When organising (I use that term super loosely!) a hike, I wanted to be able to see how many kilometres it was going to be. The tool I use to use when I would travel and map a possible jog / run I would use Map My Run, so I resurrected my account to map the hike from Malabar to Watsons Bay. Part of it will overlap the Bondi to Manly walk.
Tuesday, 10 November 2020
Malabar to Watsons Bay Hike - Mapping it out using Map My Run
Tuesday, 22 September 2020
The Croissant Diet Experience with a CGM - Sept 2020
I've been on the bandwagon of The Croissant Diet (TCD) for a little while. Maybe 6 weeks or so. And I thought I should document things a bit.
There was a great summary by Brad Marshall on Twitter on what The Croissant Diet actually is:
Eat LOTS of long chain Saturated Fat and avoid PUFA like the plague. Also avoid MUFA. If you want to eat some starch, go for it! But smother them in SatFat. That’s the whole thing, really.
— FireInABottle (@fire_bottle) September 21, 2020
What I'm eating:
Meat - beef or lamb mostly as this is low in PUFAs and high in stearic acid.
Fats for cooking - tallow or butter. Enhanced with stearic acid.
Eggs - cos they are a great whole food. Usually cooked in tallow or butter (enhanced with stearic acid if I remember).
Butter
Cream for tea
Coffee - usually black
Low carb "carbs" -- Atkins crispbread and Woolworths Macro bread. These have vegetable oils so not great but I try and overwhelm it with lots of butter. But generally not something I have a great amount but just eating butter is just not very satiating.
Berries - mulberries (home grown!), strawberries and blueberries.
Treats - Avalanche Hot Drinks. Keto ice cream. Chocolate (dark or Lindt Lindor White).
I currently have a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) which means I'm experimenting with starches - the theory behind the Croissant Diet seems to indicate that starches are great as a delivery mechanism of the saturated fat but also provides satiety and also the glucose created from the ingestion of carbs doesn't actually end up in fat IF you have enough saturated fat.
So since I have had my CGM I have had:
Croissant and even Ice Cream!! (Also walked 40,000 steps that day!)
Home made "croissants" with added stearic acid
A friend heard I was on TCD and got an apple galette and chocolate croissant as well as something else (I didn't have any of the something else as I thought I'd overload on treats/carbs!) - it was delish though!
Sourdough fruit bread! I think like a lot of fermented foods it seems to give me a reaction - I think in the form of itchy skin. But this could be starches or just gluten. I'm still experimenting to work this one out.
Pho (rice noodle soup) - normally I'd choose this as a keto meal and just ask for them to not add the noodles. But I thought I could indulge as the beef and tendons would surely help offset the carbs (yes I know it doesn't work that way but I was feeling confident as my blood glucose hadn't been going up too much even with the croissants and sourdough fruit bread). But alas my blood sugar spiked up! You can see it on the Tuesday 15th around 1pm.
The other significant bump/hill/mountain/spike is from an excess consumption of carbs in the form of two pieces of sourdough toast! Weirdly it spikes around 3 hours after eating :( (I still have no idea how bad that is!)
Friday, 10 April 2020
Sauna at home and Vivid Dreaming
I had looked at a number of sites for a sauna that would fit into my 1 bedroom apartment and more specifically on my balcony. I briefly thought of a 1 person sauna but I'm so glad I got a bigger sauna as it's already a bit like a confinement space and to have a smaller space again I think would be a bit too claustrophobic. Originally I had thought to buy the sauna from Appliances Online due to my previous great experiences but the delivery timeframe was too far away so I cancelled my order and ended up buying it from Luxo Living (link above) since they had stock. It may not have had a known brand name but I'm glad I've received the sauna sooner rather than later as it's been good!
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My what big boxes you have! |
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And heavy 'panels' - there were 6 in total. |
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Each of the panels is easily slotted together... once you can move them into place. |
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Almost there except I had to take it apart again to get the bench seat thing in. |
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Finally built and ready to go! (And yes it was dark by this time) |
I've also since done a further hormonal test (DUTCH test) which does indicate that while my estrogen (in this case estradiol) is in the 'normal' range, my progesterone and my testosterone is almost nil!
