Yesterday I told you about my story up till now and today I'll let you in on a few changes I've made over the last 12 months, especially the last three.
Let's go back to spring last year. I had just come back from travelling with
the boys and was pondering life and travelling and the implications of everything we do on the rest of our lives and the planet. A couple of months before that I had watched a documentary about plastic called "Plastic Planet" and decided to cut out all plastic that was not completely necessary in my life.
Don't know why I started with that, but in April last year I decided to go off shampoo and try the "no poo method". You can look at
this post for more information on that and how I got to that point. This launched an awareness of toxins I put into my body every single day.
Here's a picture I came across only recently that sums up all the bits and pieces of information floating round the web.
In the summer I decided to throw away my foundation, something I haven't lived without for the last ten years, and very much limit my make up use. I stopped washing my face with any products and started to just use water and once a week I'd wash it with a natural face wash made with crushed up oats, lavender, baking soda and honey.
It is divine! In addition I used a home made toner (water, apple cider vinegar and tea tree oil).
Months passed and I moved to London where the water quality is so poor I dare not drink it unfiltered! All I brought was baking soda and bar soap and the above pictured mixture. Travelling becomes extremely light once you let go of all plastic bottles :) I collected a few glass bottles and jars and started making all the things I need. One of the first things I did was to make a batch of hand/lip balm - more on that in
this post.
There I was when all of a sudden my skin took a turn for the worse - worst to be honest.
Two major things I have changed over the last few months to battle what had happened once again:
NUTRITION
Back to the candida diet it was.
Everything I didn't know the ingredients to went straight into the bin. If anyone would have asked me how healthy my nutritional habits were, I would have said good. I was cooking 90% of my meals, cooked meat about once a week. I get a box of organic vegetables once a week and therefore cook pretty seasonal. I still ate whatever was served at other people's places and I didn't limit myself too much when I ate out. No sugar and dairy and gluten it was from then onwards!
The other thing I started again was oil pulling - google it for more information - and I went back on all supplements I was prescribed four years ago.
Before I left for Austria I decided to go vegan for a month once I was back in London. Turns out I couldn't have picked a better time - hello horse meat scandal haha. As my first day back happened to be Ash Wednesday, I decided to do it for the entire lent season. My body will have enough time to detox and heal the intestinal walls (I know it takes longer for the walls to heal but 6 weeks is a start before I start reintroducing certain foods again).
At the moment I'm a gluten and sugar free vegan :) It's been a week and I admit to having my nose buried in recipes and I find it really helpful to keep a food journal.
SKIN CARE
This hasn't changed too much. Still sticking with the bare minimum of washing my face with water and not putting anything on it.
One of the best blogs I've come across was
The Love Vitamin. She too had treated her acne naturally and I found hope in that I'm not the only crazy person out there not buying into the pharmaceutical industry, glossing over a few symptoms but never addressing the root of the problem.
I learnt about the antibacterial properties of manuka honey and found it to be the only thing to bring relief to my itching skin (honey and cinnamon masks for the win people!).
If you look at what's in my bathroom, you'd be surprised to find ingredients you'll find in every kitchen, with the exception of tea tree oil, soap and shampoo bar(London turned out to be too dirty for the no poo method so once a week I get my Lush bar, I still rinse it with water and ACV though). Even my deodorant is home made these days ha!
It's great when all of a sudden you know that you could eat pretty much everything that goes on your skin :)
Healing takes time, a lot of time, and there are days when I'm pretty down. Thankfully the days when I don't even want to get out of bed are becoming less and less. I still wrestle with God as to why I have to deal with this. It's been a decade and I don't get it, but I try not to give up. I hate that it takes away so much of my time and energy, that it holds me back and limits my potential of what I could be doing.
In the process of all this I've learned that I am a fighter and have become very stubborn (it takes every bit of willpower not to grab a croissant that is sitting in front of me, not even talking about walking past a frozen yoghurt place). I've learnt not to burst into tears every time I look in the mirror and cling to God's opinion that my value is far above rubies and pearls, no matter what I look like.
Thanks friends for being supportive and understanding xx
