The Off Topic Thread...

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

dad always buys lemon and ginger tea so I drink it whenever i'm there, it's a little sharp on the back of the throat but still lovely

got some mixed berry infusion/tea in tesco last week, it's delicious. sadly the cranberry and orange infusion I got later in the weak turned out to be flavourless nonsense.

ling-zing

has anyone got any recommendations for vitamin/health food stores in the uk/eu ,i usually use iherb but got caught for €30 duty on my last order

Orla K

Woo! Two fresh wild caught salmon steaks waiting in someone's fridge for me and they're free!

Just realised that I was quite lucky in some ways, food wise, when I was growing up, wild caught fish, wild pheasant, the odd wild rabbits and venison. There's less of it now, there's awkwardness with gun clubs, over fishing and illegal fishing.

I used to hate fish because of salmon, for weeks during the summer the entire house would smell of fish liking it a lot better now although I'm still iffy about shellfish(scallops are fine they don't look like anything really)

El_Dangeroso

Orla K wrote: »

Woo! Two fresh wild caught salmon steaks waiting in someone's fridge for me and they're free!

Just realised that I was quite lucky in some ways, food wise, when I was growing up, wild caught fish, wild pheasant, the odd wild rabbits and venison. There's less of it now, there's awkwardness with gun clubs, over fishing and illegal fishing.

I used to hate fish because of salmon, for weeks during the summer the entire house would smell of fish liking it a lot better now although I'm still iffy about shellfish(scallops are fine they don't look like anything really)

Oh jealous! Is it salmon fishing season? I paid 52 euro per kilo for some wild salmon last year, that's more expensive than fillet steak. I'd do it again to because the taste is utterly incomparable to the farmed stuff.

Orla K

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Oh jealous! Is it salmon fishing season? I paid 52 euro per kilo for some wild salmon last year, that's more expensive than fillet steak. I'd do it again to because the taste is utterly incomparable to the farmed stuff.

I guess it's the season, I don't fish so I don't know but the salmon are heading upstream at the moment. I completely went off salmon for ages, the smell would make me want to get sick, this is the first bit of salmon from someone I know that caught it fly fishing. I'm going to have to weigh it tomorrow and see how much I've got. I'm still not sure what way to cook it, I normally use darns not steaks.

El_Dangeroso

This is so nerdy it's absolutely brilliant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMBIs_Iw0kE&feature=player_embedded

rocky

My high fat meals are coming to an end, my stomach/[gall bladder] is very lazy since Friday. The only thing I added to my regular meal of scrambled eggs, sour cream and goats cheese was a bit of smoked salmon. Whether there was something in it or I just reached my fat cap, I dunno. Anything to help me get through this?

El_Dangeroso

3 egg yolks a day in combo with a moderate carbohydrate diet improve cholesterol and overall health in new study:

http://www.metabolismjournal.com/article/S0026-0495(12)00318-6/abstract

Mr. CooL ICE

It's healthy eating week in work. There is a known dietician giving a talk today. I avoided it because it would have eaten into both my eating and my gym time.

However, the canteen is littered with pamphlet things with healthy eating 'facts'. They use the bloody food pyramid and say the shape of your palm determines how much meat and fish you need to eat. Now I really, really wish I went to that talk :mad:

Orla K

This made me sad
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/three-and-a-half-ugly-lies-behind-the-obesity-epidemic/#comment-112862

She ignored any of the good comments and completely ignored the role of FT3.

El_Dangeroso

I know a lady trying to lose weight, she is down from 18st to just above 15st but with still a good bit to lose.

She is a lifetime yoyo dieter, and feels her metabolism is screwed as a result.

She is only losing weight by eating 600 calories a day(awful I know). She is being overseen by a consultant in a local hospital who has put her on an 850 cal a day regime but she has gained 4lb in two months of this. :eek: She is exceptionally strict and cheating is out of the question.

She has had all manner of tests run on her, thyroid etc everything (apparently) fine.

She exercises for at least an hour a day including weights.

Anyone have any ideas on what she could try to speed up her metabolism in even the slightest way? I can't imagine how awful it is constantly subsisting on that little food every day.

