Saturday, December 29 2018

09:00 Lois and I take a shower and after breakfast we go for a walk around the local football field. Lois is not walking as fast as usual - she has a little back pain, the poor thing. We come home and relax with a cup of coffee. Afterwards, I jump up on my bike and cycle my usual 6 miles.

A new year is awaiting us - with new challenges and new plans and strategies, New Year's resolutions, etc., and various thoughts that have begun to hit me. Suddenly, I get the idea that I might try to "train" and get exercise as much as possible during the morning, and dedicate most of the morning to it all: ie bike, weights, grip strength training, yoga, tai chi, walks etc. It sounds like a good plan, but I'm not quite sure I have the necessary motivation – my goodness! Well, we'll see.

Lois pauses a moment during our short walk around the local football field

10:30 It's time to gather my thoughts on this topic. I weighed myself earlier in the day and got a bit of a shock, to put it mildly: 11 stone (154 lbs, or 70kg) - yikes! I have put on 4 pounds during Christmas and our preparations for Christmas (ie the Christmas season) - yikes (again) !!! But this thought, however, does give me a bit more motivation, that’s for sure.

Lois and I start our diet in a few days. It is fortunate that we do not have a lot of Christmas cakes etc in the house because we spent Christmas time with our daughter Alison, Ed (Alison's husband) and their 3 children in Haslemere, Surrey. The only Christmas dish we brought back was the traditional English Christmas pudding made by Ed's mother, a dish that only Lois and I loved - I recently read that the younger generation usually rejects many of our generation's favorite Christmas foods, including traditional Christmas pudding, also Brussels sprouts which is a bit of a shame. What madness !!!!

Steve, our American brother-in-law, has an interesting New Year plan. He is eschewing all snacking: he says that "grazing" is just for cows. He actually starts tomorrow with his new diet: he will limit food to 7 hours a day with a massively reduced amount of carbohydrates, between 6 in the morning and 1 pm, and eat nothing for the rest of the day: ie no dinner. He will continue the diet for 30 days or until he loses at least 10 pounds (4.5 kg). My goodness, Lois and I are very curious to hear how it goes, that’s for sure.

Today I read an interesting article in the Danish media (www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland), where it was reported that according to a new research, human guinea-pigs managed to exercise abdominal fat away - without changing their diet habits. A neurotransmitter secreted during exercise is crucial for the burning off of dangerous stomach fat, a new study shows.

Apparently, the new study established that exercise is the way to reduce the dangerous stomach fat - even if you do not change your normal dietary habits.

The reason is, according to the researchers, a neurotransmitter, interleukin-6 (IL-6), which is secreted by the muscles when exercising - and it works directly on the fat deposits around the stomach, known to be particularly harmful to health.

“It is clear that the big message is that you have to exercise. Exercising reduces the amount of fat independent of a change in diet, says doctor and PhD student Anne-Sophie Wedell-Neergaard from TrygFonden's Centre for Active Health at Denmark’s Royal Hospital.

Doctor and PhD student, Anne-Sophie Wedell-Neergaard,

is behind the new study. She explains that it has been proven for the first time that there is

a direct relationship between the signal substance IL-6 and the burning of stomach fat.

Anne-Sophie stresses that high-intensity training - and longer workouts - increase the secretion of IL-6. “The harder and the longer you exercise, the more IL-6 comes out of the bloodstream into your muscles.”

Anne-Sophie Wedell-Neergaard explains that one should not draw the conclusion that one can just let loose on as much unhealthy food as one likes as long as one exercises once in a while. The trial results would had been even better if the participants had also moved their diets in a positive direction.

Good grief - I knew there must be some snag or other with it.

What a crazy world we live in. But I like Anne-Sophie's face: I have to do my best for her sake. That’s where I can get my motivation. If only I can increase my cycling sessions to 45 minutes - and then it’s job done. And Anne-Sophie will be very happy for me, this I have no doubts about.

