Home Pieces

We've just moved house again — my 28th time. As I was doing the condition report today, making notes of the state of the property, and taking hundreds of photos of every little defect, I got to thinking what a strange way of viewing a home this is ... a close up, protective catalogue of faults.

So, I tried to make my 'condition photos' a bit more artistic this time.

When weight *does* matter

I read quite a lot of articles, blogs, and books about dieting, the science of weight gain, appetite, weight loss, health at higher weights, why diets fail, and so on. Secrets from the Eating Lab by Dr Traci Mann is the latest one (I highly recommend it). The Gluten Lie by Alan Levinovitz is also fantastic.

BUT.

Not one of these books or articles ever mentions the need to lose weight when you have structural problems with your hips / knees / legs / feet. It's not an issue of metabolism, or biochemistry, or social pressures to be thinner, or whether or not being fatter affects the development of different diseases, or feminism, or whether the process of dieting harms you, or if curvier ladies are more or less attractive, or anything like that.

It's the weight. Weighing more puts a lot more stress on your joints. Cos it's weight. Mass. Every step you take loads multiple times that weight through your joints. It's. The. Weight. Full stop.

If you have hip dysplasia, osteoarthritis in your hips or knees, other structural abnormalities, or even some types of foot pain — weighing less will be better for you. And if you have an artificial hip or knee, the same thing goes. Those babies don't last forever, especially if you've had joint replacement at a younger age, like me. And trust me, the longer you can avoid revision surgery (replacement of the prosthesis) the better. Revision surgery is no picnic, and is usually less successful.

Pelvis — illustration © Denise Sutherland

I always feel caught between a rock and a hard place on this one — it's clear that dieting isn't a good way to go, it's rarely sustainable, and over 90% of dieters regain their lost weight plus some. There really isn't a clearly good way to lose weight long term. I've tried a lot of things. I even did calorie counting for nearly a year some time ago. Yes, I lost weight, but I went a bit (more) insane in the process.  Never again. NEVER.

But I can't just go all body positive and 'accept myself at the weight I am' — I really need to lose weight to help the longevity of my hip prosthesis, avoid my next lot of hip surgery for as long as possible, mitigate the decline of my other dysplastic hip and crappy knees, and maybe even have less joint pain if I'm extra lucky.

Hip prosthesis — illustration © Denise Sutherland

And because of said hip and knee problems, as well as my autoimmune disease, running around exercising like mad isn't really possible either.

My strategy at the moment is sticking to the 5:2 intermittent fasting* (which I do find sustainable, even on the food intolerance diet I'm on) — I have lost about 7 kg over the last few years this way. Slowly. Hugely frustratingly slowly. Not even halfway there, more like a third ... wherever 'there' is. Fuck it.

I go for walks, and am about to get back in the pool (just for hydrotherapy at the moment, but hopefully I'll be able to work up to swimming). Exercise bike when my knee is cooperating (it isn't at the moment). Halving my mirtazapine dose (which I take for sleep) has helped reduce my appetite and cravings a bit more, too.

But, I really wish that all these great books about how dieting doesn't work, and how healthy you can be at any size, would at least mention the fact that sometimes you have to lose weight, because the weight itself is the problem. Some acknowledgement of the existence of this problem — which surely must affect millions of people — it's not like hip and knee osteoarthritis is uncommon — would be nice. Even if all they can say is 'Well, fucking sucks to be you, doesn't it? Ignore everything we've just said, and go on a diet. Forever.'

September 2016 update: I am finally having success! It's all a bit amazing. The low carb high fat regime (LCHF) combined with intermitted fasting is WORKING for me. After six months on this way of eating, I am down 13 kg (halfway to my goal), my fasting insulin is normal (I was heading towards type 2 diabetes), my triglycerides are normal, and I have less knee pain! No exercise required.

March 2019 update: I have now been on the ketogenic (very low carb) regime, with intermittent and extended fasting, for three years. Most days I just eat one meal, with a few snacks. I have lost nearly 25 kg, reaching my goal weight, my fatty liver disease is completely cured, I no longer have glaucoma (!), my fasting insulin has gone from 18 (too high) to 5 (really good), my cholesterol readings are all normal, and am not consumed with hunger. I have done all this with diet alone, and despite being menopausal. I will not be changing this regime!

