af Sun 30 June

[treetops]

MAE absters. End of June and only a few days until we celebrate Mick's year of virtuoso !
My absence has been as I was attending a conference all weekend and it has been very intense. Last night went to the formal dinner and of course there was some (as I was told) very nice NZ poison (wine). Food came out a bit late. I do struggle to sit for 3 hours over a dinner these days - and now that I am not drinking AL notice the noise a lot more. I made every attempt to be chatty and friendly but just don't like these long dinners. Never mind - there are far more worse challenges to being AF.

Bear - how's it going? SF is right - the AL takes a toll on the ageing body - not that 40 is old - but by 40 I think you have set in train patterns for serious long term AL damage - physically, mentally and socially. You have decades ahead of you and believe us, your ability to keep up the younger ones will be much better if you are AF.

Glad that YahYah is having a great time.

Det - you sound pleased to be home to your cuddles and garlic!

Mick- is offski today -so I hope all goes well there.

Cinders and Lavande and others - how are you surviving the sticky icky weather? There was a lot of discussion about climate change at the conference I was at.

PPQP - lots of hugs for the scare over your Dad. Hope you get some me time this weekend.

June - some great posts from you!

Well big warm wishes for the rest of the weekend for all others and those to come. Its night here and I am so tired. Another big week ahead so I am not sure how much I can post. I have a sore wisdom tooth - its impacted - so we may have some excitement (hope not) on that front. Plus I have an appointment with a nutritionist this week - this is on the doctor's advice re my cholesterol. I don't think this will be very productive but will give it a go. I probably would be much better off getting more exercise in -but this weekend it was impossible.
On that note I think I will devour some icecream tonight!
Be sober and a little bit naughty.:l

[Mick]

af Sun 30 June

hiya all ...not an early start,but just about to go..how are you all?recently seen a lot on here about weather and how it changes so fast...so to help you out..here you go!!!




hope everyone is ok...TT ..let me know if you get any cholest.tips..Ihavent even checked mine fro ages!!!!tho Iam on non dairy ,soya milk,walnut oil and walnuts.......anyway have a good day everyone byeee

:wavin:

[Lavande]

af Sun 30 June

Good morning Abbers,

TT, sorry you had to endure that long dinner. I don't do well sitting still for long periods of time. My attention deficit kicks in & my joints get stiff so I need to move around :H
Hope this week improves for you!

Mick, that sign is perfect! I need one just like that :H

My cholesterol remains slightly high despite all the dietary efforts & exercise! Sometimes I just think it was meant to be - kind of like that last 10 pounds that won't go away & stay away

I am watching the Insanity Twins this weekend. Having 4 stinky dogs in my house is not a joy, believe me :H They will go home later this afternoon, phew.

bear, I'm sad to see that you chose to smoke & drink again even though you know what it does to you. For me to be successful with my quits I had to get to the point of being sick & tired of disappointing myself. I finally wanted to stop more than I wanted to continue. Maybe you can start by asking yourself 'why do I continue to choose to torture myself?' It's a good question & it helped me get to the real reasons I punished myself for so long

Wishing everyone a wonderful AF Sunday! I must go feed all these hungry animals!

Lav

[bear73]

af Sun 30 June

Thanks Lav - very helpful thought for me to work on - first thing that springs to mind is I am not good at looking after myself in general - being very harsh with myself.

[Lavande]

af Sun 30 June

bear, I've mentioned 'Radical Forgiveness' by Colin Tipping here several times in the past. I urge you to pick up a copy of his book. I have mine on my Kindle.
I needed a lot of help in that area ~ maybe you do too.
It's not easy for some of us but we all can learn to be our own best friend. We need to learn to treat ourselves at least as well as we treat everyone else in our lives

[bear73]

af Sun 30 June

think i will download it - thanks - think all of this stems from low self esteem - which is why I drink and which leads to lower self esteem etc etc and round the circle goes.

