Day 365 - I DID IT!!

WOW!! A whole year has passed since I started this crazy goal! I honestly can't believe how quickly time passes in a year. When I was a child, a year seemed like a decade, now a year seems like what a month used to be.

Anyway, it's a bittersweet day! I was a little bummed because I have pretty much maintained my weight the last 6 months. Am I complaining, NO WAY! But I don't have an "after" photo to share today. I think I may have lost focus. The goal at the beginning of the year was to workout 365 days in a row. That was it. I made no mention to weight because weight wasn't the focus. Had I hoped it would effect my weight in a positive manner, sure. But it wasn't the focus and I knew it couldn't be because when you focus on something that naturally fluctuates, you can loose sight of the goal.

Tonight, after I finished my workout I walked out to a bunch of cheering when I walked into the living room. My hubby reminded me of the success that I achieved, success which I may have missed if it weren't for my family to remind me. Dang! I worked out 365 days in a row, rain or shine, traveling or home bound, sick or healthy!! That IS an accomplishment even if I am not feeling it right now.

2010 is the beginning of a new decade and this is going to be the year that I continue with what I started. I plan on continuing my daily workouts, minus Sundays. So I really can't make another 365 days in a row goal or a 730 day goal either. But I can say that I learned a lot this year. The biggest thing is that if I can workout daily and watch my portions, I can have a weight that I am happy with. Simple.

I am going to continue to blog my progress. I have more things to learn and share because as the title of this blog states, it's my weight loss journey, and I am not to my goal weight yet. Being at the upper end of a healthy BMI is like playing with fire. I want to be in a healthy range that is strong.

Happy New Year!! May 2010 bring many blessings to all!

What do you have to do in order to be slim again?

To be slim is something very important nowadays. In order to play with your child, to go with pleasure at work, or just to take care of your garden, you need to spend a lot of energy. But this energy can take all your health sometimes.

I have some experience with this problem. I was a fat guy and it was hard for me to work or just to go around the shops. My girlfriend advised me to go to the gym. I tried this, but every time I went home I was exhausted. So, this was not for me. Then, I tried running. It was successful, but I was as exhausted as the first thing (the gym). Then, I tried to forget everything and to be fat, I was exhausted without any result.

However, I have tried more than 5 ways to burn fats. Finally, I found one very great way to lose weight. I was very sceptic how it works. Then, I phoned a friend, who had just tried this way to be slim, and he recommended this product for me. I tried it and in no more than 4 weeks, I was slim. LIKE A MAGIC.

Now I will recommend this fat binder product to you. I am sure you will think that this is not going to work, but I will repeat: "I was in the same position and I was sceptic!" But try it, you will be impressed. It is 100% working. I can guarantee this for you. But now everything depends on you. So, don't lose any time.

Special promotion up to 10% discount.If you want to learn more and to read some testimonials, you can visit the home page of the best product for WEIGHT LOSS- More information about Proactol

Spicy classic Thai dish

Yesterday, I tried a recipe I got from FitnessRx magazine August 2009 edition. I chose this recipe because my family likes spicy foods. This recipe uses spaghetti as a main ingredient, but I replace it with regular noodles.

This recipe is claimed healthy in the original version (with spaghetti), but the composition of nutrients should be recalculated because I change the spaghetti with noodles. Do it (recalculated) if you feel you really need or easily use the original version.

The following ingredients and how to cook it according to the original version :

Ingredients:
1 pound spaghettini or thin spaghetti
3-4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
¼ c. low-sodium soy sauce
¼ c. distilled water, vegetable broth, or chicken broth
4 green onions cut in ½-inch pieces
1 (1-inch) piece ginger root, pared and quartered
1/3 c. peanut butter (plain or chunky)
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon rice or white vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar or sugar substitute

Cook spaghetti as directed; drain and set aside.
Toss with 2 tablespoons dark sesame oil; drain off excess.
In food processor, finely chop garlic, green onions and ginger.
Add remaining dark sesame oil and all ingredients.
Process until thoroughly mixed.
Top each serving of spaghettini or spaghetti with sauce as desired.

Serves 6.
Nutritional Breakdown
Protein: 13.3%; Carbohydrate: 55.9%; Fat: 30.8%
Totals Per Serving
Calories: 431; Protein: 14.4g; Carbohydrate: 60.6g; Fat: 14.9g; Sodium: 417mg; Cholesterol: 0mg

Finally, this recipe tastes good and my family loved it. I'll make it again next week

The Body Fat Setpoint

One pound of human fat contains about 3,500 calories. That represents roughly 40 slices of toast. So if you were to eat one extra slice of toast every day, you would gain just under a pound of fat per month. Conversely, if you were to eat one fewer slice per day, you'd lose a pound a month. Right? Not quite.

How is it that most peoples' body fat mass stays relatively stable over long periods of time, when an imbalance of as little as 5% of calories should lead to rapid changes in weight? Is it because we do complicated calculations in our heads every day, factoring in basal metabolic rate and exercise, to make sure our energy intake precisely matches expenditure? Of course not. We're gifted with a sophisticated system of hormones and brain regions that do the calculations for us unconsciously*.

When it's working properly, this system precisely matches energy intake to expenditure, ensuring a stable and healthy fat mass. It does this by controlling food seeking behaviors, feelings of fullness and even energy expenditure by heat production and physical movements. If you eat a little bit more than usual at a meal, a properly functioning system will say "let's eat a little bit less next time, and also burn some of it off." This is why animals in their natural habitat are nearly always at an appropriate weight, barring starvation. The only time wild animals are overweight enough to compromise maximum physical performance is when it serves an important purpose, such as preparing for hibernation.

I recently came across a classic study that illustrates these principles nicely in humans, titled "Metabolic Response to Experimental Overfeeding in Lean and Overweight Healthy Volunteers", by Dr. Erik O. Diaz and colleagues (1). They overfed lean and modestly overweight volunteers 50% more calories than they naturally consume, under controlled conditions where the investigators could be confident of food intake. Macronutrient composition was 12-42-46 % protein-fat-carbohydrate.

After 6 weeks of massive overfeeding, both lean and overweight subjects gained an average of 10 lb (4.6 kg) of fat mass and 6.6 lb (3 kg) of lean mass. Consistent with what one would expect if the body were trying to burn off excess calories and return to baseline fat mass, the metabolic rate and body heat production of the subjects increased.

Following overfeeding, subjects were allowed to eat however much they wanted for 6 weeks. Both lean and overweight volunteers promptly lost 6.2 of the 10 lb they had gained in fat mass (61% of fat gained), and 1.5 of the 6.6 lb they had gained in lean mass (23%). Here is a graph showing changes in fat mass for each individual that completed the study:

We don't know if they would have lost the remaining fat mass in the following weeks because they were only followed for 6 weeks after overfeeding, although it did appear that they were reaching a plateau slightly above their original body weight. Thus, nearly all subjects "defended" their original body fat mass irrespective of their starting point. Underfeeding studies have shown the same phenomenon: whether lean or overweight, people tend to return to their original fat mass after underfeeding is over. Again, this supports the idea that the body has a body fat mass "set point" that it attempts to defend against changes in either direction. It's one of many systems in the body that attempt to maintain homeostasis.

OK, so why do we care?

We care because this has some very important implications for human obesity. With such a powerful system in place to keep body fat mass in a narrow range, a major departure from that range implies that the system isn't functioning correctly. In other words, obesity has to result from a defect in the system that regulates body fat, because a properly functioning system would not have allowed that degree of fat gain in the first place.

So yes, we are gaining weight because we eat too many calories relative to energy expended. But why are we eating too many calories? Because the system that should be defending a low fat mass is now defending a high fat mass. Therefore, the solution is not simply to restrict calories, or burn more calories through exercise, but to try to "reset" the system that decides what fat mass to defend. Restricting calories isn't necessarily a good solution because the body will attempt to defend its setpoint, whether high or low, by increasing hunger and decreasing its metabolic rate. That's why low-calorie diets, and most diets in general, typically fail in the long term. It's miserable to fight hunger every day.

This raises two questions:

1. What caused the system to defend a high fat mass?
2. Is it possible to reset the fat mass setpoint, and how would one go about it?
   

Given the fact that body fat mass is much higher in many affluent nations than it has ever been in human history, the increase must be due to factors that have changed in modern times. I can only speculate what these factors may be, because research has not identified them to my knowledge, at least not in humans. But I have my guesses. I'll expand on this in the next post.


* The hormone leptin and the hypothalamus are the ringleaders, although there are many other elements involved, such as numerous gut-derived peptides, insulin, and a number of other brain regions.

