LESS Alcohol ~ August 2025 ~ One Day at A Time

@Walela617 I don't know much about pancreatitis. But I do know it can be serious. Was it a sudden painful attack? Did you have to go to urgent care or the ED?

I don't believe I've told this story before. I live in a small town (pop 7000). There's a larger town not too far away. But, we were at our small grocery store. There was a man checking out (he was younger than me). We were third in line. Anyways, the man was talking to the checker. I have no idea how the conversation was started. But the man turned towards all of us in line and said, "I quit drinking "x" amount of years ago. I had pancreatitis and it almost killed me". It was weird because somehow, I felt it was directed towards me. You know…maybe from a higher power?

Recently, I heard something about the spleen. I haven't been watching You Tube videos or listening to podcasts, so it could have been on a TV show. I always thought that the blood clotting factors were exclusively produced in the liver. But I guess the spleen is involved in some way also. Pretty scary!

I've been worried for some time about my health, but mostly my liver. Your incident gives me even more reason to quit. When we start having medical issues, it's nothing to play around with.

Please keep up your good work. I'm there with you. And, congratulations on the weight loss! I've gained so much weight in the last year or two due to drinking. I would love to be under 160!

Take care of yourself!

Oops! Sorry, @WestCoastGirl_7! MFP no longer allows me to edit posts on the app, for some reason. To continue, I noticed the pain accompanied by low fever, vomiting and diarrhea the next morning, but didn't I go ahead and do it again that night? It got even worse the next day and scared me. It continued through the next day. Fortunately, I had Friday off from work already, because I don't think I could have handled it. I suspected it right away because my brother had it years ago and it almost killed him. I know exactly where the pancreas is and I was sure what it was and what caused the symptoms I was feeling. (My brother doesn't drink alcohol anymore, though he is addicted to painkillers and Marijuana.) I looked online and immediately confirmed my suspicion that it had to be pancreatitis. I don't want to become a diabetic or something worse if I can prevent it. Every time I am tempted, I will remember this experience. I am not in the last bit tempted right now. I will miss the social aspect of it, but not feeling ill and not spending all that income either!

Have a nice night. I will plan to check in daily going forward, if at all possible.

💞Carole

A-2
AF-22

Weigh-in tomorrow morning. Should be good. 🙏🏻

@Walela617 Thanks. I saw your first post and it seemed to drop off in the middle of the sentence. I have the app downloaded on my phone but I rarely use it. It's too hard to see (I have some vision problems) and my fingers are too big to type on a phone. I have voice to text on my phone (again I rarely use it), but I don't know if that works with MFP.

I'll have to Google it, but I really don't know where the pancreas is or what it does. Same as the spleen…I have an idea where it is. But I have no idea what it does.

I'm also aiming for AF for many reasons…health, fitness, and losing weight. But, since I'm getting older, I think about if there were an emergency with a loved one and if I was drinking I may be unable to help. When I was in my 20's or 30's, it wasn't something that I thought about. We were basically kids and we didn't have medical issues. Yes, the occasional mishap. But, nothing big.

Just keep doing your best! I have to go because my new kitty wanted my attention. So I'm holding him in on my chest and typing with one finger.

Have a nice night!

Late to the party. In addition to hoping you enjoyed your birthday, big hug on the pancreatitis! Glad to hear you’re already feeling better. Great job with cutting out the alcohol.

@itladyee my anniversary is this Sunday! Celebrating Labor Day weekend with a BBQ. I need to find some lower cal vegetable side dishes. Maybe also make a fresh tropical fruit salad, mangoes, pineapple, etc. I am undecided if I will buy single-serving fizzy rose french wines. It will be that or Italian gelato from a real Italian gelato shop here. Gelato is favored right now.

BMI has been stuck all August but it came down 0.1% this week. So little. But if I keep in that direction I will slowly get there. Been doing solid with limiting seed oils to 1-2x a month. It's been easy. This means no vegetable, canola or any product containing them (bye-bye tortilla chips, tacos, fried anything and processed salad dressings). I am though keeping the cheese and chocolate to myself.

@globalhiker I'll gladly join you in "No Alcohol September".

We used to watch the Food Network a lot years ago. It's mainly challenges now. But it used to be individual chefs all day long. Anyways, we've been grilling fruits and vegetables for years now. Bobby Flay grilled halved, pitted peaches, cut side down (I imagine he oiled the cut side a bit). We used to grill pineapple slices (oiled) all the time. It's a great side for chicken or pork. Asparagus and zucchini are easy to grill. Anyways it's pretty endless…just remember to toss your veggies in some oil first. We also grill corn on the cob (husked), but we don't add oil. I think I saw a show recently where they did coat the corn with some sort of butter mixture first.

As far as oils, I use California Olive Ranch EVOO and Chosen brand 100% pure avocado oil. There was a study done, I believe by UCLA. What they found is that it was the only one that was 100% avocado oil. Most others contained soybean or canola oil with a small amount of avocado oil. Avocado oil is very neutral and has a very high smoke point.

One more thing…I make Carne Asada tacos from time to time. But you don't have to fry the tortillas (we use corn). If you have a gas stove just heat them on top of the burner with tongs. If you don't have a gas stove, you can heat them up in a skillet. Healthier and no cleanup!

Well, I've got to go now. It's hard to type. My new kitty doesn't like me being on the computer 😕 He want's all the attention!

Have a great day everyone!

Hi @globalhiker, I would also like to join you for Sober September! Great idea! It's very exciting that you all be celebrating your anniversary this Sunday! Amazing!