It’s Monday morning and I’m still on annual leave. I’ve spent the weekend in central London listening to speakers talk about alternatives approaches to managing autism. It has been illuminating. I have not always agreed with what has been said and at times as a doctor sitting there I was quite frankly insulted by what was being implied about the medical profession in the UK. However, autism is a very contentious subject. Emotions run high, especially for parents who have severely affected children and for whom the NHS and education authorities had not provided timely assessments and solutions. So it was easy to see the motivations and basis for some of the narrative. I am not yet sure how I am going to translate what I have learnt to my clinical practice and population that I serve but over the next few days I will be organising my thoughts around it.

In the meantime, I will immediately apply the knowledge about thinking carefully about what we consume and it’s effect on our general health and behaviour. That was something that I did find myself agreeing on. Food should be sustenance and nutritious. It should not be poison. It is very easy to eat rubbish food. Even me as a doctor with all my knowledge and experience still find myself wolfing down ‘convienence’ foods because I’m a combination of tired and hungry. It’s very bad. Or I don’t eat when I should, skipping breakfast and eating later or eating heavy meals late at night, knowing that for me at least, my body does not respond well to these patterns and I ignore what it is doing to me because I am so tired.

I am not working this week, so it feels like I have more time to think. This morning I decided I wanted a smoothie. I mentally went through my cupboards and came up with this recipe.

2 bananas

4 deseeded dates

2 tablespoons of meridian peanut butter

2 tablespoons of Sainsbury’s Porridge Oats, SO Organic

16 ice cubes

700 mls Alpro oat milk

It was delicious. Cool, refreshing and very filling. I might see if it is something I can reproduce on a week day morning before work as it’s very easy to make.