Reprobate Mum

10/09/2026

I’ve not been posting cooking right now because I’m four weeks into an intense new role and I’ve mainly been weekday fasting. ⚖️

Partly this is simply how busy I am at work; partly this is treatment for insulin resistance (my ice age survival Norwegian Neanderthal genes are thanking me).🇳🇴

Partly I’m in survival mode. 😰

Here’s what I tend to eat on a weekday.

Shot of dandelion liver tonic (recipe in posts!) 🌼

Tea with raw cow milk (not always raw, but often) with number1 spice mix (cinnamon, hot chilli (pinch) all spice, ginger, turmeric and nutmeg) 🫖

Shot of kefir (raw if possible!) with chlorella and matcha) I take my tablets including Elvynse and minoxidil (hair), Berberine and spot aspirin if inflamed, with this. 💊

Grind filter caffeine free coffee with a dessertspoon of MCT oil (bulletproof coffee- fuel and ketones) ☕️

Hot water and lemon juice (I keep a bottle of lemon juice on my desk for this purpose) 🍋

Coffee/tea midmorning ☕️

Salted popcorn and Freja Bone Broth (I am never to be seen in the office without my thermal coffee mug) 🍗

Green/lemon tea💚💛 (both in a single cup!)

Dinner (current Tom is cooking, normally from scratch chili, curry, bolognaise, GF pasta or bbq meat in summer) 🍝

Tea (with spice mix)
Lime or apple cider vinegar with sparkling water🍋‍🟩

Chocolate 2 squares- prefer Waitrose single bean, dark milk) 🍫

Midweek: (glass of red wine , or a bitter digestif like vermouth- this is a recent habit, because it contains sweet wormwood, which kills gut parasites. I prefer medium sherry or port but these are very sugary) 🍷

Later: possibly coconut milky drink or rosemary cashews or cheese and cucumber or kiwi- helps with sleep (occasionally bad of cheese and onion crisps- I’m no saint) 🧀🥝

I cycle to and from work and try to do a class or swimming once or twice a week- yoga, dance, Pilates or at worst, sauna: I have one at the end of my street. 🚲

With a pint of water with half tsp of bicarb, taurine and creatine (has made my 45yo periods more regular)💦

I take turmeric, omega oil (fish or primrose) magnesium, Tramazone (anxiety), liver cleanse and l-cysteine if drinking more than one measure of alcohol.

In the morning I add acv to what’s left of the bicarb water and drink on empty stomach.

That’s it. Mainly liquid.

09/09/2026

FYI 👉

https://www.facebook.com/surreylivenews/posts/1529552979215331

The Department for Work and Pensions has issued guidance that could help many workers who are not even aware they have a condition

07/09/2026

There’s definitely something in this! https://www.facebook.com/share/1D7WJfvdCb/?mibextid=wwXIfr

With people reporting relief from severe mood swings and fatigue, Dr Suzanne Wylie breaks down link between oestrogen and histamine – and why allergy meds aren’t a proven cure.

06/09/2026

*Trigger warning for🩸for any delicate males* 😆

I was thinking about going to Chapel Down fest🍾 today, to see my mates’ band play in the county of my youth, in the deepest Kentish Weald. The weather’s perfect, and it would be a lovely outing to round off summer, while catching up with my old friend from school. 🥂

I’m not going to make it, sadly. 😭

Yesterday I stewed on the sofa all day😥, despite the glorious late summer weather. A bout of anxiety had taken hold, following a sleepless night and a fairly bad Friday in the office.

, which strikes every month (save for a year in my early 40s when I thought menopause had taken hold. Spoiler, it hasn’t) is a bitch, to say the least. Add to that, all the bugs🦠 fermenting in my new office and back to school after the summer holidays, and I felt justified in doing nothing following another hectic week.

I woke this morning to sheets soaked in blood, cramps like early labour, a headache and a fleeting conception of jumping off Clifton suspension bridge🌉 (I went to Bristol uni, back in the day) following a torid row with Reprobate Tom at bedtime)*

In any case, Tom’s seen the Jeckel and Hyde transformation enough times to know I’ll be my sunny self in a few days, but while it lasts I’m wretched. 😩😫

Fizzy wine of any stripe, not least the English champagne Tom and I celebrated our wedding with nearly 20 years ago, can make my anxiety levels sky rocket the following day, and given Friday’s performance of sleep deprived over explaining, I don’t want a repeat in the office tomorrow.

Instead, I’m going to do the sensible thing. Take myself for a cold dip and a sauna at to help knock my internal inflammation on the head. Then, come home, read my book in the garden and recover from my brief but recurrent bout of severe mental illness.

While I was in Devon, I bought myself a wetsuit cossie from , which I’m going to trial in the open water of Middle Dock. Although cold water stops any kind of flow, the extra padding won’t go amiss in hiding the ravages of my mid period body until the cold water has done the trick and washed away the bloat and soothed my anxious soul. It really does help.

(Photo from my recent trip to Devon, on a day where everything went right!)

*(I’m convinced my copper coil allows me to conceive, then kills the fetus before it attaches, rather unpleasantly. Either way I’ve had two weeks of watermelon b***s that make me feel like post op Katie Price, and twice as mental- sorry Katie, I love you but you are bats*t). Anyone else feel like this with a copper coil? Thoughts? Doctors deny this but I’m really not convinced👮

02/09/2026

Not a big surprise.