The Body Fat Setpoint

One pound of human fat contains about 3,500 calories. That represents roughly 40 slices of toast. So if you were to eat one extra slice of toast every day, you would gain just under a pound of fat per month. Conversely, if you were to eat one fewer slice per day, you'd lose a pound a month. Right? Not quite.

How is it that most peoples' body fat mass stays relatively stable over long periods of time, when an imbalance of as little as 5% of calories should lead to rapid changes in weight? Is it because we do complicated calculations in our heads every day, factoring in basal metabolic rate and exercise, to make sure our energy intake precisely matches expenditure? Of course not. We're gifted with a sophisticated system of hormones and brain regions that do the calculations for us unconsciously*.

When it's working properly, this system precisely matches energy intake to expenditure, ensuring a stable and healthy fat mass. It does this by controlling food seeking behaviors, feelings of fullness and even energy expenditure by heat production and physical movements. If you eat a little bit more than usual at a meal, a properly functioning system will say "let's eat a little bit less next time, and also burn some of it off." This is why animals in their natural habitat are nearly always at an appropriate weight, barring starvation. The only time wild animals are overweight enough to compromise maximum physical performance is when it serves an important purpose, such as preparing for hibernation.

I recently came across a classic study that illustrates these principles nicely in humans, titled "Metabolic Response to Experimental Overfeeding in Lean and Overweight Healthy Volunteers", by Dr. Erik O. Diaz and colleagues (1). They overfed lean and modestly overweight volunteers 50% more calories than they naturally consume, under controlled conditions where the investigators could be confident of food intake. Macronutrient composition was 12-42-46 % protein-fat-carbohydrate.

After 6 weeks of massive overfeeding, both lean and overweight subjects gained an average of 10 lb (4.6 kg) of fat mass and 6.6 lb (3 kg) of lean mass. Consistent with what one would expect if the body were trying to burn off excess calories and return to baseline fat mass, the metabolic rate and body heat production of the subjects increased.

Following overfeeding, subjects were allowed to eat however much they wanted for 6 weeks. Both lean and overweight volunteers promptly lost 6.2 of the 10 lb they had gained in fat mass (61% of fat gained), and 1.5 of the 6.6 lb they had gained in lean mass (23%). Here is a graph showing changes in fat mass for each individual that completed the study:

We don't know if they would have lost the remaining fat mass in the following weeks because they were only followed for 6 weeks after overfeeding, although it did appear that they were reaching a plateau slightly above their original body weight. Thus, nearly all subjects "defended" their original body fat mass irrespective of their starting point. Underfeeding studies have shown the same phenomenon: whether lean or overweight, people tend to return to their original fat mass after underfeeding is over. Again, this supports the idea that the body has a body fat mass "set point" that it attempts to defend against changes in either direction. It's one of many systems in the body that attempt to maintain homeostasis.

OK, so why do we care?

We care because this has some very important implications for human obesity. With such a powerful system in place to keep body fat mass in a narrow range, a major departure from that range implies that the system isn't functioning correctly. In other words, obesity has to result from a defect in the system that regulates body fat, because a properly functioning system would not have allowed that degree of fat gain in the first place.

So yes, we are gaining weight because we eat too many calories relative to energy expended. But why are we eating too many calories? Because the system that should be defending a low fat mass is now defending a high fat mass. Therefore, the solution is not simply to restrict calories, or burn more calories through exercise, but to try to "reset" the system that decides what fat mass to defend. Restricting calories isn't necessarily a good solution because the body will attempt to defend its setpoint, whether high or low, by increasing hunger and decreasing its metabolic rate. That's why low-calorie diets, and most diets in general, typically fail in the long term. It's miserable to fight hunger every day.

This raises two questions:

1. What caused the system to defend a high fat mass?
2. Is it possible to reset the fat mass setpoint, and how would one go about it?
   

Given the fact that body fat mass is much higher in many affluent nations than it has ever been in human history, the increase must be due to factors that have changed in modern times. I can only speculate what these factors may be, because research has not identified them to my knowledge, at least not in humans. But I have my guesses. I'll expand on this in the next post.


* The hormone leptin and the hypothalamus are the ringleaders, although there are many other elements involved, such as numerous gut-derived peptides, insulin, and a number of other brain regions.

Reflecting on 2009

Today I looked at my old blog, the one on the right, titled "My old Diana's Weight Loss Journey". I don't even remember why I started a new blog in March 2009. I vaguely remember it was something to do with this guy. :)

I was in search of my 2009 goals, which I found in my January 1, 2009 post. I also found my old blog was black type on a black background which made it unreadable. No idea how that happened.

When I read through my 2009 goals I wanted to cry. My first thought was that I'm a big, fat failure. I didn't actually make any of my 2009 goals happen, and I only had four goals. Then I decided to try and look at the glass half full instead of half empty.

Some of these goals are still going to be on my 2010 list, but here's how I did for 2009. Fortunately it was a short list.

1. Get to my goal weight of 135 (28.6 pounds to go!).

~~~ This was a fail. Any way I look at it I failed. I don't even know how I can put a positive spin on this one. I was so close and then something happened. I just stopped and went the other direction. I weighed 163.6 when I posted this goal January 1, 2009. Today I weighed 175.4, a gain of 11.8 pounds in 2009. I suppose the positive is that I didn't go all the way back up to 240 pounds.

2. Maintain my 75-pound loss.

~~~See #1. Although I've managed to maintain a 64.6 pound loss, this goal wasn't met.

3. See a therapist for that nasty little compulsive overeating problem I have.

~~~I saw a therapist for three sessions. It didn't help. I suppose I didn't give it a chance, but it seemed like a total waste of time and money. I know I have issues, but seeing a therapist didn't seem to really work for me. I'm neutral on this being a failure.

4. Work on my marriage.

~~~I did and I didn't. I guess the positive on this one is I'm still married. We have our good days and our bad ones. Sometimes it seems all bad, then a glimmer of the old us shows itself and it all seems worth working on.

Well, so much for the positive spin. The only positive is that by being such a failure in 2009 I have an opportunity in 2010 to make these things happen. More to come on that later.

My workout today
Oh my gosh! I just about killed myself at the gym. I think I'm a bit of a showoff when it comes to lifting weights and I did a really foolish thing. I did all my concentrated dumbbell curls with 20-pound dumbbells (some guy was watching me), and then my overhead press with 25-pound dumbbells. I also added some new exercises today for upper body and now I can't lift my arms over my head. Ouch!

I've added a blog page on the the right, My workouts, where I'll keep track of all my workouts. I always carry a notebook with me to the gym and write them down. Now I'll transfer the information to a blog page. If anyone has any suggestions of new exercises or web sites with exercises, please let me know. I had some bookmarked on my old laptop that crashed last summer and now I can't find them. I really want to ramp up my workout routines in 2010. This is going to be my year!

Dietary Sugar & Mental Illness Connection

Here's an interesting article and one more reason for us to avoid sugar. Take a look:Is Dietary Sugar Driving You Nuts?By E. Jean Perrins Highly respected researcher Malcolm Peet has come across an extraordinary link between dietary sugar consumption and mental illness. This British psychiatric researcher has done an extensive analysis which proves a strong link between foods that contain sugar

Just another Monday (on vacation)

A blog worth checking out
I read a lot of weight loss blogs. I don't always comment because I don't always have something worthwhile to say or I'm in a rush, but that doesn't mean I'm not reading your blog. Many of you are really great writers with lots of ideas and suggestions on how to be healthy and fit. Even those of you that struggle, you still give me hope because you keep on trying.

Today I came across a blog that's I think is worth mentioning. Oh She Glows written by Angela Liddon, a beautiful young woman that lives in Milton, Ontario.

I have to admit when I first read her "about" story I was turned off because her highest weight was 147 (she's 5' 4"). Fortunately, I kept reading and realized the real difference between Angela and myself is that she figured it all out before she gained another 100 pounds.

I remember weighing 147 pounds. It was when I graduated college. I remember I felt as big as a cow, and how I thought I was so incredibly obese. I was repulsed by my fatness. It's also when I started my obsessive behavior towards food and exercise. An obsession that has continued throughout my life, resulting in me gaining almost another 100 pounds.

Check out Oh She Glowswebsite. Especially some of her older posts. She has a lot to say about society's obsession with beauty and being skinny. She's a pretty amazing young woman, and I like her way of thinking.

About my post-Christmas illness
I feel 100% better today. Thank you for all your well wishes...they must have worked! I really don't know what happened, or why I got so sick. It was scary and horrible.

