Hi thin and Cinque

thin, it’s the first time I have used the dried shitake so i thought I would just boil the kettle and soak the seaweed and the mushrooms together. Then make the miso and pour the miso over it all. I’m hoping it works 😉

Cinque, I googled what the white bloom is and apparently it is a mineral or salt from inside the plant. Google says the more white bloom, the better the taste (and if Google says it then I surely must believe it!) lol

I also read that seaweed is really good for your gut health and there have been studies that show seaweed has an enzyme (or something) that helps with weight loss. I think it was only found in a particular variety though. I didn’t have much time to read through all the information so I just picked up bits and pieces from it. Hopefully I get more time to research it soon.

LJoyce I can understand your frustration. Hope you are enjoying your cuppa.

So I have just finished my miso “special” soup. Think I need to soak the mushrooms a bit longer next time as they were chewy. The texture was similar to meat and was not unpleasant, I didn’t mind it.

One of the girls saw my brew soaking and she said “oh my God, is that seaweed?” I said yep and asked her if she would like to try some. The answer was a definite “no way” lol

So I was enjoying my soup and had finished three quarters of it when I noticed something kind of strange floating on the top. I got it out of my soup and yes it was some kind of bug or egg sack. I don’t really know what it was so I just threw it away and kept eating the rest of it. If you don’t hear from me for a while it was probably something bad……

I googled (good old google) how long to soak the mushrooms for. Every site i read said to rinse the mushrooms first before soaking> I’m thinking it not only gets rid of dirt but also any bugs which may have tagged along.

I am going to try and find some organic dried shitake and seaweed instead of the Chinese grown stuff I have now. There may be some other kind of bugs in the organic stuff though….

Hahahaha

Quacka, that made me laugh but it’s also gross at the same time! What is an egg sac? Don’t answer that please! I hope those outspoken work colleagues didn’t notice that! I asked about the soaking because I usually need about half an hour for mine even though it says 15 minutes on the packet. I’m not keen on the very chewy texture. LJ, I love all kinds of mushrooms especially enoki. I think it was Joffy, long-gone but not forgotten, who said that mushrooms are ‘free food’. As in calories.

LJ, I wondered how easy would be the transition of utility services as it’s been nearly a quarter of a century since we last moved and I thought things might have improved since then. You’d think you could go on-line and consider it done! I’ll take your advice on dinner since tomorrow is a FD anyway.

Lindsay, good to hear from you. What’s your DD studying?

Cinque, I was awake at 1am one morning thinking of something I hadn’t answered. Oh dear, I’m living a virtual life and must get a real one. You said you’d hoped your daughter would develop some kind of passion for an eventual career but it hadn’t been forthcoming. I’m sure your daughter has given you pleasure and happiness in other ways. Like providing those little grandies for you. I’m interested in the textiles. Is this a hobby that could turn into a commercial venture for your DD? I used to love doing batik many years ago. And what about a YD update while I’m on the creative line of questioning?

What a creative daughter Cinque! And such a clever store name since I know her real name. And, reading the little blurbs about her Etsy shop, I see she has inherited your skill for writing and your gentle manner. Not everyone can (or wants to) go to univeristy but they can still find their place in the world and make a useful contribution to society. You should be very proud (I know you are).

I’m honoured that you would consider asking me to look over your business plan (I hope it wasn’t an impertinent assumption that you meant me and not the whole forum). I will make time to read it. It’s been a long time since I wrote a business plan of my own but involving someone who’s completely removed from the process might provide some unexpected (and hopefully, useful) insight.

Good morning,
Thankyou so much Thin and Lindsay for those lovely words about my daughter.
And yes, I do love living in Melbourne. If you have a huge wardrobe of clothes then four seasons in one day can be lots of fun 😉
But seriously, I do love that feeling of being able to get into some serious clothes after wearing as little as possible in the hot season.
And how cool to have worked for Radio Australia. It was such a brilliant service.

Thin, yes, I was talking to you about the Business Plan. Thankyou so much, I really appreciate it.
And I’d be glad of anyone else interested to look at it (when it is done) as there are such skilled people here, which is useful, as well as great common sense, which might be even more useful.

