Well that is just flaming awesome soapbox, I hope you are giving yourself a massive pat on the back!! 🎉😊

Ooh, I am excited to see your photos Mixnmatch – what a star!

Well I finally lost the elusive 1lb to take me to 5stone (70lb) lost!

I had in mind that I would go for a further two stone and stop at around 11. However, all the posts from our fab maintainers is making me wonder whether that would be settling for less than is ideal and I should aim to lose more?

I suspect it will become clearer as I get nearer to that weight and let’s face it: as it took nearly 2 weeks to lose than damned 1lb, it isn’t going to be a question that needs answering any time soon!

Kazz…first of all…Bloody well done for running up an escalator….what a non scales victory! I laughed through the Jack Reacher film as it was preposterous for him to play such a macho, killing machine…ex commando isn’t he? There were some funny one liners though. I have seen him on a talk show (Graham Norton) and he seems to be a nice guy, but, that could be an act. Lol.

Your bloods seem normal. I was told that my Psoriasis can show an inflammation in the tests. I am also on Losartan and didn’t know it could affect the gut. Although, I know it can affect the kidneys and liver. If your IBS wasn’t severe before the anti-biotics, it could well be that it has affected your flora. So maybe some of the gut friendly foods would help?

I so hope you have a good weekend. Take care.

Lots of love
Nonna Mary
xxx

Jande9, well done on maintaining for a year. I think your WOL since then sounds eminently sensible, and is pretty much what I am doing myself (been maintaining for 6 months after losing 42lbs, then dropping another 8lbs during maintenance). I am fortunate in that I have never had a sweet tooth so cakes, biscuits, puddings etc hold no appeal, BUT…………. freshly made bread? Now you’re talking my language😀

I no longer count calories, but do remain low carb most of the time, but definitely indulge myself if I feel like it when dining out or on holidays etc (though I often don’t feel like it). If I gain a couple of pounds, I know I now have the tools to get it straight back off again – I think not letting it “settle” is key, it would be easy for that 2 lbs to become 4, 6, 8 etc and before we know it, we’re back where we started. And I’m definitely not going there!

Morning, if it is where you are, actually it is just passed midday here. Had another successful diet day with another loss that I am keeping to myself. However, my BG shot up to 145 (8.2) which was quite a shock. I do have a theory about that as I have noticed it happens when I have had a break from the plan and then go really strict. I think my body overreacts to the shock of 800 cals and pumps out glycogen in large amounts, just as it does with the dawn phenomenon, even though I had a small snack before bed. I am sure it will have settled within a couple of days so not going to worry about it.

Weekend coming and I am really determined and we have no social events in the near future – maybe a lunch out next week but I can cope with French lunch, just need to say no to wine with the meal.

Have a good day and keep on keeping on…

Esnecca, I’m afraid I’m with Verano on the tripe front! Who on earth WOULD choose to eat it?!!! Well, you obviously, and it is also one of my o/h’s favourite things but I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO COOK IT for him!!! So he doesn’t get it very often, as it doesn’t often feature on restaurant menus, much to his chagrin.

Verano, as others have said, one bad day does not a disaster make, so don’t beat yourself up. As Caronl has said, if it came on quickly, it will come off just as quickly, and at least the trend is down, so bank the pound you have lost and just draw a line under everything else and remember just how far you have come.

I’m afraid I may not be jumping, cheering and shaking quite so enthusiastically today as I seem to have picked up a tummy bug and am feeling really ropey!😭 Spent most of the night on the loo (sorry, TMI) but did still manage to walk the dogs this morning (just) as there was no one else available to do it. Think I may have a “slow” day today and hope this S&D doesn’t cause any more weight loss.

Good morning, good morning!

Thank heavens it’s Friday! 🙂 Well done Mary – enjoy your lie in! 🙂 I’m having one as well – felt a bit grumpy this week. People annoying me at work – zero patience!

