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Forum -> Health & Wellness -> Healthy Lifestyle/ Weight Loss/ Exercise
How to lose weight and keep it off.
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Mar 29 2020, 4:32 pm
see last post
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 12 2020, 10:44 pm
On January 5, 2009, I had an appointment at a sleep clinic. I was being assessed for sleep apnea, because I had out of control endometriosis and was seriously considering a hysterectomy. That night ended up being rather a nightmare of an experience, which was so bad that in the end, I wrote a letter of complaint to the clinic and there was a staff member fired because of it. You can imagine.

In response to my letter, I received two parts of a response. One was from the clinic manager, who looked into my allegations and ended up taking action on them, and the other was a call from the Doctor, who also apologized and mentioned that despite my horrible experience, they had gotten enough data to assess me. He asked if I could please come in, to discuss.

He understood my reticence, and told me so. I made an appointment, and nervously attended on the day.

Turns out the Doctor was a really nice man (and also happened to be Jewsih.) He went over my results (no sleep apnea but a little loss of oxygenation-complicated by the fact that I don’t sleep on my back and the clinician had insisted that I do so.) He then did something that not only will I never forget, but which iI will always appreciate.

He said to me, ‘You are clearly an energetic and active woman. I see how you jumped off the exam table and the spring in your step. But I am scared for you. You weigh over 300 pounds (maybe 308?) and you are 42 years old. You are not getting younger and what I fear, is that the amount of fat in your body will overtake your muscle (aka Sarcopenia) and then, you will be unable to get off the couch, and your life will just wash away into a sea of inability to move.’

It might not have been quite as poetic as what I just said, but it struck me hard. This was a man whose clinic had caused me hardship and this topic did not specifically relate to what he was assessing me for (because I didn’t actually have sleep apnea.) He went on to suggest a referral to a local Anxiety Clinic, to see if maybe they could help me with my eating. He told me it might not be a shoe-in because I wasn’t a typical case of anxiety, but if anything helped keep me from becoming glued to my couch and he could assist, he’d be happy to refer me.

Thus started my relationship with the Anxiety clinic. For 7 or so years, we worked together, trying to find various solutions for my insane eating. Nothing really particularly worked but I grew to appreciate my appointments with them and the opportunity it gave me to sort of go over my life before my appointments and take stock periodically.

When I was diagnosed with Retinopathy in 2017, it was just after my appointment with them before opening my seasonal restaurant in Niagara Falls, Once I had started with the restaurant, we had taken breaks over the summers, because it was just too hard to get back. I always knew that I had them to back me up in a crisis, but I also was not a typical patient of theirs and did not have anxiety that made me un-functional.

I did not see them again until after we shut down in September and when I walked in to see them, the reaction of the staff ( who were clearly startled but trying NOT to react - because sometimes reactions to weight loss have adverse effects on people) were pretty surprised. I acknowledged the change and told them what had happened. They were ‘cautiously optimistic.’

Three years later, I still have periodic appointments with the anxiety clinic, and once a year or so, I write the sleep Doctor a note to update him on how I am doing. Just a short missive, because if my experience can help him help someone else, then AMAZING. Ultimately, that is why I share my journey- because if I can help ONE other person to not suffer like I did, then it is worth it to me to tell my story. That Doctor is in a position where he can help others like me. Probably frequently.

I’d just like to add that in the past few months, the Anxiety Doc has made some comments about other patients of his ‘like me,’ meaning who follow low carb and have finally sound success in not only dealing with their weight but also in their Anxiety levels on low carb. It makes me so happy that some Doctors are listening and seeing what works for their patients. Please bear in mind that these are not the Doctors responsible for having solved my eating disorder problem, that was my Opthalmologist when he told me my best chance of healing my eyes, was to keep my blood sugar stable. Which in turn led me to a blog entry about a Type 1 diabetic who had, through recording his own blood sugar reactions, found that low carb eating allowed for the most stability. Anyways, these guys had no direct bearing on solving my problem but they are Doctors who listen and who aren’t afraid to say to a patient, ‘let me try to help you better.’

I am not even totally sure what my point is here. I guess just gratitude.

