Healthy Living

Love that last bit, Karen. I'm not long back from collecting the paper and I got a voucher yesterday for a free chocolate bars which I collected today.😀 I was doing so well ...for 2 days. I gave half to my husband who was gardening......the rest is in my big tummy! Oops. Halo 😇😇 has slipped and choked me.

This is a good one....I agree with you!

 Smiling is such good therapy! A little of what you crave does you good. Halos make very nice neck adornment and you're already growing a new one for sharing. I am very bad, I didn't share mine! It wasn't even mine it was Hubbys and milk choccy at that! I've run out of my fav dark one.

Hi Erika,

You obviously survived your move. Hope all went well and you are settled and happy.

Did you know about the PMR support group in the US. Might be good for you if they have other members close by. I think you did find someone near you at one point. Did you ever meet?

Take care.

Diana

It is so true that smiling is great therapy. I often laugh out loud when reading some of the posts and my hubby thinks I've totally lost it

The expressions used in the UK are so great. They remind me of my sweet little Grandma and make me smile.

How lucky we are that memories can bring such joy. It's so easy to become totally wrapped up in our illness when it demands so much of our attention. Gotta have a sense of humour. 

PS - with you all the way Karen - just picked up 2 bars of Lindt's dark chocolate with chili yesterday...

I got my Lindts ready for tonight, no chilli, I don't like chilli unless it is sweet chilli.

Off to make my crab apple jelly, from my own tree, no pesticides, no spraying it just gets on with it and I have  picked 10 lb and there is more to come.

I cook from scratch and have lost a little weight by dropping the carbs but it is hard, though getting easier. I think it'll be more difficult as the days get colder. Toast has such an appealing and comforting smell. I grew up with full cream everything, cod liver oil etc. but not a lot of sugar in the diet. That was a treat. In fact sugar was still on ration. Perhaps that's what we need again! No government would take that one on board but they could. If they can ration petrol in times of crisis then why not sugar. The country is in  the middle of a health crisis due to too much sugar in the diet. That could, perhaps, save the NHS!

Eileen.  Do you know if there is another option other than taking statins?

the cholesterol thing is a mystery to me.  My husbands Dr. Said you could eat rocks but if you're genetically wired to high cholesterol it won't affect your readings.  

Couldn't agree more - the wartime diet had everything that was needed for a healthy diet and that was the point. The portions were what we NEEDED not the enormous portions we get now that have become normalised - so that people are probably eating twice the calories they need. David and I often share a plate or take half home for tomorrow! Too many calories means weight gain if you don't burn them off - and then we did the washing/cooking/cleaning without any servants. And before anyone gets stroppy - what are washing machines, dishwashers, food processors and vacuum cleaners but servants?

I love toast (especially done on the fire and I have one occasionally) but am allergic to wheat so the itch reminds me why I don't eat it more!

Ditto with sharing a plate.  However, we are too embarrassed to ask for one meal and two plates so I take a plastic bag with me everywhere and do it secretly.  What a coward!

He's right. Cholesterol is made in the liver and is a base ingredient of many hormones so essential for life. Too low a cholesterol level is actually almost as bad for you as a very high one. Despite the "don't eat eggs" story you cannot influence your cholesterol level very greatly by not eating cholesterol containing foods - the liver will just make more. And a couple of years ago there were some occasional articles in the media about how it was now fine to go to work on an egg again. Not the front page size of the originals though of course.

If you have something called congenital hypercholesteraemia your liver will make massive amounts of cholesterol - and these people do tend to die very young of heart problems. But the high cholesterol is probably not the cause but the symptom. 

You can reduce cholesterol better by reducing carbs...

Visitors arrive - must go for now!

I admire you greatly being able to cope with the carbs where you live. Initially I thought oh yes that's ok as I recall the abundance of fresh unadulterated veg/salads and meat and lush dishes like Melazane Parmigiana I enjoyed out there for many years. And then I recalled the wonderful bread and pasta and of course all those pastries. Jeez my hunger has just spiked! Sorry!

Read the Great Cholesterol Con. It is by a Scottish GP. Really opens your eyes to the whole cholesterol story.

If you have Lidl/Aldi nearby, choc with chilli or without...excellent, and half the price!.......

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately it doesn't come as an ebook and I don't know if I can trust it will arrive here in Mexico. May have to wait till j get home.

I'm tempted to have my blood work done here and reduce my dose to see what happens. I've heard it causes muscle pain and it may be that is the cause of some of the symptoms we think are PMR.

Everything is so "maybe" with this disorder It s frustrating.