[Determinator]

af Sun 30 June

Happy Sunday ABadingos near and far!

thanks for the nice kickstart TreeTops.

sadly cholesterol and diet is still wrapped in ignorance by a huge body of health providers. contrary to popular myth, eating cholesterol and animal fat has almost zero impact on blood fraction measurements of cholesterol. our own liver produces approx 85% of blood cholesterol and it's influenced by hormonal regulatory systems in the body. eating a high carbohydrate diet is what signals the liver to overproduce blood cholesterol. so try to stay away from the icecream but eat that lamb chop! at any rate overall blood cholesterol is almost useless in predicting heart and stroke risk factors. the test that really shows your risk is a lipoprotein particle count. lipoproteins are the vehicles that transport the vital macronutrient cholesterol around your body. the overall amount of the cholesterol is meaningless....it's the number of vehicles in movement. when there are too many vehicles, then can damage the lining of your arteries causing a 'streak' your body tries to fix this with white blood cells but they can't so they form what is called a 'foam cell' which develops into a weakening of the arterial wall. your body saves you from early death by patching this with more cholesterol to reinforce the area. eventually if this hardened tissue breaks loose you have a stroke or heart attack. in the past doctors would observe by surgery/autopsy that the person has cholesterol in their artery in the damaged area and falsely conclude that it was the reason for the event, but it's only a last ditch attempt by your body to save your life. also folks that eat a hi-carb diet have a compromisation of the endothelium (very thin lining of the arterial walls) which makes it much more likely to have this condition. if you want to live longer and with less disease, eat less carbs and more healthy fats.

ok, everybody wake up!

Mick, your weather predicting stone is brilliant. I think it would be too hot to touch here as it's 2:20pm and already over 100F gasp! it's going to be over 100 for the next 5 days or so and we don't have AC in the house. I may have to go and watch another crappy movie at the theater just to cool down.

I really enjoy movies in my AF state of mind. I can actually stay awake for one...and remember it!

be well everyone

[porqoui]

af Sun 30 June

MAE ALL...

TT...thanks it's been an emotional roller coaster this last little while. Home from the fund raiser and going to do exactly that...take some me time. Planning on a salmon BBQ feast and watching TV till I fall asleep, probably right after the eats. :H Came home to find this youtube video sent to me...just had to share it. Made me feel proud... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4Ktj5Uosco[/video]]For Alberta - Love Echoes - YouTube (caution 10 min)
Let us know how it goes with the nutritionist...we can all learn on your dime. :H

Mick...thanks, was a little confused on the weather here.

Lav...you make me laugh every time you refer to the "Insanity Twins". I'm sure that's what my parents called me and my twin sister. :H

Bear...all of my drinking stemmed from low self esteem and yup the drinking just deflated it even more. I too am not good at looking after myself but have learned a lot from MWO about living well. Good start on getting Radical Forgiveness and ODAT things will improve.

Going to have a bit of a lay down before dinner so have a great AF Sunday evening all...PPQP

[porqoui]

af Sun 30 June

Xpost :hallo: Det...man take it easy in that heat.
I so admire your knowledge of nutrition. Can you do me a favor and just give me a "Do and Don't" eat list? You know, one of those KISS so I don't have to think? I would really appreciate it and it would give me a starting point. Stay cool...PPQP

[treetops]

af Sun 30 June

Thanks Det.
Problem is that I don't eat most meats. I try to eat fish but I really go off it at times plus its not always available in the shops - and the frozen stuff is awful
I try to limit dairy - my intake is low.
I am also busy but still have to cook for others who need meals fairly quickly in the evening. So cutting out carbs is not realistic unless all I eat are low carb veges and nuts
My intake of refined carbs and sugar is pretty low.

I know you dismiss the cholesterol readings the docs use. My good cholerstoral levels are high so that's good but the bad ones have actually increased quite a lot since I stopped drinking AL and am eating a more varied diet ( ie more fruit, veges,seeds and nuts) and virtually no junk food apart from some ice cream and a small amount of chocolate

Definitely no lamb chops for me!

[Lavande]

af Sun 30 June

TT, I think age & genetics have more to do with cholesterol once you've reached a certain age
Not a whole hell of a lot you can do about that

Det, my brother live in CA, says the heat is wicked - take care!

