Drinking wine from a can is seriously uncool

This is what I have come to. I have to ration myself by buying cans of Tesco French Red Wine. A peculiar vintage... I'm NOT tasting plimsoles in a dusty old staircase joined with sunbeams on old leather car seats infused with strawberry kisses from a baby with final notes of smoky rain drops.

I am tasting sour, metallic pre vinegar grape stew. Yuk.

So why am I drinking it... well, maybe it will put me off, or maybe it will make my mind up totally that its not worth it unless you pay £50 a bottle, or maybe I just think that I know something about wine and actually its just the packaging that makes a wine taste nice *Mind Games of Big Brother* and right now, I don't particularly care what I drink... especially after the shite day we have had.

Today I have been mostly washing. Oh, and drying and ironing too... but mostly washing. 12 loads, with 1 load a piece still in the washer and dryer for tomorrows kicks. What a party animal.
I got up reasonably early today (for me!) and tidied up, although most of the house was still spotless from Tuesday when I gave it a complete delousing as the girls were leaving and we had new prospective tenants coming to view. So I pottered, and then decided to get cracking with the washing mountain. Now, in our house you know its time to do the washing when:
1.) You can't see daylight in the utility room
2.) The cats are walking down from the cat flap rather than having to jump from the window sill
3.) You don't know where the clean pile starts/ends and the dirty pile - the same thing
4.) You have to first dig through clothes to get to the fridge whereas you used to be able to push the clothes out of the way with the door
5.) You have lost your 5 drawer filing cabinet
6.) You have lost the washing machine
7.) Your son wears pants all day long - and not because he can't be arsed to get dressed
8.) Everyone is wearing global hypercolour colour change t-shirts, shell suits, pregnancy trousers and other random clothes that you haven't seen for a decade because they were at the back of the cupboard
9.) Your neighbour brings you a bag of clothes because they think you are doing a jumble sale
10.) Your child is involved in an terrible avalanche accident on the way to get an ice cream

Today I decided that most of the above applied... Ok all of them, and I actually BURNT OUT THE TUMBLE DRYER! Can you believe it. It never rains but it fucking pours - metaphorically and literally of course. The rain pissed down all day long and I had 68 loads of washing to do... you know the kind of thing (probably not because I expect you all to be great housewives whereas I am Rrruuuuuuu-bish). So I get the cycle of 1 load washing, 1 load drying underway when I decided after 6 loads to go have a coffee.

Sniff Sniff... something dodgy. Low and behold I can smell burning. Not an electrical burning, but the kind you get from paper or... clothes!

ARGHHHH - yep, the fluff in the dryer is smoldering and filling my house with its noxious vapours. So I drag everything out of the dryer and its ROASTING hot. It all has to be bloody washed again as it smells like its been on top of old smokey, and try and see what the problem is. DH gets his ever ready screwdriver out and whips the back of the old dryer. Its 9 now bless it, so a bit of an old girl, but still, after so many years of good service, I think it should darn well continue! We notice that the connection is covered with sooty, burnt, smokey fluff and grease and STINKS big styleee.

So we clean, de grease, put back together (less 4 screws... how did that happen...?), and try it on its own for a few minutes. All we can smell to be fair, is smoke. So I open every window and door in the house and we try and air the place. Thing is, it gets up your nose, so you cant tell if it has gone, or getting worse, or what. I went out to the town with DS and we posted a letter, and by the time we got back I couldn't smell anything dodgy, so I guess it cleared itself. I chucked the next wet load in and so far its been working away like a demon. I might not leave it on on its own though, or over night like I used to... scary.

So with all the washing, it took my mind off of the BIG CAHONNES. We have still not been paid. We were due to be paid on 25th. Its the 30th. I am, shall we say, a tad stressed...?

So this afternoon DH went over to the alleged boss, whom I think should have been crawling on his hands and knees begging us to forgive him, and asked for his money. He got the measly amount out of the fucker, but no expenses (tight arse) and they had a 'heated' conversation. So, the upshot... there isn't one. Looks like we will have to buy a car, service it, insure it and tax it and run it by ourselves without any help from the man who said he would supply all and pay all costs. What an arsehole. So not only did we default on our mortgage for the first time in the 13 years we have had one, we bounced all over the place because the arsehole was full of wind. God that guy can talk. He one of these that is like:

"Oh hi, can I have my money"
"Oh hi, yes I was just thinking about that, well I have to go and get my grandmothers pension and I saw her brother the other day and he has got me a deal where I will get £18K from blaa blaa blaa and then that will be sweet and I can make you a director"

W T F ?

It's all BOLLOCKS. He could be a politician the way he talks himself out of anything and everything and manages to sweet talk you at the same time so you come away feeling god, and then have that sinking feeling that you have been rogered by an extra large telegraph pole without Vaseline.

Anyway, enough! ENOUGH! ENOUGH! ARGHHHH I am going to go insane HA HA HA

I cant take much more of this crap I seriously cant. Just going over the last few months is about enough to make anyone to query how to tie a noose the best way and work out the drop needed.

I jest... or do I?!?!?!

Anyway, just had to get all that off my chest. Today's food... 1100 cals:

Breakfast: 1 shape lasting satisfaction

Lunch: 2 slices bread, no crusts, beetroot slices and salad creme

Dinner: toad in the hole - 1 grilled beef sausage, a twelfth of the packet of batter mix, carrots and gravy with onions and tbsp mashed potato(about the size of a 2 year olds portion)
Bedtime Snack: 2 danone activia's

I cant seem to eat before about 1pm. Its practically impossible. the sandwich at lunch (2pm) was really hard to eat and it took me a while. I ate the first 2 bites and then had to wait about 30 minutes before taking 1 bite at a time. I took a bite and chewed and chewed all the while I was ironing a shirt... 1 shirt = 1 mouthful. That's the time it took people!

