Staying Positive: See the Silver Lining!

Hey everyone!

I hope you're all doing really well, and the first month of your New Year is going awesome! I'm writing this post today because I'm aware the past couple of weeks have been full of emotion for people in my family, and all of my friend groups in some way as many of my friends and most of my immediate and extended family have some pretty serious health problems, I know these issues have been getting my loved ones down and they are struggling to see the bright side of life and to me that is just awful to see. 

It's so important when you have ill health to look at the positive things you have, for example yesterday I spent the day with my best friend and her partner, Nana and Simon baking all day, we both made lovely cakes and if you want to see mine head over to my personal instagram and it's the most recent cake picture! I made a beautiful white chocolate lemon drizzle cake and it smelled amazing! Me and my friend can't eat our cakes, she seemed quite frustrated at this and admittedly when you love cake and know you can't have it or taste what you've made it is very annoying, I can't eat my cake because it isn't worth it in my opinion, if I am going to eat something less healthy than usual I will wait until there is something that truly takes my fancy; albeit those times are few and far between but it makes me appreciate  and enjoy it more for waiting. The thing is everybody on earth has their own cross to bear in terms of their health but something I think is so essential when dealing with your lifestyle when you're chronically ill or have a long term/lifetime illness is that you've got to see the positive side of things even if sometimes it feels like you're fighting a losing battle.

When I first made changes to my diet it was super difficult and after years not not eating very well, or at least as well as I should've been, I was miserable for a long time because I thought I had to cut out foods that I love, like cakes and bacon but I did a lot of research and I've found so many different cake recipes that barely use any sugar and taste really good, most of those are vegan cakes which although they may not be ad indulgent as some other cakes hey I still get to eat cake! Plus vegan diets are recommended to some people with PCOS to relieve symptoms so I'm in a way being a little healthier than I would be if I made a Mary Berry cake. In terms of bacon just changing how its cooked and the kind of bacon makes a huge difference to a diet, I can still have things I loved but they are more strictly moderated and cooking techniques and products use to make my meals are slightly different. That is one of the ways that I tend to se the positive with my dietary changes because that was one of the most difficult things to cope with as it was such a major change for me as I like routine and at the time didn't eat a lot of different things.

Another positive thing is that although I can't eat my cakes I get to have so much fun baking them and trying out recipes, Simon is my personal tester and it's so awesome watching people eat and enjoy the food that you've made, the smells are wonderful the colours and textures are awesome! One of my favourite quotes, I don't know who by, is "life is not about wiring for the storm to pass, its about learning to dance in the rain" and that really resonates with me and I would definitely suggest that others remember this quote when you're feeling down. Every time something negative happens or you're feeling generally crappy just take a minute to think about the positives of the situation.

Image from Google.com

For example I had a friend a while ago who started on a treatment that involved daily injections, her way of seeing the positive is that she was scared of needles and at least after the treatment she wouldn't be scared anymore because she would get used to the feeling! That's an awesome way of looking at things if you ask me! My Mam has M.E., a basically null immune system, hundreds of allergies, epilepsy and lots more wrong with her which means she doesn't leave the house much, from this she has learned new sills and gotten really involved in arts and crafts, and although her life is a major struggle at times she has still gained a wonderful new hobby from it all.

Seeing the positive in the negative can change your outlook on life massively, honestly I'm planning  few posts within the next month and I'm very excited about them, during the planning of them I've realised how much I have truly changed and how positive my outlook on life is now. I'm hoping that if anyone reading this is feeling down at the moment, for whatever reason, that this little post does help in some way and if you're feeling low because of ill health please just remember that you're still alive, you still have people around you who are happy to see you turn up to work, or school or uni everyday, people who are happy to have you say hello to them or even just people who are happy that you managed to get out of bed this morning, that's an achievement in itself and I really mean that. In the next month I've to have a couple more posts up and while I was planning them it's been a real shock to look through some of my old stuff and see how much I have truly changed and now much more positive my life is now.
If every anybody needs some support or to talk please go to my Contact Me page and reach out to me because I will ALWAYS be willing to listen if you need to talk. I truly hope this post has helped someone out there because even the smallest of positives can make a huge difference.
Please be safe everybody and remember to see those silver linings!
Love,
Katy xo

My Diet with POMC - The POMC Series

Hello there everybody!

How is everybody today? Hope all is well. Today's post in The POMC Series is all about my diet and how I cope with the hyperphagia caused by POMC deficiency disorder. I've always been very quiet and conscious of my diet but recently I've realised that my diet is actually a lot better than I thought. This post is not meaning to be bragging rights at all, like "oh my diet is so much better than yours" because the fact is it's not better than anybody's my diet is mine because this works well for me, I'm not always excessively hungry every second of the day nor do I skip or miss meals. 

I've heard from discussions recently that some people with POMC tend to keep an extremely low calorie diet and that seems to be going alright for some people and kudos to you if you've found a diet that seems to fit you and your body or needs because that's not an easy thing to do whatsoever, I mean take your average person, you try and find a diet that is satisfying, healthy and gives you all the nutrients you need at 1,000 calories or even much less in some circumstances... it's an exceptionally difficult thing to do, so well done! 

