"I'm sorry, mummy is too tired. Again...."

I was so fed up listening to myself saying this and seeing the disappointment in their eyes. My kids wanted to play, to go out and run around on a playground. But all I wanted was to pull the covers tight and go to sleep on the sofa. I'd made it home after a day in a project with some new client and they had gotten the best part of me. The little energy I managed to have. Now I had nothing for nobody and least of all my kids.

I was used to feeling like this since I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 2005. It's a condition in which your thyroid gland doesn't produce enough of certain important hormones. The symptoms of this chronic condition being fatigue, memory loss, depression and weakness. No doctor could ever tell me why I'd gotten this. Apparently it's common in women over 60. I was 29 at the time... But I guess I never really questioned it ether. Having a condition, an illness, being sick with something just seems like the norm. Everyone's got something, so I got hypothyroidism. Deal with it. I was just happy I had a diagnose and something that could be fixed. It wasn't all in my head and it wasn't just a matter of getting my act together. After being on medication for some years I'd gotten better, but the lack of energy was alway dominating my life.

I tried everything that had worked before. Going to the gym. Sleeping extra hours in the weekend. I was blaming everything and everyone, my job, my husband, my kids, for the way I felt. Finally I realized I needed help. I couldn't manage on my own. The support I got from my employer and family and friends really helped. I was on sick leave for about 3 months and this time was spent on finding my self again, as well as starting the journey to where I am today.

I couldn't just sit around and way to get better, so my way of being proactive was to educate myself. This meant reading a lot about food, health and a happy mind. I started buying organic and locally produced food. We cooked more real food and got rid off all processed food and ingredients. Slowly I was getting back to my old self again. Not great, but at least not worse.

During this period the teachers at my son's kindergarten informed us they were a bit worried about him. He was not running around and playing like he used to and was lying around on the ground a lot. This is particularly alarming when the kinder is in Norway and it's in the middle of winter! After a visit to the doctor, it turned out he was very low on iron. No one could explain why and how that can happen to a 4 year old who eats meat, vegetables and whole grains. We tried minimizing his dairy intake, after learning that calcium blocks the intake of iron. We didn't want to give him any supplements to correct this. It would be better if we could figure out why his body didn't absorb the iron in his food. Slowly his levels where rising and he was as active as never before! Why hadn't anyone told us about this when they teach us what kind of food kids should eat?! Still his levels wasn't where they should be, so we knew we needed to focus more on this.      

I was slowly starting to realize the impact food has on our lives and our health. I thought I was doing a good job, but I had already failed on several major areas.