Slightly off-topic, but my oh thinks it's hilarious that I still think in 'stones'!
Yes, definitely a ticking time-bomb. How could it be otherwise when kids are weaned straight onto sugar, supermarkets stock value packs of nuggets and France embraces the out-of-town mall model? You don't need to measure people's BMI; where I live in Ile de France, it's pretty obvious that the morphology is changing, especially among young people.
Well, it was dead of night. OK, but it got me.
Pax!
Thanks Cate, you have stimulated thought. Actually it is easier than for some. My MT's OH is a dietician of some kind, her cards are on his desk, I'll ask him to refer me at rentrée, in his case next week. Perhaps she'll be able to help with the midriff glob!
I agree. I enjoy my glass, taken as two half glasses with time between, more than when I might have chucked down a bottle of red over dinner. Enhancing enjoyment is in the mind and does not require quantity because, thinking about it, logically that does the opposite.
I began to repro again at 52, hence 10 and 12 year olds now as I come up to 65. It has its downside. With the issue Glen has raised is the issue you raised, mortality belongs solidly in there. In my own view I have had an incredible life, privilege and pleasure to excess probably, been to place and met people beyond my dreams, have my 'immortality' in the form of books in copyright libraries (in my terms) and want little else. Having the younger OH and gels they want me to hang around a while, so now I guess part of this and where all good counsel counts, is doing that for them. Actually popping the clogs and all I do not mind and if I did not have the young family would not be concerned about going now.
So said, I shall henceforth enjoy my single, two part glass of wine and days when I go without do not miss it. The occasional good quality malt passes my lips, but then I have been told that a little whisky or brandy type of snifter is actually good. So every couple of weeks. As for the food. I have always preferred fruit and vegetables, raw or lightly steamed, to just about everything else. Because my mother destroyed all she put in a pot or pan I taught myself to cook young and have always enjoyed that, avoiding all processed foods and especially baking my own Germanic rye breads. So, what I need is a balance between intake and exercise and I'll see my girls a wee bit older.
Venice, damp and mosquito ridden place. Firenze is my preference.
The arch enemy of the 'Procrustean bed', the arbitrary standard to which exact conformity is enforced! He disliked industrial capitalism, believing it eventually made us all into automatons in his version. He always seemed mad because he advocated non-conformity. I'm not sure his nutritional ideas carry much credence today though. Madder even than Rantzen. I don't think Miriam Stoppard actually ever understood him entirely despite her medical training. Used to enjoy occasionally watching him.
That's him! Well done. See he's gone down in (a bit of) posterity, with his comment.
Alexander, Yeah, but 'that's the best your gonna feel all day' as I recall a line from a film.
Sorry, but you are obviously younger than me. I like most of my friends have come to terms with the fact that in the shorter, rather than the longer term, we are going to fall off our twigs - no matter what. The only thing that concerns us, is not pegging out as that is inevitable - but the process of pegging out - pain etc.
What is worse though is looking forward to a 'controlled' lifestyle as you describe. Can't take a drink? Get stuffed as I told my doctor, can't have an ice cream - ditto, can't do this, can't do that, mustn't do this, mustn't do that - is it worth living? I am not in the least narcissistic, and I keep my less than beautous body charms to myself. I DO the things I enjoy, such as walking -thank you France for supplying the environment, I do NOT climb ladders, build houses, lift weights, work a bloody treadmill. I do NOT follow regimes, instructions and I do NOT read the tripe that makes an enemy of this food this week and a hero of it next.
In my lifetime I grew up with a wartime diet - ie always being hungry as young kids are. I remember potatos for example going from hero food to villains and back again, ditto with butter, margarine, even chocolate for crying out loud. Pasta a great NO-no, and so it goes on. I am largely vegetarian without being a fanatic about it, mainly because my wife is a great cook and slowly converted me - plus my love of all animals. But NOT because of regimes. Yes the first quack frightened the hell out of me, and for the first three months I was the most miserable and nasty git on this planet as I starved myself - under instructions.