Anyway, I am now tired, so am off to bed. thanks for letting me rant.
Oh and I have noticed a really weird thing... I can type without looking and the keys. How totally cool is that. I never knew that before. I am typing now to see when I have to look down and I haven't had to yet. I just spelled haven't wrong, and had to hit the backspace button and I didn't even look down. That is so excellent. Its really amazing not to have to look at the keys. The more I think about it the worse my typing gets... its really funny... sorry people, this is kind of an experiment. I have drunk 2 glasses of wine too!! That's really coooooool. What else can I say the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog... WOW ALL FINE!!! Ha ha. I am gonna carry on. Stop reading because this is gonna be proper boring everybody. I am a mole and I live in a hole. The rain in Spain falls mainly on the plane. Its so cool that I can watch all my words fill the screen and no have to check down for errors. How did this happen. This shows I spend way too much time typing. OMG this is totally awesome! I cant believe it. If I spell a word wrong I instantly hit backspace and can blot it out and get the right letter each time. this is so skill. I am really glad that I can do this. I still haven't looked down..... Ha ha ha ha ha. any second now surely I will have to look down. How long have I been doing this without realising it?? I didn't know I knew the keys so well!! And I only type two fingered. Actually that's wrong., I do use a couple of fingers, but its mainly the index ones. I use the 4th (wow I got that, AND the bracket too!!!) (WOWOWOW again!) finger of the right hand to catch the backspace an the I seem to use the index of the right hand to do the spacebar. I use the little finger of my left hand to fo the shift key to get capitals. I am really impressed with myself. When I start to concentrate on it I get slower, how wierd is that. But when I go fast them I can seem to get everything right. i am shutting my eyes now and I am seeing if this all comes out ok. OH WOW!!! That was actually easier that looking at it on the screen. I am using all the keys now and I had to think about that one because I stopped and scratched my chin. I can feel that I am catching other letters and not hitting the keys straight on, so I hope that I am getting most of this right, I think I am, but only when I open my eyes will I know for sure. This is much much easier, so I am guessing that it will be all a load of crap and all over the place the lazy brown dog jumps over the fat cow, oh no, i cant remember it. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. I think i got this shit licked.

OK, I am looking now and I have opened my eyes... I am impressed with myself. How sad is that. I always look at the keys when i type. Maybe I have invented a new way to type... use 2 fingers, and only look at the keys, not at the screen (opposite of how they get you to do it in school!) and then WHAM! you can touch type. COOL

Negative Calorie Foods - Foods That Speed Up Metabolism

Foods That Speed Up Metabolism - Negative calorie foods speed up metabolism as they burn more calories then they contain.

Negative calorie foods are foods, which use more calories to digest than the calories the foods actually contain. Calories from these foods are much harder for the body to breakdown and process. In other words, the body has to work harder in order to extract calories from these foods. For example, if you eat 200 calories of a food that requires 250 calories to digest, then you've burnt an additional 50 calories simply by eating that food.

List of negative calorie foods

Vegetables			cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, tomato, cucumber, broccoli, lettuce, celery, fennel, aubergine, gourd, leek, lettuce, marrow, peppers, celery, radish, chicory, spinach, cress, turnip, hot chili peppers
Fruits			watermelon, guava, apricot, mandarin orange, blackberry, melon, cantaloupe, blackcurrant, peaches, clementines, plums, damsons, raspberry, grapefruit. rhubarb, strawberry, honeydew melon, tangerine, lemon, apple

Quick Weight Loss

Poultry Recipes: Not just for the 5 Day Pouch Test

We have added six great new quick and easy poultry recipes for Day 5 of the 5 Day Pouch Test. These recipes are low-carb but include healthy vegetables, fruits and fat in the preparation to ease you back into a healthy weight loss surgery way of eating so you can maintain your 5DPT success.Day 5 Poultry RecipesGrilled Turkey SteaksPapaya-Glazed ChickenMustard Baked ChickenPepper-Lime

Mary Mary where are you kitties?

The fattest cat I ever did see. My lovely baby Mary is so ready for these kittens now... but she is still hanging onto them! The photo doesn't really catch her best side, but its like someone inflated a balloon in there!

She has chosen the most random of places to recline. she is pictured here sprawled on the bathroom floor right under the sink. Nothing like convenience for you. She waddles from the bathroom sleeping place to the landing sleeping place. However, today, as I was making the beds, I did catch her in the little box we made for her though... So we are STILL playing the waiting game. I really want to see those 'nit-nits' so bad now! Its so exciting - what will they be, how many, what colours etc...

Diet wise... Nothing exciting to report. Went to fat fighters (aka slimmingworld) yesterday. I weighed in at 15 stone 12. No surprises there then. What was great though, was the fact that practically all the same old people were there. A couple had got drastically slimmer, and another couple fatter. But they ALL commented on how I was looking and were like "Oh! Hello... wow, like the hair... seems to be a lot less of you too!" Which I wasn't expecting, so that was a really lovely boost to my day.

Foodwise today has not been fabulous. I crunched up 5 peanut m&m's and then had to puke them up again. then for lunch I made a jacket potato with curry sauce. Eat a bit then puked it and chucked the rest away. For dinner I made waffles, beans and egg. I eat 3/4 waffle, 1 egg and a few beans... VERY slowly. So far, no spew.

This seems to becoming a habit for me. Every day last week has been dreadful in the mornings and afternoons, but ok come the evening.

On the home front, Maria and Xandra left today. They told us on Friday that they had found a job in a holiday camp on the seaside, so I took them to the station this morning. I really hope they get on ok... I know these places are sometimes a bit hard to pin down on the payment side of things... That said, so is DH's new boss. We should have been paid last Friday 25th. Then he said he got tied up, so he would see us yesterday. Didn't happen. He said he would meet up Wednesday, but I told DH that unfortunately that was NOT OK, and he rang him and he said he would come over today. Still waiting. How can you work for someone for a whole month and then not pay them??? This is seriously doing my head in. The mortgage comes out tomorrow. Thankfully his redundancy covers it, but next month... Hard to trust someone who never does what they say they do.

So I am stressing just a TINY BIT!

Review: The Neighborhood Cookbook

Our LivingAfterWLS Food & Nutrition Editor Barbara Gibbons recently reviewed the Neighborhood Cookbook. Here is what she had to say about this weight loss surgery specific cookbook that was created by patients for patients:There are so many new neighbors here that I thought I would post a topic about our very special publication. Not to be confused with the ‘Community Kitchen’ which is a live

More Liver

It's time to celebrate your liver. It's a hard-working organ and it deserves some credit.

