Monday, 23 April 2012

Experimenting

PHEW. Anyone else feeling a bit overwhelmed lately? It has been pretty darn busy for us lately with work, study, blogging, kids and attempting a social life, and things are starting to take a toll on my energy levels. I am really really tired. So tired in fact that I have made a few decisions about my diet to try and attempt to get some of my energy back.
You may remember a while ago I blogged here about listening to your body, and then last week I talked about tuning in to your intuition. My intuition has been telling me loud and clear that I really need to up my protein intake big time, or I won’t be able to keep this pace up.
I have also been learning a lot lately in my nutrition study at Institute For Integrative Nutrition about the theory of bio-individuality – the concept that no perfect way of eating works for everybody, and we have been encouraged to really experiment and listen to our bodies over our year of study.

Soooooooooooo

I have decided to try adding a little bit of fish and some organic eggs to my diet, and see if this improves my over all energy levels.
I considered eating a little dairy, but this instantly causes my eczema to flare up, so that is simply not an option.
I have absolutely no doubt that a vegan diet can provide everything you need to remain healthy, but right now I am struggling to do the ground work and preparation require to maintain a varied healthy vegan diet.
I am not sure whether it will help, how long I will trial it for, or even whether I will be able to stomach it, but I firmly believe in listening to your body and it’s individual needs, and intuitively this is where I feel I need to be right now.

I will keep you posted!

 

Question: What foods do you find help you most when energy is flagging?

 

Tagged: ,

  • http://theguiltlesslife.wordpress.com/ Anna @ The Guiltless Life

    I so agree that experimenting is so important! In my early 20s I remember working in an office and I would ask people what they want for lunch etc and I would often hear someone saying “yeah, I’ll get that, but without the garlic as it’s not good for my stomach” or “yeah that sounds good but the corn kinda makes me feel sluggish” and I would think – how do they KNOW this?? They seemed so self aware, and in tune with their bodies. They were all older than me of course and I realized that basically they’ve just gone through a period of experimenting. Working out that something makes them feel funny after eating and just giving it a try. It was something I hadn’t done at all in my life to that point. Ever since then I have fun experimenting every now and again when I work out that I feel funny after eating something. SO important, even though it can be frustrating. I really hope your experiments work for you Ali! xx

  • Helene

    Ali, it’s so great to hear you are listening to your body…this works, i believe, for everything that affects your well-being and should be offered as a first-option for most of our ailments i reckon.
    anyhow, i’ve always believed this…my husbnad used to cringe when we were first dating and i’d wake up and have a bowl of boiled brown rice, s dash of soy, lots of nori, sesame seeds and a boiled egg for breakfast (yummoo!) but now this is a staple for us.he loves loves it. so does our 16 month old baby(sometimes we replace the soy for him with vege or chicken stock). this meal is jam packed with goodness as you’ll be aware! and i feel invigorated post-yummy brekky rather than sluggish if i eat toast or even some cereals. the other day i baked a cake jsut cos i felt like eating cake; my body was screaming for it. so i ate it and i haven’t eaten cake since coz i got my craving fixed. i see nothing wrong with that. my philosophy has always been everything in moderation…a boring oldie but a goodie, and NEVER deny your body what its screaming out for. you’ll end up eating it anyway, threefold!
    my quick pick me up is always beans or pulses of some description on either pita bread or wrapped in a tortilla. today it was kidney beans, dollop of cream cheese and a handful of cordiander from the garden on pita. 
    you’re brilliant, Ali. loving this
    xx Helene

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1241915526 Andrea Rice

    Ali, I completely agree with the bio-individuality theory.  How is everything going with having fish and eggs in your diet?  How’s your energy?  I hope all is well with you and your schooling!