That’s interesting, Essie. My palate reads chia as faintly nutty… Jackie, my breakfast mimics yours…1/2 c. greek yogurt
with 6-8 raspberries, topped with 1tbs chia and 1tbs raw unsweetened cacao nibs. Lots of fiber and healthy plant based
fats! I love all the crunch.

Thank you all for your take on chia I’m not sure the ‘gelatinous’ texture would suit me maybe I should just stick with walnuts!

It only gelatinizes in liquid. It’s very crunchy otherwise. In fact, even once it has expressed its gelatin, the core of the seed remains crunchy. Don’t make pudding with it if you’re concerned about texture. Use it as a topping for salads or yogurt or part of a crunchy coating for a cutlet. As the great Dr. Seuss once said, try it. You might like it. 🙂

Hi, V! Just a few facts about chia seeds that may be helpful in making a decision about giving them a try…
Omega 3 fatty acids (very beneficial in protecting the heart) are divided into 3 types. Chia contains ALA, derived
from plant oils. The more powerful EPA and DHA are contained in wild fish, wild salmon being one of the best
sources, but marine oils in general. Additionally, chia is high in antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and FIBRE (5.5gm/tbs).
Another fact is that they hold 10x their weight in water, so are a big help in weight loss to keep you feeling full!
They do only become gelatinous in liquid, and when used to top yogurt are only crunchy in texture. If you use them
this way, be sure to drink some water so this process takes place in the stomach, i.e., swelling by 10 x. Okay, off
my soapbox now 🙂

I put chia in my almond crackers and they add delightfully to the crunchy texture. I also use chia everyday as a way to help keep me regular, taken either just in water or as a ‘pudding’ mixed into some kefir.

Ok ok I’ll give them a go. The fibre sounds good to me because I struggle to get enough. So how do I know what to look for? I guess organic but what else? I do take three supplements each day, high strength cod liver oil, Coenzyme Q10 and turmeric. I also eat lots of fish so doubt I’m deficient in omega oils but I suppose a top up wouldn’t harm. Thank you for your encouragement. But how about flax seeds?

Haha, Verano! I didn’t mean to bully you 🙂 I’m just a big fan! Flax seeds are much the same, but do require that
you grind them first to access the nutrients. A spare coffee bean grinder is all that you would need, though.
My understanding is that chia is higher in fiber, but not by a significant amount.

I don’t like chia wet, it’s too weird, but I do like it dry. Apparently I doesn’t need to be ground to have a good effect, though as Allie says water should be taken shorter after.

Currently I am eating ground flax seeds, whole linseeds, chia seeds and a seed (sunflower etc) mix all from Waitrose a healthy spoonful of each on my yoghurt. They are all pleasant and non-offensive to eat (more than that, I crave them, they are crunchy!) They have massively helped in the Getting enough fibre department (if you get my drift). Also, I eat whole Earth Peanut butter with Sunflower, pumpkin and flax seeds which is 4.6g carbs per 100g and therefore lower than standard peanut butter.

Additionally I am adding spinach or kale to at least one meal a day and also adding ground flax or linseed as a kind of topping as you can’t really tell it’s there (chia would be the same for salad or where there’s no juices). As you can probably tell I am on a mission to sort my fibre out, as I am hoping it will have an impact on my cholesterol reading and also because it makes me feel happier to have regular BMs.

Thank you all. Jackie I’m amazed at your diet, wonderful, but I may just start with chia first and possibly the Whole Earth butter.

Sunshine-girl remarked on the article below written by Professor Taylor and a colleague, it reinforces what we are all doing, with maybe less stringency, but it’s worth taking a look….

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-5348281/How-beat-diabetes-12-weeks.html

Don’t know if anybody saw How to lose weight well last night. I only caught a glimpse in passing but one of the diets was Audrey Eyton’s F-Plan, I’m sure some of you must remember that one from the 80’s. I certainly tried it and did have some success but not like this WOE! I must watch it today in full because I there was an item about the order in which you eat/drink and the effects on how your body uses the nutrients. So that’s Channel 4 Monday January 5th.

Verano, I can’t quite believe my diet either! I always thought I was healthy in terms of lots of veg but this is 100 miles away from previous habits. I’ve worked up to it though, as my BSD progressed – and I think I do hold on to weight a bit more now as there’s more inside me at any given moment.