One of the liver's most important overall functions is maintaining nutrient homeostasis. It controls the blood level of a number of macro- and micronutrients, and attempts to keep them all at optimal levels.

Here's a list of some of the liver's functions I'm aware of:

• Buffers blood glucose by taking it up or releasing it when needed
• A major storage site for glycogen (a glucose polymer)
  
• Clears insulin from the blood
• Synthesizes triglycerides
• Secretes and absorbs lipoprotein particles ("cholesterol")
• Stores important vitamins: B12, folate, A, D, E, K (that's why it's so nutritious to eat!)
• Stores minerals: copper and iron
  
• Detoxifies the blood
• Produces ketone bodies when glucose is running low
• Secretes blood proteins
• Secretes bile
• Converts thyroid hormones
• Converts vitamin D (D3 --> 25(OH)D3)
  

The liver is an all-purpose metabolic powerhouse and storage depot. In the next post, I'll give you a recipe for it...

The Liver: Your Metabolic Gatekeeper

As I've been learning more about the different blood markers of metabolic dysfunction, something suddenly occurred to me. Most of them reflect liver function! Elevated fasting glucose, low HDL cholesterol, high LDL cholesterol, high triglycerides and high fasting insulin all reflect (at least in part) liver function. The liver is the "Grand Central Station" of cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism, to quote Philip A. Wood from How Fat Works. It's also critical for insulin and glucose control, as I'll explain shortly. When we look at our blood lipid profile, fasting glucose, or insulin, what we're seeing is largely a snapshot of our liver function. Does no one talk about this or am I just late to the party here?!

I read a paper today from the lab of C. Ronald Kahn that really drove home the point. They created a liver-specific insulin receptor knockout (LIRKO) mouse, which is a model of severe insulin resistance in the liver. The mouse ends up developing severe whole-body insulin resistance, dramatically elevated post-meal insulin levels (20-fold!), impaired glucose tolerance, and elevated post-meal and fasting glucose. Keep in mind that this all resulted from nothing more than an insulin resistant liver.

LIRKO mice had elevated post-meal blood glucose due to the liver's unresponsiveness to insulin's command to take up sugar. Apparently the liver can dispose of one third of the glucose from a meal, turning it into glycogen and triglycerides. The elevated fasting glucose was caused by insulin not suppressing gluconeogenesis (glucose synthesis) by the liver. In other words, the liver has no way to know that there's already enough glucose in the blood so it keeps on pumping it out. This is highly relevant to diabetics because fasting hyperglycemia comes mostly from increased glucose output by the liver. This can be due to liver insulin resistance or insufficient insulin production by the pancreas.

One of the interesting things about LIRKO mice is their dramatically elevated insulin level. Their pancreases are enlarged and swollen with insulin. It's as if the pancreas is screaming at the body to pick up the slack and take up the post-meal glucose the liver isn't disposing of. The elevated insulin isn't just due to increased output by the pancreas, however. It's also due to decreased disposal by the liver. According to the paper, the liver is responsible for 75% of insulin clearance from the blood in mice. The hyperinsulinemia they observed was both due to increased secretion and decreased clearance. Interestingly, they noted no decline in beta cell (the cells that secrete insulin) function even under such a high load.

Something that's interesting to note about these mice is they have very low blood triglyceride. It makes sense since insulin is what tells the liver to produce it. Could this have something to do with their lack of beta cell dysfunction?

The really strange thing about LIRKO mice is that their blood glucose becomes more normal with age. Strange until you see the reason: their livers are degenerating so they can't keep up glucose production!

LIRKO mice reproduce many of the characteristics of type II diabetes, without degenerating completely into beta cell death. So insulin resistance in the liver appears to reproduce some elements of diabetes and the metabolic syndrome, but the full-blown disorders require other tissues as well. As a side note, this group also has a skeletal muscle-specific insulin receptor knockout which is basically normal. Interesting considering muscle tissue seems to be one of the first tissues to become insulin resistant during diabetes onset.

So if you want to end up like your good pal LIRKO, remember to drink high-fructose corn syrup with every meal! You'll have fatty liver and insulin resistance in no time!

I have a lot more to say about the liver, but I'll continue it in another post.

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Cari Hartman Loses the Diet

Cari Hartman has lost 123 pounds. She is being featured on the Today Show this morning. She lost the weight, not by going on a diet, and not by counting calories, but by making a complete lifestyle change. She joined a fitness center, quit fast food, quit drinking tons of Diet Cokes each day and started eating real meals and taking her lunch to work.

See her inspirational weight loss story here.

The photo of a portable lunch is by moira.

Book Review: Blood Sugar 101

I just finished reading "Blood Sugar 101" by Jenny Ruhl. It's a quick read, and very informative. Ruhl is a diabetic who has taken treatment into her own hands, using the scientific literature and her blood glucose monitor to understand blood sugar control and its relationship to health. The book challenges some commonly held ideas about diabetes, such as the notion that diabetics always deteriorate.

She begins by explaining in detail how blood glucose is controlled by the body. The pancreas releases basal amounts of insulin to make glucose available to tissues between meals. It also releases insulin in response to carbohydrate intake (primarily) in two bursts, phase I and phase II. Phase I is a rapid response that causes tissues to absorb most of the glucose from a meal, and is released in proportion to the amount of carbohydrate in preceding meals. Phase II cleans up what's left.

In a person with a healthy pancreas, insulin secretion will keep blood glucose under about 130 mg/dL even under a heavy carbohydrate load. The implications of this are really interesting. Namely, that blood glucose levels will not be very different between a person who eats little carbohydrate, and one who eats a lot, as long as the latter has a burly pancreas and insulin-sensitive tissues.

Most Americans don't have such good control however, hence the usefulness of low-carbohydrate diets. This begs the question of why we lose blood sugar control. Insulin resistance seems like a good candidate, maybe preceded by leptin resistance. As you may have noticed, I'm starting to think the carbohydrate per se is not the primary insult. It's probably something else about the diet or lifestyle that causes carbohydrate insensitivity. Grain lectins are a good candidate in my opinion, as well as inactivity.

