MY STORY
About Me
Food for Health...a perfect partnership
So, you might be wondering why a Health and Safety professional who has a bachelors degree in Health Science, Certificate of Rehabilitation equiv, Certificate in Adult Teaching, and International Nebosh Health and Safety certification decided to put that all to one side and launch into food blogging, meal prep and meal planning.
A simple answer could just be the fact that I love food and that really is quite true, but actually, it goes a little more like this. Like so many other people, I got to a point in my life where I was not really watching what I was eating but instead, just started shoveling any food and drink into my mouth that seemed “yummy and delicious”. I was about working hard and rewarding my tired self with fatty and sweet morning tea pastries, café and restaurant meals and definitely more than the odd glass of wine.
What was this doing to me? I was gaining weight, feeling sluggish and tired, seemed to catch colds easily and my childhood eczema returned to rear its head with an evil vengeance. I realised that I had to make a change or risk going down the slippery slope of ill health and even obesity.
So, I began researching ways to improve my health and came across many publications and lectures about how a low carbohydrate (carb) and ketogenic eating style could improve my overall health, straighten out my natural immunity and gut microbiome and might have the side benefit of helping me to lose the extra kilos.
It wasn’t easy at first…I mean, cutting out the wheat-based foods like fresh yeasty bread, gourmet cronuts and sauce-laiden noodles or pasta was enough to give me crazy cravings at the beginning. After all, I’m a real foodie and I love to eat just about everything. But I persevered and started adapting recipes and switching high carb ingredients for low carb alternatives. Life started looking up. The best thing is, I was still able to enjoy a glass or two of wine absolutely guilt free. Yay!
Now, I have to tell you, I’m still on my journey. I’ve managed to get back down to a healthy weight (granted, not overnight but it seems to be staying off…yay), improve my gut health and immunity, and reduce my eczema to a point where it is almost gone without the use of steroidal creams or medications.
I have been overjoyed with how a low carb eating lifestyle makes me feel and I love the fact that I hardly ever get sick these days, even when other people around me are dropping like flies with colds. And if I do manage to get the odd sniffles, they are done and dusted in record short time.
My passion for improving health naturally through food and the health hurdles that this has helped me to overcome, has led me to create Kiwi Keto Lowcarbers. It’s a platform to help others on their own low carb lifestyle journey and a place where I can offer support, assistance, and share my daily low carb life with like-minded people.
I also try to make things user friendly for kiwi’s as I’ve found that so many low carb recipes and products cater more for America or the UK and that you often can’t source the products or ingredients here in New Zealand so easily.
So if you’re up for it, come join me and let’s get started!
Mel Barker
"Hi! Like the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates, I believe in food as medicine and on my journey of healthy eating, I have embarked on a low carb and largely ketogenic eating lifestyle. I love to share this passion with others and assist them on their healthy eating adventures.”