Well we are home!!

We checked out Cooktown cemetry and spent an hour or more following a map to all the prominent graves. The area is very large and there are different sections. The Chinese section is quite a distance from the front gate and tucked away in an opening in the middle of the rainforest. Then there is the Jewish section where there is two graves, and next to that the rebel section for those who rebelled against a religious sect I guess. This section had some very interesting graves with unusual headstones and ornaments. The Catholic section, Church of England section and modern section told many stories which we read up about before we visited which added to the interest.

Then on to the Lion’s Den Hotel, 28 km from Cooktown heading back towards Cairns with a 3 km turnoff. Well worth the visit. We stopped and had coffee, talked to one of the locals who was the caretaker and doing heaps of work this morning. The young lady behind the bar was also nice to talk to. The cannonball tree situated in the middle of the outside seating area was in full flower and just beautiful. The little museum in a room to the side was lovely to see with heaps of artifacts from the tin mining era. We sat drinking our coffee with the locals having a drink at the bar and singing “Sweet Caroline” at the top of their lungs when it was played from a recording. They said it was their morning party, getting ready for the afternoon party, just before the evening party!!

So much fun!!! I want to visit again. We left deciding to return on Friday to stay in the hotel accommodation for one night before heading back to Cooktown for another relaxing Saturday night. We will make it a long weekend for us all.

CalifD, So to answer your question we drove to Cooktown. It is about 4 hours drive on the inland road which is now fully bitumen, but subject to flooding in a couple of spots where there are rivers along the way. I think we would have crossed about 12 rivers/creeks in the journey, but two of them seem to be problem ones when there is a heap of rain.

Sybscairns, We cancelled the trip on Wednesday due to the road being closed at Annan and McLeod river crossings. Then Wednesday night found out it had re-opened. We then woke up early Thursday morning to check the road reports and decided to go while we could. I had to ring the hotel back while we were on the road to say we were now coming and reinstate our booking for accommodation.

Cinque, I woke up this morning with my blood pressure down quite a bit.( I took my machine to keep an eye on it) I also felt much better in myself.

Well I am going to have an easy weekend as OH is flying to Mackay, then back to FDs on Monday!!

Hope everyone has had a great day as I have.
LJoyce, I hope your evening is better for you. I managed to reverse into a pole at officeworks once, just could not see it where it was situated. In fact I think lots of people had done the same thing as about a year later all the poles there in their car park, were gone. Enjoy your long cold drink!!

Minka, good to hear from you. It must be the week for “old timers” to drop in and say hello. Glad you are finding a way to squeeze in some fast days despite your busy schedule. I hope you find some way to resolve the sleep issue. Working 6 days you need that rest more than ever.

JJulie, sounds like the Cooktown locals are a jolly lot. Sing alongs in the evening after a few drinks are common enough, but in the morning is unusual. Enjoy your travels, it sounds like they’re just what you need right now.

Sybscairns, I’ve been following an eating window fairly carefully for a year and I did it more haphazardly for another year before that. I started with two goals: to only eat when I’m hungry not when I think I should be eating and to stop the mindless snacking I had been doing late into the evenings.
I initially tackled this, by setting an evening curfew on food – when I’ve finished dinner I eat nothing else until the next day – this is a non-negotiable rule that I never ever break.
As I rarely feel like eating breakfast I decided to follow my appetite and not eat in the morning. Most non-fasting days, my first food for the day will be anywhere from 11:00 – 1:00, depending on when I’m hungry. This means I get an overnight fast of 16-18 hours most days. On my 2 fast days it’s longer because I only eat dinner on fast days, so that’s a 23-24 hour fast from dinner the night before. Although I do drink cups of tea through the day before dinner.
The morning fast is not an absolute for me, I will break it when I want to and if I’m hungry – this happens a couple of times a month.
I used to be a binge eater and I found that the earlier in the day I started eating the more I seemed to eat throughout the day, so delaying the start of eating and also eating within a smaller window of time, has been very helpful for me. The decisions I’ve made around this issue have been personal and apply well to my appetite and eating issues, my choices wouldn’t suit everyone.
Although I’ve been in maintenance since last May I still do 2 FDs per week, with a maximum of 500 cals – although I usually end up eating around 350-400 cals.