Diabetics can have blood glucose up to 500 mg/dL, that remains elevated long after it would have returned to baseline in a healthy person. Ruhl asserts that elevated blood sugar is toxic, and causes not only diabetic complications but perhaps also cancer and heart disease.

Heart attack incidence is strongly associated with A1C level, which is a rough measure of average blood sugar over the past couple of months. It makes sense, although most of the data she cites is correlative. They might have seen the same relationship if they had compared heart attack risk to fasting insulin level or insulin resistance. It's difficult to nail down blood sugar as the causative agent. More information from animal studies would have been helpful.

Probably the most important thing I took from the book is that the first thing to deteriorate is glucose tolerance, or the ability to pack post-meal glucose into the tissues. It's often a result of insulin resistance, although autoimmune processes seem to be a factor for some people. Doctors often use fasting glucose to diagnose diabetes and pre-diabetes, but typically you are far gone by the time your fasting glucose is elevated!

I like that she advocates a low-carbohydrate diet for diabetics, and lambasts the ADA for its continued support of high-carbohydrate diets.

Overall, a good book. I recommend it!

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Chicken with Mushrooms and Cream Sauce

Elise over at Simply Recipes has done it again with a great low-carb chicken recipe. For the recipe and detailed information link here: Chicken with Mushrooms and Cream Sauce"Your website readers are going to love this," my father exclaimed when he finally finished his plate of chicken smothered in creamy mushroom sauce. Mom found the recipe from one of her favorite cookbooks* now long out of

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So far, No kitties

We are playing the waiting game now. It has to be literally any minute!

Mary, bless her is absolutely shattered. She is so unbelievably fat and pregnant that I fear she could go pop! we have now stopped her from going outside. She has the luxury of being free of all our other cats for a while and having the whole of the upstairs to herself. We put a litter tray in the bathroom, and her special food and water near her bed. We made her this huge box with a soft lining and a towel in the bottom. So, we are all ready to go. I am sure she will be glad to have them now as she is just lounging about all day. She was really staying upstairs a lot and only coming down to eat and pee anyway, so it is kind of better for her not to have to negotiate the stairs and everything each time she wants to do that.

I cant wait to see how many there are, and what they are. I just hope its going to be ok for her. I know its natural and all that, but still, its gotta be pretty horrible whatever type of animal you are. we are all guessing about how many she will have:

Me: 4
DH: 3
DS: 4
Maria: 4
Xandra: 5

So we shall see. I have never seen a pregnant cat before, or seen kittens born or anything like that, so I have no idea if the size of her has anything to do with the amount of kitties in there.

Anyway, band wise... things have been, how can I put it... TIGHT.

I have not had a lot of food for the last couple of days. I have been feeling pretty darn dodgy too to be honest.

Wednesday, I cant remember, but I know I had practically nothing all day and then a curry in the evening. Thursday we got fish and chips from the F+C Shop. I don't even bother ordering chips any more. I just had cod, but I only ate half, and then had to go be sick.

Yesterday was totally odd. I had an apple for my lunch, a stick of celery and some humous for a snack and then a potato waffle with a fried egg and baked beans for dinner. It was hard going, and I know I pushed it down there. I could have eaten half of it and been totally fine.

Today, as yesterdays dinner was so yummy, I made waffles, beans and fried eggs again for lunch. HA HA HA! My band was NOT having that at all.

I ate about 1 teaspoon each of waffle, egg and beans. Then after half an hour of seeing if it would 'go down' I handed my plate to DH who gobbled it down (after eating his own 3 waffles, beans and 2 eggs!!!OMG!). Then I threw up. I gave it about half an hour and tried to eat a banana. got 1/3rd down me and 45 minutes later I was seeing it for the second slimy time.

So I have not bothered to eat anything else. There doesn't seem much point. I am just drinking orange juice and might have myself a vegetable juice later. Tymbark, a Polish company, make this Vega Juice which is really nice. Beetroot and all kinds in it and its so tasty. They are only £1 for a 500ml which I think is well cool as they are really handy to have in the car and instantly fill me up. I got them in the Polish isle in Tesco's.

So feeling a bit tired right now and am going to go and have a sleep. I hope that later I will be able to eat something nice. I really miss chewing.

*UPDATE*

OK, I give in. No food for me today. I tried (twice) to eat a couple of Polish thin breadsticks with humous and the Band did not want them.

I have been sick 3 times today. The first time after the potato/egg lunch. The second after the banana. And finally the Bread Sticks and humous.

So today I had managed practically nothing. I did however manage a packet of sesame snaps, A pint of orange squash, a pint of water, a pint of vega vegetable juice and am currently in the process of eating an Activia Yoghurt.

I feel quite raw and to be honest it feels like I am a little swollen in there. I can actually feel my band if you know what I mean...? Its strange. Its definitely a tight day today. I don't think trying to eat anything else today is gonna help me much, so I am going to try again tomorrow.

Eating is definitely not the pleasure it used to be. I still enjoy what I eat, of course, but there is always that thought whether it Will go down, did I chew it well enough, am I full yet... So many questions.

Today I feel really tired and weak as its been several days without many calories at all... Something like 700 over the last 3 days. So I am going to have to see how it goes.

My main aim is to NOT puke again. I am going to make a concerted effort for it not to happen. Each mouthful 1 or 2 minutes apart. I have the chewing thing down, now I think its more a case of eating too fast and taking down too much air with my food/drink.

So there we go. I am also going to go back to slimmingworld - not because I need to, but because I want to. I really liked the whole process of weighing weekly and being accountable and rewarded for my progress. I know its quite sad, but I think I need that focus. TB is also going back. I think if you could steal Lap Bands she would sneak in one night and nick it from me! HA HA. So we are both going to go. Me for positivity and reward and her for motivation and accountability.

We are team "Gonna be a skinny bastard" again!