Seed and almond crackers (I posted a recipe on the recipe thread and I think others have too) are amazing (with Parmesan and rosemary) are a good way to get chia seeds with crunch not gel.

As for the Whole Earth butter … yum! Enjoy!

Ok OH is out shopping for chia seeds as we speak, so will report back. Jackie I can’t find that recipe. I found one for almond flour crackers and another using chickpea flour. Do you sprinkle with parmesan as they go in the oven or part way through? I will give them a try I’m just concerned that they will be so good I will end up eating too many!

Verano hope you can read this. Basically blitz it all in a food processor and mush up then spread thin and bake. This refers to a Thermonix blender specifically but I don’t think that’s important.

Hope this link works!

https://postimg.org/image/sqpiiz76n/4f6bfb3d/

Thanks Jackie looks very tasty. I suppose I could use ground almonds and just blitz the other ingredients. I will try it out. I think that maybe this sort of cracker takes a little trial and error to find the best combination for each individual. Will let you know when I make them!

Well just had my first ‘meeting’ with chia and actually it was quite a non-event. I just sprinkled 5g onto yogurt and berries and apart from them sticking in my teeth they were pretty tasteless. Don’t know what I was so worried about. Let’s hope they do some good.

Hi Verano. Snap! After a couple of visits to health food shops – and a near heart attack at the prices! – I came across flax seed and chia “sprinkles” in Tesco for 2.50 sterling. Probably not as virtuous as chia alone, but it seems a nice product in moderation.

Dont forget, DO NOT BUY ORGANIC chia seeds, there is no such thing, also dont buy BIO – all chia seeds are produced in the wild and are natural anyway. It is just a label to bump up the price.

Thanks for that tip s-g but at 5g a day my pack will last a long, long time! Hope you had a good birthday and are feeling better now.

Just browsing the Internet here and found this

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20180126-the-100-most-nutritious-foods

Way too much fruit on that list. They use “high in sugar” as a positive descriptor!

Morning/Afternoon, Everyone!

Jackie, I meant to post this earlier on this thread, you have just reminded me. You will have to google
“whfoods” to reach it, though, because the link won’t work…My “go to” source for nutritional info!

Enjoy 🙂

Allie

Thanks Jackie and Allie. It’s always good to have new links.

JackieM, I made your seed crackers for guests just recently – they are bloody delicious! I’m also trying to load my meals with extra fibre and have really grown to love the crunch of soaked and dried pepitas and sunflower seeds in salads. I also add a teaspoon of chia seeds to yoghurt as a sprinkle. Best consumed as quickly as possible in my view.

Flick – glad you liked them, they are delicious and very forgiving recipe for alternating ingredients.

Have upped my fibre considerably recently, very pleased with results! (Ahem) and weight stable.

Flick – glad you liked them, they are delicious and very forgiving recipe for alternating ingredients.

Have upped my fibre considerably recently, very pleased with results! (Ahem) and weight stable.

Allie that website looks good, is this link to it working? http://whfoods.com/

Last night I watched the DrM programme about sleep deprivation and how it affect health and weight. Cant remember the exact science but it showed that people with bad sleep patterns had increased glucose in the blood which builds to a level where it cant be used and must be stored as fat or sloshes around causing problems with over production of insulin leading to T2. I have never in my life had a good nights sleep, I lie awake until around 4am until I am exhausted. Besides a few tricks we have all heard about like making the bedroom cool, gadget free etc there was no real solution – one interesting one was eating 2 kiwi fruit which seemed to work or DrM took a nightly pre-biotic drink in powder form (dont know where you buy it) but anything is worth trying. I personally have antihistamines prescribed but I have been taking them for so long it is a worry and time I found another solution.

Works great, Jackie, Thanks!

Hi Sunshine-girl, I also used to struggle to sleep, and was awake early in a morning, I went through a period when I started on this WoE where it got even worse, but something has since changed this for me. I don’t fall asleep immediately still, but I have had to invest in an alarm clock because I am sleeping through the alarm setting on my mobile phones. I did come across some research when I was googling that the body needs a small amount of carbs close to the time to go to bed to help switch into sleep mode. I think the change in sleep for me did occur around the time when I got into the habit of just eating between 3pm and 8pm each day, rather than spreading my limited number of carbs over three meals throughout the day.

