Who’s the boss? Do you ever feel like food is the boss of you rather than the other way round?

As someone with chronic fatigue, food really affects how I feel, and this past week with the festival of Passover, I have now really started to feel the effects of a/the kids being on holiday but b/ the effect of my change in diet and c/ all the extra cleaning, cooked breakfasts and chores that this festival generates as we tend to spend a lot more time at home eating…..

This year, I am completely gluten free on Passover, and because I am not able to eat the unleavened wheat matzos, I have been replacing it with potato starch-based matzos, and with all the white potatoes I have been eating at our seder meals and generally with every meal, I have finally really taken the hit.

Because I have been eating more white potatoes, all the simple carbs, as well as my eating routine being out of whack, it has led to me now feeling so incredibly exhausted.

During this festival and the school holidays, though I have made sure I keep up my morning motivation and exercise routine, my eating routine has relaxed somewhat, and with all the cooked breakfasts my kids love to eat, I end up eating breakfast late, and this really does affect me too. Always best to eat breakfast within the first 30-60 mins after waking, ideally. The meals at the seder were also very long meals eaten late in the evening, which has also had an impact on my energy levels.

I should really take my own advice, but sometimes, like now, food can get the better of me. Though it’s good to enjoy the food you eat, and treat yourself on a regular basis, it’s important to know where to draw the line, learn to take control over what you eat, and become generally more conscious of what it is you are eating, the impact it has on your health and how it makes you feel inside your mind and body.

This is the key thing that has driven me to change my eating habits, how food makes me feel. It really does make you feel low in energy if you eat too many of the wrong things as well as any possible weight gain. Which is why I am now on a mission to get back to feeling good again (now I have hit that low) and get myself into a better routine, even during the holidays, and cut down those simple carbs and introduce more complex carbs like sweet potatoes, lentils, peas, green veg, into my diet for the rest of the week, and hopefully, I can start feeling more energy and back to my usual self. It’s all down to me though, so I have to make sure I don’t let food get the better of me!

Happy Passover and Easter to all those celebrating – have fun today. And try not to overindulge in those Easter eggs! But enjoy them all the same and don’t let food get the better of you!