where I'm at and your thoughts....

*this is a lengthy post but I promise there is a point to it :)

Hello my lovely friends and to all my new followers, Welcome!  I just thought I would stop by and let you know where I am at in regards to blogging.  I am in a bit of a rut at the moment and feeling both uninspired and unmotivated but feeling a sense of obligation at the same time to keep this space updated.  I know as bloggers you will know exactly what I am talking about.  We all at times seem to go through this ebb and flow and I have found the best thing to do is just roll with the punches, so please bear with me.

This year has been a huge one for my family and I and though I have shared some of what's been going on in this space some things are just too private to air.  It's been a difficult journey at times and through all the struggles and adapting I have slowly changed as a person.  I don't think you could go through such upheaval without it having an impact of some sort.  It's due to these changes and taking a lot of time to really get to know myself again, that I have come to realise that my focus is no longer the same.  It has shifted directions. And while I am still enjoying snippets of what I used to, my passions for now lie elsewhere.

So where does that leave 'little poppa'?  At the moment I am not sure.  Starting out as a novice, I never really gave any thought to where this journey would take me.  I was just eager to jump on board and found it a great vehicle at times to get me through some of the dark days of pnd.  I do love having this space and I do love the blogging community and all the friendships that I have formed but I just am no longer inspired to keep continuing in the fashion I have been.  If you get my drift.

For many months now I have been considering changing my blog name as using Kaizers' nickname no longer suits me or where I am headed.  At this point I am not sure whether I will just change the name here and continue on or start a new blog altogether but I'll keep you updated once I've decided.  To give you some idea of what I have in mind let me back track a little.....

You may remember the change I talked about earlier this year of giving my health a major overhaul and how fantastic I was feeling?  Well after about 12wks I became complacent and slowly let my diet and exercise slide to the point where before I knew it I had gained almost 8 of the 12 kgs lost!  I felt disgusting!! and was horrified that in a matter of weeks of reintroducing home baked goodies/bread and pasta's that I could be so out of control.   I had brain fog, poor memory, aches and pains, a low concentration level, no energy to speak of, an increase in blood pressure to name a few.  Back to the drawing board it was.  I had to face the fact that my choices had to be   l o n g  t e r m    and not a quick fix band aid.  I started researching, absorbing information, experimenting, testing and tweaking, cooking, dumping and recooking and before long was formulating a plan of action for the benefit of not only me but my family too.  You see my whole life I was surrounded by family who cooked from scratch. My grandparents, my parents, aunts & uncles.  It was all I knew so I guess it was a given that I too would do much the same for my family.   I was under the illusion that cooking from scratch was giving us the best of both worlds.  Little did I know until as recently as last year just just how detrimental white sugar/flour - a staple of all my home baking including bread - can be on one's health.

Through eating a clean, organic wholefood diet consisting mainly of meat/fish, vegetables and fruit I have managed to get back on track to where I was previously but in order for me to maintain this way of life it is something I need to implement with my family too, some of whom I also believe suffer from diet related issues.   Our commitment (which will be a major struggle for our almost two adult boys) is to go a year of eating food as close to nature as possible....lots of fresh organic produce, wild fish, grass fed meats, organic whole grains and the like, alternative milks and such.  I am sure you get the point.  Much of this is not a foreign concept to us but releasing ourselves from the grip of white sugar and flour and those processed condiments and a few other items that I am notorious for buying will be the initial focus of our change.  In no way am I making any judgements or criticisms towards those who use these items, I am just wanting to do the best by my family that I possibly can and the more I read, the more I am convinced that eliminating these items and eating a diet based solely on the above will help quite dramatically.  I still have so much to learn and am under no illusion that it will be a time of continued learning but I am more passionate about this topic than I have been in anything for a long time (likely due to the haze of pnd).

So all this leads me to asking how you would feel about following our journey? There will still be a few posts about other life happenings but for the most part my posts will have a strong focus on my kitchen.  Please know that I won't take any offence to any one who is no longer interested in following.


Tammi x