I’m totally confused with my test results. Spoke to the receptionist. Coeliac result hasn’t come back yet. This is what she read to me…
Liver function test result – normal stable result, no further action. White cell count – normal, Protein – normal. Full blood count – slightly raised – discuss with doctor. Not urgent, make appt in next 3 weeks. So???? I have a telephone appt next Saturday with doc. I shall mention to her that I was on Oxytetracycline for 7 months last year to clear up the acne rosacea – may be that’s knocked my guts off – my IBS type symptoms didn’t become the issue they are now until June last year when I stopped taking them. Also I’m on a BP med, Losartan and water tablet – bendrofluzamide (don’t know how to spell that!) – about 5 years now. May be it’s a side effect of that causing the gut problems. And I’ve had psoriasis for 40 years! Anyway – there is inflammation somewhere and it’s showing up in my liver test results! Pinpointing the cause is the tricky thing. I’m taking a probiotic tablet and vitamin B complex tablet each morning. Started 2 weeks ago. But since starting BSD800, the wind and bloat is gone although bathroom visits, only once a day and sometimes not at all, still loose-ish. I think I’m doing the best I can to improve things. I read online about a guy who developed IBS symptoms. Came off Losartan and went back to normal. Back on the Losartan and back to IBS symptoms. Anyway – I just can’t think about it any more. I feel tons better in myself. Instead of the escalator, I climbed 41 steps at the train station today! Unheard of and undoable before without being totally exhausted and breathless. I wasn’t even out of breath! My quads ached a bit, but it was a good feeling! 🙂 I used to have to get the lift if the escalator was out in the past because I just couldn’t climb those stairs (and hold everyone one up behind me) whilst I panted and heaved! I feel like I could jog!

Tom Cruise – when he did Jack Reacher (Lee Child and having read some of the books) – he was awfully mis cast! I don’t know what they were thinking – Jack Reacher’s character is about 6 foot tall with a slightly brooding, controlled, depth! I thought it was an April fool joke when I heard TC was playing the character! Hilarious!

Well my lovelies, I’d best crack on! Have a good day/evening.

See you later
Kazzeee

Bit late to the party, hubby and I are starting this on Monday for four weeks…I’ve got about 10lbs to lose. It’s giving up the ‘liquid toast’ that is going to be the biggest challenge I think. Hopefully, less calories won’t have an effect on my running but I’ll not know that till Wednesday.

Morning al

The last day of a very long and stressful week at work and the plan has basically taken a flying leap out of the window. My boss is being an utter ar*e wipe and when he’s the CEO you know it’s not going to just ‘go away’ I stress eat – I know I do and I don’t know how to stop 🙁

My meals are still BSD friendly but a couple of bags of crisps, some licorice, sweets and more nuts than I should have had have crept in – plus my water intake has dropped. I daren’t weigh myself because I’m frightened that I’ve put weight on rather than lost it.

Still, I am trying to stay positive – boss is away next week, I have the weekend free (apart from chores obvs) so I shall use that time to reconnect with the plan, and give myself a stern talking to.

Hi all. Verano, have a great day. Don’t let the scales spoil it. If it came quickly on, it can go quickly too. Just back from a lovely hour walk in the woods, so full of the joys of Autumn! Today I am going to try hard again with water. And replaced my breakfast porridge with a mushroom omelette. Onwards and downwards? Good luck to everyone today.

Hi all. Verano, have a great day. Don’t let the scales spoil it. If it came quickly on, it can go quickly too. Just back from a lovely hour walk in the woods, so full of the joys of Autumn! Today I am going to try hard again with water. And replaced my breakfast porridge with a mushroom omelette. Onwards and downwards? Good luck to everyone today.

Ismac, thank you for the update. I am interested in the theory of stressing the body by losing weight and the cholesterol increase. Can you share the research on this, or was it your GP that gave you this advice?

Thank you.

Nonna Mary
xx

Thanks, Mixnmatch. At the moment, the only thing I can say is that I still weigh a few kilos less than when I started! Will keep dropping in from time to time.

I’m with Kazz and Verano, we gain immensely from your posts, you maintainers, clever things that you are 👏👏👏

Wow, arcticfox, there’s an incentive toward goal if ever there was one😊. .

