"Also, get out of the habit of eating." I think that's a big key, right there! Since it's become just so inconvenient to eat, I barely care anymore. Although, right now, I'm splurging on gluten/wheat-free pancakes, mixed with shredded coconut, egg whites(from my own chickens and I can actually eat the whites!), almond meal and topped with fresh local honey and raspberries from the garden! :~) So much of my family's life has revolved around the kitchen. The last house that we built was designed with it as the focal point! Now, with everyones diet so restricted, I'm not sure what we'll do about it. We have, literally, hundreds of cookbooks. Everything from professional, ethnic/regional and even ones from my grandma. With the exception of many of the Asian ones, they're sort of useless now. :~( I've been doing massive amounts of harvesting and freezing all sorts of berries and veggies. I'm going to start making preserves out of beet sugar. (I used some in my coffee and it's actually drinkable now.) I've wanted a large cold storage for fruits(apples, pears, etc), potatoes and whatever else, for a long time and just might put one in. Also, the only good pizza place in town, was wiped out. A motorhome drove through it this summer! :~0 I'm now almost down to what I weighed in high school. At least, as a junior! My coach kept wanting me to move up weight classes, for sports. We used to weigh-in and if I didn't make it, I'd have to go eat and try again. Everyone else was starving themselves to make a lower weight. Eating far more than I needed became a very bad habit and hard to stop, even 20+ years later. Wow! I'd look like a corpse at 130lbs!;~) I don't think that my body would take that. I figure that 190'ish(+-) is around my ideal weight! I'd just be far too thin at anything less. Even the clothes that I bought the last shopping trip are getting baggy. Not that I'm complaining!! ;~) I wondered where my cheekbones went to! "As a bonus, I have the most marvelous tan ever, getting comments...." Never been much of the tanning type! Especially, at my age now!;~) God forbid I start getting wrinkles! All of my friends that spent years tanning around pools, in Palm Springs, look twice my age! :~) Laying in the sun w/o protection, lots of booze and cigarettes will do that to you.;~) Being fa..., ahhh larger, I kept to the shade and fully dressed...thank you very much! ;~) I don't mind a few character lines. I just refuse to look like an old crone, just yet! ;~) Especially, now that I've lost weight!! Scott

You might like one of my favorite lunches, or a smaller version of it as a bedtime snack: --small palm-full of almonds - 6 to 10? (I soak and dehydrate them before I eat any nuts to make them easier to digest and increase the nutrition - this is a similar process for the overnight soaking for making almond milk) - 1 stalk of celery - 1 small apple or some dehydrated apple slices (have you checked out the "3 Apple-A-Day Plan" by Tammi Flynn, M.S., R.D.) - 1 ounce of cheese By the time you thoroughly chew this meal, you will be able to go without a snack for hours. This combination also includes several kinds of fiber than what you can get from almonds alone. And unless you eat the pulp, you will miss the largest percentage of the fiber and much of the nutrition. I see you are adding a high-fiber cereal for additional fiber. I don't eat commercial cereal of any kind - it's basically an over-priced food rip-off and you can make "raw" cereal for more healthy enzymes. [If you need any recipes using the pulp, I make something nearly every week with raw or dehydrated almond pulp - "raw" cookies, crackers, "cereal"..... And I use the dehydrated pulp in recipes that call for almond flour. I also use a nut milk bag to strain the pulp, which I think will give you better results and more milk, than a strainer.] Types of fiber.... Pectin - slows the absorption of food after meals (beneficial to diabetics). Cellulose - is a non-digestible carbohydrate. Lignin - a fiber good for lowering cholesterol levels and preventing gallstone formation. Hemicellulose - an indigestible complex carbohydrate that absorbs water and is good or weight loss, constipation, colon cancer, and controlling carcinogens in the intestinal tract. The recipe at the link below is a BIG HIT around our house. I don't know how it affects sleep because I don't eat after 6 pm, go to bed at 9 pm, and get up at 3 am. Being bone tired from a long day makes me sleep. Plus, I eat a lot of raw whole foods throughout the day. I have made the recipe below with pecans, almonds and walnuts - pecans are the favorite. It's not heated at a high heat, so it retains more enzymes. Because the nuts were soaked overnight first, they are easier to digest and have more available nutrition. Chia seeds may also be another nighttime option for Omega 3 and a sleep aid (lots of documentation available if you do a search) and there are any number of ways to eat AND drink chia seeds. Chai Chia "Pudding" 2 c. boiling water 2 Chai tea bags Steep 15-minutes. Add: 3 T. chia seeds, sweetener, and a small amount of milk or nut milk. Allow to sit in the refrigerator for several hours before using. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Sweetly Spiced Crispy Pecans

