planned, but I knew it would be unrealistic to expect us to be healthy all the time.  It probably didn't help that I got my period and got ill at the same time, whilst trying to arrange other things.  Then Ed got ill and so all thoughts of healthy eating basically went out the window.

The reasons behind us slightly changing our diet weren't just about eating healthier and hopefully losing some unhealthy fat, but also to help us save some money by not buying lots of unnecessary, usually sugary, food or as much takeaway, to waste less food, and to eat a little more sustainably mostly by eating more seasonal food with less packaging.  

So the plan we've been following is to have seasonal food Monday to Thursday, which we steam and have with a homemade sauce of some kind (based on a video I watched by ?on YouTube.  We've kept Friday night as our usual be an idiot and eat pretty unhealthy things, but really enjoy it.  Then Saturday and Sunday go back to seasonal food, but this time we follow one of the recipes that we like.  This is actually working out quite well and has meant that I've been able to batch-prepare our weekday dinners along with my healthy lunches on Sunday night.  It makes it a lot less stressful during the week when I have less time to cook and means that we are much more likely to actually eat the healthy food we have.

I've also been concentrating on reducing my sugar intake throughout the week.  In the past, I was definitely eating much more sugar than I should have done but now, instead of having something daily, I have it a couple of times a week.  I can still feel the sugar cravings, but I've been doing my best to ignore them and most of the time I've been winning.  I have also reduced the amount I've been eating to a much healthier portion size for someone my height, which has suited me just fine and has actually meant that I've felt less sluggish.  This has all led to me losing some weight, but not a lot which I was expecting as I have gotten back to my physical job again where I'm building back up my muscles.  However, you can visually see that I have lost some fat so I just need to carry this on.

At the moment we're not actually getting bored of this meal plan despite it being pretty similar each week.  Due to that, we're going to keep doing this for a few more months to help us continue changing the way we react to food.  When we do start to get bored of it we'll go back to the recipes that we made before, but just make them a whole lot healthier.  I have to say though, this has been a whole lot more convenient than what we were doing before so I would be very happy to keep this going for a while.  And that means this will keep me eating much less sugar and us spending much less money.

Why I Work Outside

It would be true to say that there are many pluses to working indoors.  It's usually dry and warm, and there's usually an endless supply of tea.  Unfortunately that isn't really enough for me.  I can deal with the wind and rain (and the lack of tea) much more than I can deal with the lack of natural light, only hearing human noises, and just sitting still all day long.  Working outside works best for me and here's why:

Constant Exercise

It's true to say that this is generally good for everyone, but for me and the way my body works, with PCOS, it's best when I'm constantly moving.  This constant movement allows me to be healthy and to keep the excess weight off.  Most of the time the work I do outside is very physically and basically like carrying out a gym section all day long.  I genuinely enjoy it and it does seem to be what is healthiest for me.  It's certainly what has allowed me to keep to a healthier weight these last few years.

Helping with the Hyper

I can get very hyper, and I mean hyper.  If I don't get most of my energy out during the day then my energy levels peak at around 9 or 10 pm (I'm naturally a night owl) and then my poor husband has to deal with what is essentially a manic cat.  Working in an office really didn't help with this, and construction work only slightly, but being active in nature all day helps me release quite a bit of this energy.  This means that my husband only has to deal with a slightly manic cat when he's starting to get sleepy.

Helping with Sleep

Speaking of sleep.  My natural state seems to be to not sleep very well, my brain just has trouble shutting down.  This got worse whilst I was working in offices.  Not only was I not exhausting my body, but not matter how hard I worked it actually seems to switch my brain on even more.  When I work outside not only do I physically exhaust my body, but it also seems to exhaust my brain too so it takes a lot less time to switch off.  I also find that being in natural light all day long helps keep my natural body clock in check so that I don't become too much of a night owl, and that helps with me fall asleep earlier than I might do naturally.

Mental Health

This is probably the biggest, and for me the most important, reasons for working out doors.  Being outside all day long has had a definite positive impact on my mental health.  This isn't going to be the case for everyone, especially when it's wet and grey outside, but to me it makes all the difference.  I feel better just by being surrounded by greenery, animal sounds, and a lack of people.  Having this as my work week has meant that I have felt generally much better all round.  Do I never get depressed now, unfortunately that's not the case, but it does happen less and I am able to deal with it a lot better, and that's a win as far as I'm concerned.

It Just Feels Natural

When it comes to work I'm happiest when my brain and body are working together.  Working in the office meant that I only got to use my brain, but outdoor work means I get to use both now and that just feels natural to me.  The final thing is that I just love being outdoors.  Even if none of the other things were true I would still be happier outdoors in the rain than indoors in the dry.  It just feels like that's where I'm naturally meant to be.

