End of April Blog Madness!

Oh gosh, look how many days I've missed!  I have to start this post with a handy hint to the universe; If someone offers you sinusitis, say NO!  Say NO to sinusitis!  They should have a government awareness campaign on this shizzle.  Total wipe out.  Anyway, my energy and extreme enthusiasm for everything is back, which is fabulous - hopefully complete recovery of my painful head and dizzy spells follows soon.  I really want to get back into life!  I know everything is still happening out there!


I seem to be using excessive exclamation marks lately.  I apologise, but I can't help it.


Onto the catch up.

Day 25

Third person post. Write about a memory you have but describe it  using the third person.

I have decided to write about my morning, as has been the routine for the past few weeks at home.

Natalie woke up to the sound of M's alarm.  Nokia think they have mastered a subtle alarm noise, but nothing is subtle at 5.50am.  She can hear the fan start whirring from the ensuite and a thin stream of brighter than usual light is highlighting the cat on the end of her bed.  She can feel how cold it is; the heat lamp must be on.  She turns over and tries for more sleep, thoughts spinning in her head, "Will I be able to get to work today?  Maybe I should start a small graphic art business.  Do I still have the skills?  I wonder what I'll have for breakfast?".  M emerges from the ensuite and she has still not drifted back to sleep.  She hears the fridge door open and the kettle boil from the kitchen, still no sleep.  She sees M walk back into the ensuite to brush his teeth, still no sleep.  He kisses her good bye and the garage door closes, still no sleep.  It's 7.15am.  She stands up and instantly feels dizzy; no work today.  Message to the boss, "Morning R, still no luck, off to the docs again today.  Still hopeful of a return this week!  See you soon'.  She is thankful she has a great boss.
She wonders whether to get up and shower or go back to sleep.  Sleep, she decides, and for another hour fails to nod off.  OK, time to read.  She is loving The New Optimum Nutrition Bible and is already half way through.  She will be sad when she finishes it.
It's 9am, she is hungry and she needs to take her antibiotic 30 minutes before food.  She thinks of how much she hates that she's taking antibiotics again, swallows the tablet and goes back to reading.
9.30am.  Natalie walks into the kitchen, puts the kettle on, puts a Madura green tea bag in a mug, measures half a cup of oats into a bowl, covers them in rice milk and puts them in the fridge.  This is the first time she's had rice milk on oats.
Green tea with email check, facebook glance and twitter scroll.  15 minutes passed and time for breakfast.
Natalie gets out some berries for her oats, spoons a couple of tablespoons of greek yoghurt on top and springs LSA.  "Why did I pay for LSA when I can make it myself?", she thinks.  TV and breakfast.  Nothing is on, surprise surprise.  She promises herself she'll try and get some study done today and wanders over to her laptop.... 'lemon-liv....', and she's blogging.

Day 26

Health tagline. Give yourself, your blog, your condition, or some aspect of your health a tagline. Make sure it’s catchy!


Well, mine would have to be...'Stay well'. 

Failing that, 'Don't just avoid illness, achieve wellness'.

... OK not catchy, but it represents my whole message.

The banner would obviously be a lot lovelier than that.

Day 27

5 Challenges. 5 Small Victories. Make a list of the 5 most difficult parts of your health focus. Make another top 5 list for the little, good things (small victories) that keep you going.


OK, I guess this is in relation to my blog, but I will make it about my mission in general which is to make people aware of what they are putting in their body.  The below probably relate less to my readers as, I have found, they generally read as they already have some interest in health, nutrition or whole food.

Good for you?

Image Cred

5 most difficult parts of my health focus;
1.  Helping people understand that just because it's fruit, it does not mean it's healthy.
2.  Helping people realise just how bad sugar is for you and how anything packed with sugar, including 'healthy' things like yoghurt and fruit juice, are not healthy once the white stuff is packed in.
3.  Highlighting to people that I am not about lecturing and living a life of rigid dietary discipline.  I eat how I eat because I enjoy it and yes, I eat chocolate, potato chips, blue cheese, white pasta etc sometimes - but I know exactly what it is doing to my body and what I am eating.  That's what I want for the world!
4.  Finding a balance on the blog and in real life.  I really do find it hard to see those I love making bad diet choices constantly.  Not occassionally, constantly.  Although there are exceptions - even the occasional fast food I see a loved one eat bothers me.  I can't help it!  But I do not judge.
5.  Making people realise weight loss is (physically) not hard!  Mentally challenging, OK, I can understand, but physically it's very simple.
6.  I have to add one more - defending my views.  A lot of people think I am nuts and I get tired of defending myself.

Sally Joseph
Image Cred






5 little victories that keep me going;
1.  Mum has started experimenting with baking excluding sugar and/or butter.  I think it is the highest compliment when your own parents listen to you.
2.  A friend with a chronic condition (not CFS) was helped by my diet advice. 
3.  Several friends have lost significant weight off my (simple!) advice.  
4.  An editor from a segment in The Age (newspaper in Melbourne) saying he liked my blog, massive compliment.
5. Getting in touch with Sally Joseph; Miranda Kerr's nutritionist who also got into the field due to CFS
6. One more - recovering from Chronic Illness!

Day 28

The First Time I… Write a post about the first time you did something. What is it? What was it like? What did you learn from it?

Image Cred

The first time I entered a supermarket after being house bound with CFS for 3 years was AMAZING.  The first thing that struck me was how incredibly awesome it was that all these different fruits and vegetables sourced from farms all over Australia and even all over the world were bought to this one place just so I, little old me, had the option of purchasing them for consumption.  They were so bright in colour, but not as bright as the insane fluoro lights which lined the ceiling.  Have you ever noticed how bright supermarkets are?  Then there's the aisles, oh how many products there are!  I was like a kid in a candy store getting giddy over the different types of pasta you could buy!  I was hyper-aware of all factories, marketing teams, factory workers, sales men etc that was behind everything single product.  All of this just so I could eat!
From that experience, I learnt that we take things for granted.  Pre-illness, I probably would have complained if I went into the supermarket and they didn't have the particular variety of apple I wanted to buy that day, now I think it's amazing that, in Melbourne, I can get pretty much any apple I want - and the ruburb and celeriac are just a few steps away!  I also became very aware of and to an extent, learnt, how much marketing is thrown in our face.  There are no logos or advertisements inside your house, but as soon as you get in your car, there's some on your keys, dashboard, there's a logo on your shirt, you've got a particular brand of shoe, the trolleys are a brand, there's pamphlets, advertising on every product - everything is an ad!  

And that was my first supermarket experience after illness.

I think I will catch up on the rest later, I am getting very tired and writing this!


I am off to the Doctor's again this afternoon.  Wish me luck for a miracle cure!  I literally feel that they could put syringes in my ears & nose & draw something out of my head.  I know they can't and, well, just know, but I can sort of feel it in there and it's a terrible feeling!

See you soon & stay well,
Nat x




PS.  The spacing is a little weird on this post - I can't fix it & have no idea what's going on! x