Anyone in their 40s/50s plus had a health wake up call?

Yes! Good with oats. The milled version go into things a little easier as they are less obvious, so stews and casseroles etc

You can drink them too.

I like them with cocoa powder and milk, with stewed apple and cinnamon too. Yum.

Thanks @CuriousMama and @AutumnLeaves23 . I wonder if I'm worrying too much about getting breathless then - I was seeing it as something negative, perhaps because I was becoming breathless during an easy walk whereas I wasn't previously. The backpack is a good idea, and I do have a Fitbit in the back of a drawer somewhere .

Great thread - thanks to everyone for sharing. I’m 49. Just discovered I have high cholesterol at 6 and blood tests for liver function not great so off for a scan on Wednesday. Be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. Had a hugely stressful job which messed with my mental health and I’ve put on 3 stone in the last 3 or 4 years. Sleep has been pretty terrible and also been very sedentary. I switched to self employment a couple of years ago which is making me much happier but the bad habits have stuck.

The blood test results have kicked me into action - now radically changing what I eat - out with the processed foods and eating a much more balanced diet. I’ve also bought a Walking Pad and am doing 30 to 40 minutes each morning. It’s early days - has only been 3 or 4 weeks but am 9lbs down. Just feel ashamed I’ve let things get to this point and scared I might have caused something serious.

Lick your crisps. Don't eat them.

What's a walking pad @Rockhoppperd ?

It’s like a treadmill but less bulky. It only goes up to 6km/hr - so a fast paced walk - plus you can fold it up so it doesn’t take up too much room.

I’m rubbish at actually leaving the house so I like that I can just unfold it and walk and watch tV while I’m doing it. Time goes really quickly when I’m on it and I know I’m going at a good pace

This sounds good. Can it go in the garden on nice days so you can get some outdoor benefits? Xx

@CuriousMama thank you

I had blood tests last year which showed high cholesterol. 11 months later I have lost 1.5 stone bringing my BMI from 25 to 21, mainly from doing 16:8 fasting and eating more healthily (1 sausage instead of 3 ).

I have also started moving more as I didn't really exercise. Now I walk DD3 to school (we moved house and this made walking an option), and regularly go to yoga and aerobic classes and do park run.

Had bloods taken this week so hoping for a reduction in cholesterol. If not, I feel a lot better anyway!

Some of the bad habits have crept in (crisps are my weakness) but I'll start again to nip it in the bud - this thread has given me some great tips.

crisps are my weakness

I was talking to a friend yesterday and we both said the same, as well as how this is increasing our salt intake. We need ideas for crunchy healthy snacks without the salt!

I've just made porridge for brunch! Added in sunflower seeds, flax seeds, few dried cranberries (favourite in porridge), Chai spices and sliced banana on top!

Jumping in, well crawling in, hi everyone, great thread.

I've just made porridge bread with chia seeds, it smells nice but how will it taste!

I'm oddly comforted by all your tales, I thought it was just me getting a wake up call. Anyway, was like many of you, lazy sod during lockdown, not doing much to keep fit. I fell down in the kitchen one evening and thought, uh oh that's not right, but carried on thinking it was a one off.

I live alone, and one day my sister phoned and asked if I was OK I said fine. But she said you are either drunk or having a stroke, I am on my way. Well I don't drink and I felt fine ha ha.

Next thing I was in A+E (during Covid). Turned out I had internal bleeding from an ulcer caused by the Helicobacter Pylori bacterium. I had ZERO symptoms. While I was there they found out I had Atrial Fibrillation which was the thing that caused me to pass out. Again, no symptoms, no palpitations, nothing.

So here I am, about half a stone or so overweight, normal BP, don't smoke or drink, eat ok very little carbs and sugar and I still got sick. What a bloody bummer!

Am now on meds to regulate heart rate, and preventative PPIs for the stomach thing.

I am now 60+ and doing ok, but I am watching things like a hawk, and moving every day. At least I don't have joint problems that's a bonus. Just shows, we are like cars, after a certain number of miles, the nuts and bolts start to loosen and fall off!

Evening all, I'll properly read the new posts tomorrow got a splitter of a headache with painful eyeballs. Been getting them a lot. Thanks for the podcast Winging, and the grated apple tip for porridge too. My Husband has said he will start his healthy journey with me tomorrow, we are going to do food diaries. He has gout and in a flare he cannot get rid off. The Dr says he can't increase his Allipurinol in a flare but he's had strong anti inflammatory and now changed to Diclofenic for a month instead of Naproxen. His foot is so swollen, got him cherry juice and supplements. I'm obsessed with this NAFLD information albeit its 2 years late I don't know why it wasn't disclosed when i got my gallbladder results. I'm seriously thinking of changing GP. Hope everyone is good today, its to be nice here tomorrow and low tide so I'll get out early with the dogs. We are having no chocolate, sugar, biscuits, crisps, cheese and pastry for the month of April lol 😆
We don't drink alcohol so that's an easy one. I'm so glad this thread is here xxx

@CuriousMama Yes it was a BIG surprise, as I had never been sick or in a hospital until then, thought I was invincible, as you do!

What I did have was fatigue (internal blood loss = anaemia) but I put it down to the inertia and boredom of Covid lockdown. As did many others aswell, we were all feeling fed up and listless.

So it just goes to show. Anyway, the hospital were brilliant and sorted me out really well and reassured me in lots of ways which I am so thankful for. If you had seen me in the hospital, I hadn't a clue what the drill was, am partially deaf and couldn't hear anything due to the bloody masks, and despite all that, and millions of heart tests, and scopes up and down places I have never been myself I got better.

So the hilarious (well, you know what I mean) thing was, the medical teams couldn't give me their usual lectures about stopping drinking, losing weight, controlling my BP, and all that jazz, so they said I should take more exercise. That was all they could advise, and some of them were actually laughing knowing that their usual spiel didn't apply to me! But between us it all worked out and hopefully I will stay well.

Best of luck to everyone with bits and bobs and bigger things going on in our creaking years.

@CuriousMama no id not heard of celery seeds i will look them up and order some. I really feel for him, he's on his feet all day and he's been getting bouts of it in his elbow too. We dont walk as much as we used to since i had my last ME flare in May last year. We walked a lot at the weekends. He works a physical job but can also be standing about supervising too which is worse. He was lying on site yesterday with his bare foot on a concrete wall lol 😆 bless him. X

Ps someone sent a link for copper bracelets has anyone tried them for arthritis? X

Noooo, just an old wives tale. Pseudoscience.

if it really worked it would be an easy solution and no one would have arthritis!

@MrsPuddle I'd never heard of it until my husband asked me to get one for him. I googled it tonight and there are so many selling sites for them. X