I’ve been trying to find a silver lining to today’s mishap, and I’ve thought of one. The only other damage on my car was a scratch to the side of the rear bumper. This means that the new damage is on the same panel, which will save me money when I get around to having it fixed. (The more panels they have to repair/replace the higher the cost.) If I want to keep my no-claim bonus I’m going to have to pay for the repairs myself, so this will need to wait until I’ve sold the house as I don’t have spare funds for anything unplanned at this point. There is also a second silver lining – the damage is completely confined to the bumper so I can safely drive the car and open all doors and the hatch without issue. This means delaying repair is an option for me and I still have a functioning car.

I’ve had the last of the spelt couscous & lentil salad for dinner. Good not to have to cook. Tomorrow is another NFD, but I plan to use meals from the freezer. I am going to look at a few properties in the morning with a friend. These are houses in the general area that I want to live, so I need to get a better idea of what I’ll need to spend and what the standard is really like. I’ve been keeping a close eye on this online but it’s time to look at a few in person. I’ve limited it to 2 hours of open inspections, as I don’t want to spend a whole day driving around between properties. My friend has offered to drive so that I can pay more attention to streets and neighbourhoods and get a feel for which areas I do and don’t like the look of.

I might watch the Winter Olympics tonight and dream of being in the snow – still very hot here.

Good morning all,
Well took OH to the airport at 6.00am and have been on my computer since I returned.

Hi Minka, you sound just like what life has been like for me lately, busy busy busy!

LJoyce, thanks for sharing your info on food intake and times. I read what you were doing and it sounds a lot like me. I can go all morning and into the early afternoon without eating anything, but then as I have to watch how much I do eat. I like that you dont eat after dinner and stick to it. You have great willpower! I am going to try the same as I find that I can snack a lot in the evenings. I was also interested in your spelt couscous. I bought couscous yesterday for the first time in years as I had a plan to make a side dish with it for dinner last night. I used the couscous with a spoonful of vegie powder stock and added the water. Then added peas, diced onion and sweetcorn to it. It was ok (and probably just ok), but I dont think it was very good for weight loss. I was looking at an alternative to pasta. I think I should have used the rice konyaku instead as it would have been less calories.

I am trying to get myself back on track since my last trip away. The trip to Japan went really well, but the trip to Borneo and Singapore seemed to send me off the rails. I put on a few kgs and just can not budge them. We will be in Singapore again in about 5 weeks so I really wanted to get those kgs off before I go. Then we are home for about 3 weeks before the next trip to Japan. Then I am having a rest from flying!!

I would love some easy low cal recipes from anyone who can share them and I would be ever so grateful. I have just lost the energy to do a lot of cooking. The temperatures are too hot for soup at the moment which I do really enjoy.

Anyhow I shall catch up later.

Happy weekend everyone

Hi all,
I lost my morning post just as I was finishing it and didn’t have time to write again before heading out.

I spent the day going to open inspections – my best friend drove so I could look at the surrounding suburbs and we stopped for a nice lunch at a place called “Froth and Fodder”. It was a worthwhile exercise as it narrowed my parameters and it also made it clear to me that the online photos are enough to judge whether I can safely rule a place out – which should allow me to be a lot more targeted with future house searches. There was only one home that I could have seriously imagined myself living in. I think I’m going to have to aim for the top of my budget to get close to something I’m happy with.