Hope you’re also online, Mnm, for we antipodeans. I recall, sometime last year I think, that Captainlynne was in a similar promotion. Are you still here Lynne, hope you’re well?

After OH’s 80th last weekend, we are spending a few days “down south” as we say here, staying in Busselton with a group of friends with the focus on Tuesday being the “race that stops the nation” the Melbourne Cup. Thousands of kms away, doesn’t matter, lunches, parties everywhere, all watching the race on a screen. Great fun. Hopefully I can maintain reasonably well for that time. Cheers all xx

Thanks you FrenchFemme!

Ah, a message from a French lady – it was worth joining the forum just for that. 🙂

My wife and I actually visited France – Paris – this year for the first time, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Such an enchanting city, I am so happy we visited. It was just early spring then, and we did so much walking – wonderful.

Hi all , and thankyou for the welcome. Well done on your losses, I am ON IT,
These are my goals for this challenge 💪
I want to drop 1 stone before Xmas so:-
trying to drink as much 💦 as possible. I too drink a pint in the morning before ☕️ and try to keep hydrated until lunchtime which is my first meal of the day. I am trying to get more steps in but can be a bit lazy!!! I know I want to reach the maintainer stage👍Well done to you all it’s amazing when you feel lighter, slimmer and most certainly healthier✅So my mantra is to read my BSD BOOK et al reaffirming this way of life for the future. To keep reinforcing to myself this is the healthy way.
Positive thoughts and imagining foods that I shouldn’t eat covered in YUK is a FAB way of putting myself off eating them and reading your great tips and recipe ideas.
Loss in week 1 , 5 lbs
Week2 , 3 lbs
Feeling really ON IT 😊 Good luck to all👍

Thanks for the encouragement Lessmuffintop just sometimes I feel the need to sigh about it all!

THAT really does sound like a plan Ancient Weaver!! Best of luck.

Verano don’t despair you will just have upped your carbs and it will be water I fund the same last week. 1 pound is better than no pound , a pound a week is 52 a year in the right direction. Bank it! And move on. I lost .2 lb today but I feel I should have lost 10 I restarted excercise and killed myself. I did a 2hour walk and a line dance class my legs are sore. I like the idea of more protein ancient weaver I will try that as my weight loss does seem to slow down when I excercise. Off for eggs now!!

Wednesday morning, I went swimming, did a few more lengths than last week, felt pretty good about it, had .5l water, wasn’t hungry, despite fasting.
Mid-afternoon, was really tired, and eventually gave in and had a nap and slept solidly. With the aid of a tin of salmon, I had a whopping 86g of protein, without resorting to protein shake, but it did come to nearly 900calories all together. Despite the long nap, I slept pretty well that night, but by mid-morning I was feeling ropey, so had some breakfast (mostly dairy). By 11 I was totally zonked out again, and had to have another nap. I was fast asleep when the phone woke me up over an hour later . . . by this time there was no denying that it was protein deficiency, and as I know from past experience that, eating real food only, it would be the next morning at least before I felt better, I decided to have a protein shake and see if that was any better. It worked like a tonic!
So, two lessons learned: One, next time I suspect protein deficiency, just wolf down a shake.
Two, that I can’t keep up that level of activity without eating even more protein, and I can’t do that with real food and stick to 800cals.
I really need to get fit, so dropping the exercise is not the way I want to go. Losing weight is just part of getting fit, and in many ways it’s just the cherry on top, but it’s a very nice cherry. I’m not terribly fussed about getting all my nutrients from real food really, but it is better for my, ahem, ‘internal workings’, and is much more satisfying in less tangible ways, than supplements and pills.
So, bearing in mind that in the three weeks I was away this summer, I actually lost two pounds, despite not having a clue how many calories I was eating, and having food foisted on me even when I wasn’t hungry, including loads of fruit and occasional cakes: I am going to drop the 800 calorie aspect of BSD and just stick to my basic (BSD compliant) rules.

Avoid grains and starchy veg.
Eat moderate portions.
Eat when genuinely hungry, and don’t eat unless genuinely hungry. (Daytime fasting is easy now I’ve kicked Pavlov’s reflex for breakfast 😉 )
Stay hydrated.
Drink 1/2l plain cold water at least twice a day.
Do some resistance training and some cardio every other day.
Eat real food as much as possible, but take supplements and or vitamins any time I suspect a deficiency. (That’s a new one.)

