by Kai | Oct 3, 2022 | and more, diet and lifestyle, planning, Health, A day in the life 2022, Life, A day in the life
I don’t often post about food on here, nor specific health stuff. I don’t want to be giving advice without making sure all the edges and ramifications are covered. So, disclaimer, what I’m talking about is what I’ve decided to try for me until I can talk to my GP and firm it all up.
I’d also like to ask that if you do comment, you don’t go after me for doing stuff this way, nor give me advice that sells me something. I’m not interested. If you’ve got genuine advice, and it would be something that I need to ask about, I’m happy to follow up, but, please don’t go full on with me, I’ve had a week of it already, and I’m not really keen on either approving a comment which could endanger others, nor take advice motivated simply by shilling, so please don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind well meaning advice, but if you say anything about certain things, I won’t approve your comment.
Dietary changes ahead…
So, after the iron conversation on Monday, I started looking into everything I could do. I’d sorta already landed on bone broth a few times in my research and brushed up against it again, but I had the week to plan it, as we do groceries on Friday. A conversation with my butcher later, and I got some lamb bones, and got the rest of the stuff I needed on Friday, so that was fine. (Yes, I’m aware that you can buy bone broth, I’m just not sure I want to, given the cost of living right now). Nutritional yeast and other stuff have also been grabbed, and that’s where I am right now. Waiting for more blood tests, I’ve now started adventures cooking my own bone broth. Which I’ll share once I’ve perfected it, but I cooked it yesterday, it’s all brilliant in the fridge for the stuff I needed for today (and either tonight or tomorrow, cause honestly, it’s SO tasty. I’m a bit surprised off the back of the first attempt to be honest. I’m not a vegetarian, but… I dunno, I wasn’t sure about dealing with bones. Nor the processes. (yesterday was a bit of a fun time. Blanche, roast, then pressure cook the bones, and though I’ve got 6lbs of bones, I’ve only used 2lb so far, so there was some to freeze after roasting, then cool, skim…there’s a lot about the process I think I need to perfect, but honestly? Around all of it, I could stick the stuff in to roast while making dough for bread, pressure cook it, keep the bread going and just spend a day in the kitchen making. And my Instant Pot made it so much easier.
Recipe coming later, but I figured I should talk about it a little bit more, and in depth in a place off my social media, because I think there’s going to be a lot about being anemic and treatments and how the NHS are saving my butt again coming up. And how it’s not going to slow me down.
It’s just a learning experience.
Kai is a writer, author and avid reader. A mental health advocate, Ludosport athlete and coder. She’s the mother of two young adults, owned by two cats, and lives with her beloved in the Cotswolds.
by Kai | Oct 3, 2022 | About D Kai Wilson-Viola, Life, A day in the life, Announcements, diet and lifestyle, Organisation, Health, #mondayblogs, A day in the life 2022
It’s been a weird week at Casa Wilson-Viola. It started on Monday morning, waking up with THE worst cold, and wanting to get so much done, and then….getting a call about my blood tests from the Friday before. Turns out I’m incredibly anemic again, so I was right about that. And while that wasn’t a surprise, what came next kinda did.
I don’t know enough about anemia to actually talk about it properly, I just know what I know. And what I think might be going on, but I’m still waiting for some outstanding blood tests. That was why what came next was a bit…’what?’.
So. I’m not just one type of anemic, I’m two. It could be that I’m actually only one, but I’ve got one version that’s different from the last time, that causes the second one, or if I’m actually two. So. Monday was the ‘omg, your iron count is really low’ anemia conversation. The last time I had it, I was two points lower than I am now, and went for infusions in January 2022. So, tests were arranged for once I shifted my cold, and that was that.
Tuesday though, I got a text asking me to pick up some supplements from my pharmacy. I didn’t really get to talk to the doctor this time, but when I read ‘B12 and folate deficiency’, I started researching. Mostly because I wanted to work out what was ‘different’ this time, and whether it also explained the reason I asked (turns out, it doesn’t). I’ll talk about that a bit later, cause this week has been a bit of a pivot for me, without actually changing the general plans I had.
You can be one type of anemic without the other, but this time I’m both. I’m unsure where that leaves me, and won’t know till I talk to my doctor about the tests and what my next steps are. For now, though, I wanted to share the after…
This week has been a perspective change…
I was talking to a friend about the things I was changing to get ‘better’, which added time to my day that I’d been clearing down for writing, but she raised something that led me to the idea that I wanted to share.
I’d been talking about how it kinda made sense that my motivation wasn’t there, why I was foggy and tired all the time, and I said that before, I’d have laid down and postponed stuff. Given in for now. But, the last week was basically ‘ok, so what do I do?’.
Part of it is deciding that happiness is something I work for. Another part is that giving in…it’s not something I want to keep doing, and honestly? I can stay in bed and write.
So, that’s where happiness is and isn’t something we earn comes from with me. Happiness is something you can work towards, by achieving goals, and it’s the type I’m cussed on right now I guess, but you can also stumble into it too.
Especially if your balance is anything like mine right now.
This week is a big one for me – I’ve got books to announce, projects to signpost and more, so don’t be surprised if there’s more posts than usual appearing, and if you’ve got questions about the dietary stuff, hold them? I’m writing that up next 😉
Kai is a writer, author and avid reader. A mental health advocate, Ludosport athlete and coder. She’s the mother of two young adults, owned by two cats, and lives with her beloved in the Cotswolds.
Looking forward to those recipes.