JJulie,
My eating window rules evolved over time and the evening ban was really difficult initially but it feels normal now. I actually don’t think about it these days and my subconscious mind has pretty much given up trying to tempt me to eat in the evening – although it tried hard to get me to return to old patterns for quite a long time. It probably helps that I live alone so I don’t have to watch someone else munching their way through a bag of chips and a glass of wine while I confine myself to a cup of tea.
As to couscous, it can be bland – although I don’t think it has any less flavour than rice, it’s a question of what you put with it. It has similar calories to other grains but it has better fibre than rice and I think it has less impact on blood sugar. I just prefer the flavour to rice and I like having one grain option that only requires me to boil a kettle rather than cook. I treat it 2 different ways, depending on what I’m teaming it with.
1. For a basic quick couscous to serve with something else that has strong flavours, I add the following to 1 cup dry couscous before I pour over the boiling water: 1 tsp massel low sodium chicken stock powder (or you could use miso paste), cracked pepper, 1 tsp crushed garlic, ½ tsp crushed ginger, 2 tsp dried mixed herbs, the zest and juice of ½ lemon or a whole lime. I sometimes also add lots of fresh parsley, coriander or thyme leaves at the end. This couscous has a mild fresh flavour and works as a substitute for rice with stews and curries.
2. For a stand-alone couscous that has its own strong flavours I do the following:
Gently saute a chopped onion, a large red capsicum, some sliced button or oyster mushrooms, 1 tsp garlic and 1/2-1 tsp chopped fresh chilli in 2-3 tsp oil or butter. Once it’s translucent, add 1 tblsp of a middle eastern spice blend (or use 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp coriander, ½ tsp cinnamon, ½ tsp sumac), add some cracked pepper and stir for a minute. Add the dry couscous and stir to coat. Add 1 tsp massel low sodium chicken stock powder, hot water, broccoli florets, corn, peas (and whatever other veg you fancy). Put the lid on and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Then stir, add more hot water if required and remove from the heat. Keep the lid on tightly and leave it to sit for 15 minutes. Fluff it up with a fork before you serve it. I like this as a meal on its own or with cooked chickpeas stirred through. It is also nice served with grilled lamb or chicken.
I use spelt couscous because it has twice the fibre of wheat couscous, it also has a stronger grainy flavour. It is harder to find – my health food store stocks it.

Cali, I’ve grown to love clothes shopping at the charity stores – it probably helps that I find things to fit these days. I find it much easier to decide whether to spend $8 than $80 on a garment and I don’t resent making a choice that I later regret. I just re-donate the garment for them to sell again – all their profits go to the charity so I feel fine with that. Spending $80 and regretting it is a different matter. As most people donate clothes they can no longer fit into, being small is a big advantage to having lots of choices. I even manage to find an occasional designer label that I could never afford new. It is easy to overdo though. I had to institute a rule that for every garment I bring into the house I have to donate one back to charity (or bin it if it’s not in good condition). That helps me be a bit more discerning.

I’ve taken a ratatouille and borlotti bean pie (mashed root veg topping) from the freezer for dinner. So no cooking required.

I’m doing a favourite Sunday fast tomorrow, hopefully a few others are joining me.

Good morning,
I’m still recovering from another bad night on Friday with little Miss 3. She stirs at about 3am and then doesn’t get back to sleep. so I’ll talk to my daughter about non sleepover ways to spend time with her for the next while.

When I rang my friend about computer problems, he was waiting to get discharged from hospital after a procedure. And while he was still waiting I had to go and pick up my granddaughter. So I still haven’t talked to him, but luckily, in the meantime, my computer has decided to creak along a bit so I can use it carefully.

Wwall are you sitting, surrounded by boxes on the beautiful oak floor nursing your sore hand and wondering what to do first? Sending lots of good wishes and hoping you have some people around to help.

LJoyce, so sorry that lovely pampering day went down hill. That was good Pollyanna thinking, I’m glad the damage was on the already scraped panel. That sort of thing is so easily done… did it myself last year 🙁
Bit of stress. Hard to see pole. Reverse pedal. Bang. My car still bears the scar.
But I’m so glad you got the looking-after-yourself things done, that will feel lovely.
So wonderful to be starting your search for your new home. And typical LJoyce, being done in a way to ensure the best decision. Hooray for online listings making it all so much easier.

Sybs, lucky you repeated the bit about a 14 hour fast with the 800 calorie day, I noticed it when you first wrote, but it didn’t sink in. I hadn’t heard of that with the 800 cal fast before. I presume you find it pretty easy, I easily get in 12 hours either side, and would have 14 hours unless a cup of tea gets in the way!

JJulie, so glad the BP is down a bit.
Good luck finding alternatives to pasta. I love a grain accompaniment, although I do use potatoes, roasted root veggies, or legumes for complex carbs with my meal.I do think of couscous as pasta: the world’s smallest! I use a lot of brown rice (and a lot of basmati rice, not brown) and love to cook millet or buckwheat, so delicious and nutty tasting. But they are a bit fiddly: I use Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe of roasting them then absorption method as that way is so delicious.
With grains, legumes and root vegetables I can feel that pasta, basmati rice, and pastry are special treats.
I’m not much good at low calorie dishes as I concentrate on nutrient rich dishes and then think about portion size. But are you sick of all the recipes on https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/southern-hemispherites-fd-recipes/page/1/ ? Hope you get a bit of energy to make special, delicious, low cal things to eat.

