Hello Southern Hemispherites!!

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  • Hi everyone and welcome to TassieJane and Bruce 🙂

    I’m on the 2nd day of my B2B and am feeling fine so far. I have just had miso soup with mushrooms and konjac noodles for lunch. It has made me feel a bit warmer which is great.

    Sorry I haven’t had time to comment on everything you have all been writing. I have been reading everyone’s post so you are all in my thoughts at different times. Work has been super busy but one good thing is that it makes for easier FD’s. Oh and by the way my weight stayed steady even after my naughtiness last week. LOL

    Sorry for the rushed post. Take care all of you x

    I think there is just one baby bird. In the first pic it’s hard to see him. I brightened, cropped and sharpened the one below it. He’s bigger than I thought. It’s the first time I’ve seen more than a beak sticking out of the top of the nest. https://imgur.com/a/SenvahC

    FD today because I didn’t feel like fasting yesterday.

    @all – watched the last episode of “War on Waste” last night, and absolutely loved the “undercover shoppers” taking all the plastic wrap off the fresh vegies and leaving the plastic at the supermarkets. That’s exactly what I am going to do from now on, although there shouldn’t be too much, since I try to avoid plastic wrapped goods anyway

    @calif – great pick of the chick!
    we are getting a lot of TV coverage of the wildfires raging around California. Australia has sent firefighters to assist your guys, hope it makes a difference – good luck to you and your family and friends

    Good morning, a little bit of sun in Melbourne, and a sprinkle of rain through the night to water my little garden.

    It is Wednesday Fast Day for me, I’m getting the hang of what suits me for 5:2 maintenance (she says hopefully) which is basically two bowls of soup over my fast day. I’m going to head off to buy chicken and vegetables to make a nice brothy soup, and will soak the usuals for my miso soup tonight.

    I am on a nice run at the moment, eating well on Non Fast Days too. So I think am going to B2B again, but I will see how I feel in the morning, happy to know I have Sunday up my sleeve. (B2B is Back to Back Fast Days Jane and Bruce, can’t help going to shorthand!)

    LJoyce, you have reminded me to make a big jug of flavoured water today: cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and star anise I think. I usually add lemon but I wonder if it is too acid for my teeth. Maybe a strip of lemon zest will work.

    Gday, it sounds like a great weekend you had, and you knew you would be eating more than you do at home, so the bad news was only what you expected.
    What fun you will have with all the new ingredients. And the dehydrator! Great birthday present to yourself! Happy Birthday!

    Hi Quacka, hope you are feeling terrific this morning with your B2B under your belt. What well behaved scales you have. Best wishes for your busy day.

    Cali, wonderful picture. Lovely little speckled thing! Cheers for your fast today. We are sharing at least part of it.
    (News this morning that California is having its biggest wildfire ever, sending all your state good wishes).

    Sybs, make sure you get your hair all bright blue and green before you go ripping off the plastic in supermarkets! Haha. Yes The War on Waste has been a great series.
    I am lucky to have so many alternatives to supermarkets available that I rarely go in one, but I am just horrified at how everything is becoming more and more packaged.

    I am recovering well from overdoing it (touch wood and whistle) and looking forward to a (non supermarket) shop this morning. Cheers all!

    Sybs, as you know, WA supposedly said goodbye to plastic bags last month. I refuse to call them ‘single use’ bags because that can only be defined by what the user does with them, not by the way they look or feel. Coles immediately introduced a new, improved plastic bag for 15c. So, it’s OK to use plastic bags as long as someone’s paying for them. These were then offered complimentary for 30 days. Now I believe they’re free indefinitely. Presumably to get an edge over their competitors – or am I too cynical?

    Meanwhile, fruit & veg, questionable items to qualify for plastic wrapping, continue to be offered wrapped in styrofoam trays. And the flimsy, transparent bags are still on offer. They won’t offer customers the cardboard trays that they originally received the produce in on the grounds that there’s no room in store, instead discarding them at the back of the store – I’m sure they could stack them at the front entrance especially if they dispensed with the annoying people raising money for their children’s sporting events.

    All proving that you can’t legislate common sense.

    Good morning all,

    Lovely pics Cali. Before too long you’ll get the see that little guy learning to fly and being taught how to dig up lunch. I love watching parent birds teach their fast growing babies how to fend for themselves.

    Thin, I’m surprised that you are only being offered the heavy duty plastic bags as an alternative. Here the supermarkets do offer them, but the main bags sold by supermarkets are a sort of moulded cloth bag (that can be washed). Most people here use these. I’ve been using the same ones for many years. They cost more than 15 cents though. The plain ones are $1 and the foil lined chiller bags are $2.

    Thin & Sybs, The only way I avoid plastic when it comes to fruit and veg is to shop at the green grocer not the supermarket – I can use a box there to put it all in if I want to. Although I never manage to buy small things like loose cherries, snow peas or baby spinach leaves without using those thin bags.

    Cinque and Quacka, well done of starting/finishing B2B. I have great admiration for those of you who can manage it.

    GDSA, sounds like you had a lovely time in Adelaide. Plenty of time to get your eating back on track before the next adventure.

    I have a very busy day full of medical appointments today that will involve lots of driving across town and sitting in waiting rooms I expect it to take from 11am-6pm.

