Weekend update

Another headache
I can't believe I haven't posted since Thursday morning. I guess I just wasn't in the blogging mood or something. Or maybe it was the headache from hell that took me down again.

Saturday is a blur. All I remember doing is going to Weight Watchers, weighing in, sitting through the meeting with an excruciating headache, then heading home and back to bed.

Nothing can stop these headaches when they come. Aspirin, Aleve, Tylenol doesn't phase them. All I can do is curl into a fetal position in a dark, quiet room and wait it out.

Today I was fine. The headache is gone, although there's a lingering feeling of tenderness behind my eyes. Like it could come back any minute.

I don't know what's up with these headaches, but I'm getting a little concerned. That was my third one in three weeks, and sometimes during the day I have a stabbing pain on the left side of my head that lasts for just a few minutes.

I have my annual physical in two weeks, and I'm going to ask my doctor about it. It's just the strangest thing. I rarely get headaches and when I do, nothing like these last three. They're literally debilitating.

The weigh-in
Okay, enough of the headache talk. About the weigh-in. Not exactly a stunning loss, but it's a loss:

Saturday 2/27/2010 Weigh-in

Last week's weight:  176.6

Current weight: 175.4

Week loss: -1.2

Total loss:  -63.8

My workout
Because of the headache from hell I skipped working out Saturday. I could barely stand up so working out was out of the question. However, I made up for it on Sunday.

The Big Book of Exercises by Women's Health says you're only suppose to do one exercise per body part per workout. I've never heard this before, but it makes sense.I usually try to do at least two exercises per body part. For example, I always do two bicep exercises back to back, two triceps, two shoulder, two deltoids, etc.

What I've noticed is that I don't do as well on the second exercise for the same body part. My form isn't as good and I struggle with the heavier weights.

It also suggests not doing the same exercise for each body part during the week, to mix it up. Even changing how you hold the dumbbells makes a difference in how you work the muscle group you're focusing on.

The book also says you should do 24 reps of an exercise. For example, three sets of 8, or as set of 12, 10, 8. They said more if you're up to it, but 24 was the optimum number. A a few more is okay if you're up to it, but three sets of 15, probably not a good idea (I've done that a lot). If you can do three sets of 15 then you're probably not using heavy enough weights.

One thing I've learned, every author of strength training has their own opinion of what's right. They all think their way is the right waym, but none of them are written in stone. You have to figure out what works best for you.

Here's the page from my exercise log for today. I planned out my workout before I got to the gym. It took me an hour and 45 minutes to complete this workout. It  was definitely one of my best workouts.

Tulips that I bought for myself. As long as I try the best I can with working out and trying to eat right during the week, I buy myself flowers on Saturday. I love tulips. They remind me of spring, my favorite season.

It was a full moon on Saturday night. I did ventured outside with the raging headache at about 8pm. Just to get some fresh air, hoping it would cure my headache. It didn't, but I did get to see this gorgeous full moon. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was spectacular.

A Healthy Weight Guide for Pregnancy

Many women take steps to improve their health when they are pregnant or planning a pregnancy: they quit smoking, stop drinking and eat healthy food. A lesser known (but no less important) consideration is maintaining a healthy body weight. In this article we'll provide you with some guidelines to help you maintain a healthy weight before conception and during pregnancy:
1. Pre-Conception

Your weight at conception is one of the most important factors in determining your pregnancy outcomes. You should aim to have a Body Mass Index (BMI) in the healthy weight range prior to conception.

2. Pregnancy

In 2009 the American Institute of Medicine updated its guidelines for how much weight a woman should gain during pregnancy:

Pre-Pregnancy BMI / Recommended Total Weight Gain
Underweight / 13-18kg
Normal Weight / 11-16kg
Overweight / 7-11kg
All classes of Obesity / 5-9kg

And for multiple births:

Pre-Pregnancy BMI / Recommended Total Weight Gain
Normal Weight / 17-24kg
Overweight / 14-23kg
All Classes of Obesity / 11-19kg
These new guidelines have been adopted in response to health issues, including an increasing incidence of infertility, gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, larger birth weight babies, longer hospital stays and more effort required to return to pre-pregnancy weight.
Four trends are driving these health issues. The trends are an increase in the number of women:

1. Gaining too much weight during their pregnancy
2. Conceiving at larger pre-pregnancy weights
3. Having multiple births
4. Giving birth to their first baby later in their lives.

The American Institute of Medicine recommends that pregnant women seek advice from health professionals such as Dietitians and Exercise Physiologists to discuss diet and exercise until 12 months post partum. For advice about achieving and maintaining a healthy weight see an Accredited Dietitian, or if you are in Queensland you can visit a Dietitian at the Wesley Weight Management Clinic.

Reference:
Rasmussen, K and Yaktine, A. 2009, Weight Gain During Pregnancy: Re-examining the Guidelines, American Institute of Medicine

Day 6 Recipe: Chicken with Apples & Blue Cheese

The Details:Page 154 of Day 6: Beyond 5 Day Pouch Test2/27/20104 Servings.Total Time: 30 MinutesEstimated Cost: $12 or $3.00/servingThe Review:Changed recipe slightly to use one cut-up roaster chicken rather than boneless-skinless chicken thighs (this was a better bargain in this week's grocery flier. So seasoned chicken with You Have Arrived Poultry Blend and baked in 375F oven for 35 minutes

Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson

My husband has a lot of allergies and he's been researching different things to find a way to alleviate them.  He came across the Paleolithic way of eating.  It's nothing new, and several authors have written about it.  Ben has read Primal Blueprint and has been making diet changes to follow this sort eating lifestyle.  (I'll encourage him to blog about it so you can hear about his experience personally)

I love learning about nutrition!  Our Standard American Diet (SAD) is certainly sad and I am always interested in learning new ways to better our lifestyle.  I am feeding a small army here in my home and if we can raise them to be adults that will take care of their bodies and not become some sort of dietary statistic, I will feel like we contributed something good in this world.

I understand the premise of a paleolithic diet.  Eat foods that are unadulterated and unprocessed.  Eat them in their original form to maximize the nutrition they contain.  I get it.  But I am very interested to read the science behind this sort of lifestyle, how it can improve someone who has physical issues.  So this is something I am looking forward to read and I am sure I will share some exciting findings along the way.

Push Up Update

So I was chuggin' along doing my push-up routine when week 4 hit.  (Week 4 is grueling!)  Between joint pain from doing 120 or so push-ups over 5 sets and a funky virus setting in, I was having a hard time.  Maybe the joint pain was from the virus??

Anyway, after a little beef about doing them "girly style" I have decided to do the challenge from the beginning with MANLY push-ups!   I did the repeat "Initial test" and ended up doing half as many as I did when I did the test girly style.  Honestly, I was surprised-I thought I would have done less!!  What a difference it makes when you take your knees off the floor.  I liked how I could REALLY feel it in my stomach.  I could feel it in my stomach before, but not quite this much.

