Sunday 24 July 2016

Autoimmune Disorder - Road To Recovery

Hello hello..

Ah, it's nice to finally have some time to sit down and blog in peace. It has certainly been a busy, busy week for me with VVIPs and back to back check-ins. Next week lain cerita lagi.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was diagnosed with autoimmune disorder by a sinsang (a Chinese medical practitioner). He also told me that I have issues with my hormones and that I have a weak digestive system. He gave me some herbs  (in powder form. No brewing necessary, thank GOD!) to take twice a day after meals.

My medication.


He advised me to take care of my diet. No processed foods, no cold drinks or foods and get this, no animal protein. That means no meat, no poultry and no dairy (including cheese! Sob!). "Vegetables and fish only", he said, nodding his head to emphasize his statement.

You see, I am not really the type to eat veges. I avoided them like the plague as a child and as a grown woman, I would only eat them if they are cooked and served on the dining table. If it's cooked but in the fridge it would be 'out of sight, out of mind' for me. Same goes with fish. I like it well enough but I love poultry more and would choose poultry over fish 9 times out of 10.

Fortunately, I had already started incorporating veges and fruit with each meal 2 weeks prior to my diagnosis. I have also been researching about Eczema (which I have had on and off since childhood but was getting progressively worse as I got older), how it is related to Candida which is linked to Leaky Gut, leading to Autoimmune Disorder (I know, I know. I was mind-blown on how all these things were linked too). On Youtube, people who had healed from Eczema and Candida swore by adopting a plant-based diet as well as going dairy-free.

I suspected that a Leaky Gut and Candida overgrowth in the gut was contributing to my Eczema, but was skeptical about going vegan. Like, why on earth would God create cows and poultry if we were meant to eat just plants? Right? So when the sinsang told me to go on a vegetarian diet ( more like a Pescetarian diet la since I could eat fish), I was surprised but not shocked or too upset. I was a bit worried and wondered how I was going to cope.

The weird thing is, while I did worry about my ability to adjust to so many dietary restrictions, I felt a little bit of a thrill too. Life had been depressingly constant for me these recent months and a challenge is just what I need to occupy my mind.

I also found the situation kind of humorous because if a dietitian had told me that by adopting a Pescetarian diet for 5 months, I will lose weight and stay slim for life, belum tentu lagi sy akan go through with it. But the potential of me healing and being able to eat everything that I am currently allergic to (prawns, beef, nuts and eggs) is what's propelling me to adopt the Pescetarian diet for a few months. What can I say, I love food. Hahaha...

Today is day 12 of my treatment and I must say, I am doing pretty well at coping with my dietary changes. There were some mistakes made here and there such as me having Tim Tams (coating made with milk chocolate) and shortbread (contains butter) which resulted in an eczema outbreak. But all in all, I am still good. No hysterical breakdown so far and my skin is getting better. Yay!


Have you ever had to radically change your diet due to health reasons? Share your story in the comments section below. Toodles!



Love,
Phy




Wednesday 13 July 2016

A New Chapter in Life

Hello all...

Allow me to take a moment to blow the cobwebs off this blog. Fuuuhh, fuuuhhh.. There you go.

I have missed writing on this blog so much. I cannot tell you how many times I have wanted to open the screen and share some things with you but something just stops me. Don't ask me why.

Anyways, I am glad to be back. There is so much I want to share with you guys that I literally don't know where to start! Hmmm... Let's do bite-sized updates shall we?

1. I turned 30 recently. I had dinner with my family (sans Blossom, my eldest sister. Sob!) at Uncle Pepper. My birthday cake was Lemon Cheese and it was wonderfully tart and creamy.



2. I achieved the rank of Junior Manager (JM) through sales in my SNE business. Woot! Woot!


3. I was in charge for organizing a LaSoul Beauty workshop. I also gave a talk during LaSoul Beauty Workshops for 2 weekends in a row. Phew, life upgrade complete!



4. I passed my PCE exams. Weeee! I have been seeking to go into a different industry career-wise so this is a stepping stone for me in that direction.


5. I started cooking again and Sophia shows keen interest to help.



5. I have resumed practicing yoga as well as incorporating more veges into my meals. Lifestyle change la orang bilang. Hehehe...



6. I have distanced myself from people that are making my life complicated. Keep It Simple Sweetheart they say and I agree.


7. I have been de-cluttering my possessions in line with keeping things simple. I have done it with my clothes, books and makeup. I will need to go through them once again because honestly, I am still only using only half the things I own in all 3 categories.

I have also done digital de-clutter including my emails (deleting emails, unsubscribing from tons of newsletters, etc.) and my follow list on various social media platforms. Will be going through my FB friend list soon.


8. I cut my hair. Yes, again. I didn't intend to. I just went for a trim at the same saloon that gave me the haircut I loved. Unfortunately the buffoon of a hair dresser (different from the one who gave my initial haircut) changed the shape completely and made me look like an old woman.

In the end I had to go to another saloon to change the style and ended up with this:



9. My fave app of the moment is Snapchat. I find the filters so entertaining. I can waste up to half an hour just melayan all the Snapchat filters since they have new ones daily.



10. I have started to get into planning with my MAMBI planner and I enjoy it soooo much! I have started going gaga over stickers again. Oh my!



11. I bought a plant for the first time and it's a cute cacti variety. I put it in the office and it almost died. They say it's because it's not getting enough sun light but I think the place has bad juju anyways so in the end I had to send the poor little thing home were it now thrives.


12. I have been diagnosed with auto-immune disease by a Sinsang (Chinese medicine man). It requires a lifestyle change I never expected to make which is to adopt a pecetarian diet.

So there you have it, small updates as of today. What has been going on in your life? Tried anything new? Hit new milestones? Share them in the comments section below! I'd love to hear from you.



Love,
Phy