If you wish to discover more, I highly recommend The Diet Doctor website, and these books:
The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet, Dr Michael Mosley
The Obesity Code, Dr Jason Fung
Why We Get Fat — and what to do about it, Gary Taubes
Fat Chance, Dr Robert Lustig
Good calories, bad calories, Gary Taubes
The Big Fat Surprise, by Nina Teicholz

When weight *does* matter

I read quite a lot of articles, blogs, and books about dieting, the science of weight gain, appetite, weight loss, health at higher weights, why diets fail, and so on. Secrets from the Eating Lab by Dr Traci Mann is the latest one (I highly recommend it). The Gluten Lie by Alan Levinovitz is also fantastic.

BUT.

Not one of these books or articles ever mentions the need to lose weight when you have structural problems with your hips / knees / legs / feet. It's not an issue of metabolism, or biochemistry, or social pressures to be thinner, or whether or not being fatter affects the development of different diseases, or feminism, or whether the process of dieting harms you, or if curvier ladies are more or less attractive, or anything like that.

It's the weight. Weighing more puts a lot more stress on your joints. Cos it's weight. Mass. Every step you take loads multiple times that weight through your joints. It's. The. Weight. Full stop.

If you have hip dysplasia, osteoarthritis in your hips or knees, other structural abnormalities, or even some types of foot pain — weighing less will be better for you. And if you have an artificial hip or knee, the same thing goes. Those babies don't last forever, especially if you've had joint replacement at a younger age, like me. And trust me, the longer you can avoid revision surgery (replacement of the prosthesis) the better. Revision surgery is no picnic, and is usually less successful.

Pelvis — illustration © Denise Sutherland

I always feel caught between a rock and a hard place on this one — it's clear that dieting isn't a good way to go, it's rarely sustainable, and over 90% of dieters regain their lost weight plus some. [ETA: the standard advice for low calorie / low fat diets doesn't work.] There really isn't a clearly good way to lose weight long term. [ETA, yes there is — low carb high fat WORKS. OMFG. See more below!] I've tried a lot of things. I even did calorie counting for nearly a year some time ago. Yes, I lost weight, but I went a bit (more) insane in the process.  Never again. NEVER.

But I can't just go all body positive and 'accept myself at the weight I am' — I really need to lose weight to help the longevity of my hip prosthesis, avoid my next lot of hip surgery for as long as possible, mitigate the decline of my other dysplastic hip and crappy knees, and maybe even have less joint pain if I'm extra lucky.

Hip prosthesis — illustration © Denise Sutherland

And because of said hip and knee problems, as well as my autoimmune disease, running around exercising like mad isn't really possible either.

My strategy at the moment is sticking to the 5:2 intermittent fasting (which I do find sustainable) — I have lost about 7 kg over the last few years this way. Slowly. Hugely frustratingly slowly. Not even halfway there, more like a third ... wherever 'there' is. Fuck it.

I go for walks, and am about to get back in the pool (just for hydrotherapy at the moment, but hopefully I'll be able to work up to swimming). Exercise bike when my knee is cooperating (it isn't at the moment).

But, I really wish that all these great books about how dieting doesn't work, and how healthy you can be at any size, would at least mention the fact that sometimes you have to lose weight, because the weight itself is the problem. Some acknowledgement of the existence of this problem — which surely must affect millions of people — it's not like hip and knee osteoarthritis is uncommon — would be nice. Even if all they can say is 'Well, fucking sucks to be you, doesn't it? Ignore everything we've just said, and starve yourself. Forever.'

September 2016 update: I am finally having success! It's all a bit amazing. The low carb high fat regime (LCHF) combined with intermitted fasting is WORKING for me. After six months on this way of eating, I am down 13 kg (halfway to my goal), my fasting insulin is normal (I was heading towards type 2 diabetes), my triglycerides are normal, and I have less knee pain! No exercise required.