    Today’s photo is not complete: https://imgur.com/btx0ZSE
    For breakfast I had the three grain porridge with milk & honey and the cup of tea. As I’ll be out all day I’m taking a banana, some wholemeal crackers and cheese slice with me for lunch/snacks. (This is to discourage me from buying fast food for lunch.) The bottle of water needs to be drunk from 10-11am in preparation for my ultrasound. There’s no teapot in today’s photo 🙁 as I won’t be home to use it. For dinner I plan to make poached eggs with sourdough spelt toast – I have a tiny amount of the beef & veg ragu leftover from last night’s meal that I’ll use as a garnish with the eggs.

    Good luck to the many fasters, I’ll be fasting tomorrow.

    Thin, I’ve posted a pic to give you an idea of the bags I was talking about – these are all Coles bags, but other supermarkets offer the same thing. (In my experience Coles have the best chiller bags, the Woolworths ones fell apart.)
    https://imgur.com/CgEchKO
    From left to right: basic $1 cloth bag with a removable hard base, suitable for most groceries (washable, by hand or a gentle machine cycle). In the middle is a very heavy duty $2 woven plastic bag (can be wiped down or rinsed off). On the right is a $2 foil lined chiller bag (the inside can be wiped out and the outside sponged off).
    If you don’t have options like this in your local supermarkets then it would be worth asking. These are good value as they last for many years and I really like the fact that the chiller bag stops thing thawing out on the journey home. Because some foods can leak it is important that these bags can be cleaned and I’ve found they all can in some way.

    They are the sort of bags that have been here for about 15 years, LJoyce, I bet Perth has them too. It is just that they had the single use ones too. And now they have brought in these horrible things that they sell for 15c (or not in Coles case) http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/10060156-3×2-700×467.jpg

    I’m just cooking my chicken and vegetable soup, much later than expected because I slept in (yay!) and went to two op shops. I’ll just have a little bowl because it is miso soup time in four hours.

    Trying to clean the poor kitchen, but I am making mess faster than I am sorting it. Sigh.

    Penguin, are you happily at the end of your fast?

    Cheers all.

    So you are all getting used to the ‘take your own bags’ theory? Tassie have been doing it this way for some years, so most of us are pretty shocked by the outcry interstate that has been going on. Interesting that Coles have recently backflipped and said mainlanders will not have to pay for the 15c bags. Tassie customers still have to pay which many think is quite discriminatory.

    My first fast day went well, but I had a shocking night’s sleep that night. Is that common? I drank just over 2 litres of water and had soup through the day so found myself running to the loo a fair few times. I’ll have to try to consume my water earlier and limit it after around 7 I think.

    Tomorrow (Thurs) will be my second fast day this week and I’m actually looking forward to it. I’m going to do the food the same, but am thinking of maybe a low cal hot choc in the evening as a little treat. It will still be within my allowable calories for the day so that should work alright.

    I’m keen to look for the episode of ‘You Can’t Say That’ that was mentioned. I’ve done a lot of learning over the last year about body acceptance rather than body positivity, and while I agree with the concept, still struggle with my image being that I’m now in a much larger body. I note that ‘orthorexia’ has now been added to the lingo, being someone who is obsessive over food and exercise. There are some great podcasts out there about the body acceptance movement, and one lady in particular, Australian Louise Adams, has some great stuff to say. I feel much less ‘diety’ with this approach than any other that I have followed. I’ve even gone to the lengths of a lapband in the past, but being an emotional eater, found ways around that and basically it didn’t work for me either.

    Have a great day everyone!

    Hi, I’m sitting in a car park – 40 min wait for my last appointment.

    TassieJane, I feel the same way about 5:2 – it doesn’t feel like a diet. I think that’s a major reason it’s sustainable long term as it limits that feeling of deprivation.

    My crackers, cheese and banana got me through the day. Despite passing several cafes at the specialist centre and the hospital I wasn’t tempted. I am missing my cups of tea though.

    There were a lot of you fasting today, hope it’s going well.

    Hey, Jane. I’m doing my 2nd fast for the week tomorrow as well & I also didn’t sleep well after my last FD. I don’t know if it’s common or not. 5:2 just does not feel like dieting at all. I’m loving it & can’t wait for tomorrow 🙂

    Well done to you both, Cate and Jane,
    Some people get the sleep disturbance thing for a little while, but I think most don’t. It will most likely settle down when you work out exactly what suits you best. One way to get past it is to keep something satisfying eg a boiled egg, to have not long before you go to bed.

    Quick personal check in:
    Tues – day after FD 64.9kg
    Today- 65.3kg still down 300gms from beginning of Mon FD

    Onwards and Downwards,
    Merry

    I used to be asleep on the couch by 8.30pm when I first began fasting. And I always slept so well after a FD compared to other nights of insomnia. Now that it’s such a normal part of my life, I notice no difference in sleep patterns unless I’m feeling hungry. Nothing worse than that as there’s nothing to distract you but I do reserve 100 calories for a small amount of protein or a banana. I rarely use the option as it would take me well above the 375 cals or so that I strive for on FDs.

    Thanks for the photos LJ, yes, we’ve had all those bag options available for some time too. I didn’t mean to imply that the new, improved plastic bag was the only option. Just commenting on the irony of making such a fuss about doing away with the so-called ‘single use’ bags only to replace them with another. Complete with Coles’ advertising as Cinque’s photo showed.

    I think I mentioned before that Spudshed still offers cardboard boxes for taking home loose produce. Trouble with that option for us is that I need to use the car thereby creating a different set of problems.