3 years ( May 11/17 was retinopathy dx)
100+ pounds lost
normal A1C
normal blood pressure
most back pain resolved
plantar fasciitis resolved
most body pain resolved
tongue ulcers resolved
6 months o f exercise 4-6 days a week for 30-60 minutes (hard cardio mostly)
I can get up off the floor
I can easily handle my own hygiene now (that was horrible, when I had to make SO much effort at hygiene, because reaching places was HARD)
No more frozen shoulders or other joints

Just. So. Grateful.
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CiCi




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 12 2020, 10:56 pm
Wow, that is inspiring! Thanks for sharing.

Can you share what you eat for breakfast if you don't eat grains?


Last edited by CiCi on Tue, May 12 2020, 10:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 12 2020, 10:57 pm
https://I.imgur.com/BHQA9cZ.jpg

https://I.imgur.com/9frI5Yn.jpg
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 12 2020, 11:14 pm
CiCi wrote:
Wow, that is inspiring! Thanks for sharing.

Can you share what you eat for breakfast if you don't eat grains?


I’m not much of a morning person. I’ve never really eaten breakfast, and since I intermittently fast, it’s pretty rare to have a morning meal. I do start the day with a big mug of coffee with some heavy cream. Today my first meal which was at 3:30 pm was some salmon, home made mayo and a relish made of tomato, pickle, shallot and pickled jalapeños.. later I had three scrambled eggs, some butter and some migdal tower cheese slices. It could have just as easily been a burger I ate first though. Or steak or chicken or roast.
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CiCi




 
 
    
 

Post Tue, May 12 2020, 11:26 pm
andrea levy wrote:
I’m not much of a morning person. I’ve never really eaten breakfast, and since I intermittently fast, it’s pretty rare to have a morning meal. I do start the day with a big mug of coffee with some heavy cream. Today my first meal which was at 3:30 pm was some salmon, home made mayo and a relish made of tomato, pickle, shallot and pickled jalapeños.. later I had three scrambled eggs, some butter and some migdal tower cheese slices. It could have just as easily been a burger I ate first though. Or steak or chicken or roast.


Thank for your reply. I'm starting my diet today and was thinking of getting off grains but I l feel nauscous eating eggs or cheese without (whole wheat) bread. You gave me the push to drink a soy milk (I'm off cow milk) with sugar free choc mix shake instead of eating two whole wheat breads and grilled cheese. I want to try eliminating starches and processed sugar from my diet, but I'm not giving up eating fruit Wink
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Ora in town




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 5:23 am
It's hard.
Most people who lose weight gain it back within 2 years.
So first conclusion: don't be too ambitious, it might be better just to lose 1 or 2 kg from the start, rather than losing 20 kg and regaining 18...
In general, losing under 10% or even under 5% of body weight are enough to attein positive effects.

Studies about people who lost weight and kept it off said:
- They eat a bit under 1500 cal per day, on average
- They eat 4-5 meals per day, on average (so no intermittendt fasting, etc.)
- They exercice for 2500 cal a week (that's about 5h a week)
- They monitor their weight closely

Also, studies have shown that exercice is more relevant to health than just Body-mass index. I.e. a slightly overweight person who is in good physicall shape might be healthier than a normal weight person who never exercices.

so I think you should start with exercice, and not so much with the ambition to lose weight.

To introduce physical acitivty:
- go by foot or bike rather than take car. Get off bus one or two stops early and walk a bit.
- go up stairs rather than take elevator
- Try to do 7000 steps a day, 10'000 is even better
- try to do aerobic exercise, like swimming, aquafit, biking, nordic walking, jogging (if your BMI is under 28), pilates, aerobics, etc. 3-4 times per week...

As far as diet is concerned
0) if hunger is not the problem, eating is not the solution
1) Eat as many veggies as you want (veggies have 12-30 cal per 100g)
2) Don't drink calories, eat them (eat fruit rather than drink fruit juice,avoid sugary drinks. Milk is OK)
3) It takes 20 min until you feel satisfied: start with a soup or salad befor your main course, take your time
4) Eat two hot meals a day. Take time to eat...
5) half of your plate should be veggies, the other half can be either protein or carbs or both...
6) Those foods are very satisfying with low calorie count: white fish (100cal per 100g), chicken/turkey breast (100cal per 100g) boiled potatoes (70 cal per 100g)
7) Try to eat carbs with a low glycemic index: full grain flour rather than white flour, veggies, legumes, stale or toasted bread rather than fresh bread, not overcooked)
8) If you need to snack, take raw veggies, raw fruit or hot beverages (without sugar)
9) Allow yourself 50-100cal of sweets per day (e.g. 2-4 squares of chocolate), take your time to enjoy it...
10) If you crave sweets, try and eat fresh fruit instead or a completely different taste (garlick, hot chili, etc.)