Now that I've had the opportunity to work outdoors I don't think I could ever go back to working completely indoors again.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep on mostly working outdoors now until the end of my working career.  What that career journey will look like in the future I don't know, but I will keep it mostly outdoors as much as I can and then I'll be able to carry on getting all the benefits I get right now.

Getting Back on Track

It would be true to say that I have let things slide a little bit over the last few months as we've been preparing for the wedding and dealing with a few other stressful things that come with the package called life.  This is pretty much true of everything in my life in general, but there are a few areas where it has become particularly obvious and where I need to do some work pretty much straight away.

Finances

The first thing I need to get back on track is one of my main goals this year and that's to do with our finances.  We should really have been being quite strict with this so that we could reach our savings goals as quickly as possible, but instead, we've been quite relaxed about it all.  This was probably the worse time to do this as one of us was made redundant and then was only able to get part-time work for a bit.  I've also been ill quite a few times this year (and when you're self-employed that means no pay), and there was the time we had already booked for our honeymoon.  Now that the wedding and honeymoon are unfortunately over it's time to start concentrating on the finances again.  This means spending less on takeaways, sweet treats and buying things we don't need, and doing more on putting money into our pensions and savings before we start working towards our long-term goals.  These changes should all begin to show themselves in my monthly budget posts.

Health

Takeaways and sweet treats take us nicely onto the topic of health.  Exercise isn't really the issue for me as I'm getting enough at work at the moment (though some additional stretching might be a good idea), but my diet has become particularly bad recently with quite a lot of sugar in it.  The spots, low moods, lack of energy, weight gain, and a cycle that become out of whack are all telling me that things are not where they should be and it's time to get it sorted.  I've downloaded the Flo app (specifically recommended if you don't have a particularly regular period) so I can keep an eye on my cycle and changes in my mood and energy level.  I've also reluctantly brought some bathroom scales so I can use my weight as a rough guide as to whether or not things are changing in the right direction.  Now I need to reduce the amount of sugar I'm eating on a daily basis, which basically means cutting out the chocolate and fizzy juice I've been having every day and moving my diet a lot further along the whole foods line than it is right now.  All of this should help me get back to being the healthy relatively energetic person I was before.

The Flat

If there's one area that has shown visually just how chaotic things have become it's definitely the state of the flat.  Admittedly it's quite a small space so it's easy for things to look bad even with just a small amount of clutter, but the flat has now become particularly bad and very far from the clean I would like.  This means that it's not actually a particularly nice place to be spending our time and I want that to change.  I remember sort of following a programme called the FlyLady in the past and I've decided to bring that back.  The FlyLady isn't really a speedy process, more like a slow and steady one that allows you to get on top of things in bite-size chunks and then stay on top of them.  So far I've done what I suppose you could classify as the hallway and the kitchen, and it already feels much, much, much better.  I am dreading doing the living room area and my craft area, but I know it'll be worth it in the long run.  One of the biggest issues for me here is not rushing ahead of myself and then getting burnt out.  I'll get there and the flat will look great, and that's all I need to focus on.

So that is my plan to reset things that have gotten a little out of hand over the last few months.  It never occurred to me that such a small wedding could have such an impact, though problems with my health etc were probably a contributing factor as well.  My aim is to give myself until the end of June to get things running smoothly again, and then we can hopefully bumble along nicely from there, back to where we had originally planned on being.

Staying Sane During Lockdown

Like pretty much everyone else around the world we're in lockdown.  I was still in New Zealand when they went into lockdown on 26th March and my flight back to the UK was then cancelled, so I'm still in New Zealand waiting to see what will happen.  I've been pretty lucky during this lockdown in the fact that, despite not being in my home country, I've had somewhere I can stay and as I'm not someone who is particularly social this whole social distancing thing hasn't been a particular issue for me.

However, I am still dealing with the other constraints that we are all needing to do to control Covid-19.  Of all of them, the reduced outdoor time is definitely the biggest issue for me as I'm just not used to being within four walls for this length of time anymore.  To combat that I've come up with some things that help me stay busy and a little more sane during these times.

Routine.

Most experts, including astronauts who definitely know about being stuck in a confined and dangerous location for extended periods of time, suggest that having a routine is important in situations like this.  I don't stick to mine strictly as it's important to have flexibility during your day, but I have blocked out my day into rough sections to give my days structure.  I've also left my weekends completely free so that each week this has a similar feel to what used to happen in the past.  At the moment I don't have as much work to do in the afternoons as I had hoped, but hopefully this will increase over the next couple of weeks as I carry on trying to find online side hustles I can do.