Considering how little of that I managed while away, I should do better than 2lbs in three weeks. (Fingers crossed!)

Hi Jimmy

I’m just another testament to the success of this way of eating. I was diagnosed with T2 about 5 or 6 years ago and started BSD over a year ago. I initially lost weight and my HbA1c reduced as well. As I was already having 6 month reviews my first test was after 4 months of BSD and my BS had fallen from 46, on 2000mg slow release metformin a day, to 37. Six months later it was 33 and my metformin was reduced to 1000mg a day. A further 3 months on and it was stable at 34. My metformin was then stopped altogether. My next HbA1c, the first since I’ve been drug free, is next week. So we will see if I’m still in remission!

You are newly diagnosed so you have much better change of reversing the diagnosis. Don’t be too disheartened if the medics aren’t open minded about this way of eating but follow it anyway. Resist drugs if they are prescribed and ask for 3 months to change your diet.

Best of luck and further to Esnecca’s post there is a thread on here ‘101 ways with cauliflower…’ just search in the box above right. You’d be amazed what you can do with a cauliflower! As a matter of interest I’m not that fussed on cauliflower rice and a few weeks ago had a Thai curry served over lightly steamed asparagus and it was really very good. So now I substitute broccoli, spinach, shredded cabbage and/or sliced asparagus for rice and it works.

Best of luck on your journey. This works!

DAY 10 of 28

Well yesterday the scales stayed the same and I thought I had got away with my bad eating of the day before BUT this morning the scales have crept up slightly. There’s no escape from self sabotage so back to the drawing board for me today and after 9 days my loss is now just over 1lb, miserable . This is what failure tastes like!

Hope you all have a good day.

Hi Moojar, and welcome to the site – there many many helpful people on here, more knowledgeable than me, who will be able to answer any questions you may have. Sounds like you are primed for success as you already enjoy BSD-type food! Here in France it is now Autumn with Winter on its way (but a beautiful sunny morning) so I envy you the coming summer!

Hi Mokovex, just put a line under it, it’s done and move on. One night won’t hurt your progress, it is when that becomes the norm again. Just pull yourself back on the wagon immediately, and keep going. At least you are still here posting.

Probably just going to be one picture of me after all that palaver, as it was described as a line up of me and three others, plus the ubiquitous before picture of course. I had a shower last night to remove the make up and hair spray, but went to bed with my hair slightly damp and now my hair is sticking out in weird places. Still it was a definite experience. 10 stone 13.2 this morning, so back into my comfort zone, so trying to keep on keeping on this month to go for that pre-Christmas wiggle room.

Morning all

-0.4lb so now 134.9lb 😀

This feels good but yesterday evening we had a games eve that we went to as a family. There was food there but it was really no bother to decide not to eat. Made a yummy BSD supper and had it in the oven ready for when I got home.

Well, I ate bread, wine and lots of cheese. I won a chocolate orange and ate half when I got home.

I did it because the old thinking of ‘oh well’ and ‘I’m tired’ were there. It feels like the switch has been flipped and that makes me anxious.

Hi Donna. If you are the Donna who commented on my other thread that I posted prior to starting I did reply to you the other day. I hope you got my message as I appreciate all support and would hate to think you may not have received it.

Coming up to Week 6 starting Monday. I need to lose a further 3kgs to reach my target weight of 79.5 That is 10% of my overall body weight from when I weighed myself the very first morning. 75kgs would be 15% but not sure if I am on target to reach that in the next 3 weeks but you never know! 😆 That reminds me I have to go buy more lemon juice. I really think it is helping me break down the fat and release it. A good friend of mine put me on to soda water (nil calories! 😃) with a tablespoon fresh lemon juice. I love it! 😍 Such a great replacement for a cider or beer at the end of the day. It is very refreshing. Word of warning though. Drink it through a straw and don’t be tempted to slurp the foam. Although it makes for a great party tip! 😂😂😂😂