Minka, thanks for the update. Good luck with your 6:1. Hopefully you are getting really good at managing food on your non fast days, so that 6:1 will be all you need. Sending good wishes for better sleeps!

Cali, I am getting more interested in Valter Longo’s work too. I was quite skeptical but now I am beginning to ruminate on the idea of doing it a couple of times a year. I could do with some cell regeneration. I am following the thread you began and just taking it in and thinking. I’ll have to wait until the time is right anyway.

Mmm Op Shops, you all know how much I love them! 🙂

It is Fast Day Sunday for me, and I am following my three rule to get my home organised. I’ve done quite a lot while writing this!

All the Best

Hi everyone
Hope you are all having an enjoyable Sunday. FD for me – going ok!
Went to a concert at our local Golf Club last night – great band, music got better and louder as the night wore on, had one glass of wine (1st in a very long time), home just before midnight – late night for me, so today OH and I feel ‘stunned’, so it’s a go slow day today. So glad it’s not a regular event – we both enjoyed it!

JJulie: so glad you had an enjoyable time away – always lovely to get home and catch up on some well-earned relaxation, after being so busy, and to get that BP down even more.

LJoyce: Congrats on finally being able to start looking for a new home. So happy your home inspections resulted in what you need to do when purchasing your new home – if online, I always look at the kitchen first, if I don’t like it straight off, the house gets moved down my list, as kitchens, then bathrooms, can be so expensive to renovate, as you already know! Enjoyed reading what you do for NFD and FD – you are very well organised, in everything you do, which makes life much easier. Also enjoyed your couscous recipes – sound tasty. I’m looking forward to clothes shopping in charity stores, as currently my size is bigger and in the range that everyone else is wanting to buy as well, so I never really find anything – I also like your comment on $8 v’s $80 for an item, it’s always great to get a bargain.

Cinque: 3am starts to the day doesn’t sound good and would be very tiring for you. Miss 3 might just be so excited to be with you, doesn’t want to miss a minute of your time, and so finds it hard to sleep. Hope there’s a happy solution for you.

Must go. Enjoy whatever you are doing and bye for now!

Cinque – how did you know? The floor is gorgeous, 95% laid and son and friends have gone leaving me to it. I am lucky that I have such help but I feel like I am squatting in a construction site! Awaitng new kitchen cupboards and appliances which should be here by next weekend – fingers crossed – which is when my helpers return.

Also have an additional complication – a big fat blue tongue lizard apparently lives here and I have been barricading him off from my dogs who spend every waking moment plotting his destruction. So far he is safe it but he takes no notice when I suggest he may be better off next door where there are no dogs. Talk about pressure!

LJ, hope all goes well for you tomorrow – I hurt in every muscle and bone in my body and I haven’t done half as much as you but seem to be constantly on the go as the tradies “gofer”.

Best wishes to all fasting this week – I hope to join you on Tuesday and Thursday if I can wrap my head around it.

Good afternoon SHs,
After having 3 days off I seem to have lost my momentum with the house. I can’t face reno work today. When I went to Mount Barker to have blood tests done this morning I called into a nursery to buy some flowering annuals to fill in a few gaps in the garden beds. I ended up with several punnets of petunias, so I might do some gardening this afternoon, that sounds more appealing. There’s plenty of weeds that need pulling up too.

I realised something this morning – I went the entire weekend without needing any pain killers. Up until Friday I was needing strong pain killers through the day and also to sleep at night. That’s reassuring because it tells me I will quickly get back to being able to manage without them once I finish this work. I don’t like relying on them long term.

They say that you can’t target fat in a particular but area. That may be true, but I’m living proof that you can lose inches just in one spot – just climb up and down a ladder hundreds of times, day after day, with a paint brush! While doing the reno work my bust measurement hasn’t changed by so much as a millimetre my hips are down by barely 1cm but my waist is down by 4cm and the little bit of fat that usually resides between my bust and waist has gone completely. The oblique muscles up the sides of my abdomen are also very toned. My shape has changed so much over the last month that my family commented yesterday on how much more weight I’d lost. I haven’t, it’s only 1.5kg but there’s a noticeable change in my shape. The last time I remember this happening was 18 months ago when I was digging out new garden beds – I lost weight and acquired toned muscles without trying then too . I’ve never gotten these results in the gym – probably because 3 x 1 hours per week can’t compete with manual work for 6 hours every day. So you don’t need a gym membership – spend the money on house paint instead and get up that ladder.

