It started with the worst excuse I think I've ever come up with. I was eating lunch with the Head Start kids, which the teachers do, because we're modeling eating habits and food choices, and there were sun butter and jelly sandwiches. i KNEW it was a bad idea, because I'd read the label. But I thought, "well, in a federally funded lunch program, all the food has to pass certain guidelines! So it must be okay!" (remember "ketchup is a vegetable"?? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketchup\_as\_a\_vegetable) THEN, I was shopping at Fred Meyer's, and there was an open container of free chocolate chip cookies, which is basically the worst case scenario for me. You all can probably guess what happened next. AUGH!!
I think I've pinpointed what happened, though. It all started with "oh, I can have just this little bit. " Because it REALLY started on Sunday with eating half of a rhubarb muffin that wasn't very sweet. I then thought "that was okay! That didn't count!" But once I start thinking that way, it's the beginning of the slippery slide. Tomorrow, I'm going to go back to one day at a time!! Just for today, I will not eat or drink any sugar or added sweeteners!

I love dark chocolate, but I bought 85% cocoa bars and realized it's wayyy too bitter for my tastes, I prefer sweeter chocolate. So now I have 3 bars to use up and was thinking of making a pots de creme (although I'm open to other suggestions on what to make). The recipe I'm using calls for 70% cocoa bars, so I was wondering if I'd have to change how much sugar and heavy cream I use to account for the darker chocolate?

So it feels like every woman I know has this or has gone through this, but I am having really bad early satiety, distention, pain/pressure mostly under my left ribs, reflux, and frequent burping. My doctor put me on omeprazole which is helping with the reflux and is supposed to help with the bloating too but it isn't really. And now I'm just really curious about why I'm having upper GI bloating at all and why a PPI would help. I guess the distention is from gas because I'm burping so much but where is it coming from? I'm not having gas pains or passing gas in my lower GI, or having diarrhea or constipation. I don't think I'm swallowing extra air. Why will lowering the stomach acid decrease the gas in my stomach? Is the early satiety because there's gas taking up space in my stomach?
I was trying low fodmap for this for a while and it didn't seem to help much, but I also was having trouble adhering to it perfectly. But I am also wondering if it even makes sense because the idea is that fermentable sugars cause bacteria in the gut to produce a bunch of gas and lead to digestive problems - but in that case wouldn't I also expect lower GI symptoms? Does that logic make sense, or could there be something going on in the lower GI that is affecting my upper GI?
Lastly, this all started around the time I started an SSRI and has gotten progressively worse over the last few months. This led me to think that the dyspepsia could possibly be a side effect. My doctor is telling me that SSRIs don't cause dyspepsia and I'm just having anxiety and told me to double my omeprazole and my SSRI. My gut is telling me (no pun intended) this is not good advice and I don't like that she is not considering any other possibilities. I'm also extremely drug sensitive and it was incredibly hard for me to adjust to the current dose I'm on, and I'm already having other bothersome side effects to the SSRI. I also don't really get why the dyspepsia would keep getting worse as the anxiety has significantly improved. I tried to ask for some nutritional advice because I'm worried I'm not getting enough calories, let alone fiber, protein, etc. and was told "maybe this is a fun excuse to eat some calorie dense foods." So I honestly have no idea what to do right now. I feel like this isn't the right forum to ask for advice about what meds to take, but like, I'm not being crazy right? My doctor should be giving me better guidance than this right? And does anyone have advice on what I should be eating so that I can keep functioning at work, etc.?

I have been struggling with meal prepping at the weekend, and because I work long hours during the week and end up eating ready meals or rubbish during the weekdays. But I have found this amazing Indian Curry Paste called Sobhna's in Woolworths and Farro Fresh stores that I can make so many different meals during the weekdays. It has everything I need to make a great curry, or add warmth to lasagne, soups and casseroles. I can literally have curry and rice on the table in 15 minutes. It's great. I needed to just share this with everyone because they have recipes on the website and you can get their E-Books with recipes for FREE using the codes from their jars. And they put up new recipes on their website Sobhna's and almost everyday a new recipe idea on their Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok pages as well as hundreds of recipes on their YouTube channel.
I even use this paste to make coronation chicken, egg salad and potato salad. And it makes about 3-4 family meals per jar! I love the hot one but they do mild and medium too. It makes everything from Butter Chicken to Korma, Dal and so much more. I just had to share it with you - plus it's low sodium, keto and gluten free!
What are your favourite sauces or products that help you make meals quickly and easily during the weekday?

