2018 Healthy Habits Challenge!

[Novella]

Needing to lose some serious weight after letting myself go after a period of grieving due to my father's death last year. Really quite ashamed of myself for the massive weight gain of 10+ kg and I was not slight to begin with. I know this will continue if I don't nip it in the bud pronto. I work full-time and commute 4 hours per day which is not atypical for the country I live in but does sap my energy and motivation to attack my weight problem. Trying to find motivation to go to the gym at least 3 times per week and although I eat relatively healthily when I do eat, my approach can be extreme in that I go from eating one meal a day to eating normally then binge eating which plays havoc with the metabolism of someone who has hypothyroidism. I know that it's a freaking moronic approach which is why something needs to be done. So embarrassed to post this but - meh - going to do it anyway.

 

[kyuuei]

Firstly, it's best to find EVOO from a co-op because co-ops are least likely to have been cut with soybean oil or other oils due to their higher quality controls. Also, because the co-ops are usually regional and coming from ONE source area: like only Spain, only Portugal, etc. Whereas, cheaper EVOOs cut with soybean oil can come from multiple sources. Like how one Bertolli EVOO bottle has multiple sources from: Italy, Greece, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, Morocco, Chile, Argentina, Australia, and Portugal. This is a major problem because suppliers are not always regulated and is more likely to increase cross-contamination.

In the article itself, it makes a lot of red herrings and strawmen arguments.. blaming mobsters?? for olive oil imperfections, and then saying the Italian government actually did GAF about the quality of olive oil being produced and seized farms and businesses that were producing fake products? And then we can't trust anyone but this one guy and there's a convenient link to his products? This seems overwhelmingly like fearmongering and fear-based tactics based on some actual events but taking it much further.

Your post itself has several misdirections as well.. arguing for people with soybean oil allergies is alright in and of itself, but saying co-ops are the ONLY source for olive oil isn't accurate by any means, then it is about the ingredients on labels not being trustworthy (as someone with several allergies to ingredients people believe are 'super healthy and safe' for people to consume like hemp which has tons of misleading names in labels, I can tell you... people with allergies know what to look for and avoid generally...), and then you agree that the label WILL post other items even if it doesn't come right out to say it (i.e. if you see 'vegetable oil' in olive oil ingredients listed it likely isn't pure olive oil, and seeing 'natural flavors' means it has something added to it as well... even if you differ in the thought process that these are not enough strides in the right direction, the labeling is accurate in telling people if things were added to olive oil at all), but then switch over last minute to this being about cancer? It's a little all over the place.

"When the same analyses were done in studies of U.S. and other Western populations, there was no link between soy and breast cancer risk.6 " Komen Perspectives - Answering Questions About Soy and Breast Cancer (April 2015) | Susan G. Komen(R)

As a general statement, I don't trust any website where someone is trying to sell me something. Having an affiliated link with a convenient discount to lure you into security (and savings!) right after instilling distrust and fear into the reader is classic fearmongering tactics and I don't support anything that indulges in that.

It is a bad thing because people have some serious soybean allergies. And there are no strict laws to protect those with these allergies.

Labeling Regulations | The Olive Oil Source This is a summarized format of a very in depth labeling process. I'm not going to pretend the US has not had a bad relationship with labeling food properly, you need only read The Jungle to see our history on that, and I also am not going to pretend there aren't shady companies that do shady things all over the place like Walmart that might put misleading information on labels, and there is something to be said about the quality of things from several countries... But. With that said, the FDA is not just a bunch of putzes sitting on their butts getting paid either. And there are affordable options for olive oil that don't have added extras and they need not come from a co-op necessarily either, which aren't available in many parts of the country and aren't going to be helpful to people who do not live near one either.

For the record... We clearly have very different ideals and methodologies. I can understand and respect that while disagreeing... I'm not trying to convince you of whatever you believe is best for you and your body.. but I want to clarify for anyone following this thread that there are serious, and reinforced, food label requirements, and a way to report brands you suspect are violating these regulations, so that people don't automatically think that when it says "Made in Italy, 100% extra virgin olive oil" in the store they don't just automatically think the US is filled with mobsters selling them sewage sludge with green food coloring or something.

Needing to lose some serious weight after letting myself go after a period of grieving due to my father's death last year. Really quite ashamed of myself for the massive weight gain of 10+ kg and I was not slight to begin with. I know this will continue if I don't nip it in the bud pronto. I work full-time and commute 4 hours per day which is not atypical for the country I live in but does sap my energy and motivation to attack my weight problem. Trying to find motivation to go to the gym at least 3 times per week and although I eat relatively healthily when I do eat, my approach can be extreme in that I go from eating one meal a day to eating normally then binge eating which plays havoc with the metabolism of someone who has hypothyroidism. I know that it's a freaking moronic approach which is why something needs to be done. So embarrassed to post this but - meh - going to do it anyway.

No need to be embarrassed. May I be the first to say welcome, and howdy! This is a safe place to feel yourself out here.

It sounds like we've identified a few issues already.. there was emotional turmoil (which is totally normal btw.. lots of people are thrown for a loop when something drastic happens in life), you work a lot and have little time during the day between a full day's work and commuting, which is leaving very little time at the gym, and likely this lack of time is messing with your ability to eat consistently which is leading to binge eating sessions.

Maybe we can start with identifying what you *do* have going for you? Let's not focus too much on what's already happened... you want to move forward, is what I'm understanding? Do you have 1-2 days off a week? Any job prospects closer by, or have plans to move closer to work soon? Was there something prior to this tragedy that motivated you that can be rekindled and reconnected with?

 

[kyuuei]

January [in these], my evaluations, and then Feb going forward!

