Daylight Robbery and the Judas Kiss

Today we found that the cheque Spelman had paid us bounced.

What a low life.

The guy came here, wasted another hour in my life with his inane chatter about bog all, which I only tolerated because he was going to finally cough up my husbands wages, then takes his stock back (several thousand pounds worth) then shakes my hand and gives me a kiss on the cheek "no hard feelings".

A week later the cheque has bounced and the bastard has all his stock back. He is supposed to be a millionaire. Money here there and everywhere. I have never clapped eyes on such a down and out millionaire in my life. He drives a poxy L reg car with rust and dents. He wears cheap shiny well worn Farah slacks and plastic shoes and a shirt - no tie. If he is a millionaire, then I am a monkey's fucking uncle.

I never liked the guy from the moment I met him. 10 minutes in his company and you just KNOW that the whole evening is going to governed by him and a waste of at least 5 hours talking about him and his and how great hes got it.

The guy holidays in Ibiza for god's sake. Tragic.

Food diary:
2 Finn Crisp slim crackers with garlic and herb cheese spread. I made myself 3, but couldn't eat the last one. I used to eat a box of these in an afternoon no trouble.

several cups of Coffee

Tonight's dinner is going to be... Roast beef, carrots, roast potato and creamed leeks. Horseradish naturally, but no Yorkshire pud for me... not worth the vomiting.
I will let ya know how much I get through!

Real Food VII: Lentils

Lentils are a healthy food that comes with a few caveats. They have more protein and less carbohydrate than any other legume besides soybeans and peanuts. In fact, the ratio of protein to digestible carbohydrate is almost 1:1. The carbohydrate in lentils is slow-digesting, giving them a relatively low glycemic load. They also contain a remarkable array of vitamins and minerals, particularly B vitamins. One cup delivers 90% of your RDA of folate, so between lentils and liver there's no need for those sketchy prenatal vitamins.

Lentils must be properly prepared to be digestible and nutritious! I can't emphasize this enough. We did not evolve eating legumes, so we have to take certain steps to be able to digest them adequately. As with all beans and grains, proper soaking is essential to neutralize their naturally occurring toxins and anti-nutrients. Anti-nutrients are substances that interfere with the absorption of nutrients. Soaking activates enzymes in the seeds themselves that degrade these substances. It also cuts down substantially on cooking time and reduces flatulence.

Phytic acid is an anti-nutrient that's abundant in beans, grains and nuts. It can dramatically reduce the absorption of important minerals such as iron, calcium, magnesium and zinc, leading to deficiencies over time. It may be one of the main reasons human stature decreased after the adoption of agriculture, and it probably continues to contribute to short stature and health problems around the world.

Lentils and other seeds also contain trypsin inhibitors. Trypsin is one of the digestive system's main protein-digesting enzymes, and seeds probably inhibit it as a defense against predators. Another class of toxins are the lectins. Certain lectins are able to bind to and damage the digestive tract, and even pass into the circulation and possibly wreak havoc. This is a short list of a few of the toxins found in beans and grains. Fortunately, all of these toxins can be reduced or eliminated by proper soaking. I like to soak all legumes for a full 24 hours, adding warm water halfway through. This increases the activity of the toxin-degrading enzymes.

Here's a method for preparing lentils that I've found to be effective. You will actually save time by doing it this way rather than cooking them without soaking, because they cook so much more quickly:

1. 24 hours before cooking, place dry lentils in a large bowl and cover with 2" of water or more.
2. After 12 hours or so, drain and cover the lentils with very warm water (not hot tap water).
3. Drain and rinse before cooking.
4. To cook, simply cover the soaked lentils with fresh water and boil until tender. I like to add a 2-inch piece of the seaweed kombu to increase mineral content and digestibility.

many thanks to *clarity* for the CC photo

Getting VERY excited

I think today was the day that I finally cracked my stupid psychological issue of thinking I am not losing weight...

I AM losing weight, physically I know this, but mentally I don't seem to be able to see it.

However, today I wore my new size 16 skirt and top and cardigan ALL DAY and went to slimmingworld and weighed in at 15 stone 6 pounds!! So this last week I have lost 4 pounds in total. That's so cool! I am getting there head-space wise.