    Thank you to all the firefighters from Australia and New Zealand who are in California fighting the fires. We don’t have any too close to us but we have a light cloud cover and the smoke from all the other fires is taking our air quality to “very unhealthy” right now. I feel so sorry for that baby bird outside our door. I wish I could throw a big face mask over it. From the air quality maps it looks like it should start clearing in an hour or two.

    https://www.npr.org/2018/08/07/636115519/western-fire-crews-get-an-assist-from-australia-and-new-Zealand

    Yesterday’s FD resulted in a 900 gram drop to 59.7 this morning. I need to do better on NFD.

    Good job on your FD’s Jane and Cate! Sleeping for me depends on how close to bedtime I drink liquids and sometimes on how much I’ve eaten the day before the FD. If I have a lot of water weight to lose I often have to get up a few times during the night. You’ll get a better idea of how your body will adjust after you’re a few weeks into it.

    Good morning everyone,

    Tassie Jane, congratulations on your first Fast Day, and that you feel good, in spite of a bad night. That is a good idea, to get your drinking done earlier in the day, it might make a difference.
    I struggle with insomnia generally and so I’m no help, except that I have learnt that hydration is even more important for me than uninterrupted sleep, so cheers for your kidneys having plenty of work to do 🙂

    Welcome to your second fast day. It is a great sign that you are looking forward to it. I do so hope that you find 5:2 is the trick for you, as it has been for me. It must have been so disheartening when even lapband surgery didn’t help your longterm health.

    I’ve had three years of Fast Days now (15 months losing weight, and the rest maintaining) and I find they give me the break from everyday eating, the space to stop and consider my eating behaviour. I definitely have emotional eating issues, but that is balanced my whatever gut biome/hormone/brain pathways stuff that mean my natural appetite is quickly waylaid by sugar, processed carbs and dehydration. And ofcourse insomnia is a factor too. Sigh.

    It has been such a relief to slowly sort out those things while I have been able to maintain a healthy weight.

    And it has been so much fun to be slender and have a whole new wardrobe! (I am a huge supporter of the body acceptance movement but my honest experience is that I felt awful every day I was obese. I was 85kg at my heaviest, 50kg now).

    Anyway, I am fasting with you today! On my second cuppa already, and lots of soup ready!

    Starting a whole new post, I am chatty this morning!

    Edit: Supermarket bag rant. Avoid if you wish!

    Supermarket bags! I do love the design of the ones they brought out (as per LJoyce’s picture) really functional! and I have an assortment of those I use. If I do a big veggie shop I use a cardboard box that the wonderful Psarakos Market have on hand. AND I am so lucky as to have been given some drawstring net bags which are just perfect for those small veggies (although the ends of beans always get stuck in the net holes 😉 )

    However, I did like getting the occasional shopping bag to use as my bin liner (after using it for other things several times). I’ve been rolling my eyes at the helpful hints to line rubbish bins with newspaper because I haven’t had newspapers for years, even the local paper doesn’t deliver here. So I had a go at not having it lined, a couple of weeks ago. I made sure I washed (or at least rinsed) anything that might be stinky. I had a bag that my ryeflour came in, set up to put all the little things in so they wouldn’t fly out when the bin was lifted to rubbish truck, tucked it down and took my hard work out to our communal rubbish bins (I live in a block of flats) only to find it stuffed full of rubbish in the new thick Coles bags!

    So disheartening!

    And on top of that, my daughter has Woolworths home delivery and every delivery comes in about a dozen of those little thin veggie bags. UUUUUUGGGGGGHHHH!

    Quick, someone post while I am writing this one, so we don’t get a wall of Cinque!

    LJoyce, Glad you got all your appointments out of the way, and it must have felt nice to walk past the cafes without temptation. Big pot of tea when you got home though!

    Merry, you really are going onwards and downwards. Congratulations!
    Are you enjoying being home and settling into your old places and habits, or does it seem dull after your trips?

    Cali, thinking of you with those fires. So glad you can do all your steps inside, instead of breathing in smoke. I do hope the baby robin will be alright. They are talking about your fires on the morning news as I speak.

    I am going to do my second Fast Day today. I loved my chicken and veggie soup so much that I had a second bowl of it in the evening, but that means my beancurd sticks and shiitake mushrooms are still soaking, so I will have them today. (As well as yet another bowl of my chicken and veg soup 😉 )

    I am also quite excited at how well my non fast days went over the last week. I am using the trouser test too! I am just managing better. I think you helped LJoyce, as reading your analysis helped me with mine. Same things re snacks, forgetting to be mindful, and food creep! Imagining the day’s food ahead, on the table helps me. I can see I am not denying myself, and I know what I am doing.

    There, up to date with post chat. Sending lots of good wishes to everyone fasting, posting, lurking! Keep on keeping on. 🙂

    Cinque, I run into the same problems with plastic bags. I have a bunch of woven cloth, plastic coated cloth and a few of the thicker plastic bags that I paid 10 cents for at various stores when I forgot to bring mine in. I’ve been reusing grocery bags for at least 10 years, maybe more. The boot of my car is filled with them. But for lining the kitchen waste bin I use plastic bags that I purchase. I’ve tried using the bin unlined, or a few times with newspapers, but it ends up being messy and I use a lot of water to clean it up.