If you reduce really slowly you should be able to reduce or cut out even, if you are lucky, any side effects from reducing. The trouble is PMR controls you rather than the other way round I find. Enjoy Mexico, I spent a while in Mexico City working there. 

When the food makers in the U.S. came out with everything

"fat-free" and low fat" Americans got fatter than ever.....I used to have

cholesterol a littler higher than doc wanted.  Well, statins

make me feel really awful so quit taking them.  I started making

just a few changes.....baked potato instead of fries, vegs instead

of anything white,...just had blood done and and my usual

reading of 200-225 went down to l61 with everything well within

range except triglycerides a little high.  As for sharing a plate.

My hubby and I do it a lot and don't really care what the

waiter or owner thinks.....hubby tips on what price would be

for two full dinners.  Let's face it, restarants give us way too

much food to begin with and as seniors we can't eat so much

anymore without being miserable....

Yes. It's a very good price. I've just found some which I put in the fridge. 😀😀 I can't believe I forgot about it. My husband's been eating it.😭 Wish I hadn't shared that earlier freebie bar with him. I also found a squishy cucumber and a piece I'd wrapped in tinfoil.😳😳 I think I'll give up on the cucumber. I never really started on it.....was full of good intentions. It's too cold now. The weather has changed today. 

I believe in the US they are used to people sharing meals.  Our son and daughter-in-law have been to the States several times and even in their twenties were asked if the would like two plates (both are very slim).

I really find it hard to go into restaurants these days because the portions are sooooo large, and as soon as I see a full plate I lose my hunger (my husband does, too).  

The trouble was everything was fat free and low fat, they forgot to tell us they were not sugar free! It seems saturated fat is now not such a baddy any more, it is sugar at the top of the hit list. I agree with you on statins. My father was on them and became like a zombie, his GP said he could go off them for a couple of weeks for a trial and he became the life and soul of the party. 

If we end up with leftovers I ask for a go box and take it home

for lunch the next day...   I think the American food industry

gives you a lot more so they can charge you a lot more.  Some

places have senior portions which is nice for us.  Some have

early bird dinners which are smaller and costs less.

Guess I had a brain fog this a.m......the main reason my cholesterol

went down is because I pretty much quit eating red meat.  I do

have an occasional cheeseburger (so good!!)  I haven't had

a steak in years and really don't miss them.  I eat a little chicken

and fish.

Had a best friends brother die very young of high cholesterol. My male friend already fit as a fiddle was also diagnosed with high cholesterol changed his diet lost more weight and it barely changed.

Me I eat the way I was raised, I use cream, cheese and butter and only like natural ingredients. I have porked on the beef over the past 4 years thanks to my husband and his love for sweets, bread and snacks. I am weak and cannot say no. Just before my pmr diagnosis we cut out our carbs and I eat 2-3 eggs for breakfast and my dr. says go for it.

It's been 3 weeks and we've lost 12 but you have to have a cheat day every now and then. I snacked on Brookside's crunchy clusters of dark choc. And berry medley.

my brother in law is a genetic scientists and your alll right what is good one day bad the next so my philosophy is try to stay away from preservatives and ssmaller portions as you mentioned.

Thanks, maybe I'll use the DSNS method and see what happens.  It is inexpensive to have bloodwork done here so I may get a full work up done.  

We are in Merida in the Yucatan but hear Mexico City is a must visit. Maybe we'll get there this trip.   We love it here in Centro and it's a great escape from our gray, wet winters in Vancouver.

🌸

And you live in Germany - here in northern Italy and Austria no-one ever has a problem about handing over an aluminium tray/foil or a pizza box - they often offer it. The UK is hopeless - but the US has done "doggy bags" for years and everyone knows it isn't for the dog! One restaurant in southern Germany told me they'd charge 1.50 for the use of a separate plate - that's fine, don't have my custom next time I'm here but in the meantime I'll have a side salad and take the meat from my husband's plate onto the salad plate. The cutlery was already on the table.

I think this is changing here in Perthshire as I have now been offered boxes on several occasions......some of it just  when having coffee / tea with scones etc as they told me they throw them out so better to make offer. No charge for the boxes!

Yup - it all goes straight in the bin so why not allow the customer to take it if they want. The only place I've been refused was on North Sea ferries where I asked for the rest of the gammon steak and was only told I couldn't have it when it had already been thrown away "Health and safety..." I was furious and flabbergasted - Health and safety doesn't come into it anywhere else in Europe.

Haha, we Brits at home (and on the seas) like to use H&S as a cop out when it's convenient.