Well my fast day is officially tomorrow, it is just a 6:1 week. Back to 5:2 next week. Cheers to those fasting today though! Are you, Thin?

Okay, I have a list of things to do. Up and at ’em!

Hi Cinque, love hearing all your news. I’ve been out of the workforce for a few years now but if you would like another eye over your business plan I’m in.

Ah daughter’s. We all want so much for and from them. I thought mine was going to end up in the music industry. Even sent her to a music academy to learn the business side of managing and promoting. She went on holiday to England and never came back 😢. Now I have had some incredible holidays overseas and two beautiful grandchildren. Life is never how we expected it.

Morning Sybs, yes I am one who’s looking forward to my fast today. Thanks for the info on the stock as I always use Campbell’s salt reduced and hadn’t even noticed the salt content.

Welcome back Intesha. Enjoy the oldies.

Cinque, those boots sound fabulous. I didn’t wear any of mine except the ankle boots last year because I felt I was sloshing around in them; I’d never realised how fat my calves were until losing all this weight. Now my boots all look like wellies.

LJ, here’s the menu from last night. https://www.ssamkoreanbbq.com/dinner-1 OH and I shared Haemul-jjim which would have easily been plenty for 3 people but DD doesn’t like fish. I thought everyone might be interested in this Korean style of eating as it’s healthy, fresh food cooked at the table and it was easy to avoid the carbs that so many restaurants load us up with. A lot of the dishes were bean sprout based! Our dish comprised a generous assortment of very fresh seafood in an unusual sauce and a pair of scissors to gain access to the crustaceans. Anyway, the bottom line is that I’m the same weight as yesterday 59.7kgs. Highly recommended!

Off to a supplementary bridge lesson this morning, I’m becoming a bridge tragic. Have a great day everyone.

Cinque, raising another human being (or two) to grow up to be a good person is the most important job in life that there is. The rest is just stuff. At least that’s the way I see it. Those of us who don’t have children make our own contributions in other ways, but what could be more important than raising a child? Your daughter’s Etsy shop is delightful. She’s very talented! I wish I knew someone who was having a baby because they would make great gifts. I’ll keep watching her shop for scarves and things.

Thin, that Korean restaurant menu looks delicious and mostly all healthy choices. How nice to have a restaurant like that nearby.

Intesha, it looks like your weight loss since the trip is going in the right direction so just keep up with what you’re doing. It seems like weight that we put on quickly on trips or holidays also seems to come off quickly once we get back to normal.

I’ve been sticking pretty close to my target weight without actually fasting since the hospital release but mostly because I’m not very hungry. I think it’s a combination of an added medication and nerves that will just have to straighten itself out.

Lindsay, my sister has slept with a pillow between her knees for years for occasional lower back pain and swears by it. Good advice.

I didn’t know that LJ. I don’t know any Icelanders but we have a lot of Korean tourists here and I’ve yet to see an overweight one. A lot of the food is fermented which I forgot to mention above. They offered ‘unlimited refills’ of three side dishes which were kimchi, a bean sprout one and an apple/broccoli salad. You must finish one before asking for more to avoid waste which I also like to see. Great choices instead of the tendency for filling us up with bread, rice & noodles at restaurants. Our selection was also served with a hot stone egg dish that tasted like air, it was so light and fluffy. CalifD, SSAM restaurants are also in the USA but, even if you don’t have that particular one nearby, I bet you have a Korean restaurant.

CalifD, please don’t under-estimate your contribution by not having children. You are doing the planet a valuable service. Neither OH or I planned to have children when we married but our thinking somehow changed along the way (I won’t bore you with the details). I still feel proud that the two of us will only be replaced by one when we depart this world. I say thank you for your smaller footprint!