Scientist Discovers that Only Pills can Control Hypertension

I went to a presentation today by a prominent hypertension researcher. His talk began with a slide that had two pictures side-by-side: one of the late fitness advocate Jim Fixx, and the other of Winston Churchill. Fixx was a marathon runner, while Churchill was inactive, overweight and had a famous appetite. Fixx died of a sudden heart attack at 52, while Churchill lived to 90. The presenter went on to state that this is an example of how genes control CVD risk, implying that despite Fixx's exemplary lifestyle, his genes had condemned him to an early death.

I wanted to jump up and yell "I think you're leaving out the alternate hypothesis: running marathons and stuffing yourself with grains isn't healthy!" But instead I suffered quietly through what ended up being an inane yet informative presentation.

His lab looks for gene variations that affect blood pressure (BP). There's a huge amount of money and research going into this. His lab and others have come up with two classes of mutations:

• Common allele variants that have an insignificant but measurable effect on blood pressure.
• Rare genetic mutations that have a significant effect on BP. The most common affects 1 in 2,000 people in the US.

Despite truckloads of funding and research, they have yet to uncover any gene or combination of genes that accounts for even a fraction of hypertension in Americans. So what's the next step? Keep looking for genes.

I suspect they will never find anything interesting. The reason? Hypertension is tightly linked to lifestyle. It's a quintessential aspect of the "disease of civilization". It's highly responsive to carbohydrate restriction, as a number of clinical trials have shown. Remember the Kuna? They don't get hypertension when they live a non-industrial, grain-free lifestyle (despite eating more salt than the average American), but as soon as they move to the city their hearts explode. It's been demonstrated in a number of other similar cases as well. Genetics are clearly not responsible.

Don't get me wrong, I do think genetics can modify a person's response to a poor lifestyle. But when the lifestyle is healthy, the vast majority of these differences fade away. I have a more thorough discussion of this point here.

If you give just the right dose of poison to a group of animals, 50% will die and 50% will survive (called the EC50 dose). You might then conclude that genetics had determined who lived and died. You wouldn't be wrong, but you'd be missing the point that what killed them was the poison.

The thing that really bothers me about this thinking is it's disempowering. The presenter suggested that the reason for the difference between Fixx and Churchill was their genes. If genes have us in such a tight grip, why bother trying to live well? The only logical solution is to pop hypertension pills and eat cake all day.

My guess is that if they had lived a more natural lifestyle, Fixx would have made it to 90 and Churchill would have been fit and lean.

What is wrong with them?

I cannot believe the places our cats decide to sleep.

Dave has taken his morning snooze on Ds's Lap top. Makes for a great excuse for him not to have to do his spellings huh!

We have a range of comfy beds, sofa's, cat baskets and snug warm toasty places, but no... it has to be across the keyboard of the laptop.

Random.

Visualize Yourself Thin - Weight Loss Tip

Weight Loss Tip -Visualise success - Your mind can influence your actions, which can lead to healthy eating and motivate you to exercise and lose weight. Visualize yourself thin. When you continue to visualize yourself as a thin person, your subconscious mind will move you into the right direction and you will exercise to lose weight. Visualization influences your mind and your mind controls your actions. If you want to be thin, picture yourself thin. Think about things you would like to do but can’t do because of your weight. Visualize how you will look when you will lose weight and fit in to your favorite dress.
Think Fit Be Fit

Hunger is NOT an Emergency

Just this week I had a breakthrough moment when I read that naturally slender people do not treat hunger as an emergency. “Most of us who struggle with extra pounds tend to view hunger as a condition that needs to be cured – and fast,” writes Judith S. Beck, PhD, author of the Beck Diet Solution. “If you fear hunger, you might routinely overeat and avoid it,” she says adding, “Thin people

Spring Halibut Recipe

Here is a terrific halibut recipe to make the most of fresh strawberries and tangerines. This recipe is great anytime, but works well for Day 4 of the 5 Day Pouch Test. Serve it to your family: they won't even know it is "diet" food.Alaskan Halibut with Strawberry, Tangerine & Fresh Basil SalsaIngredients:32 Ounces halibut filletskosher salt, to tasteblack pepper, to taste16 ounces strawberries,

Gastric Bypass on CBS 60 Minutes

The CBS news magazine 60 Minutes aired a piece on gastric bypass on April 20. To date it is one of the most fair pieces I have seen, yet there was still the feel of "easy fix". Here is a summary:

(CBS) An operation performed primarily to reduce weight in the obese has some startlingly positive side effects. Gastric bypass surgery can send type 2 diabetes into complete remission, in some cases

Think Big Cocktail

Hello Neighbors!Are you looking for a delicious and refreshing beverage for a little mid-day pick-me-up? Want the festivity of a cocktail without the buzz? Try our newly invented "Think Big Cocktail" shown here. The recipe is simple:THINK BIG COCKTAIL1 pk. Tropical Flavor Emergen-C2 cups Langers Cranberry Raspberry Plus 100% Juice with Vitamis A, C & E, Gingko Biloba, Ginseng & Potassium2 cups

*GROAN* I have eaten too much

:o(

Man, I know my stomach has shrunk, but Geez!

Today has been peculiar. I have had a Kiwi fruit, 2 kitkats and a curry. I love curry, and I had half a plate and waited. I then could eat the rest. Things were going easy, and I was watching a film... I had seconds and now I feel like a balloon!

PFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

I am stuffed. I haven't felt this way for a LONG while. But, its not pleasant you know? I have a pain in my tummy where there is just too much food there. Its really uncomfortable. Curry is easy for me to eat because its so wet.

Anyway, I am off to bed. This has been a bad day in a good week, so I am not gonna beat myself black and blue.

Interval Training - Great way to boost Metabolism

What is Interval Training
Interval training is training using short bursts of high intensity exercise that are separated by recovery periods of low intensity exercise. It alternates short bursts of intense activity with lower intensity activity. Interval training is a scientific way to train your body to burn more calories. You will push yourself beyond your comfort level for short bursts of time.

For example walk 3 mins then run for 1 min and keep doing that until your 45 mins or up. Gradually you'll be able to run for longer periods of time.This will force your body to burn more calories because when you do the running your body burns more energy. Giving your body this jolt will increase your overall calorie burning both during and after exercise. Interval training shocks your body and causes a greater increase in post exercise metabolism than regular cardio.

