Inspiration: In Control

After struggling to fall pregnant for nine long years, Vangile Manzini received more bad news: she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. The trauma took its toll, and her weight ballooned to 106kg. Now 20kg lighter, she shares how an LCHF lifestyle saved her life.

- Caroline Peterson

Vangile Manzini had been through the wringer trying to fall pregnant. After nine traumatic years of negative results, ectopic pregnancies, miscarriages and a stillborn baby, her prayers were answered when, in 2006, she welcomed a healthy baby girl into the world. In 2008 her second daughter was born.

The years of struggling had taken their toll: Vangile now found herself 30kg heavier. ‘I used to be a size 32 or 34, but after everything I went through and then my two pregnancies, the last thing on my mind was losing weight. More than the physical weight, I was also carrying emotional weight.’

For an entire year Vangile faced one health concern after another – it seemed there was never a point where she wasn’t ill. ‘It started with the dizzy spells at night. My doctor warned me that I was at risk of a stroke. When the righthand side of my face started to droop one day, I thought it had finally happened.’ After rushing to the hospital, Vangile found she wasn’t experiencing a stroke but had Bell’s Palsy – a condition of temporary paralysis of the muscles in the face due to nerve inflammation. Next, Vangile contracted a severe viral infection, leaving her in immense pain. But none of these could compare to the scariest moment of Vangile’s life: when her eyesight started to fail.