I finished 12 weeks of the 800 8 months ago, and transitioned to the BSD Way of Life. In many ways the way I now eat is similar to the 800 because I limit starches and sugars, I eat little during the day and I concentrate my food intake to supper and snack. I also exercise more to try and limit muscle loss.
However I am much more relaxed about calories when eating out or when travelling because I know that I have the tools to lose any weight I may have gained.
I still fill out the myfitnesspal food diary every day and try to keep my daily calorie intake below 1500.
I lost 36 pounds on the 800 and rebounded about 4 pounds when I went to the BSD WOL. So far that has been my floor but I can gain 4-5 pounds easily, like on a recent trip to Scotland where I ate a full Scottish breakfast, lunch and dinner for 8 days in a row, and then lost it quite quickly when I got home.
It is important to remember that you cannot go back to eating the way you did before the diet. However, you definitely can enjoy most foods if you are careful about how much or how often.
I used to have 2-3 drinks every day. Now I have a glass or 2 of wine or beer once or twice a week.
My wife is an excellent baker, and I used to have a nice piece of cake every afternoon with a cup of tea. Now I have some cake every 2 weeks or so.
I bake bread so I used to eat a lot of nice fresh bread. Now I have a couple of slices when it comes out of the oven about once a week, and freeze the rest for the family.
Eating this way means I feel I can still enjoy delicious treats and not feel that I am constantly denying myself pleasure, but I am careful to keep my overall calorie intake down.
I also am careful about “wasting” calories. If I am going to indulge myself, I am not going to waste it by eating a big mac or a bag of doritos. I’ll eat a beautiful piece of homemade sticky toffee cake with rum sauce. the same number of calories, but much more worth it!
Like Oscar Wilde said, “Moderation in everything, including moderation!”

Hi folks. Just thought I’d add a postscript to this thread after following up with GP and doing my own research.

I lost a lot of weight very quickly on the BSD and it appears to have stressed my body, hence the increased thyroid. Also, using up my fat stores is the likely cause of the high cholesterol. I’ll have tests again in three months to see where the numbers are.

Thanks very much for the input.

Hi All,

55 year old male from Australia here.

I am about to commence the 800 cal BSD. I sort of already have – after a day of restricted diet then a day of liquid-only fasting for a check-up procedure in my local hospital this week, I have been doing 800 calories for the three days since then. Once I finish reading Michael’s book (on the weekend) I’ll no doubt need to tweak my carbs consumption etc., but my official start date was 1 November as far as I am concerned.

At 55 years old, it is time. How many fat 60-somethings do you see, right?

Day three, and only coffee and 125g of Greek yogurt + 20 blueberries + 5g of sunflower kernels in my belly so far today. And I realise I’m not really hungry. May not have been so pleasant to speak to me yesterday though. 🙂

I am not diabetic that I know of, but the admissions nurse at the hospital found that hard to believe – I have a BMI of 38. She seemed convinced I’m knocking on the door.

I have tried other diets but always gone back to my old habits and regained the weight plus some. But this is for life now – after the eight weeks I intend going Mediterranean eating plan for the rest of my life, 5:2 periodically to get down to my eventual goal weight. (Hey hey, I love tuna, salmon and olive oil. How good is this?)

I have a friend who was diagnosed as a type 2 diabetic. He did the BSD with amazing results – I hadn’t seen him for a while and was hesitant to say anything regarding his weight loss in case it was due to a terminal illness. That’s how dramatic the change was in him. (Actually he looks like a goanna now, so skinny and with no fat under his chin. But don’t say anything! 😉

Once I realised my friends’ diet is associated with Michael Mosley I was in. We get Michael’s shows here in Australia, I am a fan as well as an admirer.

Summer is just kicking in here in Sydney – 28 Celsius here today (at lunchtime). Good time to begin my lifestyle change.

So, good luck to all, good luck to me.

Looking forward to seeing the pics MnM, well done you! I hope they’ll be in the online version as well.

