Maybe get some cooking lessons? or at least a basic cook book. I taught myself to cook and I mostly live of Indian food cooked from scratch following recipes from my 12 Indian cook books. I also have a recipes for one or two book that is easy to follow as well as several other good cook books. Batch cook meals as well and freeze them in meal sized containers, that cuts cost of cooking and saves ingredients. Not often I have to throw food out, if veg is going over its best I make a mixed veg curry.

There is a cooking class being offered to the residents of our apartment building from March 20 - April 17th. I have thought about it. I don't want to sign up for the class if it is something that I won't enjoy. I gave it some serious thought as I read through the brochure. My dysphoria would be in hyper-drive and the brochure says "Bring your kids!". Knowing the people in this building, it would be total chaos and I would be more annoyed than interested.

I do have a book, not a cookbook, that has recipes in it. The book is "Staying Healthy with Nutrition" by Elson M. Haas, MD. "The Complete Guide to Diet and Nutritional Medicine" was our textbook for a class I took decades ago. It covers everything from vitamins to carbohydrates, and has some recipes and special diets, like for diabetics or to relieve other issues, like arthritis. I bought a second copy for my parents. It is a hefty volume, clocking in at over 920 pages counting the index. I mostly use it now as a reference, but in class, we read it cover to cover.

Sounds like it is time to dust it off and see what I forgot.

Quote from: LoriDee on March 07, 2024, 08:58:44 PMI am using their own rules against them.
You want to contact me? Fix my address.
Stop triggering me with all these wrong names in my file.
And the other one was in the Allergies section. It says that there is no allergy assessment on file at the West LA VA Medical Center. Of course not, I've never been there!
So where is the allergy assessment that was done here a year ago? Why isn't that in my records?

The Help Desk Rep admitted that these errors could be quite serious. I didn't tell him that all 80 tests were negative and I have no allergies. But what if it said I was allergic to penicillin? And it isn't listed in my medical records. Tomorrow is the face-to-face meeting. I have all my documents. Hopefully, I have their attention now. Squeaky persistence. 

LoriDee,


How did this meeting go?


Chrissy

@ChrissyRyan

Good thanks! The post got buried on the previous page, but thanks for asking!
Hugs!

Lori - feel free to pm me and we can discuss diet and meal planning as much or little as you would like. Happy to be a resource. Aside from my own personal 175+ lbs weight loss, I then got nutrition certified so I better understood the science beyond what I'd accomplished so that not only could I continue it, but help others.
Again happy to help/discuss things if you'd like. If not, no worries!

Love,
Allie

The class I took was a certification in Nutrition and Wellness by the AFPA (American Fitness Professionals Association). They mostly certify Personal Trainers and the course was part of their training. I only wanted the N&W part, so got a discount on tuition. At that time, I was still recovering from neck surgery (cervical fusion of C6-C7 vertebrae) and my disability claims were still being reviewed. A friend of mine set me up selling Shaklee products for income. I thought the certification might be a great marketing tool, but (like you) I wanted to be able to speak with people intelligently about nutrition and general wellness.

That would have been back around 2001 - 2002, so a little while ago. Since then... life... and I sort of stopped paying attention to what I was doing. The same thing happened with my mental health. I retired as a hypnotherapist and closed my practice almost ten years ago. I stopped paying attention to my own mental health. I have had a bit of a wake-up call, so now I am getting back on track.

Thank you for the kind offer! I might just take you up on it someday. Hugs!

Quote from: LoriDee on March 08, 2024, 05:58:45 PMThe class I took was a certification in Nutrition and Wellness by the AFPA (American Fitness Professionals Association). They mostly certify Personal Trainers and the course was part of their training. I only wanted the N&W part, so got a discount on tuition. At that time, I was still recovering from neck surgery (cervical fusion of C6-C7 vertebrae) and my disability claims were still being reviewed. A friend of mine set me up selling Shaklee products for income. I thought the certification might be a great marketing tool, but (like you) I wanted to be able to speak with people intelligently about nutrition and general wellness.

