Organic Diet

Been a couple weeks since my last post.  Oops!
The schools had a long weekend off last week for mid-term break.  We went to visit Gran's and I popped down to England for the day to attend a charity meeting.  Over that weekend I did not stick to the diet, I didn't go mad either, but allowed myself a few glasses of wine.  I was tired following that weekend and didn't make my weigh in last Tuesday morning.  Got back on the diet and went to get weighed this morning.  Lost 3.5 lbs over the last two weeks, so I'm really pleased with that.
Wine is something I chose to cut out before, as I noticed the weekends I had that I didn't have such a great weight loss, so if I fancied a drink at the weekend I was sticking to vodka and diet coke.  However, the last two weekends I have had a few glasses wine, and managed ok.  I do prefer wine as a treat, and if I buy organic it will suit me better.
I'm getting on better at the gym, I'm usually accompanied by one of my teenage daughters who always get fed up before I do, so end up leaving before I would, if I was there on my own!  I'm now leg pressing 100kg and do 15 miles on the bike over an hour, I don't think I could do this on my bike on the road?  I pop onto the row pulley and the lateral pull-down machine and the bench press machine too, to give my arms and back a wee reminder that I'm exercising! (when the gym is NOT full of poser boys sitting around on the machines).  The milder weather seems to be on it's way, so I'll soon get out for real and see what I'm capable of.
I was excited the other day when I moved my belt up a hole, and was trying on some old clothes.  Isla was honest and said that Mummy was too big for her clothes!  But they're getting closer to fitting.  I was trying on possible outfits for job interviews.  I'm afraid to not having too many in-between sizes.  I have two pairs of trousers that fit me now and two pairs a size down, my old work clothes are all smaller.  I don't want to go out and buy clothes that are only going to last me a little while before I lose more weight and they don't fit.  I went from being pregnant to breastfeeding and still wearing maternity/feeding tops to some cheap clothes for hospital that haven't lasted due to intense washing drying and now I'm left without that inbetween size.
I have two interviews at the end of the week, and sorted an outfit for one, but need a different outfit as the second interview is in the same place!
These interviews are important to me, the outcome of them is going to help me settle my mind on whether to carry on with same career.  It's been very disheartening to have so many teachers out of work all going for the few jobs that are advertised.  Most jobs advertised already have teachers in the post, but on a temporary basis.  I chose to go back to work once Isla was finished treatment on supply, but there is not much work around.  My priority is to be around for Isla especially pre-school, I love our days of baking, painting, playing games and I don't want to give that up, but I would like a part-time permanent job for financial security and also to give me something else to do other than being a mum 24/7.  In order to help myself get a job I have also been doing a postgraduate course in Education, but I've really been finding it a struggle.  There has been lots of reading involved, and I don't think I can cope with the stress.  I've become really forgetful and ditsy and I also think my family find it difficult if I'm at home that I need time on my own to get on with study.  I'm always anxious about Isla, and not sure how much of brain capacity I have to be learning new stuff.  I seriously considered giving the course up, but maybe it's what has managed to get me the interviews?  I need to stick at it for a couple more weeks and see how I get on with things.  I also seen a non-teaching job advertised recently that caught my eye and thought I could do it, so have been giving that careful consideration, although I know that job will come with its own stresses.
The title of this blog has been organic diet and I have't even begun to discuss it!  I seem to have a lot to say for two weeks.  Just before Christmas we decided we were going to improve Isla's diet.  Following the last scan, we have a year to improve the liver, as it's regeneration is not fast enough for the doctors liking.  Isla has never been interested in food.  She was diagnosed at five and a half months, and started on chemotherapy. Following Isla's first two courses of chemotherapy, she was close to organ failure and then she picked up rota virus.  When she started to get better we were told to introduce solids at seven and a half months old.  She was not interested in food at all and just wanted to breastfeed, which I was happy to do.  We kept trying food.  She did start to like some food, and we were so pleased at anything she liked.  Following high dose chemotherapy at 15 months old, she again went off food and even breasfeeding (and my weight jumped up).  She was quite poorly following high dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplant, and has always been a fussy eater.  Isla was given feed through a ng tube, and it took a long time for her to be able to tolerate this.  Since then she has developed a taste for some food, but not very healthy stuff.  We've just carried on with her limited diet, trying to get her to try new and healthier foods unsuccesfully.  Hoping that when she was at nursery she would try snacks her peers were eating or her interest in food would come.  Unfortunately she doesn't eat at nursery.  The scan results from December, made us decide that we have to try improving her diet.
We contacted a nutritionist who is also qualified in behaviour therapy to see what help we could get.  We are now following an anti-cancer diet, based on organic foods.  Isla has surprised us all, trying new foods.  She gets involved in the preperation of making juices and baking sweet treats.  And she is willing to try food to earn a star.  Earning stars leads to a treat at the end of the week.  She's chosen some playmobil that she likes, and we're wrapping them up, and she can chose a present.  We have got a water distiller to clean the tap water, got rid of non-stick stuff and plastic stuff for storing food.  We're changing our cleaning products.  We're putting  a lot of hard work into getting healthy.  This is what we're trying to follow -  www.kict.info/Strategy.pdf.  The whole family is eating the food prepared and surprising themselves with how much they enjoy it, and I try to count my points as I go along too.  It seems to have worked this week.
I wish I'd started sooner with Isla's eating, I'm not sure when it would have worked before, only glad we're doing something about it now.  And when we find out how Isla's liver is doing in the future, we know we've tried to help it heal. 
I've been putting a lot of time and effort into sourcing ingredients, luckily the local hippy commune has a shop with most stuff, and supermarkets are much better with their range of organic fruit and veg.  We've also been spending on new equipment, I'm definately looking forward to the end of the month!  The break from study has been spent getting to grips with a new diet for Isla.  So, for now, I need to see how I get on with studying again!
I've  now lost over a stone, and with 2lbs more will be under a certain stone, so will be able to say I'm x stone something, with 4.5 lb, I'll have lost one and a half stone, so I've got some exciting goals I'm looking forward to achieving; my 10% goal, my weight after Isla goal, 2 stone goal, weight Isla was at diagnosis all within reach!