New Year, New Attitude

I've already written this blog post once before I managed to delete it on my phone but I'm determined to post it so here is Take Two! 

It's time for the obligatory New Year = a time for reflection and resolutions post. However I'm not going to dwell too much on what had happened yesteryear but instead concentrate on the future. 

The only looking back I will do is to say over the last year I've been inspired by those people that, no matter how much shit life throws at them, they never stop fighting. They don't let themselves be defined by what hands they are played. Let it shape them, maybe, but instead of letting themselves be controlled by their life they take the control and keep driving forward. They achieve against all odds because they are driven by determination when the easiest thing to do, and no one would blame them for doing it, would be to roll over and give up, admit defeat. 

I was inspired by the soldiers who took part in the Invictus Games. By Malala Yousafzai for her continued campaigning for women's right to be educated in Pakistan despite the Taliban attempting to assassinate her for doing so. Also by the pro biker, Martyn Ashton, who was paralysed by a crash in one of the Animal Bike Tour stunt shows, but has pushed himself through rehabilitation and through new challenges refusing to let the accident take away everything that he loves. 

It's Martyn's story I'd like to tell you a little more about. After breaking his back and learning he was paralysed from the waist down and that the paralysis was permanent, in less than a year he learnt to ride a hand bike, challenged himself to #TryBeforeJuly, setting himself a list of different activities to attempt in a time period. Many of the activities would be simple to those of us who are able-bodied, like navigating the London underground but when you are in a wheel chair, is a whole different ball game and I can imagine quite intimidating attempting it for the first time. Then there were tougher activities like canoing and amazingly he even got to ride a motorbike. His challenges didn't stop in July as he had planned but he continues to push himself through new achievements and he is determined to get back on a bike one day. I, for one, have no doubt he will do it. He wrote a blog post a year on from his accident and the emotional yet inspiring piece is well worth a read. 

Martyn Ashton One Year

So, what does that mean for me and the year ahead? Firstly, I'm going to be grateful for all that I am blessed with. More so than I ever have before. Secondly, I'm going to stop putting things off and give things a go. Start crossing things off the To Do list. 

Stuart said, for him, the year was about setting goals and achieving them which fits in nicely with my own new drive and attitude. We have started our list of (SMART) objectives for the year. The list includes house jobs we've been meaning to get done like replace the garden fences and the downstairs cloakroom, trying new activities as a family, like geo caching, or taking part in organised runs. Nothing particularly life changing I admit but we are just getting started and we first need to establish the boundaries of what is achievable. We've had to cross off a couple of activities as Millie is too young, such as surfing and a bush survival course so they may be in next year's list. No use putting stuff on the list which we've no hope of achieving. It isn't about changing the world (yet) it's about giving life a try, saying yes and achieving what we set out to achieve. Building our confidence and our belief in ourselves that we can get things done and do the things we've been putting off. Then who knows, maybe next year you will be reading a post about how I'm going to change the world. 

Thank you for reading and wishing you all a happy and prosperous 2015.

Fast is Exciting!

It is often at this time of year, we all take a look at our current selves and look for ways to improve what we see! Often, that results in dieting.

I’m not one for fad diets, I prefer the exercise plus eating a balanced diet approach but that’s changing this year.as I’m about to try the Eat, Fast and live longer Diet.

I first heard about it from my husband. Shortly after I had my daughter, Millie, in August 2012, Stuart got ill with bad tonsillitis. It rendered him bedbound for several days and unable to eat. During this time, he was worried the effect that not eating for long periods (effectively fasting) would have on his body, fully expecting it to be negative. After much research (he had lots of time on his hands, when he wasn’t sleeping!), he actually found that to the contrary it could be a good thing.

It was very topical – there had recently been a documentary by Horizon on BBC2 with Michael Mosley and his research into fasting and how a new type of diet could benefit people with not only losing weight but actually reducing their chances of developing serious illnesses such as cancer, diabetes and brain conditions such as Alzheimer's.

Having now watched the documentary myself, I actually feel excited by taking on this challenge. There is a lot of research on this and I don’t want to misquote anything or get any of the facts wrong so please Google it – the 5 2 diet would be good places to start. Here is a good interview with Michael Mosley, on the BBC’s website and I have copied (and linked from Tinned Tomatoes here) the following which may be of interest:

• Our bodies have  a growth hormone called IGF -1. As a child this is what helps our bodies grow, but as adults it ages us.
• High levels of IGF-1 can lead to diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
• Lowering your levels of IGF-1 can help prevent against these diseases and can be done through your diet.
• When lowering your IGF-1 levels, growth stops and your body starts to repair cells. It also uses up your glucose and starts to burn fat, so you also lose weight.

The 5-2 diet involves fasting for 2 days and eating normally for  5. Fasting days consist of restricting your calorie intake to 400-500 for women, 500-600 for men for any 2 days within a 7 day week. The rest of the days you can eat what you want – there is no need to ‘diet’ on the other 5 days. On the documentary, tests showed that it made no difference if you ate a low fat diet on the non-fasting days to if you ate whatever you wanted. They expected that people would eat 175% of what was normal for them on the non-fasting days but in fact it was more like 110% and this did not affect the results.

The original purpose for the fasting approach was not about weightloss but was actually about the improvements it makes to health. When we fast our bodies go into ‘repair mode’. It is thought that fasting can ‘cure’ Type 2 Diabetes (as I know people with type 1 diabetes, I would like to make clear this is type 2 only and not Type 1 which is quite different) and rapidly reduce the risk of heart disease.

It is also not a new concept. Many religions and cultures have believed and been practicing fasting for centuries.