In the interests of being accountable, I’ve been sticking to the WOE like glue, cals below 800 and carbs below 30, 2-3l water a day. Not enough steps but doing strength training…

300g down and here it is Friday with yet another weekend poised to tempt me into self sabotage! My aim for tonight’s party is to eat before I go and avoid all food there. That’s what I did when I first started BSD and it was perfectly doable, don’t quite know when I eased up on that. Then a potential party on Saturday and possibly sailing on Sunday if the weather holds. Summer definitely makes it more difficult for me, must strengthen my resolve.

Thanks Esnecca! So much for my good idea that maybe my post-hiking beer might be good for me! Physically, not great, but as reward for hard hike, really good!
What about the second one — kombucha?

Wow, a model in our ranks! Look forward to seeing the pictures!
Not much to report about me, mainly on plan eating-wise but realised when I got to the gym that I’d forgotten my running shoes and couldn’t do the class in the silly shoes I was wearing, so no exercise today. And when I think about it, I probably failed on the water too. So I hope for a better day tomorrow.
Onwards and downwards,
P xx

Hi Linda, I’m still here 🙂
51lb is amazing! Well done you and good luck with your bloods too. I have to have some taken this week- or next week. My biggest problem is hanging on from 5.30 when I get up until 8am when the blood collection office opens, without coffee. In fact I can’t do it so I’m hoping I can sleep in on Saturday and go then, so the wait’s not so long.

I can’t match your magnificent results but I’ve lost 46lb which was a quarter of my body weight- horrifying to think of! Not all was on BSD but the fastest and easiest 🙂

I think I have about 3lb to go to get to my final goal, BMI a smidge under 25. But I’m slowly, slowly getting there, no rush now, I don’t think it’s going to make much difference to how I look or feel, it’s just my desire for a definitive finishing point.

It was so good to see your post and hear how you’re going, I am mainly on the 4 week challenges now, you’d be very welcome. It’s the November one, I’d love to see you there.

I’m so excited to see it MixnMatch – well done!

I am so excited about this MnM. Congratulations on becoming our ambassador. Once the general public learn of this they will all want to join us. Well done for putting yourself forward. The team are all behind you. Can’t wait to read this article and see how fabulous you look.

Hi Snoop, and welcome back, I’m looking forward to reading your reports and hearing about your progress.

Hi, I’ve just made the spicy chicken with green lentils. I dunked the recipe as it states it’s for one and was cooking for OH as well. The portion was HUGE! A whole can of lentils for 2 people seems a lot. And a whole fennel bulb was too overpowering for my taste.
Plus it wasn’t really spicy (maybe my fault as I went easy on the chilli flakes for the first go). The chicken didn’t cook in the time given & not sure why the oven has to be turned down. And way way too much stock.
Have I read this completely wrong & the amounts stated are for 2 & I’ve just eaten over 800 cals in one meal 😱?

WOW MnM sounds great and you have ‘done great’ ! So looking forward to seeing you in the newspapers! Another marvellous success story …. hope you go from strength to strength.

Allie big Lol..

The funny thing is….it’s not his height….one of my favourite actors was Alan Ladd who was tiny!

Love Nonna
xxx

I asked the journalist when it was in and she didn’t know exactly, but it is apparently a series in the Daily Mail FeMail section starting on Saturday and then running Monday to Friday I presume with recipes from a new book. The case studies may well be in this Saturday as they seemed to need the photos and my confirmation of the content of the short interview piece I did over the phone, before tomorrow morning.

The clothes were beautiful, yet nothing like I would have selected for myself, a dark blue floor length Coast dress, with sequinned bodice and filmy floaty outer skirt that made me feel distinctly princess-like, and a dare I say it more ‘matronly’ burgundy style with a higher waistline than I am used to, that looked very distinguished, though less party like. Size 12 in both, though I could I think have easily fitted in the M&S size 10 of the burgundy dress, the Coast was a little tight around the top of my arms. Don’t people who normally wear those dresses have any biceps?

The make up still feels icky (I don’t usually wear it) but looks very nice and glamorous, and I don’t know how she did it but the hair and make up lady finally got my hair to behave!

