Where I like to hang out online

I haven't really figured out my relationship to this blog, even though I've been writing it for FIVE years now. I can't believe that can possibly be right. Some days I feel very share-y about our journey with food and allergies and health in general and other days I feel quite private about all of it. And sometimes those private days stretch into weeks and months.

I also think about privacy as Ellie gets older and I realize that this is her story as much as it is mine. I'm not sure how I'd feel if my parents had broadcasted my health history to the world during my childhood. Seems quite weird.

Focusing on the non-food aspects of health

This fall I participated in a program hosted by our family's nutritionist, Andrea, Nakayama, called the Girl's Guide to Hashimoto's. It was a tremendous experience for me and a healing experience for me to put my own health front and center for a while, and put Ellie's health on auto pilot (as much as I am capable of, anyway).

The program was a huge undertaking for me and I learned a TON. I learned a tremendous amount about my own phisiology, what Hashimoto's is, how my personal history and genetics got me here and how it expresses itself uniquely in me. The program had an active message board and I benefitted tremendously from the ongoing support from Andrea and her other nutritionists, along with the other participants in the program, who are walking this road alongside me. There is something very healing about realizing you're not the only one who experiences the symptoms you do ... that you're not alone.