My Story

 

I started this blog because it combines two of my greatest passions – healthy food and writing. Perhaps I should call my IBS diagnosis fortuitous then, as without it I may never have started the journey that lead me to this point.

 

Like so many out there, I had digestion issues for years. First I couldn’t eat cooked vegetables – they upset my stomach and caused terrible…well, let’s save that for a warts and all post, shall we. Next I started having similar reactions whenever I ate pizza or pasta. Too much yoghurt or cheese had their own special array of uncomforttable symptoms, and woe betide me if I binged on anything deep fried – goodbye KFC on a hangover.

 

For some reason, it never occurred to me that I could have IBS, nor that I might be intolerant of certain foods. I come from a meat, potatoes and 3 veg family – my mom is Afrikaans and healthy cooking wasn’t really a buzzword in our house. You ate what was on your plate and that was that, especially as my mom is a brilliant cook and what was on your plate most likely inspired second helpings. Mention 'low fat’ or ‘Atkins’ and I'd have been met with bemused expressions. 

 

As an adult however, I made different choices. I have always exercised, so everything in moderation became my motto, and most of the time I was a relatively healthy eater. Or so I thought.

 

It was only 2 years ago when my problems with food were at an all-time high, that one of my good friends suggested I try going gluten free. It was the beginning of a complete overhaul of my life.

 

I went from a gluten free diet – which certainly improved my digestion problems, but didn’t quite solve them – to a gluten and dairy free lifestyle. Which, for 90% of the time, pretty much did the trick. But it wasn’t enough. There’s a big difference between not eating something because you have a reaction, and eating a selection of foods that take you from feeling ok to feeling bouncing-off-the-ceiling amazing.

 

Inevitably I fielded the frowns of confusion, and began to understand how annoyed vegans must get: 'If you don’t eat bread/grains/pasta/milk products, then seriously, what do you actually EAT?' The answer is what inspired this blog and is laid out on these pages. I went from an occasional fast food enthusiast to a whole foods know-it-all, tossing out jargon words like ‘maca’ and ‘mesquite’ to my bewildered friends. In the course of trying to fix my uncooperative intestines, I discovered what it means to eat your way to good health.

 

My journey to digestive health has been one of the most exciting things I have ever done; not only because I no longer wake up with a soccer ball in my stomach, but because what I have learnt along the way about food, the body and feeling amazing has transformed my happiness as well as my physical health.

 

I am by no means an expert. I don’t have a degree in nutrition, I spend far more time drinking wine than practicing yoga, and I still cheat when I want to – yes, even the occasional hangover KFC. But I have spent countless hours researching food and health and I have found a path that works for me, one which I follow 80% of the time. Just maybe there will be something on these pages that works for you too.

 

So the obvious question - why Part Time Veggie? I am not, nor have I ever been vegetarian. It’s not from lack of desire – I have deep aspirations to be one of the lofty beings who never touch animal flesh. Partly because I feel best when I am eating raw, whole, non-animal foods, but also for compassion’s sake – but that’s another story. However, I am a born and bred South African girl, raised almost exclusively on red meat – it was cheaper than chicken back in the day! – and my love for biltong far outweighs my willpower to forgo it. I have accepted this as a character glitch, much like my love for wine over yoga, and I have made peace with it. But when I can, especially when I am creating new healthy snack recipes, I go veggie or entirely vegan.

 

Me in a nutshell: I am 34 years old, married to the most kick-ass guy whom I have been with 14 years, living the dream in my home city of Cape Town with our hyperactive pitbull, working by day as a marketing manager and donning my take-over-the-world-by-blogging cape at night.