I am under instructions to buy at least half a dozen of the issue with the picture in so will have to find out myself the hard way I think, and check every day from Saturday onwards.

I just bought a 3 year old former racehorse off the track and he arrived last night, which gives me even more motivation to lose the weight. I was able to finally get a proper estimate of his weight this morning and he’s a bit smaller than I thought, so I’m sitting at more than 17% of his body weight and I would really like to be under 15% for when I start riding him in earnest. I probably won’t make that goal this month, but heading ever closer and in the right direction can only help matters.

Esnecca I have to agree with your father ….. WHO would CHOOSE to eat tripe! You know if that was my only choice I would be a stick insect! Yes I can understand how a restrictive diet can seem so alien to anyone who has grown up ‘wanting’. I think our main problem is that we didn’t!

Sometimes writing on the web just isn’t the same as ‘speaking’ and I guess a lot gets lost in translation. I think here maybe we ‘know’ each other well enough now not to take offence but, nontheless, it does no harm to clear up any ‘shady’ chats now and again. You are among a few really helpful, supportive and wise posters who have helped me so much along the way and I’m really pleased we’re still ‘friends’ .

Oh lawds no. You were customary pleasant, thoughtful self. Besides, even if you had beaten me like I owed you money, it wouldn’t have bothered me in the least. I’ve been on the web a long time, Verano, and I’ve been in my share of scorching flamewars on discussion forums. This one is uniquely kind and supportive and you are a stellar example of that.

If anything, I was the one who expressed myself poorly. I just meant it’s an easy mindset to fall into, that living a good life = eating x food, one that is common even among people whose food choices can be the determining factor of whether they live long in good health or die a lingering, painful death before their time. It’s little surprise, then, to see that attitude in friends and family, especially when they don’t have health or weight issues forcing them to see things in a different light.

My own father, to whose genes I owe my struggles with insulin resistance, fought me on this in the beginning. He only stopped pushing carbs on me when I failed to respond in any way. Once I lost the weight, there wasn’t much else for him to say. Can’t argue with results.

He didn’t mean it in an ugly way, for the record. He just grew up very poor and couldn’t really wrap his head around me wanting to restrict my diet the way circumstances had forced him to as a child. You should have seen him when I ate tripe in Rome while he enjoyed a giant plate of fettucine ai porcini. He was so shocked that I would willingly subject myself to tripe instead of just making an exception for fresh pasta and in-season porcini. I’d never had tripe before, but he used to eat it all the time in some kind of soup when he was a boy and his mom needed to fill him and his three brothers with whatever source of protein they could afford. As it turned out, that tripe was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten. 😀

Beer doesn’t count. It is fermented, of course, but the process of alcoholic fermentation is different and produces different microorganisms than the process of lactic acid fermentation which is what we mean when we talk about kimchi, sauerkraut, pickled vegetables, etc. It’s the latter process that creates hundreds of millions of beneficial probiotic bacteria that do good things for your gut. Ethyl alcohol is a poison that does enough damage to your body even in small quantity that your blood, liver, kidneys have to work hard to repair. Beer is also high in carbs, as you know, and between them, the yeast and the carbon dioxide gas, it does only bad things for your gut.

Mary, I know what you mean about Tom Cruise. He is such a pipsqueak!
When he plays his leading man roles, I think he has to stand on a
carton or something else to elevate him beyond his 5’7″ height.
I’m glad you survived the day with beautiful memories in your
heart!
Later, my sweet!

Allie

Sorry about double post — I thought the first one got lost!

Esnecca … re-reading Allie’s post makes me think I may have been a bit rude to you in my last post. I really do hope you know I wouldn’t do that. I think highly of you, your recipes and strength of character. You have done amazingly well I would hate to have put pen to paper, so to speak, and offended you. Certainly it would never be my intention. If I didn’t speak out of turn then fine and let’s just carry on being ‘friends’!

Question for fermented food lovers — does beer count as a fermented food? Does Kombucha count? Thanks for your thoughts!

So I have a question for all those who are increasing their fermented food intake — and I know it is probably non-kosher to ask, but does beer count as a fermented food? How about kombucha?
Thanks for your thoughts!