Fitness:

- I want to get stronger. 5 day routine.. 10-20 minute burn out arms and legs x2/wk, a cardio/abs work out 35min-1hr x2/wk, and 1 new video/work out style x1/wk.

[I think I want to jump back into P90X, as I enjoyed that series immensely.. I'm going to blend it with Fitness Blender. I'm switching things up as my schedule is, but going to try to mostly alternate.. Cardio (1 from P90X, one from FB) and Strength Training (sticking with shorter FB ones this month) days. I'm going to focus on Football Agility training and parkour training for January for the new work outs. ]

January posted a couple challenges for me. It was blisteringly cold many days of the week, several snows, and my eczema flared up each time the temperatures went way down. I did the best I could through it, but I will continue to keep this same goal for Feb because I could not get out to do agility training or parkour in the cold. I did do well with the weight lifting sessions, the cardio was based on how badly I felt like I wanted to set my skin on fire haha. I think Feb will be better all around as long as the current weather trends hold out.

Feb goals: Weight lifting 10-20min 2x a week with FB, cardio 30ish min 2x a week with P90X, and new training ... maybe once every other week with parkour, and some football agility drills for 15min inbetween.

- I want to become more flexible. Complete a 30 day beginner yoga challenge and 90 day yoga challenge. 1 Stretching video post work outs x3/wk. 5 minute bed stretch routine on work days.

[I'll start with a 30 day challenge in February... Since I'm doing a HEMA challenge in January, I'm going to start this off by stretching post work outs in Jan and start trying to incorporate the work day bed stretching at least the first morning. ]

Some life events got in the way of some of this. I did get some stretching done, and learned some new techniques, but not nearly consistently. I think I'll be doing Fightmaster Yoga's 30 day challenge. I started today and did alright with it, so we'll keep it going. The days I did stretch I did it after working out--so I think the 30 day challenge + 30 min stretching on weight lifting and cardio days will be helpful. The 5 min bed stretch I found a video I liked and have been working on it.

Feb goals: 30 day yoga challenge video series, FB stretch/flex 3 day challenge videos after working out, and continue 5 min bed stretch routine when waking up.

- Go to all of my doctor appointments no matter what.

[I have none in January! Yay! Starting off the year easyyyyy. I will, however, go through and re-evaluate my packets and plans. I already evaluated my dental coverage today, and ensured I had the best one I could possibly get. So now I'll just do the same with my VA packets and ensure all the paperwork is in a row.]

Feb goals: Again, no MD appointments this month! Apparently there's new stuff going on in the VA, and I'll be meeting with my VSO to discuss these options this month.

Food:

- Focus more on eating appropriate portions, reigning in snacking. Curb free food habits, make snacks vs buying them. Try intermittent fasting. By May consistently eating 12-1300 calories of food itself.

[Whew I crammed a lot into this bullet point. ... I am going to intermittent fast though... I'm going to try a noon-10pm routine to start with, and see where it carries me. It isn't quite the 16off/8on that that system calls for, but it gives me flexibility to start with. I'll still stick with 2 meals/2 snacks and carry it from there. ]

[Going to try using date rolls, yogurt (a big one for me), and some puddings, pies, and ploughman platters for snacks. I have recipes for most of those things that I really enjoy. If I crave a snack between, I'm going to try a lightly sweetened/flavored milk (just a shot of creamer in it) and/or a zero calorie water flavor packet.. I'm thinking that I am mistaking thirst for cravings of sugar and food. ]

[I am going to aim for 1200-1300 calories consistently by May. I drink a lot of my calories in milk and such, easily 300+ calories worth (I drink a lot of milk ~3-4 cups a day). I might increase this as I see muscle mass increase, but for now, I have extra weight I don't need that isn't muscle that might be contributing to my eczema flare ups. For January, I'm going with being more mindful of the calorie ratios of things, and making healthy swaps where I can and avoiding overeating all the garbage people bring to work. Also, see what you eat food app will help me with this.]

I really DID cram a lot into this. I've split this up a bit to help out, and re-arranged this stuff to make more sense. Basically, pull back some of the BS and put forward some new stuff.

I ended up very quickly being in a 1pm-10pm schedule, and that has worked really well for me. 9 hours vs the 8, but considering I sometimes eat at 2pm or stop eating at 8pm the wiggle room is plenty for me. Not worrying about 1 entire meal has helped tremendously, and I always felt sort of forced into breakfast.. while I still eat breakfast, I just do it at 1pm instead of at 'breakfast time'. Overall I think this is beneficial to me, I don't feel lightheaded or dizzy or lazy or hungry (except just before the first meal, pretty normal.) I ended up with 2 meals and 1 good snack and 1 light snack a day, and it has worked really well. The best part is, I don't eat anymore/less per meal than I did before, so I think I've cut a good 400ish calories out of my diet just by skipping a meal and curbing my snacking. I did not try out the food app, but I might try that this month and see if I can calculate my caloric intake in Feb to see how I am eating. I did join the 1200isplenty reddit subgroup and I think there is some inspiration to be drawn from there.


My free food habit did well this month, but mostly because there weren't many opportunities for free food at work or at events. At the hotel on my trip there was free breakfast, and I took fruit and items I could eat later. I had pizza last night at a friend's house but we were about to eat at Carrabbas so... I suspect I ate less food at my friends house than I would have at a restaurant.