I was in the pharmacy today and they have a new ‘phyto’ cure containing passiflora and melatonin and I am going to try it for one month and try to go to bed an hour earlier instead of sitting up late because I am worried I wont sleep.

Sunshine-girl, lack of sleep is so diabolical, I suffer from it occasionally but have something that often works for me, helps me drift off anyway!
it’s called ASMR, and is basically YouTube videos of people talking softly, turning the pages of a magazine quietly and making low background noises that are somehow soothing and relaxing. It’s a bit like being a kid and drifting off to sleep with household sounds soothing you, if that makes sense?! My go to is someone called Tinglefix asmr (Debbie) and I just whack in the headphones and away I go. Might be worth a try and although it may seem a bit weird in the beginning, it has helped so many people with insomnia, anxiety, ptsd etc. might be worth a try. ASMR itself is a kind of tingling feeling your brain gets with certain sounds – quite interesting to read about.

Hi Inka13,

That’s so funny, I totally get it. I’m a bad sleeper (although I’m much better since I’ve been doing BSD). I live in the UK and listen to BBC Radio 4 which is a spoken word radio station. If I really can’t sleep (I mean when it’s been hours) I’ll sometimes go on ‘listen again’ and play particular programmes. My favourite for sleeping is a guy called Melvyn Bragg on In Our Time. He and his guests always speak so quietly and gently on whatever topic it is. The trick is to select a topic you’ve heard already (otherwise the risk is you start listening). My go to favourites at the moment are Jane Eyre, The Great Fire of London and The Dissolution of the Monasteries. (I know…… but a lot of the other topics are science-based and that way lies madness for me!). I just let the whole conversation wash over me – it’s beautifully soothing and I’m away in no time. Good old Melvyn.

I’m definitely going to check out your suggestions.

Since starting BSD I’ve gone from workd’s worst sleeper to champion sleeper status. When I couldn’t sleep I used to do the same thing here but with the Australian broadcaster ABC Ratio National. My favourite was to replay Richard Fidler, Conversations. The trick though, I was sometimes awoken by a change in episode and a new voice. Now I sometimes forget that I will fall off asleep and start to get set up with book, podcast etc and then remember, put them away and go to sleep. Hot nights can still be a bit of trial. If I had known how wonderful it was to have a full night’s sleep, regularly, I would have stopped at nothing to solve the problem, even disgusting kiwi fruit!

It is just amazing how much we can tolerate.

Just to update on my sleep – and it has only been one day – last night I took one of the herbal remedies with melatonin and passiflora. I am doing it to get off the anti-histamines I have been taking for the last 5 or so years. What made me want to do this is, when I have a drink I dont take them, when I have a very small drink I might take one, when I am alcohol free like in dry January I have to take my full dose of 2 per night. By the end of January there were not working as well and I upped the dose to 3 – not good but not over the prescribed limit which is 3 per night. Anyway, I dont like to be hooked on meds, I have enough to take with diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, pee tablets, aspirin etc, so I looked for something else. I have also been going to bed later and later and getting up later and later, causing a vicious circle causing my sleep pattern to get completely out of whack so I want to go to bed earlier and get up earlier and, as we are heading for Spring and lighter mornings this is a good time to start.

Update, It is recommended you take a tablet 1 hour before sleep. I took one tablet half an hour before bedtime – went to bed and read for exactly half an hour. Light off and blissfully I went to sleep almost straight away (I normally lie away for about 4 hours). Woke up and got up an hour earlier than I have been and felt refreshed and ready for the day. It says on the pack that they are non addictive, no need to ever increase the dosage and you might be able to stop taking them after 30 days as they should encourage your natural melatonin response to darkness reset the cicirdian body clock. Here’s hoping.

What a great result Sunshine-girl! There is something absolutely wonderful about falling peacefully to sleep. After a couple of months of it, I sometimes still wake up and think, “oh that’s right I fell asleep!” Fingers crossed for a reset.

S-g that sounds really interesting. Glad you’ve found something that’s helping. I don’t have a problem falling to sleep but I wake at 3 or 4am and then find it really difficult to fall back to sleep again. When I have a problem dropping off I use lavender oil on a cotton wool ball or similar and that helps.