Thin, there was a UK documentary series on either ABC or SBS that looked at dozens of countries, and compared what was most commonly eaten, how healthy the population was and how culture or circumstance affected food choices.
I think this link is about the series I saw http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/30/iceland-has-the-worlds-best-diet-but-its-bad-news-for-the-uk-4781913/
There was a published ranking that they based the series on, looking at the unhealthiest (Mexico) and gradually working their way through to the healthiest (Iceland and Korea). What was interesting was that the Icelandic diet is high in fish, meat, animal fats, dairy (especially natural yoghurt) and a dense dark rye bread. They eat few fruit and veg, because they can’t be grown there. Koreans eat a lot of vegetables, both fermented and fresh and virtually no dairy or bread. What the two countries had in common is that they both eat largely foods that are grown/raised locally. They both still eat a largely traditional diet – they haven’t been westernised like poor Mexico. They also both have a food culture where meals are not something eaten on the run, but are eaten siting down with family or friends.
I noticed after seeing this documentary series that Icelandic style yoghurt started appearing on the dairy shelves in the supermarket. The other interesting comment they made about Korea was the culture frowned upon people being overweight. It was considered perfectly polite to chastise someone for gaining weight.
I’ve just read through the link and it shows how patchy my memory is. The Marshal Island was the worst diet. Looking at the list I can see Korea isn’t even in the top 10, but I do remember them including it in the docco as one of the best. The docco didn’t cover every country, just a representative group in each program.

Hi Everyone,

So many posts, and so much happening.

Welcome home Intesha😀 you’ll be back where you were before your trip soon.

Check-in: 65.0kgs, next FD on Friday, then on on Monday when we fly out.

Quick message to CaliD – as an honourary Aussie, unless you’re not aware, it is Eurovision Song Contest time. So as the name suggests the ESC is for all the countries in Europe + , don’t be confused, but to be confusing – + Australia. Because we watched for 30yrs way over here on the other side of the planet, and we asked, pretty please, could we join, and surprisingly, they said yes!

The idea is you have a Eurovisio SC party, even if it’s just you and the TV/computer monitor. Australian SBS TV. 43 countries entering this year, and the last 3 yrs since they said yes, we’ve come 5th, (Guy Sebastian – Malay/Sti-Lankan Australian, winner 1st Aust Idol), 2nd (Dami Im – Sth Korean Australian, winner X Factor), 9th ( Isiaih Firebrace -Indigenous Australian, winner of X factor).

This year’s entrant is Australia’s princess of pop, no not Kylie Minogue, it’s Jessica Mauboy – Indigenous Australian/Indinesian, runner up of one of the Idol years. Of course we aallll want John Farnham to be our entrant but he probably can’t be bothered with all the fuss. John has hits over 5-6 decades, best Australian artist voted by all the other Australian artists, and his hit “You’re the Voice” is really our National Anthem, but nobody else knows that.

What has this to do with 5:2?

Absolutely nothing, but a lot of fun.

Onwards and Downwards
Merry

We are back, got home about 2am. OH saw the medics this afternoon. Still no certainty about what it is, but insect bite has been eliminated. OH is 6 years too old for routine breast cancer screening, but they are arranging for it to happen. That that will take about three weeks. It won’t happen sooner because they don’t think that is what it is, they are regarding a screening as providing re-assurance. She has been given another lot of the strongest antibiotics known to man but is still having a really uncomfortable time.

Merryme and I had started to talk travel plans but I put have them on hold. I still hope it can happen – we have a few weeks to go. Merry, I will keep you up to date by email.

Welcome back Joffy, so good to see your post, not so good about your news but hope everything will be okay. I think this ageing business is for the birds, we all seem to have our little hiccups. Our other superstars who have been doing this WOL with chronic illnesses have to be applauded.

Cali, I’m sorry to not have acknowledged you in my post yesterday. I sincerely hope you are feeling much better and taking it easy.

Weight this morning 71.8. I think most of my gain was due to drinking everyday as I rarely drink at home only when I go out which isn’t very often. It would have been maybe two scotches a night and an occasional wine but combined with being relaxed tends to pile it on. Still not stressing about it, I’m just getting back on that moving horse 🙄🙄

Good morning everyone,
We are meant to be getting two days of weather containing a month’s worth of rain, icy winds, thunderstorms, and hail. But at the moment it is clear and sweet and beautiful. I’ll enjoy it while I can!

