Last night I had the pleasure of watching a movie called Food, Inc (and here’s an IMDb link), plainly out of curiosity and without having heard of the film.
First off, I would encourage anyone who is the least bit concerned with what we put in our bodies, and who watches what they eat, to watch that film: especially if you live outside of America and your country is doing its best to be like America. (If you’re in the UK, like I am, too late.) It’s easy to think that the content only applies to America itself, but you can be sure that, either similar practices are being implemented in your country, or that your food is derived from American products.
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Be warned: this post is rather controversial. More controversial than (almost) anything I’ve written in a weblog to date. (Well, apart from that time I called out [name withheld] in an angry rant. Here’s hoping she’s been exposed for the [noun withheld] she really is.)
A while ago – I think it was the weekend before last – I had a rather interesting call from an Internet acquaintance. There were all kinds of weird things being thrown around, but at some point we got talking about people who “ought to be killed”.
After that phone call, I began to think…
Who would I kill, if I had the choice?
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I’ve been having some real trouble with keeping live plants in my aquarium. Even with the filtering turned to its maximum, fertiliser tabs being inserted, a shitload of substrate and gravel in the bottom, a number of bottom-dwellers and a replacement bulb (with a reflector!), I still have a lot of the plants turning brown or showing signs of dying.
(I don’t have much luck with non-aquarium plants either: I’ve tried my hand at growing cactuses from seed with no luck, and my crowning achievement was a chilli plant that lasted a few months, thankfully producing fruit.)
Having picked up a book on plants in the aquarium, one of the tips was to introduce algae-eating fish. I already had Amano shrimps and Albino/Peppered Catfish, but was immediately interested the Dwarf Suckermouth Catfish, or Otocinclus affinis.
There are two important issues with this fish that I can mention from first-hand experience.
The first issue is that I’ve found the Dwarf Suckermouth Catfish very hard to come by, here in London. I’ve only seen a couple of aquatic shops have them in stock.
It isn’t really that surprising, once I mention the second issue: whether it’s to do with the way they’re initially caught, or how they’re treated once they’re being sold, it’s rather difficult to keep these fish alive. Pretty much everywhere I’ve looked online beforehand has mentioned the mortality of Dwarf Suckermouth Catfish as a problem.
Unfortunately for me, out of the nine I’ve bought in total at least three of them have died. One has set a new record for the shortest lifespan: I got home to find it was DOA. (The previous record was set by another Dwarf Suckermouth, which died on Christmas Day having bought it only hours ago on Christmas Eve.)
I also seem to have difficulty feeding these fish: I haven’t seen them eating any of the food I’ve given them, even though there was plenty of algae to go around when I first introduced them. At the moment I’m using algae tablets, and more recently some small pieces of green vegetables. I’m very concerned that they’re not getting enough to eat; a healthy Dwarf Suckermouth should have a big belly.
If anyone has any tips on how to keep these fish, I’d be very interested.
It seems like quite a while ago when I was ranting and raving, generally pissed off that I wasn’t able to eat food. Even though it was predicted I’d be on the diet for a massive 105 days, I’m only looking forward to reaching the eight week milestone (56 days) in just two weeks.
These days I have a small routine going, where I don’t start working until I’ve had my fix of black coffee. As I’ve been waking up rather late recently, it helps keep me going. Sometimes it’s frustrating that I can’t put anything in to sweeten it, especially since my tub of stevia is always at home (and I haven’t gotten around to making a liquid solution).
The good news is that the ketosis taste is back in my mouth, which means I’m losing body fat. Unlike last week I can feel that I’ve lost some weight, although tonight will show if I have or not.
I’m also over the disappointment of Monday’s speed dating, particularly as I’ve used my free ticket to go to another event next Friday. It served as a reminder that shallow people are not only not worth the time, but they come in many different forms.
My eating preferences have definitely changed since the first few weeks: back then I craved foods that would only make me fatter, like pasta dishes and hot dogs, but now I could go for a salad or a plain cheese sandwich.
(I have been advised that salads with croutons are a bad idea, as the croutons can be fatty in a bad way. I remember vividly the time when I ordered a salad from one of my favourite haunts, and the whole thing was drenched in some kind of oil.)
Having said that, I am still keen on enjoying a Christmas dinner! I probably won’t indulge myself nearly as much, however.
As painful and miserable as this diet has been, the 32 lb loss so far has been worth it. No other diet could have done it for me as quickly.
40 days on the diet… even though I’ve lapsed several times. What an achievement.
I should add right now that on Monday night, after the interesting yet dismal speed dating event, I had some Chicken McNuggets from the McDonalds in Waterloo station. Though I was tempted to get the 9-piece box, I settled for just 6.
They were the tastiest nuggets I’ve had in a long time… actually the only nuggets I’ve had in a long time, and it was reassuring to know they were made with whole chicken breast. Makes me wonder what they used to use.
The nutritional values on the side of the box were very interesting. An entire box of six Chicken McNuggets apparently has 242 calories, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 12 grams of protein and I think a minimal amount of fat. It turns out that it’s healthier than LighterLife’s peanut bar! One of those will set you back around 360 calories, with 32 grams of carbohydrates.
Anyhow, I had practised eating each nugget very slowly, to aid with digestion. It was tough at times, as I found myself taking bigger bites, but it lasted quite a few stations on the way home.
And now on to day 40.
Recently I’ve been having trouble eating the food, not least because of its ingredients and the nasty taste (as well as the lumps in the milkshake). On the way to work, having woken up disturbingly late, I remember throwing up the first swig of strawberry milkshake. It was more diluted than I remember, and I had tried to take a serotone capsule with it.
I’d managed three foodpacks throughout the day, ending the day with a crispified Thai Chilli soup. Let me tell you, adding black pepper or tabasco sauce helps make the soups more palatable. I can only wait for the day when I can use tabasco sauce on something far tastier… like deadly kebab meat! 
I’d also got to thinking whether I would have to lose five stones through the diet, instead of just three. Besides getting to the point where I can’t really stomach the food anymore, it’s been suggested that the rest of the weight could be worked off at the gym. I’m not sure right now, but the important thing to me is always to lose those extra pounds.
It also dawned on me that, by next week, I should be under 16 stones. It would be the first time in seven years that I would be that weight.