Exercise.

Staying healthy is always important, but that especially true during stressful moments like this.  My diet is already pretty healthy and well rounded, with a few naughty treats here and there, so ensuring I get enough exercise is what I'm concentrating on at the moment.  As lovely as long lies in bed and curling up on the sofa are it's not something I want to be doing all the time.  Exercise is also good at helping to relieve stress and mental health issues, so definitely something I wanted to block into my days.  In New Zealand we're still allowed outside once a day so we're taking this opportunity to go running outside three times a week and to have a long walk on the other days.  I'm also doing yoga every day, which a really good form of exercise for both stretching and building strength without needing additional equipment, and the added mental exercises that are added into each lesson are really helping.  

Reading.

I love reading, I always have, but I don't always have the opportunity to read as much as I would like.  However, now I have a lot more time now to read then I did before, funnily enough, and I've been really enjoying it.  I've now read through all the physical books I brought with me on this trip so I've started using library apps to borrow digital books for free.  I have to say that technology has definitely made this lockdown a lot easier to deal with then it might have been, even just 50 years ago, including helping me stay in contact with my family on the opposite side of the world.  I could, of course, borrow books off the other people I'm staying with, but I'm still wanting to carry on reading through the books I have stored at my parent's house and have managed to find a number of these at the digital library.  Once I get back to the UK these will be donated. 

Crafting.

Whilst I can't necessarily be as active as I would like to be I don't want to spend my whole time being completely sedentary.  I do let myself watch YouTube (my feed is mainly full of Ted Talks and people walking and camping outside at the moment) and TV (probably a little bit more then I should), but I wanted to do something that requires a little bit more brain power.  Some of this has been covered by doing jigsaws, but for the rest I have gone back to crafting.  I did manage to grab a few supplies before we went into full lock down, but the rest has been done with items I already had and that were already in the house.  So far I've made a few wash clothes /cleaning rags, a couple of pillow cases for some overly large pillows for a bed sheet that was no longer needed (I'm writing a separate blog on how I did that), am now knitting my first ever jumper, and have some alterations to some clothes in the pipeline.  I might even attempt to draw again, though that might be pushing it a little.   

Time to Declutter and Organise.

As I was only expecting to be in New Zealand for 4 months I don't exactly have a lot of items with me at the moment any way, but I still decided to go through what I had to see if anything needed to go.  The good things about this declutter section was that the lack of items meant that it had become very obvious to me what I haven't been using and what items no longer really worked for me.  This led to me getting rid of a few more things, mostly clothing that just didn't fit anymore.  My partner also went through a number of his items and we then organised his bedroom so that we would both be able to stay happily in that space for the duration of the lockdown.  This is definitely a good time to do a big declutter and re-organise, what else do you really have to do.

Keeping myself informed, but not too much.

Whilst it's important to keep yourself up to date with what is happening at the moment, gathering too much information throughout the day every day can be really unhealthy and actually lead to overwhelm and stress.  I do watch the evening news regularly, but not every day, and instead chose to subscribe to a couple of sites that email me information which is specific to a Brit staying in New Zealand at the moment.  For more in depth information I'm turning more to science rather than just the media and am listening to the scientific podcasts that I was already listening to, and trust, before this pandemic started.  I like these because they keep me up to date with what is happening all over the world, but in a more factual rather than emotional way, as well as what our latest understanding about the virus is and, therefore, the most up to date understanding on how to reduce the chance of it spreading.

So there it is, that's how I'm staying sane during the Covid-19 lockdown.  It's not going to work for everyone, but I hope it will help just a few of you if you're struggling during these times.  Perhaps the main thing for me has been knowing that, despite it all, I'm still very lucky.  It's not just because I stuck in doors with someone I actually like, but also because I'm in a country with good health care and a Government who has been working very hard to look after us.  Support of is being put into places to help during these times and, whilst finances might be a little tight, I'm still safe and healthy.  And, of course, there's always more books to read.

Stay safe everyone!

Goals 2018 Update #4

The year is now coming to an end and I wanted to give myself a chance to look at what I've achieved this year before I have a real think about what goals I want to set for next.  

Minimising

This has definitely been my most successful goal this year and as time has gone on I have found it easier and easier to get rid of things I'm not longer using or need.  I've even managed to get rid of a little chest of draws because I no longer needed it and I didn't like it just sitting there empty.  

I don't think this will need to be a goal I set for myself again next year as I think I will just keep going now that I've started, reducing as things no longer have a use.  Ticks all round for this and I'm very happy with it.

