Breaking cycles

Part 3 on adopting an anti-inflammatory way of eating

Part 3 of a 5 part series on adopting an anti-inflammatory way of eating.

Initially we discussed “how do you know where to start?”

Last week we covered the Unexpected Benefits. Did you know that reducing anxiety was one of them?

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It was only around the time of dietary change back in autumn 2018 that I began to connect with ending cycles. For the first time in my life, I became a cycle-breaker.

Beware the cycle-breaker. For she is a powerful being. (Photo by Rafay Ansari on Unsplash)

I broke the drinking cycle (ok, ok I couldn’t drink but I made that life-time commitment from that June onwards nonetheless).

I broke the caffeine cycle – then started it again, then broke it again, then started it again and its now been the longest time that I’ve managed to remain addict free to caffeine.

I broke the sugar rush cycle.

Once I reduced gluten (in addition to the sugar, caffeine and alcohol), I broke the chronic pain cycle.

The year after I broke the chronic fatigue cycle.

Alongside all of which I broke thought pattern cycles.

I broke patterns of behaviour cycles too.

The doing everything to extremes cycle.

The list went on and on.

I didn’t power on and push through. I took my time and enjoyed the scenery. Even though I went through a fair few puddles. This way I didn’t drown. (Photo by Luca Zanon on Unsplash)

Before I got clear on my health being my number one priority, I did find I went through a stage of swapping one cycle break for another.

In 2015 I intentionally stopped taking drugs. I did so well at it, I found new friends who didn’t take them. What happened though was that my drinking reached another level. It had always been copious amounts on a weekend until I fell down drunk on nights out, but in this year I drank alone until I passed out on the sofa. It was a problem.

Once I stopped drinking later that same year, I ramped up my eating. I whacked on a stone in a month and by the time I began to adopt an anti-inflammatory way of eating I was carrying an extra couple of stone. Colleagues at work used to say “I can’t believe you are not obese with the amount you eat”.

Now I can’t even eat gluten free pizza without it inflaming my stomach. (Photo by Adam Smotkin on Unsplash)

Though I don’t see this talked about in much detail and always intended to write more about this myself, I am seeing that some of us are starting to become aware of it. Perhaps we can all relate to it in some way when it comes to making a change, cracking a habit. Another, less favourable one, seeps in somewhere else.

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What I found comical at the time of making all these dietary changes (once I’d stopped the drugs and the drink and now my gut and inflammatory ill health depended on what I was shovelling into my mouth - as well as mind - being next), was when I read that you couldn’t possibly lose weight doing it the way I was doing it. I wasn’t counting macros (or calories, or weighing, nor measuring myself. There was no “portion control”).

Because my new-found priority was my health I’d reached a point where I couldn’t have give a shit about losing weight. For the first time in my life, my health became of utmost importance. Nothing else mattered once I’d lost my job, career, income and health. And that included what dress size I was.

Around the month after I went gluten free (on top of the sugar, caffeine and alcohol), I remember going for a counselling session and noticing my jeans were hanging off me. When I went to bed the night before, they fit. Later in the day, I weighed myself (I no longer own scales now) and I’d lost 10 pounds. Literally overnight.

Some months later, this went on to happen again! A few more months and a further 4lb came off.

I went on to read somewhere that when you adopt an anti-inflammatory way of eating, your body prioritises healing first (thank you body). The weight comes off in chunks, after your body has experienced a period of healing. Can we please start to give our magnificent bodies some due? They are protecting us and doing the best they can for us. It is our focus on them and understanding that is skewed. Give them an environment where they can heal and they will heal. It will be unique to you and you will have to meet yourself where you’re at, but it is possible.

What I noticed with Nicole’s recommendations is that they were in many ways similar(ish) to mine:

• More vegetables and superfoods

• Sufficient water

• Healthy protein

• No gluten*

• No refined sugar*

• No caffeine*

• No alcohol*

• No highly processed foods*

*It’s always been a case of “in the main” for me. Not an entirely, 100% perfect no.

Nicole at

My Long Recovery

also cut out dairy, ate very little meat, went organic and increased her fish consumption. She admits she went all in strict and found it difficult but that she was incredibly fortunate to have support from her mum and friends.

I went roughly high levels of healthy fats, mid protein, lower carb intake. I made sure I used only coconut or olive oils in my cooking. Switched from eating oranges, apples etc to mainly berries (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries) - not for any other reason than I ate so much of them prior, this was more of an intuitive change. Not one I had read about, but one I decided to make for myself.

Making changes intuitively, based on research combined with how my body feels has been a big part of my success. It’s also meant that the level of conflict I’ve experienced when it came to implementing change, when and where to start, what’s come next has been ZERO.

I know I’ve used this pic before but the message is important. (Photo by Jen Theodore on Unsplash)

A note to supplements and making teeny tiny changes

I received a detailed report from a neurologist that was the last of my private healthcare with work¹. It was highlighted that magnesium and Vit B12 were a small help with pain. It was in making this one change, alongside all the others as slowly and steadily as I had, that I realised

All these teeny tiny changes will lead to big change in the future.

I only ever made one change at a time. I really imbed that change before I went on to the next one.

I see a lot of focus on supplements in the chronic ill health community. Supplements have not been my forte. Now I understand more about gut health and our nervous system, I am unsure that my body would have been able to absorb them back then and I think it was for good reason that I didn’t get into them in a big way.

I did, however, take magnesium and vitamin B12 for a while – as a way to supplement my health alongside the changes I was making. Once I understood more about the health and nutritional benefits of food and looked at it as a way to nourish and fuel my body, I sought foods naturally containing magnesium and vitamin B12.

I also feel my not getting good at taking all the supplements highlights that we don’t need to do alllllll the things. We don’t need to be good at everything. If there’s one message I want you to take away from this series is that the changes we make, whatever capacity they are in, do not need to be perfect. In fact, we might benefit more from adopting a “perfectly imperfect” approach. Feeling better, looking better, knowing I was taking action that was to help support my body and enjoying it definitely topped doing it “right”.

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Over to you

1. What patterns have you noticed when breaking cycles and making big changes to what you consume? (whether through your mouth, ears or eyes)

2. In what ways have you gone against the grain when it comes to creating new habits that supports your goal?

3. How do you break it down so that the changes you are bringing in are manageable and have the potential to be long lasting?

1. I was receiving Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) over this period at £93.50 a week and this online service was far more detailed and understanding of migraine than either of the 2 neurology appoints I had through the NHS in England. I was collating little bits of information from here and there and - when accumulated - it started to stack up and began to help. Starting with where you are and working with what you’ve got - no matter how limited this may seem - is part of the pathway to reclaiming your health.