Wwall, I hope you get your lizard relocated with injury to you or him. Good luck with the unpacking. Once you’ve dealt with the essentials there’s really only one way to tackle it – one box at a time. You will eventually get to the last one.

Thin, do you keep the bobtail young permanently or will they eventually be released elsewhere?

FD was fine yesterday, although I was glad I’d reserved some cals as it was a cool evening so I decided on a large mug of caro made with almond coconut milk.

Lindsay, what a great way to unwind. The name of the N.P. really made me laugh (having never heard of Lamingtons before arriving in Australia). I’m not afraid of heights but I do have a compulsion to jump when I’m up high or on a balcony, cliff edge, etc. Although I know I won’t do it, the draw feels very strong and so I can’t go on balconies except to immediately sit down, no leaning over to see what’s below! I thought I was alone in this for years until one day I heard people on talkback radio sharing their experiences of it.

I use the skum (yellowish part) of my kefir. It might mean you need to harvest it a little more often. To store for short periods, just cover in fresh milk and put them in the fridge. To store for longer, they can be frozen or dried. More detail here: https://www.yemoos.com/pages/milk-kefir-step-by-step-guide

LJ, bobtails bred in captivity can’t be released into the wild under WA law. Conversely, you can’t take one from the wild for captive purposes. They can only be sold through a licensed dealer even from one family member licensed keeper to another. The first pair were sold as we thought they might breed annually. Sadly, one of the buyers later told us that his baby, Monty, had been stolen along with several other of his beloved reptiles, presumably placed in trafficking circles. It was very sad to learn this as we know he would have been mistreated and have little chance of survival. We’ve kept the second set of twins as it was three years since the previous birth. We’ve had the dad for 11 years now. DD is completing her doctorate assignment on bobtail ‘flu so she knows about as much as anyone on the subject now.

Enjoy your step aerobics! I’m also enjoying a good low weight, below 60kgs which puts me on a mental high! Have a great day all.

HI everyone
Hope you have all had a good start to this week.

OH and I visited my Dad at the NH, then spent the day driving over to the coast, to Forster NSW, ~ 1 hour away, had a lovely lunch at a café overlooking the beach – had grilled vegetable (ie eggplant and capsicum) with pesto and cheese panini, and flat white coffee: delicious; OH had beef burger, and apple juice. Then went to local shopping centre window shopping – bought smaller size in black pants; also to Bunnings for a hanging pot to place at front door; then afternoon tea at a café half way home – iced chocolate drink, with humming bird cake: ‘if I’m going to be bad may as well go all the way, I thought’ – not having dinner tonight!!! The whole day was relaxing and fun.

LJoyce: fingers crossed for good ESR results for you today. I went ~ 150 cals over with my controlled FD yesterday, tracked it all to see where I mess up – can do without cheese with my salad (30gm = 123 cals). Overall happy with the day! Probably fast on Wednesday as having lunch with brother and sister on Thursday, in Newcastle. Glad you are enjoying your ‘lazy’ rest time – you deserve it with all the work you have been doing. Your new toned waist line proves it. Your plum jam with scones sounds good, and having some when you finally move will be eaten with happy memories of your current home. We have trouble with bower birds and parrots eating both vegetable and fruit produce. Enjoy planting your petunias.

Cinque: hopefully, your computer will be fixed sooner than you think – your computer friend might recover quickly from his procedure! Rest up and take it easy.

wwall: What a wonderful time for you update/renovating your new home – can be tedious but well worth all the time spent in the end – enjoy! I love blue tongue lizards – it’s always so nice to know they are in my front garden – we also have two little dogs that live in our backyard and they would love to harass them, but don’t get the opportunity thank goodness; same goes for fairy wrens – love hearing their birdsong.

Thin: Enjoyed my fast day with you on Sunday though I will have to forgo cheese on FD’s – see above note!

LindsayL: I’ve always enjoyed the thought of visiting Lamington National Park – it’s on my bucket list – so much to do and see in nature, and so relaxing! I’m also terrified of heights, though now much better than my younger days but still can’t walk out on glass bottom lookouts – good for you going on the sky walk – I feel your fear!