That would have been back around 2001 - 2002, so a little while ago. Since then... life... and I sort of stopped paying attention to what I was doing. The same thing happened with my mental health. I retired as a hypnotherapist and closed my practice almost ten years ago. I stopped paying attention to my own mental health. I have had a bit of a wake-up call, so now I am getting back on track.

Thank you for the kind offer! I might just take you up on it someday. Hugs!

That all sounds good, Lori. Yeah, I did mine through PN (Precision Nutrition).

But I have kind of taken all that really just to validate the things I learned in my journey, and have evolved it from there. Because, as you know, what works for me, will not necessarily work for you. The principles will... they might help guide you to some set of "Lori rules"... but that's it.

By the way, just one little thing to get back to something you mentioned earlier after your appt with the nutritionist, and how she wanted you to go to the store and spend your life savings on fruits and veggies?

Yes, it's true that while everyone should fill 1/2 their plates with veggies, and eat all the fruit they can...that stuff is not only expensive, but also often there can be a great deal of food waste, when items go bad too quickly, or if you get items that never ripen, etc.

One solution that people for some reason think is less-than - shop for fruits and veggies in your freezer section. The are so much less expensive, they are ALL picked and packaged at their peak of flavor, and it is by far the most cost effective way to get your fruits and veggies.

Yes, if you planned to eat them raw, you need fresh. But if you're cooking, baking, etc... frozen is the way to go. It also is the alternative to pre-packaged meals. It's the compromise. You can also get flash frozen chicken breasts, and have them and veggies in the freezer, so you literally just need some sort of sauce you like that you can heat up and you will always have a high protein, nutrient-dense meal at the ready with limited cooking time and effort.

Love,
Allie

Thanks, Allie!
I forgot about frozen fruit. I was buying canned because it stays good until I am ready to eat it. I would buy a bag of apples to munch on as a snack, but halfway through the bag, I found some that were badly bruised and even rotting. Ugh. I don't reward bad behavior or poor quality. I stopped giving them my money and bought them at other stores.

My dysphoria doesn't allow me to go shopping every week. If I am already out running errands or for appointments, I will stop and pick up supplies. I do grocery shopping about twice a month, so things need to last at least a week.

Allie, my dear, I believe you have given me the answer. When I am picking up frozen veggies, I will grab fruit too! Now I want some frozen strawberries over pound cake. 

Hugs!

Also SOOO great for making smoothies. No need for ice when you're already using frozen fruit!

Apples can be cored and sliced down, zapped in the microwave and then frozen . Great for a pie filling or crumble.

The weather is warming up rapidly. Today I had to clean out the rock tumblers. The stones are now running through a cleaning cycle of borax, then they will get inspected. Those that need more work will go back to the same or earlier stage. Those that are ready will move to the next stage.

I have three stones that will not shine when polished. The material is too porous to take a shine. All three are being done by request. One is a heart-shaped stone a gal found and she had me engrave an initial into it and it will become a key ring (it's too heavy to be a pendant).



One is a cool stone called many things because of its funny shapes and colors. Some call it Fruit Jasper, some call it Pimento Jasper, but it is not a jasper at all. It is a form of marble called Sabalgarh Marble. Jasper is a hard stone and polishes easily. Marble is very soft - the reason it is used in sculpture.



And the third piece also has many misleading names. Often called Sanskrit Jasper, Arabic Jasper, or Calligraphy Stone. The legend is that ancient prophesies were carved into the stone. The truth is that it is not a jasper at all. It is a fossil from the Himalayan region in India called Miriam Stone.



Since they won't take a shine, I took them outside in the warm sunshine and sprayed them with a Clear Coat. They look amazing, but we will see how they look tomorrow after the coating fully cures.

With gold's spot price (price per ounce) setting records and continuing to hover above $2,100 per ounce I am getting anxious to get back out to the mine and get to digging. Every election year causes economic uncertainty which affects the stock and commodities markets. I don't invest, I dig. The gold I dug out of the ground back in 2016 has almost doubled in value... without any additional work on my part.