The discount grocery store in my area start carrying really nice pre-made ploughman snacks for $0.50 and $0.33 each! Really can't beat that, and I stocked up. Yogurt I did well with and it served me well as a light snack with a mini rice krispie treat... they were selling a box of 32 for $0.08 each, so between that and yogurt and the ploughman snack all of my snacking only costed $1 each day for yogurt of various flavors, a sweet treat, and a pretty rich snack of cheeses, dried fruits, crackers, and meats and nuts depending on the package. I'm thinking making my own snacks? Meh, not really the way to go for me... but buying appropriate ones for just as cheap I can apparently do well, so I am for this month too. I did use zero calorie sweet teas and flavored milks and that did well for me too, curbed the times I had sweet tooths that the yogurt just couldn't quite fix.

Feb goals: Continue intermittent fasting 1pm-10pm for now. Keep in budget for snacks and buy healthier options for snacks. Track the food eaten to see what calorie intakes I am getting. Keep flavored drink options available for sweet tooth cravings.

- Smaller plates when serving food, asking for a to-go box at the beginning of a meal out.

I didn't eat at restaurants that provided much food (a small pho soup, or a kids meal at a fast food joint) so I didn't flex those carry-out options this month, but I'm okay with that. I think this month not being bombarded with it will give me some time to reset and attack anything that comes my way head on. I want to choose healthier restaurants and fast food options in general too. I did have to wash more smaller plates than larger ones this month, so I believe I have done a good job of passively swapping those out.

Feb goals: Order appropriate portions of food at restaurants, or take a to-go box. Take healthier choices when given options. Continue to use smaller plates when applicable vs trying to fill up a larger plate.

- More fish in meals and protein in my diet. Experiment with Chinese, Indian, and Euro meals x1/wk. Japanese food 2x/wk.

[So, I'm starting out with Indian food because I think it will be an easy transition from Japanese food.. Tikka Masala was awesome at one restaurant, and I might not be making naan by hand anytime soon but I can sure support my local asian grocery buying it from them.]

Whew, I might have bit off more than I can chew here! Japanese food came easy to me, but I did a lot of eating down the freezer this month and taking things out of there that needed to be consumed so ZERO, a big fat egg, for this sort of stuff. I didn't even eat Japanese style many days, which my tummy hated me for. I want to re-visit this goal, and I might have a good opportunity to do it with a huge turkey that needs to be roasted.

I did eat fish several times in January anyways, and apparently bumblebee tuna makes a really nice seated ahi tuna for not too expensive in the freezer aisle. It's a perfect portion of fish, tastes amazing, and goes right on top of rice with no prep work. I also ate shrimp cocktail style and lightly fried in oil, as well as a portion of sashimi. Aldi has some cheap seafood as well.

Feb goals: Experiment with Indian-style cooking when I roast that turkey. Continue to eat fish at least once a week, and try to keep up my rice intake even outside of Japanese style eating.. at least every other day to keep my IBS under control.

- My water intake. A small cup of water/tea with each meal, and a cup of water when I first wake up.

[I think I'm going to kick off the habit by buying some of those tiny water bottles and putting them in the bathroom and by the bed. That way I'm reminded to drink them and will at least grab it and drink it as I walk around the house. As I get accustomed to it I think I'll start to crave it again on my own and won't need them. I have a small jar cup next to the water dispenser, and I'm drinking it as I prep my food vs eating it with the food, but it still counts to me. I'll start recording the times I don't in January.]

I did really well on this! Until my BF caught on to the fact there were tiny water bottles everywhere and started consuming them too haha. I don't go to regular grocery stores often (every other week.. so twice a month..) so I need to really stock these up. I did start craving water when I woke up though, and did get a cup on my own, so I know it is working. I did alright on the hot-tea side of things this month because of how frigid it was.

Feb goals: Stock up for the entire month on water bottles + extras for the BF, and drink a cup of hot tea with a meal. Drink 2 cups of water before I clock in at work too.

- I need to break the "im so poor I need free food" habit.

[I think I'm going to do something a bit unusual and try bringing some empty tupperwares with me to work. If I see something I WANT to eat but I am not hungry, I will package it up and take it home... if I still want it before it goes bad, cool, if my partner eats it, cool, if not, toss it. We'll see how it goes. There's going to be a lot of Christmas Candy lingering around at work.]

Since I am orienting to new floors, and only working 2 days a week in January, this was not an issue at all. I did keep an empty tupperware with me though! Not as much Christmas Candy as I thought would be lingering, but I didn't get back into work until the 5th. I haven't been eating at work at all, rather just eating right before I leave and a snack during my break to keep with the fasting ritual.

Feb goals: Keep an empty tupperware in my backpack, package any food I think I want and bring it home for later vs eating it right then to keep with the fasting pace.

General cleaning/organizing:

- Clean up 5 minutes a day.

[I'm still going to have a clean-up day once a week where I go through and put things away in the house and do projects and stuff for a while... but for now: Wash dishes x2/wk, sweep the floors x1/wk, dust x1/wk, laundry x1/wk. I'm going to write it on the white board and cross them out. ]

HAHAHAHA. This was a total flop in Jan. We had a trip for several days, viking fight night, and adult/family issues that we had to address over a week constantly on top of work and other goals that took priority. You'd think a gal would find 5 minutes to clean, but this was absolutely forgotten about. I did keep up with the dishes in a timely manner.. but today is laundry day for the FIRST time in January. hahaha. and it's the end of the month.

Feb goals: Take a stab a 5 min cleaning a day sessions. Maybe not assigning a particular role to a day as that might be too much to remember, but SOMETHING to be cleaned once a day certainly.

- I'll pick a project, a room, something, and spend the whole month on it.

["I think I'm going to start with organizing paperwork in January...." I've already started weeding down papers as they come into my life, and I've taken some old folders and gone through and trashed old documents while at work. I'm going to spend a day separating them all out, then take them handfuls at a time and organize them.]