The more I think about it, the more I think it might be related to having my gallbladder removed about three years ago. I was reading Dawn's post about how she can't eat fatty foods anymore since she had her gallbladder removed.

Normally, even when I overeat I don't eat fatty foods. I eat too many apples or too many grapes or too many ounces of broiled chicken breasts or too many roasted Brussels sprouts. Trust me though, I can easily gain weight from too much good stuff so it's not necessarily a good thing that I overeat healthy food.

Christmas dinner consisted of a lot of foods laden with butter. Real butter. Not the Smart Balance stuff that I normally use, but real, 100% dairy butter. Even the turkey gravy had, heaven forbid, drippings from the turkey, including a lot of the grease (made mother-in-law style).

I suspect that's what caused my "stomach flu" symptoms. Overeating really fattening food. In other words, that was self-inflicted pain. It's something I don't ever want to experience again. Ever!

Plan for the week
Today is just a lazy day. It's noon and I'm still in my PJ's. I often wonder if when I retire someday, if I'll even bother to get dressed. I could be like Hugh Hefner and just wear my PJs all day, every day. :)

I am going to get out of the house and hit the gym soon. I'm going to really make an effort to limit it to about an hour. Also, because of Fatinah's post about 10 health misconceptions, I'm going to change my workout.

I'm going to do a 10-minute warmup on the elliptical, then my strength training for 30 minutes, and then a 30-minute cardio. I've been doing this backwards for months (okay, years). I know it's suppose to be strength first and cardio second, I hate cardio so much I always want to "get it over with" so I do it first. It's time to do it correctly.

I'm also really going to try for muscle confusion. I was watching a P90X infomercial last night (at 3am...my sleep is really screwed up), and they kept talking about muscle confusion. I'm a creature of habit but I need to mix up my exercises and not do the same blasted exercises every day. I have exercise books and favorite websites so I'm going to try out some new things today.

Wednesday we're going snowshoeing up at Crystal Mountain. We bought snowshoes last spring when they were on sale and haven't used them yet. I'm looking forward to getting outside. I'm starting to feel housebound. A day trip to the mountains is just what I need.

Did I mention I love not working? Totally, completely love it. I don't miss one aspect of it. I'm just sorry I only have six and half more days until I have to return to the grindstone. Yes, I really need an attitude adjustment about work. Something to work on for the new year, among many other things.

Still alive after 36 hours of hell

I'm not sure what happened to me Saturday but after my two-hour workout at the gym I became really sick as soon as I got home. Room spinning dizziness, horrible nauseousness and dry heaves because I hadn't eaten anything before going to the gym.

It continued all day yesterday, throughout the night until 6am this morning when I sort of started to feel human again and could finally lay down on the bed. Prior to that the movement of the bed made me feel sick so I was either laying on the floor or sitting in a hard chair.

I couldn't even keep water down. I tried eating saltines and I threw up. I took Pepto Bismol and threw up. I couldn't watch TV because the movement and the noise made me feel even more nauseous. I couldn't even read because of the dizziness.

My husband found me curled up in a ball on the bathroom floor at 3am and tried to make me go to the emergency room. I refused. I told him if I was still sick in the morning, then maybe. The thought of going to the emergency room made me feel even sicker.

I'm not sure what happened but I suspect it might have been either 1.) some sort of stomach flu or 2.) that disgusting, fattening Christmas dinner. I swear I'll never touch butter again as long as I live. Even now just thinking about it makes me feel kind of sick.

I felt better today but still kind of dizzy and slightly nauseous. I was able to eat a bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup tonight and actually keep it down (no turkey, it makes me feel sick to think about it). I also drank a couple glasses of water today. I've been super thirsty because I couldn't drink anything yesterday and actually keep it down.

You never appreciate your health until you go through something like that. I'm so happy to feel better. I can't wait for tomorrow to feel even better. Plus I can sleep in my bed tonight and not on the floor or in a chair. Life is good!

Is Your Diet Very Healthy? Take this Quiz

The world's healthiest foods website (whfoods.org) has a quiz you can take to see how much of the healthiest foods you are eating and based on your answers, it will tell you what vitamins and nutrients you are probably lacking.

Check out the quiz here.

This non-profit website was founded by a guy who became a wealthy mogul by starting a health food company called Health Valley Foods in 1970. Though his principles were sound, the food was mostly packaged, convenience food. He sold the company in 1996 and now operates this non-profit web-site to give back and also possibly to atone for selling too many granola bars over the years.

The healthiest foods are non-packaged, non-processed foods.

This is the best site we've seen on truly healthy foods and it gives the highest quality information about their nutritional values. Check out the 100 healthiest foods.

Light weight training helps overweight people burn more calories

Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese, and the problem has gotten worse every year since the 1980s. More than 50 percent of people fail to meet the minimum exercise recommendation of 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity physical activity. Physical inactivity is most prevalent in overweight people. Many feel uncomfortable exercising, which makes it difficult for them to control bodyweight. Weight training is an effective mode of exercise for overweight people because they naturally have more muscle mass, which makes them more successful in the activity.

Researchers from Southern Illinois University, led by Eric Kirk, showed that a modest weight training program increased 24-hour energy expenditure by 126 calories per day in 39 college-aged overweight men and women. The program consisted of 1 set of nine exercises at a moderate weight, three times per week. While recreational-level weight training causes a small increase in daily energy expenditure, it won’t have much of an impact in reducing excess body fat in overweight people. However, it is better than nothing.

Medicine Science Sports Exercise, 41:1122-1129, 2009

A new beginning

Christmas. Food. Lots and lots of food. After the last two Christmases of being a really good little Weight Watcher, yesterday I made the attempt but finally said to hell with it. The Weight Watcher recipes I made turned out disastrous.

The Weight Watcher stuffing recipe, the Smashed Buttermilk Potatoes from their Thanksgiving magazine issue, and the 3-Point pumpkin pie all tasted really terrible. The stuffing was dry, the potatoes, well, turns out I hate buttermilk, and the pie, I messed up and accidentally doubled the sugar. It wasn't even edible.

So I dug into the real stuffing that was full of butter (I know, because I made it) and the real mashed potatoes with again, lots of butter. Because doesn't lots of butter equal lots of love?

I also drank too many Pomegranate martinis. Actually, they were mostly juice. I love Pomegranate juice but it's very high calorie so it wasn't much of a trade off to have mostly juice instead of vodka.

Oh, and the pumpkin pie from Costco. It's ginormous so I'm sure a piece isn't 8 Points like a normal pie. Probably more like 16Points. Bad. All very, very bad.

A strange thing happened yesterday morning, my brand new scales stopped working. I stepped on them and nothing. These were my second new scales in about three months. They both stopped working for no apparent reason. A new battery didn't help either. On my list of things to do today is buy new scales so I can weigh in before the new year.

I started off today reading several posts by other bloggers. I was surprised by how many people said they ate poorly yesterday but they'd get back on program after the first of the year. What???

That sort of surprised me. My intent was to get back on program TODAY. After reading about other people waiting to start after January 1st, I thought, well, maybe that's not a bad idea. I have all this great food in the house, how am I going to resist it. Why not just give in and eat what I want for a whole week?

Then I read Jack's post, and I came to my senses. That was crazy thinking, eat what I want for a week?! It's like I went temporarily insane. I was 175.4 on Christmas Eve day. I probably gained a couple pounds yesterday, and if I continue to eat like yesterday for a whole week I could easily pack on another five pounds.

No worries. It's not going to happen. The gym opens at 8am, and I'm going to be there. I'm getting dressed as soon as I finish this post. After my workout I'll stop by the store and buy another new scale so I can weigh in today.

Rabbits on a High-Saturated Fat Diet Without Added Cholesterol

I just saw another study that supports my previous post Animal Models of Atherosclerosis: LDL. The hypothesis is that in the absence of excessive added dietary cholesterol, saturated fat does not influence LDL or atherosclerosis in animal models, relative to other fats (although omega-6 polyunsaturated oils do lower LDL in some animal models). This appears to be consistent with what we see in humans.

In this study, they fed four groups of rabbits different diets:

1. Regular low-fat rabbit chow
2. Regular low-fat rabbit chow plus 0.5 g cholesterol per day
3. High-fat diet with 30% calories as coconut oil (saturated) and no added cholesterol
   
4. High-fat diet with 30% calories as sunflower oil (polyunsaturated) and no added cholesterol
   

LDL at 6 months was the same in groups 1, 3 and 4, but was increased more than 20-fold in group 2. It's not the fat, it's the fact that they're overloading herbivores with dietary cholesterol!

