Harriet's Noviciate Healing Magic

[Harriet]

13 hours ago, Stronkey Kong said:

 

I've done keto a few times, but at most made it 90 days, but I do have an adaptation hack.

 

Fasting in the beginning. If you can do a couple days of just living on tea/coffee, water, and broth. When I did that I monitored with the keto urinalysis strips and noticed I'd gone to ketogenesis somewhere between 36-48 hours. I think you're doing the same thing as keto flu where you have to suffer a bit while your metabolism changes, but I personally would rather set aside a weekend and deal with it head on, than try to do two weeks of headaches, brain fog, and feeling pissy at work and trying to get things done.

 

I'll second what @fearless 2.0 said about vitamins and mineral. Also, calcium should be well considered. There is a lot of concern over whether keto leaches calcium from bones and messes with its overall balance in the body, and good supplements (calcium citrate or calcium pyruvate) might be needed to overcome that.

I've been dabbling in fasting anyway, so that might be a possibility. Huh, 36-46 hours is a lot later that the literature on fasting suggests. I suppose they don't want to discourage us from shorter fasts. I'll look into the vitamins and minerals, though isn't there plenty of calcium in dairy and vegetables, of which I eat a fair bit?

ETA how did keto work for you? Did you see any benefits?

[fearless 2.0]

There is a difference between being in ketosis ( fasting for a couple a days. like the kong said ) and being fat adapted. the later takes up to 2 months. during this time you might not feel the benefits of keto fully. Found that out the hard way!  

[fearless 2.0]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

I've been dabbling in fasting anyway, so that might be a possibility. Huh, 36-46 hours is a lot later that the literature on fasting suggests. I suppose they don't want to discourage us from shorter fasts. I'll look into the vitamins and minerals, though isn't there plenty of calcium in dairy and vegetables, of which I eat a fair bit?

you lose the minerals by urination at first. Its better to add in the minerals orally as well, at least in my opinion.  

[Harriet]

29 minutes ago, fearless 2.0 said:

you lose the minerals by urination at first. Its better to add in the minerals orally as well, at least in my opinion.  

 

Ah, okay, got it.

 

30 minutes ago, fearless 2.0 said:

There is a difference between being in ketosis ( fasting for a couple a days. like the kong said ) and being fat adapted. the later takes up to 2 months. during this time you might not feel the benefits of keto fully. Found that out the hard way!  

Oooh, two months! That would be a long time to be hungry and foggy.

[fearless 2.0]

1 hour ago, Harriet said:

 

Ah, okay, got it.

 

Oooh, two months! That would be a long time to be hungry and foggy.

you won't be hungry at all, just you might feel a bit weak. 

[Harriet]

33 minutes ago, fearless 2.0 said:

you won't be hungry at all, just you might feel a bit weak. 

 

Thank goodness! Not that weak is good, but it's better than hungry, if you're already a hungry hungry caterpillar like me.

[Harriet]

Thursday & Friday

Potions: credit. No poison.

Defence: credit. Meditation.

Transfiguration: credit. Short walks, OHP yesterday, rest day today

Charms: credit. Screens off at 9, in bed at 9:30 after stretching.

 

I slept badly last night for no reason and am tired today. But otherwise I'm slightly impressed by how I'm doing. No sugar (except fruits and honey) or caffeine for about three weeks now. No alcohol since mid June. I am not filled with a profound urge to do my writing and painting yet... but I did spontaneously clean out and organise the spice drawer today (I feel like I should want to do intellectual and creative stuff but the first thing that comes back is the desire for movement).

[Elastigirl]

Big congrats on  the no caffeine, sugar or alcohol!

[Stronkey Kong]

10 hours ago, Harriet said:

I've been dabbling in fasting anyway, so that might be a possibility. Huh, 36-46 hours is a lot later that the literature on fasting suggests. I suppose they don't want to discourage us from shorter fasts. I'll look into the vitamins and minerals, though isn't there plenty of calcium in dairy and vegetables, of which I eat a fair bit?

ETA how did keto work for you? Did you see any benefits?

 

RE Fasting: My recommendation doesn't come from the IF etc. people... it's basically to starve your metabolism to make it grateful for whatever you feed it next. So if the machine is used to running on carbs, and storing the fats it gets, when its desperate it'll burn the fats its given more readily and hopefully boost its fat burning capabilities more readily than if fats were replacing carbs gradually. It is a shock to the system no doubt.