What excellent things people wrote about motherhood, daughters and non-motherhood. And about my daughter’s little Etsy shop. Thankyou.

Intesha, welcome home. Back to loads of washing! Oh dear, the humdrum life. I do hope you are finding things to enjoy about being home too, though. (You are going to have to put up with it until your next trip, so you need some home delights.) I can supply you with one delight 😉 I will be very grateful to have you check the business plan.

Thin, you need some new high boots. With skinny calves. I hope you find some gorgeous ones. Ooh that Korean food looked good!
I hope it was a good bridge session!

I’m another one who has found a pillow under my knees, or knee if I am lying on my side, a great relief.

Lindsay, yes, it was tragic when Radio Australia was cut, and now poor old ABC is being slaughtered. I have been reading calls for crowdfunding to keep it going!
Your red boots sound gorgeous. I’ll do my best to send some icy winds your way, so you can get them out and wear them on your skinny legs 🙂 .

Merry you are doing so well, and fly away time is getting so close. Watch out for Intesha, she might sneak up and hide in your luggage and then you’ll get whacked with extra fees!

Oh dear, I am so not into Eurovision. If I had some housemates enjoying it I might get into it, and you lot are the closest thing I have to housemates, so I will do my best.

Penguin, I am so glad that Mrs Penguin is home and being watched by the doctors. It sounds like they need to figure out what on earth is going on. Sending good wishes that they do, and that it is something that is easily fixed. All power to the antibiotics.

Joffy sorry to hear your news. What a hard 6 months you have had. Cheers for your first fast day this year! I really hope that 5:2 helps wonderfully with the symptoms and your quality of life. It must be hard with the steroids putting weight on you.

Arelkade, how awful that you can’t be confident about your brother’s care. You do want to have faith in the specialist, but sometimes they seem to be from another planet. Sending good wishes that things improve soon.
Cheers for your mindful eating and dog walking. Every little bit helps, and every day is a new day.

It is my Thursday Fast Day. HOORAY! I am going to put things to soak, have coffee and work on my business plan, visit my daughter, go for a little doctor’s appt and then probably feel ravenous until miso soup time! Excellent fast day!

Cheers all

Joffy
You have my sympathy for what you are trying to adjust to. I have RA too. I was diagnosed when I was 38 (18 years ago). Trying to find a treatment that works and being allowed access to the newer (and very expensive) biologic dMARDs can be a very long drawn out process, and while you wait it feels like you have to put your life on hold. I had limited success with most of the older treatments like methotrexate and arava but have found the new biologics give me excellent remission of symptoms that allow me to live a reasonably normal life. All of the treatments come with side effects, especially susceptibility to infections. Unfortunately getting access to the newer treatments through PBS is a long process as you have to have tried the older treatments first.

Adjusting to having an incurable auto-immune disease takes time. My life really fell in a hole for a while as I tried to adjust to that knowledge. I think it took me three years to accept my reality and focus on what I can do. In that time I’d gained 30kg, stopped exercising and my movement, inflammation and pain was worse because of that. That you have realised after 6 months that there might be things, other than drug treatment, that you can do is excellent. You were much faster than I was getting to this point.

I can’t tell you that fasting helps RA symptoms, because I’ve never been able to prove that. What I do know is that weight gain increases inflammation levels which means pain and stiffness will be worse. To give you an idea: My ESR (blood test for inflammation levels) is around 50 when I’m not on any rheumatoid treatment, it’s around 20-25 on my current treatment if my weight goes over 80kg, but if I keep my weight in the low 70s my ESR is under 10 (normal). The other thing that helps is movement. Activity that gently maximises your range of movement is very helpful. It’s a balancing act of doing enough but not too much and you only find that one out by trial and error.

I had an older sister with RA so I knew what to expect but I can imagine it’s quite frightening not know where this disease will take your life – and it often does feel like your life’s been hijacked by a disease. It’s important to have others with lived experience to let you know that you will find a new “normal” for your life.

