Wednesday 20 January 2016

The results are in!

If you have been reading here for the last twelve months or so you may remember the post I wrote in February titled Goodbye to my old friend sugar!  I had had a cholesterol test which showed that my level was much too high and, as one of my friends had been advised by her doctor to give up sugar to reduce hers and that worked really well for her,  I thought I would give it a try for six months or so. 


Well...last week I thought I had better get the test done again in case my pathology form expired after twelve months and the results were that the 'good' cholesterol was really good and the 'bad' cholesterol had gone down but was still very slightly elevated. The doctor said that statins weren't required as there was no history of heart attacks in my family before a certain age, etc. and seeing as I had no intention of taking them anyway I was happy that all was well. While I was at it I asked for some x-rays of certain sore spots which showed degenerative changes cause by an old nursing injury so now I know what I am dealing with and hopefully I won't have to show up in a doctor's surgery for a long time as it is not my favourite activity at all. 


Once home again I couldn't help but look at my sourdough starter AGAIN which is at day 5. I really don't know what I am doing with it but am following along each day on the Down to Earth forums where some of us are feeding our starters each day. I just add what I am told to and hope for the best. I am not an experienced bread maker although I used to bake bread back in the 1980s when the children were little.



Also bubbling away on the other side of the kitchen is my water kefir and by the looks of the grains they need to be divided in the near future so I think I will be taking some along to our first Simple Living Toowoomba workshop on the 20th February. 


 Last year we bought a $30 raised garden from ALDI and in December the CEO made it into a wicking bed which seems to be working well as this photo was taken today just after lunch when it was quite hot and the plants weren't wilting.  When we bought our Watersaver Garden a few years ago we followed the instructions that came with it and bought cypress pine chips to put in the base but with this one the CEO decided to experiment with sand and gravel and it seems to be doing the job. Today was the first day that I had to put water into the water pipe since he made it before Christmas.



 Now.... for any soap makers wanting to experiment with using cheap fragrance from the $2 shop my only advice is...DON'T! I wanted to try my hand at swirling and had some ultramarine liquid soap colour to use up so I made up a small batch just in case it didn't work out. I also wanted to get rid of the fragrance so thought I would finish the bottle off and see what happened.


 

THIS is what happened!!!  Apparently the mixture seized when I added the cheap fragrance and the colour ended up morphing. I had read about seizing before but had never had that happen but morphing was something new to me.  I just did a bit of reading about seizing and it looks like I can rebatch it but I don't think I will be able to do that for a while as it is still oozing oil which is what you can see in the above photo.

This is my first batch of soap that hasn't really turned out so it was quite a good learning experience. You really learn best from your mistakes in life don't you?


I have a couple of friends who I have given chilli plants to in the last few months so if you are reading this your plants are from one or the other of these plants.



I am not sure about the ones in the first photo...maybe Bishop Cap chillies...but the red ones are really hot. When I potted them up I wasn't sure which ones they were as we had plants coming up everywhere after the rain. I saw a recipe the other day for Fermented Hot Chilli Sauce which I am going to make for the CEO as he likes hot chillies. Personally I can't cope with them at all. 

In case you are wondering I am going to keep going with the way I am eating now and not adding sugar to anything apart from my water kefir which feeds on it of course :-) This is not a diet but rather a way of life which I am now used to. I do have the occasional food containing sugar if I go out with friends. I usually order a scone and have a little jam with it but I no longer have a craving for caramel slice or cheesecake etc. Normally I add Rice Malt Syrup, Dextrose or Stevia if I want to sweeten anything if I decide to bake but that happens infrequently. I have lost some weight too unintentionally and I think I am about five or six kilos lighter just from giving up added sugar. The hardest part was going without it in my coffee but I am not used to that and I think if I added any it would be much too sweet for me now. 


I hope to write out the instructions on how to brighten up a hessian/jute Woolies shopping bag in the next week or so if anyone is interested. I am sure it is fairly self explanatory from the photo but I will see if I can add a bit of detail for those who are unsure how to make them.


Thanks for all you comments on my last post. I had a real giggle when I was reading them.  It just shows that you don't really need to say anything to have readers comment. LOL! Jane, I noticed in your comment that you said you had added heart shaped symbols in your comment. Well, just to let you know they are heart shapes on my iPad but question marks on my PC. Some clever techy person will explain why that is I am sure but it is beyond my comprehension. After all....I have brain fog!!!!

 



25 comments:

  1. Such good news about the results with your cholesterol test. I do remember and my husband was going through the same thing. He did not stick to the no sugar for as long and has just started again this week. Love the incidental weight loss that goes with no sugar. Haha! you should of known that fragrance at $2 would be to good to be true. I just love the beauty hack on the woolies bag. Please share.

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    1. Yes Zena, I should have used my brain and not bought that fragrance. :-)

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  2. That is great about your numbers. Way to go. It is so strange last night when I went to bed I was thinking of you and when you shared about going to sugar free or low sugar.

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    1. You do get used to going without sugar, Chrissy. I don't get as tired now either.