Healthy Eating

This has actually gone a lot better this quarter then last.  I've reduced my sugar intake considerably and have noticed that I'm not even really enjoying the sugar I do consume.  I'm going to allow myself a 'treat' now and then (mainly dark, mint chocolate as I've found that that is my new thing), but I think I'm finally getting off the sugar bandwagon.  My diet has definitely become more vegan as well, especially when I cook for myself.  The main stumbling blocks here are when others cook for me or when I eat out.  When it comes to people cooking for me, they are already making me (and eating themselves) a gluten free meal and I feel bad also asking them to be vegan as well - though, to be fair, many of the meals they cook also end up being vegan as they know I'm vegetarian and am not supposed to have dairy either for health reasons.  For the most part I'm happy to except these little non-vegan meals now and then as long as the meals I make myself and the food that I choice to eat most of the time is vegan.  Eating out is always going to be a struggle as I need to go gluten free as well and finding a meal that is gluten free and completely vegan is hard, but I always try and find some way around it so I can do both. 

This goal definitely wasn't the best goal this year and is definitely something that I struggle with on a daily basis.  I will probably carry this on next year as healthy eating is especially important for me and my PCOS.  Definitely a most do better, but I have made some progress so I will concentrate on that and move on from there.

Fiances

This goal as gone much better then I was expecting this year and keeping a budget has definitely helped me keep an eye on where my finances are going.  Minimising my things has also helped as I don't want to buy anything I will probably need to get rid of in the not so distant future.  The only thing I have struggled with is finding additional income to compliment what I'm receiving now (this is especially important as the work I do at the moment is not guaranteed or even regular sometimes).  The main issue is that I just don't know what I'm going to be doing next year and how my weeks are going to pan out, so finding very, very flexible work to coincide with my more permanent job has been difficult.  However, I have been researching activities like house sitting (with the advantage of not necessarily needing to keep my own home) and dog walking / sitting, and these seem like a possible good fit.  I'm going to research them a little bit more over the next couple of weeks, but they seem likely to be the best thing I can go for next year.  If you can think of any other type of flexible work it might be possible to do let me know, I'd be interested in hearing your opinions.

Finances isn't necessarily a goal I'm going to set for myself next year, but I am going to carry on using a budget to help me keep an eye on what I'm spending on and to help build up my savings to help act as a buffer should things even get a little tricky or work suddenly dry up.

It's definitely been a mixed year this year with goal setting, but at least it's given me an opportunity to look at where my strength and weaknesses are.  How are your goals doing this year?  Have you had many successes?  What are the hardest ones you've found to achieve?  Let me know in the comments below.

Goals 2018 Update #3

So, we've now finished the third quarter of the year and I have to admit that this quarter has definitely not been as good as the last.  Let's just jump right into it.

Minimising

This is the one area which has been successful.  I have finished going through and decluttering what I have left at my parents house (though I haven't been able to bring the last of the items back with me) and I have been using up my beauty and toiletries products.  I've also carried on getting rid of items that I've just not been using and I really can't see myself using in the future.  Also, once I've read a book, watched a movie, or am no longer into a CD I'm just donating those as well.  I have brought a few products this month, mainly storage items, but these have been items that I've thought about a lot before purchasing and this had a specific purpose in mind.  

For the last quarter I'll just keep doing the same as before - working on my project use up and getting rid of items I no longer use or want.

Healthy Eating

Well this area has been a complete disaster.  Not only have I not done a very good at going vegan, I've actually gone backwards on the sugar front which has also led me to eating some gluten with bloating, skin itching consequences.  Finding items that are both gluten free and vegan has also been a bit of a struggle.  Basically my excuse is that I've been stressed about some things in my personal life and it has led to me to eating sugary things, which then set off the little sugar addition I have, which led to the fall down the sugar rabbit hole.  It's really not a good reason for allowing myself to get back on the sugar roller coaster and there are much healthier ways to deal with issues which I need to start implementing again.  On the plus side, I have been making much more of my meals from scratch with almost no processed foods during the week (and these meals are meals that have been made for me), it's what I've been taking in between meals that has been the problem.

So the goal for the last quarter is to get myself back off the sugar and the gluten, and back to a healthier less allergy based diet.  This is going to be a little bit of a struggle and I'm expecting to have sugar gremlins dancing in my brain, but this is important to my general well-being and to reduce the allergies I have reducing my need to take antihistamines.  Once I've managed this I'll get back onto moving to a more vegan diet (something that should probably coincide with getting off sugar as most of my meals are vegan and most of my 'treats' not).

Finances

This one has been a mixed goal on the success front.  I've been keeping to budgeting, learning more about my spending habits and where I need to improve, but still keeping within my budget total whilst putting money into my pension and savings.  One thing I haven't been able to do with find a sideline I could do to add to my income stream.   This will need to be something that requires the equivalent of one work day hours, but I'm struggling to find something that would fit with the skills I have and don't have.  I'm going to keep looking but if anyone has any ideas please let me know.  

