Welcome to the edible. We all have a story, so here is a little bit of mine. I hope to one day, learn about yours.
For as long as I can remember I have been interested in the environment, growing my own food, cooking and have looked for ways to live free of toxins.
When I got pregnant in 2014 I found a workshop on making clean baby care products (shout out to Kathryn & “For the Love of Body”) and I also really wanted to use reusable diapers. My partner was not so into it but with hormones raging and after many tears, I managed to convince him that it was the only way to go. All we had to do was simply rinse, wash and hang to dry – Easy peasy.
Truth be told, it is a tad more work than that but very well worth it.
Our beautiful son was born in May 2015 and I absolutely loved being off from work and home with him. Then, in March 2016, when my son was 10 months old, he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. He had been in diabetic ketoacidosis and had nearly died.
Because he was less than a year old it clouds my memory of everything in his first year. I distinctly remember March 4, 2016, his diagnosis day, but I have a hard time remembering his birth weight – 7lbs 8oz (phew!). Those early days when I thought about his first Christmas and his first birthday, I would also think about whether or not he had already been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes – first Christmas no, first birthday yes.
Everyone in the Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) community seems to define their life as before diagnosis and after diagnosis. Mac was only 10 months old when we found out, so I have very few “before” diagnosis stories.
Because Mac was so young and represented only 1% of the T1D community, we struggled to find relevant information, struggled with dosages, resulting in many dangerous lows, and struggled with finding a way to provide him healthy, wholesome, and homemade meals that would not spike him drastically but would also meet developmental requirements of an infant that was just starting solids.
Soon after we brought him home from the hospital, I went into hyperactive mode searching for a potential cure, there must be one at this point! We flew him to a specialist in Arizona and then returned and I talked to scientists about clinical trials and cures and looked for workshop’s – all to seek out ways to protect him from the future health issues that are common with Diabetes (both Type 1 and Type 2).
This is how I found the Institute for Holistic Nutrition (IHN) and thus started my journey to become a holistic nutritionist.
I started with just a few courses then decided to join the part-time evening class in September 2017. For the next two years I was in it deep – it takes a village. I could not have done the work without the support of my family and my Aunts especially, my classmates, who all jumped in to support us when I was deep in class work and on the brink.
In November 2020, I graduated from IHN with honours.
And so it begins. I hope to hear from you!
Corina xx
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