It's not a good thing and I'm not sure what the DUTCH test says about doing a sauna but I do find it interesting as I assume the DUTCH test would indicate I'm estrogen dominant (because I don't have the other two sex hormones at all!)
I digress. Back to saunas. So I'm not sure what the manifestation of my low testosterone and progesterone is although I still have other issues. I wasn't expecting anything particular about saunas except better sleep.
I had a great experience in early 2020 when I had gone to a spa place where I did an infrared sauna, sensory deprivation float and a salt room session. It was good but I didn't get a "aha" moment. Then the following morning I got an amazing feeling of contentment or happiness when I woke up. And it wasn't just one day. It lasted for about 2 weeks! Every morning I'd get up and have this feeling of "happiness".
Sleep, Dreams and Happiness
I wouldn't say I felt like I slept better just that I felt this amazing feeling in the morning when I woke up. I couldn't work out which of the therapies or combination of therapies worked. Now I know it was definitely the infrared sauna. As I've managed to replicate it with the sauna I have at home! I'm trying to remember if I had the same feeling with the dry sauna but now I can't recall. It's likely. The feeling of well being is pretty amazing. It's not something that is easily explained as I call it "happiness" but it's more a feeling of peace and wellbeing.My Oura ring stats do not seem to indicate my sauna gives me any better sleep than normal. Actually I do wish my sleep stats from the Oura ring had some sort of pattern but I haven't managed to discern one yet.
I'm also taking a lot of supplements to detox and fix my hormones so some of these could be affecting my sleep as I'm definitely not sleeping 'better' as I feel like I'm waking up more than usual. I say I'm not sleeping better but my Oura ring data isn't indicating my sleep is any worse than usual.
One thing I have noticed from a sauna is the vividness of my dreams! I'm not sure if it's more vivid than normal but I'm remembering them. From silly dreams that still make no sense (like rows of hedges!?) to scary ones where I wake up in the dream and see spooky signatures (mine!) all over my walls. Thank goodness it was all a dream. I have since Googled this and I'm consoling myself it's a symptom of detoxing.
Skin
My skin has seen a marked improvement from using my infrared sauna and the dry sauna from weeks ago. There was a difference that I could feel when I had the gap between the dry sauna and my sauna at home. The main thing was the "moisture" in the skin. I could feel that my skin felt older and more 'crepe-y' when I hadn't been in doing sauna therapy. I also found that when I did saunas and now I just don't need moisturiser. I know it's crazy but it's true. My skin somehow is creating it's own level of moisturiser so I don't need to add it to my face or hands. Not sure if this will last into our winter but I'm hoping so!![]() |
Not sure if you can tell which is the post sauna hand... but it's the bottom one which has a bit more moisture! |
Also when I first started the dry sauna experience I had a pimple. I know it doesn't sound great but I'm just going to assume it was my skin detoxing. As you may have guessed I haven't had a pimple for decades.
My mother also reckons my pores are not as huge as they were before and seems to think I now have better skin :).
So in conclusion I think saunas are great! The biggest benefit is the feeling of contentment and secondly it's my skin. If you don't feel comfortable in your skin, who will ;)
If you get down this far into the blog post I hope you are well. It's 9 April 2020 and Sydney, Australia is in semi (stage 3) lockdown due to the Coronavirus (Covid-19). We can go out and shop and attend to essential services but can't meet with anymore than one other person. But that doesn't include visiting anyone. You can't visit anyone. Unless they are your partner or part of your family unit (as in your close family unit). But we're flattening the curve! So our daily case count isn't too bad -- 85 for Australia today and a total number of known cases of 6109.
Saturday, 8 February 2020
Fitness Passport membership locations on a map
I'm very fortunate that I have the opportunity to join this type of membership as then I can go just about anywhere in NSW. The membership site gives you a list of them but I had no idea how close they would be to either work or home so I copied and pasted the details into a Google Sheet and then put them in a Google Map. I thought it may be useful for others too.
You can access the map by this link too: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=10hH5PtKlBzeEzV6AoLev4vxqNoDxzR6y&hl=en&usp=sharing
Wednesday, 1 January 2020
Air Quality in Sydney atm is awful and the affects
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