So I am adjusting my older adventure and creating a new one in the process. We'll see what happens after a 3 week break and during week 4 of the program this time around.

The One Hundred Push Up site has a really great break down on training  and the iPhone app for it is AMAZING!  If you have an iPhone/iPod and you want to take this challenge, invest the $1.99 to get the app.  It's worth it!

Live before and after Proactol

Can anything change your life? What do you think? According to our survey more than 80% from the people think that the life is this, what you make. Are you one of them? Then, you should continue reading below our article, so this can change your life forever. Don't lose this opportunity!!!

Visit this page right now.

The F-Factor Fiber Diet

Ditch those fad diets, lose weight and keep it off permananently. This book was just discussed on the View today and it is a sane and best way to eat. The emphasis is on eating high-fiber, filling foods and not worrying about carbs, fats or calories.

See the Amazon reviews for The F-Factor Diet.

See a list of ten high fiber foods here.

Fun Friday in the Neighborhood

Are you ready for some good times? Then join us for the LivingAfterWLS Fun Friday weekly game where we answer questions, get to know one another and win fabulous prizes! This week our question is presented by our fun and daring Fun Friday Hostess DarlingGwenda from Down Under - She wants to know five things on your Bucket list. Go here to play:Fun Friday February 26, 2010For a look at our past

Corn Oil and Cancer: Reality Strikes Again

The benefits of corn oil keep rolling in. In a new study by Stephen Freedland's group at Duke, feeding mice a diet rich in butter and lard didn't promote the growth of transplanted human prostate cancer cells any more than a low-fat diet (1).

Why do we care? Because other studies, including one from the same investigators, show that corn oil and other industrial seed oils strongly promote prostate cancer cell growth and increase mortality in similar models (2, 3).

From the discussion section:

Current results combined with our prior results suggest that lowering the fat content of a primarily saturated fat diet offers little survival benefit in an intact or castrated LAPC-4 xenograft model. In contrast to the findings when omega-6 fats are used, these results raise the possibility that fat type may be as important as fat amount or perhaps even more important.

The authors seem somewhat surprised and pained by the result. Kudos for publishing it. However, there's nothing to be surprised about. There's a large body of evidence implicating excess omega-6 fat in a number of cancer models. Reducing omega-6 to below 4% of calories has a dramatic effect on cancer incidence and progression*. In fact, there have even been several experiments showing that butter and other animal fats promote cancer growth to a lesser degree than margarine and omega-6-rich seed oils. I discussed that here.

I do have one gripe with the study. They refer to the diet as "saturated fat based". That's inaccurate terminology. I see it constantly in the diet-health literature. If it were coconut oil, then maybe I could excuse it, because coconut fat is 93% saturated. But this diet was made of lard and butter, the combination of which is probably about half saturated. The term "animal fat" or "low-omega-6 fat" would have been more accurate. At least they listed the diet composition. Many studies don't even bother, leaving it to the reader to decide what they mean by "saturated fat".


* The average American eats 7-8% omega-6 by calories. This means it will be difficult to see a relationship between omega-6 intake and cancer (or heart disease, or most things) in observational studies in the US or other industrial nations, because we virtually all eat more than 4% of calories as omega-6. Until the 20th century, omega-6 intake was below 4%, and usually closer to 2%, in most traditional societies. That's where it remains in contemporary traditional societies unaffected by industrial food habits, such as Kitava. Our current omega-6 intake is outside the evolutionary norm.

Corn Oil and Cancer: Reality Strikes Again

The benefits of corn oil keep rolling in. In a new study by Stephen Freedland's group at Duke, feeding mice a diet rich in butter and lard didn't promote the growth of transplanted human prostate cancer cells any more than a low-fat diet (1).

Why do we care? Because other studies, including one from the same investigators, show that corn oil and other industrial seed oils strongly promote prostate cancer cell growth and increase mortality in similar models (2, 3).

From the discussion section:

Current results combined with our prior results suggest that lowering the fat content of a primarily saturated fat diet offers little survival benefit in an intact or castrated LAPC-4 xenograft model. In contrast to the findings when omega-6 fats are used, these results raise the possibility that fat type may be as important as fat amount or perhaps even more important.

The authors seem somewhat surprised and pained by the result. Kudos for publishing it. However, there's nothing to be surprised about. There's a large body of evidence implicating excess omega-6 fat in a number of cancer models. Reducing omega-6 to below 4% of calories has a dramatic effect on cancer incidence and progression*. In fact, there have even been several experiments showing that butter and other animal fats promote cancer growth to a lesser degree than margarine and omega-6-rich seed oils. I discussed that here.

I do have one gripe with the study. They refer to the diet as "saturated fat based". That's inaccurate terminology. I see it constantly in the diet-health literature. If it were coconut oil, then maybe I could excuse it, because coconut fat is 93% saturated. But this diet was made of lard and butter, the combination of which is probably about half saturated. The term "animal fat" or "low-omega-6 fat" would have been more accurate. At least they listed the diet composition. Many studies don't even bother, leaving it to the reader to decide what they mean by "saturated fat".


* The average American eats 7-8% omega-6 by calories. This means it will be difficult to see a relationship between omega-6 intake and cancer (or heart disease, or most things) in observational studies in the US or other industrial nations, because we virtually all eat more than 4% of calories as omega-6. Until the 20th century, omega-6 intake was below 4%, and usually closer to 2%, in most traditional societies. That's where it remains in contemporary traditional societies unaffected by industrial food habits, such as Kitava. Our current omega-6 intake is outside the evolutionary norm.

Tracking Thursday AND following the rules

Yesterday I ate healthy all day and tracked every bite. I wasn't paying much attention to how many points I was accumulating because my meals were what I normally eat, so I was sure it was all good.

When I got home I logged on to the online tracker to see how many Points I had left for dinner. I was shocked to see I'd already eaten 21.5 Points for my breakfast, lunch and two snacks. My max is 21 with some weeklies, depending on how hungry I am. I couldn't believe I'd eaten all my Points. I went back over every item, but it was all correct.

I evaluated what I'd eaten all day and realized I'd been adding in a few little things here and there that really added up. They seemed harmless at the time, but they're why I haven't been losing weight (and slowly gaining).

Sugar-free creamer in my coffee when I use to always drink it black. Hummus with my raw vegetables when I always ate my afternoon snack of raw vegetables plain. A few extra pieces of fruit, when I was limiting fruit to a maximum of three a day. Cutting back my vegetables from five servings a day to two or three. I wasn't drinking my non-fat milk or eating my healthy oil.

The bottom line:  I haven't really been following the Weight Watcher plan. I've been squandering my Points.

Just like I budget money to pay the mortgage, the car payment and the utility bills, I need to budget to make sure I get in my healthy oil and dairy. If I have to cut out the hummus so I can have a cup of milk and a yogurt, it's what I have to do.