    My sister decided to try a FD yesterday. Other than complaining about a headache (which I reminded her could have been all the air pollution) she said it went ok. I’ve been trying to convince her to try 5:2 for over a year. Fingers crossed that she joins me tomorrow or Friday in another FD. I’ve mentioned this forum many times but she’s pretty heavily into Twitter. She probably has about 5 kg to lose.

    CalifD, that would be fun if your DS joins you fasting! And even better if you can get your OH in on it too. I know he doesn’t have weight to lose but I still like to believe that there are other benefits to fasting besides weight loss.

    We don’t need the firefighters here right now, CalifD. It’s been raining for weeks. I hope your air quality improves soon.

    Cinque, that’s an LJ style post this morning! Good to catch up with all the thoughts and progress of the slim Cinque. I never accepted my 83kg body and it depressed and consumed me every morning that I woke to it. There’s so much more to being overweight than how we look and feel about it. It’s a massive health risk factor with enormous cost to the individual and to society.

    I used to wash every waste product but, having lived in California all those years, I’m more closely in tune with water waste than anything else. We all do what we can. There are too many of us. No-one wants to tackle that PC issue.

    I seem to have settled in between 59.2 and 59.4kgs since suspending 5:2 6 weeks ago. This is fine for now but I suspect it will gradually creep up over time and I’ll be back to 5:2 which feels like a better rhythm for me. I had coffee out with a friend yesterday and it did feel very odd to be doing so on a Wednesday.

    Off for more humiliation and punishment at bridge this morning.

    Ljoyce i use the coles blue chiller bags in your photo for all my grocery shopping. The zip saves contents from spilling out in the boot of the car plus better for the cold produce on the trip home – especially during our hot summers.

    I shop at coles and foodland and only go to woolies for the few products the others dont stock….i really detest shopping at woolies but not happy with coles now either with the plastic bag and figurine dibarcle.

    I also have a pack of 12 reusable eco mesh bags for fruit and veg purchases instead of using the small plastic bags. I get stares from the checkout operators when i put them on the conveyer belt, ive never seen anyone else in town use them so thinking by the stares i receive i must be the only one. Vegies can be washed in the bags and stored straight in the fridge/ cupboard – i love them.

    Tassie Jane i try to consume the majority of my liquids before 3pm to eliminate the middle of the night toilet trips.

    I didnt end up purchasing my food dehydrator yesterday. A good friend of mine works at the electrical store and he quietly whispered to me that they have a sale starting Thursday next week and it will be 30% cheaper. He said if i call in on Wednesday arvo i can buy it then at the sale price – yippee.

    Good morning all,

    Thankfully I have a couple of quieter days planned. I have to do some grocery shopping today, and some baking on Friday and Saturday for my best friend’s daughter’s going away party (that’s the Canadian themed one). I’m glad I don’t have days that require as much driving as yesterday very often. I hate dealing with heavy traffic.
    For those of you who provided me with so many ideas for Canadian foods I though I’d give you an idea of what’s likely to be at this party. My BFs daughter is putting out trays of poutine – that’s the hot chips covered in gravy and dollops of curd cheese (oh dear!). She’s also having bowls of salt & vinegar chips.
    I’m making pecan butter tarts and also a large lumberjack slab cake that can be cut into squares. I’m not sure what others are bringing – I’ll find out Saturday night.
    I’m going to enjoy the baking and am glad that it will all leave the house.

    I think the daily food photos help. Yesterday my photo didn’t include dinner and it was the only meal this week where I ate more than I should. I did have the poached eggs, 1/2 cup of beef & veg ragu on sourdough toast. After I finished I felt like more toast so I had a further 2 slices of seeded rye sourdough. I find it interesting that the meal without a photo is the one where I ate more than planned. Needless to say I will continue posting photos of my daily food for a bit longer as it seems to be helping me. Don’t feel obliged to keep looking at the photos as they are likely to get repetitive – they are mostly to keep me honest.
    Today: https://imgur.com/I3fAeC6
    I’m fasting today, and apart from cups of tea I plan a banana some time this afternoon and 2 cups of mulligatawny soup (which I defrosted yesterday) for dinner. Into which I’ll stir a tablespoon of the greek yoghurt. I’d love to be able to eat the whole tub of yoghurt, but that small 200g tub of full fat greek yoghurt has over 1000kj – way too much for a FD. So I’ll limit myself to a tablespoon.

    Cali, on the news here they said that your fire fighters had requested some fire fighters from Oz with specific skills (helicopter & water plane pilots, bulldozer drivers and flight controllers). I think they flew over to California about 4 days ago. Your firefighers must be getting so fatigued by now. I also saw on the news last night that two of your fire fronts had joined up, increasing the risk. I hope the fresh fighters help, but I know that the weather (especially rain) can always make a bigger difference than people can. I’m still praying for that rain.

    GDSA – now that’s a good friend, saving you 30%. I’ll look out for those eco mesh bags – I haven’t heard of them and the thin fruit & veg bags are the only bags I continue to use (although only for small things like cherries), everything else I just buy loose. I suspect getting fresh fruit and veg transported into a rural area can be an issue. I find here the green grocers have much fresher produce than the supermarkets, although Foodland are better than Coles & Woolies.

    Thin, I have the same attitude to water waste. I have a debate with myself about how much water it will take to rinse out each plastic or metal container before it goes in the recycling bin. If I think it’s excessive I actually put the container in the normal rubbish bin – for me it’s a balancing act of which option is better/worse for the environment. Thankfully I don’t have that many containers – mostly milk and yoghurt containers, which are easy to rinse.
    Hope you have a good morning at bridge.