Last edited by Ora in town on Wed, May 13 2020, 5:37 am; edited 1 time in total
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Ora in town




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 5:35 am
CiCi wrote:
Thank for your reply. I'm starting my diet today and was thinking of getting off grains but I l feel nauscous eating eggs or cheese without (whole wheat) bread. You gave me the push to drink a soy milk (I'm off cow milk) with sugar free choc mix shake instead of eating two whole wheat breads and grilled cheese. I want to try eliminating starches and processed sugar from my diet, but I'm not giving up eating fruit Wink


Shakes are not a good idea. It's better to invest in food preparation and eat a lot of raw veggies, salads, and 2 hot meals per day. meals should start with a soup or salad (because it takes 20 min. to feel statisfied) and the main course should be 1/2 plate veggies, the other half either protein and carbs or protein or carbs.

It might be good to reduce carbs, but not too much. It might be more important to eat carbs with a low glycemic index (veggies, whole grain, legumes) rather than carbs with a high glycemic index (white flour, sugar, chips, etc.)
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amother
Magenta


 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 5:53 am
I didn't read the whole thread, but hyperemesis is a good way to lose weight and keep it off.

After the birth you have some time when you can eat normally (usually) but as long as you are careful not to overeat, you will still weigh less than your starting weight by the time your next pregnancy comes around.

Tried and true.
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 6:28 am
CiCi wrote:
Thank for your reply. I'm starting my diet today and was thinking of getting off grains but I l feel nauscous eating eggs or cheese without (whole wheat) bread. You gave me the push to drink a soy milk (I'm off cow milk) with sugar free choc mix shake instead of eating two whole wheat breads and grilled cheese. I want to try eliminating starches and processed sugar from my diet, but I'm not giving up eating fruit Wink


I gave you the push to drink soy? That’s funny because I don’t eat or drink soy ( except occasional amounts of soy sauce in a recipe.)

My experience, and it seems pretty much every doctor regardless of their perspective on what you should eat, agrees that what you should not eat is processed food. ThAt includes soy milk. Eat almonds. Don’t eat Shake powder, eat real food. Eat fruit, but a) it’s not ‘free’ and b) focus on berries not tropical. Also, eating fruit in a shake just makes it sugar. Even weight watchers agrees on that.

Suggestion. Don’t say you’re going to try. Say you’re going to do. And then do. And if you can’t do what you decided, then keep trying but stop doing what didn’t work and fix it. What I do today is not what I started doing. I changed what didn’t work. I keep changing things as I go. Each day my body changes things are changing. And I dive mean losing weight. Perimenopausal life is a challenge but not only am I not gaining, I’m still losing over time.
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 6:39 am
Ora in town wrote:
It's hard.
Most people who lose weight gain it back within 2 years.
So first conclusion: don't be too ambitious, it might be better just to lose 1 or 2 kg from the start, rather than losing 20 kg and regaining 18...
In general, losing under 10% or even under 5% of body weight are enough to attein positive effects.

Studies about people who lost weight and kept it off said:
- They eat a bit under 1500 cal per day, on average
- They eat 4-5 meals per day, on average (so no intermittendt fasting, etc.)
- They exercice for 2500 cal a week (that's about 5h a week)
- They monitor their weight closely

Also, studies have shown that exercice is more relevant to health than just Body-mass index. I.e. a slightly overweight person who is in good physicall shape might be healthier than a normal weight person who never exercices.

so I think you should start with exercice, and not so much with the ambition to lose weight.

To introduce physical acitivty:
- go by foot or bike rather than take car. Get off bus one or two stops early and walk a bit.
- go up stairs rather than take elevator
- Try to do 7000 steps a day, 10'000 is even better
- try to do aerobic exercise, like swimming, aquafit, biking, nordic walking, jogging (if your BMI is under 28), pilates, aerobics, etc. 3-4 times per week...

