Welcome to the world of this Baking Zebra! Horse groomer, dog carer and cake maker with a new interest in the ketogenic way of eating.

In 2015, after a long and painful road with doctors I was finally diagnosed with a group of conditions which explained the symptoms I’d had over the previous years. I have hypermobile type Ehlers- Danlos Syndrome which is a connective tissue disorder and this, it is believed, is the reason I also have Postural orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (I suffer with soaring heartrates upon standing), Lipoedema (a painful condition which causes a build up of fat in certain areas) and Dysautonomia (autonomic nervous system dysfunction). I’ll explain these in more detail in other posts along the way.

The symptoms of these weird and wonderful conditions are hideous from start to finish but I refuse to let any illness control my life. Ive always said to myself, ‘you can control your conditions or you’re conditions can control you’ and I’m most certainly winning at the moment! When I discovered eating the ketogenic way could reduce my inflammation, help with the fatigue and generally make me feel better than I have done for years I knew I’d unlocked a massive door for myself.

And so here I am, sticking two fingers up to chronic Illness and proving to anyone in the same shoes that life still can go on, ok there may be some adaptions but soldier on and believe in yourself.

Lastly, the Zebra reference, Doctors are told a phrase ‘when you hear the sound of hoofbeats, think horses not zebras’ which basically means look at symptoms and diagnose the most common outcomes. EDS is considered a rare condition and so have become known as medical Zebras! As I was repeatedly misdiagnosed for years and now know the truth I feel I’ve earned my stripes 😀

Follow me on my journey while I look into these conditions, find ways to help myself and bake yummy goodies along the way …. it won’t all be keto friendly sugar free baking don’t worry! I still make sugar filled treats for a living so there will be plenty of those too! Xx