The goals for this last quarter will be to really get to grips with my budget, carry on reducing my spending (which fits with minimising my things), and keep looking for a sideline to do.  I'll also need to look for a winter job as path work reduces over this time of the year.  It might be that I'll be going for an admin job, but we'll see how that goes.  Obviously I'd prefer an outdoor job, but that might not be a possibility.

There is an additional goal I have managed to complete this year that was a long running goal I had kept ignoring, and that was to get my will written.  It's not that I'm particularly afraid of death or worried that writing a will would somehow jinx myself, it's just that it wasn't high on my priority of things to do.  I also don't have a large amount of stuff so it seemed a bit pointless, but I decided to get stop being silly and just get it done, especially as I do have some family heirlooms that would need to be passed on.  I'll be signing it this month and can now cross this off my running to dos.

To say that some of the goals this quarter were a bit of a flop would be an understatement, but rather then just use this as an excuse to let myself slide back into being unhealthy I'm going to use this as an opportunity to learn a little bit more about myself and improve.  I'm getting back on that wagon and will hopefully build some safety rails to stop myself falling off again.  

I hope that you've had a successful goal achieving time this quarter and, if not, I hope that you've learnt something new about yourself and why you might not have got as far as you had hoped.  Three more months to go now, time to buckle down and get it done. 😀

Goal 2018 Update #2

This quarter has gone a little better then the first quarter when it comes to completing my goals for the year.  There's been a few little hiccups as before but I'm going to keep moving forward as before to try and get everything completed.

Minimising

This is still going well.  I am getting through all my beauty products at quite a good rate and should have everything (bar makeup) down to just what I need by the end of this quarter.  I am also working through my books and have a no buy on those and stationery until I've gone through all of them.  

I was also down at my parents again where I still have a number of my things.  As I was going through them to take more items home with me I was able to get rid of more things that I no longer needed and I no longer had any attachments to.  Having them away from me has definitely helped me realise what I do and don't need.

Healthy Eating

I knew this area was going to be a struggle as I do use food as a comfort some times.  I've also been keeping an eye on what I've been eating and how it's been making me feel and I noticed that I got bloated every time I ate something with gluten in it.  Since that point I have been concentrating on removing gluten from my diet to see how that has made me feel and have noticed that I am not only less bloated, but I feel less tired and have been having less issues with dry and itchy skin.  It has meant that I have been concentrating on this rather the goals I had originally put in place.  That being said I have managed to keep my processed sugar down low, just a couple of treats a week, and have reduced my process food to around one portion a week, but I could and will do better.

The next stage is to go vegan by the end of the year.  This is a little more complicated due to the gluten intolerance but I am going to give it a go.  Even if I am not able to go completely vegan I will take it as far as I can.  Right now the issue is to do the egg they put in the gluten free bread.

Finances

This has actually gone quite well this quarter.  Now that I know what I am earning on a monthly basis it's been easier to work out a budget.  It's still a learning curve and I will keep making changes until I get it to fit my needs, but I'm getting used to it.

The pension side of things has been a little more difficult.  I started researching possible pension schemes when I realised that I didn't know enough about pensions to know what would be the best one to take as someone who is self employed as a subcontractor.  I did look at possible financial advisors to help me make a decision but noticed when I was logging onto my NEST pension account just to see how this was doing that you can keep contributing to this if you're self employed.  So I think this is the route I'm going to take.

The next stage is to look at sideline jobs I can possibly do to earn more cash.  I want to do this so I can build up my savings so cover the 3 to 6 months they recommend you have as well as working on paying off my Student Loan, though that isn't a priority after reading the Money Saving Expert article on it.

And that's it really.  I am getting through my goals and, for the most part, have managed to keep mostly on top of them.  I still have 6 months to go to catch up on those I am falling behind on and to keep pushing forward to being a more healthy, financially stable, and grown up person.

Goals 2018 Update #1

So I'm going to be honest, I didn't do as well this quarter as I had hoped.  If imI honest the start of this year has been a lot more stressful then I was expecting and some other things have had to take priority.  That being said, I still have reaching my goals a good go and I still have the rest of the year to make up for where I feel back.