I did start this alright, but did not work many days and those days were incredibly busy! I got through a tiny amount, but I will continue this project in Feb. I only got one serious document in Jan and that was my W-2.

Feb goal: Weed down and sort out papers, scan the ones I can and email them to myself, start a google photos album of papers I might need to reference but don't need a PDF of. Slowly transition all Neat files into PDFs that are either emailed or photographed. Scan documents as they come into my life vs piling them up. Do the taxes this month too.

Financial:
- I want to max out my IRA this year, my emergency fund as well in a high interest savings account, finance the rest of my HEMA equipment, and truly get started in investing. I've been holding onto my savings right now because of some big picture stuff coming up in the near future.

[I have the high interest savings account picked out, I'm going to transfer funds into there as soon as I build up the fund. Based on my calculations, I should be maxed out on both things by october. I have a feder to pay for with 2 shifts, 2 shifts I need to work to make up for the spending on some of my throat protection and armor, and 3 shifts I need to work to make money for my travels this season... and then I can relax the rest of the year. I'm going to split these up by the month and do 3 in Feb (I can't Jan Im on orientation unfortunately), 2 in Mar, and 2 in April. ]

My money is being collected in my bank accounts, and budgeting has taken over this month. I'm picking up a couple extra shifts in Feb and Mar to help bring in some much needed income to offset things I need for HEMA and traveling. Still waiting on word of what we could do with the land in TX.

Feb goals: Pick up those shifts! Pay for the armor being built, and wait just one more month to see if any word on the land. If not, allocate the current savings into IRAs for this year and last year, go ahead and pay off rent for this year, and finally max out my emergency account. All future savings can start going towards investments.

Hobbies:
- Work through the first 20 lessons'. First half of the year to work on the first 10 lessons. Lesson 5/6 in Jan, 7 in Feb, 8 in Mar, 9 in April, 10 in May.. The song book 1 in June and July.

[I've started out small here, just practicing the notes and melodies (6 of them) 3 times each a day. It only takes me about 10 minutes to get through them... I just focus as much as I can on proper posture and my movement of my arms. I think practicing an instrument usually takes hours and hours, but as I don't have that and am moving slowly this is good enough for now.]

The BF was home much of January, it was slow from bad weather. I did work on open strings as I could, but not all the days I could have either. There was a lot of shit going on in Jan. Definitely slowing it down and doing a lesson a month and focusing on the practice of those.

Feb goals: Lesson 6. Keep it to one lesson a month. I think just practice lesson 5's music once to warm up before each session.

- I want to score a winning round in SiS, compete at all in Queen's Gambit, create my leather jacket and put my patches on it, Go to Okoberfecht again, get myself a complete set of useable gear that I can travel with and fight in without any loaner equipment, and memorize at least half of the montante rule sets. Enroll in Sword Carolina Online and start practicing at home.

[I'm registered for Queen's Gambit! Half the battle done... and it'll give me a bench mark on what to work on for SiS. January I will be participating in a 30 day HEMA challenge, our instructor is making anyone who finishes it entirely a beautiful patch to wear. So, January I am focusing on the vest, and the challenge. Feb I will work on ordering the feder and assembling my gear. O.F. is long away from now, I'll mess with it then. I will be incorporating practice of the rules of Montante into that 30 day challenge. It's 30 minutes everyday. On my work days, I will read, as it's easy and accomplished at work on my lunch break. That's 2 days a week. I'll practice Montante x1/wk, Longsword x2/wk watching SCO, and do drills x2/wk.]

Happy to say, I am 3 days away from completing the 30 day HEMA challenge. Patch well earned. I have a design for my vest, I just need to get an old girly t-shirt to use as a pattern and take it over to my instructor. Turns out I can't really work on that any faster, and my armor has taken priority from recent events, so one thing at a time. Working on the memorization of montante. I have not enrolled in SCO, and might not in Feb either, but I think March will be a good time to start that to help amp me up for SiS. I found out about a new material and I bought some samples for the school to test out.

Feb goals: Compete at Queen's Gambit (pretty confident this will happen), build up my armor and gear, experiment with some shocktec material. Post my jacket on the WoA members page and see if anyone wants to buy it off of me so I can order a medium.

- Continue going to at least 2 HEMA classes a week.

[Nothing more to add to this plan, I almost always have 2 evenings free for a couple hours.. January is going to be particularly HEMA heavy for reasons described below. ]

MOSTLY got this done, I had a trip that blocked out a week and some legitimate weather issues cancelled several classes, but otherwise I feel like I crushed this goal.

Feb goals: Continue to attend HEMA 2 days a week at least.

- I'd like to go snowboarding once this year.

[I have a feeling it'll snow in Jan/Feb timeframe. I'll make a weekend day of it. I'll clean up my gear in Jan anticipating it though, get everything washed and aired out. ]

When the weather was cold and snowing, it was TOO cold and TOO snowy and we were trapped. Now it's warm AF. If it gets cold in Feb I'll be trying to take advantage of it with snowboarding. we'll see what happens! I was a lazy ass and did NOT do this washing thing either.

Feb goals: Keep an eye out for good snowboarding weather. Wash and air out my gear.

- I'm going to try to make 1 hash a month. It'll count as a run day for fitness too, so bonus.

[Haha! Thiiiiss month is a formal hash but I'll definitely go to a real one in Jan.]

I did alright, I did go to ONE hash this month. Hahah. I did not make it though, because of my flare up, but I will try again in Feb.

Feb goals: 1 hash run.

- Japanese study - Finish book 1 and start book 2. Work more with anki. Watch 1 show in Japanese a week, 1 podcast a week.

