We eat free diaries

We eat free diaries

I can’t believe that I am voluntarily restricting the food that I can eat. Believe me cutting food groups out of your diet is a complete pain in the ass! I’m so fed up of analysing labels in supermarkets – food shopping is boring enough! But after nearly two months of sickness, cramps, bloating, and little useful advice from my clueless and apparently useless doctor; I have decided to test to see if I have food intolerance.

Hours of my time have been spent, and probably wasted, reading about this relatively new scare that has recently hit our diet obsessed nation. I am slightly cynical about the ‘craze’ and am usually very against self diagnosis from internet reading. But after months of uncomfortable symptoms, anything is worth a shot!

I began the test by eliminating dairy from my diet. This meant that consuming milk, cheese, yoghurts, cream and butter was strictly prohibited. I thought it would be quite easy, although I have little confidence in my own willpower! I found breakfast a problem; I love cereal in the morning, I obviously couldn’t have milk so I thought this was out of the question, toast isn’t worth eating without butter and green tea will never replace a Tetley teabag with a splash of cold milk. I tried eating plenty of fruit in the morning but ended up feeling hungry by 12, and am usually far too busy to eat lunch this early. I then discovered soya milk; it goes perfectly with cereal! It has a creamy nutty taste and compliments crunchy cereal beautifully in the mornings. But it really doesn’t taste so good in tea! Green tea is actually growing on me though, and it’s a lot healthier as it doesn’t contain caffeine and I don’t drink it with milk or sugar.

My commitment to this diet was lost at the first sight of a roast dinner and more importantly a Yorkshire pudding, which is easily my favourite part of the traditional dish. Sorry, but the diet just didn’t seem worth it! If you are now thinking how weak I am you haven’t tasted my housemate’s Yorkshire pudding!

I have just begun week two and after failing the dairy free diet I have moved on to a diet that doesn’t contain wheat. This means no bread, no pasta, no cakes, pastries or biscuits. I was surprised to find that most sauces were out of bounds as well, including soy sauce and mayonnaise. This is definitely proving to be a challenge. Many people find that they lose weight on this diet, probably because you have to cut out processed food, and stodgy carbohydrates from your diet. For breakfast, I am eating porridge, a healthy breakfast that keeps me full till lunch and warms me up in the mornings! I usually have a salad for lunch as I can’t have a sandwich and for dinner I usually have chicken, fish, vegetables or a jacket potato. I think I have found this diet hard to maintain as there are many things that I didn’t realise contained wheat. Soup, burgers and sausages are good examples of this.

I have a friend that has been on the wheat free diet for 3 months. He started the diet as he wanted to lose weight and he has lost loads. He hasn’t been weighing himself for fear of becoming obsessive but the weight loss has been dramatic and therefore obvious. He looks amazing and says that he feels that he has a lot more energy. I am not entirely convinced that this is only because he has cut out wheat. The fact that he has had to eat more healthily has a lot to do with it.

For example, recently at a party, all the party food that was laid out such as crisps and cakes was untouchable. Instead he made a jacket potato. Wheat is not essential in your diet and I would consider it to be a safe method of losing weight.

And the conclusion of my test results? These are still unknown. I still haven’t completed the wheat free week and will update my blog as soon as I do.

Nobody likes a stresshead: My incredibly cheesy rant!

Today’s blog will reflect my week.
I am writing about stress. The issue that many of us; actually hopefully (so that I don’t feel like a complete freak), all of us adults, feel. So what makes us feel stress and how do we release it?

I am writing to those that let stress take over their lives. It’s apparent that many people do. The key is to deal with it effectively. After living with my incredibly stressed out father I’ve realised that the mood gripping tension that we have to deal with on a daily basis, should (for the sake of those that have to be around us) be dealt with in a reasonably human like manner. My father still hasn’t realised this, so has effectively been pissing people off for more than 50 years! Victoriously celebrating his resemblance to Victor Meldrew and Basil Fawlty… ‘I don’t belieeeeveeee it!!!’

It is incredibly effective to take a deep breath in before we realise that our problems are insignificant compared to life’s capacity of worries and negative issues. I desperately want to promote the power of positive thinking. It is a simple theory, and an extremely healthy mindset that could efficiently change the way that many of us live.

The fact is - although it feels normal and part of day to day life. Stress makes us ill. It also causes unhappiness. The way in which we deal with stress usually includes lashing out on those close to us and therefore affecting important relationships, it also encourages unhealthy eating habits such as binge eating and under eating, and in many circumstances stress is used as an excuse for smoking and drinking (I emphasise ‘excuse!!!’)

Therefore, stress management is important!
Speak to friends, colleagues, management at work and family about your problems. It really does help to get a problem off your chest. I hate to sound cheesy but… ‘a problem shared…. IS a problem halved’

Think positively. Turn negative thoughts into positive energy. Make time for yourself. Your happiness is important. Realise: Life can be as good as you want it to be, or as bad as you make it.

Fashion 'victims' with too much baggage.

This season’s trend and last seasons essential item; oversized handbags. Celebrities are rarely seen without them and it seems like most of the fashion world is in competition to carry the largest weight on their shoulder Are we trying to prove to the world how strong we are? Of course not!

The accessory that hit our high streets along with over sized jewellery and under sized skinny jeans is an absolute must have, looks very trendy and is admittedly extremely handy for carrying just about anything! Women can now (not so effortlessly) lug their lunchboxes, mobile phones, make up cases and even laptops around with them all day. All this, and undoubtedly it looks good!

Putting all these fashionable benefits aside; actually how comfortable is the oversized bag? And more to the point how much is this trend damaging our backs?

The fashionable bags that we carry around unbalanced on one shoulder all day are causing a severe amount of damage to our spines. Carrying around these excessively heavy handbags can lead to muscle imbalance and nerve problems, which essentially means a lot of shoulder, back and neck pain! The pain caused by back disorders can become unbearable and it can take a long time to correct any damage.

Problems don’t just stem from the fact that women are now carrying with them weight heavy enough to bring a new meaning to the phrase packing everything but the kitchen sink. The fact that women are carrying all this all on only one shoulder adds to the massive concern.

To carry the large weight of a typical oversized handbag safely it should be distributed evenly. I can only do as much as suggest that we do not fall victims to fashion.

After all, does a rucksack really look that bad?

Nia's Health Start

So we should be healthy; yet it seems that all of life's pleasures are working against us! The temptation to socialise in the pub on a Friday night and enjoy a few cheeky glasses of wine, to then stumble into a warm taxi home after visiting the local greasy chip shop, proves all too comforting for many of us and is a popular choice of activity for most young adults come the weekend. I am no stranger to fast food, large quantities of alcohol and even the occasional cigarette! However as my teenage years have passed and the days when I had never counted a calorie and believed that illness and poor health could never affect my fit and youthful body have gone, my attitude towards staying healthy has matured.
It is extremely concerning when adults do not consider their health a priority, after all if you keep fit and healthy you have greater control over your quality of life. As a busy student with a hectic lifestyle consisting of essay deadlines, work stress and social pressures I fully understand the concept of having no time, and realise that the advice that I give in this blog must be obtainable. I firmly believe that we shouldn't sacrifice all of lifes little pleasures!