This post is also not going to be a complete run down of every single tiny thing I eat and drink each day because... well that would just be boring for me to write and probably for you to read, however if you would like me to do something like that in the future contact me privately and I shall look into putting something like that together to post. 

Anyway, I shall get on with the post right now. Overall, I've been to countless dieticians, exercise specialists and such, I've spoken to at least 5 different endocrine specialists who deal with my POMC from the RVI, my main doctors and nurses form Cambridge and each doctor and nurse has given me a different answer (with obvious similarities in the case of the specialists) to the question: "Which diet is best for me?"
Over the years I've tried many diets from carb-free, low fat, vegetarian, vegan and gluten free but none worked. Obviously, a dietician will tell me low fat, low sugar, low everything pretty much with a very low calorie intake, however doctors have told me (those from Cambridge and the RVI) that if I can maintain an exercise regimen with roughly equal output to my intake of calories and energy I should be able to manage my weight slightly easier, although it'll still have little effect on weight gain as I've been told with POMC it's extremely difficult to lose and much too easy to gain weight as the body retains as much energy from food as possible. Therefore from all the information I've gathered I've managed to set up a diet of roughly 1,200 calories per day, I've also recently been made aware that a high protein diet, the right kind of protein that is, can help in some circumstances with feeling hungry so often, I was recommended that snacks like nuts and Skyr yoghurt which is high in protein and very low in fat are snacks that may help. 

However, in terms of breakfasts I am, as I've said before unable to eat bread, it's just something about the texture and taste that makes me feel sick so I don't eat much of that whatsoever. I also struggle to eat on a morning at the best of times so breakfasts for me tent to be things such as homemade fruit smoothies and cereals like those high in fibre such as bran and oaty cereals, this allows me to get my fibre as well as getting fruit and natural sugars, my grandfather is friends with a man who often gives us fresh fruit and veg that he grows which is much nicer than supermarket produce, so it's very much homegrown stuff in the smoothies, skimmed or almond milk that kind of thing. Very tasty and surprisingly filling. If you make a larger one as well you could always take that with you to school, uni or work and make it last throughout the day. Stops me snacking at least. 
Again lunches tend to be kept very low in fat, small homemade pasta pots, soups, rice boxes usually keep me going, I love vegetables so grilled veg couscous is one of my favourite things, I usually have some kind of desert to go along with it and I enjoy making fruit boxes so I'll just make a mini fruit salad with different types of fruit or a small pot of mixed seeds and low fat vegan chocolate mixed in, although that one is a treat as I love seeds and chocolate!
Snacks tend to include a lot of nuts and seeds as I mentioned, sometimes I'll just buy a bag of carrots and snack on those until I'm satisfied, more yoghurt or crunching ice cubes are pretty much all I do for snacks.
Dinners for me are often much more protein based with fish playing a big part, definitely a fan of omega 3 over here ha! I enjoy experimenting with spices as does Simon so I'm quite happy to try different kinds of meats, vegetables and so on, usually dinner times are just a concoction of things we have thrown together (I make a mean shredded chicken salad as well!). It's really important for me that I keep an extremely low fat, low sugar and salt diet, protein is higher on my priority list than anything else, usually it's meat I crave anyway but honestly I do manage to stay under 1100 calories almost all of the time. Sometimes I go out to eat but that I on occasion every now and then, never a regular occurrence unless it needs to be as I tend to make my own lunches so I know exactly what is going into by body. When I do go out I love things like Japanese food so Nudo and YO! Sushi are two of my favourites and a lot of things on YO! Sushi also have the calories and nutritional value next to them on the menu so you know exactly what you can get and how it'll all add up at the end of the night. Most of the time I avoid things that are greasy or fast food because I know it'll make me feel sick as well as not do anything for my weight gain. 
in terms of drinks I only drink fizzy drinks they are now a no-go, I mainly rink water and flavoured water, always still. 

I've heard people many times over the years claim that food is the enemy with POMC warriors and that's all well and good if that is how you like to view it but in my personal opinion that's not how I ever want to view my condition. I see my body as doing me a favour... go with me for a sec. See, my body stores as much energy as it can because it doesn't work properly, therefore it's wires are crossed and thinks that I'm going to starve if I don't eat or get hungry a lot of the time (now I know this is the incorrect way of thinking about it but it helps me understand myself a bit better). So, because my body thinks it is helping me by storing all the energy and such from food it's up to me to control my own diet and exercise in order to guide my body in the right direction, almost like helping a child who has gotten something a bit wrong and needs some help, if you understand what I'm saying? That was very long winded ha. 

Once again, I thank everybody for reading this post and coming back to my blog, I hope if anybody is reading this with POMC or a child with POMC/LEPR or Prader Willi Syndrome recently diagnosed I hope I've helped a little.
xo.