Total cholesterol was also the same between all groups except the cholesterol-fed group. TBARS, a measure of lipid oxidation in the blood, was elevated in the cholesterol and sunflower oil groups but not in the chow or coconut groups. Oxidation of blood lipids is one of the major factors in atherosclerosis, the vascular disease that narrows arteries and increases the risk of having a heart attack. Serum vitamin C was lower in the cholesterol-fed groups but not the others.

This supports the idea that saturated fat does not inherently increase LDL, and in fact in most animals it does not. This appears to be the case in humans as well, where long-term trials have shown no difference in LDL between people eating more saturated fat and people eating less, on timescales of one year or more (some short trials show a modest LDL-raising effect, but even this appears to be due to an increase in particle size rather than particle number). Since these trials represent the average of many people, they may hide some individual variability: it may actually increase LDL in some people and decrease it in others.

Merry Christmas!

Rabbits on a High-Saturated Fat Diet Without Added Cholesterol

I just saw another study that supports my previous post Animal Models of Atherosclerosis: LDL. The hypothesis is that in the absence of excessive added dietary cholesterol, saturated fat does not influence LDL or atherosclerosis in animal models, relative to other fats (although omega-6 polyunsaturated oils do lower LDL in some animal models). This appears to be consistent with what we see in humans.

In this study, they fed four groups of rabbits different diets:

1. Regular low-fat rabbit chow
2. Regular low-fat rabbit chow plus 0.5 g cholesterol per day
3. High-fat diet with 30% calories as coconut oil (saturated) and no added cholesterol
   
4. High-fat diet with 30% calories as sunflower oil (polyunsaturated) and no added cholesterol
   

LDL at 6 months was the same in groups 1, 3 and 4, but was increased more than 20-fold in group 2. It's not the fat, it's the fact that they're overloading herbivores with dietary cholesterol!

Total cholesterol was also the same between all groups except the cholesterol-fed group. TBARS, a measure of lipid oxidation in the blood, was elevated in the cholesterol and sunflower oil groups but not in the chow or coconut groups. Oxidation of blood lipids is one of the major factors in atherosclerosis, the vascular disease that narrows arteries and increases the risk of having a heart attack. Serum vitamin C was lower in the cholesterol-fed groups but not the others.

This supports the idea that saturated fat does not inherently increase LDL, and in fact in most animals it does not. This appears to be the case in humans as well, where long-term trials have shown no difference in LDL between people eating more saturated fat and people eating less, on timescales of one year or more (some short trials show a modest LDL-raising effect, but even this appears to be due to an increase in particle size rather than particle number). Since these trials represent the average of many people, they may hide some individual variability: it may actually increase LDL in some people and decrease it in others.

Merry Christmas!

off to FRANCAIS

Ok, see ya soon people. Am off to the land of moules frites and pain aux chocolat.

We are hiring a little gite called La Salamandre -http://lapruneraie.co.uk/lasalamandre.aspx

Drool at will. I cant wait to get there, and thankfully eurotunnel has sorted its act out and we are ready to rock.

See ya's all in a week or so.
xxxxxxxx

I have the power

Since I returned from Edmonton over a week ago I started my late night binging. I've been like an addict that has lapsed and returned to her drug. Sneaking, quietly into the kitchen around midnight, and eating whatever I could find. I've disgusted myself.

During the day I'm the perfect Weight Watcher. Eating very healthy, working out two hours a day of intense exercise. At night I become a different person. It's a sickness.

Last night I was reading the latest issue of US Weekly. I really bought it because Elin and Tiger were on the cover. I can't help it but I'm fascinated by their story. The perfect woman with the perfect face and perfect body, with two perfect children married to what we all thought was the perfect man. As sordid as the story is, I can't stop reading about it.

I digress. Also on the front cover is the Biggest Loser at-home winner, Rebecca Meyer. She went from 279 pounds to 140 pounds. At the start of the article the journalist ask Rebecca "How do you feel?" After saying how fantastic she feels she said something that really struck a nerve with me. She said:

"I realized The Biggest Loser wasn't going to magically "fix" me. They were going to give me the tools to help me change my life forever, but I have the power. I just had to wrap my head around it and do it myself."

I read that one paragraph several times. This was me! Weight Watchers has given me the tools, but no one is going to magically fix me. It's all up to me. I have the power. It's in my control what I eat.

There are a lot of things in my life I don't have the power to control. I can't control my husband (sure, I try, but that's a losing battle). If he's in a bad mood or grumpy, I can't change him (yes, I try, sometimes it works, sometimes not). I can't control our dark, wet weather here in Seattle. It's going to rain and be cold and dark no matter how much I prefer warmth and sunshine. I can't control my job, what projects I get assigned to work on. I'm somewhat powerless in many areas of my life.

The one thing I do have power over is what I eat. I have the power for that one facet of my life. It seems so clear to me now. It's literally like a light bulb went off in my head.

I didn't binge last night. The first night in eight nights. I feel enlightened, like suddenly I "get it".

I have the power. That's my new mantra.

What's the Ideal Fasting Insulin Level?

Insulin is an important hormone. Its canonical function is to signal cells to absorb glucose from the bloodstream, but it has many other effects. Chronically elevated insulin is a marker of metabolic dysfunction, and typically accompanies high fat mass, poor glucose tolerance (prediabetes) and blood lipid abnormalities. Measuring insulin first thing in the morning, before eating a meal, reflects fasting insulin. High fasting insulin prevents the escape of fat from fat tissue and causes a number of other metabolic disturbances.

Elevated fasting insulin is a hallmark of the metabolic syndrome, the quintessential modern metabolic disorder that affects 24% of Americans (NHANES III). Dr. Lamarche and colleagues found that having an insulin level of 13 uIU/mL in Canada correlated with an 8-fold higher heart attack risk than a level of 9.3 uIU/mL (1; thanks to NephroPal for the reference). So right away, we can put our upper limit at 9.3 uIU/mL. The average insulin level in the U.S., according to the NHANES III survey, is 8.8 uIU/mL for men and 8.4 for women (2). Given the degree of metabolic dysfunction in this country, I think it's safe to say that the ideal level of fasting insulin is probably below 8.4 uIU/mL as well.

Let's dig deeper. What we really need is a healthy, non-industrial "negative control" group. Fortunately, Dr. Staffan Lindeberg and his team made detailed measurements of fasting insulin while they were visiting the isolated Melanesian island of Kitava (3). He compared his measurements to age-matched Swedish volunteers. In male and female Swedes, the average fasting insulin ranges from 4-11 uIU/mL, and increases with age. From age 60-74, the average insulin level is 7.3 uIU/mL.

In contrast, the range on Kitava is 3-6 uIU/mL, which does not increase with age. In the 60-74 age group, in both men and women, the average fasting insulin on Kitava is 3.5 uIU/mL. That's less than half the average level in Sweden and the U.S. Keep in mind that the Kitavans are lean and have an undetectable rate of heart attack and stroke.

Another example from the literature are the Shuar hunter-gatherers of the Amazon rainforest. Women in this group have an average fasting insulin concentration of 5.1 uIU/mL (4; no data was given for men).

I found a couple of studies from the early 1970s as well, indicating that African pygmies and San bushmen have rather high fasting insulin. Glucose tolerance was excellent in the pygmies and poor in the bushmen (5, 6, free full text). This may reflect differences in carbohydrate intake. San bushmen consume very little carbohydrate during certain seasons, and thus would likely have glucose intolerance during that period. There are three facts that make me doubt the insulin measurements in these older studies:

1. It's hard to be sure that they didn't eat anything prior to the blood draw.
2. From what I understand, insulin assays were variable and not standardized back then.
   
3. In the San study, their fasting insulin was 1/3 lower than the Caucasian control group (10 vs. 15 uIU/mL). I doubt these active Caucasian researchers really had an average fasting insulin level of 15 uIU/mL. Both sets of measurements are probably too high.
   

Now you know the conflicting evidence, so you're free to be skeptical if you'd like.

We also have data from a controlled trial in healthy urban people eating a "paleolithic"-type diet. On a paleolithic diet designed to maintain body weight (calorie intake had to be increased substantially to prevent fat loss during the diet), fasting insulin dropped from an average of 7.2 to 2.9 uIU/mL in just 10 days. The variation in insulin level between individuals decreased 9-fold, and by the end, all participants were close to the average value of 2.9 uIU/mL. This shows that high fasting insulin is correctable in people who haven't yet been permanently damaged by the industrial diet and lifestyle. The study included men and women of European, African and Asian descent (7).