Today I'm focusing on tracking, but also following the healthy eating guidelines. I know that's one of the keys to successfully losing weight. I've accepted exercise as part of my life. Now I need to follow through on the healthy eating and limiting my food.

When I saw I'd already eaten 21.5 Points by 6pm I considered skipping dinner, instead I had dinner and some fruit. It was about 8 Points, but I thought that was better than starving.

Today will be better, I promise. Tracking and following the rules.

Tracking Wednesday

It's almost 1pm and I've tracked my breakfast and lunch, as well as my activity in the online tracker. This is a huge improvement over every day the past week.

During the past few months there's been a direct correlation between me not tracking my food and my weight slowly going up.

Every day I make up some silly excuse of why I can't do it, the best one is that I don't have time. I'm on the computer for work a good portion of the day. It took about two minutes.

The real reason I don't want to track my food is because I know I've been going over my allotted Points every day. That makes a failure in my book.

I've made a deal with myself. Just for today, and today only, I promise I will track every bite, AND I'll eat within my Points limit. Maybe I'll make every Wednesday "Tracking Wednesday", just to see if I can do it.

A couple pictures I found on my work computer. I may have shared these last summer, I'm not sure. They're from my visit to my sister in Fairbanks, Alaska in July, 2009.

The public restroom in Nenana, Alaska. I thought this was really pretty and very unique. It even had a flush toilet. :)

Me at Chena Hot Springs, near Fairbanks.

Another day one or this is NOT maintenance

KCSARC
Normally I post the night before, but yesterday was kind of a horrific day for me. One of my dearest friends and I ventured out on the new light rail from the airport to downtown Seattle to attend the King County Seaxual Assault Resource Center's fundraiser breakfast.

Although it was a kick to ride the light rail and catch up with each other, the intensity of the speakers at the breakfast was difficult. It's always like this for me when I attend their functions. They have guest speakers that were raped or sexually molested as children, some are still teenagers. One of my best friend's daughters was sexually molested when she was five. We sat at their table and as I always do, I cried when I listen to the stories (as did almost everyone, even the men were wiping their eyes).

KCSARC is an amazing group of people and if  you live in the Seattle area and are looking for a great organization to donate some spare money to, this is the group. I've seen the results their counseling has had on a very scared and frightened five-year old that had the terrible experience of being sexually molested by a 21-year old neighbor. It would have been called rape but they have very odd definitions of rape. Penetration of one inch. I won't go into details, but it was beyond horrible what happened to her. She's now a vibrant, beautiful and well-adjusted 11-year old. KCSARC helped her get to where she is today.

It was still a hard day and even though I took a lot of pictures of Seattle on our ride, I didn't feel like posting them.

Not maintenance
I had an epiphany while on the StairMaster this morning (which by the way, we only have one and no ever uses it but me - so weird). Every day is day one, which we all agree is true. So I only have to get through today, not worry about tomorrow. One day at a time, literally. That's all I'm focusing on today. Track my food, eat within my Points. Just for today.

The other thing is that I seem to think I'm on maintenance. When I put on my size 12 dark gray dress slacks yesterday I felt like a sausage. They had a little stretch and by the time I got to the Westin they felt better, but still, I remember buying them about six months ago when my size 10's didn't fit and I had go up a size. They were baggy. I haven't tried them on for about three months because I gained another 10 pounds.

I've been holding steady at 176, as if that was the weight I wanted to maintain. It's NOT my goal weight, I shouldn't be in maintenance! It's time to buckle down and get serious.

Today is my day!

Outsmarting a Weight Plateau

You've been checking the scales each week and progress is steady, you'll achieve your weight loss goals in no time! But suddenly the scales refuse to budge... It doesn't make sense! You haven't changed your diet and you haven't skipped an exercise session...

It's disappointing, it's frustrating and it's called a weight plateau. But the good news is that you aren't the first to experience it, and that you can take steps to outsmart it:

Maintain your Metabolism

When you restrict your calorie intake it's almost inevitable that your metabolism will slow. Try incorporating more resistance training into your exercise program to maintain your metabolically active muscle tissue and eat small but regular meals.

Adjust Your Exercise Routine

As you become fitter your body becomes more efficient at performing a given exercise, i.e. you burn less energy. To burn more energy, try changing the type of activity that you do to challenge different (and less efficient) muscle groups. Try cycling, swimming, rowing, using a cross trainer or learning to use different equipment at the gym.

If you don't want to change your activity type, you will need to exercise at a slightly higher intensity. You can increase the speed or incline of your walks, the resistance on your exercise bike or your swimming speed in the pool. At this stage you may wish to consider purchasing a heart rate monitor to make sure that you are still exercising in your fat burning zone.

Reduce Your Stress and Anxiety Levels

Chronic stress means chronically elevated levels of a hormone called Cortisol in your body, which may predispose you to storing fat (1). If you are feeling stressed or anxious, investigate some stress management techniques.

Be Honest with Yourself

How long has it been since you weighed your meat portions or measured your cereal serves? Should you be counting that thick slice of raisin toast as one serve or two? These little things might not seem like much, but added together they determine if you gain weight or lose it.

Start weighing your food portions and recording your intake of food, including calories. Recording can be cumbersome, but it might just be enough to help you identify where the problem lies.

Are You Really at a Plateau?

Are your clothes feeling looser but the scales aren't moving (or even moving in the wrong direction)? It might be the case that your body composition is changing, i.e. you are gaining muscle tissue (which is heavier than fat). This is possible if you have changed your exercise regime to include more resistance training, or you have changed the type of exercise that you are doing. To find out if you have gained muscle, measure your waist and hip circumference instead of stepping onto your scales.

The benefits of exercise, stress reduction and healthy eating extend beyond losing weight - they bring out the best in your body. So focus on enjoying how you feel rather than focusing on the number on your scales. If you have lost weight you are probably feeling more healthy and energetic, and that's something to celebrate.

How to feed 5 on bugger all

Ok, dinner for this evening was shoestring 'nowt left int fridge' variety. I had 3 courgettes, 1 packet of chicken breasts = 2 normal size and one obviously from a dwarf chicken, 2 onions and some potatoes. I came up with Chicken Gratin.

For the guts:
2 & half chicken breasts chopped into 1cm cubes
2 onions
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp ginger
3 springs of Rosemary
Can of tomatoes (blitzed with a hand blender)
2 glugs of red wine
1 large courgette
3 large potatoes sliced on mandolin.
1 bag of frozen stock made previously from the water I boil the veg in.
salt and pepper

Cheese sauce:
Milk, cornflour, butter and grated hard cheese.

Fry the onion until soft, add all the rest of the stuff including the frozen stock (seen here as a lump of pale beige in the middle of the pan. Boil it all until chicken cooked... about 15 mins.