Gummy Panda

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

I know a lady trying to lose weight, she is down from 18st to just above 15st but with still a good bit to lose.

She is a lifetime yoyo dieter, and feels her metabolism is screwed as a result.

She is only losing weight by eating 600 calories a day(awful I know). She is being overseen by a consultant in a local hospital who has put her on an 850 cal a day regime but she has gained 4lb in two months of this. :eek: She is exceptionally strict and cheating is out of the question.

She has had all manner of tests run on her, thyroid etc everything (apparently) fine.

She exercises for at least an hour a day including weights.

Anyone have any ideas on what she could try to speed up her metabolism in even the slightest way? I can't imagine how awful it is constantly subsisting on that little food every day.

Doesn't a protein fast diet fix metabolic issues for some?

EDIT: is the 4lbs actually fat? Could be water weight

It never rains but it pours.

4 wisdom teeth out next Friday, I imagine I'll be on the liquid diet for 4/5 days minimum. Don't want to waste away though.

Liquefy-able protein sources?

Bear in mind any deviation from body temperature foods will probably make me pass out / cry like a baby.

Zombienosh

Get some oat bran and quinoa flour to mix into shakes, if u have a blender you;re sorted

Stench Blossoms

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

I know a lady trying to lose weight, she is down from 18st to just above 15st but with still a good bit to lose.

She is a lifetime yoyo dieter, and feels her metabolism is screwed as a result.

She is only losing weight by eating 600 calories a day(awful I know). She is being overseen by a consultant in a local hospital who has put her on an 850 cal a day regime but she has gained 4lb in two months of this. :eek: She is exceptionally strict and cheating is out of the question.

She has had all manner of tests run on her, thyroid etc everything (apparently) fine.

She exercises for at least an hour a day including weights.

Anyone have any ideas on what she could try to speed up her metabolism in even the slightest way? I can't imagine how awful it is constantly subsisting on that little food every day.

Get her to eat 2000+ calories for one day. It will shock the body. I did it a few times when I was low caloring it and it worked for me.

El_Dangeroso

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Doesn't a protein fast diet fix metabolic issues for some?

EDIT: is the 4lbs actually fat? Could be water weight

Could well be, thing is, it's not coming off (nothing is) on 800 cals a day. I calc'd her BMR for her: 1700 cals!

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

Get her to eat 2000+ calories for one day. It will shock the body. I did it a few times when I was low caloring it and it worked for me.

I thought that too, but she's very reluctant to try since any increase in cals seems to result in weight that doesn't shift again even on very low calories.

I'd love to get her metabolism tested with doubly-labelled water but have no idea where in Ireland you could get that done.

Orla K

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

I know a lady trying to lose weight, she is down from 18st to just above 15st but with still a good bit to lose.

She is a lifetime yoyo dieter, and feels her metabolism is screwed as a result.

She is only losing weight by eating 600 calories a day(awful I know). She is being overseen by a consultant in a local hospital who has put her on an 850 cal a day regime but she has gained 4lb in two months of this. :eek: She is exceptionally strict and cheating is out of the question.

She has had all manner of tests run on her, thyroid etc everything (apparently) fine.

She exercises for at least an hour a day including weights.

Anyone have any ideas on what she could try to speed up her metabolism in even the slightest way? I can't imagine how awful it is constantly subsisting on that little food every day.

Been there:( One meal every two days with snacks that were just bits of cheese.
I know they said her thyroid was fine but the lab ranges are stupid and so are what they test for and what the don't. I won't rule it out until FT3, rT3, full iron, adrenals(I have heard they only do the am blood in ireland) antibodies etc. but of course it could be none on this!

I would agree with stench, sadly she will gain some weight on this but that could be somewhat offset by... WEIGHTLIFTING... YEEH (just saw about the exercise, no or little cardio! for now)
Also it's not great to totally restrict on macro nutrients so potatoes and cream are both in WOO.. POTATO GRATIN! Keep it a clean diet too. I tend to lose weight easier when I eat potato gratin.

As a matter of interest does she have any other symptoms? Does she take her basal temp in the morning.