JESS: Thank you for the pics. & neat info. about Badger .. I really enjoy learning about the animals in South Africa. One cup of chicken manure per bush is TOO MUCH. In a British rose forum, a lady burnt her roses by using chicken manure once a month. In my cold zone, I use chicken manure VERY SMALL amount when the temp is cool & rainy. Folks use Rose-Tone (has chicken manure) once a month for roses in pots. But that has only 1/6 chicken manure. I would use only 1/2 cup, 1 cup would be too salty. I killed a rose by mixing 1/2 cup of chicken manure in the planting hole. When chicken manure touches the root, it kills the root, best to dilute ONLY 1/2 cup with soil before spreading around the bush. I started a new thread, "10/30/15: Bad habits, good habits, rose & health tips, recipes." http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3473294/m=3/10-30-15-bad-habits-good-habits-rose-and-health-tips-recipes

Rhizo: I'm glad that you brought that up. Thanks. I re-post the info. on grapefruit interaction below. Grainlady: I'm so lucky to have your valuable info. THANK YOU. I agree that homemade probiotics (Kefir, sauerkraut) is best. Long-shelf storage at the store DECREASE the number of viable bacteria. Some yogurt have artificial sugar added (aspartame, sucralose, sorbitol) ... these sugar-substitute are known to INCREASE the bad bacteria, and ZAP out the good bacteria. Men's Health has an excellent article on how certain medications mixed with certain food/drink can have a deadly effect & toxic: http://www.menshealth.com/health/ 1. Limes and cough medicine. You may have heard not to drink grapefruit juice with some prescriptions, including cholesterol-lowering statins. But limes, pomelos, and Seville oranges—although not the more-common navel and Valencia varieties—also may block an enzyme that breaks down statins and other drugs, including the cough suppressant dextromethorphan ... this includes hallucinations and sleepiness; in statins, you may sustain severe muscle damage. 2. Dairy products and antibiotics. Some antibiotics, including Cipro, bind to calcium, iron, and other minerals in milk-based foods. “This prevents the absorption of the antibiotics, ultimately decreasing their ability to fight infections,” Gullickson says. When you get a new prescription for acne or an infection, ask if the drug falls into a class known as tetracyclines or flouroquinolones. If so, avoid milk, yogurt, and cheese 2 hours before and after taking the pills. 3. Smoked meats and antidepressants. Check the label on your happy pills. If they belong to a class called monoamine oxidase inhibitors or MAOIs—brand names Marplan, Nardil, Emsam, or Parnate—combining them with foods rich in the amino acid tyramine can cause life-threatening spikes in blood pressure, says Gullickson. Unfortunately, the list of no-nos includes not only summer sausage and smoked salmon, but also red wine, sauerkraut, hot dogs, aged cheeses, soy sauce, and draft or home-brewed beer. 4. Chocolate and Ritalin. Besides caffeine, chocolate also contains a stimulant called theobromine, says Tom Wheeler, Pharm.D. (It’s the reason chocolate harms dogs—canine bodies can’t break it down.) Combining all these stimulants in humans can potentially lead to erratic behavior and seizures. 5. Apple juice and allergy meds. Nix the nectar from apples, oranges, and grapefruits if you take Allegra (fexofenadine) for hay fever—at least within 4 hours of swallowing the pill, Gullickson advises. The resulting lack of absorption makes Allegra up to 70 percent less effective; lay off these juices while taking the antibiotics Cipro or Levaquin, the thyroid medication Synthroid, or the allergy and asthma treatment Singulair, Gullickson says. 6. Cinnamon and warfarin. People taking the blood-thinning medication warfarin—prescribed to prevent or treat clots—have long been warned to keep their intake of vitamin K steady, says Wolfe. This means you shouldn’t change your weekly intake of foods like leafy greens or broccoli; because vitamin K plays a key role in clotting, doing so could affect the thickness of your blood. But there’s another risk. Cassia cinnamon, the kind on most American grocery-store shelves, contains high levels of a compound called coumarin that can thin blood and potentially cause liver damage, says Eric Newman, M.D 7. Alcohol and acetaminophen. Resist the urge to wash down your Tylenol with a cold one—your body uses the same enzyme to break down the two substances. http://www.menshealth.com/health/