Food & baking, Hobbies, lifestyle

Hello reader!
Long time, no see. This post is going to be a long one, so buckle up!

I’ve had a bit of a life-changing experience these last couple of months. And it all started with depression.
I’ve been stressed out for years, with recurring gastritis as a result this past year. I’ve always just medicated and then kept going as usual, never really treating myself with the respect and care that I should have.

The gastritis kept getting worse and worse every time I got it, and every time I would say to myself (and others); “I should really take this as a warning and be more careful“. Was I? No.

Last time I had gastritis, I contacted a doctor when the symptoms wouldn’t go away even after 2 weeks of medicating. I was told to see a therapist specialized in work-related stress, since the medicine wouldn’t cure the actual problem. Just the temporary symptoms of the problem. I was put on a waiting list, but didn’t make it in time.

Mid february I crashed mentally. I just cried constantly, and I didn’t even know why. I felt an intense sadness, but “without reason”. My mother and hubby basically forced me to seek help (which is good, because I have a habit of avoiding doctors and hospitals since I don’t want to waste their time). I was lucky enough to get really great help within a day or two.

I was diagnosed with “light stress-triggered depression“, and let me tell you… if what I felt was light, I really sympathize with all of you out there who suffer from the non-light kind. I can’t imagine what you’re going through.

I started working 50% after spending 7 days at home, and kept working 50% for a couple of months. I went to see the therapist specialized in work-related stress a few times, and I also started seeing a psychologist as well. I was a very frequent visitor at that hospital for a while, haha!

During this time, I also realized that I had been gaining weight due to comfort eating, and having a bad relationship with food in general. I would just stuff my face, even though I didn’t even find it enjoyable. So, I started controlling my food intake, counting calories and keeping track of everything I consumed.

This was around the same time that the therapist told me to start doing something I used to enjoy. Even if I don’t really feel like it, I should at least try. This would hopefully help me “jump-start” my motivation and inspiration again.
So, I chose baking. Hubby is gluten intolerant, and gluten free baking is a bit tricky sometimes. So I thought it would be nice to learn a bit more about the subject, and try out some recipes. Especially bread.

The therapist was correct. It sucked in the beginning, and I really didn’t feel like baking. (Or doing anything, really). But after a while and a few tries, everything changed! I found a few recipes that turned out really nice. Made sure to buy all the ingredients that I could possibly need, and then I just went crazy with it.
I started making a recipe-book with the recipes that I liked the most. I started making my own granola. I bought a fruit dryer to be able to make healthier snacks, and toppings for the home made granola. I started looking into growing our own veggies, berries and fruit on our balcony.

Without me even realizing it, my whole perspective on food, health and life in general had changed. I found it fun to eat healthy, and even more so to eat home made things. We haven’t bought any bread from the store since I started baking more regularly. We haven’t bought any granola. We don’t buy any sweet baked treats/goods. We haven’t started growing any food yet (aiming for next year), but I’m really looking forward to eating home-grown food as well. A lot of the things we buy from the store, I try to check and see if we can make it ourselves instead.
Regarding meat, we’re looking into eating more wild meat instead of domestic meat.

In general, I’ve called this more “clean” food. I don’t know what else to call it, because that’s how it feels to me. Home made, home grown and ingredients straight from the wild. It just feels better, both for the body but also for the environment.

Of course we can’t go for it 100% right away, but we’re slowly moving towards that goal. And it feels SO great.

So, now that my interest for this subject has grown as much as it has. I was thinking of rebranding this blog a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, we will still be 100% childfree and open about it. But the focus might be directed a bit more towards health, baking and such than it has been before. I will try it out, and we’ll see what I decide later on. In general, I would just categorize this blog as more of a lifestyle/baking/health blog from now on. I don’t want to be too specific, but something like that.

Sorry about the length of this post, but I felt like I should give you a proper explanation/introduction to my “new life” as I like to describe it. I’m finally seeing a really bright and stress-free future, and I wish to share it with you.

Thank you for reading!