I have been struggling with meal prepping at the weekend, and because I work long hours during the week and end up eating ready meals or rubbish during the weekdays. But I have found this amazing Indian Curry Paste called Sobhna's in Woolworths and Farro Fresh stores that I can make so many different meals during the weekdays. It has everything I need to make a great curry, or add warmth to lasagne, soups and casseroles. I can literally have curry and rice on the table in 15 minutes. It's great. I needed to just share this with everyone because they have recipes on the website and you can get their E-Books with recipes for FREE using the codes from their jars. And they put up new recipes on their website Sobhna's and almost everyday a new recipe idea on their Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok pages as well as hundreds of recipes on their YouTube channel.
I even use this paste to make coronation chicken, egg salad and potato salad. And it makes about 3-4 family meals per jar! I love the hot one but they do mild and medium too. It makes everything from Butter Chicken to Korma, Dal and so much more. I just had to share it with you - plus it's low sodium, keto and gluten free!
What are your favourite sauces or products that help you make meals quickly and easily during the weekday?

I have been struggling with meal prepping at the weekend, and because I work long hours during the week and end up eating ready meals or rubbish during the weekdays. But I have found this amazing Indian Curry Paste called Sobhna's in Woolworths and Farro Fresh stores that I can make so many different meals during the weekdays. It has everything I need to make a great curry, or add warmth to lasagne, soups and casseroles. I can literally have curry and rice on the table in 15 minutes. It's great. I needed to just share this with everyone because they have recipes on the website and you can get their E-Books with recipes for FREE using the codes from their jars. And they put up new recipes on their website Sobhna's and almost everyday a new recipe idea on their Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok pages as well as hundreds of recipes on their YouTube channel.
I even use this paste to make coronation chicken, egg salad and potato salad. And it makes about 3-4 family meals per jar! I love the hot one but they do mild and medium too. It makes everything from Butter Chicken to Korma, Dal and so much more. I just had to share it with you - plus it's low sodium, keto and gluten free!
What are your favourite sauces or products that help you make meals quickly and easily during the weekday?

Hi all,
Looking for a recipe for a long and slow cook this weekend. Thinking brisket as it’s been a month or two since my last and I’ve done ribs, pork butt and chicken since.
Anyone have a killer brisket recipe for suggestions for a different low and slow?
Looking forward to cracking a few beer!

I think the flair is correct? Hopefully?
I am full on in recovery and doing my best to eat recently. Because of the holidays, we have gone out to eat a LOT, and that means a LOT of eating. It actually helped me develop my appetite again, since, the more I eat, the hungrier I am. It actually has always been like that.
But I feel like I'm not recovering fast enough. Or correctly? Or maybe I'm not recovering at all, just eating more? I try to eat on my maintenance calories, because any kind of weight gain would cause me to panic and then freak out and relapse.
Other than that, the fatigueee is killing me. I am too tired to stand up sometimes. So many people with EDs have not only the energy to move and socialize, but even workout, both before and during their recovery. I haven't heard of a single person here who is as tired as I have been, which makes me feel sick and lazy and invalid. God do I miss exercising freely.
I have started to get dizzy, too. Yesterday I was extremely dizzy and turns out I have low blood pressure now. Not sure what that means for me. I have been thinking it might be the amount of junk food I've been eating, or is it just an ED thought?
Does that mean I should be eating more? Do all of these symptoms mean I should keep going or am I just unhealthy now? Should I put on weight? Should I lose more weight? (Keep in mind I am at healthy bmi, albeit the far lower end of it) What does this mean?? I am very unsure and confused but it sure makes me feel so invalid and undeserving.
I would really appreciate some advice. Should I keep going amd it will get better, or should I be doing something else? God I feel so lazy.

Hi! I randomly got this sort of scent stuck in my head as one I wanted to try and I wanted to ask if anyone knew a fragrance that smells like chocolate chip cookies as a top note, and almond and espresso as lower notes. That would be great! :)

I’m in need of a good mole recipe. I would love something with a mild spice and a bit of sweet. I know mole can be done with so many combos of chilis, fruits, and chocolates. If you have a recipe with a good balance I’d love to try it out!

Its confusing to me if he does or does not still eat 1 oz of choicolate per day.. My gut is saying NO he does not any longer... does anyone know?
I carefully reviewed his protocol site and its a bit fuzzy to me if he does or does not STILL use it. again my gut feeling is saying he does NOT, he just uses cocoa now and took chocolate out.
https://protocol.bryanjohnson.com/

near the supplements section

"Step 2: My Blueprint Supplement Stack (Jan 2024)"

In that step 2 section I DONT see chocolate on this list any more, I do see "High polyphenol cocoa 6 g" in the OTHER section
in the "contents" section. ( near the top of the page)
I still do see chocolate and link to Santabarbara chocolate near the top of the page
but I DONT see it in his total calories section:
Daily Calories - 2250

• Nutty Pudding - 433
• Pea Protein - 260
• Super Veggie - 379
• Third meal - 500
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil - 360 (3 Tbsp/day)
• Cocoa 15
• Nut Butter, Avocado, a healthy bar - 160
• Fermented foods - 20

Seeking help :> Thanks.