If you wish to discover more, I highly recommend The Diet Doctor website, and these books:
The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet, Dr Michael Mosley
The Obesity Code, Dr Jason Fung
Why We Get Fat — and what to do about it, Gary Taubes
Fat Chance, Dr Robert Lustig
Good Calories, Bad Calories, Gary Taubes

Too. Much. Volunteering.

It seems I stopped blogging last October. I'm not apologising.

Last October I was elected as president of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Indexer's ACT Region branch, which also put me back on the national Council. And on the committee for organising the joint IPEd (editors) & ANZSI national conference. I'm also the graphic designer and web master for the conference. And in November I became half of ANZSI's web redevelopment team. And also became the ANZSI Newsletter Editor, as the previous one resigned suddenly.

So heaps of stuff has gone by the wayside as a result, including work on my next book, and blogging, just for starters. And a social life. And my self-care health routines. And other important stuff.

The liberating news is that most of these commitments are about to end. The glorious new website is about to launch (should be live in a few days), after roughly 800 hours of work by me and my wonderful colleague Ali — we've enjoyed the work, but it's been a lot of work.

The write | edit | index conference is happening next week. That one short sentence in no way sums up the amount of time, effort and energy the next week and this event are about to take! I'm doing photography, blogging and tweeting during the conference (as part of the small social media team), as well as giving a speech, chairing one session, and I'm involved in presenting two sessions. It'll be great, I'm sure of it, but also extremely exhausting. Not entirely sure I can cope.

At the conference we're voting to abolish local branches (dismantling the local committee structures, to make the groups easier to run), in a major restructuring of the whole of ANZSI. (ETA: it passed!)

So by the end of next week, both the website and conference will be done — two huge projects. And in another 59 days hopefully (yes, I'm counting), I won't be on Council, or local branch president any more. With any luck, there's only one more local branch committee meeting, and one more Council meeting to go.

Which just leaves the newsletter editor's role, which I can cope with. And my new maximum number of committees? ZERO.

Sweet & Sour Chicken

This tasty recipe is failsafe (low 'food chemical') and gluten-free. I hope you enjoy it!

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 450g chicken breast fillet, sliced thinly
• 2 Tbspns cornflour*
• canola oil for frying

• 1 choko, peeled and thinly sliced
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 100g sliced bamboo shoots (tinned)
• 1 cup red cabbage, shredded
• 1 clove garlic, minced or crushed
• 1 cup tinned pears, diced (reserve syrup from the tin)

Sauce:

• ½ cup pear syrup (from tinned pears)
• ½ cup water
• 2 Tbspns brown sugar
• 1 Tbspn gin
• 2 tspns cornflour
• 1 ½ tspns citric acid
• 1 ¼ tspns salt

Method

1. Mix the sliced chicken with the cornflour. Heat a tablespoon or two of canola oil in a large frypan or wok. Fry half the chicken, until golden brown. Remove from pan, and set aside. Fry the second batch of chicken in the same way, adding a little extra oil if necessary, and set aside.

2. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl or measuring jug. Put the cornflour into the jug first, and just add a little water, whisking constantly. When this paste is smooth, add the remaining water, whisk, and then add the other ingredients.

3. Heat a little canola oil in the pan. Stir-fry the choko, spring onions, bamboo shoots and cabbage for a few minutes. Add the garlic, and fry for another 10-20 seconds. Return the chicken to the pan, stir well.

4. Add the sauce, and diced pears to the pan. Stir well, until sauce has boiled and thickened.

5. Serve with rice or rice noodles.

*cornflour = white cornstarch, not cornmeal or polenta

Printable recipe

New Garage Doom

Oh god, it's the garage AGAIN ... as usually happens when we move house, a bunch of stuff just gets dumped in the garage by everyone who's helping us move, and ourselves, as the move gets into the awful ending hours. And there it sits. And sits. And SITS. The question "Where is the ...." invariably gets answered with those dread words "In a box in the garage somewhere".

When we moved in March, we only unpacked the things we really wanted out, which means a fair few boxes are still unpacked. Upstairs is glorious — minimalist, sunny, uncluttered, and a delight to live in, I gotta say. Easy to keep clean, cos it's not full of stuff.