Hi everyone, a newbie here, still learning about the BSD after my first week (really successful!)
I have had lots of sleep problems after a car accident 3 years ago. My Dr prescribed sleeping tablets, but was not happy taking them long term. In Dr m’s clever guts book he mentions potato starch, and that he may do a trial, in its use as a sleep aid? I ordered my potato starch (Bobs Mill make I think) and slept like a baby, best sleep I have had in years. Just one heaped teaspoon in a little milk, half hour before bed. After a month I stopped ( not sure on carbs with starting the BSD) but find I still sleep well, into a good routine now? I do hope this information is helpful to other people.

Hi Marie123,
Yes, it’s so effective isn’t it! I remember years ago, using audio books ( on tape!) to get to sleep. Dick Francis books, of all things, but the narrator had such a low soothing voice I used to turn the volume right down to a gentle burble and let it carry me away!
I like your suggestion, I’m in Australia, not sure if we get radio 4 but might look for something similar over here, if not.
Or google Melvyn Bragg no see what I can find!
Glad to hear your sleep has improved on the bsd, I think the body rests easier when it’s not wrestling with all those sugars during the night, certainly my stomach sounds no longer keep me awake!!

I can certainly relate to all descriptions of sleep disorders here today! With the aid of 5 mg melatonin,
I can get to sleep fairly reliably, but I wake up exactly 4 hrs later, at 3:30am. It’s rare that I can catch
a few more hrs. Been this way for the past 18 yrs, and I’ve never had any serious clarification as to
whether it’s the result of Lyme disease, or menopause. I’m going to do some research on passiflora,
s-g, thanks. What properties do kiwi fruit have, if anyone knows? I also do what a lot of others
have resorted to…talk radio! I use you tube because I’m spared 20 min of commercials per hr. It’s
far from ideal, though, and o/h finds it “annoying”, sometimes removing himself to a guest room for
the night 🙂 I just can’t seem to relax enough to sleep in “complete silence”, though. Just can’t
shut down my brain at the end of the day! It is anxiety producing, isn’t it? Always wondering what
the night might bring…. Maybe we can figure it out together???

OK, add me to the same list. I fall asleep just fine and always wake up between 3 and 3:30 am.

What has worked for me is amitriptyline. It is an old old antidepressant that went under the trademark of Elavil. It was pretty much discontinued for depression because one of the major side effects was grogginess. BINGO.

The dosage for depression is 75 – 150- mg a day.

My dosage is 10 mg before bedtime, ie, a fraction of above dose.

It does not help me get to sleep but makes a HUGE difference in being able to get back to sleep after my 3:00 am rousing and subsequent visit to the powder room.

Has been a huge help to me….so passing it along.

Allie, I also share the “cannot shut my brain off at the end of the day”, and ditto just cannot fall asleep in silence.

My solution is to fall asleep with the TV on with shut off timer set to 30 min ….brightness down to “cinema” setting, volume low, and my selection is usually a Netflix rerun of something that I have seen before and don’t care of I miss the end of (because I always do) , that has no violence, no shouting, guns shots, etc. Call The Midwife does the trick, as does Inspector Lewis, Rick Steves travel shows, episodes of NOVA or NATURE, etc. (somewhat PBS / BBC heavy). And turning off the computer no later than 9 pm…they say the blue light stimulates your awake centers. Can’t have that.

Retirement has been such a relief because if I have a really miserable night (and yes, still have a hanful of those where nothing seems to work) at least no one is depending on me to be at my best, and I can take a beloved nap if I really need to.

And Inka13, I am also a huge Dick Francis fan. Have read every single one of his books, and have 2 on my bedside right now to reread that I got at the library’s used book sale for $1 each. Could not pass up that one.

Wow Luv, it’s really comforting to know that we walk the same path! No wonder I see you out and
about at the same early hours…It’s more or less accepted in my house that I sleep when I can,
and sometimes that happens at all sorts of unacceptable hours. The absolute worst is falling
asleep at 8:30 – 9:00 pm, then being awake from 1:00am on. I’m so happy that you are retired
now, though, and don’t have to commit to standard professional hours! The world just doesn’t
march to the same drummer that we do, I guess. We will certainly continue to share notes,
and grab an occaisional nap 🙂 when we can!

xoxo

Allie

Hello Everyone…Michael Moseley does a programme called “The Truth about….” On 31st January it was …”Getting Fit.” The programme covered a lot and I was a little confused. So I watched it again today and looked at the findings. I have listed them below.