Hi to all others who haven’t posted very recently.
Enjoy whatever you are getting up to and bye for now!

Hello all,

Well I am back on the wagon again today with a Monday FD. I thought I was going to struggle with it but I have only had soup for the day as well as a coffee this morning and a tea around lunch time. I have had two bowls of miso soup and then a cup of soup which was minestrone and about 126 calories. All up I would have only had about 400 calories today and I am not going to eat anything at all. I will have one more soup if I need it but definitely nothing past the mouth after 8.00pm.

I am thinking of doing a back to back like I have done in the past as it really does get things moving for me.

I am also thinking to going back to vegetarian only as that is when I have lost my most weight so starting to think of some nice recipes for Wednesday as I have Taiko lesson that night and really need some energy before I go or my tummy will be grumbling louder than the drums!!!

I have been reading a lot of what you have been posting about the Longevity Diet and I think it will be all too much for me to get my head around. I really need someone who can just tell me what to eat and when to eat it and also prepare it for me then I will be fine, unfortunately no-one at home to do that for me.

Lindsay, your trip to Lamington sounded great. It then brought back memories of some of my history lessons. Lord Lamington was the Governor of Queensland from 1896 to 1902. The Lamington cake was named after him (or his wife, Lady Lamington no one can seem to decide which) and also Lamington National Park which lies on the Lamington Plateau. All this talk of Lamingtons is making me hungry so I have to get off the subject I think.

Anyhow I believe from what you were writing Linsday you had a lovely time and well deserved I am sure.

My eldest daughter has been coming around to help me with cleaning out some of our clutter. She spent quite a few hours here today and we almost finished the office. I just have to get her to help with shredding some of the paperwork that we found in the bookcase and OH went through a lot of the books and we are discarding most of the old information that is now on ebooks on his laptop. When the bookcase is finished we will go through the cupboard and then that will be complete. We will then start on the next room!!

It looks good and spacious now but I think we will need another filing cabinet soon as we have to keep ship files forever!!

Catch up with everyone again soon. I am hoping for another good FD tomorrow.

JJulie, I read with interest the memories of your history lessons. So the cake and National Park are in fact linked by the person(s) they’re named after. Lamingtons are like doughnuts for me, holding no appeal whatsoever. I’ve never had difficulty refusing either.

Penguin, do tell more. What and where do the aviation artists sketch? Planes obviously – but are they military, modern commercial, light aircraft? All the best with the Longevity Fasting on Thursday. Newborn lambs are so precious skipping about.

I’m skipping a little myself today. Still under 60kg following a NFD. Instead of sabotaging, I managed to show restraint all day. I suspect a lot of calories were expended on fuelling my brain for that third bridge lesson.

Have a great day all, not many Tuesday fasters I suspect?

Good lunch time to everyone!!!

I did a successful FD yesterday with nothing eaten once 8pm came.

So today I am on the second FD and decided to make my own miso soup from scratch, that means using miso paste and adding a few things to it rather than using the prepackaged sachets.

I added some diced celery, cubed konyaku instead of tofu and shitake mushrooms thinly sliced so they would go a long way. Also added some shimeji mushrooms and a little shredded cabbage.
Just finished a bowl for lunch and it was very tasty and filling.

Thin, I love lamingtons as my mother used to make them from when I was a kid. She also made jelly cakes which were similar to lamingtons but instead of using the chocolate coating, soft jelly was used then coated in the coconut. My mother would make red ones, yellow and green sometimes for children’s parties.

So I will say bye for now and check in later.

Happy Tuesday Fasting!!

I have been reading about the 5 day water fasts and really dont think I could do it.
Penguin, I really admire you doing this. I can see that there would be great benefits for weight loss but have now been reading how beneficial it can be for your insides!

Then I started thinking if doing 5:2 in reverse would be beneficial while still not being too harsh on the body.

I would be interested to hear others thoughts about the idea of doing 5 days FD with around 400 calories, then 2 days normal and if there could be any health benefits with this plan. As I have already done one FD yesterday and half way through another today, I think I will continue for this week and see how it goes. I dont have a lot on this week except for Thursday’s birthday dinner for my daughter, but we are going Japanese and I can still have miso soup and pick something full of vegies.