Then make the cheese sauce. Bumg milk in a pan and large dollop of butter and a large pile of cornflour. Keep whisking until it thickens. Stuff makign a roux and all that shenannigans. This is much easier and you have no lumps and it tastes the ticket. Then when cooked, take off the heat and add the grated cheese whisking it in and it will thicken more and melt into the sauce.


Slice the potatoes with their skins on with a mandolin, or if you can slice potato that thin, then give it a bash with a knife. Good luck with that btw!! If using a mandolin, remove and parts of sliced finger and nails before placing in the dish.


melt some butter and grease the whole dish, sides, bottom, everything. Then layer some of the potatoes on the bottom.


dollop some of the guts ontop of the potato slices and then ladle some of the cheese sauce like you are making a lasagne. then top with potato and keep doing this for ages or until all your stuff runs out.


You end up with a layer of potato slices and just brush them over with melted butter and set aside for when you want to cook it. When you want to cook it, put it in the oven for 1 hour at 170 deg C or about gas 5.


The result. Tuck in and enjoy with home made crusty bread


A fun sized (HAHA) MSG free meal for about 8 people above. Cost... oooh about £7. Nice.

The 5 Day Pouch Test---AGAIN!

by Kaye BaileySince the publication of the 5 Day Pouch Test plan in August of 2007 I've done the plan roughly four times a year or once a quarter. It seems contrary to what I preach --that the 5DPT is not a fad diet or a quick weight loss gimmick-- because each time as I share, online, my romp through the 5DPT it appears I do it far more frequently than I advise. Today I'm taking a moment to

blog awards

I am really amazed that I got an award from Tina and also Barbara, thank you peeps!

I am amazed because I am the crappiest blogger right now and the baddest, fattest arsed bandster on the planet (any one want to challenge me on that? I dare ya!!)

But thank you.

So I am not quite sure wot I have to do, but I will give it a go.

Apparently, I have to place my award proudly on my page (will do that in a mo)
and then do the following.

• Thank the person who nominated you for this award
• Copy the award and post it in your blog
• Link to the blog of the person who nominated you
• Tell seven interesting things about yourself
• Nominate seven bloggers
• Post links to the blogs of your nominees

So here goes:

Tina and Barbara, THANKYOU! I must admit I have not had a read through Barbara's blog until today when I noticed she has obviously been reading mine (i did mention that I am really slack right?) so tonight I am gunna catch up on who Barbara is and give her a good reading! From the few pages I read earlier, she seems to be really determined and also very upfront about her lap band and I love all the pictures. It makes it all real. So, thank you Barbara truly! And Tina, wow, you are a good person for me to know. You give me really good advice that I don't want to take, but know I should ;-) and you comment on my blog when I write about my appalling lack of drive and commitment to my lapband and I know you want me to experience the same success as you. You are a great blogger and enjoy reading your exploits about bike riding... and btw.. if you take the saddle off it might make it lot more fun!! HAHA

So thanks to both of you. It made my day.

7 things about me? Wow.

1.) I had a past life (which i actually don't believe in!?!) or what I prefer to call an inherited memory. I remember from an early age (about 3) that I had a picnic in a field with my Mum, Dad, Aunt, Uncle and Brother and another person. My 'Mum' was not the same as my Mum today, but everyone else was the same. We pulled up in an old motor car at the side of a road on a summer day, and walked across the little back and into a field of corn. In the shade of the oak trees we spread out a picnic blanket on the corn. It was balanced on the ears of corn and my brother and I jumped on it to flatten it down. We sat, ate our picnic, and I was wearing an apron thing over a dress, petticoats and boots and I would hazard a guess that it was about 1910 or thereabouts. I had dark brown long hair (as opposed to the blonde of reality) and we were very happy. After the lunch we walked through the field and up to a large manor house in the distance. It had a red brick wall around it with a 5 bar gate. At the gate there was a working man with horses and a cart and oxen loaded with a yoke. There was a huge fountain at the front with water pouring from little urns into a big pool. The man waved us through and we ran up the path of the house. It had a pea shingle path and was crunchy under foot which I liked. We went into the big house through a small conservatory and I remember running down the big hall/corridor in the house with the sun blaring through the big windows casting little wedges of light as it came through the door and the dust motes in the air in the sunlight. We were making a big noise and laughing and I was about 8. I don't know whose house it was, but we knew them, and were acquainted with them.

When I was 16 in my English Language Examination, I had to write an entry for a magazine about a place called Waddeston Manor in Buckinghamshire. As I read about it, I knew that this was the place that I had the memory of. As it was before the internet, I couldn't google it, but finally did so in about 2001 when I thought about it again and was surprised to see it was the exact same place that I have the memory of. I grew up in Sussex about 100 miles from this place. I have absolutely no idea how I know intimate details about this place.

2.) I am a trained cobbler. Not your mister minute variety, but a proper snobber - nails in mouth glue covered fingers and high on fumes. I have not practiced my art for some years, but if you needed a pair of shoes fixing and gave me the materials, then you would be impressed. I started a job at a shoe repair shop called R. Rhodes & Son for 8 hours a week when I was 13. I got paid a fortune of £1.50 per hour which gave me £12.00 to waste on sweets, magazines and junk every week. At first I worked in the shop taking in shoes and bags to mend, selling the shoe polish and shoes and plimsolls and keeping it tidy and stuff. When it was quiet, I used to go out the back and sit on the steps to the workshop while Old Mr Rhodes (who was older than God) ripped of soles, soaked boots in the water tub, and then realized he was doing the wrong job on the wrong pair of shoes and the younger Mr. Rhodes would sigh in despair at his poor old Dad, then we would all had a good laugh about it and talk about the world and how to put it right. The smell of the glue, the leather and the new shoes is still a delight to me. Then, gradually over the 4 years I worked there he would ask me to do little bits and bobs. It started with pricing the shoe repairs, which meant I had to learn the types of leather, heels and soles and all the different things so that I could price it right. Then he would ask me to trim the threads of the stitching repairs, then it would be skiving a bit of leather for a patch, then actually sticking the patch on, or repairing a dog chewed shoe with it, then a little bit of light hammering, then ripping the old soles off, then trimming the rubber heels with a knife and then when I had been preparing for about 2 years, I finally got to finish a pair on the machine. I wasn't aware that I was being trained, or anything, and if the little bell tinkled in the shop, I had to drop what I was doing and race up the steps, through the bead curtain and serve the customer, then go straight back to the job I was doing in the workshop. I loved being there, and was so upset when I had to leave because I started college. The money was rubbish, but the chat was rich, and I would have happily paid to work there. My brother took my job when I left, also aged 13 and he now has his own cobblers shop. Funny what happens huh!