It will be difficult but it is doable, is it just from crazy dieting? What kind of stuff is she going for now?

That's what I would try for a number of months.

El_Dangeroso

Orla K wrote: »

Also it's not great to totally restrict on macro nutrients so potatoes and cream are both in WOO.. POTATO GRATIN! Keep it a clean diet too. I tend to lose weight easier when I eat potato gratin.

WOOO me too! I also feel much better when I eat potato gratin. I love how it increases my body temp too, nothing worse than freezing cold hands and feet.

I will pass on this info to her which I hope she will take on board but at the moment she is listening to the consultant and keeping cals at that level on his advice, doubt she'll take my advice on that score, she's terrified of gaining weight lest it never comes off again.

Where in Ireland can you get adrenals tested? I doubt they wouldn't be shot from the extreme restriction. She's eating low fat and low carb at the moment so I'll wager the cortisol is pumping out hard to avoid her fainting from lack of energy calories.

Orla K

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

WOOO me too! I also feel much better when I eat potato gratin. I love how it increases my body temp too, nothing worse than freezing cold hands and feet.

I will pass on this info to her which I hope she will take on board but at the moment she is listening to the consultant and keeping cals at that level on his advice, doubt she'll take my advice on that score, she's terrified of gaining weight lest it never comes off again.

Where in Ireland can you get adrenals tested? I doubt they wouldn't be shot from the extreme restriction. She's eating low fat and low carb at the moment so I'll wager the cortisol is pumping out hard to avoid her fainting from lack of energy calories.

Messed up adrenals can affect the thyroid and visa versa so it's likely that both are a contributing part, just thinking too she's going to be quite low in vitamins and stuff that's not going to help, I'm also now just thinking about a study someone posted somewhere(may have been you) it was about gastric operation patients having different gut flora after the operation(I think I don't remember reading it) you could advise her to start with getting her gut healthy.
I think you can get 8am blood test anywhere but for saliva test they send it to England, you might be able to get them taken here and sent off, apparently I've had a blood test sent to France!

On a side note where/how is the best place to get full studies, not just abstracts?

El_Dangeroso

Orla K wrote: »

On a side note where/how is the best place to get full studies, not just abstracts?

PM me.

I have access to most but not all journals.

Thephantomsmask

I'm in a similar position to your friend, fighting a broken metabolism. In my case though I was born prematurely and they use various drugs to promote weight gain in preemies. I was emaciated up to the age of 6 and then basically ballooned over night, I was destroyed with purple stretch marks. I don't think frequent steroids for respiratory problems helped either.

Currently I'm 29, 5ft5 and 100kg. At my heaviest I was 123kg (about 15kg of this due to depo provera). I started a ketogenic diet in sept 2011 with personal training once a week and increasing my exercise and the first 16kg or so came off pretty easily in about 6 months yet in the last year I've lost 6kg. I'm strength training 4 nights a week and one night of metcon/HIIT work, I doubt muscle gain explains the lack of weightloss. I've tried SKD, TKD and CKD at various calorie intakes between 10 and 12 per pound. I've gone back to 10cal per pound with a split of roughly 35/35/30 p/f/c making sure to get my 1g/lb protein. This is after several weeks of eating in excess of 3000 cal per day. I'm hoping to see some results on the scale but getting pretty demoralised when MFP tells me "you could weigh x in 5 weeks" yet I'm still the same!

Piper101

As this is the off topic thread I am going to go off topic

I am currently on a mainly plant based whole food diet...had a baby 14 weeks ago and still breastfeeding so my energy levels have hit an all time low (not ready to give up yet!!!)

How bad are hand cooked vegetable crisps?? Just had a bag, ingredients are mixed root veg, 63% sunflower oil and sea salt...202 kcal but not really worried about that.

Have weight to lose but trying to do it sensibly much more worried about health

El_Dangeroso

Piper101 wrote: »

As this is the off topic thread I am going to go off topic

I am currently on a mainly plant based whole food diet...had a baby 14 weeks ago and still breastfeeding so my energy levels have hit an all time low (not ready to give up yet!!!)