Maybe he did the right thing ultimately, probably did, but he and I suggest like a few here, do not understand the ageing process. It is something you have to go through and be part of to really understand it. Mostly it is the acceptance of age, increasing weakness (is that right?), accepting that it isn't going to improve, and making the best of what you have left, and not trying to kid yourself about immortality.
Interesting point about stooping. I am not that tall, but seem to find myself talking to people who are shorter than me for the most part, that combined with deafness makes me stoop.
Anyway I have every intention of growing old(er) disgracefully, and hopefully popping off in an afternoon siesta. Well, we can all hope can't we?
Not too sure but 'Magnus' something keeps popping into my head - was is 'Magnus Pyke' or was that someone different?
Would expect it so.
No, a door jamb on the right got in the way. The usual, the right breaking down the left violently. :-(
I have a strong suspicion that 'you are what you are intended to be' -for good or ill. To try and explain that over my life and starting with the height bit of 6'1" in old money, and using stones as opposed the kg. When I left school I was just on 12 stone, and don't believe for one minute that I was healthy as I did nothing. A few years later I started rugby and put on weight, became a postman (station service is a great muscle builder) and pushed out to 16.5 stone (close to 100kg if my calculations are correct?) So fit as to be dangerous. Stopped rugby and held the weight for the next 30-odd years. The only difference was the weight stayed the same but it shifted due South.
Three years ago to coincide with 70th birthday - oops Diabetes 2!! - horror stories all over the place, feet falling off and all that. LOSE WEIGHT!!! Orders of the day from Doc and SWMBO. Lost 25kg in 3 months (sorry have moved into kg mode over the past few years) and dropped to 75kg from the 100kg. Looked like a stretched turkey, and psychology terrible - it wasn't cheerful, chubby Norm staring back at me in the mirror, but a stranger. Apart from the Doc at the time who was about 30 years old, built like a whippet and whose idea of fun was to go for the twice a week dash on his bike of about 100 kms.( Pillock) everyone else said for Gawd's sake put on some weight - you're curdling the milk and frightening the children!
I slipped upwards by about 7kg to 82-84kg and am far happier with myself, but whatever weight I have remains around the gut, and I never got my shoulders back, so all my clothes don't fit, and at my age I'm dam' sure I am not going to buy a new wardrobe - except via the Puces!
Point being I started at 12.5kg at age 15, and have ended up at about the same weight at 73! How crazy is that?
Good news in the new location our Doctor is the President of the local Rugby Club and used to be a player so he's heard it all before, and talks common sense. Get out and walk a bit or bike, don't overdo anything in the food line, don't send yourself to perdition if you have a beer or an ice-cream. Cut down on red meat (which I don't eat now anyway) - yes -watch the bananas, avoid processed food as far as humanly possible AND keep the brain lively as that is apparently a great killer!
Mind you I am reminded of the Nutty Professor who used to wave his arms about on English TV a multitude of moons ago, when he said 'It's quite remarkable, with all our knowledge, with all our medicine and surgical skills, advancement in health awareness, and food education etc., that the death rate stays at precisely 100%' Can't argue with that can we?
Time for a healthy 8% alcohol beer methinks. Cheers!
OK, para two, yes ma'am. It is where across our different disciplines we come out on common ground. But your final words there "there is not quick answer to this" are a very big part of that because it is not the assembling data but the piloting then taking the hypothesis further to take in all anticipated questions. Uff, long slow one then, which bodies like the EC in my domain want in double quick time too often. OK, but alone your opening words are encouraging - so optimism. Involvement in treatment plans seems superb but naturally would have to include choice so that those who care not a fig can stay out of it.
Now for the calorie burning. Two dogs will drag me through the forest for half an hour. Keeping them on leads means they set my pace and together they are nearly 80k using eight legs. Works well. Swimming would be great. Broken shoulder has done for that, can't do it one armed. The broken left (had to get the word in, but yes that side...) arm steers me to the bottom.
Hello all. I am reading everyone's comments with great interest.
I work in France as an "ASALEE" nurse, which means we work alongside médecin traitants, in the surgery, seeing patients with chronic health problems, for example, diabetes. A large proportion of my time is spent exploring weight issues with these clients.