3.) I have a basic education level, will die young and live a pretty mundane menial life according to the Office of National Statistics. The hard facts: I finished school at 16, took 9 GCSE's. I was married & pregnant in my teens. Sounds pretty grim. You get the idea - I should be barefoot and pregnant living in a caravan or council house with a filthy carpet and the place should be filled with that horrible sweet/sour smell from old chip fat and fag ends, have greasy hair with 1 inch bleach blonde root growth, have several teenage spotty children with at least 2 having an ASBO, time in juvenile detention or possibly in care, smoke, drink and go down the local pub daily with my benefit money. Hilarious! Although I went to college and university I have no other qualifications that I left school with - 9 GCSE's. On paper and in statistics I am qualified for nothing. In reality I have been running my own business for 14 years and own a large detached house, have no credit cards and a live with my husband who I have been with for 15 years on April 14th, we have 1 child (without an ASBO at the moment in time, or spots!) born well into wedlock. LOL
At college I did 14 A levels over the course of 4 years and I have completed 2 years of 3 degrees. Time and unforeseen occurrence befall us all, as the good book says, and this was the case. I have no need for a degree now, and no intention of getting one as I cant be bothered, but I learned a lot through the 2 years of each one that I did complete. The first one I dropped out of as we moved house. The second I left as I broke my knee cap and had too much time off. The third one I left because DS needed home schooling. It was then that I decided I was only getting a degree for the sake of having one, but also that it would be of no real use to me seeing as I fully intend to be a housewife, full time, as soon as I humanly possibly can.
My 14 A level courses came about because I joined a course, finished a year of it, and then changed course. If I had taken these courses these days, I would now have 14 AS level qualifications. That's how they work them now. You do one year and you get half an A level, and then you top it up to a full one in the second year. As it is, I did them between the age of 17 & 23 when you had to complete the full 2 years to get recognition for any of the work you did. That's my luck all over. So in reality I am a fully functioning adult, but statistically I am a drop kick waste of space. Cool.

4.) I want to be Asian. I really REALLY want to have been born Indian. I don't know why, but I wish I could become one. I like the way they dress, I like their culture and their sense of family and community and I enjoy being with my friends Rhuta and Gagan immensely and forget that I am white. Its always very disappointing leaving them and coming back to the English me.

5.) I love the programme Home and Away. I have watched it from the very first episode which aired here in the UK on a Saturday with Sally moving into the house with the Fletcher family. I know all about it, read up in advance and the day I sit down to watch it is the highlight of my week. I record the omnibus edition on Sky+ every Saturday morning while I am at work, and then I tease myself with it all week knowing its there for me to watch, like a chocolate mud pie in the fridge, and then when I cant stand it any more, I sit and watch the whole 2 hours in one hit with a bottle of wine and various treats.

6.) I am an excellent cook. I have no idea why, or how this happened, but I realized over the past year or so that I could totally wipe the floor with people in Master Chef. I never sing my praises, but this is one time I will. I can be given 3 ingredients and told to rustle something up, and I will. It will be tasty, nutritious, and I will know what went into it, the calories and all kinds of other stuff about it without having to think very hard at all. I can eat a meal at a restaurant and come home and reproduce it exactly. Today I had nothing in the fridge apart from 1 courgette (the other two were totally gone home with mould), some chicken, potato and cheese. I managed to create a Chicken and Potato gratin. I will post the pics on the next page but I freaking astound myself! I love cooking, love making lots of it and feeding the 5000 and just wish I could have had a massive family to cook for. I have to make do with 2 lodgers though, who polish it all off with aplomb.

7.) I won a competition to design a birthday card for the Queen when I was 10. So that would have been 1986 or 1987. It was her 60th Birthday - not sure if it was her real birthday, or the official birthday, but I won it nonetheless. It was a picture of a calculator with 60 on it. really boring and the competition was run by Wimpy restaurants. I got a letter from her and a cup commemorating it.

Ok, so that was really hard and took ages to write, and now onto my blog nominations:
This is very hard, because I like looking at a lot of blogs.


I feel I want to give special mention to some bloggers close to my heart, and rather than simply just nominate them back, just give them a great shout out as they just know that they would be instant nominees...Its pretty obvious I think that these 3 would be my first 3 choices anyway, so lets funk it up a bit....
So Tina - http://tinasweight-lossjourney.blogspot.com/ you are good for my soul and you have also had bumps along the way. But unlike me, you seem to get on with it, and I wish I had your strength. I am chuffed that you read my blog and help me with a good kick in the ass now and then. I know we will be firm friends when we get together in June! We got a lot in common hun, and I am really kind of please you are going to reopen the Home Ed thing again too. And also to Cara aka The Dash - http://carasquest.blogspot.com. I know you wont mind an especial mention - another wonderful blogger who takes the time to leave comments (i am a real slacker on that) and uplifting thoughts to let you know that writing the blog is worth it because someone is reading. Knowing that someone is reading makes typing until your fingers bleed so much more worthwhile. Your journey is also inspiring and your heartaches in family life are raw and full of emotion. And Caroline, you sweet things http://lonicera53.blogspot.com/ another of my homies (as I affectionately refer to you 3) i love your blog and think its full of very interesting stuff, not just about bands, but about travel and exoticness that I long for. I appreciate your comments on my blog and how you think my posts are funny! Sometimes when I read them a year later I laugh myself too!
Thanks to all three of you, truly.

So to be a little more random and unpredictable - here are the blogs I am gonna nominate for a BB award.

1.) H @ http://wlsgastricbanding.blogspot.com/

2.) Stardustic @ http://stardusticsjourney.blogspot.com/

3.) Dizrant @ http://dizrant.blogspot.com/

4.) Shaggs @ http://daggs2shaggs.blogspot.com/

5.) Erica @ http://mylapbandblog.blogspot.com/

6.) Robyn @ http://robyn-improvinglife.blogspot.com/

7.)Dee @ http://5incisions1bandandabdy.blogspot.com/

You are all GAWJUS LAYDEEZ and I love reading your blogs. Dee is the only blogger I have met in real life and gave me some serious help one time on a damn grim choke when I didn't know how to deal with it. I thought I was gunna die. We met and had the same shifty treatment from Dr. Dovey in London. Dee and I shared a starbucks or two, and some excellent convo's before she went back to Oz. Haven't heard from her in ages, but she surfaces now and again and has also had some problems, but faced them on the nose/chin whatever unlike me who is just a sniveling wretch. Erica is a little ahead of me in the game, but we've kind of been on the journey together. She is now preggers with a band baby and that's just so cool. Shes done really well, and was a source of real encouragement to me in the early days too. Robyn is simply rockin. I enjoy her posts. Shes nearly at her 1 year bandiversary and lost 50lbs. Wowza! Star, Diz and Shaggs have been around my blog for a few years too, and I like their blogs immensely. Diz makes me die laughing at her stress busting rants. An excellent release valve, although less releases in the last year or so... Keep em coming hun! Star is really inspirational too and I like her openness and good sing song nature. Shaggs is another mayhem magnet and love her blurts and funny turns of phrase. And H, a fellow UK bandit and a relatively recent gem of a find. Absolutely lovely hunny, funny, witty, empathetic and I am absolutely over the moon glad to have made contact with her.