 

RE Calcium: dairy and veggies, maybe but probably not. The whole dairy has lots of good calcium is debatable. Yes there is, yes its fortified,  but calcium absorption is more complicated that B vitamins. It's dependent on Vitamin D, and vitamin D is fat soluble, your best bet is to take vitamin D with your Ca supp. or calcium rich foods. Then the Vit. D-Ca complex is better absorbed along with dietary fats... so you win there with keto, but you will probably need a bit extra. These are just things to consider. I don't know what the optimum is or how to find it... and odds are I never did because keto didn't work for me.

 

RE Why keto didn't work for me:

1. Despite trial and error -- I never hit a stable optimum
2. I found the diet too restrictive -- every meal is meat and veggies coated with oil/fat, and at least once in a while I want rice/bread/pasta dishes
3. I just wasn't feeling very good, not from keto flu, not necessarily weakness. Just not healthy.
4. I wasn't in a good mood for much of it -- I could also blame this on the summer heat and no AC.
5. After a while I just wasn't losing weight anymore, and my cravings for carbs got bigger and bigger.

 

The positive outcomes: (from my last keto experience):

1.  I lost 10-15 pounds -- Most of it in the first week or two because its just water the body can't hold onto without regular carb intake and salt retention
2.  I adapted pretty well. I was able to maintain a ketogenic state, as I monitored with urinalysis strips, for 90 days with even a few instances of burgers (with the bun) and beers that didn't send me into another bout of keto flu or interrupt my ketogenesis.

Idk. It just didn't work for me. I was also doing it pescatarian (most of the time) and avoiding saturated fats in general. But that wasn't the first time either. My metabolism/life just don't support it and I didn't see enough benefit to keep going and keep passing on pasta and rice.

 

[Harriet]

18 minutes ago, Stronkey Kong said:

 

RE Fasting: My recommendation doesn't come from the IF etc. people... it's basically to starve your metabolism to make it grateful for whatever you feed it next. So if the machine is used to running on carbs, and storing the fats it gets, when its desperate it'll burn the fats its given more readily and hopefully boost its fat burning capabilities more readily than if fats were replacing carbs gradually. It is a shock to the system no doubt.

 

RE Calcium: dairy and veggies, maybe but probably not. The whole dairy has lots of good calcium is debatable. Yes there is, yes its fortified,  but calcium absorption is more complicated that B vitamins. It's dependent on Vitamin D, and vitamin D is fat soluble, your best bet is to take vitamin D with your Ca supp. or calcium rich foods. Then the Vit. D-Ca complex is better absorbed along with dietary fats... so you win there with keto, but you will probably need a bit extra. These are just things to consider. I don't know what the optimum is or how to find it... and odds are I never did because keto didn't work for me.

 

I need to look into this. I am quite confused by supplements because you can find a reason to take about 20 different ones, but I never felt better when I took any, so I want to keep supplements to a minimum and make sure I'm certain the ones I'm taking are really necessary.

 

18 minutes ago, Stronkey Kong said:

RE Why keto didn't work for me:

1. Despite trial and error -- I never hit a stable optimum
2. I found the diet too restrictive -- every meal is meat and veggies coated with oil/fat, and at least once in a while I want rice/bread/pasta dishes
3. I just wasn't feeling very good, not from keto flu, not necessarily weakness. Just not healthy.
4. I wasn't in a good mood for much of it -- I could also blame this on the summer heat and no AC.
5. After a while I just wasn't losing weight anymore, and my cravings for carbs got bigger and bigger.

 

The positive outcomes: (from my last keto experience):

1.  I lost 10-15 pounds -- Most of it in the first week or two because its just water the body can't hold onto without regular carb intake and salt retention
2.  I adapted pretty well. I was able to maintain a ketogenic state, as I monitored with urinalysis strips, for 90 days with even a few instances of burgers (with the bun) and beers that didn't send me into another bout of keto flu or interrupt my ketogenesis.

Idk. It just didn't work for me. I was also doing it pescatarian (most of the time) and avoiding saturated fats in general. But that wasn't the first time either. My metabolism/life just don't support it and I didn't see enough benefit to keep going and keep passing on pasta and rice.

 

 

Interesting! So you didn't lose much weight apart from the initial water loss? And you didn't feel sparkling and awesome? That's disappointing. Ah well, I have to give it a try. I already like my current meals of vegetables and fish or meat, and tend to crave fat rather than sugar at the moment, so I think I'll be happy enough without carbs. But we'll see. I might not do it long term. Might switch between keto and paleo-ish. Might even give a whole foods plant based diet a try just to see how it works for me.

