I've Given Myself A Second Chance

Natalie Degg’s love of food was putting her life in danger, until a harsh warning made her take action

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Saying, ‘The diet starts on Monday,’ or ‘I’ll cut out takeaways after this one last blowout,’ is just so easy. I’d said those very words to myself time and time again. But when it came to actually making the change, I always found a reason not to. That was until a doctor told me that my bad choices were putting my life at risk.

In school, I was always one of the bigger kids. My parents had instilled in me from an early age that a sign of good manners was eating everything on your plate, and as a child, being bigger never bothered me.

But in my late teens, when the weight seemed to start dropping off, I was thrilled. I thought my body was naturally shedding its puppy fat. Only the weight loss was soon accompanied by sickness and diarrhoea, and I started to think that something might actually be wrong. In 2007, when I was 20, I booked an appointment with the GP. After numerous tests, I was diagnosed with coeliac disease. It meant my immune system was having a reaction to the gluten in my diet, and things like bread and pasta – foods I loved and ate plenty of – were making me sick.

I was shocked – and panicked too. How would I carry on eating all the things I enjoyed? A doctor explained that there were plenty of gluten-free options, even pasta, in specialist shops and some supermarkets. Armed with information, I started seeking out ways of enjoying all my favourite foods again. But lots of those free-from products contained more sugar, and with the amount I was eating (being able to enjoy food again was such a revelation that I often piled my plate high) my weight soon began to creep back up.

Fooling myself