Stripes and Sickness

What is it about being away from home that instantly makes being sick 100 times worse? It probably doesn’t help that I’m in America and I haven’t a clue how to navigate their crazy (and seriously expensive!) health care system. I am lucky that I have great family and friends over here, but it’s just so different to home and not knowing what to do can make you feel helpless and even homesick.

I haven’t really felt myself for the last few months. I have felt so physically ill and just kept eating and drinking through it. In the last few weeks I really found myself craving some good ‘clean’ Irish food all the time. This really made me long to have just a few days in my mother’s kitchen in Ireland…

I don’t think the food here is ‘clean.’ Even when you eat healthy, you just can’t be sure. There is sugar in everything (it wouldn’t surprise me if I found it in a salad!!). I also have a major sweet tooth, and New York is of course a sweet lovers dream!

To make a long story short, my diet, lifestyle (a serious case of FOMO) and the foods I eat have changed so much in the last 9 months that it made me sick… really sick! Isn’t that crazy? I’ve always kind of ate whatever I wanted, but at home I ate a lot healthier than I ever gave myself credit for. Sure I got my chocolate fix in everyday and some other treats (Just Baked bakery in Castlebar… drool!!!!), but all in all I ate really well. Here, it takes A LOT of effort (and money) to eat well. At home I know the supermarkets, I know when I eat bread it won’t be laced with sugar, I know what I’m eating! The EU also has some pretty strong regulations on food additives that America doesn’t have, so god only know what I have been putting in my body…

It’s scary how much it impacted me. It’s not that I want to leave New York, but I just started to get a little homesick and really wanted a few days at home to cook up a storm like I used to. Thankfully, I now know what the problem is, so I can start eating and feeling a lot better. This means a complete change in my diet and for a little while, NO SUGAR!! If you follow me on Instagram and Snapchat (usernames: lcscloset) you’ll know how much I love my sugary treats. 🙁

I kicked off this week feeling horrifically sick and so sorry for myself. Then I woke on Tuesday morning to the news of the terrible accident in Berkeley. I did a J1 here in New York a few years ago and at the same time my sister did hers in California. California is amazing and I can just imagine how excited all of them must have been to spend a summer in the Cali sunshine. It really should have been the summer of their lives! It’s so horrible and it really put things into perspective for me. No matter how hard you think you have things, it really isn’t that bad. This is going to be hard but at least I have the chance to change it.

Have a great weekend,

Lorna x

p.s. How is it already a year since my graduation???

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Photos by Sophie Ruane

I was wearing:

Stripe Dress: Primark (similar here)
Shirt: Primark (similar here)
Bag: IfChic
Sandals: Primark (similar here)
Sunglasses: Beacon’s Closet (similar here)