Good afternoon SHs,
A late post for me today as I’ve been very busy. I had the electricians here all day and I now have the new oven in, some powerpoints moved for the new kitchen cabinets, a new smoke detector and new lighting or fan-lights in virtually every room. They look very nice, in fact I like the light in the lounge so much I’m sorry I put it up because I want to take it with me! They still have a few things to do and will be back in 2 weeks to finish. Apart from the 3 trips that I made to the hardware and lighting stores to get things needed for the lighting, I spent the morning cutting and killing blackberries and the afternoon clearing out the shed. After looking at the massive pile of stuff that I’ll now need a skip to get rid of, I’m wondering how on earth it all fit into that small shed in the first place. I also came across a few things that I’d bought for this reno that I didn’t know I already had.

Penguin, good luck to you and OH with the 5 day fast. That’s a long time to water fast – do you at least get cups of tea/coffee?

I’m on the same page as Thin when it comes lamingtons and donuts. I don’t like lamingtons at all and I don’t like donuts once they’ve cooled and especially if they’ve been iced. I only like them hot, just cooked and covered in cinnamon. As a kid I couldn’t understand the fuss about lamingtons, I was always a jelly cake girl. Although I did come across a stunning lamington at a local cafe – it was dipped in a lemon syrup rather than chocolate, rolled in toasted shredded coconut and filled with lemon curd – absolutely stunning – of course the reason I liked it was because of the lemon flavours.
For those non-Aussies, this is a jelly cake: https://thewhoot.com/whoot-news/recipes/jelly-cakes-cwa the process for making them is similar to a lamington but instead of dipping them in chocolate you dip them in raspberry jelly (jello) – they are also always made round rather than square like the chocolate lamingtons.

Hello Cinque, Arel, JJulie, Lindsay, Wwall, and anyone else who’s reading.

I pulled a serve of bean and veg shepherds pie out of the freezer for dinner, I don’t have the energy to think about cooking.
FD for me tomorrow, thankfully I also have leftover curry & veg that I can have for dinner tomorrow so I don’t have to think about food prep for a while.

It is Shrove Tuesday today. We have two grandchildren with us so I seem to have spent the entire morning making pancakes. Three batches of the mixture with two pans on the go. I failed the “Can you toss two pans at the same time?” challenge. Must improve before next year.

Good morning,
New reading glasses ordered. Faint leaking gas at back door sorted. Granddaughters babysat. Poor old cast iron frying pan being re-seasoned. Home help coming soon. YamDaisy appt made (ready to kick the year off, finally).
Sensible eating day yesterday. Task for the day: ironing.

Had a really good sensible eating day yesterday and hope to do the same today!

Lamingtons: only worth eating when home made, with home made cake too. My Auntie Edie made fabulous ones.

JJulie, cheers for the clutter clearing. Always a wonderful thing.
And hooray for miso soup made from scratch!

Congratulations on a 50 year old son Penguin! And best wishes to you and Mrs penguin on your Longevity Fast. Keen to hear how it goes.

Thanks Cali, it was much easier to babysit last night and then leave to come home to my own bed. DD and SIL went iceskating and only lasted an hour because it had been so long. So kids were still awake and tired Miss 3 had HUGE sadness come tantrum when I left. It reminded me of my daughter at the same age: when I wouldn’t let her live at Molly’s house (the family next door).

Thin, you are going to be so good at bridge I bet. Even though I have never played it, I think you have the right mind.
Hooray for under 60kg!

LJoyce, congrats on the lovely waist. Hope it stays! Good luck getting back into the swing of hard work, and looking forward to when it is done. You are doing a great job.

Arelkade you are reminding me to ring Curt. When my computer is going at all, I start moving it lower down the list. oops.
So glad you have air conditioning at work!

Re the longevity diet, I want to wait until other research groups are doing research, and the evidence is clearer and hmm… how to say: more rounded. At the moment it reminds me of Prof Jenny Miller-Brand’s work on the glycaemic index that was ground breaking, but came together much better when there was work in other countries on it. Similarly it had a product which helped fund the research.
I maybe would still do it, in the meantime, in a Mrs Penguin way.

Hello everyone else!
All the best wishes for today!

Cinque. Trying to reconcile my concept of my biological age with a 50 yr old son (just read your post on the science thread). Lamingtons sound like another SH thing -a new one to me. This site is broadening my horizons.

