Author Archives: Hannah Jade

Stress, Mindset & Chronic Illness (Toby Morrison UK Seminar Pt 3)

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Whilst Toby clearly stated that CFS/ME is not all in the mind, he emphasised the negative effect stress has on those with CFS/ME and a lot of chronic illnesses, and from personal experience I can defiantly vouch for stress causing my symptoms to flare up.

Stress is the #1 cause of chronic illness in the world.

We can be our own worst enemy. People with CFS/ME can often stop doing things because doing them causes anxiety and to be frank it is truly quite scary.

This can be from:

  • The anxiety that doing the thing in question is going to cause you some pretty serious payback
  • You wonder if you have forgotten how to do it
  • Run over various outcomes in your head about how it is going to go and,
  • How people are going to react to you.

Continue reading →

Super Quick Nutritious Smoothie

Posted in Gluten Free Recipes, Snacks by

photo(2)This is a delicious smoothie slightly lower in fat and calories than my previous post on smoothie (Link).

Completely Gluten and Dairy Free.

They are great for people will CFS/ME as they are simple to make and easy to eat (well drink), it can also be put in a travel up and drank on the move.

I pretty much have one of these every breakfast and gives you 73% of  your recommended daily Vitamin C intake, 39% Fiber, 10% Protein and only 190 cals, for full nutritional info Click Here. Continue reading →

CFS/ME Triangle of Success (Toby Morrison UK Seminar Pt 2)

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Toby Morrison has been one of the most important parts on my road to recovery from CFS/ME (which is by no means over!). He is a true inspiration to all suffers and really understands what we need to hear in order to help ourself, being a ex-sufferer himself.

At the end of last month I went to his UK seminar and it was really interesting, in part one of this post I went through Toby’s Introduction and symptoms of CFS/ME as well as potential causes (Link)

Triangle of success

We then moved on to to talking about what Toby calls the triangle of success, which I have illustrated below.
CFS Triangle of sucess Continue reading →

Pain Scale

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This is a really great post explaining pain scale, I have all to frequently got confused and like her have rated my pain too low on the scale, this gives clear defined explanations as well as some examples which makes it easier to rate pain effectively.

Pain Warriors's avatarInvisible Pain Warriors

Everyone has likely been exposed to the pain scale at some point in their life. You know, the scale from one to ten, that you are supposed to use to explain your pain level to medical professionals.

For those who live with chronic pain, we quickly become VERY familiar with this scale. We see it in hospitals, in doctor’s offices, and those in pain management see and use it on a very regular basis.

The pain scale is important because it is how we explain the severity of our pain to doctors and nurses and hopefully, if used correctly, it helps to guide them in determining appropriate treatment options.

The problem with the pain scale is that there are many different versions and the scale in and of itself is very subjective. What one patient might rate as a 6, another might rate as a 3. That is because most…

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Review: Sainsbury’s Free From Digestive Biscuits

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photo 2(8)I brought these biscuits to make the base of my fabulous gluten free banoffee pie (Link) and they really did do the job well, it was a shame however the reason the base for the pie was so lovely was due to the butter and chocolate that I added to it.

I brought 2 packs and had almost 3/4 of a pack left after the pie, however all but one are still in the cupboard over a week later.

 

photo 1(11)So why  you ask are these biscuits still in the cupboard and not in the depths of my belly? Well they are flavorless, have a odd crumbly texture and resemble nothing of a digestive, they are £1.35 (Link) for about 10 biscuits.

Overall opinion Mr Sainsburys you can do better!  So all in all I give them a 2/10.

They only scored the points that they did because they helped make such a yummy pie.

I have reviews loads more GF products so you don’t have to try out the dud ones feel free to check them out 🙂 (Link)

Gluten Free Scrumptious Lasagne

Posted in Main Meals by

This is another great recipe to make when having people over for dinner, and like the banoffee pie (Link) I made on the same night this is completely gluten free and my guests had no idea!

I made this mistake of making this after a couple of glasses of wine rather than before so the presentation is not quite my best, the much more sensible approach would have been to make it ahead of time.

Great served with rocket and spinach salad with a balsamic glaze.

Gluten Free Lasagne  Continue reading →

Intro to Toby Morisson Road to Recovery (UK Seminar Part 1)

Posted in CFS Tips by

Toby Morrison has been one of the most important parts on my road to recovery from CFS/ME (which is by no means over!). He is a true inspiration to all suffers and really understands what we need to hear in order to help ourself, being a ex-sufferer himself.

I stumbled Upon Toby by accident on youtube (Link) and it was the turning point in my ability to help myself, it put pacing and baseline in a way that I could understand and make work for me. His Facebook groups, free webinars and videos not only gave me really useful tips, but always put a smile on my face, Toby just radiates positivity which is truly infectious.
Continue reading →

My Team Me- No man (or woman) is an island

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In my a previous post I talked about the inspirational speech that Martine Wright gave, she lost both her legs in the 7/7 bombings but was determined to bring good from the bad (Link), one thing that I wanted to delve into a bit more was her concept of ‘Team Me’ the group of people who help you in your recovery process.

The concept of Team Me really made me think, and I ended up mentally listing of all those who are so vital to my current recovery process, after all no man is an island after all (well woman in this case). I thought I would take the time to write out and share, as a small token of my gratitude. Continue reading →

Tasty 10 minute Gluten Free Thai Noodles

Posted in Main Meals by

It has been a bit of a mission of mine to come up with some super tasty gluten free main meals that are both tasty and quick to make, as well as non gluten free people such as my partner not feeling like they are missing out on their beloved gluten.

This dish was a bit of an experiment and this is the third time that I made it and it do believe I have perfected it, this thai inspired dish is a bit of a mix between pad thai and chicken satay, made with rice noodles keeps both the GF tummys and Gluten eaters happy. The poached egg on top makes the a super yummy sauce when you crack open the yolk 🙂

Gluten Free Thai Noodles

 

Continue reading →

The inspirational Martine Wright – How good can come from bad

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Martine+WrightLast Wednesday I attended a huge corporate event which completely wiped me out but was defiantly worth it! (Link) During the day we heard from ex world leaders, got entertained by A listers, and whilst all that was amazing what really struck a cord with me was the speech that Martine Wright gave, she is such a true inspiration.

Who is this Martine Wright you ask? Well to be honest I had no idea myself when she stepped on stage, but still her story really stuck a cord and brought both tear to my eye and a smile to my face.

Martine was a high flying marketing executive busy wrapped up in her own crazy busy life, until the day on July 7th 2005 when she got on a tube whilst running slightly late for work, sitting reading in the metro about how London and just being awarded the 2012 Olympics.

What she didn’t notice or realise at the time was that the man sitting opposite her with his rucksack (full of explosives!) had intentions to cause mass casualties and disruption to London’s rush hour traffic, and he succeeded. Continue reading →