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MY STORY

 

I have always believed that food is thy healer.  

 

I grew up on a smallholding in the 1970’s and 1980’s, all our fruit and vegetables were homegrown, the wild, organic vermin - pigeons, pheasants, rabbits, venison was dinner.  We had chickens that roamed freely in the fields providing us with organic, free range eggs.  My mum cooked almost everything from scratch.

 

But, up until I was 28, I suffered with chronic eczema and spent years slathered in steroid cream and bandages, constantly scratching, but the root cause was never addressed!  In teenage years (18 to 20) I had bouts of utter exhaustion and in my 20’s continuous tonsillitis.  From the age of 9 years I was plagued with painful mouth ulcers daily … not just 1 or 2 but many all the time.

 

My journey has been a long one and in my quest to get to the root cause of the illnesses I have tried many things.  In 1997/1998, I saw a Kinesiologist, she was incredible and really opened my eyes.   She tested me using vials containing various foods which I held to my stomach, I then had to try and raise my arm, which in many instances was impossible … It was the most bizarre feeling.  

 

She presented me with an extensive list of foods to cut from my diet for a period of 6-months, after which I was to introduce each food one at a time.  During the 6-month period, my eczema, regular tonsillitis, and bloating vanished but I still had ulcers!  One by one I added back the foods and found that upon adding wheat, I was bloated, had bouts of diarrhea again, was sick and back came the eczema!  So I went gluten-free.

 

Fast forward a decade or so and due to the number of constant ulcers residing in my mouth, my dentist referred me to a consultant/specialist who, after a few tests, diagnosed me with Behçet's Disease, (lots of mouth ulcers, swollen joints, skin lesions etc ...) The Consultant wanted to treat the condition with immune suppressing drugs which contained formaldehyde, which I really didn't feel was right, he also wanted to send me to London to a professor who was studying Behçet's Disease but at the time I had 2 children under 5 years of age and I also worked, so I declined.  

 

I queried the consultant/specialist about food allergies but he laughed and said “It’s all very fashionable these days to have a food allergy, there’s no need to cut foods from your diet”!!  I was utterly aghast that he’d think it was ok to hand out immune suppressing drugs with a myriad of ludicrous side effects which were way worse than having the extremely painful mouth ulcers yet laugh at potentially cutting something from my diet!!!!

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One day, in the local play park, my better half and I were incredibly fortunate, by chance, to meet a mum who explained about GAPS after we spoke to her about our concerns regarding our first born and behavioural problems.  At the end of our conversation she said - “Don’t wait for a diagnosis, you can do this” - she was so encouraging.

 

I read Dr. Natasha's yellow book Gut & Psychology Syndrome and every single page was a light bulb, ah ha moment, it made absolute sense.  

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I set to implementing the GAPS diet for my family, which has helped immensely and we're now on our journey to healing.

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Eczema and Behçet's Disease are both autoimmune diseases.  We believe our eldest daughter, like her father, is Aspergers and she’s currently awaiting diagnosis and our youngest daughter is Dyslexic as assessed by the school … both are neurological disorders and all stem from a leaky gut which Dr. Natasha’s GAPS protocol addresses by healing and sealing the gut wall and nourishing the body with nutrient dense food.

 

I trained as a chef and enjoy the challenge of creating new, tasty, easy to follow, nutrient dense recipes.  I have years of experience in the kitchen and understand what it takes to run a kitchen successfully to have delicious, wholesome, nourishing meals to hand, at all times, without breaking the bank, spending hours in the kitchen or wasting a single morsel.