Sue

I think different things suit different people. Of course ideally one would always eat healthily and only just enough, and exercise more. But we aren't all paragons of virtue. Most people who go on a diet where they restrict their calories (by whatever method) on a 24/7 basis put all the weight back on again. Many people can't stick to a diet because they miss certain things. The 5:2 diet overcomes some of the drawbacks of other diets. Whether you choose to eat healthily or not healthily on any of the days is a separate issue really, I feel. Obviously a regime of fast food, fat and sugar is not going to improve your health. Also once you are down to a reasonable weight, you can keep it to that level by having the odd "fast" day when necessary. But if you're the kind of person who can always eat healthily and get lots of exercise, hats off to you :)

El Pibe Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > oi sue, you need a licence to operate html tags > you know!! xxxxxx Seriously, is it forbidden on the forum? I didn't know that. I was just trying to make a mass of text a bit clearer to differentiate who said what! I've gone back and used spacing now. I'll take my comment at the bottom out, as I hadn't seen your post when I edited mine.

http://www.beautifulbritain.co.uk/htm/pond/frogspawn.htm Some of my frogspawn has hatched into extremely tiny tadpoles. However there are things in the water which look like some kind of large water-living woodlice (yuk) and I have a horrible feeling they are eating the taddies :( Some of the frogspawn developed white dots and apparently this means they are dead? It dropped below the surface a day or so after the hatching anyway, so I can't see what is happening in/to it any more or even if it's still there. Don't know what to do about the frog which I thought was hibernating. It was certainly hibernating at the point when I inadvertently hauled it out of the water with dead leaves, because it jumped back into the tub, but I would have thought it would have woken up by now? I did prod it gently with a garden cane, but didn't see it move at all. It is face down at the bottom of the tub (ie not belly-up) and doesn't appear to be decomposing. Not sure what to do. If it is dead I don't want to leave it there but I also don't want to disturb it again if it's still hibernating. Any frog experts got any suggestions? The other froggie has left the tub :)) Seen some small blue butterflies. Lovely to see everything blossoming and/or flying!

Surely you're more likely to get your answer by going to each of the restaurants and asking them, rather than asking for people's opinions on here?

maxxi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > "Impaled by the sight, we were held transfixed > ..." - someone needs to get laid. xxxxxx :)) :)) :)) ETA: Voyageur, I haven't looked at the website you mentioned yet but surely, surely, surely that winning entry was deliberately written to be bad?

El Pibe Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > isn't he a scientologist? says it all really. xxxxxxx In case anybody thinks that has anything to do with how I came to be looking at the website, heaven forbid, it was because I came across this quote: ?All I ask is for an objective consideration of all the evidence. Anyone who won't do that isn?t really entitled to an opinion.? ? Travis Walton I thought it was an excellent quote, and I'd never heard of Travis Walton, so I googled him. Now I sort of wish I hadn't :)) And the writing is so extraordinarily bad that I can't even read enough of it to find out what his supposed evidence is :))

DulwichFox Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Sue Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > > Finding the fasting days quite hard, but have > not > cheated at all because I know I can eat what I > want the next day. xxxxx > > The reason for that is when you I'm taking the > feasting days too literally > you will get a Peak in your blood glucose.. The > later you eat the higher the peak. > this will be followed by a crash. so you will > feel Hungry on fasting days. xxxxxxxxxxxx No, I'm feeling hungry on fasting days because I'm not eating very much and that is the body's usual signal that it wants food.. xxxxxxxx > ETA: I've also found that the morning after a > fast day I'm not hungry. xxxxxx > > This is because the brain tells the body not to > expect food and use fat reserves.. xxxxxxxxx No, fat reserves are only used after a longer period of fasting than a day, which is why the 5:2 diet specifically says that your fasting days should not be consecutive. xxxxxxxx > Sadly I'm not losing much weight because I think > I'm taking the feasting days too literally xxxxx > This is because the brain tells the body to > retain water reduce dehydration. xxxxxxx Fox, water retention does not continue to increase in the body over several months of dieting. xxxxxxxx > Plus I'm a lazy slob and not getting enough > exercise. xxxxx > > You need to walk 5 miles + each day to start > losing any weight xxxxxxx Sorry Fox but that is just absolute rubbish. Where on earth do you get your information from? You need to expend more calories in energy than you are taking in in food over the same period, and that is how you lose weight. xxxxxxxx > I find a bit of bouillon or marmite in hot water > helps to stave off the hunger pangs, xxxxx > > Again the Salt in Marmite causes water retention > which cases High Blood Pressure. xxxxxx Oh for goodness sake. Half a teaspoon of Marmite occasionally is not going to give me high blood pressure, and in any case I have low blood pressure. xxxxxxx > When anyone (Diabetic or non Diabetic) eats on an > empty stomach, there will always be > blood sugar highs and lows. This is not good. xxxxxx That is rubbish. A couple of boiled eggs, for example, on an empty stomach does not give you "blood sugar highs and lows", at least not enough to cause any significant damage or symptoms. xxxxxxxxx > > I know if I skip breakfast a meal later will send > my sugars soaring. > If I eat breakfast the same meal later will have > little impact on my sugars.. xxxxxxx It depends on what you're eating and whether it is high or low GI, which has absolutely nothing to do with the 5:2 diet xxxxxxx > This is the same for non diabetics. But you will > be able to cope with this imbalance (For a while) > But continuing to have fluctuating glucose level > will make you ill. xxxxxxx You are confusing several different issues here. ETA: Hope it's clear who has said what, as my bold italics have been removed - see below! I've now tried to differentiate Fox and my posts by spacing and xxxx but not sure it has worked ....