Minimising

This is one area where I have actually done pretty well on.  If you follow my blog you'll know that I've been working on a version of Pick Up Limes '30 Days to Minimalism'.  Through that I've managed to reduce my items from what would have been three car loads to what would now fit in one.  And I haven't stopped there, if I'm no longer using an item anymore or no longer feel an attachment to it it goes into the donation pile to be given away when there's enough items. 
I have also reduced my purchasing whilst making sure I actively use the items and products that I have.  One of the positives has been realising the number of books I had which I hadn't actually read, making me realise I really needed to put time aside each day to read.  I've really been enjoying this and it has been great to have this little 'me time'.  Whilst I don't think I will ever go back to having the amount I had, having a small studio flat has definitely helped me keep my things at a minimum.

Healthy Eating

Now this is an area in which I've really struggled.  As I said before, this quarter has been quite a stressful three months and I am someone who does still do a little bit of comfort eating (not going to lie about that).  I also find that when I'm stressed I find it a lot more difficult to make the healthy choices that I should.  I'm still drinking fizzy juice pretty regularly, but I have managed to reduce the amount of chocolate, biscuits, and ice cream I eat pretty significantly.  As ice cream tends to be my go to when I'm upset and am a little proud of myself for that.  I have also managed to make most of my meals from scratch, which has been much healthier and cost effective and has meant that I've already started on the next stage.
So what's next for this goal.  I haven't done as well with reducing the processed sugar in my diet as much as I had hoped, but there's still time and I will keep working on that for the next few months.  As I've already started cooking from scratch most of my meals I'm going to take that even further and only allow myself one processed meal a week.  I don't have a fridge or a freezer at the moment and I don't know if that's going to be a hindrance or a help.  I guess we'll just see what happens.

Finances

I done a good job at making a budget and roughly keeping to it.  This is still a learning curve for me and so I've had to tweak it here and there to make it more realistic to what i actually need.  But it has been a good way of learning where I overspend unnecessarily and where I can and need to reduce. 
The main issue I've had has not been starting the job I'm going to be doing for the rest of the year and so not having a realistic idea of how much money I am going to have.  Because of that I've been concentrating on the essentials and reducing costs where I can.  Once I have a better idea of what my income will be and what I can do with the rest of my money.  The next stage for me is to start working on my whole budget with a realistic income in place and start the process of researching the best pension scheme to be on for my age and income.

So, I haven't managed to reach all my goals for this quarter, but I have still managed to give them a good go despite everything else that has been happening and I'm going to give myself points for that.  It is also only just the beginning and I have time to catch up. Things should hopefully settle down a little bit more now, giving me more time and energy to put towards completing these goals this year.

Goals for 2018

At the beginning of 2017 I set myself some goals to help me move my life along the route I have long been wanting.  There were some that I was successful in (getting a job in the field I was interested in, getting my weight down to a healthy amount, and blogging on a weekly basis), but there were a few I failed on (getting off sugar and eating a healthier diet).

Looking back on the year and the goals that failed I know that I took on too many goals in one go and didn't really break them up into do-able smaller goals to help me move forward.  I also didn't let anyone know about my goals which took away the accountability side of things.  So this year I'm going to shake it up a little and set my goals on this blog (with a break down), with regular updates to keep me accountable.  I'm also going to reduce the number of goals I set to make them easier to achieve. So here we go:

Minimising.
I know minimalism is fashionable at the moment and I'm not wanting to jump on that bandwagon.  But changes in my life recently made me realise just how much stuff I have (and don't use) and how difficult is was having to move it all quickly.  All my furniture (except a kitchen table that has been in the family for generations) is already gone and I will be going through a number of the boxes and bags now at my parents.  I'm not intending on going to the extreme, but I do want to greatly reduce the amount I own, either using the products up through project pans or through decluttering, and stop buying more.  Products I do buy I will buy intentionally, only getting what I actually need.  That number isn't going to be particularly big.

Healthy Eating.
Every year I plan to eat healthier and get off sugar, and it's especially important as I have PCOS, but it always falls to one side.  I had been doing well getting off sugar, but the end of last year was stressful and my self control disappeared a little.  There was a lot of sugar consumption in the last few months.

So, the small goals are - the first three months will be spent getting off artificial sugars, including chocolate, fizzy juice, biscuits, etc.  April to June will be spent getting off processed food and getting back to making all my own meals again.  The rest of the year will be moving my diet towards a vegan diet, which should be easier once I've removed all the other problems.

Finances.
I've never been a big spender and, apart from my student loan, I have no real debt.  In fact my credit card is at zero and last year I managed to put aside some money for emergencies.  But I want to take this further and become a lot more financially stable.  I'm also 35 now and I really need to get my pension in order.  So the palm this year is to form a budget, keep to it, sort out my pension, and start paying off my student loan.