[Going to DL anki on my next work days. Watched A netflix show (Midnight Diner, I love that show), and listened this week to an easy Japanese news cast.]

Sort of failed on the show and podcast side, but I did work with Anki a lot and it is helping with the vocab quite a bit. I wish I had started it sooner, but my old phone was not operating it correctly. Today is Japanese study, and we've been working on Chapter 6 lately. Lots of Japanese shows on youtube and netflix so I need to make a good effort for that even if it's at work on my lunch break with headphones, and podcast on the way home from work.

Feb goals: Work on vocab more between sessions, continue writing note summaries of the chapters as those have been very helpful, try again with 1 show a week and 1 podcast a week with work to see if that helps.

In summary of ALL of this, Feb goals are:

Fitness:

Feb goals: Weight lifting 10-20min 2x a week with FB, cardio 30ish min 2x a week with P90X, once every other week with parkour, football agility drills for 15min inbetween.
Feb goals: 30 day yoga challenge video series, FB stretch/flex 3 day challenge videos after working out, 5 min bed stretch routine when waking up.

Health:

Feb goals: Meet with VSO.
Feb goals: Continue intermittent fasting 1pm-10pm. Keep in budget for snacks and buy healthier options. Track the food eaten for calories. Keep flavored drink options available for sweet tooth cravings.
Feb goals: Order appropriate portions of food at restaurants, or take a to-go box. Choose healthier options. Continue to use smaller plates.
Feb goals: Experiment with Indian-style cooking. Continue to eat fish at least once a week, rice every 2-3 days.
Feb goals: Stock up for the entire month on water bottles + extras, drink a cup of hot tea with a meal. Drink 2 cups of water before I clock in at work.
Feb goals: Keep an empty tupperware in my backpack, bring free food home vs eating it.
Feb goals: 5 min cleaning a day. No assignments, but SOMETHING cleaned once a day.

Financial:

Feb goal: Weed down and sort out papers, scan and email important ones, start a google photos album of papers I don't need a PDF of. Transition all Neat files into PDFs/photos. Scan documents as they come in. Do the taxes this month.
Feb goals: Pick up those shifts! Pay for the armor being built, and wait just one more month to see if any word on the land. If not, allocate the current savings into IRAs for this year and last year, go ahead and pay off rent for this year, and finally max out my emergency account. All future savings can start going towards investments.

Hobbies:

Feb goals: Lesson 6. Keep it to one lesson a month. Practice lesson 5's music once to warm up before each session.
Feb goals: Compete at Queen's Gambit, build up my armor and gear, experiment with some shocktec material. Post my jacket on the WoA members page, order a medium if so.
Feb goals: Continue to attend HEMA 2 days a week at least.
Feb goals: Keep an eye out for good snowboarding weather. Wash and air out my gear.
Feb goals: 1 hash run.
Feb goals: Work on vocab more, continue writing note summaries, try again with 1 show a week and 1 podcast a week.

 

[biohazard]

In the article itself, it makes a lot of red herrings and strawmen arguments.. blaming mobsters?? for olive oil imperfections, and then saying the Italian government actually did GAF about the quality of olive oil being produced and seized farms and businesses that were producing fake products? And then we can't trust anyone but this one guy and there's a convenient link to his products? This seems overwhelmingly like fearmongering and fear-based tactics based on some actual events but taking it much further.

Okay cool. You don't have to believe the article if you don't want to.

Your post itself has several misdirections as well.. arguing for people with soybean oil allergies is alright in and of itself, but saying co-ops are the ONLY source for olive oil isn't accurate by any means, then it is about the ingredients on labels not being trustworthy (as someone with several allergies to ingredients people believe are 'super healthy and safe' for people to consume like hemp which has tons of misleading names in labels, I can tell you... people with allergies know what to look for and avoid generally...), and then you agree that the label WILL post other items even if it doesn't come right out to say it (i.e. if you see 'vegetable oil' in olive oil ingredients listed it likely isn't pure olive oil, and seeing 'natural flavors' means it has something added to it as well... even if you differ in the thought process that these are not enough strides in the right direction, the labeling is accurate in telling people if things were added to olive oil at all), but then switch over last minute to this being about cancer? It's a little all over the place.

Actually there are no misdirections because I was very clear with each separate point I made. I hope you are not interpreting my argument as a whole. I even asked a couple of people to read my post before I posted to make sure clarity was ensued. They said my posts were clear.

Did you misunderstand anything I said in my prior posts??? Please lemme know.

It seems as though that you continue to misunderstand my point since you keep misrepresenting my argument by saying that *I* said to *ONLY* buy from a co-op. You can easily look back on my OPs and see that I never said that. I kept saying "it's best to". As you can hopefully see, you are pulling a straw man argument.

Also, did you not understand the loop-hole labeling that I talked about? Please lemme know which parts are difficult to interpret. I will clarify further if needed.

I stand by my original argument that labeling is misleading when it is *NOT CLEARLY* defined and loop-holes exist. This would be difficult for someone with a soy allergy who is just learning how to read labels for the first time. It would not be fair to them. I believe they deserve not to have allergy episodes and for the FDA to label it clearly so they can easily and actively avoid cross-contamination. The FDA labeling it vaguely does not always prevent allergen episodes because a soy allergen individual can unbeknownly consume it and be unaware of the loop-holes. I wish the FDA would be more transparent to help those with soy allergens to avoid illness. As I said in my OP, it leads to other non-soy allergens and ingredients to be not clearly labeled as well.

"When the same analyses were done in studies of U.S. and other Western populations, there was no link between soy and breast cancer risk."

I'm not talking about breast cancer though so this is very non-sequitur. There is no relation to my OP.