Hey there! I just wanted to weigh in with my personal experience taking wellbutrin for 2 years to manage depression, for anyone else out there who may find this helpful.
Before going into details, I want to emphasize that for managing my depression, wellbutrin was absolutely incredible and saved me from a really dark and heavy period in my life. Further, while stomach issues with wellbutrin are not uncommon, I believe my reaction was likely exceptionally severe (so I don't want to fearmonger).
The Good:
Wellbutrin was a huge help for me. I was on 150 mg for ~5 months and then 300 mg for ~20 months. It helped my depression a lot (though not my anxiety). I noticed on 150 mg my mood was quite unpredictable in a way that was really uncomfortable for me, but going up to 300 mg leveled things out.
The Ugly:
How it Started
While I was on wellbutrin, especially after going up to 300 mg, I slowly started to develop stomach issues. I had struggled with IBS-like symptoms on-and-off for a long time, but after about 3 months on wellbutrin it started to get much worse, and within 1 year of being on 300 mg it became horrifically unmanageable.
Stomach Pain & Diet
I lost over 10 pounds within a month last summer and, for context, I am already someone who has been "underweight" my whole life. I lost the weight really rapidly, none of my clothes fit, and I had no energy. I would take my wellbutrin in the morning (as is generally advised) and by around 2 pm would start to feel really bloated, and it would just get worse and worse until the evening, to the point where I could never eat dinner, or even leave the house much, and would just sit on the couch with a hot water bottle. At one point the pain was so bad a family physician sent me to the ER thinking I had appendicitis! I had multiple ultrasounds that came back clear.
I became gluten intolerant (not even a bite of bread was okay) and developed a pretty severe intolerance to soy (even small trace amounts of soy lecithin in things like granola bars and chocolate would take me out for an entire day)
Ultimately, doctors classified it just as IBS and put me on the low-FODMAP diet. It certainly helped, and it helped me identify my 'trigger' foods, but with being vegetarian, on low-FODMAP, and unable to eat soy, my diet felt impossibly restrictive. But, I felt better and stuck to it.
Eventually, the low-FODMAP diet stopped working, and this past January I had another flareup. This time was even worse. No foods were safe foods, and I was constantly in pain and bloated (to the point of looking 6 months pregnant on a regular basis). Eating became something I feared, but not eating would trigger stomach pain as well. I couldn't eat so much as a salad without taking multiple IB-Guard capsules beforehand and ginger gravol after, and even then it was painful.
Menstrual Cycle
While my stomach issues were constant, they definitely became significantly worse around my period and around mid-cycle (ovulation) for about a week at a time (so 2 out of 4 weeks, rip), and it was debilitating. For 2 days before my period and around ovulation, it felt like I had the flu. I couldn't eat, I would have the chills, throw up, be nauseous, and virtually unable to eat. This lead doctors to think I may have severe endometriosis, despite the absence of period cramps or heavy bleeding (which is possible, but unlikely).
Figuring It Out
I went to yet another doctor and she sent me for some tests, but I live in Montreal, Canada, where the wait times for those specific tests were ~8 months each, and I just couldn't handle it anymore. So, I decided to do an experiment on myself. Keep in mind that because the stomach problems evolved slowly while I took wellbutrin, I never realized it could be what was causing my issues-and for some reason no doctor suggested that either.
I realized that I took my medications in the morning, and by lunch I would start to feel unwell. So I did a trial where one day I didn't take the other prescription medication I take (sprionolactone for hormonal acne)-no difference. The next day, I didn't take my wellbutrin. I had the best day I had had in well over a year. No stomach pain whatsoever. I thought it could be a fluke, so I skipped a second day. No pain. Day 3, I took half my usual dose (150 mg)-horrible pain. So, I did what doctors would definitely not recommend and went off it cold turkey. Stomach problems=gone. It was incredible, and I felt like I had my life back.
Today
Today I feel amazing. I have virtually no stomach problems at all, and I have started to re-introduce foods that I could not tolerate a small bite of before. My gluten and soy intolerances completely disappeared, which was shocking. Last week I had pasta for the first time, today I had tofu for the first time again. Having a restrictive diet was not super bothersome to me after I got used to it, and I know many people live their whole lives with eating restrictions like that. But it is nice to be able to expand my diet again (especially as a vegetarian, being able to eat things like tofu and seitan is sooo helpful). I don't feel horrible around my period at all. I feel like I have my life back-I can go out with friends at night and just enjoy myself and not be in pain, not have to take 3 different supplements to eat a meal, can eat whatever I want on occasional restaurant outings, etc. My stomach problems felt like they took up 90% of my thoughts and energy, and now I have that all back to put towards myself and the people I care about <3
Important: Now, for the first few weeks wellbutrin withdrawal was kind of no big deal. I was definitely tired, but it was manageable and went away after a short while. HOWEVER, a month after I had a full nervous breakdown that was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I was inconsolable for 4 days, and eventually went to the ER, and ended up taking Ativan to get through the couple days that followed. However, I was put on Lexapro (just 5 mg) and have been 100% fine and thriving since, and my anxiety is way better than it ever was on wellbutrin. I should also note that I left a very, very difficult relationship during this time, and it went quite horribly, and so while I would be amiss to not say quitting wellbutirn cold turkey didn't contribute to this "breakdown", I think context is really important.
I should also note that I have a history of having a hard time with prescription medications (so before anyone else says it first, myself or a doctor probably should have guessed wellbutrin was the culprit long before the 2 years). In any case... I had to stop taking Zoloft a few years back because it made me horribly nauseous and bloated, and the same was true for oral contraceptives (I tried 5 different ones over 4 years and all caused horrible nausea)-I now have a copper IUD.
TLDR: Wellbutrin help my anxiety but caused horrific stomach problems (severe and painful bloating, constipation, stomach cramping, nausea) and lead me to develop intense food intolerances (to gluten and soy) and made a strict low-FODMAP diet the only way to keep myself going. Stopping wellbutrin cured my stomach issues within a month, but quitting cold turkey lead to an intense emotional break.
Sorry this was so long, but I hope it helps someone

