Wednesday 5 October 2011

Kick Start

Hey everyone,

Here's another apology for being a 3rd-rate blogger, I've just been so busy getting everything ready for Uni, working full time and then entertaining people who were staying.  I'm now into my 3rd day of Uni and have kick started myself back into a promising gym routine.  I'm doing an hour 4 days a week at the gym of pure hardcore cardio and now I've joined the gospel choir dance group (2hours a week) and Ballet (1hour a week) so I should be getting 7 hours of exercise a week which is quite good.  I also have 3 extra hours of language lessons on a Monday and various Hispanic Society commitments throughout the Semester so I'm becoming one busy busy lady.  I kind of kicked back last year and got slobbish but I believe keeping busy makes me think I have no time to do work and therefore makes me very efficient when it comes to studying (i.e. studying every spare moment I have).  It also makes me more social as I appreciate time off and actually make the effort to go out and meet up with folk.

I won't lie, I haven't done so well weight-wise.  I am still 110lbs but I was up to 112lbs again which scared me shitless and brought about my subsequent return to 110.  I've recently found out about my general stomach and gut problems, well I've had them for years but only just had a diagnosis.  I have a hiatus hernia which is when the stomach protrudes through the diaphragm, so it's like a normal hernia but just in a different area, I basically have to stop eating acidic things and be on medication for the rest of my life, if I still don't get an improvement I can go in for surgery but I'd rather avoid that - getting spliced open is not my idea of a solution... I also had some blood tests done for allergy testing and I've found out that I do indeed have a wheat allergy which was a relief but I also found out I'm allergic to egg whites, peanuts, hazelnuts, almonds and sesame seeds...as you can imagine I was slightly miffed about this outcome.  Now my reactions are not massive, I just getting stomach pains, gas, diarrhoea and a general sense of nausea after eating these things so I could in theory go on eating them but just with great discomfort.  I have now been off all of these things for a whole week and I have to admit I feel fantastic, it's sickening to think I can never have peanut butter again or Nutella but I just have to live with it.  I thought my biggest hurdle would be the egg whites but actually I've found that nuts are literally in fucking everything, I feel sorry for people with full-blown nut allergies because it's horrific the amount of stuff you can't eat - this is mainly because of factories not separating lines that handle nuts.  Obviously if the actual foodstuff only says that the product was made in a factory handling nuts then I still eat it because I know my allergy is only small.  Although I was shocked to see how much chocolate contains nuts, not just traces but actual nuts as ingredients...it was depressing.  I have 'moderate' allergies to wheat and hazelnuts and then 'low' allergies to everything else but it's just going to make New Year in Austria this year very interesting because everything Christmas-ie there contains nuts or wheat...luckily I can still have the gluhwein, at least I think nutmeg is still safe, and jagertee is definitely allowed.  I'm now trying to find recipes for lentils and pulses in order to get some kind of fibre as I'm currently surviving on Fybogel to keep me regular and not backed up like a balooned whale. 

Avoiding all of the above is nigh on impossible and has made it highly embarrassing visiting restaurants this past week as it has then limited my choices to about one meal on the entire menu, which is great for me in terms of controlling weight but I feel self-conscious that I'm being too picky.  Also if it turns out that I can only eat one choice which I don't actually like then I become the annoying fussy eater, and believe me although I have issues I am not a fussy eater...I find myself cursing those people on Come Dine With Me who hate everything that's put in front of them - I'm like "why on earth did you go on a cooking programme if you don't like food?!".  I love food and I'm sure I always will but I just control the quantity - as they say it's quality not quantity.  Speaking of which, this new tapas bar around the corner from me is increĆ­ble!  It's immensely social, you just stand around and chat and drink with friends while you select small dishes for you all to tuck into and nibble at, the atmosphere is just superb but it is packed everyday of the week even at lunchtime so you have to pick your moment.  Basically it is the most authentic tapas environment I've experienced in the UK, it reminds me a lot of being in Valencia but in all honesty I can't really comment on the tapas scene as I've never been to Sevilla which is THE place for tapas.

Anyhoos I better dash, I've got a chunk of reading for tomorrow plus ballet this evening so I'll say chau for now. 

Saludos de Londres,
Abrazitos
xx

1 comment:

  1. Glad you found the source of your tummy problems but having to restrict all those foods must be rough. I feel very lucky that I don't have allergies. Oh, and ballet! so fun. Great job on juggling all that school work and social outings.

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