[Stronkey Kong]

20 minutes ago, Harriet said:

 

I need to look into this. I am quite confused by supplements because you can find a reason to take about 20 different ones, but I never felt better when I took any, so I want to keep supplements to a minimum and make sure I'm certain the ones I'm taking are really necessary.

 

 

Interesting! So you didn't lose much weight apart from the initial water loss? And you didn't feel sparkling and awesome? That's disappointing. Ah well, I have to give it a try. I already like my current meals of vegetables and fish or meat, and tend to crave fat rather than sugar at the moment, so I think I'll be happy enough without carbs. But we'll see. I might not do it long term. Might switch between keto and paleo-ish. Might even give a whole foods plant based diet a try just to see how it works for me.

Vitamin D + calcium is textbook nutrition... as opposed to "some evidence suggests..." Vitamin D chelates the Ca ions and helps transport them into the intestinal lining and into the bloodstream. Same with Vitamin C and iron. Whether or not you'll need more because you're on keto, that's up to you.

 

My genetics I think prevent me from feeling "sparkling and awesome" on the keto train. I know I have the gene that preferentially stores saturated fat in fat cells rather than burn it. I don't have a fast metabolism... probably not a "fast oxidizer" which are the people who tend to do better on fattier diets. And the one component of my diet that keeps me satisfied is variety more than anything. My weight loss was something. It was a result, but I lost about as much from 90 days of keto as I did in the past 6 or so weeks of what I'm currently doing.

 

Also, it seems to me that the vast majority of keto influencers are people who were athletic, but used keto to get ripped. To me it seems like it's good for a person who already has a lot of muscle, to slim down. It's probably not the way to go if you're a fat guy like me... someone who has always been overweight (by a lot) and needs to first get off the couch and get moving.

[Harriet]

12 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Big congrats on  the no caffeine, sugar or alcohol!

 

Thank you!

[Harriet]

11 hours ago, Stronkey Kong said:

My genetics I think prevent me from feeling "sparkling and awesome" on the keto train. I know I have the gene that preferentially stores saturated fat in fat cells rather than burn it. I don't have a fast metabolism... probably not a "fast oxidizer" which are the people who tend to do better on fattier diets. And the one component of my diet that keeps me satisfied is variety more than anything. My weight loss was something. It was a result, but I lost about as much from 90 days of keto as I did in the past 6 or so weeks of what I'm currently doing.

 

Also, it seems to me that the vast majority of keto influencers are people who were athletic, but used keto to get ripped. To me it seems like it's good for a person who already has a lot of muscle, to slim down. It's probably not the way to go if you're a fat guy like me... someone who has always been overweight (by a lot) and needs to first get off the couch and get moving.

 

Sounds like what you're currently doing is much better, then! There's no universal miracle, just different approaches for different people, apparently.

[Harriet]

Squat day! I warmed up with 20, 25, 30, 35 kg and then did 4 x 3 with 40kg. No technique problems today with no one watching me 😅

Then for DL/glute assistance 3 sets of KB swings at 24kg and 3 sets KB single leg deadlifts wth 16kg.

I think the warm up plus 4x3 is perfect for me. Squats are the most exhausting exercise for me and the one I have the most technique troubles with. The warm up lets me work on technique with weights that are neither uselessly light nor tiringly heavy. I know virtually everyone recommends at least some periods of higher reps and higher volume, but there's almost NO advice for weightlifting with chronic fatigue (if that's what I even have) except for 1. don't do it you'll get even sicker or 2. start with very easy bodyweight exercises or five pound dumbbells. 😑 I only found one blog where a dude with chronic fatigue did lifting to get better, and he kept it low volume. It's also nice to finish my workout feeling buzzed rather than wrecked. I don't want workouts where I'm thinking "ugh, how many more sets?" I want to love it, which means not torturing myself with volume.