How many can be treated with keto?

New research shows one genetic marker links 8 major psychiatric disorders including autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, and depression.

A groundbreaking study has identified 683 common genetic variants that link eight major psychiatric conditions, including autism, ADHD, schizophrenia, and major depressive disorder. These shared genetic factors appear to regulate critical stages of brain development and influence complex protein interactions, providing a biological explanation for why these conditions frequently co-occur within individuals and families. This discovery suggests that rather than being entirely distinct ailments, many mental health disorders share a foundational genetic architecture that shapes the brains growth from its earliest stages.

By shifting the focus from individual diagnoses to shared biological pathways, this research challenges traditional psychiatric classifications and opens the door for innovative, broad-spectrum therapies. With nearly one billion people worldwide living with mental health disorders, the ability to target these underlying genetic drivers could revolutionize treatment protocols. Scientists believe that understanding these shared variants will lead to more effective, genetically-informed interventions that could simultaneously address multiple conditions, offering new hope for personalized and comprehensive mental healthcare.

source: Psychiatric Genomics Consortium. Shared genetic architectures across psychiatric disorders and brain development. Cell.

Fascinating to see the genetic links between these conditions. Does this research change how you think about mental health?

Disclaimer: This content is for informational and educational purposes only.

29/08/2026

One of the joys of pre-parenting office life used to be meeting one’s significant other and going for post work drinks and dinner.

The summer holidays werein full swing when I embarked on my new position, so naturally we drafted in Reprobate Tom’s mum to host a sleepover for the small one for a few days so I could manage paid employment.

Thankfully, Nanna Zoo (as she’s affectionately known) was willing and by all accounts had a lovely, slightly exhausting time doing crafts (something I wish I had energy for but have repeatedly failed at, as a mother!)

Which left Tom and I one delicious summer evening to enjoy what is great about London (in an occasional change from griping about what’s currently wrong with it!).

It was truly lovely to hop on my bike, meet Tom in lively buzzing summer workweek Spitalfields and enjoy a rosé on ice, followed by a slightly chewy onglet , heading home up Brick Lane to get beigals for the bigs (who had just arrived back from a jaunt at eldest (adult child Jonah’s) university accommodation.

Without wishing to push the narrative of “not coming home in the holidays”, I was rather glad when middle daughter Ava agreed to head up north to visit her big bro than have him rush home immediately after his delayed exams to loll around enormously in our bijoux living room, leaving dirty dishes in his wake. Especially now work has taken up 90% of my energy. I have not the bandwidth for unforeseen jobs.

In any case, it’s lovely to see the older kids now havjng lives of their own. This Friday, they got residents tickets to see Tyler, The Creator at All Points East, while we, sad sap grown-ups, got the local’s freebie view from the playpark with friends. Despite the much needed downpour early in the evening, we had a great time toasting the summer with red wine while our littler kids stayed up late and ran around till near midnight.

The long days are dwindling (it’s dark by 9 already) and life is too short to fester on my sofa, but as you can see from my face, living and working is already taking its toll.

We’re off to our holiday let, Mims’ Cottage, Braunton, North Devon for the long weekend for the long weekend, mainly do a post summer audit, then home to school run and work life juggle.

I may be knackered, but I’m happy. For the first time in a long time, I fear things may actually be going right 😉

Long may it last. Enjoy it while it does. 💕🍷⛅️

23/08/2026

I have to say Reprobate Tom outdid himself today for Sunday dinner: silky paneer and spinach curry (he made a base with The Spice Tailor Kerelan coconut curry paste) and chicken kebabs marinaded in yoghurt, mango chutney and hot chilli, with extra mango chutney spliced in and dusted with more chilli right at the end (this was my contribution!)

Totally delish. Couldn’t stop eating it. Oh well, back to chicken broth fast tomorrow 🎉

23/08/2026

A little Sunday riff on my old liver tonic as there are no fresh dandelions around due to the drought!

To dried dandelion, burdock and sasparilla root I added cinnamon, cloves, and some of number number 1 spice mix that I add to breakfast tea (ginger, hot chilli, all spice, cinnamon and turmeric)

I squeezed a clementine and left the skin in to brew. I added a splash of Willy’s apple cider vinegar 🍊

I added some dried rosemary, since I had it to hand. Hot water, a good squeeze of honey and xylitol to taste. 🪴

I *will* add some fresh ginger juice when I get round to putting it through the juicer (you need a fairly hard core one!) 🫚

This is a useful preventative medicine and, if like me, you spent Saturday toasting the life of a dear friend, a useful hangover adjuvent. 🤍🍷

With the slight touch of autumn in the air, it was nice to have such a festive smelling brew in the air. Drink a shot when cool, daily.

It’s purgative, be warned 🚽🧻

23/08/2026

My own book on this subject was written despite not knowing the source of my unravelling until much later, and so it very much focuses on dealing with the fallout, not analysing the causes.

The fact is, neurodivergent mothers need more support after childbirth and may too lack the family connection and social support of others. Might be an interesting read.

Neurodivergence can make an already challenging process far trickier — and in the UK support isn’t automatically available. A new book aims to help mothers prepare