Since mentioning my bloating problem on Instastories a few weeks ago, I have been flooded with messages and comments from so many of you sharing your stories of similar issues. I could not believe how many other women suffer with the same thing! If you are completely unaware of what I'm talking about, in a nutshell I've struggled with bad bloating or what I now know to be "gut inflammation" ever since having my second baby (Eduardo). It struck a few months postpartum, long after I had reached my pre-baby weight. It was incredibly frustrating because although I looked normal each morning or for the first half of the day, every evening after dinner my stomach would stick out to the point where I looked about 4/5 months pregnant. A few people suggested I had developed an intolerance to gluten or dairy but I tried cutting both of those out and none of it worked.
Since falling pregnant for the third time back in 2016 and then going onto have Alessia straight after and Andrea straight after that, the bloating seemed to go away as it never affected me as badly when I was carrying my babies (or perhaps I just didn't notice it as much as my stomach was never flat then anyway!). But several months after having Andrea it came back with a vengeance. Each morning I would start the day with a relatively flat stomach (for me at least!) and almost every evening after dinner I looked like I was expecting baby number 5. (I am definitely NOT, by the way!) I was extremely uncomfortable, it made me feel self-conscious and frustrated despite my efforts at working out every morning and having reached my goal weight.
"Intermittent Fasting" has become a bit of a craze in the diet/fitness world and although I had heard of the tremendous benefits and it was first brought to my attention by my OB/GYN, I had always shied away from the idea of anything with the word "fasting" in it due to my past history with an eating disorder. I personally do not believe that cutting out food groups or restricting calories in anyway is the best option for someone like me, no matter how many years I maybe recovered. That being said, I started to notice that I had unintentionally fallen into a pattern of intermittent fasting without realising it and it was not anywhere near as restrictive or triggering as I had originally assumed it to be.
Let me explain...when I was pregnant with Andrea I suffered with awful heartburn. This was always worse later on in the day, more specifically when I ate late at night. So I stopped eating dessert or anything sweet every evening and instead moved it around to earlier in the day. (I still had to have something yummy!) That got me out of the habit of eating late anyway, I felt better for it and just never really took it back up after giving birth. Since having Andrea my routine shifted to a little bit earlier and I now wake up at 5:30am and go to bed at 8:30pm. Our kids have always eaten around 5pm and I just naturally eat with them, or sometimes a little bit after. On the weekends we might even eat at 4:30pm, depending on how the day pans out!
I began to notice that whenever I ate before 6pm I was less bloated and my tummy felt better. If I ate later in the evening I had a hard time falling asleep that night, I felt sluggish the next day and my bloating was much worse. I used to eat breakfast around 8:30am anyway, after the older children had gone to school and I had fed the babies, dogs and cleaned up the kitchen. Now that we live a bit farther from the school, Jonathan is normally home from drop-off a bit later and we like to eat breakfast together so I started eating at around 9am. This basically gives me an "intermittent fast" of 14-15 hours. I only became aware of this after realising that by doing it for the past week or so, my bloating had pretty much disappeared! I do not know if you can really call this a true "fast" because from what I've read online intermittent fasting generally has to start at 16 hours, but in any case it doesn't matter because this is what has worked for me and I can't tell you how much it has changed my life! I feel so much better, I no longer go to bed feeling uncomfortable and bloated, I have more energy, I sleep like a log every night...and another benefit which may be TMI...I am SO regular!! Which was never the case for me so...there you go!
Some final points on this topic though; I am not a nutritionist or a doctor. I am just a woman who has gone through five pregnancies and this is how my body reacted to the hormonal changes that happened afterwards. I feel that this way of eating has benefited me greatly HOWEVER please be aware that everyone is different and I would encourage anyone to speak to their doctor if you have any questions or concerns. I am not qualified to give nutritional advice. What worked for me may not work for you!
What I'm Wearing
Clothing
Top & trousers - Whistles (old)
Shoes - River Island (old)
Scarf - Hermes
Jewellery
14K Gold 5 Letter Necklace - Maya Brenner (gifted)
Perlée Signature Gold Bracelet - Van Cleef & Arpels
Soleste Earrings in Rose Gold - Tiffany's
Makeup
- Benefit Hoola Bronzer (gifted)
- Benefit FoolProof Brow Powder in 03 (gifted)
- Benefit 3D Browtones in 02 (gifted)
- NARS Mohave Eyeshadow Quad (gifted)
- MaxFactor False Lash Effect Mascara in Black (gifted)
Onto what I ate today:
Breakfast 9:04am
I had my usual breakfast of 1/2 a cup of sprouted oats, 1 and 1/4 cups of unsweetened vanilla almond milk, raisins, a medjool date, cinnamon and a black coffee. About 30 minutes prior to this I also had another black coffee and when I did my workout at 5:30am I drank a whole 900ml bottle of water! Some people have asked me whether I get hungry for breakfast at that time of the morning and the honest answer is no, not at all! My tummy doesn't start rumbling until about 8/8:30am.
Snack 11am
At about 11 o'clock I had a snack of a banana and some walnuts. Walnuts are my favourite - I also love pecans, almonds and Brazil nuts!
Lunch 1:34pm
For lunch I had a wholewheat flatbread (wrap) with 1/2 an avocado and 2 hardboiled eggs mashed up with some Himalayan pink salt & black pepper. On the side I had some chopped tomatoes, cucumber and balsamic vinegar on a bed of rocket. I also drank another 900ml bottle of water.
Afternoon Snack 4:09pm
After the school run I had a much-deserved frothy almond milk latte (third coffee of the day!) with one of my homemade Easter chocolate chip cookies. These are my weakness...I made them with mini-eggs for Easter and they never last very long in our house! You can get to the recipe I use here, although I omit the peppermint bark and just add whatever other seasonal treats I want! In this case it was mini-eggs.
Dinner 5:31pm
For dinner we had Risotto Verde from Rachel Allen's Favourite Food at Home cookbook. This is a recipe I make time and time again for our family and was one of the first things I cooked for my dad when I was a teenager! I found the recipe online here. With my dinner I drank another 900ml bottle of water and then before bed I took my multivitamin & fish oil. I take Pregnacare Breastfeeding as well as vitamin D drops but I normally take the drops whenever I remember to throughout the day...I leave the bottle out on the kitchen table as I give them to Andrea & Alessia too.
Hopefully you enjoyed this week's What I Ate Wednesday and if you do suffer from bloating or gut inflammation, let me know what has helped you! I would love to hear from you.
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