Freaky Thursday

I have had the most weird day today.

I was not hungry breakfast time... so I just had pills and a coffee.

Lunch kind of didn't happen as some friends turned up for me to do their nails, so I had a chocolate yogurt desert thingy.

then I decided that I must eat before I went to work, so I defrosted and cooked up some chicken and lentil stew that I had saved in the freezer. I had 1 bit of carrot and 1 spoonful of lentils and onion or something and knew I could not eat any more. So off I went to work. Before I got to the house I had to get out the car and spew up in the street. How nice is that! I couldn't believe it. I had no time to get away from the world, so I just had to chuck it up right there at the back of my car. Grim.

So I do a lesson and then go next door for my second pupil (how cool is that!) and they gave me a cup of tea and one of those little apple pies. I drank some tea, and had a bite - 1 bite - of the pie and knew I better wait. However, it got to the end of the lesson and I had to leave the pie and the half cup of tea on the tray as I was not going to be able to eat that at all. So I started on my way home. This time I managed to get out into the open countryside, and pull off onto a little drove before I chucked up. Well odd.

I got home and the sausage casserole that I had bunged in the oven was cook. DS came dashing in from playing out and asked if he had another half hour to play, so I said he might as well seeing as I had to do the spuds yet. When all was done, DS was in we sat down to eat dinner and I managed 1/3rd of a sausage and half a small boiled potato.

We went to a meeting in the evening and when I got back I still was not hungry, but I kind of felt empty you know? So I went to bed with a large glass of sugar free squash and another chocolate dessert.

Calories today would have been 750 if I had eaten everything on my plate... so I have no idea what they actually were, but obviously a heck of a lot less!

Hoping for an easier Friday!

I havent heard from my my Brugge Bunk Mate for a while... I hope everything is cool with you hun bun! Let me know how you are doing. xx

Cut down or stop any food or drink with high fructose corn syrup.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a sweetener made from corn and can be found in numerous foods and beverages. High fructose corn syrup is made from genetically modified corn treated with genetically modified enzymes. High fructose corn syrup is cited by some nutritionists as a leading cause of obesity and is linked to diabetes. High-fructose corn syrup is fueling obesity epidemic.
Cut down or stop any food or drink with high fructose corn syrup.

Olive Oil Buyer's Guide

Olive oil is one of the few good vegetable oils. It is about 10% omega-6 (n-6) fatty acids, compared to 50% for soybean oil, 52% for cottonseed oil and 54% for corn oil. Omega-6 fatty acids made up a smaller proportion of calories before modern times, due to their scarcity in animal fats. Beef suet is 2% n-6, butter is 3% and lard is 10%. Many people believe that excess n-6 fat is a contributing factor to chronic disease, due to its effect on inflammatory prostaglandins. I'm reserving my opinion on n-6 fats until I see more data, but I do think it's worth noting the association of increased vegetable oil consumption with declining health in the US.

Olive oil is also one of the few oils that require no harsh processing to extract. As a matter of fact, all you have to do is squeeze the olives and collect the oil. Other oils that can be extracted with minimal processing are red palm oil (9% n-6), hazelnut oil (10% n-6) and coconut oil (2% n-6). These are also the oils I consider to be healthy. Due to the mild processing these oils undergo, they retain their natural vitamin and antioxidant content.

You've eaten corn, so you know it's not an oily seed. Same with soybeans. So how to they get the oil out of them? They use a combination of heat and petroleum solvents. Then, they chemically bleach and deodorize the oil, and sometimes partially hydrogenate it to make it more shelf-stable. Hungry yet? This is true of all the common colorless oils, and anything labeled "vegetable oil".

Olive oil is great, but don't run out and buy it just yet! There are different grades, and it's important to know the difference between them. The highest grade is extra-virgin olive oil, and it's the only one I recommend. It's the only grade that's not heated or chemically refined in any way. Virgin olive oil, "light" olive oil (refers to the flavor, not calories), "pure" olive oil, or simply olive oil all involve different degrees of chemical extraction and/or processing. This applies primarily to Europe. Unfortunately, the US is not part of the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC), which regulates oil quality and labeling.

The olive oil market is plagued by corruption. Much of the oil exported from Italy is cut with cheaper oils such as colza. Most "Italian olive oil" is actually produced in North Africa and bottled in Italy, and may be of inferior quality. The USDA has refused to regulate the market so they get away with it. If you find a deal on olive oil that looks too good to be true, it probably is.

Only buy from reputable sources. Look for the IOOC seal, which guarantees purity, provenance and freshness. IOOC olive oil must contain less than 0.8% acidity. Acidity refers to the percentage of free fatty acids (as opposed to those bound in triglycerides), a measure of damage to the oil. Fortunately, the US has a private equivalent to the IOOC, the California Olive Oil Council (COOC). The COOC seal ensures provenance, purity and freshness just like the IOOC seal. It has outdone the IOOC in requiring less than 0.5% acidity. COOC-certified oils are more expensive, but you know exactly what you're getting.

Thanks to funadium for the CC photo

New weightloss photo

Well, I have been umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether its time to do another photo session for you groupies...

I decided that 6 pounds lighter than my last photo on my "weight loss expedition" back on June 6th was enough to warrant a photo.

Considering I GENUINELY thought (until about 10 minutes ago) that I looked better in my old photos that now, I must admit to being a little bit emotional when I pasted the photo on this blog. The change between June 2007 and today is staggering. I am BOWLED OVER by my hips! I like, don't have any bulging hips! My pants are sort of rounded in my June pic, but they are straight across my body today. My gut HAS shrunk so much. My bust is obviously smaller too, where I thought that it was exactly the same.

I am so pleased that I took this photo. It has really given me a serious confidence boost. I think somewhere deep down I have always thought that it still wont work, and that maybe my scales are wrong (although they cost a small fortune!), or that I am still not at my slimmest...

But I AM! I am the slimmest I have been for 10 years. That is truly amazing. I LOVE MY BAND

Check out my new picture http://weightloss-expedition.blogspot.com/2007/04/photo-gallery-february-2007-present.html

Yeah, OK I am still a fatty, but watch this space my Friend's!! HO HO HO!