But. The minimalist in me is desperate to clear out the garage too. And we need to. House inspection coming up, and I'm just generally sick of the mess. So it's back to hours of cleaning, tidying, sorting, and culling. And to Freecycle, and Salvos, and recycling.

Some progress has been made —

The before photo is on top, and the 'after some hours of work' photo is underneath. No, I wasn't sure, either.

A major challenge, as ever, is that a lot of this isn't mine — it's my son's glassmaking gear as he's not allowed to use the wonderful tiled workshop area in the garage for his glasswork because the owners are annoyingly paranoid and ignored our reasons why it was safe  refused permission.

So that's all a mess, and unused (he is setting up a studio in an old caravan thingy out the front, but it's taking a while). And a lot of it is son's and dotter's shtuff. Endless shtuff. Or hubby's shtuff. 

Getting there  s l o w l y. And who knows, maybe one day we can actually *gasp* park the car in the garage.

Alabama Chanin

A few months ago I stumbled fortuitously across Alabama Chanin — an American couture house that not only hand sews all its garments for sale, and pays its sewers a living wage, but also makes all its patterns, stencils and techniques open source. Swoon.

I haven't been this excited and inspired by hand crafts for a long time. I love their philosophy, and their designs.

I bought their third book, Alabama Studio Sewing + Design, and practically hyperventilated when it arrived.

This is the 'baby doll tunic' that I made, using the patterns from this book. I started sewing on 22 July, and finished the garment on 14 August, so it only took about three weeks. I did made some adjustments to the fit after this, but that was the work of an hour, at most.

Something about sewing this entirely by hand appeals to me so much. It's portable. It's simple. It's careful, slow work, akin to knitting. You can do it on the train, or while watching TV — no need to be plugged in to a sewing machine to work. You don't get things caught up or stitched wrongly, because you're making one stitch at a time, and you can see both sides of the work easily, not like with machine sewing.

I love my slightly erratic stitches, the look of them, the fact that they're not perfect. The seams that show on the outside. I love learning hand stitches and techniques that have been used through the ages, like stretch stitches, and how to do a flat felled seam.

So yeah. Totally. In. Love. Little bit obsessed.



The decoration on the bodice is reverse appliqué — the black top layer is cut away, after the stitching is done, to reveal the grey lower layer. I used the Alabama Chanin stencil designs as a starting point, and just drew the design on in chalk, as I went.

 The inside of the bodice piece. I used upholstery thread, waxed, for all my sewing on this garment — strongest thread I could find.

Both the bodice pieces done. Each piece is so small and portable — a bodice half, plus thread, needle, scissors, and beeswax (great for handsewing thread) — into a smaller bag than a knitting project.

Starting on construction — doing the shoulder seams here.

The outside of the shoulder seams.

 Binding for the armhole and neck, with a great stretch stitch.

Changed to black edging for the front of the bodice.

Sewing the gathered skirt on took a loooong time. This vertical stitch is a stretch stitch.

After I was finished, I decided to cut some out of the lower back, and stitched a dart in there, and I needed to shorten the straps too. Very happy with the result!

Failsafe Choko Salad

I must admit I was surprised to discover that chokos are rather good raw. Whole vistas have opened up in front of me! Here is a simple failsafe salad I made last night. It was very tasty.

Ingredients

1 small choko
¼ cup bamboo shoots
1 spring onion

Dressing

1 part canola oil (or other failsafe oil)
1 part citric lemon juice (4 Tbspn water, 1 tspn sugar, ¾ tspn citric acid)
salt to taste
maple syrup to taste

Shake together in a small jar.

Method

Peel and thinly slice the choko into matchsticks.
Slice up the bamboo shoots too (just roughly).
Finely slice the spring onion.
Combine in a bowl, and toss with the dressing.

And you're done!

Printable Recipe

Failsafe Sago & Potato Fritters

This is my adaptation of the Indian saboodana wada recipe from Mr Todiwala's Bombay cookbook. These are sago and potato fritters, with peanuts, cumin seeds, coriander leaves, lime, and chilli. Naturally those ingredients are out on a failsafe diet, so I created this adaptation.

The fritters have a great texture, sort of glutinous and chewy, with a crispy shell. Very moreish!