Hi! So I recently got some work done on my car at this little mom and pop auto body shop and they really helped me out by fixing my headlight in addition to all the body work for no cost to me. They’re just super sweet people overall and have been great through the entire process. Would it be weird to bring them some homemade chocolate chip cookies or something along that line to thank them? I just absolutely love my car and I’m so great full for everything they’ve done

Anyone got a good bbq and Cajun rub recipe? A good smoky bbq is good enough, with or without sugar. For Cajun I do like that slap ya mama profile, would just prefer it without so much salt. I know they have low salt versions, but I already have a good amount of spices and don’t want to buy another one haha

Grabbed Marshmallow Sky from Winco in Marysville WA, spotted it while looking for Chocolate PB Split and grabbing last minute snacks and drinks. I was baby sitting a family members cat and accidentally left it in the fridge at their house lol I’m sad but going tomorrow.
How does it taste?? I’m not a big fan of marshmallows but I like the taste of marshmallows. I read the back that it has cookie dough, I love Ben and Jerry’s cookie dough!!

I swear it was this sub, but it may have been Argh! Cooking! Anyway, someone posted a question about what other sauces we like besides X (I don't remember which one they were asking about.) Anyway, I found myself inadvertently experimenting with the Lime Crema/Lime Mayo sauces and came up with my own:
Zesty Lemon/Lime Mayo Crema Sauce
Ingredients:

• Juice from 1 Lemon (1 oz.)
• Juice from 1 large Lime (1 oz.)
• 1 oz. Cacique Crema Mexicana (table cream)
• 1 oz. Milk (using 2%; think about using Half & Half)
• 4 oz. Sour Cream
• 4 oz. Best Foods Mayo
• 1 ½ tsp SPOG*
• 3-5x dashes Tapatio

Directions:

1. Whisk all ingredients in a small Stainless mixing bowl
2. Put in squeeze bottle using large cupboard funnel

*Salt, Pepper, Onion Powder and Garlic Powder. I basically use it any time they call for "salt & pepper." Most recipes have it at 4:2:2:2, but I do it at 3: or even 2: as a part of a low-sodium diet.

Just wanted to say hi! I've been looking around here for the past two weeks and this seems like a really cool group and has been keeping me motivated so far. I was diagnosed two weeks ago (A1C 6.0, was 5.6 8/23) and day-of immediately started a diet change. I know people recommend starting slow, but no time like the present! I used to eat a few large bags of chips a week, bread and white rice almost daily, and paid very little mind to my diet despite not eating fast food, candy or sweets, or drinking soda. So, this is a huge change for me! I miss my chips!
F28, 250lbs in March, 243lbs currently, 5'0". Currently eating under 1700 calories and 100g of carbs a day, all low-moderate glycemic index/load foods, basically no grains or wheat, and as little of sugar as possible. It's been very helpful seeing people discuss what is considered low-carb, macro percentages, different carb types, pairing sugar-spiking foods with fiber and protein, etc. here so I can figure out what is best for me!
Nice to meet everyone and excited to continue my reversal journey!