This took like 4 HOURS to write. OMG. You guys better just know how special you all are ok. And that goes for all the rest of my followers too. You all deserve an award just for following this poxy blog!!! HAHAHA

Okay, maybe not stupid, just struggling

Maybe I'm not totally stupid, but I swear there's something deeply wrong with me. I'm sure I could benefit from therapy or drugs or maybe both, but I'm from the old school of I can fix this myself. So far though, I'm not being very successful.

The thing that makes me kind of nuts is how hard I work out at the gym, almost every day, then I turn right around and throw away all the hard work by overeating. To make matters worse, I eat crazy stuff. Like too many strawberries or blueberries. Or a couple bowls of oatmeal with walnuts (that was last night). It's healthy stuff, but too many calories.

Maybe someday I'll figure it out, but for now I'm continuing the struggle, some days are harder than others.

Tomorrow is going to be a killer day. I have to get up at 4am, be on the road by 5am and head up to catch the light rail from the airport up to Seattle and be at the Westin Inn by 7am for a fundraiser. I get roped into this thing every year and just can't seem to say no.

It's for the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center (KCSARC). It's a center that provides therapy for sexually abused children and their families. It's a great organization it depends a lot on the funds raised at the fund rasiers they have throughout the year.

I started going about six years ago when my girlfriend's daughter was five and was sexually molested by the next door neighbor's "uncle". It's a horrible story and caused a lot of trauma for the child and the family. They always go every year to the KCSARC fundraiser. The little girl is now 11 (or maybe 12) and she speaks in front of the group (1,000 people tomorrow) about her experience. It makes me cry every single time.

So even though it's for a very good cause, I don't want to go. For lots of reasons, hearing the tear jerker story again, feeling the little girl's pain as she tells what it was like to be forced to do something against her will when she was only five years old. I know I'll cry.

Then there's the traveling to downtown Seattle at 6am. Another girlfriend is going with me, so we're going to try to make it an adventure. Neither one of us has ever ridden the new light rail from Seatac airport to downtown. I feel like a country mouse going to the big city. I'm more a suburbia girl than a city girl.

Of course, I'll miss my early morning workout which makes me a little uncomfortable, but I'm dealing with it. I can miss working out on a normally scheduled day, and I won't die. Trying to roll with the punches here.

Today's pictures brought to you from my walk at noon with three friends. It's was another glorious day here in Seattle.

The trailhead - Des Moines Creek Trail, near by office at Seatac, WA

Des Moines Creek runs next to the trail

Ferns on the hill next to the trail

My friends decided not to wait for me as I as taking so many pictures. I had to keep running to catch  up with them. Talk about interval training!

The dog guy. Every time I walk this trail at noon I see this guy. He has three of the sweetest, friendliest dogs you've ever met. They know me now and always run up to greet me, with tails wagging.

Dog guy's dogs. The one on the left is 15 and had cancer two years ago until Mrs. Dog Guy starting making dog food for the dog. His cancer disappeared and now he acts like a pup (the dog, not the guy :).

These white flowered trees were all along the beginning of the trail. No idea what type of tree, but really pretty. Looked like snow (but it was 58 degrees today).

Magnesium and Insulin Sensitivity

From a paper based on US NHANES nutrition and health survey data (1):

During 1999–2000, the diet of a large proportion of the U.S. population did not contain adequate magnesium... Furthermore, racial or ethnic differences in magnesium persist and may contribute to some health disparities.... Because magnesium intake is low among many people in the United States and inadequate magnesium status is associated with increased risk of acute and chronic conditions, an urgent need exists to perform a current survey to assess the physiologic status of magnesium in the U.S. population.

Magnesium is an essential mineral that's slowly disappearing from the modern diet, as industrial agriculture and industrial food processing increasingly dominate our food choices. One of the many things it's necessary for in mammals is proper insulin sensitivity and glucose control. A loss of glucose control due to insulin resistance can eventually lead to diabetes and all its complications.

Magnesium status is associated with insulin sensitivity (2, 3), and a low magnesium intake predicts the development of type II diabetes in most studies (4, 5) but not all (6). Magnesium supplements largely prevent diabetes in a rat model* (7). Interestingly, excess blood glucose and insulin themselves seem to reduce magnesium status, possibly creating a vicious cycle.

In a 1993 trial, a low-magnesium diet reduced insulin sensitivity in healthy volunteers by 25% in just four weeks (8). It also increased urinary thromboxane concentration, a potential concern for cardiovascular health**.

At least three trials have shown that magnesium supplementation increases insulin sensitivity in insulin-resistant diabetics and non-diabetics (9, 10, 11). In some cases, the results were remarkable. In type II diabetics, 16 weeks of magnesium supplementation improved fasting glucose, calculated insulin sensitivity and HbA1c*** (12). HbA1c dropped by 22 percent.

In insulin resistant volunteers with low blood magnesium, magnesium supplementation for four months reduced estimated insulin resistance by 43 percent and decreased fasting insulin by 32 percent (13). This suggests to me that magnesium deficiency was probably one of the main reasons they were insulin resistant in the first place. But the study had another very interesting finding: magnesium improved the subjects' blood lipid profile remarkably. Total cholesterol decreased, LDL decreased, HDL increased and triglycerides decreased by a whopping 39 percent. The same thing had been reported in the medical literature decades earlier when doctors used magnesium injections to treat heart disease, and also in animals treated with magnesium. Magnesium supplementation also suppresses atherosclerosis (thickening and hardening of the arteries) in animal models, a fact that I may discuss in more detail at some point (14, 15).

In the previous study, participants were given 2.5 g magnesium chloride (MgCl2) per day. That's a bit more than the USDA recommended daily allowance (MgCl2 is mostly chloride by weight), in addition to what they were already getting from their diet. Most of a person's magnesium is in their bones, so correcting a deficiency by eating a nutritious diet may take a while.

Speaking of nutritious diets, how does one get magnesium? Good sources include halibut, leafy greens, chocolate and nuts. Bone broths are also an excellent source of highly absorbable magnesium. Whole grains and beans are also fairly good sources, while refined grains lack most of the magnesium in the whole grain. Organic foods, particularly artisanally produced foods from a farmer's market, are richer in magnesium because they grow on better soil and often use older varieties that are more nutritious.

The problem with seeds such as grains, beans and nuts is that they also contain phytic acid which prevents the absorption of magnesium and other minerals (16). Healthy non-industrial societies that relied on grains took great care in their preparation: they soaked them, often fermented them, and also frequently removed a portion of the bran before cooking (17). These steps all served to reduce the level of phytic acid and other anti-nutrients. I've posted a method for effectively reducing the amount of phytic acid in brown rice (18). Beans should ideally be soaked for 24 hours before cooking, preferably in warm water.

