Healthy eating/gardening/anxiety

[rainbowninja]

Is anyone interested in joining a thread about the impact of healthy eating on their mental health?

I've suffered from anxiety for years but it's been a lot worse since I became a mum.

With lockdown in the mix I just feel physically and emotionally depleted.

I've had some tests done and I know that I am low in certain vitamins etc. I've been recommended supplements to take and to 'eat the rainbow' (basically eat shed loads of veg). I want to give it a go for my own sake and my daughter because I know I'm not being the best mum to her. I'm anxious and irritable.

It feels quite overwhelming but I am quite interested in learning about nutrition, I also quite like the idea of having a go at growing some of my own veg as I've been enjoying being outside lately and I know it helps me.

I don't want to do it on my own though so I wondered if there were any other anxious mumsnetters out there that would be interested in learning/growing with me. No pressure to change anything overnight, maybe we could just cheer each other on for drinking an extra glass of water or something?

How are you doing @SunshineCake? And no need to read the whole thread, unless you want to of course!

@Tal45 you sound like you've had a bit of success in the garden! I'd forgotten about runner beans, I remember then in my nan's garden when I was a kid. I'm with you on herbs, they seem fairly hands off and add quite a lot of flavour to food. I've got an area of my garden which will be ready to plant up soon buts it's quite shaded so I'm not too sure how much luck I'll have with anything 🤔

Hi Rainbow, I don't feel anxious, just very alert. It takes me hours to fall asleep again.

I celebrated my DD 19th birthday today. Took her out for lunch and shopping. Watching a film now 😊

Your tea sounds lovely as always. I can't remember the last time I did a roast dinner.

How has your day been?

Hi @Lokikitty,

Sorry I missed your message on Saturday for some reason. I hope your daughter had a nice birthday?

I've been a bit low today, I have to homeschool my daughter this week and I feel a bit overwhelmed. I'm just feeling quite physically anxious again. I wonder if it might be that since I've been doing this elimination diet I am going through a bit of a detoxification. Hope it's that anyway.

Hi Rainbow, my dd felt a bit run down on her birthday. I tried to make it as nice as I could. I've just made her some cookies, which she's very happy about. I was in the mood for baking.

I spent the weekend treating me and my DD. I got myself new shoes and makeup. It seems to have done me good.

Sorry you're feeling low. Maybe you just need a bit more time to get used to the new diet. It can be a very big change. Hope the homeschooling goes okay.

Thank you for asking @rainbowninja. I'm struggling a bit with highs and lows. I'm peri/menopausal and need to fund out when I'll feel normal from that point of view while dealing with up and down moods .

I'm sorry you are feeling low. Would it help to make a plan for the home schooling so you know what you will be doing ? I know I cope better with things when I have a plan.

@Lokikitty sorry your daughter was a bit under the weather at the weekend, it's lovely you were able to treat yourselves though. Glad it gave you a boost.

@SunshineCake the school have set work on google classroom but it's a good point, I think I need to look at it each day before I sit down with my daughter to do it or it just gets stressful. I hope your highs and lows even themselves out a bit.

I've signed up to do a webinar type thing on gut health this evening and I'm not sure I fancy it. I feel a bit overloaded with information. I might join for a bit and see what it's like.

Hi Rainbow, how are you? Was the webinar any good? I'm feeling surprisingly okay considering my leaving do got cancelled today. The staff I was going out with got sent home to isolate.

I've decided to eat out anyway on my own. It's something that I do quite often. Having been single for a long time, I just decided a long time ago to just do things on my own.

Going to focus on healthy eating and exercise starting from next weekend. It should be easier this time as I know what healthy meals and snacks to have. Plus less temptation as there's always junk food in the school staff room.

Hi @Lokikitty how was your meal? Sad that your colleagues had to isolate, so much of that going on at the minute. I love that you ate out anyway 👍🏻

The webinar was good, it confirmed a few things I already knew but it also really hammered home the message about the link between stress and poor digestion. I still worry a lot about not being able to do things with my daughter and it felt like the message was to let go of that worry because my best chance of feeling well is to not stress about it.

The webinar sounds really positive. Glad you got something out of it.

My meal was lovely. I got creamy chicken with fries 😋. Treated myself to a couple of drinks as well 😊. I went somewhere new. Love trying new places. Do you enjoy eating out?

That sounds delicious @Lokikitty I used to eat out a lot before I had my DD but not so much now.

I think I had a fairly awful diet for a few years and then when I was pregnant with my daughter I got obstetric cholestasis which is a liver condition. It's another thing which has motivated me to study nutrition as no one really explains these things to you at the time.

Hi Rainbow, are you enjoying the good weather? I sat in a friend's garden on Saturday. Just done a barbecue for tea. It's a bit too hot for me but would be a shame to waste such lovely weather.

I did some gardening at the weekend. Cut back my Rose tree and pulled out weeds.

Hi @Lokikitty actually we are having some work done in our back garden which is unfortunate timing as it was delayed from earlier in the year and now means we can't use it in this nice weather. Bit of a pain but it'll be nice when it's done.

I made a buckwheat pancake for breakfast this morning and had it with some cinnamon apple which was lovely.

Your garden looks nice! Looking forward to getting mine back when the work is done, will have some more planting space.

That's a shame Rainbow, that you can't use your garden in such lovely weather. At least you can look forward to it being completed.