    Cinque, I’m glad the trouser test is working for you. I’m fasting with you today – also with soup, although mine just has to be reheated.

    Sybs, I actually saw someone with colourful hair yesterday.
    They had grey hair cut into a pixie style with hair feathering around the face. Only the bottom 4-5cm of the hair had been coloured – sort like a multi-coloured halo in shades of blue red and purple. It was very dramatic.

    Time for to brave the shops and get some grocery shopping done.
    Have a good day everyone

    I can’t post my “colourful” before/after pics because I did not get the validation email from imgur – I’ll try to sign up again, maybe I am lucky second time around

    Gday – I am sure that you are aware that dehydrated fruit are more calorie dense

    Hi all. Just a quick hello. I’ve been reading all the posts but have been a bit time poor, so pardon me for not responding individually.

    Have been following the discussion about plastic versus water etc. I think we all want to do better, but sometimes it’s hard to know how. I use my shopping bags for groceries, but buy plastic bags for the rubbish bin. I also use the paper bags put out for mushrooms for other veges like beans, but just put apples, bananas, potatoes etc loose in the trolley and on to the weighing machine. We try not to waste water – I collect the cold water before the shower warms up in a bucket that goes on to the garden, and in a jug in the kitchen sink. It does make a difference, small though it may be. I think programs like the ABC’s War on Waste are doing a great job in highlighting the waste issues. The next generation is so on board – never ask the 5 year old if she wants a straw – by just saying it out loud I can feel a lecture about turtles choking coming on.

    I’m on a B2B fast day – mainly because we are going out straight after work, so little opportunity for eating a full meal. My weight continues to snail down – but it is in the right direction so I am not going to get too worried about it. My friend’s doctor has recommended 5:2 to her – my friend has already lost a lot of weight but had hit a plateau. Good to see doctors on board with this WOL.

    Happy day all

    Hi Sybscairn. Im not buying the dehydrator for fruits – the only fruits i eat are apples and not very often. I closely follow the paleo lifestyle in which fruits are kept to an absolute minimum (except berries) due to their high fructose levels.

    I want it to activate nuts which is a process of soaking nuts and slow drying for 10 to 14 hours. Nuts eaten in their natural state interfere with the bodies ability to absorb nutrients but once they’re activated they dont.

    I also want it for incubating home made yogurt, proofing sourdough, drying berries, tomatoes and vegies.

    Ive also moved away from calorie counting. My focus now is on eating nutrient dense foods, lots of good natural fats and vegies,medium amount of protein and minimal carbs.

    The baby Robin has launched. He/she was sitting in the tree this afternoon preening his feathers, and then an hour later had taken off. The mom is still flying in to get worms so hopefully he is nearby.

    The breeze changed direction and the air is much clearer now. It can change quickly. Hope it stays good so we can have the windows open tonight.

    LJ, I love your meal photos and your kitchen counters!

    Sybs, hope we get to see your hair soon.

    Hi everyone. I’m doing my 2nd FD for the week (my 4th) & am having a very hungry day, but that’s OK. I’m looking forward to weigh-in tomorrow. Talking about shopping bags. I have used the small drawstring bags for years now & just bought some more recently. The ones I use are Onya bags & they are excellent. The 1st lot I bought at Freo market, but these I bought online at https://www.onyalife.com/product/reusable-produce-bag-8pack/
    It seems that I am the only one to use them in our local supermarket as well, but hopefully, that will change. Re: washing containers to put in the recycling- I just wash them when I do the dishes & we are on tank water. There are zero waste groups in most states & the one here in Tas has a few people making the bags themselves out of old sheer curtains. I’m loving the War on Waste.

    LJ, I’m pleased that your photos of food are keeping you honest. It doesn’t look like it’s going to catch on here though. Thank you, I think my bridge playing might have turned a corner this week.

    CalifD, hurray for the robin. Probably couldn’t wait to get out of there.

    Lindsay, nice to see your post. We do the same with a bucket in the shower (I flush the toilet with ours), turn off taps for toothbrushing and I rinse kitchen items out sparingly sharing the water back and forth between items. I also do a lot of head shaking when our Council approves yet another backyard pool in our street when we live a stone’s throw from an Olympic size heated pool open to the public. The latter gets me nowhere. I like to think the rest helps in some small way.

    Cali, I wonder if the parent birds watching the youngsters first flight is a bit like helping your 16 year old learn to drive. Probably just as nail biting.

    Thin, you’d no sooner said we didn’t need our firefighters and 3 separate fires started in the Northern Territory.

    I’ve just returned home from shopping at a huge Foodland that’s a 15min drive away. They have a large range of fresh, frozen, dried and packaged Asian ingredients. I couldn’t find the bean curd skins, but next to the shitaki mushroom were various types of white and black dried fungi. Has anyone used these?

    Hi everyone,t

    Enjoying the War on Waste series too. Lots of thought provoking stuff. Don’t worry about being the only person with mesh bags while you’re out shopping. Your use of them may make others make the decision to use them. I think my next move is the light mesh bags for fruit and vegies. I was abit stumped at first wondering what I could use, but these make sense. I dislike seeing fruit and vegies in trays/plastic/ cellophane. So wasteful and unnecessary.