One final data point. My own fasting insulin, earlier this year, was 2.3 uIU/mL. I believe it reflects a good diet, regular exercise, sufficient sleep, a relatively healthy diet growing up, and the fact that I managed to come across the right information relatively young. It does not reflect: carbohydrate restriction, fat restriction, or saturated fat restriction. Neither does the low fasting insulin of healthy non-industrial cultures.

So what's the ideal fasting insulin level? My current feeling is that we can consider anything between 2 and 6 uIU/mL within our evolutionary template, although the lower half of that range may be preferable.

What's the Ideal Fasting Insulin Level?

Insulin is an important hormone. Its canonical function is to signal cells to absorb glucose from the bloodstream, but it has many other effects. Chronically elevated insulin is a marker of metabolic dysfunction, and typically accompanies high fat mass, poor glucose tolerance (prediabetes) and blood lipid abnormalities. Measuring insulin first thing in the morning, before eating a meal, reflects fasting insulin. High fasting insulin prevents the escape of fat from fat tissue and causes a number of other metabolic disturbances.

Elevated fasting insulin is a hallmark of the metabolic syndrome, the quintessential modern metabolic disorder that affects 24% of Americans (NHANES III). Dr. Lamarche and colleagues found that having an insulin level of 13 uIU/mL in Canada correlated with an 8-fold higher heart attack risk than a level of 9.3 uIU/mL (1; thanks to NephroPal for the reference). So right away, we can put our upper limit at 9.3 uIU/mL. The average insulin level in the U.S., according to the NHANES III survey, is 8.8 uIU/mL for men and 8.4 for women (2). Given the degree of metabolic dysfunction in this country, I think it's safe to say that the ideal level of fasting insulin is probably below 8.4 uIU/mL as well.

Let's dig deeper. What we really need is a healthy, non-industrial "negative control" group. Fortunately, Dr. Staffan Lindeberg and his team made detailed measurements of fasting insulin while they were visiting the isolated Melanesian island of Kitava (3). He compared his measurements to age-matched Swedish volunteers. In male and female Swedes, the average fasting insulin ranges from 4-11 uIU/mL, and increases with age. From age 60-74, the average insulin level is 7.3 uIU/mL.

In contrast, the range on Kitava is 3-6 uIU/mL, which does not increase with age. In the 60-74 age group, in both men and women, the average fasting insulin on Kitava is 3.5 uIU/mL. That's less than half the average level in Sweden and the U.S. Keep in mind that the Kitavans are lean and have an undetectable rate of heart attack and stroke.

Another example from the literature are the Shuar hunter-gatherers of the Amazon rainforest. Women in this group have an average fasting insulin concentration of 5.1 uIU/mL (4; no data was given for men).

I found a couple of studies from the early 1970s as well, indicating that African pygmies and San bushmen have rather high fasting insulin. Glucose tolerance was excellent in the pygmies and poor in the bushmen (5, 6, free full text). This may reflect differences in carbohydrate intake. San bushmen consume very little carbohydrate during certain seasons, and thus would likely have glucose intolerance during that period. There are three facts that make me doubt the insulin measurements in these older studies:

1. It's hard to be sure that they didn't eat anything prior to the blood draw.
2. From what I understand, insulin assays were variable and not standardized back then.
   
3. In the San study, their fasting insulin was 1/3 lower than the Caucasian control group (10 vs. 15 uIU/mL). I doubt these active Caucasian researchers really had an average fasting insulin level of 15 uIU/mL. Both sets of measurements are probably too high.
   

Now you know the conflicting evidence, so you're free to be skeptical if you'd like.

We also have data from a controlled trial in healthy urban people eating a "paleolithic"-type diet. On a paleolithic diet designed to maintain body weight (calorie intake had to be increased substantially to prevent fat loss during the diet), fasting insulin dropped from an average of 7.2 to 2.9 uIU/mL in just 10 days. The variation in insulin level between individuals decreased 9-fold, and by the end, all participants were close to the average value of 2.9 uIU/mL. This shows that high fasting insulin is correctable in people who haven't yet been permanently damaged by the industrial diet and lifestyle. The study included men and women of European, African and Asian descent (7).

One final data point. My own fasting insulin, earlier this year, was 2.3 uIU/mL. I believe it reflects a good diet, regular exercise, sufficient sleep, a relatively healthy diet growing up, and the fact that I managed to come across the right information relatively young. It does not reflect: carbohydrate restriction, fat restriction, or saturated fat restriction. Neither does the low fasting insulin of healthy non-industrial cultures.

So what's the ideal fasting insulin level? My current feeling is that we can consider anything between 2 and 6 uIU/mL within our evolutionary template, although the lower half of that range may be preferable.

Getting a grip

Yesterday's post was a sad one, one of my "woe is me, my life sucks" posts. Dawn was right when she said it sounded like depression. I was depressed and have been for months. Mild depression, not suicidal stuff, just a feeling that all is not right in my world. Some days are darker than others and yesterday was one of the darkest.

This morning I woke up feeling a wee bit better about my life. It's really not quite as bad as I make it sound. It's not perfect by a long shot, but on the other hand, it could be a hell of a lot worse.

Christmas always does this too me, makes me sad for the things and people I don't have in my life. I miss my mother a lot this time of year because she always made the holidays so special for me when I was a kid. My childhood Christmases are the stuff of a Norman Rockwell painting. It was perfect, or at least, that's how I remember it.

This year I started early on the seasonal depression so by the time the Christmas season came around, I was in a pit of despair and self-pity. I credit a lot of my sadness to all the traveling I've done for work during the past four months. It was a strain on me, my health, my diet and exercise routine, as well as on my marriage.

Today I see some light in my life, it's not all darkness. I have a feeling of optimism, like maybe I'll make it through this and everything will turn out okay.

My husband and I are talking, laughing, joking around, almost back to our old life. The hateful and spiteful things we said to each other while in Edmonton are still between us, like a wedge trying to drive us apart. We're trying to get back to what we had and what we know we can have again. Marriage takes work, and neither one of us wants to give up on "us".

Today I'm cleaning the house and then we're putting up the tree this afternoon. I'm actually looking forward to spending time with my husband. Something I haven't felt for several months.

I also have plans to go to the gym, but limit my time there to one hour. The last two days I've gone for two full hours each day. I realize that's utterly ridiculous. No one should spend that much time working out every day unless they're a professional body builder. I just want to be healthy, not spend my life in a gym.

I have a better grip on reality today. I feel more like me. The cloud of doom and gloom seems to have lifted somewhat, and I can actually say I feel a flicker of happiness. I just hope I can hold onto this ray of light.

~Diana
175.4

Best weight loss pills with exercise.

Everyday people struggle with losing weight- Some use the so called best weight loss pills, some use other diet pills but for sure everybody is struggling to lose weight some want to struggle to lose weight without any effort. Some people resort to training exercises. Training exercises contained here are from a single class, fast, easy, and most importantly, work very well. If I remember correctly, the training is approximately 80% of the success of those who want to burn fat fast. The exercises allow you to increase lean muscle mass, which burns more fat, thereby creating a calorie deficit without even reduce the amount they consume.
Note that you must have a calorie deficit of 3,500 calories per week to lose fat ½ Kg.Of course, my suggestion is to follow a healthy eating plan, parallel to the exercise routine to burn fat.
The exercise routine occupies most one hour a week of your time, but these exercises are very intense super short and help burn more fat than single joint exercises. Unlike most exercises that require you to perform lots of sets of each exercise, Fat incinerator system only asks you to do a series. The key to these sets of short distance is the speed of the repetitions for each exercise has its own rhythm, ie, three seconds to lift the weight and four seconds to lower the weight. Well, after doing the exercises, I realized that really give you great results, much quicker than others.Probably the most important thing to lose weight is to make a plan and to stick to it. No point jumping from one plan to another. People use all sorts if things and experiment with all sorts of pills, exercises before there realize that there is no magic quick fix- You have to work towards it.

Trying to stay positive

Over the past several days I thought of a hundred things to write about but all the topics were downers. Each time I'd even think about writing a post I found myself spiraling down into a self-pity party.

My Edmonton trip is over. Having my husband go with me was a huge mistake. Instead of making things better, it made me miserable. When I'm working in a new city away from home, I'm highly stressed. After a day of meeting new people, trouble shooting problems, making endless phone calls to my home office, the last thing I wanted to do is go out and have "fun". I just wanted to crawl to my hotel room and collapse.

As a result of me not being fun, we had a huge fight while in Edmonton. Probably one of our all time worse fights in our 21 years of marriage. He left a day early to go home, which was fine with me. I couldn't handle the double stress of my day job and then my night job of being a loving wife.