Like my healthy eating I'm going to break this down into quarterly blocks.  The first three months will be spent on budgeting, helping me to reduce my unnecessary spending and working out how much money I will have for my pension and paying off my student debt.  This should also show me where I can make changes to live more frugally and therefore have more to put towards debt reduction.  April to June will be spent researching what I need to do with my pension and who I should be trusting my pension money to.  And then giving them my pension money.  During the July to September period I'm going to be looking at any sidelines I can do along side my job (by then I should know how much spare time I will have) to help  move this goal along further.  The rest of the year will be spent telling my money where to go and working out where I could make more savings.

Basically I want to be at the point where living in the small home pictured at the beginning of this blog would be a real possibility and I will, of course, be keeping up with pushing my career into path construction and my continuing goal of blogging once a week and I will be doing quarterly updates here to keep myself on track.  I've decided to just have these three goals this year.  They are already pretty big goals and adding anymore will definitely reduce the chance of me even completing these.

So here's my first blog of 2018. 😁

Beating PCOS: diet

Diet isn't particularly a good word anymore. It conjures up ideas of watercress soup, feeling hungry practically all the time, and then putting back in all the weight you lost and then some.

Before I discovered I had PCOS I had tried to have a healthy diet and to exercise regularly.  For anyone else it would have meant being slim and healthy, but for me it meant remaining plum and feeling disheartened that work I was doing was having no effect on my body.  For me it was, and still is, important to be healthy and I knew that the size I was meant a higher chance of getting Type II diabetes and having high cholesterol (obviously having PCOS increased this even further).  After I found out that I had PCOS I decided to research into what I could do to help deal and, in particular, if there were any changes I could make to my diet that would have a positive effect.  This is what I found out and what changes I made.

Firstly, as is the case with basically everyone, avoiding refined carbohydrates like white bread and cakes is hugely important.  These types of foods give you sugar highs, followed by sugar crashes making you want more.  This has leads to problems with your insulin level and weight, and is particularly bad for those of us which already have raised insulin levels.

Secondly, you want to combine complex unrefined carbohydrates (think vegetables, fruits, wholemeal bread, and oats) with proteins (like nuts, seeds, fish, lean meats, and eggs).  This will help regulate your blood sugar levels and prevents you from getting the insulin spikes that can be a problem.  If you can, eat little and often as this also helps keep your blood sugar level consistent.

The next piece of advise might seem a little odd, but it's the one that has had the most impact for me, and that is to avoid dairy.  The reason behind this is that milk contains an insulin-like growth factor (not surprisingly) which can interfere with the hormone balance.  These are easy enough to replace with plant based milks, but be sure to look for those which are fortified with calcium.

The last thing usually recommended for those suffering from PCOS are supplements.  These include chromium and B vitamins to help stabilise blood sugar levels and makes insulin more effective, zinc for reproductive hormones, magnesium the lack of which is linked to PCOS, as well the amino acids N-acetyl cysteine and L-arginine to help with insulin sensitivity.  I don't actually take any supplements as I am trying to get everything I need from my diet, but this may change in the future.

So, what does a day of food look like for me.  Breakfast is usually porridge with cinnamon, chai seeds, and some fruit (usually peach slices).  Morning break is a fruit of some form and a handful of mixed nuts.  Lunch used to contain quinoa as this is shown to be one of the healthiest options, but is now two wholemeal rolls (for ease) with spinach, peppers, and some type of vegan Quorn.  We don't normally get an afternoon snacks, but when I get home I try to have something healthy like half an avocado.  Dinner is a little more tricky as I don't have the cooking facilities I would like to be able to cook all the things I would like so it normally consists of a couple of different types of veggie burgers (not ideal) and then a whole load of steamed vegetables.  I try and change the vegetables I eat on a daily basis to help ensure I get all the nutrients I need.  It actually seems quite a lot when I make it, but as my job is quite active at the moment I need to make sure I eat enough for that without spiking my insulin levels.

Of course, it goes without saying that exercise is also hugely important for helping to keep you healthy and to help you loss and keep off the weight you will have had.  Now I do most of my exercising during work, but before I made sure I ran three times a week and walked practically everywhere.  It's worth pointing out that women with PCOS usually gain weight for metabolic reasons rather than the amount that they eat and that it can be harder to lose weight once you've gained it.  However, it is possible to do if you work on what you eat and on getting enough exercise.  I haven't managed to make my diet perfect and I do slip up regularly (in fact I'm drinking fizzy water at the moment as I try and get myself of fizzy sodas), but I have still managed to lose weight.  Four stone in total.  And it's all thanks to the changes I have managed to make to my diet.

Beating PCOS: initial treatment

This is the second blog in my series on having PCOS.  In my first blog I wrote about what PCOS actually is and how I was diagnosed with it. In this blog I want to go through some of the treatments I've had to deal with the effects of having it.