I am not a trained nutritionist, or dieticienne, just a nurse with a bit of training in weight management, chronic disease management and 30 years of experience.
It would be very easy to bog people down with vast amounts of information about what, and how much to eat, but the majority will switch off, and probably forget. I try and keep things as simple as possible and help the client find their own solutions.
As has been said before, it's not rocket science, the difficult part is motivating someone to make some changes, and to continue with them. Who wants to spend their life feeling "deprived"?
That said, generally people eat better in France, than in the UK, where I worked before. There is much less processed food and meals are usually cooked from scratch. But you can eat pure, unprocessed butter and cheese and still become overweight, with high cholesterol.
Neurologist said that there is an effect on sleep. He also said that the apnoea and the myopathic bouts/seizures I am having occasionally that were originally misdiagnosed as epilepsy will improve with extra Vit D, so too the sleep specialist said something much similar. In latter instance when I asked he gave me the ordonance for my blood and urine tests and an appointment in six months - so I have quite a while until I might get a complete answer. The cardio told me that with the drug cocktail I have at present to expect a few things to disturb, but not having my blood clotting is his number one concern. Nonetheless, get rid of fat in parts X of body where not good for cardiovascular health anyway, but no comment on how I might go about it. OK, I see him again beginning of September.
It strikes me Cate that you have said just about as much that is 'joined up' in one paragraph as four specialists plus my MT. How, for the sakes of other people who are not as demanding and difficult as I can be, do they have a chance? I am gathering bits of information at least but my real concern is that people who do not know how and what to ask (and I certainly do not know what to ask, just take pot luck as it is) are left hanging. Thank providence we have a pharmacy where a couple of the people are extremely well informed and helpful, so that it was one of them who told me to go back to my doc for a change of prescription because one of the cardio things I was given was not at all helpful if I need to diet. How many SFN people are in that position? We do not all have language, useful pharmacists, docs who listen and occasionally bloody-mindedness.
Glen's question of itself is something that tells us we need to be better and properly informed and I am using my experience (which has been 80 to 90% good to very good in reality) only to pursue the point about how we all need to be better informed. You have also made me think about missing links there are in the chain so that combined knowledge of the patient is not used to instruct that person about what they might be doing.
Hey Brian, sorry to hear about your health woes. I trained as a health coach and want to train in clinical nutrition next as I have been able to turn around my own and kids’ health and I lost a good bit of weight in the process. Without knowing what you eat I would say eat fresh fruit and veg in unlimited quantities (more veg than fruit, this includes your legumes/beans (try to get beans, lentils etc in every day: burgers, dips, soups, etc). Cut out cooking oils and replace with nuts, seeds and avocadoes etc. No processed foods, use only whole grains, drink primarily water and keep animal products (meat, dairy and eggs) to 12ozs max a week. A little oily fish a couple of nights a week will ease the transition. If you want rationales and recipes try reading Eat To Live by Dr Fuhrman, it’s not a diet but a guide to changing how you think about food. And forget about counting calories, all calories are not created equal anyway, and if you eat correctly you shouldn’t have to worry about energy in/out. In health!
I eat fish often - mackerel, sardines, herring, shellfish, seaweeds, samphire, alexanders, real wasabi, many different fungii, plenty of lentils anyway, regular chick peas. We do not eat processed foods, at least not at home. Bananas has come from the sleep man, two cardios and my normal doc, potassium was given as the reason, but then I eat lots of prunes, raisins, apricots and at present our strawberry bed is providing loads of fruit, in winter I eat dates and all year round potatoes - mostly steamed in their skin - plus peas, beans, tomatoes, greens (esp spinach), citrus fruit, beets. I have always avoided fats and sugars, of preference rather than anything I knew.
What people need is somebody like Cate to explain a bit. How does one eat things in right proportions, what is the exact purpose of doing so? What are the different kinds of fat we have on/in our bodies and how do we know how to differentiate and do it properly? What I am getting at is that somebody such as a cardiologist saying 'do' is all good and fine but would we not do it better if the 'do' was explained for why and how, such details. My gut feeling is that if somebody like me who asks questions is not well enough informed, how are people less likely to ask going to know what they should? OK, I am probably a pain in the neck and having been married to a Type 1 diabetic for many years thought I clearly knew it all (ha, ha, ha... I see now) but in no time it has gone from her always on the edge and me thinking I was as fit as a fiddle, to now she is likely to outlive me because where she lives in Malaysia her diet keeps her going along with her insulin.