Also, I have realised that I am bang on target...

If you take my weight losses from prior to the band blow out..

1 month - 15 lbs down
2 months - 20 lbs down
3 months - 23 lbs down
4 months - 22 lbs down

Then it busted...

But I am 5 months after renewal... So it like I now have my REAL 5 month pic and weight loss.
I am still on target. When you put them all together, I kind of haven't lost any window of opportunity or anything... I think maybe it wont work as well this time cos my body is used to it a bit... but that's not true. It has not made a difference at all. If my band had not broken I would be thin now. But ultimately I am 5 months out and at the same result. All I have to do is forget about that 8 month weirdness and I am rocketing along with my band.

Just shows me well and truly that this thing works like a wizard!

So if I put it all together and forget the 8 month nightmare...

1 month - 15 lbs lighter
2 months - 20lbs lighter
3 months - 23 lbs lighter
4 months - 22 lbs lighter
5 months - 28.5lbs lighter

Now that's what I call results. I feel like I am back in the zone physically, mentally and spiritually. This, although probably trivial for you guys (if you can even understand what the hell I am talking about) is really important to me. My mind can now kind of 'get over' having the break, and look forward to a slimmer future because its so obvious that I will have a slimmer future.

I am going to now continue on my journey and post monthly photos. The photo I posted today can wholeheartedly in my mind be my 5 month photo. Because, basically, it is.

Watch for the next one when I get back from my holiday in Malta at the end of June.

Biggest Loser is a Woman

For the first time in the history of the TV show Biggest Loser, a woman has won the grand prize of $250,000.

Ali Vincent weighed 234 pounds at the start of the show. She went on to lose 48% of her body weight and now weighs 122 pounds.

See TV Guide's interview with Ali Vincent here.

Weight Loss Success for Jody

Here's what Jody used to look like before she lost 133 pounds.

See what she looks like now and her success story here. At 5'9" and 52 years old she now weighs 146 pounds.

After many years of being overweight and losing weight occasionally on fad diets only to regain it soon afterward, this time she changed her underlying lifestyle.

Couldn't blog yesterday...

Something was wrong with blogger.. it would not let me in at all, so I gave up.

So yesterday was a good day again. Food wise and work wise. I was absolutely rushed off my feet but that's the way I seem to like it.

I had a small packet of yogurt coated raisins for a mid morning snack, a banana at mid afternoon and then some chilli with rice when I got home from work at about 10:30. No more than 850 calories for the day tops.

Today I have had a packet of sesame snaps for brekkie and some ravioli with pasta sauce, cheese and mayo for lunch. Its amazing the little I eat. I always want to put amounts, because when I write it, it sounds like loads, but its like a 1/3 portion of a normal adult. Take the pasta today for example. DH had 2/3rd and I had 1/3rd of the packet. Pre banding i would have used 2 packets to feed the three of us. So you can see how much it has reduced. Infact I think the band pays for itself after a while because I have really noticed that we have been shopping less too.

So I have my longest day of work today. Its my top earner, obviously, but I dread it. its because I have 4 pupils all in one house and 1 of them I don't like. However, I cant drop all 4 of them just because of 1 person. They would be mad, so I just need to keep hold of my pride and grit my teeth. I like the big fat cheque at the end of the day, so I don't have much choice!

At the moment, we are quite flush. DH got his redundancy cheque and I paid it in on Monday. Then he just got paid for his last 2 weeks work with them + his holiday pay and days he had accrued. I was well chuffed with that. Means at last we can get some money in the savings. I feel much better when we have a bit of cash in the bank.

So I am off to work now. See ya!

Weight Loss Motivation - Inspirational Quotes

Weight Loss Motivation

What you think you create, what you feel you attract, what you imagine you become.

The whole world steps aside for the person who knows where he is going.

Feeling healthy and feeling good about yourself is not a luxury - it's an absolute necessity.

A change from unhealthy habits to healthy habits will yield extraordinary results.

Failure is only a fact when you give up. Everyone gets knocked down, the question is: Will you get back up?

There is no such thing as luck. Success comes from actually doing it.

If you don't dare to begin, you don't stand a chance of getting there.

Some goals are so worthy it's glorious even to fail.

Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.

You don't drown by falling in the water. You drown by staying there.

Take twice as long to eat half as much.

In eating, a third of the stomach should be filled with food, a third with drink and the rest left empty. (Talmud)

Your body is the baggage you must carry through life. The more excess the baggage, the shorter the trip. (Arnold H.Glasgow)

Real Food V: Sauerkraut

Sauerkraut is part of a tradition of fermented foods that reaches far into human prehistory. Fermentation is a means of preserving food while also increasing its nutritional value. It increases digestibility and provides us with beneficial bacteria, especially those that produce lactic acid. Raw sauerkraut is a potent digestive aid, probably the reason it's traditionally eaten with heavy food.

Sauerkraut is produced by a process called ‘anaerobic’ fermentation, meaning ‘without oxygen’. It’s very simple to achieve in practice. You simply submerge the cabbage in a brine of its own juices and allow the naturally present bacteria to break down the sugars it contains. The process of ‘lacto-fermentation’ converts the sugars to lactic acid, making it tart. The combination of salt, anaerobic conditions, and acidity makes it very difficult for anything to survive besides the beneficial bacteria, so contamination is rare. If it does become contaminated, your nose will tell you as soon as you taste it.

Store-bought sauerkraut is far inferior to homemade. It's soggy and sterile. Ask a German: unpasteurized kraut is light, crunchy and tart!

My method is inexpensive and requires no special equipment. I've tested it many times and have never been disappointed.

