Healthy Eating and ME

I've been tackling my ME in various different ways over the years but I suppose the one thing I found conflicting advice on was diet and supplements. I have tried various supplements, seen nutritionists, been tested for intolerances and allergies and never felt like anything was making me feel any more healthy and it was expensive!

With the ME and being unable to do much exercise, plus getting into my thirties and then after having my little boy, I began to feel quite unhealthy. I've always been around a size 12 (give or take a size... ) but it was noticeable that my skin was losing elasticity and I felt quite flabby and not particularly toned. I decided to cut back the calories and on two separate occasions, I lost quite a bit of weight. But I wasn't eating particularly healthy. I was eating foods that I could count calories on my fitness pal app (mainly shop bought) and it wasn't doing my ME any favours.

After my last relapse I decided that I needed to take a different tact.  Over the last few months I've been making a conscious effort to eat mainly 'clean' foods (foods that are unprocessed) and have eradicated most caffeine and sugar from my diet. I found it a little overwhelming to start with. A lot of the ingredients like raw cacao and agave nectar I had never really cooked or baked with plus the cost of buying them was pricey but now I'm finding it so easy to incorporate lots of healthy foods into my day.

                                                             Healthy breakfasts

                                                               Healthy Lunches

                                                   Strawberries out of our own garden!

I've been getting healthy eating inspiration from blogs and Instagram.The first blog I really came across  was Deliciously Ella. She was inspired to eat healthily after developing POTS and now claims to be 100% recovered through diet alone.

Another inspiring blog I read is Wholeheartedly Healthy. It's more of a lifestyle blog but there are lots of great recipes and it feels like something I can aspire to and is a bit more 'real'  than some of the other polished blogs.

On Instagram I follow some people who post gorgeous pictures of their eats; Stopsnapshare, SpoonieSophia , Nadshealthykitchen and MissMarzipancom. They help to keep me motivated!

As I've been recovering, I have found some intolerances to foods have dissipated and I no longer suffer from IBS. The foods that make me unwell are coffee and porridge which I can easily avoid. Weirdly I can eat uncooked oats no problem!

Do you find diet helps your illness? Do you find it tiring to cook or that ME restricts what you eat due to intolerances? Do you have any other suggestions for inspirational blogs or Instagram accounts I could check out?