Joffy I’m going to ask JJ to give you my email address. If you have any questions about RA or the various treatments I’m happy to discuss that with you through email if you don’t want to do it on this forum.

Hi Sybs, Cinque, Arel, Intesha, Penguin, Thin, Merry, Lindsay, Quacka, Joffy. I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone.

This is just a quick post before the nurse arrives to do my abatacept infusion.

I sign the papers with the conveyancer for the house purchase and sale tomorrow, so things are moving forward whether I’m ready or not.

I got though my “almost a FD” yesterday. I had a banana mid-morning, minestrone at the Italian cafe for lunch, and a miso broth with ginger, chinese broccoli, oyster mushrooms and sesame oil for dinner (and cups of tea of course). I don’t know how many calories that was but I doubt it was more than 7-800,(even though I ate the bread that came with the minestrone). I’m happy with that calorie level, given that I did a proper FD the day before.

NFD today and I’ve eaten a small bowl of muesli with kefir and a slice of the fruit & walnut sourdough that I bought at the market yesterday.

Hi Minka, please do keep popping in when you can. It sounds like you are thriving on 5:2. How lovely to be referred to as the skinny one. I remember soon after reaching my goal weight that I had to visit a specialist doctor I’d not met before. I heard her say the words, “well, you’re not overweight so we don’t have to worry about that” but it didn’t really sink in that she was talking about me until the drive home. I also remember seeing my reflection in a shop window or watching a slim person come towards me through an airport glass screen and not immediately realising that that person was me.

I, too, have struggled with some of the excuses why people couldn’t continue with (or start) 5:2 but, as we’ve discovered, not everyone can do this. And we have yet to discover whether we can sustain it long-term. So, cheers to us!

All the best with your infusion today, LJ.

Hi again everyone – 2nd post

Thank you Cinque and Thin for your kind comments for my brother. The good news is, his Specialist ‘sacked himself’ after ceasing IV steroids, starting oral – which completely inflammed my brother’s stomach, much pain, then he restarted IV again. Admitted he had done wrong and removed himself as care giver! Brother is having endoscopy with ultrasound next Monday – a biopsy of his ischaemic pancreas will be taken, if steroids do reduce inflammation – fingers crossed, he will get better! Sorry if this sounds like a rant – just a concerned Sister!

Thin, you didn’t upset me with your comment re holiday fasting – you reassured me that I should stick we what works for me, and what you said was very true. I need to stick with routine, be mindful and accountable to myself – for it’s very easy to get off track – I really thought I could take 10 days off and all would be good! My recent holiday was the first in a very long time.
Won’t do it again – promise 😉

LJoyce, enjoyed your very informative comments to Joffy – so thoughtful of you to share your experiences with RA, with her and also with us – thank you. All the best tomorrow when signing your papers for your new abode – such an exciting time for you! I hope you are ok after your infusion today.

Cinque, I enjoyed your links to Dr Moseley’s new 5:2 diet. I’ve just restarted reading ‘CSIRO Low Carb Diet’ which also mentions the Mediterranean diet. It’s also low carb, high fat and increased protein! Also Australian in origin! Sounds interesting to me and would still allow a 5:2 WOE/WOL. The overall health benefits sound amazing, and is also scientifically based! Must keep reading 😉

I hope you all enjoy whatever you are getting up to and bye for now!

Hi Sybs and Intesha, penguin, Thin, Cinque, LJ, anyone I’ve missed.

penguin – thinking of you both.

Intesha- I was hoping we could have a quick catch up before we left for o/seas on Monday but that’s not going to work out.

It seems DFIL has left us a last piece of chaos. We have had “stuff” of his downstairs, laid out, being sorted out . He kept himself partially occupied by a daily visit to op shops, always buying something, including pieces of furniture he replaced some of his with. Daily purchases for several years! Hundreds and hundreds of things – not just furniture, but hundreds of CDs , DVDs, books, several leather jackets, gadgets, photo albums, many, many ornaments and decorator items.