As far as diet is concerned
0) if hunger is not the problem, eating is not the solution
1) Eat as many veggies as you want (veggies have 12-30 cal per 100g)
2) Don't drink calories, eat them (eat fruit rather than drink fruit juice,avoid sugary drinks. Milk is OK)
3) It takes 20 min until you feel satisfied: start with a soup or salad befor your main course, take your time
4) Eat two hot meals a day. Take time to eat...
5) half of your plate should be veggies, the other half can be either protein or carbs or both...
6) Those foods are very satisfying with low calorie count: white fish (100cal per 100g), chicken/turkey breast (100cal per 100g) boiled potatoes (70 cal per 100g)
7) Try to eat carbs with a low glycemic index: full grain flour rather than white flour, veggies, legumes, stale or toasted bread rather than fresh bread, not overcooked)
8) If you need to snack, take raw veggies, raw fruit or hot beverages (without sugar)
9) Allow yourself 50-100cal of sweets per day (e.g. 2-4 squares of chocolate), take your time to enjoy it...
10) If you crave sweets, try and eat fresh fruit instead or a completely different taste (garlick, hot chili, etc.)


I don’t agree with everything in here BUT, speaking as someone who exercises st Least five hours a week- weight loss is made in the kitchen. The gym makes you healthy, gives you endurance and helps your cardiovascular system but you can easily out eat your exercise.

I am mostly carnivore. I don’t eat unlimited anything. I eat slowly. I eat what I eat and wait until I know if I need more. I eat fat, protein, and some veg. I don’t eat starch, grain, sugar, sweetener or fruit. I don’t eat processed food. Literally everything we buy is an ingredient.

Did I mention that my entire family, do what I do to varying degree ( husband, me and son most similar- but they eat berries on occasion which I don’t.)

Daughter occasionally eats junk but her baseline is this. Son on autistic spectrum ( was almost 400 lbs) is also maintaining a large loss. Husband maintaining 60 pound loss. My mom 74 about 60 pounds. My father about 10 pounds he could not get rid of for years.
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, May 13 2020, 10:28 am
Breakfast today was Atlantic salmon, w
mixed chunky salad and home made avocado oil mayo with home made garlic hot sauce.
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Aug 05 2020, 8:35 pm
Lots of things to do today, but also so much gratitude swirling in my head.

I have been in this process of recovering from an almost life long traumatic experience with disordered eating for 3+ years now.

It’s pretty peaceful in my head and body most of the time. Not that I never second guess myself- but second guessing is good too. Generally second guessing helps me come up with solutions. It’s sometimes ages before I see the solution, or conversely, realize that things are good the wAy they are.

It used to be that the rumination that this creates were anxiety provoking and negative in nature. I used to call those thoughts “ The Sh***y Committee (stolen from 12 step meetings.)

As I sat during the last hour of my work last night, listening to the products of the rain wall that was hovering around Westdale, I just kept thinking “ I hope it clears enough for Marc Schwartz and I to walk tonight.”

After work, I discovered that somehow we had a little flood in our basement and while that honestly killed my desire to walk, we did anyways. As I started down the Rail Trail I even said to Marc that I wasn’t feeling it. But of course, we continued. And in the end ( after some ‘hill spurts’ for the lack of a better term,) I felt great and like I want every walk to have that for the next while. Thankfully, we have the escarpment!

Anyways, I’ve been reading a lot of posts on Instagram and a couple of things have struck me:

1) The lengths that people go to to ‘protect’ their way of eating. I mean this both for positive and negative. This ranges from ‘I will not give up my junk food(this seems to be a LOT of people)’ to ‘I will not eat off my plan, ever (me and many others.)

2) There’s a small middle ground, people who themselves can eat a mix of junk and real food and manage. Mist of us are not them.

3) People in every side of this equation believe that what they are doing is RIGHT.

Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. Last night, I was reading something by Dr. Robert Cywes. When I first read it, I did not quite connect with what he was saying, but after a moment’s thought it was like a ‘boom’ went off in my head.

He said “HEALTH CARE is not HEALTH IMPROVEMENT. Understand what you are doing to yourself.”

