Skip a few years...

Hello to all who take the time to read this post!

I guess it has been a while. Life has taken a few windy paths and here I am sitting in front of  a keyboard feeling the need to let you know what those windy roads were. I bet you all thought I had slipped off the face of the earth! Or died, well I did get pretty close there! As I mentioned in my first post I was diagnosed with Crohns disease, a 'chronic' disease that the doctors told me was incurable, had nothing to do with diet, and there was nothing they could do for me, except pump me full of pills for the rest of my life. I would have had to take immune suppressants for the rest of my life. This scared the living daylights out of me, as have always been scared of medicine anyway, but this is something that would leave me wide open, and some small usually insignificant bug could potentially kill me. Plus I only have one kidney as one was removed when I was still a baby, and one of the side effects of this medicine is kidney damage. So I never took the immune suppressants and lived off painkillers, basically just scraping by every day. I was still working, was still creating some pretty things. But my life essence was draining away, in a big way. I had to take painkillers in order to eat, and then it would be like a bird. I was tired, and on dangerous grounds.. even though I never increased the recommended dosage of the painkillers, and only took them when I absolutely had to, I had been taking them for 2 and a half years. And I could feel my one kidney aching more and more every day. My body was about to give up the ghost.

Now for the silly part, at the time of deciding not to take the immune suppressants, I did a LOT of research online about the wonders of eating the way we were intended to eat. I had found the GAPS diet, got the book and read it from cover to cover. In fact I understand what happens in a dysfunctional body really well. I have after all read the internet from cover to cover too! The diet called for me to stop eating all sugar, grains and starchy carbs. I would do great for about 2 weeks, feeling better than ever! The solution was clear, diet was the way to get better. But like a thief in the dark my sweet tooth would get its way again, starting with just one thing because I 'am so much better', and the next moment I am eating junk again and lying on the couch cringing and not able to eat anything again. Until last year (2012) November, I stumbled across some HELP after following a couple of twins who were conducting an experiment on the different effects a Low-carb-high-fat and a Low fat diet had on their genetically high cholesterol. The HELP program was at an addictions clinic. Jip, I had to accept and face up to the fact that I was a sugar addict, and the effects of my addiction was devastating my body. I was so lucky, with the help of a guardian angle and a little help from my medical aid, I was able to go 28 days. I took my last painkiller a week into being at the clinic, and being on a low carb diet. And that was in January! Soon after I quit smoking and started to realise just how much abuse I have been putting my body through. Now, 7 months later, I am eating big plates of healthy REAL  food, and best of all I have energy all day long! I am no longer sick, the dark circles under my eyes have just about cleared up, I do yoga, and have started training for a fun 5k run in October called the Colour Me Crazy run I am super exited to know that my body is actually able to do it again, after slow-dancing at the edge of a cliff with Death himself! And best of all, my kids will have their mom around for a long time still! And I am able to create jewellery without feeling like my battery is running out!

Oh! And lest I forget we now have an Etsy shop shop for internationals, and a Hello Pretty Shop for South Africans.