So the old song says. But there’s another one that keeps going round in my head. I’m a rambler I’m a gambler I’m a long way from home, and if you don’t like me just leave me alone. I’ll eat when I’m hungry and I’ll drink when I’m dry, and if the moonshine don’t get me I’ll live till I die.
Many a true word. Read on dear friend.
Did you feel deprived of fun and games over the last 12 months? Did you let your hair down at Christmas and New Year and comfort eat to make up? And why not although as a result many of us will be looking at our eating habits today, end of the holiday period, new week, new year, new resolutions.
In my early 20s I was working in Ulster Television and we girls thought we were the bees knees, glamorous and even at £250 a year, rich as Croesus of Persia, the richest man in the world in 590BC, today it would be rich as Gates! But, no matter how thin we were it wasn’t enough. In the studio models came and went and they were examples of all that was desirable, slim and beautiful, perfect figures. So we tried to emulate them and that meant the diet pill Ponderax although I can’t remember them dampening my appetite no matter how many I took. Years later this warning appeared:
The Ministry of Health is urging people who used to take Ponderax or Adifax diet pills to see their doctor if they took the weight loss medication for three months or more. Fenfluramine (Ponderax) was marketed from 1966 to 1997, dexfenfluramine (Adifax) from 1993 to 1997. Both were taken off the market in September 1997 because of concerns they may cause heart valve abnormalities when used in conjunction with another diet pill.
Egging Us On
Then there was the Mayo Egg diet (not approved by the actual Mayo Clinic) which featured a mega amount of eggs – thought not good for people with raised cholesterol as egg yolk is rich in cholesterol. Experts wrote that generally speaking, it should be fine for most people, as the cholesterol in eggs does not have a significant effect on blood cholesterol but very binding!
Then we moved onto the Miracle Soup diet via the Mayo Clinic, reasonably sensible lots of fruit and vegetables, no eating between meals and moving every 30 minutes.
Here are the details but If you have any issues about your diet please talk to the doctor before trying this.
Chop six large onions, 2 green peppers, one head of cabbage, one bunch celery, two large tins of tomatoes or fresh, then boil for ten minutes. Season, add 4 beef cubes and simmer until the vegetables are soft. Coarsely blend. Eat as much of this soup as possible when you are hungry but only use this diet for one week. Don’t stop eating, but do so sensibility. The soup will fill you up but it’s important to keep having fruit, meat, a large baked potato will be a welcome dish, milk for calcium and water. There are plenty of Miracle Soup diets on the Internet but as I say check with your doctor if in any doubt and if you can get to him. Many surgeries have emails.
We also took comfort in thinking we had heavy bones or delicate muscles. The test didn’t bring any solace – if you can pinch the area between your fingers, it’s fat!.
Weight Watchers and the like were no good for the likes of me, rather like being back at school which I gave up at 15. I know they have to be strict but lining up to be scolded wasn’t my scene.
And so we come to Paul McKenna billed as hypnotist and weight loss guru. I found his book the other day and pounced on it. But better still I then discovered him on YouTube talking through his techniques and basically the two have persuaded me to begin seriously getting myself under control.
The Four Golden Rules.
Some men shall never be able sildenafil cost to have a firm erection. So, it’s very important to make viagra for women price sure that you just sperm remain as healthier as you can get help from the inventions of medical science which involve- Kamagra, Lovegra, aurogra, Eriacta, Caverta, and Silagra etc. Below, I have enlisted some of the find for more now buy generic cialis companies are appointing huge medical representatives who promote the physicians face to face. Now days though there are many treatments have been developed by health experts who have order cheap levitra extensively researched these pills.1. Eat when you’re hungry. (and drink when you’re dry). There is emotional hunger and physical hunger, the later is ok but the former leads to getting out of control, binging, comfort eating and so the weight piles on because of lack of discipline.
2. Eat what your body is telling you. For me that means chocolate, cake and nuts. He has an answer. His advice is to think of the food you like best, take chocolate cake for instance. Now think of the most disgusting food – for me a badly made porcini mushroom risotto which can be like stodgy porridge with slugs in. Now mix the two together in your mind, visualise them, add a few spiders, a couple of crunchy slaters and some hairs from your hair brush, imagine putting the mixture into your mouth and swallow. Chocolate cake isn’t as desirable as it once was. Keep doing this until you have trained your brain to overcome long held beliefs and behaviours – no longer does ‘I was a war baby’ work, ‘the little children in Africa would love those crusts’ – I’ve been there and that’s not true.
3. Enjoy your food as you eat. Eat slowly put your knife and fork down between bites and chew each bite 20 times.
4. Eat until you’re full, and then stop. It’s not necessary to finish everything on your plate but it’s a hard habit to kick, most of us have been brought up to show a clean plate and get the approval of parents! So much goes back to childhood and family meal times, in big families rushing through so no one would lean over and spear your last sausage! How awful to live with the queen, apparently when she finishes her meal it’s forks down for everyone!
There’s a lot more to McKenna’s theories and I will be interested to see if I can take advantage of them. This is my last chance, after a lifetime of trying to look like one of those 1970 models, I’m on the verge of giving up.
New Year, new project – me!
I Can Make You Thin With Paul McKenna tv guide YouTube.com – his talk is sponsored by the Sun.
MUCH LOVE TO ALL THOSE WHO ARE UNWELL AT THE MOMENT. YOU ARE IN OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS
Congratulations to Jamie Dornan fro The Tourist – difficult to follow at times and I think the door has been left open for a followup but well worth the effort to concentrate and appreciate his acting – loving the beard!
SHAME ON THEM
These two pictures were posted on the Images and memories of Old Northern Ireland NI Pre 2000. An outstanding website of photos and stories on show for all to see free of charge. This 2018 pic shows the dreadful destruction that has been imposed on Belfast by unsympathetic planners. Look at those glorious building on the left of the historic photo, proud and elegant, full of character. Some of you will remember Robbs store with awnings outside giving shade to the windows full of up market merchandise. My mother shopped there and it was quite common to buy on approval, taking dresses and coats home to make sure they suited, a store where expert needle women made alterations on the spot. There was that iconic method of paying – putting cash into a cylinder and, using a system of pulleys, it would travel up to the ceiling and along to the cashiers office and then the change would come back down to the counter and the customer. And then there was Father Christmas. Every December there were queues out the door into Castle Place as we waited to meet the man himself and get a lovely present. It was a real thrill and as children we learned kindness and style. And just look at the replacement.
TALKING OF STYLE
He has been called elegant, a trailblazer, legendary, and a man imbued with grace. He was also a skilled actor, brave and proud and Sidney Poitier broke down barriers over his 94 years on this earth.
Very many people are happier for his life and his courage and his inspiring acting. I sure he will rest in peace.
We have some interesting times ahead what with Boris, Andrew, Novak Djokovic and Tony Blair. Something else to think about.
Thought for the New Year: Dear God, my prayer for 2022 is for a fat bank account and a thin body. Please don’t mix it up like last year.