RIGHT? The other night I was looking at my medical record for the past ten years. I had so many issues. So many issues that I’d forgotten how many issues I’d had. I had a lot of health care, but I was not healthy.

Now, I rarely have a health issue. In fact, last week, a cyst I’ve had for over ten years resolved. I was shocked. My dermatologist had refused to treat it 8 years ago because it would not resolve anyways. ThAt was the first time I’d sought actual health care in ages.

I used to be unwell, so often. Now, I’m well most ( like really 99%) of the time. That is health improvement!

So I think about all those posts, fighting for what people want to keep eating. I hear that they want to be ‘normal’ with food. I hear that ‘diet culture’ ruined their lives. I agree that this is true for me, for 45 years.

Without the committee in my head yelling at me about how gluttonous and piggy and disgusting I am, I can see that as out of control as I was, I TRIED to comply with the ‘authorities’ who said to eat low fat and high carb. I tried so hard. I was not un-compliant. I was literally incapable, because of how those foods affected me.

I can now understand that my misery was caused by my reactions to foods I was told were good for me. Following that advice was not improving my health.

My commitment to staying well is not based on the numbers on my scale. In fact, it’s not even based on the number of km I walk ( which we’ve had to adjust because of my bursitis.) Almost everything I do these days is meant to improve my health, mentally, physically and otherwise, and it HAS.

I’m not stalwart about my way of eating because I’m rigid or orthopraxic . I’m rigid about it, because it keeps me safe. From me. From the foods that cause these insane reactions. I’m all about not ever eating the foods that made me feel like that, ever again.

High blood sugar, blood pressure and migraines, endometriosis, acne, boils, swollen arm ( right was 3x the size of left) and a long list of other things resolved. Health improvement!

If potato chips, or cookies work for you and you are healthy and well, congratulations! I’m glad you have what works for you!

If they don’t work for you, figure out what does. Instead of coming at it from a ‘diet culture’ perspective, figure out what you need to do, to improve YOUR health. Feeling and being better is the very best metric that I can imagine!

One thing that I know among my friends who’ve been successful at sorting out their feeding issues, is that they have these things in common:

1) not eating or keeping commercially processed foods to a minimum.

2) working out a baseline routine that works for them, and then with their new found stability, tweaking.

3) commitment to the long term.

My successful friends include carnivores, lchf, nsng, vegetarians and vegans. So I know there isn’t just one way to do this. All of us have worked through our issues and done the work of figuring out what is and isn’t good for us personally- and then we stick to it. Because we WANT to. Because we are better than we were before.

Wishing everyone who needs one, a speedy and complete recovery from what ails them. However they do it.

Also, I really like this pic. Even though I am still very overweight. REALLY like it!

https://I.imgur.com/gyC0wun.jpg
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 06 2020, 7:41 pm
July 24/20

Just a little accountability today. As most of you know, I’m very upbeat in general and I just keep going like a trooper. It’s been 3+ years and while my weight loss was quick at first, it’s been slow since ten months in.

This is why I started my @re_scaling posts. Because there were so many victories that don’t get reflected in the numbers on the scale.

Admittedly, not many new victories lately because all the ones in my house and environs, we’ve been through, and of course we are t going anywhere or doing anything lately!

At the beginning of the lockdown, I hit a weight and it promptly shot back up ( not through anything I do, let’s call it #perimenopausalproblems as happens most of the time, really, since my weight loss is not linear.) It took a few months and eventually came back down again and now I’m lower than that ( although not holding my breath it’ll stay that way.)

Standing in front of a mirror, my shoulders are starting to ‘show’ and I’ve even found my collarbone a couple of times. I see the changes, and feel the changes.

BUT

OUT of nowhere last night, on our 9 km walk, I was looking at my shadow as I walked, and suddenly just had this incredible heaviness in my mind that I’m STILL morbidly obese after all of this.

And that is true. It doesn’t matter how much weight I’ve lost. I could still lose another 80 pounds just to get to a number that I always considered the high side of normal.

Yes, I’ve resolved medical issues.
Yes, I’ve lost a massive amount of weight.
Yes, I’ve been maintaining what I lost in the first year for over two years.
Yes, I have walked 35 km since the beginning of the week.
And yet still crept in that dark feeling about how my outsides don’t really match with the way I live.