Your breakfast sounds lovely and healthy 😋
It's my last day at my current job. Starting from Saturday I'm going to focus on healthy eating and exercise 😊

What do you want to plant? I've done Roses, pansies and fuchsia so far 🌹

Good luck with the healthy eating Loki! Hope your last day went well!

Love the sound of your flowers, I'm thinking of planting more herbs although haven't decided which ones yet. Might try some salad leaves too. A friend came over earlier and brought some homegrown chard, put it in a salad and it was lovely.

Hi Rainbow, my last day was a training day so it was really boring. I felt really emotional last night. I think it finally sunk in that I'm leaving!

I've never tried chard. You eat a lot of things that I haven't tried! Day 1 of healthy eating has gone well. It was just a bit boring because I haven't done my food shopping yet. I used up some tinned fish and fruit that I had in and got a chicken salad while I was out shopping.

I'm going to have a bit of time off, then do my agency work in August. So got myself books and a jigsaw puzzle to keep myself busy.

I know what you mean Loki, I always used to feel emotional when I left a job!

Good that you used up what you had and went for a healthy option while you were shopping. I'm quite good on vegetables, it's the protein bit that I'm not so adventurous on!

I hope you have a lovely week off and enjoy your books and jigsaw. What kind of books do you like?

Hi, Rainbow. I don't have a particular type of book that I read at the moment. I used to be a bookworm and knew what I liked to read. A friend has given me some Sunday times bestseller books to read. I've finished reading The Dilemma, which was good.

Healthy eating is going well. I did a chicken dinner with roasted vegetables yesterday. Made chicken sandwiches with leftovers today.

Took my DD to Morecambe beach today. I've done lots of walking while shopping, going to the beach and going to a park. It had a Japanese garden that I was looking forward to seeing but it turned out to be neglected. The beach was lovely.

Glad you enjoyed the beach Loki 😊

I love chicken kebabs. Not sure what we're having for tea tonight, I might have a go at onion bahji. I did pilau rice yesterday but it wasn't as nice as you get in restaurants.

I like the sound of your book, I might suggest it for my book club. I've just started 'hidden lives of trees' which looks interesting!

Hope you have something nice for tea Rainbow.

I've just got in from my Zumba class. It was really good. First time I've been in a year and a half. It rained all day today, so it was good to exercise indoors.

I went to an art class yesterday and painted some flowers. Got another art class tomorrow. What are your plans for the summer?

Hi @Lokikitty how are you? You sound like you are keeping yourself busy! I haven't got much planned for the summer, just taking it a day at a time seems to work better for me.

I've slipped up a few times recently with the healthy eating but not giving myself too hard a time about it. It's nice to know that I can still stick to it most of the time and it won't effect me if I have a treat now and then.

I'm running out of ideas a bit though so need to get some fresh inspiration I think!

Hi Rainbow, I have to keep myself busy when I'm off work, otherwise I go a bit crazy! I'm constantly planning what I can do to get me out of the house.

Last week I did my art and Zumba classes ,went to the circus and the beach. It was a relief to return to work today. I wouldn't normally take a week off, so I'm glad it went well.

I know what you mean about slipping up with healthy eating. I've decided to have cheat days as and when I need it.

I went to a friend's house yesterday. She does the keto diet. I got a few ideas from her. She did a chickpea salad with tamarind. It was nice. She also made a lentil curry which reminded me that it's something that I want to try cooking.

Hi @Lokikitty, I hope your return to work has been ok.

I like the sound of the chickpea salad with tamarind, I've seen a few recipes recently with that in and like the sound of it.

I don't know about Keto but sounds like it's high protein? I know that protein is important for blood sugar balance which can be an issue for people with anxiety so it sounds like borrowing some ideas from that would be good.

I made a buckwheat banana bread this week, I didn't leave it in the oven long enough as I'd halved the recipe and wasn't sure how long it would take to cook but it was still tasty. I ate the whole thing 😂

Hi Rainbow, work has been good but very tiring. It takes me 2 hours to get to the special needs centre that I work at in the holidays. I put up with it because it's really good experience and the staff are lovely.

Keto is high protein, high fat and low carb. I also do intermittent fasting, where I stop eating early in the evening and have a late breakfast. This diet makes me feel really calm and focused. It also helps me keep my weight down.

Your buckwheat banana bread sounds lovely. I want to get back to cooking and baking but I'm too tired from work.

I went to a creative cafe yesterday to enquire about pottery classes. I'm hoping to book some classes for me and my DD next week.

Hi @Lokikitty I hope your weeks going ok. I'm not surprised you don't feel like baking after that commute. I like the sound of the special needs centre though, what age children do you work with?

I treated myself to some dark chocolate on Sunday and woke up with a racing heart on Sunday night so I feel like chocolate in the evening is definitely not a good idea for me. Common sense really but I still needed to check 😂

Interesting about the fasting, I've heard that's good for your health. I have a tendency to get a bit peckish about half ten at night, if I have anything I try to keep it to something like a handful of nuts but I'm not always able to resist the crisps. I'm better not having any in the house.

Hi Rainbow, the special needs centre is lovely. I work with children that are 5-14 years old. There are older children and young adults that come too. I haven't been asked to work with them so far.

Talking of dark chocolate, I allowed myself a rare treat after work yesterday. I got a banana and dark chocolate flapjack 😋

I know what you mean about it being better not having any crisps in the house. That's what I was like. I used to have a snack cupboard that was only for my DD 🤣

I went to Trafford a few days ago for an autism assessment. I find out the outcome soon.