 

Today I saw what looked like a crossfitty class in the room next to me. They were practicing the foundational movements for clean and jerk, I think, but with quite light weights. I looked at the scheduled and it's called 'hot cross iron' or something like that. I was immediately envious but... how smart would it be to do a fast paced 50 minute high rep/low rest class when I already have a programme that hits all major muscle groups and movement patterns without making me lastingly exhausted? Not very smart. In the same vein, I think the best thing for me to do for the next challenge is more of the same. Four weeks isn't really long enough to see if the basic lifestyle healing magic protocol is working, especially when I only added lifting a couple of weeks ago. I must resist the temptation to add MOAR as soon as I feel slightly better, since I am testing the hypothesis that this is part of the reason for the slug phases. I'm disappointing myself by not working much on my writing, but hey. When I think about this in terms of years, not weeks, going slowly is the better choice.

[fearless 2.0]

39 minutes ago, Harriet said:

Squat day! I warmed up with 20, 25, 30, 35 kg and then did 4 x 3 with 40kg. No technique problems today with no one watching me 😅

Then for DL/glute assistance 3 sets of KB swings at 24kg and 3 sets KB single leg deadlifts wth 16kg.

I think the warm up plus 4x3 is perfect for me. Squats are the most exhausting exercise for me and the one I have the most technique troubles with. The warm up lets me work on technique with weights that are neither uselessly light nor tiringly heavy. I know virtually everyone recommends at least some periods of higher reps and higher volume, but there's almost NO advice for weightlifting with chronic fatigue (if that's what I even have) except for 1. don't do it you'll get even sicker or 2. start with very easy bodyweight exercises or five pound dumbbells. 😑 I only found one blog where a dude with chronic fatigue did lifting to get better, and he kept it low volume. It's also nice to finish my workout feeling buzzed rather than wrecked. I don't want workouts where I'm thinking "ugh, how many more sets?" I want to love it, which means not torturing myself with volume.

 

Today I saw what looked like a crossfitty class in the room next to me. They were practicing the foundational movements for clean and jerk, I think, but with quite light weights. I looked at the scheduled and it's called 'hot cross iron' or something like that. I was immediately envious but... how smart would it be to do a fast paced 50 minute high rep/low rest class when I already have a programme that hits all major muscle groups and movement patterns without making me lastingly exhausted? Not very smart. In the same vein, I think the best thing for me to do for the next challenge is more of the same. Four weeks isn't really long enough to see if the basic lifestyle healing magic protocol is working, especially when I only added lifting a couple of weeks ago. I must resist the temptation to add MOAR as soon as I feel slightly better, since I am testing the hypothesis that this is part of the reason for the slug phases. I'm disappointing myself by not working much on my writing, but hey. When I think about this in terms of years, not weeks, going slowly is the better choice.

hell yes to that!  

[Scaly Freak]

7 hours ago, Harriet said:

I know virtually everyone recommends at least some periods of higher reps and higher volume, but there's almost NO advice for weightlifting with chronic fatigue (if that's what I even have) except for 1. don't do it you'll get even sicker or 2. start with very easy bodyweight exercises or five pound dumbbells. 😑 I only found one blog where a dude with chronic fatigue did lifting to get better, and he kept it low volume.

 

I wonder how much of this comes from some kind of confused notion that the best way to manage chronic fatigue is to avoid doing anything that makes you tired.... while I am not an expert on chronic fatigue by any means, that doesn't sound either realistic or enjoyable to me.

 

7 hours ago, Harriet said:

It's also nice to finish my workout feeling buzzed rather than wrecked. I don't want workouts where I'm thinking "ugh, how many more sets?" I want to love it, which means not torturing myself with volume.

 

This has been my approach since I started lifting after joining NF, and I highly recommend it. Lifting is not supposed to be something we dread and suffer through.

[Harriet]

1 minute ago, Scaly Freak said:

I wonder how much of this comes from some kind of confused notion that the best way to manage chronic fatigue is to avoid doing anything that makes you tired.... while I am not an expert on chronic fatigue by any means, that doesn't sound either realistic or enjoyable to me.

 

Actually, pacing (avoiding overexertion) is recommended by all the mainstream sources I could find, since they describe a cycle of feeling a little better, doing too much, then crashing. There is controversy over whether exercise is helpful, since it seems to make some people with CFS lastingly worse off.  For people with severe CFS, avoiding the worst remissions seems to be all they can hope for. They truly have a pitiable quality of life.

