RedSierra Member

I love kale and eat it every week. However, if you don't cook until soft it tastes like a rubber vegetable.

I didn't know that -- thanks for posting.

That may be true, but a rice cooker will turn itself to warm to off. You have to watch a pressure cooker and remember to turn the heat off. My biggest reason for buying a rice cooker was I would forget to turn the heat off when I cooked rice on the stove. Lots of burned pots.

I miss Borders bookstore -- the smell of coffee when you walked in the door, all the books and big armchairs. Went under due to Amazon.

LOL, same here. They taste like styrofoam.

Quinoa. Tastes like soap. Also, anything quorn. It's made from a mold grown in indoor tanks. Just the idea grosses me out.

Fantastic article. Congrats on turning your life around and really living now!

Here's a Mayo Clinic article about hand swelling and exercise: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/edema/expert-answers/hand-swelling/faq-20058255 Edited to add that you said you've been drinking a lot of water lately -- the article says low sodium can be one cause of the hand swelling.

Someone I haven't seen in a while did that to me. I've been so happy about my weight loss. This person mentioned I'd lost a lot of weight and asked with a concerned face if it was "for health reasons." She was asking if I was seriously ill or dying. Yes, I lost it for health reasons -- because I was fat and didn't want to…

I'm terrible at cooking, too. That's why I eat a lot of instant oatmeal, salads, and canned soup (Amy's brand, good quality, but no cooking required except to heat). I'm happy to eat this food forever. The problem with a meal service is the same one with plans like Slimfast. While you might lose weight, unless you plan to…

I really love your post. Thanks for the realness and the inspiration. Resistance is there everytime we try anything. You have to push against it.

Krispy Kreme all the way. Best donuts ever.

^^ Totally agree with this. However, sometimes when you start doing something you have to drag yourself to start, then you like it and want to do it more.

It sounds like you need/want to relax after work. Can you get up early and go to the gym in the morning? What about going to the gym after work for only 30 minutes? If you feel like doing more, fine. If not, then you made your commitment for the day. You might try writing gym time on your calendar. Another idea that works…

I understand what you're saying, and agree with you, but the person who responded above was trying to work out the social problem of turning people down or putting a limit on calorie rich food. The social aspect is a minefield in offices. Sometimes a simple no thanks will offend people -- they will think you're cold and in…

I don't know about the bad part. It's okay to enjoy almost anything in controlled amounts, unless it causes medical problems. I gained a lot of weight (and gave myself medical problems) because I mindlessly ate food with a lot of sugar, fat, and salt. I didn't pay any attention to the calories or the nutrition content -- I…

Fruit juice, dairy milk, plant milk, milk in coffee or tea, and other drinks with calories are better logged in the regular diary so you can keep track of how many calories you're consuming for the day. I log non-calorie drinks like black tea and coffee in the regular part of the diary so I can see what I'm drinking -- you…

^^ This is exactly right. We do live in a very interconnected planet. Many historians believe this is how the deadly 1918 flu that killed 50 million people traveled around the world. Some articles came out a few years ago that said the epidemic likely began with infected workers in China who were hired and shipped on boats…

I agree with your husband in principle. It's never appropriate to comment on someone's weight -- unless that person brings it up first and wants a response. However, the reality is many mothers make comments on all kinds of things that are none of their business. It seems to be their maternal role in life to want to take…

Should or should not log water depends on you. Water is important to me. I try to log all my water because I have marginal high blood pressure and drinking enough water helps to keep it in a normal range. I also find I am not as hungry when I drink more water. However, I don't want to drink too much water, which I was…

Log everything. You're being honest here which is the right thing to do for yourself. You probably went off track because you're being too restrictive. Restricting too much makes many people feel deprived, which can lead to binges. Think of this as a lifestyle change, not a diet. Ask yourself if you can eat these foods the…

Excerpts from how flu spreads from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). I broke up the paragraphs for easier reading. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/disease/spread.htm How Flu Spreads People with flu can spread it to others up to about 6 feet away. Most experts think that flu viruses are spread mainly by…

^^ I agree with this. I used to never get flu shots, for 2 reasons. One, they scared me because when I was young, my mother had a reaction to a flu shot. She was intolerant to a lot of things like penicillin, so who knows what happened. This was decades ago. Second reason, I didn't get the shots because I almost never get…

What about exposing vulnerable people in public to the virus -- elderly people who stand next to you in the grocery checkout line, for example?

I did intermittent fasting for about a week (or maybe 2 weeks, I can't remember). I ate during an 8 hour window from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., although the window doesn't matter. The value was that I had to wait until 11 a.m. to eat (although I get up at 5 a.m. and did have an apple, because 6 hours was too long for me to wait).…

^^ ninerbuff is correct. You probably regained the weight because you couldn't keep up with the food style you were eating (you described it as healthy food with no added sugar) and have a longterm problem of turning to comfort food when you're stressed. As far as the anger toward yourself, accept that you're human and…

I have no upper body strength at all. Have you tried the elliptical? I'm a treadmill walker who switched to the elliptical when I found it built up my strength and stamina. There are different kinds of ellipticals, so if you use a gym try them out to see which one you prefer. I started at 5 minutes with level 2 and worked…

That's the biggest problem in offices. I was strongly tempted to quit a job once because of all the food everywhere. It's good if you can convince people to limit the treats to a breakroom or some other specific place where you can't see them unless you walk in there. I said I had health problems, which seemed to work the…

Walking is an excellent exercise. You burn calories and have little chance of injury. I agree with the suggestion about swimming, too. You might talk to your doctor and get an okay to do exercise more strenuous than walking. Once you get an okay, you could try different things out to see what clicks -- anything from a…

Having coffee with my friends and we're talking about our blood pressure. Blergh.