So tomorrow I will be inspecting my gear, checking that everything is in order and ready to rock and roll. The water will still be cold as there is still a lot of ice melting up at higher elevations. My insulated chest waders work well in keeping my feet warm in ice water, but my hands are another story. I have been looking for some insulated diving gloves that will be waterproof, keep my hands warm, and still have the flexibility to move my fingers as needed.

Or I may just suck it up and deal with it as I have for the past 7 years or so. 

I watch some gold prospecting programs, hard work dear but if it pays off its worth it.

It doesn't always work out. It's feast or famine. Luckily I met an old hard rock miner who owns a gold mine not far away. He told me that he moved here in the 50s and was a fur trapper, so he knows every inch of this creek. He pointed to several locations and told me what he saw. That was in 2017 and I have been digging gold from that area since then. I found a map that was the first map ever drawn of this area. It was published in 1900 and it shows a gold claim already at that spot. I guess that it may have been part of a series of claims from further upstream. It still pays. Some seasons are better than others, but it keeps me off the streets at night. 

More good news.

I just received a letter from the Social Security Administration informing me that I am no longer "disabled". Does anybody know if Jesus works there? (Hallelujah!)

Apparently, as of March 2024, I have reached the official full retirement age, so they are changing my SS records from "Disabled" to "Retired". Since I am entitled to full retirement benefits there will be no change in income. Disability requires that I pay Medicare insurance premiums. Retirement has no such obligation. I can now opt-out and save $200 per month. I want to do it, but I might need Medicare for surgery down the road, so I will wait.

Veggies can be very tasty!

Most everything costs so much nowadays.  I eat a lot of fish, chicken, pasta, cheese, and veggies.  Per pound, typically cheaper than prime beef.

Eggs seem to have gone down in price.

Chrissy

I eat the same way. But I promised to increase my fruit and veggie intake. I prefer frozen over canned, so I will be stocking up on those. Davina also gave me a tip to buy fresh apples, core them then freeze them. I am looking forward to trying that. I love Honeycrisp apples, but I kept getting too many bad ones in a bag. And the packaging doesn't allow you to see inside. I think I'll just open the bag and inspect them. The worst they can do is make me buy them. If they are bad, I'll march right on over to customer service and demand a refund.

The supermarket I use is one of the cheaper ones and you have to inspect veg before it goes in your trolley, cauliflowers that have started to go brown, apples rotten in the bag and things like that. Also have to keep an eye on the use by dates. Bargains can be found in the clearance shelf as when they have a few items of an item they go into the bargain bin and they can have long dates.

Quote from: LoriDee on March 10, 2024, 01:26:59 PMI eat the same way. But I promised to increase my fruit and veggie intake. I prefer frozen over canned, so I will be stocking up on those. Davina also gave me a tip to buy fresh apples, core them then freeze them. I am looking forward to trying that. I love Honeycrisp apples, but I kept getting too many bad ones in a bag. And the packaging doesn't allow you to see inside. I think I'll just open the bag and inspect them. The worst they can do is make me buy them. If they are bad, I'll march right on over to customer service and demand a refund.

I prefer fresh over frozen or canned.  I do not mind canned sweet peas and mushrooms.
If you enjoy soft asparagus, canned asparagus is not bad at all! 

I do enjoy eating fresh picked fruit and veggies. 

Chrissy

Here we go again. The battle continues...

I saw my Gynecologist on Feb 26. After a very long discussion about the issues I have had with Mylan patches, she said she would talk to the pharmacist and determine if a name-brand patch was available. The pharmacist assured her that they were, so doc placed the order on Feb 29 with explicit instructions to not substitute for Mylan patches. The mail-order pharmacy shipped the order on Mar 5. Through all of this time, I have been PMSing due to low hormones fluctuating.

Today, I received my new patches!
 
What's wrong with this picture?


[Sigh}

@LoriDee
Dear Lori:

What is wrong with the picture?    It would be interesting to show that picture or the
box to your pharmacist...
.... they all seem to be very confused!!!!

The trials and tribulations of HRT.

HUGS, Danielle