Even though it's been almost a week we're both still mentally bruised from the arguing. We both regret what happened, but what's done is done. We can't take back the hurtful, mean things we said to each other.

Now we have the added stress of Christmas, the season of joy. Sorry, but I'm just not feeling it. I want to feel happy and peace on earth and all that other stuff I'm suppose to feel this time of year, but it's not happening.

I'm on vacation for the next two weeks. We had plans to travel to Denver and Arkansas to see my husband's family, but I think we're putting that on hold until after the new year. I can't bear the thought of getting on another plane. Maybe it's incredibly selfish of me but I need to stay home for a while.

We even talked about spending Christmas apart, but we both know that would be the final nail in the coffin of our marriage so we both agreed we're not ready for something like that...since that would really be the end of us as a couple.

So much for remaining positive. This is probably just about the most depressing post I've ever written.

On the diet front, I'm hanging in there at 175.8. I was at the gym for two hours yesterday, getting back into the swing of things with the exercise. It felt good.

My goal is to try and get to 170 by the end of 2009, which isn't too far from where I was on December 31, 2008 - 165.2. That means I'm up 10 pounds from a year ago.

Never mind that I dropped down to 152 for a brief period during the past year so technically I'm up 20+ pounds. I just don't want to think about that right now.

I'm going eat healthy for the rest of the year and hit the gym every day. That's my goal for the next two weeks. I'll set new goals for 2010, but right now I can't think that far into the future. I'm just trying to get through a day at a time....and stay positive (not doing so good with the positive crap).

6 Grand - already trashed

Dont you just love them? No, we haent been raided or burgled. This IS the sty that my son wallows in. He has no shame. He doesnt even care if his mates see what a sloven he is. I have asked his mate (pictured above) "Do you keep your bedroom tidy?" and the answer was "Yes!" and Ds confirmed it. What is it with my son? I tidy this up and its beautiful, and the NEXT DAY its back to this again. I give up

Freedom!

Great stuff! No work now until next year!! I love saying that. I start back 4th January, so 2 weeks off - YAY!

I have become addicted to farmville on facebook. Its a nightmare. I am dreaming about plants and crops and when I went to the loo at about 3:30 this morning I thought about having a quick check up on my farm!

Well, we go to France next Friday for 4 nights. Can't wait. We will be leaving here at the unearthly time of 2 in the morning on Friday to catch the Euro-tunnel to Le Francais. We should be there by 6am their time, and at the little gite by 11am. Its in Normandy so we are going to go to the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition, and also the Mont St. Michel and some other amazing castle and stuff.

We will just chill out and go for walks for the first couple of days as nothing will be open particularly. We find that some of the Turkish restaurants are open though as they don't do xmas either, but whether there is much of a 'kebab' community in Normandy, I haven't a clue. You can usually find something open though, but France is probably the hardest country to find food in over that period. Will make sure we take stuff with us!

I dont want to eat out too much really either because of the MSG, but I am not sure what its like in other countries. I certainly put on weight when I go to France or anywhere else, but that's probably because of the vast gallons of wine I drink whilst there *hick* and haven't been having much of that lately.

My skin has really cleared up I have noticed. I am not putting it down to anything as sometimes it does just look better for about a week before sprouting white pussy pimples again and red whelts. I love nothing better than a good squeeze!!

Havent had to HMS for quite some time now, and the band seems to be working ok.
Last night I made cannelloni's for the family. they were yum..

There wasn't a lot left at the end of it either! One more vanished and then I froze three.

I absolutely love this dish but it is a bit of a pain to make. You make thin pancakes (crepes) with batter made from a couple of eggs, plain flour, milk, salt and pepper. You only need them little so about 7inch round is fine. For a man with a reasonably healthy appetite, but not wanting to stuff himslef, I would say 3 pancakes. DH had 3 plus salad and he was full. He did however still manage to eat a sponge pudding with cream and also my portion too... so I guess he could have gone 4 pancakes. Up to you. DS and the 2 girls had 2 each.

So you put the pancakes cooked to one side. I made 14 for all of us.
Then you fry some mince (ground beef) in a large pan until well cooked and browning. Add 1 onion very finely chopped and 3 cloves of minced garlic. Fry it off for a while and add a little salt. I then normally add a good whack of tomato puree, but I didn't have any, so I blended some sun dried tomato's with a little water. They were fine! You could use tinned tomato but it makes it all a bit wet, and you do need a dryish meat mix or a paste. Add some dried sage right now if you like it. Yummy

Then you get each pancake and spread it with soft cheese - like philadelphia, then add a dollop of meat mix and roll them babies up. You lay them down in the tray and pack each one nice and tight to the next one to hold them all together or they all go a bit flacid.

then make a white sauce with milk, butter and flour and some black pepper. grade some hard cheese into the mix to make it a bit cheesy and then pour all over those cannelloni's. Then sprinkle more cheese on top and bake.

Serve this with a green salad and big sliced beef tomatoes and slice of onion and its awesome.

As a bandster, I managed to eat my 1 cannelloni and 2tbsp salad. I thought I could go some more, and had another one. I managed about 1/3rd of it before I was definitely full and stopped.

I then made a syrup sponge pudding, and DS and Onion went to the shop for cream. I served it up, had a mouthful, and then could not eat any more. So DH polished that off! LOL

So there you go. I am eating regular foods, but just less of them and its all home made too. I get a kick out of that.

Day 350 - A Journey With No Ending (A Personal Discovery)

FINALLY, my 3 week virus has finally died a permanent death! I have learned a lot during this time that I wanted to share.

1. My body and appetite are directly effected by my exercise program. While I was sick, I lightened my workout and ate often. During this time of year, eating often isn't a good thing. I haven't binged, but if you take a bite of all the yummy things you are given or make, it tends to add up. With these two things happening, I noticed the scale starting to creep! I am grateful that my mentality now is that if the scale starts to creep, I get back into my good habits and it creeps back down. Before, I would just say, "Whatever", continue eating and doing what I was doing that brought on the extra weight and just not look at the scale for a time since I knew it was going up. Needless to say, if I don't workout, I will not be able to maintain and I will most certainly gain weight. Maintenance is NOT an option if I am not working out.

2. Even though I have worked out every day in 2009, lost 40 pounds and gained a body I can be happy about, I have found naughty eating patterns slipping back! When I realized this I was thinking, "What the heck? Have I learned nothing??" It became apparent to me that this journey doesn't have an ending, it's a journey for life. I can be thin and doing the things that bring health, but inside me, there is always that part that if left unchecked, will cause weight gain and will enjoy unhealthy behaviors. Which leads me to #3.

3. I ALWAYS NEED TO BE ON MY GUARD!! If not, bad behaviors will creep back when illness or stress are experienced. This realization is what brought me to the computer tonight. When I first started this journey and decided to make better food choices so I could loose weight, I was in the mindset to make good choices, to do the things needed to loose weight. To find the tricks and substitutes needed to bypass those things that would prevent me from being unsuccessful. As months went by, and these new behaviors became routine, I didn't have to think so much about it. They were positive habits, things that were coming naturally and that would give me the results I liked. I entered the holiday season with a plan, but the mindset wasn't there. I got cocky and didn't really think so much about the decisions that needed to be made to continue weight loss. I find myself today, with a plateful of Christmas cookies. I didn't down a bunch like I normally would have, but I did use a knife and take a taste of each of them. Those little bites add up! I didn't use the technique I used to use when I would stop, take a moment and think about what it would taste like and realize that I didn't really want it after all. That is a necessary thing to do this time of year because there is just TOO much good stuff. You CAN'T take little bites because when you have 12 things you take a bite of, it's like eating a few! Any other time of year, a bite or two of something would be fine, but this is the season where there is just too much.

So I end this post with a reminder to myself, never let your guard down, never search for that light at the end of the tunnel, and NEVER, NEVER, EVER take your foot off the elliptical for more than 24 hours.

Crazy kid

My son is a complete headcase, a bit like me. Needless to say - ITS SNOWING!

He came rushing into my office to tell me - how he knew this and was not sound asleep I still dont know.

Exploits of Cooker Girl

When DS was a little chicken of about 2 and a half, I remember him telling me during dinner "Mummy, you really are a good cooker girl". I will never forget that! So cute, I could eat the whole sentence right up!! Obviously he now knows the word chef and stuff, but what a cool title!