Industrial agriculture has systematically depleted our soil of many minerals, due to high-yield crop varieties and the fact that synthetic fertilizers only replace a few minerals. The mineral content of foods in the US, including magnesium, has dropped sharply in the last 50 years. The reason we need to use fertilizers in the first place is that we've broken the natural nutrient cycle in which minerals always return to the soil in the same place they were removed. In 21st century America, minerals are removed from the soil, pass through our toilets, and end up in the landfill or in waste water. This will continue until we find an acceptable way to return human feces and urine to agricultural soil, as many cultures do to this day****.

I believe that an adequate magnesium intake is critical for proper insulin sensitivity and overall health.


* Zucker rats that lack leptin signaling

** Thromboxane A2 is an omega-6 derived eicosanoid that potently constricts blood vessels and promotes blood clotting. It's interesting that magnesium has such a strong effect on it. It indicates that fatty acid balance is not the only major influence on eicosanoid production.

*** Glycated hemoglobin. A measure of the average blood glucose level over the past few weeks.

**** Anyone interested in further reading on this should look up The Humanure Handbook

Magnesium and Insulin Sensitivity

From a paper based on US NHANES nutrition and health survey data (1):

During 1999–2000, the diet of a large proportion of the U.S. population did not contain adequate magnesium... Furthermore, racial or ethnic differences in magnesium persist and may contribute to some health disparities.... Because magnesium intake is low among many people in the United States and inadequate magnesium status is associated with increased risk of acute and chronic conditions, an urgent need exists to perform a current survey to assess the physiologic status of magnesium in the U.S. population.

Magnesium is an essential mineral that's slowly disappearing from the modern diet, as industrial agriculture and industrial food processing increasingly dominate our food choices. One of the many things it's necessary for in mammals is proper insulin sensitivity and glucose control. A loss of glucose control due to insulin resistance can eventually lead to diabetes and all its complications.

Magnesium status is associated with insulin sensitivity (2, 3), and a low magnesium intake predicts the development of type II diabetes in most studies (4, 5) but not all (6). Magnesium supplements largely prevent diabetes in a rat model* (7). Interestingly, excess blood glucose and insulin themselves seem to reduce magnesium status, possibly creating a vicious cycle.

In a 1993 trial, a low-magnesium diet reduced insulin sensitivity in healthy volunteers by 25% in just four weeks (8). It also increased urinary thromboxane concentration, a potential concern for cardiovascular health**.

At least three trials have shown that magnesium supplementation increases insulin sensitivity in insulin-resistant diabetics and non-diabetics (9, 10, 11). In some cases, the results were remarkable. In type II diabetics, 16 weeks of magnesium supplementation improved fasting glucose, calculated insulin sensitivity and HbA1c*** (12). HbA1c dropped by 22 percent.

In insulin resistant volunteers with low blood magnesium, magnesium supplementation for four months reduced estimated insulin resistance by 43 percent and decreased fasting insulin by 32 percent (13). This suggests to me that magnesium deficiency was probably one of the main reasons they were insulin resistant in the first place. But the study had another very interesting finding: magnesium improved the subjects' blood lipid profile remarkably. Total cholesterol decreased, LDL decreased, HDL increased and triglycerides decreased by a whopping 39 percent. The same thing had been reported in the medical literature decades earlier when doctors used magnesium injections to treat heart disease, and also in animals treated with magnesium. Magnesium supplementation also suppresses atherosclerosis (thickening and hardening of the arteries) in animal models, a fact that I may discuss in more detail at some point (14, 15).

In the previous study, participants were given 2.5 g magnesium chloride (MgCl2) per day. That's a bit more than the USDA recommended daily allowance (MgCl2 is mostly chloride by weight), in addition to what they were already getting from their diet. Most of a person's magnesium is in their bones, so correcting a deficiency by eating a nutritious diet may take a while.

Speaking of nutritious diets, how does one get magnesium? Good sources include halibut, leafy greens, chocolate and nuts. Bone broths are also an excellent source of highly absorbable magnesium. Whole grains and beans are also fairly good sources, while refined grains lack most of the magnesium in the whole grain. Organic foods, particularly artisanally produced foods from a farmer's market, are richer in magnesium because they grow on better soil and often use older varieties that are more nutritious.

The problem with seeds such as grains, beans and nuts is that they also contain phytic acid which prevents the absorption of magnesium and other minerals (16). Healthy non-industrial societies that relied on grains took great care in their preparation: they soaked them, often fermented them, and also frequently removed a portion of the bran before cooking (17). These steps all served to reduce the level of phytic acid and other anti-nutrients. I've posted a method for effectively reducing the amount of phytic acid in brown rice (18). Beans should ideally be soaked for 24 hours before cooking, preferably in warm water.

Industrial agriculture has systematically depleted our soil of many minerals, due to high-yield crop varieties and the fact that synthetic fertilizers only replace a few minerals. The mineral content of foods in the US, including magnesium, has dropped sharply in the last 50 years. The reason we need to use fertilizers in the first place is that we've broken the natural nutrient cycle in which minerals always return to the soil in the same place they were removed. In 21st century America, minerals are removed from the soil, pass through our toilets, and end up in the landfill or in waste water. This will continue until we find an acceptable way to return human feces and urine to agricultural soil, as many cultures do to this day****.

I believe that an adequate magnesium intake is critical for proper insulin sensitivity and overall health.


* Zucker rats that lack leptin signaling

** Thromboxane A2 is an omega-6 derived eicosanoid that potently constricts blood vessels and promotes blood clotting. It's interesting that magnesium has such a strong effect on it. It indicates that fatty acid balance is not the only major influence on eicosanoid production.

*** Glycated hemoglobin. A measure of the average blood glucose level over the past few weeks.

**** Anyone interested in further reading on this should look up The Humanure Handbook

How to Set Weight Loss Goals

Before you change your lifestyle you need to set realistic goals, have realistic expectations and devise a master a plan for action: you can't just wake up every morning and react to what happens. At the Wesley Weight Management Clinic we recommend that people set SMART goals; goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely:

Specific

- What do you want to achieve?
- What would you like to change or improve on?
- Why do you want to reach your goal weight?
- What aspects of your lifestyle do you need to change to lose weight?
- Are there any habits that are holding you back?

Measurable

Set goals for the number of:

- Hours that you will sleep each night
- Litres of water that you will drink every day
- Minutes of exercise that you will do every week
- Healthy meals that you plan to cook / not skip.

Attainable

Allocate sufficient energy, time and effort for your goals. And make them flexible and realistic. For example, to achieve your exercise goals when you are busy you may have to shorten your exercise sessions or focus on incidental (non-planned) activity such as walking.

Realistic

Accept your body's natural ability to lose weight - otherwise you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Many people find it difficult to lose more than half a kilogram per week.

Make your goals achievable and if you succeed sooner than anticipated it will increase your confidence. Expecting that you will be ready to run a marathon the year after your first personal training session can be soul destroying!

