Ní Fhaoláin - Finns World: Do What You Love. Love What You Eat.

Where I Am

Over the past few years Ive begun to understand how a healthy life fits together. Ive no idea why when I was younger I couldnt see how the food I ate affected how I performed in sports, how the fuel you put in affects the performance of the machine. It took me a longer time still to see this on a bigger scale. Your whole lifestyle where you live, what you eat, what you do, how you exercise and the people you surround yourself with has to work together to make a happy, healthy human.

In the winter of 2015, I was living on the east coast of Ireland and feeling first-hand what its like when you dont have these aspects in balance. Though I was fairly pleased with myself at the time I had set up as a sole trader, I was writing this book and I was doing some work with a really cool restaurant in Dublin I felt lonely, frustrated and unfulfilled.

In terms of a balanced life, I had the food sorted (I was eating really well) and the exercise down (I was working with a personal trainer so I could get into competitive powerlifting) and I was doing work that I loved. But I still felt off my friends were scattered across the country (I had gone to college in Galway and Cork) and I was back living at home for the first time since before college. I was sitting there in my mid-twenties with debt from a masters degree that I wasnt even using and getting up at obscene times to make the long commute into Dublin, and when I finished work I felt like I had no core group of friends to relax or go out with.

To top it all off, my favourite sport, passion, pastime surfing was totally off the cards, as there are no regular waves on the east coast! And while that might not sound like a big deal to some, it was a huge loss for me. Im a water baby, plain and simple. Ive generally never lived more than a mile or two from the sea. I studied ocean science and marine biology and I used to work in an aquarium. Some of my address names have included The Quays, Kinvarra, Crest of the Wave and Ocean Wave. Sure my name is Finn, for goodness sake!

It was time for a change.

Having gained confidence from my cooking and baking jobs, I started looking at culinary arts courses. A wonderful opportunity arose when I received a scholarship for a full culinary programme in St Angelas College in Sligo.

On the introductory day for the course I happened to sit next to a girl who lived in Bundoran. Bundoran is a little surfing town in the south of Donegal where I had spent a very happy summer living in a cottage and surfing while I wrote up my masters thesis. When I asked her if she was moving temporarily for the course, she pointed out that it was just 20 minutes from Bundoran to the culinary school. A massive flash went off in my mind I swear it was like my brain did a flip.

I could live in a town I loved, with a wonderful community of people I already knew, and I could surf any time and go on hikes in the mountains, all while doing my course and writing my book. And I could afford to stay afterwards, as I wouldnt be dealing with Dublin commuter-belt rent prices. Its amazing how a few small choices can change your entire life. Fast forward a few months and lifes set-up looks something like this: Ive an apartment with an office and a beautiful kitchen that looks over one of Irelands best-known reef breaks. Ive no morning commute so my petrol gets saved for surf trips.

Its my first time living alone and Ive never been less lonely. Theres a wonderful, vibrant community in this little town on the wild Atlantic, many of whom have their own start-up businesses too. Theres always someone keen to go for a surf, to a yoga class, for a hike up in the mountains or listen to some live music and grab a sneaky pint in one of the pubs.

On the foodie front Ive lucked out with great food suppliers, local farms and craft butchers. Sligo town is not too far away for odder items and there are great beaches and woods nearby for foraging bits as well. I love cooking for friends in my little blue-and-white-tiled kitchen and during the summer months there are lots of barbecues and parties to cater for around the town. But why did I end up swapping a long-term career plan in marine science for food and going from an early college diet of pizza and cereal to healthy, home-cooked food?

How I Got Here

Im a small, bubbly blonde with the energy levels of a Labrador and the sense of humour of a teenage boy. I was always a happy, active kid, swimming in the lake or sea, climbing trees and building forts, but there were also bouts of unexplained stomach problems and a shoddy immune system that led to regular colds and flus. I was brought to doctors, specialists, herbalists and homoeopaths. They had all sorts of answers: abdominal migraines, an imbalance in my gut flora, over-anxious personality maybe it was all in my head!

When I shipped off to college, things began to spiral downwards. My diet had been pretty healthy at home. There were never fizzy drinks or sweets in the house and, as my friends said, we ate a lot of weird food i.e. tofu, falafel and unusual-looking vegetables. Now fending for myself in a student apartment, what I had been taught growing up didnt gel with the priorities of an 18-year-old who wanted to spend her money on sports gear and socialising.

I ate cereal for breakfast, toasties for lunch and for dinner I had pizza-eating competitions with my 6-foot-4 rugby-player housemate.

Wheat, wheat and more wheat!

My energy started to disappear, my stomach cramped uncontrollably whenever I ate, dark circles appeared under my eyes and, sometimes, ulcers in my mouth. As I lost strength and weight, I gave up all the sports I loved so much and I started to look like a bobble-head doll on the dashboard of a car.

I went to my local GP, who suggested cutting out wheat and dairy. Being a vegetarian already, my food choices were now severely restricted. I started including more rye and barley in my diet.

I thought I was healthy, but I looked like death. The energy dips got worse. Eventually I couldnt carry a stack of plates up the stairs in the vegetarian restaurant where I was working: a far cry from the little girl who used to challenge her godfather to an arm wrestle and who could almost lift up her mum.

Something had to change. I went for a consultation at the Irish Institute of Nutrition and Health. A wonderful woman there connected with the kid inside me who used to put on Darina Allen-inspired cookery shows for Mum and Dad. I was given recipes for breads, protein bars and simple meals that cut out wheat, dairy and refined sugars. They were tasty but they couldnt replace the junk food I craved on the weekends.

When I snuck two slices of pizza one night, my stomach cramped so badly I could see the muscles moving. I returned to the doctor. It was suggested I might have Crohns Disease. I freaked. (Never google any ailment, ever it will convince you that youre going to die!)