So here are some more of cooker girl's antics in the kitchen this merry morn. I love Branston pickle. Its fab with cheese, crackers, with sausages, mashed potato, in a sandwich, on cheese on toast (MMMMmmmm), with all salads and just basically YUM. However, the commercial brand is full of muck - that's a given. So longing for a bit of pickle in my little MSG free life, I found a recipe for it online. This is what it looks like at the start. You boil this mess for 2 hours and end up with the pure luxurious dark chutney shortly after that.

Here it is is for your enjoyment. I didn't need to pressure can this as its very high in acid with the amount of vinegar and lemon juice etc, but I did anyway! I have a canner so why not use it! LOL. Also makes sure it is really sterilized too, as I don't know how quickly I will eat my way through 8 POUNDS of this stuff!! LOL
All I can say is that the taste is absolutely amazing. Its just like Branston pickle, but kind of nicer! Apparently it will be even better in a couple of weeks. Its something that gets better with age.
Onto more cooker girl cooking. Above is something I find vaguely tactile. I kind of want to stroke its soft swellingness... rising bread in my amazing pullman tin. Its the only way to get a square loaf. It was about £5 from china, and I wish I bought 2 now as I have to keep waiting for one loaf to finish before doing another. Anyway, 3 loaves made today.
2 of the loaves cooling after baking next to my newest toy in the playhouse of Bunny aka Nigella! This is a bread slicer from the Czech Republic. Monika had one, as do most people, and I wanted one - especially as now all our bread is home grown! DH with a knife makes doorsteps with a difference... the difference being they are wafer thin one end and 3 inch thick the other side. I don't quite know how he manages do cut bread quite so badly, so this is saving me a fortune in the long run. You can buy scrappy plastic ones that don't stick down and haven't got that weight behind them, but I knew of the real deal. It fixes to the worktop and is cast friggin iron too, so its rather heavy.
Fabulous. It was from eBay for £50 which is pricey, but seeing as we are not going to the CZ rep any time soon, and they are £42 over there anyway, I thought why not!

Had my hypnotherapy yesterday. This is my 3rd proper session... we are kind of tracing back to where my need for comfort eating comes from. Its very peculiar all this stuff that comes out I must say. Yesterday I did have a memory of the situation and it was familiar to me, but the depth of it was quite horrible and I had been crying during the session, but thankfully I feel at peace afterward, and when I tried to recall the feelings I had surrounding that pain, I couldn't get hold of them... I wanted to go to it, but my mind would not go directly to those painful feelings or thoughts, which is what my therapist helped me change during the session. we replaced the feelings (after destroying them) with happy and positive thoughts and feelings and forgiveness, which sounds terribly cliched, but it wasn't. It was good.

Last week, it was of a situation that i could not remember, and was too young to have a physical memory of. My mother actually did remember the things I was talking about, which was kind of cool. Apparently, as I regressed through my past to this feeling - to do with comfort eating - I was eating black paint and being told off, and all kinds of other stuff at playschool. Really random, but it made sense. I haven't felt the need to comfort eat recently... but its early days.

With hypnosis, I think its sometime later that you realize that you haven't done 'this' or 'that' or felt 'this way' or reacted in a typical fashion and that's when you realize that things are fundamentally changing.

What is interesting is that I have a dominant Nomad personality. Now this is odd, because I really relate to the qualities - positive and negative - of a nomad type. My secondary personality is settler.. so they conflict to a certain extent.

The true type is called Charismatic Evidential Personality. I guess it tells you stuff you already knew, but can then digest and see if you can use the information to your advantage.

My major positive characteristics (of which not all will be true to me, but give an idea)according to the test are;
Enthusiastic, lively, Exuberant, Innovative, Confident, Outgoing, Uninhibited, Sometimes Outrageous, Uncomplicated, Charismatic, good image, Sometimes witty/funny, Handle change/surprises well, good mimic, Smart and/or elegant
Major negatives (again which wont all be me specific) are:
Loud, Impulsive, childish, Fickle, Tend to exaggerate, give up easily, self indulgent, thoughtless, Unreliable, Lazy, scruffy.

Overall my personality summary is:
Chances are you are a fun loving individual who can usually find a way to enjoy yourself. It is important to you, though, that there is always something 'going on' in your life because boredom can set in far too easily otherwise and you will then become restless and may even start to create some sort of upheaval just for the hell of it! You are lively and can easily carry others along on a tide of your own enthusiasm, thanks to your inspirational nature and your ability to thrust the inhibitions of others aside. You may well have an expert eye for presentation and a love of novelty. there is a need to be in some way different from the crowd, even if it means having an unusual illness! You are probably extremely smart or extremely sloppy, maybe both at different times - and revel in it either way. Under pressure, you are excellent at 'blagging' your way through. WYSIWYG -"What you see is what you get" sums you up quite well.

Skills:
Presentation, promotional situations, direct sales, entertainment, new or novel products or schemes... anything where image, persona and/or enthusiasm are important. Many actors and 'super-salespersons' fall within this group.

Avoid:
Pondering, or taking too much notice of others telling you to be cautious.

I thought this was a pretty accurate description of me. HA HA!! I honestly did. I can see me in all of this lot. But I am not scruffy, thoughtless or lazy. Those things are not me. Out of the house I am extremely smart... but randomly I hate washing my hair and hardly ever shower as I HATE it. I tell people too (revel in my weirdness)!! Everything else is me though.

I have a weird illness - lupus, I like to be different too! I have a lap band, home school, got married very young, have a random career and I don't dress like my peers in ANY way! I also have other 'oddities' that do put me in the front line for "WTF?"

I love having stuff going on in my life. I do seem to lurch from one drama to another, but not that I invent, I must admit. I would actually like a bit of an easy ride actually, so this is a little at odds with that. But I am also the queen of blag!! Musicians usually are. Obviously my musical career also falls into the exuberant jobs where enthusiasm is needed too.

So, what kind of personality are you? Do the test here:
http://www.theconsultingrooms.co.uk/index.php
Make sure you tell me!!!!!!

A fat rant

by Joy Nash

Weight Loss for Men - Visualize It

If you have an iPhone or iTouch and are a male who wants to lose weight, check out this Virtual Weight Loss Avatar for men. It's fun to get visual milestones for each few pounds you lose.

As with the similar app for women (Virtual Weight Loss for Women), this app is based on BMI calculations so it will look different for men who weigh the same but are different heights.

Another Goal + HAM SHAM!

I just thought of another set of goals...

How about Previous lowest weights, and other interesting facts Goals!! LOL I know this is really dumb but anything to get me through the next couple of years has got to be worth it! HA HA

I was 17 stone 11 when I had my appointment with the midwife for DS in 1998
I got to 16 stone 6 with my band before it broke in May 2007
I got to 15 stone 6 before the dastardly unfill in September 2008
I was 15 stone 2 when I joined slimmingworld the first time in 1996
I was 13 stone 4 when I met DH in April 1996
I was 11 stone 4 when I left school aged 16 in 1993

So those are some nice milestones to remember too.

Had a good day band wise and headspace wise yesterday. I think these goal thingys are quite fun, it means that I am kind of achieving something each week, and as a person who just cant do long term missions of weightloss, that's what I need.

Its kind of odd, losing weight. You need to focus on the bigger picture, but also the tiny picture too. Its so messed up. If I lose a pound a week, I need to think "that's 4 stone in a year" but I also need to think... "Yay! I got my 'X' goal this week"

But thinking about it, I did get thoroughly annoyed yesterday about 7pm. I was making dinner for the troops and then realized as I was idly frying the ham and onion mix for the carbonara that it had FREAKING MSG in it!!!!!!!!!! How many ingredients do you think its possible for HAM to have?? 2?? 3... 5??? Try 33!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is the flesh of a pig right? Meat. Natural. comes from pigs. boiled. you eat it. Why the HELL do they shag it around with all kinds of crap?

So my innocent intentions of HOME COOKED MEAL of PASTA CARBONARA last night without knowing it contained all this dross:

Pork 75% (that means 25% NOT HAM in ham!!!)
Water
Salt
honey
dextrose *
mustard - (oil, seeds, flavours*)
wheat flour
yeast *
turmeric
colour - (Paprika extract*)
sugar
vegetable oil
paprika
natural flavourings **** ( this IS actual MS freaking G)
ginger
modified maize starch ***(70% MSG)
spirit vinegar
natural carrot extract* (wtf is that??)
shallot
lemon peel
citric acid
thickener -(xanthan gum)
stabilisers -(tri, di and polyphosphates of fatty acids*)
Pork gelatine*
antioxidants* - (sodium ascorbate)
preservative -(sodium nitrite, potassium nitrite, potassium sorbate)
dried glucose syrup*
crushed black peppercorns
herbs
caramelised sugar syrup*
milk protein**** (sodium cassienate - 70% MSG)
pepper
black treacle

* means that this is a source of MSG often up to 70% of the ingredient

this is NOT ham is it. Its something else. Its like SHAM rather than HAM. No wonder that we are all messed up royally by the food we eat. I honestly didn't think there could be anything wrong with Ham.

