Lifestyle change, how to go about it?

[Heavymental]

As for the healthy cooking thing - good food IS good for you, but how many of us actually LIKE wasting 2 hours in a kitchen just to produce a meal? I'll do a batch job of spag bol once every two weeks (it does 3 meals, 2 of which I keep in the freezer) but cooking from scratch every night with real ingredients? Forget that!

Plenty of people Dom, and anyone who enjoys good food. Cooking is one of the most fundamental skills you can have and its also a great pleasure to make and enjoy a nice meal. I'd hardly call it a waste of time to prepare yourself or family/friends a good feed.
What else have you got to do in the evening thats fundamentally better?!

 

[rockhopper]

Plenty of people Dom, and anyone who enjoys good food. Cooking is one of the most fundamental skills you can have and its also a great pleasure to make and enjoy a nice meal. I'd hardly call it a waste of time to prepare yourself or family/friends a good feed.
What else have you got to do in the evening thats fundamentally better?!

I must admit, since we got our own house a couple of months ago, I actually dont mind having a dabble in the kitchen myself. And your right, it is good to prepare and cook something which turns out nice.

 

[PBirkett]

Joking aside, I had actually thought of going down the oral consumption of cannabis route instead of smoking for health reasons. At least its a step in the right direction? Good ideas there BTW re: yoghurts and hot chocolate - I've only traditionally ever baked cakes or cookies with it, which is somewhat time consuming.

Interesting what greg said about the types of weed - round here, we dont get much choice, and generally solids is mostly what you get, but lately i've been getting skunk, and to be honest, that stuff makes me feel worse afterwards than the solids!

Anyway there are some good ideas here, and despite my apparent alzheimers kicking in i appreciate it. I just wonder why i am one of these people who seems to need helping rather than someone who can just help themselves... but anyway, cheers guys

 

[greg]

I just wonder why i am one of these people who seems to need helping rather than someone who can just help themselves... but anyway, cheers guys

I am so not a self-starter and if I wasnt married I would be eating pizza and curry a lot more than I do.

 

[kennyk]

seriously, you need to get away from it altogether.

I once worked for company who arranged a two day meeting for the field engineers. two of the engineers and myself had a toke after the bar closed. Both had left the company within 6 months, one through ill health, the other was made redundant as it was felt that his area could be covered from the workshop. I gave up pretty soon after that anyway myself.
it slows you down, affects your memory, everything. put your dope money away into a savings account and before you know it you'll be able to afford a Serious hifi.

 

[Tenson]

Talking of Diet Coke...

I remember being told that one of the ingredients they use in Diet Coke is actually a poison when heated to above 50 decrees C. Apparently in the Gulf war the Americans flew out a load of it for their troops as a present (typical America!) but in the hot sun of the desert it became very bad stuff and is thought to be the cause of a lot of the illness from troops in the Gulf War! Even when it hasn't been heated, by-products of the sweetener are poison.

I ain't drinking that stuff! Even if it isn't true (the toxicity level of the by-products is debateable), I feel the stuff they put in the drink instead of sugar must be at least as bad for your body as sugar. At least sugar is a natural thing.

 

[Anex]

but lately i've been getting skunk, and to be honest, that stuff makes me feel worse afterwards than the solids!

It shouldn't do if its grown right but I know the sort of stuff you mean, the stuff in Chester is like that, rough as. I used to bring it across from Manc for people there. Solids are awful, stomach cramps etc. Not sure if they're particularly worse for you but alot of the stuff I've seen has other crap squashed in and gives you that sickly pollen high.
Anything with fats in should bind to the THC so you can put it into all sorts of cooking if you want to. I think the way you seem to be you should stop though, I quit for about 2 years after smoking everyday for a few years. It took me over 6 months to really feel like it had totally left my system. You feel much better though. Now I just dabble occaisionally, mostly socially

 

[Anex]

Talking of Diet Coke...

I remember being told that one of the ingredients they use in Diet Coke is actually a poison when heated to above 50 decrees C. Apparently in the Gulf war the Americans flew out a load of it for their troops as a present (typical America!) but in the hot sun of the desert it became very bad stuff and is thought to be the cause of a lot of the illness from troops in the Gulf War! Even when it hasn't been heated, by-products of the sweetener are poison.

I ain't drinking that stuff! Even if it isn't true (the toxicity level of the by-products is debateable), I feel the stuff they put in the drink instead of sugar must be at least as bad for your body as sugar. At least sugar is a natural thing.

I wouldn't trust the sweetner anyway, theres all sorts of nasty stories about it. Besides, diet coke tastes like crap . Theres an email about cokes other uses such as cleaning blood off roads after accidents etc. and the concentrate is classed as a hazardous substance when its being transported because its so acidic.

 

[michaelab]

Good ideas there BTW re: yoghurts and hot chocolate

No, you really need to cut it out completely. Mixing it into yoghurt etc will, as Anex so elquently put it, get you completely battered. It's also hard to control the dosage. I did it with yoghurt a couple of times and didn't particularly enjoy it after the first 3 or 4 hours.

and despite my apparent alzheimers kicking in

Joking aside, there is some evidence that heavy dope usage can bring on early Alzheimers.

Just give it up. It's not hard.

Michael.

 

[kennyk]

Good ideas there BTW re: yoghurts and hot chocolate - I've only traditionally ever baked cakes or cookies with it, which is somewhat time consuming.

you need to stop justifying alternative methods of imbibing to yourself. anything that alters the mental state cannot be good for anyone long term.

 

[Heavymental]

Anyway there are some good ideas here, and despite my apparent alzheimers kicking in i appreciate it. I just wonder why i am one of these people who seems to need helping rather than someone who can just help themselves... but anyway, cheers guys

Well....don't be coming back here in a month or 2 with the same thread! Take some action.
I also agree with Michael, I don't think finding other ways to take a well known cause of psychological problems should be part of your agenda if you want to sort yourself out. Just forget it and spend the money on something useful.
Good luck Paul.

