Thank you for visiting our blog and joining us on our healthy lifestyle on the road to having a baby and life in general! We aim to show both the man and woman’s point of view, feelings and experience on the road from recovering from burnout and chronic fatigue to having a healthy little baby as naturally as possible. After being inspired by Dave Asprey’s Bulletproof diet and ‘The Better Baby Book’ co-written with his wife, we decided that we wanted to wanted to live healthy, reach our full potential in whatever we do and also give our children (when we do have them!) the best chance and start in life. We realised the 6 months before conception and the whole of the pregnancy was just as important to a child’s development and potential health.
Charlotte says, ” I suffered major burnout and was struck with a viral infection in August 2015 that left me with chronic fatigue…After meeting Simon shortly before this, I was helped on my road to recovery as Simon had also suffered from adrenal burnout and chronic fatigue. He educated himself back to full health with proper nutrition, a healthy mindset and a change in lifestyle and was someone I could look up to and learn from. I have always wanted to live a more natural lifestyle so it was refreshing to meet someone who shared my interests and view of the world.
My periods stopped at the point of this viral infection (I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome which can cause irregular periods and make it a bit harder to get pregnant naturally in some women) and didn’t return until April 27th 2016. Being a yoga teacher and always asking the question ‘Why?’ about life, I decided a few weeks prior enough was enough and that I wanted to heal my body naturally, get my periods back, regain my energy and spark, and have a baby naturally in the future. After quite a few stressful years, it was the first ‘normal’ period in around 4 years. I once went 2 years without a period a few years back, and was given Provera which is a medication similar to the hormone Progesterone to induce bleeding in women who haven’t had a period in a long time. In 4 years, I had 3 periods all lasting 1-2 days long, so to finally have one that felt normal for my body was such a relief. What also amazed me was that I had literally no PMS or period pains, I hardly bloated or had cravings for sugar like all the periods of the past…!
I looked into what foods might help me get my periods back, what Yoga poses could help and what I could do to ease stress in my lifestyle. After a few weeks of fertility yoga, daily fertility affirmations, having better quality sleep, being determined and positive and making changes to my diet, my period returned!!! Doctors in the past have told me that it’s easier if I use fertility drugs when I want to have children, but I am determined to have a baby as naturally as I can. I am a big believer that if we create the right environment for our bodies to live at optimum health, then we have a much better chance of creating a fertile and healthy environment, not only to have a baby, but to live a healthier happier life in general.
Simon says, “I have also suffered in the past with major adrenal burnout and hormonal issues which started from being overweight as a child. This caused me major behavioral problems due to the lack of exercise, bad diet and a disrupted sleep pattern. At aged 20, I started to cut my calorie intake drastically and exercise too much so my weight dropped to 12.5 stone. This solved the problem of being overweight but caused many others such as a low metabolism, insomnia, constant fatigue and excess fat in certain areas from dropped weight too quickly. Back in 2007, I started to experiment with my diet and exercise regime to see how it made me feel rather than listen to what mainstream media was telling me (Low fat, eat dairy, eat low fat breakfast cereals etc). I did extensive research and found that lowering my carbohydrate intake, eliminating gluten, dairy, alcohol and sugar helped keep my weight stable, improved my energy levels and kept my mind and emotions positive. After too many drastic diets, a stressful office job and a catching a serious infection in Malawi (I took antibiotics for 4 months to get rid of it), I suffered from serious adrenal burnout and chronic fatigue.
My lifestyle and diet has had to change drastically as a result, but overall I am so much healthier, happier, more balanced and better educated about health and in tune with what is right for my body.”
This is our journey that will include all the ups and downs along the way of us living a healthy lifestyle, learning about health and what works for each of us and having a healthy baby. We hope that we will inspire others that they can recover from modern day conditions such as adrenal burnout and chronic fatigue, live a fun and full life and have a healthy baby as naturally as possible.
We will share whatever knowledge we find in the hope that it will help others too, but please feel free to contact us anytime with your experiences and knowledge!
With love
Charlotte and Simon xxx
This blog was originally posted here