It dawned on me that its 2 days until the anniversary of my band breakage.
This time last year I weighed 16 stone 3.

I am 11 pounds lower than I was this time last year! OMG!!! THAT'S SO EXCELLENT!

That's what has done it. I remember thinking that I would be pleased if, after regaining all the initial weight loss after the band break, I was 16 stone 3 by the anniversary of the band break.

Well people, I did a fucking hell of a lot better than that! 11 POUNDS! WOW MAN! That's so good.

I feel like a new person tonight, I really do. I am feeling positive about strutting my stuff on Holiday as I will be a lot less than I weighed last year. I felt ACE in Sri Lanka and really felt on cloud nine about my appearance and was in a kind of awestruck expectation of amazing weight loss results. I am now back there. I don't need to lose 4 pound a week... I don't need to lose 2 pound a week to be honest. 1 pound a week will mean that by next summer I will be BINT! I will be absolutely fit as.

I figure that I have about 3 to 3 and a half more stone to lose until I feel like a regular person. My ideal weight is 4 stone away, and I know that I might never reach that weight, because the last time I was 11 and a half stone I was 17. Since then, I have actually developed a bust, had a child and all kinds of excess fat and shit, so I guess its a little optimistic, but this band makes me wanna aim high now.

I feel FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC

Today's food, if any of you are interested...:

Salad and 1 Bulgarian meat thing that I can only describe as a sausage...

1 banana

that's it.

Love you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Monday in the LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood

Hello Neighbors!I hope you had a fine weekend and were able to do some serious LIVING! Our weather here in Wyoming has turned quite lovely after such a long LONG winter. It was nice to enjoy lots of sunshine and outdoors this last weekend. Here is a look at a tiny corner of my perennial garden. In another few weeks the perennials will emerge carpeting the earth in green, I can hardly wait!Like

US Fructose Consumption Trends

As you may have noticed, I suspect fructose is involved in overweight and other health problems. It seems to have adverse effects on fat deposition in the liver and insulin sensitivity that could be related to its association with weight gain. I looked through USDA estimated per capita consumption of different sweeteners to get an idea of how fructose consumption has changed in the US in the time since adult obesity rates have doubled.

In 1970, we ate an estimated 72.5 lb/year of cane and beet sugar (sucrose) per person, which is 50% fructose and 50% glucose. We also ate 0.4 lb/year of corn syrup, which is most commonly 55% fructose, 45% glucose. Consumption of other unspecified sweeteners was 12.0 lb/year, for a total intake of 84.9 lb/year of added sweeteners.

In 2007, we ate an estimated 44.2 lb/year of sucrose, 40.1 lb/year of corn syrup, and 12.9 lb/year of other unspecified sweeteners, for a total added sweetener intake of 97.2 lb/year. Doing the math, and generously assuming that the "other" sweeteners are 100% honey (~50% fructose), here are the results:

• 1970: 42.5 lb/year of added fructose.

• 2007: 50.6 lb/year of added fructose.

At 19%, it's not a staggering increase, but it's definitely significant. I also think it's an underestimate, because it doesn't include fruit juice or total fruit consumption, both of which have increased. Other notable findings: grain intake has increased 41% between 1970 and 2005, due chiefly to rising consumption of processed wheat products. Added fats and oils have increased 63% in the same time period, with the increase coming exclusively from vegetable fats. The use of hydrogenated shortening has more than doubled.

What has caused the dramatic expansion of American waistlines in the last 30 years? No one knows for sure, but I think it's probably related to diet since the percentage of people who exercise has actually increased in the same time period. My money is on the wheat and sugar, with possible contributions from hydrogenated oil, polyunsaturated vegetable oils and chemical pollutants. The reason is that wheat and sugar seem to have devastating metabolic effects on populations throughout the world, such as the Pima.

8 Dress Sizes Lower!

3 T-Shirts and 2 Skirts

SIZE 16

ENOUGH SAID!

Seared Salmon and Tomato-Mozzarella Salad

We enjoyed a meal so delicious last night that I forgot it was healthy! I first made a Tomato-Mozzarella salad from tomato slices that had been drained on paper toweling and then seasoned with salt and pepper. These were arranged in a ring on the serving platter then drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, finally garnished with toasted pinenuts.For the Salmon:In a large