    On the south coast of NSW there is a new scheme where a number of cafes have got together to supply resusable cups that can be taken out of the cafe and dropped off at any of them to be cleaned. People start out wigh keep cups but after a month or 2 they get put aside because of cleaning issues. Only looked quickly so not got my head around how this scheme works yet, but will look into it further.

    Sorry about less personal involvement at the moment. Not sure I can use the Imgur thing.

    LJ – enjoying your photos. Noticing though that leafy green vegies aren’t there. Are they in the cooked portions, do you not like them, or is there a reason you can’t eat them? Asking as they seem to be advised by every nutritionist.

    Cali – I hope the fires end soon. Eucalypts are a major plantation timber around the world,, but hellish for fires.

    Quick check in: 65.3kg starting FD, but not 100% today so it may get aborted. Big day yesterday, where the phone never stopped ringing and each call seemed long. Both OH and I pretty much collapsed on the loungue later last night and late to bed, late up this morning. Just ‘out of sorts’ today. Spending hours on line looking for a property for sale, helping a family member with very little time. I need to more time aside for myself , keeping my own life going OK. Attending a funeral tomorrow and reflecting on a beautiful life lived well.

    Thin- the seaweed snack is seasoned fried seaweed- good oil. Sounds a no-no but so little in weight that they are small in calories. I made a mistake in the calories, not 10 cals but 25 cals for 10 small sheets in a foil packet. They come in a $4 pack of 10 small packets , are Korean, from an Asian supermarket where I buy fresh herbs, mushrooms, Australian made fishballs, and tofu, as well as Miso paste.

    Onwards and Downwards,
    Merry

    Merry, the leafy greens I’m using are the moment are all cooked – baby spinach, beetroot leaves and kale sprouts. I had kale sprouts as a side dish for a couple of meals over the last week but use the other leaves a lot in soups and stews. I rarely eat raw veg at this time of year – it’s got to be hot weather for a cold salad to appeal to me.

    LJ, you were talking about baking for your friend’s daughter’s going to Canada party. This isn’t isn’t a lumberjack sheet cake, it’s a layer cake, but it’s a pretty cool tutorial: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aC2tBfyGtxM

    Merry, I’ve bought those seaweed sheets in the past. They called them roasted, but since the second and third ingredients are oil, it sounds more like they’re fried as well. They’re very flavorful but there isn’t much to them. They almost melt in your mouth. I like them.
    I hope for rain too, but average rainfall for August in a Northern Cal is about .152 cm. The temperatures have been a bit lower the past few days, but those huge fires create their own weather. It’s like the bush fires in Aus.

    Thin, glad to hear your bridge playing has turned a corner this week. You’ve been playing a lot, it seems. Learning seems to have been a great idea. Congrats on your persistence.

    Thanks for the info Merry. I was just near the Asian grocer when I met my friend for coffee yesterday but couldn’t think of anything I needed. Hope I’ll remember to look for the seaweed snacks next time I’m over that way. All the best for feeling better tomorrow.

    Thanks CalifD. The more I learn, the less I feel I know but I suppose that’s progress of sorts.

    LJ, I meant our WA firefighters. It hasn’t stopped raining for ages here – I’m not complaining, I quite like the rain. Just not keen on being cold and it has been very chilly the last couple of weeks.

    Sybs and Merry: I don’t recall needing any email verification from imgur. I’m sure I just dragged my photo in the box and then posted the link here. Maybe Cinque can help as she turned us on to it.

    Thin is right Sybs, you don’t need to sign up to imgur. This link https://imgur.com/upload should take you to where you can browse for (or drag) your photo and the URL should appear on the right hand side. You can just click ‘copy’ and paste it here with Control V as I demonstrate
    https://imgur.com/a/aOCwlNy
    (just to make sure I am telling you correctly)
    (It is a picture of that healthy cottage pie I made last month.)
    (Some sweet potato in the mash.)

    Cali, clearly what you guys call a Lumberjack cake is very different to what we do. That cake tutorial made me want to run away – no way in the world will I be attempting something that complicated. This is the much simpler recipe I’ll be using: http://www.notquitenigella.com/2010/11/09/lumberjack-cake-with-maple-butterscotch-coconut-topping/ The Aussie version of a lumberjack cake is an apple and date cake with a topping made mainly from shredded coconut and maple syrup. I’m pleased it should be an easy bake as the 2 dozen tiny pecan butter tarts are likely to be quite fiddly to make.

    Thin, Sybs & Merry, I have never needed an email from imgur either, although I have only used it from a laptop, using picture that I’ve saved onto my laptop. I open imgur, click on “browse”, which takes me to “Window Explorer”, I find the pick and select it and then wait for a few second for it to give me a “http://” link which appears in the top right hand corner of the photo. Although it also prompts me to give the photo a title I don’t usually bother.

    Cali, congratulations to your sister on her first fast day. Keen to hear if she keeps going. So lovely to hear the baby robin has launched, and that you have got some clear air. Lots of good news.

    Thin, I have such a problem with washing as I am up the opposite end of the flats to where the hotwater service is. I think I get about 15 litres of cold before the hot comes through! I am so excited when someone upstairs has been using the hot water and it comes through quickly. I try to coordinate my hot water use, or just heat up water in the electric jug. Eep! the difficulty of juggling environmental concerns.