As a general statement, I don't trust any website where someone is trying to sell me something. Having an affiliated link with a convenient discount to lure you into security (and savings!) right after instilling distrust and fear into the reader is classic fearmongering tactics and I don't support anything that indulges in that.

Okay, this is your opinion. That's cool. Whatever floats your boat. This still doesn't argue against the facts though. Just that you choose not to believe them.

Labeling Regulations | The Olive Oil Source This is a summarized format of a very in depth labeling process. I'm not going to pretend the US has not had a bad relationship with labeling food properly, you need only read The Jungle to see our history on that, and I also am not going to pretend there aren't shady companies that do shady things all over the place like Walmart that might put misleading information on labels, and there is something to be said about the quality of things from several countries... But. With that said, the FDA is not just a bunch of putzes sitting on their butts getting paid either. And there are affordable options for olive oil that don't have added extras and they need not come from a co-op necessarily either, which aren't available in many parts of the country and aren't going to be helpful to people who do not live near one either.

Yeah, that's a good site. I've learned quite a bit of info from it.

I know there are other options. I never said that Co-ops are the ONLY option. I said in my posts prior to this that "it's the best option".

"Best option" =/= "ONLY" option. Ad nauseam.

Non co-op EVOO are just harder to weed through because proper tests on them cannot be done until you purchase it and do a home test. That would be very inconvenient and a waste of money for consumers. This is why I continue to suggest co-op EVOO, because it's pretty easy to find and entrusts high quality from the farmers. Walmart supplies co-op EVOO pretty easily in their oil section. I got one from DCOOP that is high quality and only cost me 7$.

For the record... We clearly have very different ideals and methodologies. I can understand and respect that while disagreeing... I'm not trying to convince you of whatever you believe is best for you and your body.. but I want to clarify for anyone following this thread that there are serious, and reinforced, food label requirements, and a way to report brands you suspect are violating these regulations, so that people don't automatically think that when it says "Made in Italy, 100% extra virgin olive oil" in the store they don't just automatically think the US is filled with mobsters selling them sewage sludge with green food coloring or something.

This is another straw man argument. I never mentioned "sewage slug with green food coloring or etc". It is not the equivalent of soybean oil and is an exaggerated definition. I stand by my OP and hope that others get more informed about Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) by looking for the easiest and best option: Co-Op derived since co-op EVOO is more likely to be higher quality and not cut with soybean oil.

 

[Lark]

This guy has a great website too, there are good notes accompanying the youtubes, there's a lot of health and other good information on sleeping and intermittant fasting, which I'm thinking about giving a go this in coming month.

Why Top Athletes Only Eat One Meal a Day

 

[Lark]

OK, January has been a bust, yes, a complete bust. This is like 2017 and I dont want 2018 to be like it at all.

I've not gone to the gym as much as I planned, I've not been back to archery or HEMA, I've not sustained the no or low carbs that I had hoped for but I have pretty much eaten no potato all month, except I think chips (yes, the worst potatoes) once a week on saturday nights, and crisps, every couple of days. There's been A LOT of different reasons and excuses but this in coming month I am going to get a lot more serious about these, pretty modest goals, I've also decided to try and do some intermittent fasting, building up to doing it all week, for the whole month, this I'm going to record carefully and its the main new goal.

I also want to seriously change my sleep cycle, get up earlier, do things with the time that I have then in the mornings and go to bed earlier at night and develop really good sleeping habits like I remember having in the past.

January has been good in one respect, I have been able to move out a lot of books that I've read for review on Amazon or ones which I have not planned on keeping once I had read read them, every wednesday at least I had been getting rid of ones which I had finished or found that I did not like, I also found a book donation bank at a local petrol station were I take the houshold's bottles, jars and other glass for recycling. I have also bought far less books this month, this sounds stupid probably to other people but this is actually a big deal for me as I've developed, over time, a lot of bad habits in this respect, hoarding habits and the negative emotional hits and highs from buying books or visiting the book shop when I have more than sufficient books to read anyway. Also I've been reading well this month, that's a plan I've done from time to time in which I'll read a chapter from one book, a chapter from another, a chapter from another and that's the reading for the day, focus on something else, that's worked, great.

I've not reduced my screen time significantly, obviously, as my posting on this site will testify, I generally have the laptop on my knee when I watch TV or Youtube, I had a goal of reducing this to two hours as I wanted to do more work in the gym, spend more time out walking, that sort of thing. The interesting thing about not achieving this goal is that I've discovered the extent to which people dont go out for walks around my home town, I've noticed a lot of stuff and realise that a lot of people are staying inside evenings and nights and think people out for a walk are strange. Most of the walking, if people are out for a walk is in the mornings, I walk my dog around eleven or twelve and its then that I see retired folk or others out for a walk around the park, its not a big park, I can walk around the whole of it in half an hour but its not a big park and not a long walk.

Hobbies wise, I have got two new carboys (plastic) full of meads on the go, one is definitely bubbling away, the other not so much but its not concerning me as I thought the first carboy was dead when it wasnt and produced a really good mead, the first mead was an orange one and came out very citrus, the two I have on at the moment, one is cherries, the other is strawberries, strawberry one is working great and I'm looking forward to trying that in about a month and a half when I rack it into bottles I've collected.

I havent opened or used my recording mics to try and progress the goal of making audio recordings or producing work for AVX to join the audio recorders group on FB as a possible different, additional revenue stream. I also havent opened the leather inscriber I got either for putting designs on leather, I planned to make a few transferable leather backings for books, notebooks or reading material, maybe make a wallet or some pouches for a belt. Those are things I need to get done or started but I havent done much in that respect this month.