Further complicating this internal discussion was the fact that even if I weighed anywhere near a goal weight, my chest and extra skin around my belly have to be addressed at some point.

Many obese people have fungal issues in skin folds and while I thought I was free of them, this year is horrible. On the other hand, at least I can easily teach the areas that need treatment, unlike when I first began.

So, plastic surgery is on my mind ( honestly, I’d not have cared if it werent for the fungus in the folds struggle, and the continued back discomfort from my chest size.) Of course we are in the middle of a pandemic and if I’m going to do that, I want to be as close to a normal weight as possible when I do it.

I’m also a little afraid that if I wait too long, they’ll reject my request for the surgery due to age. I feel like it’s better to get it partially done and possibly jane to deal with it again- or also that exposing myself to surgery more than necessary is crazy so wait.

If you’re following me, you know I don’t lose fast. For a moment my head went to “ how can I lose 80 pounds quickly so that when a doctor asks about maintaining, it’ll be enough time?”

Immediately following that was my mind saying “sustain” over and over again. I have to live sustainably. I can’t do anything crazy. I won’t do anything crazy.

But I’m telling you all this because I’m accountable. I don’t have very many hard days, but I do have some hard days or minutes. And when I do, I work them through. I don’t do anything crazy, like eating like a maniac or thinking ‘screw this.’ I acknowledge my feelings and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

Because, really, what choice do I have? I could have extra skin or I could weigh 110 plus pounds more. I could eat off plan, or I could just keep going. I actually don’t even want to eat off plan, because the relative peace is too valuable to me.

Because in this place, I’m not hungry, I don’t crave food and *most of the time, my head is very, quiet.

So, now you know. I’m still fat. And no quick resolution to it. I’ll stay the course because there really is no alternative at this point. I’m not perfect at this, my head isn’t perfect and I’m continuing to do my best.
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flmommy




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 06 2020, 7:47 pm
Andrea, what an honest post. I am always so impressed by your honesty and motivation. I have lives seeing pictures of you as you change and hearing about your journey. I wish you continued success and health whatever you decide. I’m sure I’m now alone in saying we will support you ok whatever your next steps are towards better health.
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Aug 08 2020, 7:23 pm
Thank you so much for your support! I know my sharing actually irritates some ( to which I say ‘so don’t click on my post’ but if someone like me can do it, anyone can.
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Sat, Aug 08 2020, 7:27 pm
Raspberries
Pre-pandemic, we hadn’t used our back yard regularly in years. Our kids were getting older and I don’t have much use for gardening.

This year, we hired a new grass cutting service. Early in the season we asked him to cut out the weeds to get them under control. He did so and when we went to look, he said “by the way, I’m not removing these, because they are raspberries. We were pleasantly surprised to hear and eagerly looked forward to our harvest, which we have been enjoying.

The thing about this is that in general, nothing but weeds do grow in our back yard. We have gigantic black walnut trees that cover most of our yard. Walnut trees drip juglone from every branch, and there isn’t much that lives under them.

I had resigned myself to not ever being able to plant anything, and just having weeds for greenery. Now that we know just how healthy the raspberries are, I’m hoping we can rip out the weeds and over plant raspberries so that it’ll be low maintenance but also productive.

Harvesting raspberries daily has given me time to reflect about how I could not have seen this turn if events coming. We’ve lived here for 14 years, and never noticed the berries. We’ve spoken with gardening era and landscape architects for suggestions of what to plant. There really aren’t a lot of options. Berries never came up once.

So we accepted the green tangle and appreciated the weeds for their greenery. And then, the gardener, showed us the raspberries.

From a distance, it doesn’t look like much. From a distance, it just looks green. Up close, you have to recognize the plant in early season although it’s obviously now raspberries in season. Which we also never noticed when we were not really using the yard.

Even when we did use the yard, the berries aren’t obvious. There’s a lot of green, and after the top layer, you kind of have to poke around ( carefully because they are very thorny, to find the berries.) All we saw for fourteen years was the green and the weeds.

Suddenly, this year, my perspective is different. We also found a mulberry tree back there. NOW, it looks fertile and beautiful to me. A space worth clearing out to plant or transplant more raspberries and maybe a couple of mulberry trees.

