...and I'm feeling good

Some of you might remember my article a little while ago about a low-chemical diet I went on in an attempt to discover a food intolerance I thought I might have (here if you missed it). It's been several months now so I thought I'd give you a little update on how it all went down.

In short, it was a real a-hole.

I hated every second of it - not being able to eat or drink hardly anything; using special products for everything from moisturiser to detergent; and avoiding tons of other stuff like cooking fumes, smoke and even fresh flowers.

Despite this I followed it religiously for a month even though it was really hard and I was the crankiest person on the planet. I even made it to the first challenge - introducing one food chemical group for a week after the full-on restriction diet. But that's when I gave in. It was simply not worth it.  

I would have stuck it out if I'd felt amazing, but I didn't. I actually felt way worse on the diet than I did previously. Even the dietitian was confused as to why I wasn't feeling "the best I'd ever felt" and suggested I take a break if it was affecting my life.

It was - I had one very upset husband and I'm sure the children suffered as well. I never realised just how much what you eat (or don't eat) can affect your mental wellbeing. So I put the hunt for the culprit chemical on ice, and at this stage I don't see myself returning.

The main reason? I actually feel pretty darn good right now (not counting the 24-hour food poisoning / gastro I had on the weekend). I've hardly felt sick or bloated at all since coming off the diet. Who knows why but I'm riding it at the moment. Perhaps a monthly detox from all chemicals (natural and man made) was exactly what I needed to set my body back on track?

I'm eating what I want again, I feel good and I'm happy. So was my diet a big waste of time? Well on the plus side I lost a few kilos, rediscovered foods I hadn't eaten for a while, learned some new recipes and became more aware of certain processed foods which contain heaps of bad chemicals (prompting me to now make more things from scratch like pastry and breadcrumbs).

I also became more interested in the different types of diets out there and eating for healthy living - if you're interested you can read a bit more about that in an article I wrote for SheSaid here.

It's very likely I might start feeling sick again soon and won't be any closer to working out why, but for now I'm going to live a little while the goings good. Hey, at least I can smell the flowers again!

Ever done the low-chemical diet? How hangry did it make you? 

photo credit: Victor De la Rocha via photopin cc