Three goals I have, which I sort of did, although didnt properly track, is I mean to compliment two people daily, I also want to adopt some real reframing/NLP exercises daily and do some reframing of other sorts, the could vs should thing is a big thing, I want to do this as I know that when I have in the past I can and did manage to switch up my thinking and motivation entirely. I've had some real challenges and difficulties for a couple of months which has depleted my resilience and been bad for my self/personality and I want to recover my earlier self.

My brother did vegan and dry january without difficulty and its an example I plan to follow.

 

[Ingrid in grids]

Most of my goals for 2018 are not health related, but here are my ones that are:

+ Commit to taking SNRI for 12 months

+ Trial Neurofolin for 2 months

+ Find a new psychologist

+ Be generally more proactive in managing eating disorder recovery and anxiety/panic disorder - set aside time each week to go over therapy notes

+ 30-day yoga challenge

Thought I'd give an update.

I've been taking the SNRI every day, but ran out of the Neurofolin supplement. I'm going to order some more online. Things are good on that front. I haven't gotten around to finding a new psychologist just yet. I've just moved back overseas and into a new place, so I've been a little preoccupied with getting settled.

My new apartment complex is pretty awesome and has a gym downstairs. It's a really nice space and they run daily yoga classes! I'm going to start my 30-day challenge this week.

 

[Lark]

I thought this was cool.

 

[ceecee]

So I'm getting my information from this page. A Beginner's Guide to Intermittent Fasting | Nerd Fitness

And I appreciate the suggestion, but I am aware it's meant to be based on times and windows of eating; I like to baby step into things.. going from eating 5-6x a day to only within certain windows of hours isn't something I'm willing to just jump into cold turkey and make the journey miserable for me.. and since I particularly don't have issues with diabetes or insulin or any serious weight loss needed, and I am ramping up my exercise by a decent amount and am unsure of how that will influence things, I'll take the slow route.

Eventually I want to get to a 1-2pm-to-9-10pm schedule (as I am night shift, it makes sense for me to eat more in the afternoons vs the daytime), with 16 hours fasting inbetween.. but I am not quiite there yet and this is all an experiment. Right now I can make it to 1pm if I drink some tea and water when I first wake up, and eat a yogurt around 11:30ish.. I suspect as I adjust I might not need this snack, but honestly I'm not heartbroken over 100 calories 2 hours before the 16 hours if that's the only thing making or breaking this routine. It seems to tie me over till around 1 - 1:30, and I eat two decent meals with another snack inbetween those two.. and then I'll drink something like a chocolate protein nut milk or just regular milk sometime around 11pm-12am.. though last night I didn't need that at all and felt sufficiently full.

I tend to be someone that doesn't dive face first into things I want to make into habits, I meander into them so it doesn't feel like a resentful chore but rather just something to try out and see how it goes.

After reading up more in IF, I decided to try it and see how it works. I stop eating at 8pm and eat again around 12pm the next day. 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating each day. So basically just skipping breakfast. I usually eat breakfast at lunch with additional fruits and vegetables as I love breakfast foods.

The Beginner's Guide to Intermittent Fasting
The Good and The Bad of Intermittent Fasting: 2 Years of Experiments

Nothing I read said anything about changing healthy eating habits so I didn't add another day of vegetarian but I did add one more day of weights. I'm down 9 lbs since Christmas, although I wasn't really shooting for weight loss as much as strength training with weights but I'll take it. It's not hard at all to me (I do have black coffee, just nothing with calories). There are other kinds of fasting but this one is easy since you sleep for the majority of it. I would recommend it to anyone but check with a doctor. I sent mine an email with the links and she said - cool, let me know how it goes.

I've never even heard of taking a dry month until I heard it here. I apparently just had a dry January but not on purpose. Maybe I'll have a beer Thursday.

 

[ceecee]

I thought this was cool.

The Rock eats a ton of cod. A couple pounds a day. It's my favorite fish to have on a regular basis but I would get sick of having to stop what I'm doing and eat that often the way he does.

 

[Lark]

The Rock eats a ton of cod. A couple pounds a day. It's my favorite fish to have on a regular basis but I would get sick of having to stop what I'm doing and eat that often the way he does.

I love Cod too, particularly battered Cod with chips, I wish it hadnt gotten over fished because it used to be a cheap fish but now its mad rarer and mackerel is about the only cheap fish, kipper maybe aswell but Cod used to be where it was at and cheap into the bargain. Not so now.

The Rock is my inspiration, especially now he's gotten even bigger for roles like Road Block in GI Joe, apparently all the different roles he has done in which he was "a fat kid who stayed in his room", like Terry in Brooklyn 99 or Everyone Hates Chris, had some basis in fact, or so he's said, maybe it is just a story but I like to think that with enough work and the right information I could get fit too, maybe not exactly like those guys but you got to have dreams right?

 

[kyuuei]

After reading up more in IF, I decided to try it and see how it works. I stop eating at 8pm and eat again around 12pm the next day. 16 hours of fasting and 8 hours of eating each day. So basically just skipping breakfast. I usually eat breakfast at lunch with additional fruits and vegetables as I love breakfast foods.

The Beginner's Guide to Intermittent Fasting
The Good and The Bad of Intermittent Fasting: 2 Years of Experiments

Nothing I read said anything about changing healthy eating habits so I didn't add another day of vegetarian but I did add one more day of weights. I'm down 9 lbs since Christmas, although I wasn't really shooting for weight loss as much as strength training with weights but I'll take it. It's not hard at all to me (I do have black coffee, just nothing with calories). There are other kinds of fasting but this one is easy since you sleep for the majority of it. I would recommend it to anyone but check with a doctor. I sent mine an email with the links and she said - cool, let me know how it goes.