    I will get to take a photo eventually! I’m generally very slow, but maybe next week. That’s no time! In fact I have figured that is why I am enjoying B2B fasts. I’m so old that days whiz by quickly and two days fast is only a blink more than one! 😉

    Gday, exciting news about the dehydrator!

    LJoyce, have fun with that Canadian baking. It sounds like the celebration will be a hoot! Just saw your latest post which led me to google images for lumberjack cake and it seems the idea is for it to look like a sawn off tree stump! Wow! That makes sense. Yours will be fab!
    And what a brilliant analogy for the robin! (Speaking as a mum who helped teach her daughter to drive).
    I’ve just had my lovely big bowl of miso soup. I hope you are enjoying your mulligatawny.

    Lindsay, lovely to see your post. We are both finishing up our B2B fasts. Good news about the doctor’s recommendation. Sorry it is going snails pace for you at the moment, but snails end up getting a long way!

    Merry thanks for your nice newsy post. I do hope you and Mr Merry have had a nice recovery day. Best wishes for that funeral tomorrow, it sounds like your friend deserves a great send off.

    Thin, I bet when the next couple of newbies turn up to bridge in a month or two, you will realise just how good you are getting. I’m absolutely certain you are getting good at it!

    Well, my fast day is drawing to an end. It has been good. But I might be looking forward to breakfast tomorrow!

    Cheers all, nighty night.

    @all – here are the pics, the colour was done on Sunday, but by today it’s much less bright – on the jar it says it’s good for 8 x washing hair, so I am half way through :-))

    https://imgur.com/a/eFZy22x before and https://imgur.com/a/8DeLKQk after

    Sybs, you are brave! And how cool to get a glimpse of you too! And in a singlet – that really brings home the diverse weather on our continent as I froze in 16C weather today.

    Have fun with the lumberjack cake. I loved pecan pie when I lived in North Carolina. I wouldn’t dare now.

    Cinque, you seem to have settled in so nicely with B2B fasting. What about the length of time fasting required for B2B vs. 2 x separate FDs? Not a factor I presume, then? (My question got lost in my post at the bottom of the last page). Gosh, how annoying to be at the end of the water pipe. But good that you can wait to hear the ‘hammer’ noise and co-ordinate with the neighbours!

    P.S. Cinque, unfortunately not! My bridge partner today was a senior gent who’s only just completed the 8 week lessons that I did in Feb/Mar. He has caught on so fast, I felt inadequate. Then again, there are others in the ‘supervised’ sessions who’ve been there for 3 years and still ask quite basic questions. I find it quite hard but I’m doing it to to challenge my brain – so it’s working!

    I’ve just had a long soak in a hot bath and now feel ready for an early night. I’ve had a very sore lower back for nearly a week and it seems to get worse overnight. I thought if I could relax the muscles before bed it might help – hence the very hot epsom salts bath.

    Sybs, glad you got imgur sorted. I think the colour looks fabulous. What a great shade of aqua.
    I still colour my hair but it quickly gets a white stripe down the middle if I’m slow doing the roots. I’m much more boring than you and use light brown. One day I might be brave enough for aqua or violet. Given I haven’t been brave enough to let my hair grow out to it’s natural white/grey, I think anything else might be a long time coming.

    Thin, as you know I do enjoy baking. Having an occasion to bake for that ensures all goodies leave the house is the best of both worlds for me – I get to enjoy the process not the produce.
    I had hoped that Saturday night’s party might cover my dinner needs, but I’ve been warned by my BF that there will be nothing healthy on offer. So I’ll need to rethink my meal plans for the day.
    Thin, I’m pretty sure you do lose 8-12 hours of fasting when you do B2B, but given that Cinque’s maintaining she can probably get away with it.

    Time for bed. Have a good evening everyone.

    I have a perfect neighbour like you LJ: she loves cooking but doesn’t like eating, especially carby things. I had a relaxing gold bath last week, (with a bomb from LUSH) – first time in ages as the only bath is in DD’s bathroom,. Have a good night’s sleep.

    Great to see your pics Sybs! The blue looks like a mermaid! Such fun.

    Thin, I wish I could hear the hammer hammer to alert me when upstairs (or next door flat) are running hot water, but the flats have good sound insulation. Hmmm I think I prefer it this way! 😉

    It is a good point that I lose 12 hours with B2B fasts, I think they should research if there are benefits doing it one way or another. What with that and the fact that I am eating a bit more, my fast days are not as rigorous, but while I am eating ‘normally’ on ‘normal’ days I can roll with it. I could always do my Sunday fast if I need it.

    Next week my sister will be down from St Arnaud’s on Wednesday and Thursday so I need to make new plans.

    Ha re bridge, that elderly chap must be a one off! Compare yourself to the people from previous years who are still asking newbie questions, much better for the ego. 🙂

    LJoyce, did your long soak help? I do hope so.
    Your baking love got the better of you! If you had made one of my Canadian salads you would have something to eat at the party! I wish I could make one for you to take along.
    Maybe just sip water for the party and eat when you get home?

    Well Friday has rolled around again already! 19C here today, warmest day for months, followed by howling winds. Life is never dull in Melbourne!

    Best wishes to everyone, I do hope you have a great day today.

    Morning Cinque, oh I see. So it’s just a bonus if the hot water comes through quickly and you then conclude that someone else has been using it. Maybe you could draw up a co-ordinated shower schedule with upstairs. I’m sure the ‘lost’ fasting hours won’t affect you in maintenance; I was curious in general as so many seem to be practising it here. My NFDs seem to go on forever …. still two more to go.