11:00 I turn my attention to other media (Onion News) to get a sense of balance here - a couple of years ago, a rash of health articles appeared that both worried and encouraged many Brits at the same time, if I remember correctly, for example:

The last article, i.e. the story of Steven Jensen, is the one that had the most impact on our village, simply because he was a local man, I think. Steven recently became a bit of a local media sensation when he announced that he had recently stopped dieting, and that he had (incredibly) already started to see results. And  he confirmed to journalists that his new look had really attracted a lot of attention among friends and family.

"It has only been a month since I made the switch, but you can see how much my body has changed," said Jensen, adding that he had found himself buying a new wardrobe the previous week after discovering that most of his clothes no longer fitted him.

"I don't just look different, I feel different. I mean who knows where I will be if I carry on with this plan all year?"

Jensen added that dropping his diet while his wife dropped her diet had made it easier for both of them.

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!

But I like Jensen's face. I am currently considering following the Jensen method, rather than the Anne-Sophie method, but first of all I have to choose only in consultation with Lois, just as Jensen first talked to his wife. I'm not sure yet - the jury is still on it all. But yikes - the future looks brighter suddenly.

12:30 We have lunch and afterwards I go to bed and take a gigantic afternoon nap. Meanwhile, Lois swings by the neighbours (Stephen and Francis), to thank them for taking care of our house in our absence in Haslemere over Christmas, when we stayed 8 days with our elder daughter, Alison, and her family.

15:00 I get up and sit down with the computer. I design a calendar for 2019 that shows some of my favourite photos of Lois from the early years of our relationship.

flashback to 1970 when we first got together,

in an old village in the county of Oxfordshire

flashback to 1973: now married but without children as yet - a short vacation in Wales

Happy days !!!!

18:00 We have dinner and spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. An interesting documentary is on, all about the life of Emily Bronte, who wrote the classic novel Wuthering Heights. The host of the program is the charming supermodel, Lily Cole.

The 3 Bronte sisters lived in a world where women were mostly confined to the kitchen and bedroom, but to all 3 defied conventions and published books, even though they originally did so under male names, to avoid public disapproval.

Lois and I did not know that it was mostly thanks to their father, Patrick, an Anglican vicar, but also a very far-sighted man who, for example, campaigned for the abolition of slavery in the British Empire in the early 19th century.

He was a liberal man in his family too, and allowed his 3 daughters to do just about anything they wanted during their childhood, which must have encouraged their modern attitudes toward women's rights, etc.

Both Lois and I like Lily Cole, the programme's charming host, and we have a lot of opportunities to admire her gorgeous red hair and long legs. She's also 5 feet 11, an inch taller than me, which is nice.

Lily Cole, supermodel, the programme's charming host,

walking across the moors near Emily’s home in Haworth, Yorkshire.

Lily is undoubtedly a genuine big fan of Wuthering Heights, but earlier this year it caused a massive scandal in the press that she had been invited to play a major role in events organised to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Emily Bronte’s birth.

Lily Cole's participation in the events organised to celebrate

the 200th anniversary of Emily Bronte's birth, caused a bit of a scandal, to put it mildly

My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!!

21:00 We continue to watch a bit of television, an interesting documentary all about ventriloquist dummies from the time they were most popular, that is, in the 1970s and early 1980s. The programme’s host is the charming Bradley Walsh.

Interestingly, ventriloquists went out of fashion in the UK in the mid-1980s, and many practitioners went bankrupt or ended their lives amid poverty and/or depression - yikes! But these kinds of entertainers have recently experienced a bit of a revival in the United States, as a result of talent show performances in programmes such as the X Factor and America's Got Talent, so perhaps this new fashion will spread over here too, but that’s something the jury is still out on.

Tonight the gorgeous Amanda Holden speaks a little about her (and my and Lois') favourite ventriloquist dummy, “Nookie” Bear and his "assistant" Roger de Courcey.

Unlike many ventriloquists, Roger used to have an admirably realistic and non-sentimental attitude towards his dummy, “Nookie” Bear, and never believed for a moment that he was real - he used to just chuck Nookie back in his box at the end of every show.

