StringJunky

Anyone any idea what I definitely shouldn't eat? I'm not doing this yet; just looking at the territory atm. Any reading material would be good if anyone knows of any

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Great quality and performance.

Interesting. Cheers.

Cold turkey. That's the way I feel is right for me but I just wanted something to level out the mental stress and focus on habit changing. It was an interesting experience yesterday, not smoking. I woke up OK at 6am and had a coffee. After sitting, for three or four times picking up my coffee, I reached on the table for my non-existent rollups; my arm started to reach out before I'd even consciously thought about picking up my tobacco! I was a bit wobbly late morning and thinking about smoking so I decided to do some grass mowing. The feeling soon passed, with a few more following but I knew it was just a short phase. After that, I sailed through the day and slept OK. I woke up and smoked this morning. I'm glad I did it because I know what's coming and that the cravings are only temporary. I feel stronger for the experience in preparation for Monday. The pills seem to be doing the job I want. Even though the desire was strong, my will beat it and it wasn't that hard to do. I experienced a level of stress that was quite manageable.

That's interesting. I'll explore that. From what I've read, so far, is that 5.8 is high but not high enough to warrant medical attention. This seems to be borne out by the fact that neither of my two doctors ( Gastroenterologist and GP) have said anything about it after I was tested. My blood pressure is 120/60, so, I don't want that messing up by meds and hypertension runs in most of my family.

Is there a direct correlation between how much fat you are carrying and your cholesterol levels? My weight for many years was 65Kg with a total cholesterol of 2.7. Two years later after interferon treatment I went up to 86Kg and total cholesterol of 8. I am now 76Kg with a cholesterol score of 5.8. Is it possible to get your cholesterol level down without losing weight? I am on the top end of my optimal BMI. Before that I was on the lower end of the optimal range. I want to stay where I am but get my cholesterol down to 4.0 or below.

Egg meets sperm; that's what happens without any intervention. You each contribute half of the genes. Edit: Sorry, wrong answer. I understand now

Yes, that's true. The OP is likely presenting a question that assumes it is a dichotomy when it isn't.

In a culture medium, the pathogens are in an environment that facilitates reproduction; much more so than on the hands.When you eat bacteria there are several mechanisms for dealing with them and keeping their numbers in check; in a culture medium they can run rampant and in that environment there may be pathogens that are dangerous in large numbers, but there are not so many on the hands where the sample was taken from..

Jesus Beams

I already drink de-caffeinated coffee and I'm over the withdrawals on that; the headaches are quite something coming off that. I no longer use bags of granulated sugar because the amount I was using was causing my moods to swing wildly. I buy the odd bag of sweet probably every few days. I generally watch the sugar side of things now. I will have to be even more savage on that sometime soon because treatment gave me high cholesterol; that's another project.

I don't drink alcohol very often but when I do I like to go OTT; bottle of wine = leathered. I shall definitely avoid alcohol until I've cracked it; too risky.

On my one day test: I think I need to give up coffee and tea until I've surmounted my habit; sat here writing this, the coffee is telling me I need a cig to go with it. There's something about the taste of the coffee without smoke mixed with it that I'm obviously missing. It's obviously a very strong trigger and I don't need the mental hassle from that bugging me. Several times this morning, my right hand spontaneously twitched to reach out for a non-existent cig; gives me an indication of just how habituated I am.

Thanks Cool, I hope he butts in.

... yet. People are only good at something because they've practised it for long enough to be good at it. Pick what you want to do, then learn and practice. It takes a good few years to be expert at something.

They probably had more available and diverse resources that allowed large communities to settle whereas Africans were probably more nomadic and in smaller groups with fewer resources. The cooler north was probably also more agreeable to experimental agricutural techniques. to support larger populations; with more people in close proximity there is an increase in the probability of new ideas occurring from the denser and larger groups.

We'll see.

I'm building up my distance. I'm doing 2x16km a day at the moment. It was not so long ago that I could barely walk 500m, during interferon and ribavirin therapy, to the shop and back, so I'm pretty happy with my progress atm. With the grips being ovalish, I can twist them easily, on demand, to suit each hand as I ride along. Five quid from Halfords; contrast that with 60 quid for the Ergons and they didn't suit me. That's some serious bilateral asymmetry going on there but I applaud you on not caring about image and putting personal ergonomics first; this is my approach to my bike. When you think about it; we are not, typically, bilaterally symmetrical, so it makes sense to tailor the bike to that, if comfort and 'fit' matters. Do you know if there is worthwhile difference between budget front suspensions and more expensive ones, in terms of handling the range of road surfaces; not off-road? I'm thinking of old B and single-track back roads that have had lots of potholes filled, making the experience quite jarring through the hands sometimes.

Swapping out the straight bar and Ergon grips for a riser bar and ovoid cross-section grips has done the trick and providing I occasionally shift position I suffer no numbness now on a 16km ride.

Yes, I suppose my approach is somewhat unconventional but, perhaps, that's the Zyban influencing me. I don't feel stressed at all thinking about it. Monday to quit is written in stone but I thought I'd just do a day; a bit like going for gentle jog before the big race. Really, I could stop now; I'm just giving the Zyban a few more days to build up and also I want to stick with the program.

Going to do a warm up and not smoke for 24 hours starting tomorrow morning. It should give me a little taste of what it's going to be like with these tablets before Monday.

That won't work for me. I'm quite immune to embarrassment. I've embarrassed myself too many times already. Yes, this needs to be my mantra.

Inspired by your words, I shall think of concrete metaphors that will reinforce the notion that relapse is not an option. And I shall make a list of benefits for me to read when I'm wobbly.

No, I don't fall asleep with a fag in my hand: too dangerous. I smoke in my living room but, on my advisor's suggestion I should only smoke outside for the rest of time that's left to help remove an association. One thing I have said to myself is that from Monday morning I am an ex-smoker and get that label fixed firmly in my head. I will be seeing my advisor the same morning and he'll be taking a carbon monoxide reading from me. It was 16 last week. Hopefully, putting as many support resources as I can muster in place will get me to the 'other side', like I did with recreational drug using. Definitely need a full nicotine dose before sleeping; I think this time is where my demons will come out in full force and that's why I've asked the question.