Timely

Give yourself ample time to achieve your goals. When people place too much pressure on themselves to lose a particular amount of weight it can lead to anxiety. Or when they progress too quickly with exercise they suffer injuries.

Don't forget that weight loss is a marathon not a sprint. It takes time and perseverance to change ingrained habits, but with hard work, dedication and professional weight loss support you'll achieve your goals.

Pictorial Description of Weight Loss Surgery

To make it more understandable and more clear, I've made these pictures. Hope u'll get the information from them. Enjoy ppl :)

Adjustable Gastric Banding in the left and Roux - en - Y Gastric Bypass in the right

StomaphyX is an incision-free procedure that reduces the stomach volume to help gastric bypass patients get back on track with weight loss.

So, did you find the pictures worth a watch?

Lindeberg on Obesity

I'm currently reading Dr. Staffan Lindeberg's magnum opus Food and Western Disease, recently published in English for the first time. Dr. Lindeberg is one of the world's leading experts on the health and diet of non-industrial cultures, particularly in Papua New Guinea. The book contains 2,034 references. It's also full of quotable statements. Here's what he has to say about obesity:

Middle-age spread is a normal phenomenon - assuming you live in the West. Few people are able to maintain their [youthful] waistline after age 50. The usual explanation - too little exercise and too much food - does not fully take into account the situation among traditional populations. Such people are usually not as physically active as you may think, and they usually eat large quantities of food.

Overweight has been extremely rare among hunter-gatherers and other traditional cultures [18 references]. This simple fact has been quickly apparent to all foreign visitors...

The Kitava study measured height, weight, waist circumference, subcutaneous fat thickness at the back of the upper arm (triceps skinfold) and upper arm circumference on 272 persons ages 4-86 years. Overweight and obesity were absent and average [body mass index] was low across all age groups. ...no one was larger around their waist than around their hips.

...The circumference of the upper arm [mostly indicating muscle mass] was only negligibly smaller on Kitava [compared with Sweden], which indicates that there was no malnutrition. It is obvious from our investigations that lack of food is an unknown concept, and that the surplus of fruits and vegetables regularly rots or is eaten by dogs.

The Population of Kitava occupies a unique position in the world in terms of the negligible effect that the Western lifestyle has had on the island.

The only obese Kitavans Dr. Lindeberg observed were two people who had spent several years off the island living a modern, urban lifestyle, and were back on Kitava for a visit.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who has a scholarly interest in health and nutrition, and somewhat of a background in science and medicine. It's extremely well referenced, which makes it much more valuable.

Lindeberg on Obesity

I'm currently reading Dr. Staffan Lindeberg's magnum opus Food and Western Disease, recently published in English for the first time. Dr. Lindeberg is one of the world's leading experts on the health and diet of non-industrial cultures, particularly in Papua New Guinea. The book contains 2,034 references. It's also full of quotable statements. Here's what he has to say about obesity:

Middle-age spread is a normal phenomenon - assuming you live in the West. Few people are able to maintain their [youthful] waistline after age 50. The usual explanation - too little exercise and too much food - does not fully take into account the situation among traditional populations. Such people are usually not as physically active as you may think, and they usually eat large quantities of food.

Overweight has been extremely rare among hunter-gatherers and other traditional cultures [18 references]. This simple fact has been quickly apparent to all foreign visitors...

The Kitava study measured height, weight, waist circumference, subcutaneous fat thickness at the back of the upper arm (triceps skinfold) and upper arm circumference on 272 persons ages 4-86 years. Overweight and obesity were absent and average [body mass index] was low across all age groups. ...no one was larger around their waist than around their hips.

...The circumference of the upper arm [mostly indicating muscle mass] was only negligibly smaller on Kitava [compared with Sweden], which indicates that there was no malnutrition. It is obvious from our investigations that lack of food is an unknown concept, and that the surplus of fruits and vegetables regularly rots or is eaten by dogs.

The Population of Kitava occupies a unique position in the world in terms of the negligible effect that the Western lifestyle has had on the island.

The only obese Kitavans Dr. Lindeberg observed were two people who had spent several years off the island living a modern, urban lifestyle, and were back on Kitava for a visit.

I'd recommend this book to anyone who has a scholarly interest in health and nutrition, and somewhat of a background in science and medicine. It's extremely well referenced, which makes it much more valuable.

Pumpkin Shrimp Soup

Kelly at Facebook asked for a reprint of this recipe - since I'm doing the 5DPT starting today I was glad to be reminded of another great soup. Hope you enjoy!Pumpkin Shrimp Soup - Another 5DPT Great! Day 1 & 2 LiquidsThe Low-Carb Pumpkin & Sausage Soup recipe is a favorite of seasoned 5 Day Pouch Testers. (Page 69 of the 5DPT Owner's Manual or online here: 5DPT Recipes). Recently I came across

I wonder why some of us figure this out, and some don't

We went for our walk this afternoon, only three miles but the weather was perfect. The blue sky was completely cloudless, and it was 58 degrees.

Our trail is a little hilly, but we only did three miles of it (it's eight miles long). I wasn't even breathing hard on the steepest parts of the trail. My husband was having trouble. I think he's finally realizing just how out of shape he is these days. He's "only" about 50 pounds overweight, but that's still a lot of extra weight to be packing around. He's been reading books on weight loss for the first time in his life. He's determine to lose weight and get in shape. I say good for "us". I'm glad he's finally going to join me on my quest for health.

After our walk, we had a wonderful salad, made with blueberries, strawberries (the best ever strawberries) and a variety of three leaf lettuces, with six ounces of shrimp on each salad. I made a balsamic vinaigrette and it was a wonderful dinner.

Then I don't know what happened. I guess I always feel kind of cheated when a salad is my meal. It never feels like a real meal to me. This led to me grazing after dinner. Which resulted in going 26 Points over my target. I had the best intentions and poof!, all gone in just a couple hours.

I've been at this for a while now. February 19 was my two-year Weight Watcher anniversary. I should have this all figured out by now. I don't.

I read other blogs and so many people are doing excellent, week after week. The first seven months of doing this, I was pretty darn close to perfect. I guess that was my honeymoon phase.

The last seventeen months have been a struggle. I kind of think it's going to be like this the rest of my life. I'm never really going to figure it out. Sometimes I wonder if this means I'm just stupid. Too stupid to figure out how to make this whole thing work without it being the most difficult thing I've every done in my life. It really makes me doubt my intelligence. Others do it, why can't I?

I keep posting Mt. Rainier pictures and it's probably boring to most of you, but it's so beautiful that I just can't resist taking pictures of it. I love Mt. Rainier. Besides, there wasn't anything interesting on the trail today, besides a lot of people, which kind of annoyed me. The mountain looks so close, even when we're standing there looking at it, it's like we could reach out and touch it. It's actually about sixty miles from our house. Can you believe that sky? Seattle. February. Amazing.