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  3. Fantastic results with your sugarless experiment - you must be happy with that. As for sourdough, I keep mine on the kitchen window sill and it catches a couple of hours of sun in the morning. I feed it just in the morning and the warmth of the sunlight sends the starter wild! Your soap - yep, been and done that ha ha! I now colour with natural ingredients like turmeric, coffee and cinnamon....I guess I like the simple version the best now.

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    1. Phil, I will have to read up more about sourdough as I have no idea what I am doing. I have my starter sitting beside me so I can see if it is bubbling much.

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  4. Well done you! I'm sure you don't miss the sugar much either. As soap goes that one looks like a good blue cheese! How bizarre. My bishops caps are looking like your's and I was going to ask you do they go red? I had a go with kefir once before but I messed it up somehow. Perhaps time for another try.

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    1. Barb, it looks like they are turning red. The plant I gave you must be from the same one.

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  5. I told hubby about you going sugar free to lower cholesterol. He didn't believe me so he did some research and what do you know? It does! Ha!

    Great job Nanna Chel, I am now going to read your post to him lol!

    I must go to the forum and look at the sourdough post. I am trying to get mine going but not much success this time around.

    xTania

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  6. Tania, Blinky told me about her doctor recommending going off sugar as she had had patients getting great results. I had never heard that reducing sugar could lower bad cholesterol before that. My sourdough had its last feed today and is ready to be used. It is a tad hot here at present though (for us that is)so it has gone into the fridge waiting for the cooler weather to arrive as our kitchen is really hot.

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  7. Great work Chel. I bet it hasn't all been easy. I've seen your comments on some of my recipes and must admit to feeling bad for torturing you...lol! The bag looks great, pooh-pooh to oozing soap, and yay to wicking beds! Have a lovely long weekend. Happy Australia Day. Love, Mimi xxx

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    1. Yes Mimi, you and Annabel serve up the most delicious food but I have to resist and turn away. LOL! Happy Australia Day to you too. It might be a damp one here.

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  8. Good for you on the numbers! I am impressed with the will power. I am also impressed with the sourdough starter, I am going to try again when it warms up enough but my last summers efforts were very bad! :) I will have to check out the forum when I am ready to start.

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    1. Kathy, my sourdough starter is having a snooze in the fridge as it is too hot to turn the oven on at the moment. Once the storms arrive it should cool down and I will wake it up again.

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  9. we gave up sugar last year and I too used to have it in my coffee. A friend made me a cuppa at playgroup and put sugar in it and it was sickeningly sweet and tasted awful - I couldn't drink it. Living without as much sugar (the very occasional addition) has become a part of our life too and we dont miss it at all! I'm glad your health is benefiting too x

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    1. Clarissa, it is surprising how quickly you get used to going without sugar. As I mentioned in my post it is a lifestyle and not a diet like some people think.

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  10. You're sweet enough anyway :)

    OOOO that soap looks disgusting! Did you expect me to "sugarcoat it".

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    1. Ha ha, Lynda. Hopefully the soap will eventually dry out. I could send you some if you really like it though. LOL! On second thoughts, maybe ask Gavin for some of his ;-)

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  11. The cholesterol results are interesting, did you anticipate that the bad cholesterol would be lower than it was? Do you intend to make any more changes or are you happy with the levels now?
    Great that you have lost that extra weight from being sugar free!
    Your bag is so sweet, much smarter than a regular shopping bag.

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  12. I didn't know what to expect to be honest Kelly, as what works for one person doesn't necessarily work for another. The doctor suggested I eat more chai seeds but other than that she didn't give any advice. So I am not sure about any other changes at this stage. I am more concerned about the XRay results showing degeneration in my spine due to getting older.

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  13. Dear Nanna Chel, Good that you got better results... except for the issues with your spine. Old injuries are a difficult thing. I hope there is something you can do for that I have heard of taking glucosomaine? to help build up the cushioning between the disks... however I don't know if this would really work.
    I will consider myself warned about the cheap fragrance. Darn it!
    I have just about everything gathered for soap making and am going over all your soap posts. Much love Annabel.xxx

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  14. Really great news regarding cholesterol Chel. Hopefully the sugar free will be keeping mine under control also. I'll find out one day, but I hate going to the doctor too! My sourdough starter is currently in the fridge as like you, I think it is just too hot to bake at the moment. It is covered with a black liquid called (according to the internet) "hooch". I've revived it before from this state though, so am hoping to do it again at some point.

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    1. You hate going to the doctor too, Hutchy. I am glad I am not the only one. I have my second sourdough loaf in the fridge. The first try resulted in a bit of a frisbee. LOL! Still tasted goo though. I understand it does take a bit of trial and error to get it right.

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  15. That's awesome that you were able to improve your cholesterol without drugs! I've tried the no sugar thing a few times and it never seems to last long for me. I'm not an expert bread baker, but it seems that the recipes I use call for honey or some kind of sugar.. how do make bread without adding some kind of sugar?

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    1. Julie, I don't make a lot of bread but am currently experimenting with sourdough and that doesn't have sugar. I will ask my breadmaking friends and see if I can find a recipe for you.

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