 

 

This is one of the main reasons I'm not sure if I have CFS or some other chronically fatiguing condition--my fatigue is more mild to moderate (mild symptoms, moderate reduction in activity) and exercise has helped me a lot.  That said, the graded exercise therapy that was so controversial for CFS seems to have been cardio with linear progression. Personally, I have never seen any benefits from cardio more intense than walking (I mean, after getting sick. I used to run cross country in primary school), even though I have started and stopped dozens of times. Not even six months of taekwondo (which was a bit like HIIT for me, with frequent rests) seemed to increase my cardio fitness at all. All other attempts at cardio have ended in slug phases or quitting due to aversion. I might be lazy, or I might have a genuine problem with glycolysis or oxygen uptake or heart output or something sciencey and biological sounding.

 

 

1 minute ago, Scaly Freak said:

This has been my approach since I started lifting after joining NF, and I highly recommend it. Lifting is not supposed to be something we dread and suffer through.

I think it's the right approach. With exercise and diet I'm learning that the science is so unsettled, so incomplete, and so imprecise when it comes to individual variation. We can get a general picture of the advice, but then we have to work from personal experience. We should feel good about our food and exercise. We should not be psyched out by our deadlifts, except on special 1RM testing occasions 😄

[Scaly Freak]

24 minutes ago, Harriet said:

Actually, pacing (avoiding overexertion) is recommended by all the mainstream sources I could find, since they describe a cycle of feeling a little better, doing too much, then crashing. 

 

This makes perfect sense. It's basically lowering the peaks of the cycle in order to turn the low parts into a dip instead of a crash.

 

24 minutes ago, Harriet said:

Personally, I have never seen any benefits from cardio more intense than walking (I mean, after getting sick. I used to run cross country in primary school), even though I have started and stopped dozens of times. Not even six months of taekwondo (which was a bit like HIIT for me, with frequent rests) seemed to increase my cardio fitness at all. All other attempts at cardio have ended in slug phases or quitting due to aversion. I might be lazy, or I might have a genuine problem with glycolysis or oxygen uptake or heart output or something sciencey and biological sounding.

 

Your default assumption should never be that you are lazy, or any other kind of negative thing about you as a person.  We have talked about this.  

 

[Harriet]

8 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

This makes perfect sense. It's basically lowering the peaks of the cycle in order to turn the low parts into a dip instead of a crash.

 

Right. Avoid slug phases and enjoy stable low energy all year round 😛

 

8 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

 

Your default assumption should never be that you are lazy, or any other kind of negative thing about you as a person.  We have talked about this.  

 

 

Oh yeah. I am taking seriously and testing the hypothesis that my problem is biological, but I have definitely not eliminated this kind of thinking from my mind. Or my typing fingers.

[Scaly Freak]

10 minutes ago, Harriet said:

 

Right. Avoid slug phases and enjoy stable low energy all year round 😛

 

 

Oh yeah. I am taking seriously and testing the hypothesis that my problem is biological, but I have definitely not eliminated this kind of thinking from my mind. Or my typing fingers.

 

Stable is good. Stable means you know what's coming and can plan for it.  

 

And decades-long habits are hard to break. Your mind and your typing fingers will learn.

[Harriet]

10 minutes ago, Scaly Freak said:

Stable is good. Stable means you know what's coming and can plan for it.  

 

And decades-long habits are hard to break. Your mind and your typing fingers will learn.

 

Both true!

[Harriet]

Hmmm. I had extra energy/agitation this morning and did some cleaning (to my chagrin, I am more motivated to do light movement than to do my writing or painting. Oh well. *Experimental subject no. 3387675319 has regained interest in moderate amount of exercise and nest maintenance, but not puzzles. Subject's interest in cheese remains undimmed.*) But then I was struck by exhaustion and slept for a couple of hours after lunch. I didn't do the meditation today.

Thoughts on how to proceed: I am committed to treating myself as an experimental mouse with an organic problem, not a character vice. I should continue not forcing myself to do stuff with excess persuasion, ambitious but inflexible schedules, motivation techniques, and so on. What I could do is arrange my environment to cue and tempt me to my writing and painting, or do some fun challenge planning (*subject enjoys planning of activities, possibly more than execution*) to overcome the resistance blocks. What is it about them that is blocking? How can I make it as easy to pick up my writing as it is to pick up a health or nutrition book?

 

I did one good thing today apart from vacuuming under the bed and de-calcing the toilet. I made a follow up appointment with the doctor who did the blood tests, even though I know they'll all be normal and I doubt she'll be able to help me much. It's a super easy video appointment so I can just tell her my notes about the last couple of months and what I've been doing, ask if there's any point looking for a specialist, and also force her to tell me the answer to the age old riddle of which nutrition camp is telling the truth--the paleo-ketoans or the whole foods plant basedians or neither.  Maybe I could even ask what I need either for an official diagnosis or to rule CFS out. That could be psychologically and socially helpful.