PQ, the Insanity Twins have gone home
I don't really mind keeping them once in a while but dealing with 4 dogs in the house can make anyone crazy :H. In all fairness, the goldens were fairly well behaved, my smaller dog was a bit f a bitch

Bear, hope you did get the book. I have reread certain sections over & over, found them very helpful. Check out the website too where you can print out worksheets.

Have a good night all!

[Determinator]

af Sun 30 June

TTops, being busy shouldn't preclude you from eating low-ish carb...? not sure I follow. at any rate as long as your carbs are from veggies and fruit you are good to go!
fresh fish here is also a pain in the buttox so here are a couple ideas for excellent protein: canned fish (salmon, sardines, mackeral etc)that is natural wild-caught you can get anytime. I like canned salmon mixed with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. use sliced cucumber as 'chips' and it's super. another thing thats super easy and fast is to use a good quality whey protein (make sure it's non soy).
for healthy fats cook with coconut oil and supplement by eating a tablespoon of it a couple times per day.

PPQ, here is the super easy version of my diet plan which is loosely based on traditional ancient diets:

eat all the quality meats, organic fruits, organic pastured eggs, veggies and nuts you want. no calorie counting.

this keeps me from having to type out the 5000 or so 'crap' foods out there! if it's not a real food product...it doesn't go in the body.

if you are trying to lose weight then be careful on the fruits and nuts (hey Mick...no jokes eh?)

as Lav pointed out genetics can play a big role too. there is no point in getting preoccupied about your blood cholesterol if you are eating something similar to this dietary outline and doing the following:

-get quality sleep (8+ hours in a very dark room) sleep is critical in many ways but I won't bore you all to death with the details

-regular exercise that engages both the type 1 (cardio) and type 2 fast twitch (resistance training) muscle fibers

-healthy stress relief. stress, just like lack of sleep can throw our hormones way out of whack leading to all manner of disease and malady. in ancient times family units would gather around the camp fire and tell stories, sing songs, dance etc. basically don't forget to enjoy the journey. otherwise, what's the point?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_7u7aPkUQ0[/video]]I Have High Cholesterol and I Don't Care - YouTube

[treetops]

af Sun 30 June

Thanks Det for the advice.

However I also believe in eating seasonally and locally as much as possible where appropriate. It's winter here and the only cucumbers are soggy tasteless expensive ones that are imported. Celery is an OK substitute but is often rotten. I do use potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, Dry beans and lentils in my cooking esp for feeding the troops. And spinach just about everywhere. And a lot of spices and garlic

The dietician will probably tell me off for drinking coffee! And try to tell me that porridge is yummy and I will die if I don't eat it!

I know I am being very very negative abut this but diet is an area that I really get annoyed about with health professionals.

Still at least the dieticians services are free and provided by the state.

[porqoui]

af Sun 30 June

Determinator;1526590 wrote: PPQ, here is the super easy version of my diet plan which is loosely based on traditional ancient diets:

:thanks: My July goal is to be a healthier me. There's so much info out there it's mind boggling...and all the knowledge you've shared with us so far has just made so much sense. I don't want to diet, just eat healthier. Need help with the baby steps to achieve this so your advice is greatly appreciated....PPQP

[TheSunFlower]

af Sun 30 June

Went to church today and had to crack up when the pastor said, "Stop It"! He was referring to people beating themselves up continually.

Lav...I can concur that you have to want to quit more, than continuing. Several attempts at quitting I did not really want to quit drinking. I just wanted to stop feeling like crap and the consequences of doing stupid stuff. But actually quit drinking? No.

I just could not have my cake and eat it to. The only way to stop feeling like crap and having consequences was to face up to fact.....I can never safely drink. I could never predict when I would do something stupid. And regardless of the amount drank, I was guaranteed to not feel well the next day.

Now I want to feel well physically and emotionally more than I want a few hours of the illusion of fun. For most people my age getting silly drunk....is not considered fun....or that they are missing anything by not getting wasted.

Others grew up, while I just stayed trapped in an illusion.