First take a fitness test. Sit and stand 10 times and time yourself. The faster you can do this the better. Men under 35 should be able to do it in 10 seconds…Women under 35 in 12 seconds. Men under 55…13 seconds….women under 55…15 seconds. Men over 55 should take around 18 seconds…women over 55 …19 seconds.

Then use a step (bottom stair). Step up left (or right) step up right (so you are on top of the step. Then down one foot then the other. Do it in the rhythm…up..up..down..down. Do this for 3 minutes. Take pulse.
Men under 35 should be under 105 beats per minute. Women under 110
Men under 55 should be less than 110….women under 115
Male over 55…bpm 115…female…120.

These are indicators of fitness.

Should you walk 10,000 steps? In 1964 Olympics a company made a step counter called the Monpo-meter which translates as 10,000 steps. This was clever marketing as now everyone thinks they should do 10,000 steps a day. There is no scientific basis for this belief.

Trialled people walking 10,000 steps against people doing 3 ten minute walks a day. The walkers had 30% more movement overall and found it easier to achieve. Therefore. Walking 3 times a day for 10 minutes is better than trying to make 10,000 steps a day.

HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) Group had to sprint cycle 3 times a week for 40 seconds (also needed to warm up/cool down). After 5 weeks all fitness was improved by 11% on average.

They also measured the Glycogen before and after exercise (used a ultra sound type jobby). There was a 24% depletion in glycogen after the exercise (which was 40 seconds of sprint cycling).

The equivalent to do at home would be…warm up (stretches or jogging) 1 minute star jumps. 1 minutes squats…1 minutes sprint run on spot…1 minute squats. 1 minute star jumps. Cool down.

Using weights to build muscle is effective BUT, it makes no difference if you use light weights and more repetitions or heavy weights and less repetitions. The result is the same. It is up to you.

If you have had your willpower tested you are less likely to continue/or do well at exercise.

Running has less impact on joints than walking, because the impact is quicker and less sustained when running.
Running also increases Endocannabinoids (sp). The same type of impact of cannabis (but less because of amount produced). This is what they call “Runners High.”

Dancing increases brain capacity for memory, problem solving. It is having to remember steps, and co-ordination whilst dancing. Makes the brain work better whilst getting more blood and oxygen from the exercise.

In conclusion: Take a fitness test
Walk briskly for 10 minutes 3 times a day.
Do HIIT three times a week for 5 minutes.
Use weights to build muscle.
Don’t test your willpower, or you wont want to exercise.
If you want to get high…take up running and don’t worry about your joints they will be fine.
The best exercise of all is dancing…because it is FUN, it is EASY, it is PORTABLE (do it at home), it is also SOCIABLE.

I hope the above helps. The most interesting thing to me was the walking…forget 10,000 steps! Take up dancing!

Love
Nonna Mary
xxx

Thanks for summarising the programme for us, it is interesting that hours and hours of exercise is not necessary and actually we can improve our fitness without enormous effort. Definitely food for thought.

Luvtocook, DF is great, isn’t he? Must dip in to them again, it’s been a while but still have most of them!

Nonna Mary, that was a great summarisation, thank you!

Very interesting post, Mary! I really appreciated your in depth summary too. I do a lot of dancing in
the kitchen while I prepare dinner, music loud, and I throw in a set or two of squats and modified
push-ups off the countertop for good measure…Maybe not so crazy, after all! Hope you are re-
covering…

xoxo
Allie

Wow. Great response by Canadian MDs and health professionals advocating for the govt to revise nutritional guidelines to reflect the new research on LCHF diets and reversal of diabetes.

This posted today… hurray for Canada!!!

https://www.treehugger.com/health/canadian-physicians-say-its-time-low-carb-high-fat-food-guide.html

*********************************

Canadian physicians say it’s time for a low-carb, high-fat Food Guide

Katherine Martinko
Katherine Martinko feistyredhair
February 14, 2018
Canada’s Food Guide cover
© Health Canada

The updated Canada Food Guide, slated for 2018, should reflect the latest dietary science, even if it goes against what people have been taught for decades.