[h3r0]

On 8/28/2021 at 4:17 AM, Harriet said:

. 😑 I only found one blog where a dude with chronic fatigue did lifting to get better, and he kept it low volume. It's also nice to finish my workout feeling buzzed rather than wrecked. I don't want workouts where I'm thinking "ugh, how many more sets?" I want to love it, which means not torturing myself with volume.

 

 

I don't know anything about CFS so I probably shouldn't say anything but if it is associated with the nervous system rather than musculoskeletal system then it makes sense that strength and power workouts would help and bodybuilder workouts of high volume would just fry the already impacted nervous system. That would also mean max weight lifts should be infrequent but I think that really applies to everyone. Most power lifting programs build up over weeks before it peaks to a max lift PR. Same with a strength program like 5/3/1, it is only once a month followed by a Deload Week. 

 

It makes sense to me that low volume / high frequency strength and power programs with scheduled Deloads might work well for you. But again this is all speculation on my part. 

 

Loving the squat workout. I hope you can find the lifting style that what works best for you. 

 

[Harriet]

2 hours ago, h3r0 said:

 

I don't know anything about CFS so I probably shouldn't say anything but if it is associated with the nervous system rather than musculoskeletal system then it makes sense that strength and power workouts would help and bodybuilder workouts of high volume would just fry the already impacted nervous system. That would also mean max weight lifts should be infrequent but I think that really applies to everyone. Most power lifting programs build up over weeks before it peaks to a max lift PR. Same with a strength program like 5/3/1, it is only once a month followed by a Deload Week. 

 

It's a multi system thing, apparently. It might involve a positive feedback loop of gut damage, immune overreaction, chronic inflammation (including neuro-inflammation), mitochondrial dysfunction, and so on. What I know in my case is that my mental fog cleared up considerably within a day or two of starting lifting. And high volume weightlifting, as well as any steady state cardio other than walking, make me feel really sick and bad. But low rep and walking make me feel good, if tired. I will definitely keep one rep max testing for rare occasions and I should remember to implement deloads. I always forget about those.

 

2 hours ago, h3r0 said:

It makes sense to me that low volume / high frequency strength and power programs with scheduled Deloads might work well for you. But again this is all speculation on my part. 

 

That's my best bet at the moment! We shall see. Speculation and experimentation are my only tools at the moment.

 

2 hours ago, h3r0 said:

Loving the squat workout. I hope you can find the lifting style that what works best for you.

 

Thank you!!!

[Harriet]

Alas. I slept poorly (pain!) and am tired today. I seem to be super sensitive to single nights of bad sleep. I didn't feel like going to the gym, not even for bench which is lower stress. I went to the shop to stock up on frozen fish, but then was too tired to go to the other shop for the rest of my groceries. I could go now, as it's only 1:30... but... tired. But if I don't go I will run out of 100% chocolate and berries. Argghhhhhhhh okay I'll go. It's really easy. Just need to get off the couch.

 

There are so many types of fish! and I have to try to figure out if they're tasty, healthy, and environmentally less-unfriendly. I got some MSC certified tuna steaks--yay for sustainability! But they're yellowfin which apparently has the least omega 3 and most mercury of any tuna. I'd be better off having the skipjack in tins. The wild salmon is chum, which is apparently not super popular but seems fine to me, unless it's specifically the red wild salmon which is sockeye, also fine. I like the kabeljau/cod since it tastes like the very mild fish & chips I used to eat as a child at the coast. Next I need to investigate the forelle, zander, and rotbarsch (trout? zander? ocean perch/redfish?) which seem to be common in the shops. I tried some tinned sardines but I have to be honest, I threw away some of the tin because I knew I wasn't going to eat it. I also tried to eat some frozen mussels but I bit one and it was tendony! With a weird hairy bit inside! I panicked and threw that away, too. I am unfortunately quite picky about animal foods and was raised on skinless chicken breast and beef (with occasional lamb shanks and pork chops) which are basically what I'm comfortable with. I guess it's already a major success to have expanded to include salmon, tuna and cod in my accepted foods. And prawns don't taste too bad so if I could just figure out what to cook them in/with I bet they could join the regular rotation, too.

 

 

ETA I got the chocolate. I'll be okay now whatever else happens