Failsafe Sago & Potato Fritters (saboodana wada)

Fritters with pear ketchup

Ingredients

200g preservative-free sago pearls* (can be large or small)
2 large potatoes
3 Tbspn raw cashews
1 tspn poppy seeds
¼ tspn citric acid (or to taste)
salt, to taste
1 Tbspn spring onion tops or parsley, chopped finely
rice flour
failsafe oil (eg canola) for deep frying

Method

1) Rinse the sago, put in a bowl, and add enough water to cover the sago. Leave for at least several hours (if using small sago) or overnight. I used small sago, and left it overnight, and that worked well.

Sago after soaking overnight

If there's any water left over after soaking the sago, drain it well in a sieve. Let sit in the sieve for 15-20 minutes to get rid of any excess moisture.

2) Peel, boil, and mash the potatoes.

3) Slightly dry-roast the cashews in a small pan, stirring constantly. Then chop them finely (but not too finely). You can use a small food mill or processor for this step, but don't let the cashews become a paste.

Mashed potato mixed with the sago

4) Mix all ingredients except the rice flour in a bowl. If the mixture is too wet, add a little rice flour.

I actually did this in two stages. I mixed the sago, potato, cashews and salt together first. Then I set aside some of this mixture for myself, and added some poppy seeds, citric acid, and spring onions. I made the remainder of the mixture as per the original recipe (adding 1 tspn cumin seeds, 2 diced green chillies and 1 tspn lime juice), for the rest of my family who aren't eating failsafe.

5) Dust your hands with rice flour, and shape the mixture into small patties, a bit smaller than the palm of your hand. Keep dusting your hands with the rice flour as you go. Place the patties on baking paper on plates, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before cooking.

Fritters ready for the fridge

6) Heat the oil in a deep saucepan to 180ºC (either use a thermometer, or test a cube of dry bread in the oil - when it browns in 30 seconds, that's 180ºC). Put a colander over a plate, to drain the patties in (they may stick to kitchen paper).

7) Fry a couple of patties at a time, until golden brown. Turn to get even cooking. Drain in the colander.

They are really good served warm, with pear ketchup, or any other favourite failsafe relish or dip.

* Sago from the supermarket generally has preservative in it, which is driven off by cooking — but in this recipe, the sago is soaked but not boiled, so if you're sensitive to preservatives, look for preservative-free sago or tapioca pearls. Sources include Asian grocers, Natures Works shops and Bobs Red Mill (tapioca pearls).

Printable recipe

Failsafe Sautéed Chokos

I'm trying the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's "failsafe" elimination diet again (it seems to help me with brain fog and some other CFS symptoms, and I'm desperate enough), sigh. It is a seriously un-fun thing to do, especially for a tea drinker who loves cooking with a lot of herbs, spices, and chilli.

The list of allowed vegies during the elimination diet phase is very limited, and includes some of the few vegies that I'm not keen on (chokos and Brussels sprouts). More sighs.

Last night I read up in Stephanie Alexander's Cook's Companion about chokos:

"Every culture treats the choko differently but no one claims it has a very distinctive flavour. ... The choko's indeterminate character (or blandness, if one is being unkind) explains why it is often combined with spicy flavours." 

Oh, I'm being unkind. Bland, and slimy. Take that, chokos.

I opted for the plainest recipe she offers, seeing as spicy flavours are out. This was Choko sautéed western-style. I made a few ingredient changes, and it turned out quite well, I must say. A good crisp texture, with a lovely buttery and lemony taste. Even Hubby, who doesn't like chokos either, said it was the best choko he'd ever had (from a lifetime of disappointments).

Failsafe Sautéed Chokos

Serves 2 as a side dish
115 cal per serve

Ingredients

• 1 medium choko
• 30 g butter
• citric acid
• salt

Method

1. Peel and slice the choko. 
2. Heat in fry pan with the butter, and sauté until the choko is lightly brown, and just tender. This will probably take about 4-5 minutes. You don't want it to go completely soft. 
3. Lightly sprinkle over citric acid (to taste) for a lemony hit, and salt to taste. Serve hot.
4. Optional: sprinkle with a little parsley at the end.

Printable Recipe