A significant number of Canadian physicians are frustrated with the Ministry of Health. Canada’s government is in the process of revising its national dietary guidelines for the first time in a decade, and a group of more than 715 physicians and allied health professionals worry that the new guidelines will not reflect the latest dietary science. Previously, the guidelines were based on the low-fat, high-carbohydrate model that has dominated nutritional advice for the past 50 years but has since been shown to be deeply flawed; however, it appears the government believes otherwise, stating that its two-year review of scientific evidence found “the scientific basis for the 2007 guide is generally consistent with the latest evidence on nutrition and health.”

The group has sent multiple letters to the Ministry since late 2016, when the update was first announced, and has received only a single response that failed to address concerns about the inadequacies of the current food guide and the so-called evidence base.

This is concerning because, as Dr. David Harper writes in an opinion piece for the Vancouver Sun, the new food guide will have a profound effect on the health of Canadians — and never before have the stakes been so high.

The current state of public health in Canada is abhorrent, similar to that of the United States, and Harper, along with the signees of the letters to the Ministry of Health, believes this is due in large part to following guidelines based on obsolete study models and erroneous conclusions.

“The results are clear: more than 50 percent of us are now overweight or obese, insulin resistant, and inflamed; the rates of diabetes are skyrocketing; and cancer and cardiovascular disease are the most common killers. Roughly 70 per cent of chronic disease is caused, directly or indirectly, by what I call the axis of illness: inflammation, obesity, and insulin resistance — three factors that work synergistically over time to worsen health outcomes.”
Harper writes that there are at least 2,600 family physicians in Canada who are currently reversing the effects of chronic disease using diet, primarily the ketogenic diet, which goes against conventional nutritional advice by recommending high-fat, low-carb intake. He cites one particularly successful experiment:

“A 2017 low-carbohydrate diet study conducted at Indiana University and published in the journal JMIR Diabetes, involving 262 adults with Type II diabetes, found that 87 per cent of the subjects were able to reduce or eliminate their need for medication to manage their disease. And this happened within a matter of weeks, sometimes even days.”
For Health Canada to ignore such results is irresponsible, Harper argues, but also reveals the food industry’s insidious influence on shaping national guidelines. This is the same problem seen in the United States, when its revised 2015 Dietary Guidelines failed to take environmental concerns into consideration because the meat lobby is so powerful.

What the Canadian doctors want to see is fairly straightforward:

An end to the idea that a low-fat diet is healthy and that there should be caps on saturated fat
Guidelines created without influence from the food industry
An emphasis on nutrients coming from real foods, not artificially fortified grains
Promotion of low-carb diets as at least one effective intervention for people struggling with obesity, heart disease, and diabetes
Cease the advice to replace saturated fats with polyunsaturated, refined vegetable oils
Stop steering people away from nutritious whole foods, such as whole-fat dairy and regular red meat (obviously this has ethical and climate implications that would need to be weighed by individuals)
A cap on added sugar, in accordance with the updated WHO guidelines, ideally no greater than 5% of total calories

Perhaps most importantly, the new Canadian Dietary Guidelines should:

“Be based on a complete, comprehensive review of the most rigorous data available. In the absence of randomized clinical controlled trial data, rely on large epidemiologic studies with major clinical outcomes (avoid relying on surrogate endpoint studies), but accept that the level of evidence is less robust. If such data is not available, the Guidelines should remain silent.”

We can only hope that the USDA adopts these principles, Luv, especially in pediatrician’s offices!

And everyone else too! But I fear it will take years. It’s great that the message is beginning to be heard, though. Thanks for sharing, Luv.

Good to know some Doctors are taking up the banner! Thanks for the info LTC.

Mary

Thank you LTC . Lets hope the tide is turning. If we can each play our individual small part in the process of dissemination of this WOE then who knows. The more doctors who have patients who cure themselves by LC/HF diets then the more they will have to start taking notice. One hopes!

Hi Inka13
Just to let you know I’m listening to ASMR TingleFix on page turning. It’s fascinating. It was a bit disconcerting watching it but now I’m just listening to it I can understand completely how it works. Will definitely give it a go.