I had not even heard of angioplasty four months ago. I am by no means unique of course which makes me think that the more info the better, the type of knowledge about blubber round our middles, bmi and anything that helps us do better needs to go into more explanation. Saying "You have fat that must go" and words to that effect does not explain. Simply that.
look to the sea for your answers, Brian. Fish, cod liver oil, seaweed (sushi with fish is perfect), tuna, etc. Mushrooms are also good for vit D. Most processed foods contain iodised salt - but be careful you don't have too much because that can be as bad as too little. If it would be me, I'd go easy on the bananas.
Hubby had MI last year, stent and was later prescribed vit D as it had dropped you need this to healthy heart performance…you can create vit D in the sun, and yes it is in all those foods suggested, so hummus etc could be an option. You can also get supplements, but should really be prescribed if you need a big boost.
As for me, I am a little short but also on the 5:2 diet with some small success
Normal banter aside this time. Two weeks ago my sleep clinic specialist in Bordeaux prescribed blood and urine tests. Fine. Vit D is out some and I apparently need supplements and my iodine is just a tad low. Great, that is where the man at the laboratory says those things but does not actually explain them. My médecin traitant is on hols for a couple of weeks, so I have to wait. He has already said I need lots of lentils, chick peas, bananas and depending on the test results some supplements. I am taking advice, if my ignorance of all matters medical gives me reason for concern, which is supposed to be coordinated between my cardiologist and neurologist. Both have said I have some blubber to get rid of, walking but cycling forbidden (with the broken shoulder I can't anyway). However, excuse me if this is the norm, I do not feel I am informed precisely what I should be doing, for what parts of my body and so on. Whatever else Cate, as a researcher there is the career long issue of no information is ever complete enough but here I feel it is a bit superficial, but don't know.
Indeed, I have my stents in and have been told to be a good boy but actually nothing was actually explained. Diet for my general health to look after the dicky ticker is rhetorically acceptable information, but nobody has thus far said exactly what that might be. Of course, as ever off I went into WWW land where there is info galore, inclusive of contradictions, conflicts and who knows what else. My conclusion: websearching is probably potentially as dangerous as going on a MacDonald burger and doughnut diet...
OK Cate, all about me again (sorry, but it's the only specimen unhealthy blob I have to use). However there are a few of us with dicky tickers or all the prerequisites and I am asking the question but hoping you can give an answer where and what a general idea of the things we need to pay particular attention to are.
I thought bmi was a weight to height ratio, not a measure of fat - water counts as weight too.
Personally I've always been thin, but when you reach a 'certain age' and have had children you do tend to put on weight more easily than before. However, I've never been fat overweight or obese.
Thin people can also suffer from 'fat' issues such as high cholesterol and fat around the kidneys, which is not always apparent because of their external physical appearance.
I once went on a course with a dietitian and she said that it's a simple equation:
food/calorie intake - exercise/energy = weight
change either your intake or your exercise and your weight changes. And every bit of exercise does count, even 5 minutes walking each day adds up over a year.
I have been trying the Fast Diet for the past couple of months: it is 2 days a week with 500 calories for a woman or 600 cals for a man, preferably splitting this (vast!) amount between breakfast and supper, with a gap in between, and the remaining 5 days eating normally. Psychologically it’s easy to do, and it is really excellent for bringing down the sugars and getting rid of the middle fat, especially internal fat which we can’t see, but entwines itself around the organs… Euch…
By Michael Moseley and Mimi Spencer. There is also a good recipe book by Mimi S. I can even manage it when in our house in the Var, when it’s full of rosé glugging rellies and friends. Each week I lose about 500 gms.
I am fairly honest re my weight.
I have reached my target weight, trouble is I have yet to reach my target height - and at 58 years of age I feel I am running out of time. So no I am not overweight, just undertall.