How bad are hand cooked vegetable crisps?? Just had a bag, ingredients are mixed root veg, 63% sunflower oil and sea salt...202 kcal but not really worried about that.

Have weight to lose but trying to do it sensibly much more worried about health

They are the same as normal crisps just with fancier marketing.

Honestly, this is NOT the time to be restricting calories. You are still recovering from having a baby AND you are breastfeeding. It's damn hard to get enough calories from just plants. No wonder you have no energy.

Are you vegetarian? Do you eat dairy? I would really emphasise energy dense foods like cheese and cream, that's what will will get your energy levels back up. You will burn through calories now like no other time in your life.

Also plenty of eggs, choline is not present in plants and it's essential for early life brain development.

Sephya

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Also plenty of eggs, choline is not present in plants and it's essential for early life brain development.

false. choline is found in a wide range of plant food such as cabbage, chickpeas, lentils, cauliflower, spinach, rice, lettuce, peanuts, grapejuice etc.

Piper101

I must not have explained myself properly!!!

I only started this in the past week due to my dip in energy levels. I had a lot of refined sugar in my diet and knew it wasnt doing either of us any good.

I had two hard boiled eggs yesterday and my dinner today was two pieces of mackerel, salad and cous cous with roasted aubergine and baby tomatoes in it. I am well aware of the importance of omega 3 and take a supplement as well.

My plan however is to eat mainly fruit, veg and grains and avoid as much as I can refined sugar (although I had honey in my porridge this morning).

I'm currently snacking on cacao nibs as I see now veg crisps are no good

El_Dangeroso

Sephya wrote: »

false. choline is found in a wide range of plant food such as cabbage, chickpeas, lentils, cauliflower, spinach, rice, lettuce, peanuts, grapejuice etc.

Thanks Dwight! Plants contain a fraction of the choline that eggs do. Since pregnant women need double the choline what do you suggest? 10 cooked cups of spinach a day? God forbid anyone just eat 4 eggs. Enough with the vegan propaganda.

Piper101 wrote: »

I must not have explained myself properly!!!

I only started this in the past week due to my dip in energy levels. I had a lot of refined sugar in my diet and knew it wasnt doing either of us any good.

I had two hard boiled eggs yesterday and my dinner today was two pieces of mackerel, salad and cous cous with roasted aubergine and baby tomatoes in it. I am well aware of the importance of omega 3 and take a supplement as well.

My plan however is to eat mainly fruit, veg and grains and avoid as much as I can refined sugar (although I had honey in my porridge this morning).

I'm currently snacking on cacao nibs as I see now veg crisps are no good

Nothing wrong with mashed potato with plenty of butter and cream

Sephya

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

Thanks Dwight! Plants contain a fraction of the choline that eggs do. Since pregnant women need double the choline what do you suggest? 10 cooked cups of spinach a day? God forbid anyone just eat 4 eggs. Enough with the vegan propaganda.

you said plants have no choline. this is demonstrably false. however when pointed out, instead of admitting your mistake, you accuse me of engaging in "vegan propaganda". sad.

El_Dangeroso

Sephya wrote: »

you said plants have no choline. this is demonstrably false. however when pointed out, instead of admitting your mistake, you accuse me of engaging in "vegan propaganda". sad.

You have twenty odd posts, each of them only to argue with people. You contribute nothing. That is sad.

Sephya

El_Dangeroso wrote: »

You have twenty odd posts, each of them only to argue with people. You contribute nothing. That is sad.

i thought this was a discussion board? instead of attacking me you should realise that people have different points of view.

anyway, it seems you took umbrage to my pointing out of your mistake and you tried to distract with a "vegan propaganda" swipe rather than be an adult about it and admit you were mistaken.

dr.bollocko

Sephya wrote: »

i thought this was a discussion board? instead of attacking me you should realise that people have different points of view.

anyway, it seems you took umbrage to my pointing out of your mistake and you tried to distract with a "vegan propaganda" swipe rather than be an adult about it and admit you were mistaken.

You attacked them.

The point was clarified and now you're clutching at straws to try and big yourself up for some bizarre reason.

Seems quite pointless even responding tbh. Don't know why I bother.