Materials

• Wide-mouth quart canning jars (cheap at your local grocery store)
• Beer bottles with the labels removed, or small jars that fit inside the canning jars
• Three tablespoons of sea salt (NOT iodized table salt-- it's fatal to our bacteria)
• Five pounds of green cabbage

Recipe

1. Chop cabbage thinly. Ideally the slices should be 2 mm or so wide, but it doesn’t matter very much. You can use a food processor, mandolin or knife.
2. Put all the cabbage together in a large bowl and add the salt. If the salt is not very dense (sometimes finely ground sea salt can be fluffy), you can add up to 5 tablespoons total. Mix it around with your hands. Taste some. It should be good and salty.
3. Let the salted cabbage sit in the bowl for 30 minutes or so. It should be starting to get juicy.
4. Pack the cabbage tightly into the canning jars. Leave 2-3 inches at the top of the jar. When you push on the cabbage in the jar, you should be able to get the brine to rise above the cabbage. Try to get rid of air bubbles.
5. Put water into the beer bottles and place them into the canning jars. The weight of the bottles will keep the cabbage under the brine. It’s okay that some of the brine is exposed to the air; the cabbage itself is protected.
6. Let it sit for 2 weeks at room temperature! As the fermentation proceeds, bubbles will form and this will raise the level of the brine. This is normal. You might get some scum on top of the liquid; just check for this and scrape it off every few days. It won’t affect the final product. If the brine drops to the level of the cabbage, add salt water (1 tsp/cup, non-chlorinated water) to bring it back up.
7. Taste it! It should be tart and slightly crunchy, with a fresh lactic acid flavor. If fully fermented, it will keep in the fridge for a long time.

Here are some photos from making sauerruben, which is like sauerkraut but made with turnips:

Inside Mariah Carey's Refrigerator

Mariah Carey is looking very slim again. This afternoon, we can see her interviewed on the Oprah Show. She'll be telling Oprah about her diet and exercise regiment.

And she has let some reporters into her New York apartment to let us see what is in her fridge. You won't find any junk food there, but there are lots of fresh clams, swordfish, veggies, fresh vegetable soup and rice.

See the preview with a brief scene of Carey's kitchen and fridge at People Magazine.

AMAZING RESULTS

Today I weigh

15 stone 13 and a half pounds.

I got on 5 times.

15 stone 13 and a half pounds. Oh my.

I have reached my next two goals.

I have lost 2 stone and half a pound since having my band fitted (28.5lbs)

I have lost 3 stone (42lbs) since starting my weightloss expedition back in 2005.

I am also now in

THE 15 STONE ZONE

Whoop Whoop, Whoop Dee Doop!

Come and look at my pretty things...

*Rubs cold hands together in the half light of a candle*

I feel so Jewish its unreal.

DH has started his new job with avengance. We are now officially in 'business'. He has turned over some serious cash today, and I can hardly believe it!

But... before you think that finally our little family might be getting a little break at last...

THE BLOODY BOILER BROKE TODAY

Yes, thats right, so not only do we have lots of pretty things, but we are definately cold too... I am going to change DH's name to Uria Heap, and mine to Esther and DS can be... um... Mordecai or something!

I seriously don't know how we get it timed so well.

Here is a cute photo of Mary. Pregnancy is starting to take its toll on her and she is getting really really really fat! She is sleeping all the time practically and if not sleeping, she is eating!

Artificial Sugar - Less Calories, More Side Effects

Google "Aspartame Side Effects"
Artificial sweeteners are just as evil as sugar itself. There is an endless list of side effects that you can get from aspartame. Just google "Aspartame Side Effects" and you will know. The best thing to do is to avoid all artificial and chemical sweetener substitutes. Aspartame is the most common form of artificial 'low calorie' sugar. It is found in most diet products and diet sodas. It is also found as a tabletop sweetener for coffee or tea.
Quick Weight Loss Tips

Resolve To Lose Slowly - Set Realistic Goals

Successful weight loss doesn't happen overnight, it takes months and not days. Putting unreasonable pressure on yourself to succeed is not a good idea. When you tell yourself, "I must lose 50 pounds by my sisters wedding" you're setting yourself for weight loss failure. Be sure your goals are realistic.There's no use in trying to reach a 50 lb per month. Resolve to lose slowly. Set short term goals.Healthy weight loss occurs slowly and steadily. Remember, Slow and steady wins the race. Losing weight more rapidly means losing muscle tissue and losing muscle tissue means slow metabolism.

Start small. Set yourself a goal of losing 2 pounds weight in 1 week. Smaller goals are realistic and achievable. Reach for mini-milestones first and then work towards a big goal. Reward yourself each time you acheive your small terget weight. Setting small goals makes it easier to acheive and gives you the confidence to achieve your large goal. Lose weight slowly, keep it off.

today today...

Undergoing MyBlogLog Verification

What No Chemo?

Can you believe it ?

My dad has the all clear. The Cancer Nurse said that the tumour was really small, they have had a good look at it and the lymph glands and he has absolutely no need for Radiotherapy or Chemotherapy. It was totally isolated and they caught very very early.

I am ecstatic.

Also I am well pleased with myself.

I weighed in at 16 stone 1 pound, meaning another pound has bitten the dust. I know I usually weigh in on Mondays, but I just couldn't wait. I needed to know NOW.

So 225 pound is a total record. I am looking forward to hitting the 16 stone ZERO mark as that will be a real milestone, as will being in the 15 somethings!

I have decided that buying ice cream is not a good idea. I am having trouble eating and find its easier to get a quick sugar rush by having an ice cream. I am not going to buy any more I promise.

That said, since my fill I have noticed a little more restriction... its not a huge change, but it is surprisingly effective. I feel like I have puked a LOT today. I puked first on a kiwi fruit. I didn't realise but I swallowed a bit of skin with the fruit on the seemingly first bite, and sadly the whole lot came back at me. Then later on when I had my dinner, the girls brought out a bread and butter pudding that they had made. It was absolutely delicious, but I simply had to have the extra bite... and it was sink time again. so it has only been twice, but food is starting to be annoying rather than pleasurable. I must admit I don't get as much pleasure out of my food when I have to chew it to death. Its really strange. It kind of makes me feel horrible swallowing a load of mega munched cud. Also I think my pleasure was in the feeling of the swallowing which I think I have mentioned before. Now I am scared of swallowing too quickly, so its kind of put a dampener on things. GOOD!

So hopefully I will see the scales start to trip downwards again nicely. Only 6 weeks until Malta so I want to be getting my finger out really!

Anyway, beddie-byes now. Night Night