So, this morning, we discovered we need a pest control rescue urgently. “Have you been buying furniture from op shops?” They asked. Oh joy😕😟🙃 aaaarghhhh. Fortunately, we’ve found it very quickly, early days, but you know how these things go. You probably won’t hear from me now till we’re at the airport in a few days ready to go, hoping we’re not coming home to disaster. Pest control guy coming in the morning first thing.

Didn’t do my FD today, but calmer tonight after a bit of a panic and lots of work for both of us today. Will do my 2nd FD of the week tomorrow.

I know we all like a really good op shop find, but please check everything thoroughly, wash in hot water, stand in the sun, all those things that you need to do to make sure pests don’t arrive in your house with your purchases.

Onwards and Downwards
If you fall off the horse get back on,
Merry and OH

Good morning everyone!
Thought I’d share this post, shared by Coda in the ‘May 2018 Challenge’ forum – may help some of us here!:
per Coda
Saw this and thought I would share to have in our armoury when we need to fight dragons.

5 WAYS TO BOUNCE BACK FROM A BINGE
Thanks to the brilliant team at MAN v FAT for this blog post.

It’s not something we like to admit to, but binge eating is extremely common among people who are trying to lose weight. It doesn’t matter how much weight you lose or how healthy your diet is, it’s likely there’ll come a time where you think ‘why did I eat all that?!’ as you bin the evidence of last night’s biscuit-fest.
So here’s 5 ways to bounce back from a binge.

1. Don’t: try and ‘make up for it’

After a spell of overeating, it can seem only natural to want to rein it in a bit by restricting what you eat to minimise the damage. But that’s not really how it works – if you go too far the other way and deprive yourself of food you’re more likely to experience another binge eating episode when you get so hungry that you eat whatever junk you can get your hands on. And then you’ll feel guilty and disappointed in yourself again, then like you need to cut back to compensate for it and it’ll all become a vicious circle that is extremely difficult to break out of. So don’t try and make up for it – instead, accept that it has happened and move on.

2. Do: get back to normal as soon as possible

How many times have you fallen off the wagon and thought ‘screw it, I may as well keep eating sh*t and start again on Monday’? We get it – there’s something very appealing about starting fresh on a shiny new week, but what’s the point? Take control now. Make your next meal the one where you get back to your normal healthy habits. You’re not going to be any happier if you’ve got another weekend of excess eating (quite literally) under your belt – you’re just going to feel even more sluggish and it’ll be even more difficult to get back to normal and then you’ll be even further away from your goals.
In the wise words of Unknown, if you had one flat tire you wouldn’t slash the other three (unless…would you? Weirdo) and so you shouldn’t give up on your goal because of one setback.

3. Do: drink water

Although you shouldn’t fall for the idea of ‘detoxing’ your body (spoiler: your body is pretty good at ‘detoxing’ itself without special smoothies and juices), you should definitely up your water intake. Drinking water will stop you from getting dehydrated from all the sodium you’ve likely just consumed and it will also help with digestion, making it less likely that you’ll become constipated.

4. Do: get moving

When you’re feeling lethargic and full after binge eating, you’re probably going to want to just lie on the sofa doing nothing except possibly clutching your belly and wailing, but although it’ll feel like the last thing you want, the best thing you can do is to get active. We’re not talking taking on a round of Insanity or heading straight to a spin class after polishing off a family-sized bag of crisps, but get yourself up and moving. Go for a walk and blow off the cobwebs – it doesn’t need to be an especially long walk, but getting yourself out of the house will take your mind off that uncomfortable full feeling and will help your body start to process all the excess food.

5. Do: cut yourself some slack

Most importantly, don’t beat yourself up about it. Changing a lifetime’s worth of unhealthy eating habits is a monumental task and it’s not always going to be smooth sailing. Instead of berating yourself, try and see it as something to learn from. This is how you’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again, although let’s be honest, it probably will happen again purely because it’s such a hard habit to break. It can take a lot of time and effort to overcome.

If you think about the whys and hows of this binge eating episode, hopefully you’ll be able to identify what triggered it so you’ll be better prepared for the next time you come across the same feelings. Had a long and stressful day at work which made you seek comfort in a whole tub of Ben & Jerry’s? Next time you start to feel frazzled, go for a walk, do some yoga or an exercise or activity you enjoy to destress instead of turning to food.