I've never even heard of taking a dry month until I heard it here. I apparently just had a dry January but not on purpose. Maybe I'll have a beer Thursday.

Haha, I know I have dry months all the time. I did have a mojito with a friend as they told me about their honeymoon in costa rica.

So far IF has helped me out with both not feeling so stressed out about meals and, from what I can tell, I am eating slightly less. This month I don't care so much if I drink calories or not just like last month, but I've narrowed the window from 10 hours to 8-9 on my own in January. By 1pm I'm grumbling, but right now it's 9pm and I only had a couple snacks and a single meal and I'm full as can be.

Let me know how it does for you, so far it's treated me really well to not have to even worry about breakfast, planning it out, etc. and I don't seem to notice any decrease in my energy, increased headaches or irritability either. I used to get really hangry by noon, now noon rolls by and I'm like "Oh, cool."



I do want to start tracking my food to see if I'm eating healthy meals overall this month, and see if I can't adjust it. I started today and hit right at 1242 calories roughly not including drinking 3-4 cups of milk which probably boosted it up to 1500ish calories. I didn't track all of this until the end of the day just now, but it is good to know I'm stopping at an appropriate amount of calories on my own! Now, what I am eating could use some improvement, but overall.. can't complain.

I love Cod too, particularly battered Cod with chips, I wish it hadnt gotten over fished because it used to be a cheap fish but now its mad rarer and mackerel is about the only cheap fish, kipper maybe aswell but Cod used to be where it was at and cheap into the bargain. Not so now.

The Rock is my inspiration, especially now he's gotten even bigger for roles like Road Block in GI Joe, apparently all the different roles he has done in which he was "a fat kid who stayed in his room", like Terry in Brooklyn 99 or Everyone Hates Chris, had some basis in fact, or so he's said, maybe it is just a story but I like to think that with enough work and the right information I could get fit too, maybe not exactly like those guys but you got to have dreams right?

 

[Lark]

Does anyone have any lists of good pages to like or subscribe to on Facebook for fitness or positive thinking?

 

[ceecee]

Haha, I know I have dry months all the time. I did have a mojito with a friend as they told me about their honeymoon in costa rica.

So far IF has helped me out with both not feeling so stressed out about meals and, from what I can tell, I am eating slightly less. This month I don't care so much if I drink calories or not just like last month, but I've narrowed the window from 10 hours to 8-9 on my own in January. By 1pm I'm grumbling, but right now it's 9pm and I only had a couple snacks and a single meal and I'm full as can be.

Let me know how it does for you, so far it's treated me really well to not have to even worry about breakfast, planning it out, etc. and I don't seem to notice any decrease in my energy, increased headaches or irritability either. I used to get really hangry by noon, now noon rolls by and I'm like "Oh, cool."



I do want to start tracking my food to see if I'm eating healthy meals overall this month, and see if I can't adjust it. I started today and hit right at 1242 calories roughly not including drinking 3-4 cups of milk which probably boosted it up to 1500ish calories. I didn't track all of this until the end of the day just now, but it is good to know I'm stopping at an appropriate amount of calories on my own! Now, what I am eating could use some improvement, but overall.. can't complain.

My Fit Bit has a food tracker but I like Eat This Much better. The Automatic Meal Planner
- Eat This Much

 

[Lark]

My Fit Bit has a food tracker but I like Eat This Much better. The Automatic Meal Planner
- Eat This Much

I used My Fitness Pal for a while, its still on my phone I think, which had a calorie calculator on it but it was a bit of a chore to work.

 

[ceecee]

I used My Fitness Pal for a while, its still on my phone I think, which had a calorie calculator on it but it was a bit of a chore to work.

It might be a chore but you have no idea how much you eat until you log food. Plus I often repeat meals so since it's already in the database, it's easy to log.

 

[kyuuei]

My Fit Bit has a food tracker but I like Eat This Much better. The Automatic Meal Planner
- Eat This Much

That one looks fairly cool actually. I think my sister would like it. I'm a cheap-o and just use a draft email and type it in with the calories by hand.. XD

I used My Fitness Pal for a while, its still on my phone I think, which had a calorie calculator on it but it was a bit of a chore to work.

MFP is super popular, but I found it exhausting honestly. I thought it was actually faster to type things in by hand in an email with the date and use a quick calculator to add up the calories. I'm more just seeing if I am eating too much or too little vs trying to hit a certain goal so its better for me to tally things up later.

 

[Lark]

It might be a chore but you have no idea how much you eat until you log food. Plus I often repeat meals so since it's already in the database, it's easy to log.

It is seriously, meh.

Can you put youtube or other channels on my LG TV? I dont know how to do that too.

 

[Lark]

That one looks fairly cool actually. I think my sister would like it. I'm a cheap-o and just use a draft email and type it in with the calories by hand.. XD



MFP is super popular, but I found it exhausting honestly. I thought it was actually faster to type things in by hand in an email with the date and use a quick calculator to add up the calories. I'm more just seeing if I am eating too much or too little vs trying to hit a certain goal so its better for me to tally things up later.

I think of it as being similar to spot training or having a leg day, chest day, should day for lifting, I understand that that works for some people and if I ever got that ripped that I was training a specific part of my body I'd be happy as larry but for the now, actually getting to the gym as often as possible is good to great.

 

[ceecee]

Haha, I know I have dry months all the time. I did have a mojito with a friend as they told me about their honeymoon in costa rica.

Apparently we aren't the only people that find it humorous.

Dry January Diary: What Giving Up Alcohol Can Do for You | The New Yorker

Haha Days 14-19.