JustJulie. The pancake flipping was fun, and symptomatic of the fact that all of the rules of sensible eating seem to disappear when there are a couple of voracious kids around the place. I know, I really know, that just because they eat chocolate biscuits I don’t have to, but somehow it happens. I will be in serious need of the long fast scheduled to start Thursday. Nothing of mine at the exhibition.I have ambitions, but not there yet.

Blood tests ok – that’s a relief.

Good morning all – just popped in while waiting for nbn people to come and move the box from the bedroom to the family room. Can’t imagine why I don’t want to sleep with that thing zapping away near my head.

Thin, I had to google my lizard. He is a common or eastern blue tongue and my strategy appears to have worked. Haven’t seen him around for the last two days and haven’t found a body, so I think he’s gone next door where life is much more peaceful.

Good news LJ on your blood tests. You really know how to look after your body especially with all the reno work you’ve been doing.

Had a really good fast day yesterday, only 250 calories all up at dinner and strangely enough for me, wasn’t hungry during the day with only drinking green tea and water. Will do another on Friday and fingers crossed for the same results.

Cinque, hope you are feeling better soon, rest up and take care of yourself.

NBN man is here, must go. Good luck to all fasting today

I come from Auckland and have just bought and received The Fast Diet. I have just turned 71 but I am fit and healthy and love also to eat as healthily as I can manage. As I read through the book I will make the decision to start this fasting which I do believe is good for one. I will be looking for budget ideas for the fasting plan too.

Hi Julie

during the 16 hours fast you can have water, black coffee no sugar, black or herbal tea also without sugar. Since most of the 16 hours fast is during sleeping hours, it’s not so bad. I am up to 15 hours, but find that last hour a bit of a struggle. Then again, when combining it with the new 5:2 which stipulates 14 hours fast before or after FDs, I am doing 1 hour better – at least that’s how I look at it :-)) Fasting time starts immediately after your last food intake of the day, so the later you have something, the longer you have to wait the next day.

I am in Edge Hill, so drop me a line if you would like to join me on a morning walk.

Trishval, welcome to the 5:2 forums! If you have any questions after reading the book, just ask away!

LJoyce, glad to hear that your blood tests came out ok. With all the recent exercise you must be in good shape.

Julie, I count black coffee, tea or flavored (unsweetened) sparking water the same as water on a fast. I try to drink a lot because it helps curb hunger pangs. The only thing about drinking at night is that it can end up disturbing your sleep when you have to get up to use the loo. But I drink anyway. I think it’s good for flushing out the system.

Wwall, glad to hear your internet modem is being moved from the bedroom and that you’re all hooked up now. Nothing like the internet to make it feel like home. 😄

Cinque, I’ll be anxious to see results of more human trials on 5 day fasting and FMD fasting as well, primarily results. And how does one prove life extension other than waiting to see how long a person lives? Results on mice often don’t equate to human results. But any kind of fasting is certainly beneficial if it is sustainable and causes weight loss. I like most of us saw positive tests results of one kind or another when losing weight with the 5:2 way of fasting. It does seem to work beyond just calorie reduction.

Penguin, good luck to you and your OH on the fasts starting Thursday. You certainly seem to be in good shape for trying it since you’ve been fasting in the past. I’ll be anxious to hear of both of your results.

There were several posts while I was composing mine! LJoyce, removing paint or varnish and sanding are my least favorite parts of reno and repainting. There doesn’t seem to be any magic way to make it go better. The last time I painted some new shelving, the man at the hardware store sold me a primer that was really good. I don’t remember the name now but I think it may have been water based, but it stuck to everything and did a great job. But if it splattered or dripped anywhere it was really hard to get it off. It was even hard to get it off my hands. I ended up using disposable gloves. But once dried on the shelves, painting went really quick. It would be great for cabinets or window frames.

CalifD,

I get up every night at around 3am to let the dog out and always go to the toilet at the same time too. I am used to it now!! Dog returns and we all go back to sleep,

Hi JustJulie. How long you can do 16:8 depends on who you ask. I am impressed by two people whose work I have read. Generally they agree but one of them is very pro 16:8, the other favours 12:12 or perhaps 10:14. I like 16:8, it works, I feel good doing it and I intend to stay with it.