mwah xxx :)) Memo to self: Gig tomorrow, go to bed :))

numbers Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Or you could just eat real food (meat, fish, eggs, > dairy, vegetables, fruits in season and whole > grains in moderation); three times a day and get > on with your life." xxxxxxx But what if your life involves pistachio or hazelnut ice cream from http://www.oddonos.com/shops.htm , lots of real ale and the occasional Crunchie bar??

handymaneast dulwich Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I live right oppersite the pub for over 30 years > and have only ever been in that pub 5 times. xxxxxxx You're not a drinking man, then? :))

londoner_77 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > This sounds great. Dulwich Village is woefully > (and surprisingly!) lacking in decent places to > have a drink or meal! xxxxxx Eh? The Dog is fine to have a drink in. Don't know about the food as I've never eaten there. ETA: I mean never eaten there in its most recent incarnation. I had one of the very worst meals of my life there about ten years ago ......

In theory yes. In practice no. Been there, done that, now intend to maintain my weight (once I've reached it) by the occasional fast day. Can't go to the weight I once was though because x years on I would look like a ghoul :)) As opposed to a slender sylph :))

*Bob* Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > > Last year sucked big time on the 'edibles' front > though. Apples, crap. Tomatoes, crap. Beans, crap. > Bloody nature, eh? xxxxxx Same here. I'm not even bothering this year. Started the f-ing tomatoes from seed in my spare bedroom, nursed them for weeks indoors and out and the whole lot fell at the last fence. And I got about two beans. At least I don't have a garden big enough for an apple tree :))

steveo Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I mean, sixteen bottles at a fiver each might be > my option. > xxxxxx :)) :)) :))

I had that card, but I haven't noticed any problems with Freeview. Yet. But they have a free fix for it as you say, so hopefully it's not a long-term issue?

Don't even ask how I came to look at this website, but it must be amongst the worst written tripe I've ever read in my life. http://www.travis-walton.com/abduction.html It's so bad it almost physically hurts to read it :)) ETA: Except that pissing myself laughing helps the physical pain :))

Voyageur Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > If you pig out on sugary foods generally you are > going to be at risk on type 2 diabetes. xxxxxx Agreed

A somewhat confused article about the 5:2 diet on the NHS website: http://www.nhs.uk/news/2013/01January/Pages/Does-the-5-2-intermittent-fasting-diet-work.aspx The issues of high/low GI foods are surely something else. You say "Allowing blood sugar to dip you will experience fatigue, poor concentration, irritability, nervousness, depression, sweating, headaches, cravings and digestive problems." I haven't had any of those symptoms since I started this diet, on either the fasting or the "feasting" days. Not quite sure what you mean by "binging" but it sounds like an eating disorder to me, not what is recommended on this diet. When you say "the worst foods are white bread, potatoes, most rice" this is a GI index issue, isn't it? I'm sorry that you have diabetes, but I think you're muddying the waters here.

*Bob* Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > What about the following week? xxxxxxx I'm not actually here, I'm an illusion :))

Yeh, I tried that, I lost half my body weight in a week.

Apology accepted :) And respect for apologising. You're not the first person to post after wine and then regret it (including me .....)

That's very interesting, thanks No-flies. They've been trying to get this approved for ages.

Loz Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > El Pibe Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > My uncle is the healthiest 68 year old man I've > ever met. > > He does yoga, fasts regularly (the one where > you > > don't eat anything), is a vegan and a > teetotaller. > > > > On balance I think I'd rather be dead ;) > > It actually doesn't sound a whole lot different to > being dead. xxxxxx :)) :)) :))

I do Mondays and Wednesdays. That gives me a clear run to stuff my face over the weekend, and I'm usually out on Tuesday nights so it means I can drink on those nights. Mondays are relatively easy, Wednesdays are harder, but on the other hand I know I've got four non-fasting days to come. If I'm out on a Monday or a Wednesday I just change the day I'm fasting that week. Once or twice I've missed one of the fast days altogether, but it's not a big deal unless you're trying to lose weight very quickly, and this isn't that kind of diet. The main problem I've found is that I'm eating things on the feasting days which I wouldn't normally eat, like bacon sandwiches, and eating less healthily overall than I used to, so consequently although my weight is at least stable I've lost very little. Though given the tiny amount of exercise I get that's not surprising. Probably as a result of the less healthy eating I've noticed a real deterioration in my skin since I started doing this :( But that may also be because I stopped taking vitamins etc when I became anxious and depressed (oh look! that's actually relevant to the thread title!) after problems with a builder four or five years ago and never really started to take them regularly again even when I felt better :( BTW I don't know why they call it a "fast", because it isn't. A fast surely would be eating nothing at all, just sipping hot water with a slice of lemon in it or something :))

Shannon's Garden Centre off Stanstead Road in Forest Hill isn't bad. http://www.shannonsgardencentre.co.uk/ and there's The Secret Garden in Crystal Palace. http://www.thesecretgardencentre.com/ But if I'm going in the direction of the Purley Way for something else I usually go to Wyevale. http://www.thegardeningwebsite.co.uk/wyevale-garden-centre-croydon-purley-way-i4929.html And I've found Crocus excellent for good mail order plants and good customer service. http://www.crocus.co.uk/plants/