As I said in my first blog, the doctor who adviced me that I actually had PCOS was not helpful at all and only told me to come back once I wanted to have children.  However, once I went back to my actual doctor we discussed it a little further, looking at the effect it was having on my menstrual cycle.  Whilst the idea of never having a period is a great one it, unfortunately, it is not particularly good for you if it doesn't occur naturally and increases the chance of you getting endometrial cancer (also called womb or uterus cancer).  The endometrium is the lining of the uterus and, during a normal menstual cycle, it is exposed to hormones like oestrogen causing it to thicken.  If pregnancy doesn't occur the endometrium sheds itself causing us to menstruate.  However, when ovulation doesn't occur, as in PCOS, the lining doesn't shed but is instead exposed to higher levels of oestrogen, causing the endometrium to grow much thicker than normal.  This increases the chance of cancer cells beginning to grow.  As products like the pill keeps your hormone levels low, the endometrial lining remains thin and there is a dramatic reduction in the risk of getting endometrial cancer.  

I had already been on the pill for many years and so had already been receiving the benefit from this, but I wanted to move onto another form of contraception as I didn't like taking the pill on a daily basis and had found in my research that taking the pill may increase insulin resistance (something you don't need help with when you have PCOS), the risk of having a heart attack or a stroke, and lowers the levels of some nutrients we need such as B-vitamins and vitamin C and E.  To start with I went back on the contraception injections, but that just turned me into a complete psycho with no control over my emotions, and then the coil, but that didn't suit me at all and just caused me to bleed constantly.  Now I'm on the NuvaRing which is working out really well (maybe I'll do a blog on my contraception journey).  It regulates my periods, but as the hormones are localised it doesn't seem to have any effect on my moods and is very easy to use.  So that's the endometrial cancer dealt with - hopefully.

Unfortunately taking the pill (and then the later forms of contraception) didn't have any positive effect on my weight.  In fact, it might have actually made me put on weight.  For that I've worked on my diet, which I'll go into on another blog, and that has made a massive difference not only to my size but my general well-being and other factors in connection to PCOS.  The pill also didn't have any positive impact on my hairiness either, for that I had to go down a slightly more painful route.

PCOS for me started when puberty did and by 15 I had a very curvy body I didn't know what to do with and I had begun to be very hairy.  Most of the areas I could deal with in the normal manner and wasn't too bothered about (apart from the hairy, hobbit's feet), but I was very conscious of the hair I had on my face as it was obvious to everyone on  daily basis.  To begin with I tried bleaching the hair, but as I have olive skin the blonde hair was just as obvious as the dark, so I moved to waxing.  This was very painful and, though it was pretty effective, difficult to do without other people seeing you do it (I was in boarding school) and the permanent effect would take a while to take hold.  Thankfully I was lucky enough to have parents who arranged for me to have laser treatment on my face.  This was also quite painful and made my face just as red as the waxing, but it wasn't as painful as the waxing and had much more lasting effects at a quicker rate.  Unfortunately laser treatment is only really effective if you have dark hair and pale skin, so !at not be suitable for everyone having the same issues.

The laser did a good job at helping to reduce the hair, but it was still obvious a lot of the time and after a while I returned to waxing during most of my 20s as it was cheaper and easier to find locations where this was available.  Then in my late 20s the beautician who carried out my waxing told me she had been training in electrolysis.  So I did some research on this and, as I trust my beautician completely, decided to give it a go.  Electrolysis is where a tiny needle like rod is inserted down the hair follicle to the root and a small charge is passed through it.  This damages the root either by heat or a chemical reaction or both.  It is most effective when they are able to catch the hair whilst it is still growing, but unfortunately it's not as effective if the hair has stopped growing and the root is resting.  This is not the cheapest treatment (it's also not ridiculously expensive either) and I found it pretty painful.  Definitely the most painful of my hair removal treatments.  However, it is definitely the most effective in permanently removing the hair and, while I do have some hair still here and there around my face, I don't feel like I have the full on moustache and beard I used to have.  There are still some hairs, but right now I'm happy to just treat them on my own for now.  It is meant to be for all hair and skin types (unlike laser treatment), however, the pain level does seem to depend on your hair colour.  I would recommend looking at it is you're interested in permanently removing hair and I am thinking of going back to carry on treating my upper lip area.

So that is what I did initially to deal with the effects of PCOS, but once the diagnosis was confirmed I started doing more research into it.  I'm not someone who likes to use medicine all the time to fix a problem and wanted to find a more natural solution to this illness.  That is when I started looking at ways in which my diet could actually work against PCOS and help me with my hair, weight, and periods.  And that will be in my next blog.

If you would like to read my first blog you can find it here.