Thursday 20 October 2005

Remember me?

I know I keep saying ‘normal service will be resumed shortly’ but Pooch tells me it is definitely next Thurs. I am so dispirited though because just to compound my misery the bloody camera cable has now legged it to parts unknown so even if I bring the cemra to work I can’t get the photos from ally pally off it to put up. WOE IS FRICKING ME etc etc

So instead of talking about how cool knitting is I am going into an aside – what you might call a

Health Warning

Calling all people who believe what nutritionists say…Carob bars taste worse than anything you can imagine. No, Mr whatever, they do not taste like chocolate. They are gross, disgusting, inedible, manky, horrible, abhorrent, abominable, appalling, awful, beastly, detestable, disagreeable, dreadful, execrable, frightful, ghastly, grim, grisly, gruesome, heinous, hideous, horrendous, horrid, loathsome, lousy, lurid, nasty, obnoxious, offensive, repellent, repulsive, revolting, scandalous, shocking, terrible, terrifying, ungodly, unholy, unkind (see dictionary.com for more suitable alternatives).And they aren’t even cheap. I got mine on ebay as no health shop had them and they were about £1.20 each. Uuuuuurrgghhhhh. Yuk.

I have decided to get quite into hats – knitted or crocheted naturally. And so have become very fond of this website. Number 7 particularly takes my fancy. I think it is because it looks mitred and all things mitred are attracting me at the moment.
OMG do you know what I’ve forgotten to say….SkipNorth is live and waiting for you. Plus there’s an ad going into SlipKnot so if you are hoping to come along book quick or I am afraid you might miss it. It’s going to be A*W*E*S*O*M*E though I say so myself!
My poor secret pal is neglected in both directions. I haven't been bigging up the person spoling me half as much as they deserve and I haven't even managed to post my first parcel off to my actual pal yet. But getting to the first person first - secret pal I love you. You know that book about dyeing (with an 'e')? I am on a second reading as I intend to put the kemtex acid dyes I bought at AP to good use this weekend. I have red, yellow and blue so am thinking of some sort of red/blue mix as I always seem to do red/yellow. I have the lovely wool my sp gave me too and...you know this mitred thing? Well I've got an idea for a felted mitred bag. Yeah baby. I'd say I'll put a photo up to let you know how it goes but I don't want to make empty promises.

4 comments:

PURLPOWER said...

Thanks for the hat pattern link. I'm always into hats. I love 'em. Promise that you will post some pics of what you bought at Ally Pally, pretty please!

NikolaAnne said...

Yep, Carob is horrid. I don't mind the taste so much, but it makes me fall stone cold asleep within 10 minutes of eating it!

Ok, Chocolate. It is not the Cocoa that is bad for you, as it contains anti-oxidents, and cocoa butter is one of the most heart-healthy fats. It also contains Theobromine and Phenylethylamine, two feel-good chemicals that your brain makes during sex. (So, go get it on with Pooch! ;-) that will certainly help!)

The other thing you have to remember with Cocoa is that it contains Caffeine. This is a Serotonin Stimulant.

Sugar makes your brain release Serotonin and Beta-endorphins, feel-good chemicals, and it is also a Sedative, leaving you feeling "all fluffy" until the Sugar-High is replaced by an Insulin caused Sugar-crash. Then you feel even worse, and effectively self-medicate with Sugar again to get back to the feeling good part.

And when you are using Chocoalte as that self-medication, the Sugar combines with the other feel-goods, to give you a very temporary but very powerful feeling of well being. I'm sure you can see why Chocolate has such powerful hold over people...

What you then haev to remember is that Serotonin depletion is the "brain-chemical cause" of depression.

So, if your diet is making your brain release shed-loads of Serotonin, and your sugar intake is preventing Tryptophan (The amino acid required for Serotonin production) from crossing the Blood/brian barrier, and you are possibly not eating sufficient tryptophan-rich foods (Such as Cheese, Pork and Turkey) to give your brain the building blocks to make more, you can see how this is a recipe for trouble.

I'm no doctor, but often at the root of "brain-cause" depression is Hypoglycemia, and quite frankly, from what I know of you, I think you a self-medicating Reactive- hypoglycemic(as am I when I am not eating correctly!).

We need to talk about sweetness index. Cos, to break your addiction, you are either going to have to go cold-turkey, or you are going to have to learn to like things that are less and less sweet until you can stop eating it all together.

Did you know that Sugar and Alcohol are related molecules, they often tell a recovering Alcoholics to eat sweets to get over their cravings. (Which as an aside, it universally why Recovering Alchies get fat)

This has gone on long enough, but we seriously need to talk at the next opportunity!

*BIG HUGS!*

Woolly Wormhead said...

Wow Nikki, thanks for the lesson! I was gonna comment on hats, but will firstly say that I'm not into chocolate at all.. no sweet-tooth here. But I did use to like the odd drop of alcohol - still do - but have virtually cut it out due to it affecting my depression and not agreeing with the meds. Do feel loads better for it, and boy do I notice the effects when I do have a drink.

Anyway, the hats... I'm a woolly hat queen, and I was recommended the Yahoo group 'If The Hat Fits' - it's pretty cool with loads of links to patterns and info. Mostly knitted, crocheted, felted and stitched hats. Spot on ;)

KarenS said...

Hear, hear!! Carob is VILE stuff!!
If you are SERIOUSLY into hats, have a look at: http://www.anacam.com/hats/
and be amazed, LOL.