Raspberries grow in clusters which aside from the ones in the outer layer aren’t obvious unless you look around in what are actually prickly bushes for them. You can’t find the fruit until you look through the thorns. I’d like a leather suit to wear to go picking but instead, I’ll just be careful.

It feels so analogous to. my life since May 11/17, when my life changed so drastically. For years, I was hopeless. I could not stop eating like a maniac. I felt like my body was a wasteland that I could not get any part of healthy. I had tongue ulcers that would not heal, my blood pressure was rising, I had anxiety that was at times way out of control, and honestly, my whole body hurt all the time, I hugged, I puffed and I just thought I was going to drop dead at any moment. I didn’t think I’d live long, and felt sad for my family, who would miss me, but there really wasn’t much I could do about it. I was hopeless and dejected. I was in ten different kinds of pain with no reprieve imaginable.

Then, I found out I had diabetic retinopathy. I had pre- diabetes. I had no hope of being able to control what I ate on an ongoing basis.

Moderation didn’t work for me. I could never moderate and always ended up overeating. I simply could not stop eating. Of course, I was going to go blind. Eventually I’d lose parts of my body. But there wasn’t much to do. There had been many consultations with many doctors, dieticians, self help books, diet programmes. I knew I was a lost cause and fully expected that whatever I did in response to this crisis would net me nothing. I was going to go blind, end up on insulin and die early.

Even that hopeless, I did do some more research to be able to attempt to find the solution that would keep my blood sugar stable. My Opthalmologist had given me that direction- “ if you have a choice between stable and low,choose stable.

In doing so, I found what was a sustainable way of eating for me that fixed my eyes and also allowed me to start cleaning up my way of life from a point of stability.

Like the raspberries, coming at it from my out of control place, life was just a big hopeless vacuum where diet after diet and then years of doing nothing created what I thought was a hostile environment. I thought that because of failings of mine, that I’d never manage to fix myself.

Very low carb was the one thing I’d never done before. The one thing. And it worked. The fragile peace that started that first Shabbat when I realized I was full was the beginning. I remember thinking ‘maybe this could work???’

And now instead of being a toxic place where nothing, there is fertile ground where I grow ( well, shrink lol). Sometimes there don’t appear to be fruits, or they aren’t obvious and I have to go looking for them. That could be non scale victories or scale victories. Either way, I’m right there, every day, feeling like I could not be luckier! Maintaining a weight loss this large while still slowly losing more is my new normal.

Also, for those who are wondering, I’ve eaten a few of them. They aren’t sweet but they are delicious and don’t seem to set up the craving that other fruit did. They’re obviously local and organic and available for a very limited time.

Next winter when I look at the barren strip at the back of my yard where formerly I thought I could plant nothing, I’ll know that it is possible to plant in the worst of circumstances and come up with a harvest of what I never expected.

Folks, if there’s hope for me, there’s hope for you.
https://I.imgur.com/Vhaa6Pe.jpg
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amother
Khaki


 

Post Sat, Aug 08 2020, 10:11 pm
Andrea you are an inspiration, Of course there are hard days, or moments, that is a given but the way you keep on going is truly amazing. Lots of luck to you
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Chana Miriam S




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 09 2020, 8:51 am
Thank you so much for your support Kakhi!
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amother
Seagreen


 

Post Sun, Aug 09 2020, 11:50 am
I've known for a couple of years that I'm pre-diabetic but I finally decided I MUST get on top of it. I started right before Purim and tried to eat as low carb as I could (not aiming for ketosis but just more stable blood sugar).

Eventually I met with a nutritionist who's a diabetes specialist and she gave me guidelines:
Breakfast 15 carbs
Snack can be 1-2 sq chocolate
Lunch 15-20 carbs
Snack 15-20
Dinner 30 gram
(all with fat as possible)
(I was told to have protein with carbs but she says it doesn't really slow the sugar, it's the fat.)

It's a little easier than what I was trying to do.
I lost 10 lbs pretty quickly, another 8-9 more slowly.
Pretty much plateaued now but I am not as strict as I should be.
Still blood sugar is a lot lot better though I'm still trying to get out for the a1c.
But this is it, I cant go off because I value my eyes and my toes.
Unless and until BSD I get to NOT be pre-diabetic, but I think I will always have to be careful.

Andrea you are definitely a significant factor in my inspiration!
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