So after cooking it all up with a luscious sauce of Gold Top milk, flour, mustard, garlic, and egg yolks I served them it all and had bread and frigging butter. Joy.

So yesterdays food was yoghurt, bread, and cereal. grrrrrrr8! But then I guess its better than nothing which was Sunday. Found it really difficult to eat anything on sunday for some reason.

Savory Provence Buttered Halibut

Hello Everyone!Since I love "Day 6" living and the recipes developed for it I'll be posting pictures and reports here for you to enjoy! This was tonight's dinner and it was outstanding! It just goes to show that healthy living does not have to be expensive, time consuming or icky. I am so excited for my LAWLS Neighbors to get started with these recipes - you are going to be thrilled and so will

The Dirty Little Secret of the Diet-Heart Hypothesis

The diet-heart hypothesis is the idea that saturated fat, and in some versions cholesterol, raises blood cholesterol and contributes to the risk of having a heart attack. To test this hypothesis, scientists have been studying the relationship between saturated fat consumption and heart attack risk for more than half a century. To judge by the grave pronouncements of our most visible experts, you would think these studies had found an association between the two. It turns out, they haven't.

The fact is, the vast majority of high-quality observational studies have found no connection whatsoever between saturated fat consumption and heart attack risk. The scientific literature contains dozens of these studies, so let's narrow the field to prospective studies only, because they are considered the most reliable. In this study design, investigators find a group of initially healthy people, record information about them (in this case what they eat), and watch who gets sick over the years.

A Sampling of Unsupportive Studies

Here are references to ten high-impact prospective studies, spanning half a century, showing no association between saturated fat consumption and heart attack risk. Ignore the squirming about saturated-to-polyunsaturated ratios, Keys/Hegsted scores, etc. What we're concerned with is the straightforward question: do people who eat more saturated fat have more heart attacks? Many of these papers allow free access to the full text, so have a look for yourselves if you want:

A Longitudinal Study of Coronary Heart Disease. Circulation. 1963.

Diet and Heart: a Postscript. British Medical Journal. 1977. Saturated fat was unrelated to heart attack risk, but fiber was protective.

Dietary Intake and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Japanese Men Living in Hawaii. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1978.

Relationship of Dietary Intake to Subsequent Coronary Heart Disease Incidence: the Puerto Rico Heart Health Program. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1980.

Diet, Serum Cholesterol, and Death From Coronary Heart Disease: The Western Electric Study. New England Journal of Medicine. 1981.

Diet and 20-year Mortality in Two Rural Population Groups of Middle-Aged Men in Italy. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 1989. Men who died of CHD ate significantly less saturated fat than men who didn't.

Diet and Incident Ischaemic Heart Disease: the Caerphilly Study. British Journal of Nutrition. 1993. They measured animal fat intake rather than saturated fat in this study.

Dietary Fat and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Men: Cohort Follow-up Study in the United States. British Medical Journal. 1996. This is the massive Physicians Health Study. Don't let the abstract fool you! Scroll down to table 2 and see for yourself that the association between saturated fat intake and heart attack risk disappears after adjustment for several factors including family history of heart attack, smoking and fiber intake. That's because, as in most modern studies, people who eat steak are also more likely to smoke, avoid vegetables, eat fast food, etc.

Dietary Fat Intake and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease in Women. New England Journal of Medicine. 1997. From the massive Nurse's Health study. This one fooled me for a long time because the abstract is misleading. It claims that saturated fat was associated with heart attack risk. However, the association disappeared without a trace when they adjusted for monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat intake. Have a look at table 3.

Dietary Fat Intake and Early Mortality Patterns-- Data from the Malmo Diet and Cancer Study. Journal of Internal Medicine. 2005.

I just listed 10 prospective studies published in top peer-reviewed journals that found no association between saturated fat and heart disease risk. This is less than half of the prospective studies that have come to the same conclusion, representing by far the majority of studies to date. If saturated fat is anywhere near as harmful as we're told, why are its effects essentially undetectable in the best studies we can muster?

Studies that Support the Diet-Heart Hypothesis

To be fair, there have been a few that have found an association between saturated fat consumption and heart attack risk. Here's a list of all four that I'm aware of, with comments:

Ten-year Incidence of Coronary Heart Disease in the Honolulu Heart Program: relationship to nutrient intake. American Journal of Epidemiology. 1984. "Men who developed coronary heart disease also had a higher mean intake of percentage of calories from protein, fat, saturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids than men who remained free of coronary heart disease." The difference in saturated fat intake between people who had heart attacks and those who didn't, although statistically significant, was minuscule.

Diet and 20-Year Mortality From Coronary Heart Disease: the Ireland-Boston Diet-Heart Study. New England Journal of Medicine. 1985. "Overall, these results tend to support the hypothesis that diet is related, albeit weakly, to the development of coronary heart disease."

Relationship Between Dietary Intake and Coronary Heart Disease Mortality: Lipid Research Clinics Prevalence Follow-up Study. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 1996. "...increasing percentages of energy intake as total fat (RR 1.04, 95% CI = 1.01 – 1.08), saturated fat (RR 1.11, CI = 1.04 – 1.18), and monounsaturated fat (RR 1.08, CI = 1.01 – 1.16) were significant risk factors for CHD mortality among 30 to 59 year olds... None of the dietary components were significantly associated with CHD mortality among those aged 60–79 years." Note that the associations were very small, also included monounsaturated fat (like in olive oil), and only applied to the age group with the lower risk of heart attack.

The Combination of High Fruit and Vegetable and Low Saturated Fat Intakes is More Protective Against Mortality in Aging Men than is Either Alone. Journal of Nutrition. 2005. Higher saturated fat intake was associated with a higher risk of heart attack; fiber was strongly protective.

The Review Papers

Over 25 high-quality studies conducted, and only 4 support the diet-heart hypothesis. If this substance is truly so fearsome, why don't people who eat more of it have more heart attacks? In case you're concerned that I'm cherry-picking studies that conform to my beliefs, here are links to review papers on the same data that have reached the same conclusion:

The Questionable Role of Saturated and Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Cardiovascular Disease. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 1998. Dr. Uffe Ravnskov systematically demolishes the diet-heart hypothesis simply by collecting all the relevant studies and summarizing their findings.

A Systematic Review of the Evidence Supporting a Causal Link Between Dietary Factors and Coronary Heart Disease. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2009. "Insufficient evidence (less than or equal to 2 criteria) of association is present for intake of supplementary vitamin E and ascorbic acid (vitamin C); saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids; total fat; alpha-linolenic acid; meat; eggs; and milk" They analyzed prospective studies representing over 160,000 patients from 11 studies meeting their rigorous inclusion criteria, and found no association whatsoever between saturated fat consumption and heart attack risk.

Where's the Disconnect?

The first part of the diet-heart hypothesis states that dietary saturated fat raises the cholesterol/LDL concentration of the blood. This is held as established fact in the mainstream understanding of nutrition. The second part states that increased blood cholesterol/LDL increases the risk of having a heart attack. What part of this is incorrect?

There's definitely an association between blood cholesterol/LDL level and heart attack risk in certain populations, including Americans. MRFIT, among other studies, showed this definitively, although the lowest risk of all-cause mortality was at an average level of cholesterol. The association between blood cholesterol and heart attack risk does not apply to Japanese populations, as pointed out repeatedly by the erudite Dr. Harumi Okuyama. This seems to be generally true of groups that consume a lot of seafood.

So we're left with the first premise: that saturated fat increases blood cholesterol/LDL. This turns out to be largely a myth, based on a liberal interpretation of short-term feeding studies. In fact, it isn't even true in animal models of heart disease. In the 1950s, the most vigorous proponent of the diet-heart hypothesis, Dr. Ancel Keys, created a formula designed to predict changes in blood cholesterol based on the consumption of dietary saturated and polyunsaturated fats. This formula is extremely inaccurate and has gradually been dropped from the modern medical literature. Yet the idea that saturated fat consumption increases blood cholesterol/LDL lives on...

This is it, folks: the diet-heart hypothesis ends here. It's been kept afloat for decades by wishful thinking, puritan sensibilities and selective citation of the evidence. It's time to put it out of its misery.