End of shared post!

Thank you Merryme for you kind words re: my brother. Hopefully, his turnaround will be soon! Enjoy your holiday.

Penguin: I think the last time I saw Eurovision was when Abba won as well – may need to catch up: Jessica is very popular in Australia! I hope your wife is recovering well from her ? bite!

Enjoy whatever you are getting up to and bye for now!

Eeew, Merry! Are we talking about fleas? You’ve put me right off op shopping now. You did make me laugh about your DFIL leaving you one last challenge even after he’s departed. I’m glad you’re getting so much mileage out of the ESC. Safe travels to you and OH. Have a wonderful time. You deserve it.

Arel, back on the wagon now?

It’s 30C in Perth today! Can you believe that? Only 1C less than Sybs’ tropical wx. The endless summer.

I once got woodworm in the house from a second hand desk.
Any fleas always come in with the cat.

I can’t imagine 30C anymore Thin. It’s 14 here and raining.

Arelkade hooray for the self sacking specialist. Hopefully now things can start going right.

Very good binge recovery advice.

And yes, cheers for the Mediterranean diet, it has been the sensible consistent one as fads come and go.

Merry hooray you got pest control before you left. Good luck with getting everything done over the next few days. So exciting.
Edit: your post came in as I wrote. Nice to read. Enjoy that cuppa in the sun.

Penguin, Abba was an excellent call! Hope Mrs Penguin is feeling better.

I’m enjoying day-after-fast-day!

Best wishes all

MM is on SBS on Monday, 14 May, at 8.30pm

Today is my 3rd FD this week, and still feeling good about my new regime. Saturday and Sunday are my next NFD. Isn’t it funny that NFDs tend to be more of a worry than FDs? The concern of falling back into old eating patterns, and actually having to be more careful than on FDs, making sure not to “over-compensate” MM says that full fat yoghurt is better for the gut than low/no fat, so I’ll be changing back to full fat Greek Yoghurt, but making sure not to go over 100g per serve. I’ll also try to do 2 walks each day, my problem is that I am a morning person, so I am not sure whether the intention is going to turn into reality :-))

to everyone a lovely weekend. To Mrs Penguin fast recovery from her ailment.

I’ve just finished the second coat of paint on the door. Hoping that’s the last paint brush I have to handle for a very long time.

Thin – “there’s nothing that tastes as good as being slim feels” Not even a Portuguese custard tart?
I do buy full fat pot set greek yoghurt. I don’t like the full fat yoghurts that are made in a vat and then put in containers because if you read the ingredients it’s clear they’ve been messed with too – they add skim milk powder and sometimes whey protein powder to make the yoghurt thicker and creamier.
I have continued to use low fat milk because I use most of it in cups of tea and I don’t like the yellow oil slick that full cream milk leaves on the top of my cup of tea (I don’t even want to imagine what coconut oil would do – yuk). I do think that skim milk is traditional, but only if you also eat butter. My mother grew up on a farm and they kept cows. They skimmed all of their milk and used the skimmed milk then used most of the cream to make butter. You are still having the whole milk, just as skim milk, cream and butter.

Cinque, every time the Mediterranean diet gets discussed, I’m uncomfortably aware of how little fish I eat, especially the oily variety.

Sybs, well done on getting through 5 days with 3 of then FDs. That’s a pattern that would (and has) have me binge eating every NFD. I’m impressed that you’ve handled this and still feel good about it. I hope you get a reward on the scales.

Time for a cuppa – with reduced fat milk – no oil slick. 😀

My mind has been elsewhere for the last few days, so I have only been skimming the posts. I realised that I needed to say something to Arelkade about the hospital experience, which sounds horrendous, clicked on and the first thing I saw was the binge recovery advice. Since we got back I have managed to put on about 4 pounds so that was very timely.

The antibiotics seem to have started to work. We still don’t know what the problem is and it still looks bad and is uncomfortable, but it is not as bad as it was. Relief all round.