 

[bottleneck]

logical order to these things...

1) stop the drugs, you wont want them after a short time
2) stop the drinking, or keep it to a weekend.
3) food - you win this battle at the supermarket. If you dont buy it - you wont/cant eat it. Buy healthy, eat healthy.
4) start some kind of exercise. You're spoilt for choice, go with something you enjoy - even better if your friends do it too, then you wont want to stop.

 

[PBirkett]

Yeah I guess you are probably right. I guess thats just the usual addict behavior in me kicking in.

As a side note though, theres a debate going on here about diet drinks. I try to avoid these because of a chemical called aspartame which is known to cause brain disease. You'd be quite shocked as to how many drinks contain this (diet and non diet).

 

[michaelab]

I'd agree with you about diet drinks and avoid them. They taste horrible and are even more rammed with chemicals than the non-diet ones. I lost nearly a stone in 2-3 months without "going on a diet" or switching to low-fat/diet/skimmed versions of things.

It was just eating healthily, virtually giving up alcohol and going to the gym.

Michael.

 

[auric]

logical order to these things...

1) stop the drugs, you wont want them after a short time
2) stop the drinking, or keep it to a weekend.
3) food - you win this battle at the supermarket. If you dont buy it - you wont/cant eat it. Buy healthy, eat healthy.
4) start some kind of exercise. You're spoilt for choice, go with something you enjoy - even better if your friends do it too, then you wont want to stop.

I think that (4) is the lynchpin to changing things because it will use up and time that has been released through less drinking and ingesting of other substances plus doing something with a friend may well kick start your social life and that to may start to edge out the other time consuming ills. From my early 20s I started badminton at evening classes (In the far off days when they were run by the local authorities as evenimg classes) and although never good enough for serious club level playing I did make full use of the social side of things and the three nights a week plus Saturday morning and it sure did help the physical side of things.

One of the problem is that of breaking the links between things such as having nothing to do so then you will smoke, eat, drink, watch the box or indeed do all four at once and that is not too good and establishing links with what you now want to do. If you find a way to do that then please let me know because I hear the call of a cheese sandwich just before going to bed very hard to resist

I wish you luck.

 

[garyi]

I did a post then lost it doh!

Regarding the five fruit a day thing. The official line is you need to EAT five fruit and veg a day. You can drink as much juice or smoothies as you like but they will only constitute one of the portions.

I eat a lot of veg, pulses and rice. I am a little disalusioned with the whole meat quality thing at the moment so can quite happily take it or leave it. I am not so keen of fruit but as I say plenty of veg and pulses. Potatoes are not included in the five pieces a day BTW.

Regarding cooking. Well I am a chef so biased I suppose, but having the fundamentals down leads you to all sorts of things. One thing I would say though is to enjoy the process get some decent kit.

I cook with Le Cruset pans. I cannot afford to buy them new, I found all of them at car boots. A 12 inch pan, AGA omelette pan, a deep pot, a decent stir fry and some nice oven ware. I also use good quality knives, like anything your enjoyment of the process will greatly improved by have good kit.

What goes into ready meals is not even funny. If you must there is a range of sauces called 'Seeds of Change'. Tesco stock them. They are not the cheapest in the shop, but check out the ingredients. All Organic and no shit of any kind, the net result is a sauce for two which is typically around 300 calories. Now check a ready meal, even the 'low fat' ones.

 

[Heavymental]

Gary...I'm after a nice chefs knife for my brothers birthday....6" or 8" blade. Was thinking of a Wusthof or Henkels but they're coming in around £50 which means I don't have much to spend on anything else. Any thoughts on a fairly decent knife for a bit less?

 

[mr cat]

if you're cutting down on dope - the last thing you wanna do is eat it...that's so heavy man...!!

but eating the male plant is better than eating the female...unless you're eating solid!

avoid coke - it's sh*te...unless you've got a double jd in it

try not to eat the process stuff too, the amount of sh*te that goes in it...they put in loads of rubbish to try and make it taste like what it suppose to..

but anyway, if you wanna pop down mine for a smoke anytime, gizza ahout!

 

[domfjbrown]

Plenty of people Dom, and anyone who enjoys good food. Cooking is one of the most fundamental skills you can have and its also a great pleasure to make and enjoy a nice meal.

I enjoy good food, but I don't like wasting time cooking it. I eat to survive, as anything that takes longer to cook than it does to eat, IMHO, is a waste of time for me (AND I'm a VERY slow eater!). That doesn't mean I can't taste the difference - most of my meals taste like crap, so I appreciate decent food (mum's cooking, the pub) when I see it.

There is almost nobody I know (male and female) who actually enjoys cooking, believe it or not. Obviously a lot of people DO enjoy cooking, but in my circle of friends...

Maybe it's the eyesight thing though perhaps?

Garyi's probably right though - decent cooking kit = more fun. The cooker in our rented house is a total tip and only has 2 working rings, and an oven. Two of the rings and the grill are shot. Which is a good thing since we had to buy the George Foreman

As for giving up the naughties, I still occasionally enjoy a number but am getting increasingly fed up with it - too much agro and you DO feel crap the next day - regardless of what people say.

Smoking when having a beer in the pub is going to be the hardest vice for ME to give up.

Oh - anyone know a cheap online store for swimming trunks???

 

[garyi]

Mr Mental

Check out www.nisbets.co.uk

They have a good selection of kitchen kit and are one of the most trusted in the catering trade.

Something a little cheaper would be Victorinox knives but get the wood handled ones. They are a good every day knife