I fell ill in 2009. It was a strange illness that no specialist could diagnose. I was sleepy... always sleepy. The brain fog was awful. I caught myself napping in front of the bananas at NTUC Fairprice. Life looked drab and dreary. I was so tired that I wondered whether that was what Death felt like. Often, I thought it would be wonderful to sleep and never wake up again because when I was awake, life looked so grey. I went from gynaecologist to endocrinologist, looking for a definite diagnosis. There was nothing wrong with me, they concluded. My bloodwork showed normal levels of everything.
Yet, I did not feel well. I had to find my own solution.
Looking back at the past 10 years, I realise that much of what worked addressed my gut health.
Going onto Probiotics
As a child, my Mom fed me 1 course of antibiotics every 2 months. Every time I had a flu, she would bug the doctor for the strongest antibiotics. This cannot have been good for my gut flora. Since the bacteria had mostly died, the yeast, candida, thrived in my gut. My body could still manage to counter it through my 20s and 30s. By the time I hit my 40s, the candida was winning. The more ground it gained, the more ill I was.
Daily consumption of milk kefir helped immensely but I was still ill.
Going off Gluten
Candida had triggered the onset of my celiac disease. I went from asymptomatic to fully symptomatic. Thanks to candida, eating gluten triggered an auto-immune response that destroyed my intestinal villii. For years, I wondered why whatever I ate, came out the other end recognisable as food that went in. The transit time was only 6 hours. Anything that I had eaten 6 hours ago, would be passed out already. When I went to see a TCM doctor for a stubborn flu, she felt my pulse and looked deep into my eyes, "We need to heal your digestion." I wondered how she knew.
I was still ill because I was severely undernourished.
Avoiding Xeno-Oestrogens
At around that time, a new maid brought in an infestation of bed bugs. I sprayed permethrin daily in our bedroom for 1 year. Pesticides contain high levels of xeno-oestrogens. As a result, my oestrogen levels went through the roof. Oestrogen encourages candida to become even more virulent.
So, my candida did even more damage to my gut.
I became very sensitive to non-organic veggies. My body reacted to the presence of commercial pesticides. So, I had to grow my own organic greens.
Going onto Turmeric Paste and Pomegranate Juice
To address my oestrogen dominance, I went onto bodybuilding sites where men complained about moobs. Apparently, turmeric and pomegranate are both anti-oestrogenic. They certainly worked wonders for me. The month after I went on therapeutic doses of turmeric and pomegranate, my bleeding slowed to a trickle from what was previously a blood flood. My skin turned from oily to dry.
Oh wow! Yay!
The body's endocrine system is a finely balanced one. High levels of oestrogen can cause low levels of thyroid hormones. Blood tests showed me to be hypothyroid. Once you have a hormone imbalance, it affects every other hormone. I had weird levels of cortisol and insulin. I could never eat porridge because withing 30 minutes of eating porridge, I would be too sleepy to stay awake.
Going onto Rosemary and Ceylon Cinnamon Tisanes
My digestion was still not as it should be. I became more and more sensitive to foods. I decided to take rosemary and ceylon cinnamon tisanes daily. One or the other or both. This has done wonders for my gut health. After about 1 year, I no longer had runaway candidiasis. This has helped my gut to heal.
I finally began to properly absorb nutrients.
Losing Weight. Building Muscle.
The more nutrients I took in, the more weight I lost. Previously, I could only absorb sugars. The more I ate, the more weight I put on and the more muscle I lost... and I was still tired, oh so tired!! Everything I put in my mouth converted into fat storage, not energy.
My PE tuition teacher was wonderful. For 2 years, she accompanied me through hormone crashes and hormone recovery periods. Frequently, I thought that I would never build back the muscle mass that I had lost but Tracy was just wonderful. She stepped up my exercises gradually and from barely being able to do 1 push up, I can now do 10. I went from screaming at 5 leg lifts to doing 60.
I could not cycle more than an hour a day without experiencing a hormone crash and extreme tiredness the day after. Even in 2018, there were days when my hormones crashed and I could not even get up out of bed. For the past 10 months, that has not happened.
Keeping Hope Alive
It was a long and hard slog. For months, I refused to even look at the bathroom scales because nothing budged. It was demoralising to exercise so much and not see progress. Tracy told me that I was losing inches but maintaining weight because muscle is heavier than fat, but I really wanted to see the needle move downwards. For months and months, it never moved. I could cycle 2000 calories a day and lose no weight at all.Yet, if I ate just a little more, I would gain 1kg.
I kept hope alive by telling myself that I was exercising for health and not beauty. I wanted my energy back and a certain quality of life that I had lost since 2009. I stopped looking at my weight loss goals and focused instead on the exercise regime. Just do it blindly and don't worry about the results. Focus on the process, not on the results.
I looked forward to our Europe holidays once every 2 years because in the cold winters of Europe, I could walk a lot. I could walk all day. I became stronger after every Europe holiday where I pushed myself to walk.
I've lost 2.5 inches off my waist, 3 inches off my hips. I feel lighter and stronger. I went from Size L to Size S or XS. I can now throw off flus within a day when previously, I needed 2 months. I wake up in the morning energetic, happy and in love with life. I haven't collapsed in 10 months!!
