About

A delicious journey to better health

Sigríður Pétursdóttir
Sigríður Pétursdóttir
Photo: Sunna Ben

This isn’t fair, you’re ageing backwards!

I just wanted my life back. It was as simple as that. The reason I changed my diet and lifestyle a couple of years ago had nothing to do with a popular weight loss program, or anything we hear about on social media. Looking somewhat better, and losing weight, was just a bonus. Being able to dance through life was a bonus I cherished even more.

In 2016 my health started to deteriorate. Some symptoms surfaced that I didn’t even pay much attention to at first, a knuckle would flare up for a few days, but then go back to normal. Joint pain would irritate me from time to time, and frozen shoulders were giving me grief. My digestion was bad, but as I was leading a rather stressful life and blamed it on that. Months went by and my symptoms got worse. In April 2018 the inflammation in my body had made me so poorly I had difficulties doing the easiest things like dressing myself or combing my hair. Eventually I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis and I feared my life would never be the same.

Few months before I got my diagnosis I was introduced to a remarkable woman. Hildur M. Jonsdottir had cured herself with a diet program she invented after suffering for decades from autoimmune diseases and various other health problems. She wanted to help others, and my luck was participating in the first course she gave. It’s a rather complicated program, but very much worth it. You can read about it HERE.

To be able to do this properly it’s necessary to know how the body works. It’s a lifestyle change, not a short time solution. Only a few weeks into the program my digestion had improved greatly, and the swelling of my fingers and wrists had gone down a bit. Over four years later I’m almost symptom free and haven’t been on any medication for almost three years.

No gluten, no dairy, no nothing

Now I’d become one of those horribly boring people with dietary restrictions. I couldn’t eat what others call proper food, I was a nightmare at restaurants, and a drag when friends invited me to dinner. People joked about how I’d become a member of some awful cult, or told me I was no fun anymore. Some felt the need to tell me how something like this had become fashionable, list all the famous low carb diets, and say people were imagining things. My answer has always been the same; Sorry, but I just wanted my health back and that’s what’s happening.

What I need to avoid is sugar, gluten, meat, processed food, dairy, caffeine and emulsifiers. I can’t have honey, maple syrup or agave, that are common in health food recipes. Occasionally I use bananas or dates when baking, but then a very small amount. I can eat berries and most fruits by now, but have to be very careful with the proportions. I love chocolate, but can only have 100% and a tiny bite of some labels that are 85% and over.

As you can imagine I was struggling to find suitable food, almost everything that’s labelled as gluten free or vegan had either some kind of sugar, artificial sweeteners or emulsifiers. It was an eye opener to read the list of ingredients on products. If dishes were gluten free at restaurants, they often had lots of sugar. And if I could find something sugarless, chances were it had lots of artificial sweeteners, gluten or dairy.

I started to experiment by making recipes from the ingredients I could have without putting my health at risk. Baking and making desserts had been a hobby for a long time and I missed it. The first cakes I made were anything but tasty, but after a few months of experiments they got better. Before I knew it there was a good collection of recipes, and it seemed only logical to share them with others.

Who can use the website?

It’s important to state that everyone is different, so even though I got my health back, for someone else this lifestyle change might not work. However, I hope the website can be useful for people that suffer from all kinds of problems caused by inflammation in the body, and people that have to avoid certain food. Those that are intolerant to gluten or dairy can find suitable recipes, and those wanting to avoid sugar, or increase vegetables in their diet should find something for them. I hope you’ll enjoy!

You can drop me a line at [email protected]