Eat | A little bit about me

Without going into too much detail, I have been having a lot of stomach problems recently. It started off with feeling tired all the time, regardless of how much sleep or rest I had. This eventually stemmed into my diet and what I was eating, especially how I was feeling after eating certain foods.

To cut a long story short, I am undergoing tests at the hospital and am taking part in a vast game of trial and error. At the moment I am trying to cut diary out of my diet. Very hard when cheese and milk are my two favourite things in life (sob), but the stomach pain is too horrible to deal with on a regular basis. I am also looking at going gluten free, I have noted when eating gluten I tend to become bloated very easily and feel sluggish, not good when trying to keep up a running routine.

Changes I have made so far:

-          Cut out fizzy drinks  - this has truly been the hardest thing I have ever done. I was addicted to drinking coke, I was drinking minimum 2 cans a day and I lived for the stuff. The first week of cutting out fizzy drinks was hard, I craved it so hard, I constantly thought about it, I had splitting headaches for days on end and I broke out in spots. But now I’ve made it to the other side. Now all I drink is water (or low sugar squash). I avoid fruit juice and only now have this as a treat. When out for dinner or at the pub I opt for blackcurrant cordial and soda water, a great low sugar alternative to coke.

-          No dairy – This hasn’t been as hard as I thought. I used to drink 2 glasses of milk a day, plus milk on my cereal every morning. I’ve stopped drinking this and I have to say I barely miss it at all. Cheese on the other hand, oh how I miss thee. I love cheese, but my stomach doesn’t love cheese. I now only eat cheese occasionally and save it for a treat.

-          Cook more – Since moving into my own place I try to cook a lot more then I used too, only eating out once a week now (it used to be a lot more). I’ve realised I quite enjoy cooking and finding new recipes.

From tomorrow I am making a concerted effort to eat clean. Gluten and diary tend to be in processed foods or foods with high saturated fat. Therefore I want to eat better and fuel my body correctly for running.

I came across a gluten free blog on tumblr and was genuinely excited by all the delicious recipes on offer. Who said clean eating needs to be boring?

I’ll keep you posted.