Bitten by the health bug
An allotment was powerful medicine for Polly Baldwin after am insect bite wrecked her life. Now she has all the
ingredients for wellbeing. Sharon Dale reports. Pictures by Max Furnandiz and Polly
Baldwin.
find the key to recovery via a Canadian doctor who was speaking at a medical conference she was photographing.
“I heard him speak about gut health and arthritis. I had a chat with him after and he told me to trace everything back to the day I fell ill and that was it. The venom had wrecked my gut.”
Bacteria and other microbes in our guts play a vital role in digestion, immune function and mood. Too much bad bacteria and not enough good can play havoc with your health.
The best-selling book by Giulia Enders, Gut - the inside story of our body’s most under-rated organ, highlights this.
Polly also recommends Naomi Devlin’s The
Gut Feeling: recipes to Calm Nourish and Heal and The Art of Eating Well by Jasmine and Melissa Helmsley.
She used them after a top nutritionist helped change her diet to improve her gut. A gluten intolerance and the sugar-fuelled yeast infection Candida were also revealed.
“It’s about replacing processed food with eating real food that is as organic and as good for your gut as possible. It does take more time but it’s worth it,” says Polly.
“It’s amazing how powerful that change in diet has been. It has completely changed my life but if you are as bad as I was you need to find a good nutritionist who understands gut health and will do allergy tests and take stool samples to analyse.”
Along with her career as a professional photographer, she is now spreading the gospel about gut health, wellbeing and growing your own food via her blog, podcasts and social media feeds.
She is also staging Jolly Gutsy Gatherings, which take place in a rural setting, often with a campfire, and include talks by experts and advice on how gut health and a connection with nature and community can help you feel better. The next is on September 18, if social distancing allows.
“It took a year for that spider bite to wreck my health and four years to put it right. I’ve now learned to listen to my body and to thank goodness for my allotment,” says Polly. “There is so much joy and hope and promise when you grow food, even if it is just a few herbs on the windowsill.”
Visit Polly’s website www.jollyallotment. co.uk for details of the Gutsy Gatherings and for her features on anxiety, gut health recipes and growing your own veg. Subscribe to the Jolly newsletter for updates and extra advice.
You can also find daily stories and tips on Polly’s Instagram and Facebook and IGTV @ jollyallotment
Polly has also launched a ‘Goodness For Wellness’ podcast featuring interviews with experts to nourish the mind, body and soul.