Our (actually Stuart’s) research has found few downsides (though long term research is still continuing) – don’t get me wrong, its not easy or a quick fix. Its a lifestyle change and takes will power and commitment. But from what I have read, heard and understand, it is well worth the sacrifices and knowing that you can eat what you like on the non-fasting days makes it feel achievable.

Anyway, you’ll be able to see for yourself if this is just another whim or a fad diet as I intend to blog my progress and I’ll be very honest. I will be intending to exercise too as I do believe in trying to keep your body fit.

The programme does advise that this form of dieting is not suitable for everyone and that anyone intending to fast for any period of time should seek medical advice first. Having just been pregnant and regularly undergoing health checks before during and after my pregnancy, I am confident enough in my starting health before undertaking this diet but I will be mentioning it to my Dr and/or Health Visitor when I next require a visit.

2012 Reflection and 2013 Projection

As is common at this time of year, I have been reflecting on the year just gone and thinking about what I want to achieve in the year ahead.

So, firstly, looking back. Its been a busy year!

It started on rather a low note as we had to say goodbye to our beloved cat Lottie who had been part of my life for 15 treasured years. Aside from the place in each of our hearts where she’ll always be, I am reminded every time I take to Callum to nursery or pick him up as the vets is right next door. It breaks my heart when on occasion Callum has looked over and asked where Lottie is.

Then life took a much brighter path as we bought and moved into our lovely house in March and then there was that small thing of having a baby girl in August!!!

Stuart has been through yet another hard & gruelling year at work – I swear every year he says it’ll be better the next year and then the next year is harder still. Its was hard for us as a family with work taking over precious family time more and more until it was with no surprise (but made no easier nonetheless) that Stuart fell ill when he went on to paternity leave and was forced (during long days spent unable to get out of bed) to consider his priorities. That was a turning point for him with how he balanced work time and family time. Unfortunately for him, it doesn’t mean his work has got any easier and probably harder as he has had to try to squish much more into a shorter period as he had made the decision to make working from home the exception rather than the rule. But it has made a big difference to our evenings and weekends so I thank him for that sacrifice – and for a work-a-holic, I appreciate that it is in a way a sacrifice.

We had hoped that by now, following our relocation from Surrey to Bournemouth, to have grown our local social life a little more than we have. We knew that meeting people and making connections was going to be a slow process in a new place but its probably taken longer than either of us expected. Again, probably harder for Stuart as I have at least made many mummy friends especially through my addiction moderate use of Twitter but for Stuart, his only interaction with the outside (of our family) world so far has been at work. This is starting to change now though and I am hopeful we will both start socialising and meeting more people in 2013 [makes Puss in Boots eyes at you all].

The new addition to the family has been another life changing moment on a par to when Callum entered our lives. In some ways the transition from a family of 3 to family of 4 has been less of a shock to the system as from 2 to 3 but it brings with it different challenges and the hormonal breakdowns and sleep deprivation feels much tougher 4 years on from the first time. But when I think how blessed I am with my gorgeous son and beautiful girl, I both beam and shed a tear with happiness . I couldn’t ask for anything more wonderful than the family I have – and knowing that I hopefully wont have to be pregnant ever again just adds even more sparkle to it all (I’m not a very good pregnant lady – Stuart will testify!).

So it will be fair to say 2012 has been an emotional rollercoaster.

Which brings me on to my hopes for 2013.

Quite frankly, above all I hope for a much more chilled year! I wont be making any resolutions as such but there are things I would hope to achieve in the next year.

• OK, I best make it my first point as I’ve already mentioned it above– to start socialising more as a couple. Making the relationships we have already made stronger but meeting more people that we hope will become good friends of the future.
• In addition to the above, I would also like to see more of our current very good friends who are now spread over the UK as our paths have taken us on our different journeys.
• To go to Thailand. It is my current dream holiday. I spent a very brief couple of nights there with work back in 2007 and I’ve been desperate to go back there for leisure and to take Callum with me. Because it is only worth going there for a 2 week period, we would need to take the kids. For both cost and comfort reasons, if we don’t go this year, it would mean waiting several more years longer for either both kids to be old enough to stay with relatives, or we came into a healthy sum of money [checks the lottery numbers!] plus I consider Callum only now being able to cope with a long-haul flight without sending us crazy as the other passengers made plots to throw us out the plane without a parachute between us! I imagine it will be another 3-4 years minimum before Millie is at that stage too.
• I would like to find a good job which I love but allows me to balance my role as a mother. I very much see my job as a career and I feel sad to think I may not be able to embrace it in the same way I could before children. I worry about how I will manage the juggle of school/nursery runs, childcare and work. I wont lie, I have struggled with the sacrifice that my career will always be second to Stuarts as when we took the decision to have a family, my primary role became that of a mother. When I worked full time after having Callum – the balance worked out fine as Callum was in nursery but this year he starts school so I have the confusing arrangement of schools, breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, nursery, child-minder or whatever we decide best suits our lives. Others manage it, so I am sure we will too but I do see it as being one of my biggest challenges of 2013. Firstly finding a job I love and that works for me and secondly sorting out the childcare.
• Finally, as I’ve just mentioned, Callum starts school this year. I hope that he settles well in his new school and our little boy continues to grow in confidence as well as academically and enjoys himself along the way.

So, there you have it!

I’d like to say thank you to all of you who have followed my blogs and my journey through the 2012 and I invite you to stick with me through 2013 (here and here) as I value your support. I wish you all a very happy New Year and I hope you achieve all you desire for the year ahead, whatever that may be - and please feel free to share with me as I’d love to hear your hopes and dreams for 2013 too.