    Good morning SHs,

    No photo yet because I don’t feel like the meals I had planned for today. So far I’m having my first cup of tea and I’ve eaten a banana. I’ll figure my meals out by lunch time.

    Cinque, the weather is “warm” here too. It’s meant to get to 20C here today. I’ve got the sliding doors open to let fresh air through the house. It’s a rare day in winter when I’m prepared to do that.
    I live in a detached house but still wait for ages for hot water to get to any of the taps. I’ve learned that I have to start running the shower while I’m still getting myself organised to have a shower so that it’s actually warm before I step under it. It’s the same in the kitchen, it’s much less wasteful to boil water than wait for hot water if I want to fill a saucepan. I don’t know whether it’s a feature of the type of instant gas heater that I have, it’s the first time I’ve had this type of water heater.
    Cinque, given that MM has said that 6:1 if fine for a healthy maintenance, I suspect missing 12 hours when doing 2 days B2B won’t be an issue.

    Thin, I haven’t had a bath bomb from Lush for ages. I must investigate as I think they have a shop in my local shopping centre.

    The bath helped a bit but I still woke through the night and needed the hot wheat bag to help me relax my back enough to get back to sleep.

    I’m thinking I’ll make the butter tarts this afternoon. As they are likely to be time consuming I’d like to not be rushed for time when making them. Then I just have to bake the cake tomorrow and present everything on platters.

    Good morning everyone,
    In the car for an hour passenger, so posting now.

    Re the ‘You Can’t Say That’ show on ABC iview: i found the binge-eaters interesting, and also the one with the condition where they refuse all but a few specific foods, creating nutritional deficiencies. I related to some of the binge-eating things, but I didn’t eat anything like the quantities they were talking about. I’d call mine more stress eating where I feel like I need starchy carbs and sugar, usually later at night, but stopped way before these people did.

    A year or 2 back we had a discussion about our childhoods and our relationship with food then. Most of us had poorer relationships with our mothers, and certainly, for me, food was a source of pleasure, feeling good, in a disfunctional family.

    These days, I’m much more attuned to the variations that happen with appetite,bodily need, hunger and mood. 5:2 has helped me delineate these well. Sometimes I eat something I normally wouldn’t out of ‘nostalgia’. It happens fairly rarely now, but I can buy something, have some and throw or give the rest away now.

    Onwards and Downwards,
    Merry

    It’s interesting reading about B2B’s. I don’t think I will do them again as I think MM doesn’t recommend it. I like to have the “I can always have some tomorrow if I want” thought in my mind on FD’s, but then I don’t usually want that thing next day anyway & also don’t wake up hungry. No loss this week, but I am sticking with this. I think doing 5:2 is better for my brain & I haven’t even felt like “comfort eating” or “stuffing my face” as I usually call it in the last month. Cravings seem to disappear. Reading all of your posts helps me to feel that it will work & is sustainable long-term. I’m not good at attempting to address everyone individually, but hopefully will get better at that!

    Just had an email from my electrician confirming some arrangements and I noticed some inspirational quotes he includes as part of his signature line. Both appealed to me, so I though I’d share them:
    “Make today so awesome that yesterday gets jealous and tomorrow gets inspired.”
    “Never look down on someone unless you’re helping them up.”

    Hi Merry, I agree about the impact childhood comfort food has on us, and how we can gradually change that behaviour. I suspect many of us are on that journey.

    Cate, I use a similar line on myself to get through difficult FDs. The reminder that food choices are never more than a day away helps.

    I’ve finally done my daily food photo. The milder day meant that I didn’t feel like the planned soup and toast but something fresher, so I had to rethink that one.
    https://imgur.com/8soZ7u3
    As usual drinks for the day are cups of tea and water. Breakfast was a banana. Lunch was bruschetta – toasted sourdough with salad leaves (mostly baby spinach), tomato, garlic, oregano, pepper, salt and lemon scented olive oil. (It was delicious!) Dinner will be 2 chicken chorizo rissoles (currently still frozen solid but just need reheating) and half of the mixed cooked greens in the pictured bowl (the greens are emamame beans, broad beans, green beans and baby spinach mixed with garlic, lemon and a teaspoon of butter). I’ll save the other half for another night. I’ve also include a very small handful of nuts in case I really feel like a mid-afternoon snack.
    As I made the rissoles I know they are only half meat and the rest is minced vegetables (carrot, celery, onion and zucchini).

    LJ- Your food looks & sounds delicious & I love your crockery. We “veg it up” whenever we can too.

    My summery day turned tail and ran away, it’s now raining heavily!

    For those of you who don’t want to be confronted with desserts look away now.
    https://imgur.com/xmkBFnW I just took the last tray out of the oven. And no the very brown ones aren’t burned. I made an original version of the butter tarts and then a chocolate version, including chocolate pastry. Instead of providing cream to go with these I might have to provide insulin shots! – these things have a horrendous amount of sugar in them. Their only saving grace is that I’ve made them tiny – 5cm across to limit the damage, providing people can exhibit some portion control and just have one.

    Now I need a cuppa. My lower back feels much better – maybe I just needed an afternoon spent standing in the kitchen rolling out pastry and chopping pecans. I think it just means that I had fun, and I completely forgot about my back because I was enjoying the baking process.

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