My results are all in

So it seems somehow, I passed.

Amazing news isn't it?  There was just one disappointment which was Biochemistry in my exam.  22%

22%? Well I felt I had done so so so much better than that.  Yet, worry not, I do feel I understood the content and I also passed the module as the other elements were great marks.  Pleased for sure!

Overall a 50% pass for Biochem.  Not bad as I missed so much of that.

The other results were amazing.  My PDP (the thing I added blogs to) got a whopping 85% which I was really so super glad about. I was hoping for a great score there.

Nutrition exam came away with 67%.

All modules were at the very least a 2:2 and most a 2:1.

This first year doesn't count towards the final grade marks yet I have learnt so much about what I may need to do to get a first (I'd love one of those!) and to be honest, I know it's not going to be handed to me on a plate.  Yet it seems incredibly possible depending on what else you might have going on in life.  For me, I need to work a little less on people's hair styles and spend far more time reading and in the library.  This coming year should be far far more interesting. Much less about the core science and more in which I'm hoping to relate to.  Immunology, cancer, metabolism etc.  I am doubly sure I will be learning so much about myself too and how I can help myself with my own health and diet - she says as she takes a sip of her latte - which would be amazing.

Emailing my tutor who was going to show me some good examples of well written papers and essays got no reply.  Well, it is the summer holidays.  My brain is a little tuned out too!

Yesterday I took a call from my mental health advisor from uni who is quite on the ball in all departments.  She is keen for me to continue to take care of my mental health and feels my physical health is all part of the difficulties dealing with the mental.

To be totally open on this blog though, I have definitely realised that I need to be comfortable in the skin I'm in.  I'm a person who loves to be at home, sitting at my desk and not being overly social in public.  That's just me.  It's who I am.  Realising that has enabled me to create a much better inner peace.  Ok, so here's the hippy in me showing through now.

I have so many super ideas on how I can create my ideal life and living from the beauty of my laptop. I am super keen to make this happen.  It just may mean some more late nights, which I am not so great at.

Today, my son takes his last GCSE and in two days, my daughter finishes too (did I mention they are twins?)  I cannot help but feel like punching the air saying "I've done it!" as I realise I actually lived long enough to watch them grow up!  Sounds daft now but when they were tiny I was an anxiety filled mess who really wanted to live long enough.  I would lie awake counting my heartbeats as it pounded with palpitations (these are the days before I knew I was allergic to gluten!).
Next year (early) they will be able to drive which will give me so much more free time.  Although leaving school, they are going to be at college which is directly next to the university! Amazing.

Hoping this will all work out well, I am continuing with putting as much time as possible into my blog posts and youtube videos in the hope that it really doesn't matter how many slipped discs I'm dealing with or what level of arthritis.  I can still work and keep myself doing all the things I love.

I'm excited for the future.  Just wishing I wasn't filled with doubt about me actually being able to make it all happen.

What about you?  How is your future looking?  Are you confident?

Too much politics for me?

I just wrote this (fair to say I'm having a wobble about my future!):

Is it all just too confusing now to know what to eat?

When was the last time you ate something with total confidence?

You read so much from so many places and just when you think you might have cracked the code on the mystery that is 'healthy eating' you hear some new bit of research which tells you how wrong you have it.

I'm frustrated.  I'm being honest.


For me, things are a little different as I have both crohns disease and celiac so of course I need to take those things into account.  Yet as a nutritionist (the type without a degree - yet!) I find it's near on impossible to give the right advice to the entire audience.

A dietitian who I previously respected has published a rant about all the type of 'clean living' which is apparently a new fad.  The BBC publishedthis show about the dirty secrets of clean living.  The blogger who hosted it was quite open about what she was trying and the advice she was getting from various fad diet gurus.  After watching it, I had to agree with a lot of what she said, there is a lot of bad advice out there.

Yet something that makes me really cross is how they portray us poor old 'nutritionists'.  
There seems to be a war between the quackary of being a nutritionist and a dietitian who is one to be obeyed.  
In fact, to set the record straight, we take the same degree qualification and the only difference is that Registered Nutritionists do not have to undertake hospital placements.  Generally,  once qualified and Registered with the Association for Nutrition, a Nutritionist will need to practice with as much credibility as a dietitian.  

I started out my degree to become a dietitian.  I changed my mind after 4 months as I realised that I would be tied to a 'one rule fits all'.  Sadly, I had a bad experience with a dietitian and I'm sure this was an isolated incident.  When I was first diagnosed with Crohns and fighting to keep my bowel in tact and not have it removed with surgery,  the dietitian I saw at my hospital knew nothing about adjusting my diet in accordance with inflammatory bowel disease, nor did my gasteroenterologist beleive I could make improvements in my health by changing my diet.

"you can't control your symptoms without medication or surgery, or both."  He said as I cried.
The dietitian advised me to eat from the Eatwell plate which I am sure would have left me in a state of needing the surgery.

I proved them wrong.

I won't go into my advice to you in this blog post. I simply want to  point out that if you believe one way works for you, then it's likely it will.  

However, while we have spent two years studying hardcore science and about to get into the minefield of research to complete our degrees at university, I can't help but wonder if I'm trying to enter an industry that seems to love a bit of politics.

That worries me.