That’s the way you do it!!!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation

09:00 Lois og jeg tager et brusebad og efter morgenmad går vi en tur rundt omkring på den lokale fodboldbane. Lois går ikke så hurtigt som normalt – hun har lidt ondt i ryggen igen, staklen. VI kommer hjem og slapper af med en kop kaffe. Bagefter hopper jeg op på min kondicykel og cykler mine sædvanlige 6 miles.

Et nyt år venter på os – med nye udfordringer og nye planer og strategier, nytårsfortsætter osv, forskellige tanker, der er begyndt at ramme mig. Jeg får idéen pludselig, at jeg måske bør prøve at ”træne” og få motion så meget som muligt i løbet af formiddagen, og dedikere  hovedparten af formiddagen til det hele: dvs kondicykel, vægter, grebstyrketræning, yoga, tai chi, gåture osv. Det lyder som en god plan, men jeg er ikke helt sikker på, jeg har den nødvendige motivering – du godeste! Na, vi får se.

Vi går en kort tur rundt omkring på den lokale fodboldbane

10:30 Det er tid at samle mine tanker om dette emne. Jeg vejede mig tidligere på dagen og fik lidt af et chok, for at sige mildt: 11 sten (154 pund, 70kg) – yikes! Jeg har taget 4 pund på under juletiden og vores forberedelser på juletiden (dvs julemåneden)  – yikes (igen) !!! Men denne tanke giver mig imidlertid en masse motivering – det har jeg ikke nogen tvivl om.

Lois og jeg starter vores slankekur om et par dage. Det er heldigt, at vi ikke har en masse julekager osv i huset på grund at, at vi tilbragte juletiden hos vores datter Alison, Ed (Alisons mand) og deres 3 børn i Haslemere, Surrey. Den eneste juleret vi medbragte tilbage var den traditionelle engelske julepudding, som Eds mor lavede, en ret, som bare Lois og jeg elskede – jeg læste for tiden at den yngre generation plejer at afvise mange af vores generations yndlingsjulemad, herunder traditionel julepudding, også rosenkål, hvilket er lidt af en skam. Sikke et vanvid!!!!

Steve, vores amerikanske svigerbror har en interessant plan om nytåret. Han vil holde helt op med at snacke: han siger, ”græsning” er godt bare for køer. Han starter faktisk i morgen med en ny diæt: han vil begrænse mad til 7 timer om dagen, mellem kl 6 om morgenen til kl 13, med et massivt reduceret beløb af karbohydrater, og spise ingenting i resten af dagen: dvs ingen aftensmad. Han vil fortsætte diæten i 30 dage, eller indtil han taber i det mindste  10 pund (4,5 kg). Du godeste, Lois og jeg er meget nysgerrige efter at høre, hvordan det går – det ved vi med sikkerhed.

Jeg læste i dag en interessant artikel i de danske medier (www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland), hvor det blev rapporteret, at ifølge en ny forskning kunne forsøgspersoner træne mavefedt væk - uden at ændre kostvaner. Et signalstof, der udskilles under træning, er afgørende for forbrændingen af farligt mavefedt, viser et nyt studie.

Tilsyneladende blev det slået fast i det nye studie, at træning er vejen frem til at reducere det farlige mavefedt - også selv om man ikke ændrer på sine normale kostvaner.

Årsagen er ifølge forskerne et signalstof, interleukin-6 (IL-6), der udskilles fra musklerne, når man træner - og det virker direkte på fedtdepoterne omkring maven, som er kendt for at være særligt sundhedsskadeligt.

- Det er klart, at det helt store budskab er, at man skal træne. Træningen reducerer fedtmængden uafhængigt af en ændring i kosten, siger læge og ph.d.-studerende Anne-Sophie Wedell-Neergaard fra TrygFondens Center for Aktiv Sundhed på Rigshospitalet.

 Læge og ph.d.-studerende, Anne-Sophie Wedell-Neergaard,

står bag den ny undersøgelse. Hun forklarer, at det er første gang, at der er påvist

en direkte sammenhæng mellem signalstoffet IL-6 og forbrænding af mavefedt.

Hun understreger også, at høj-intensiv træning - og længere træningspas - øger udskillelsen af IL-6.

- Jo hårdere og jo længere, du træner, jo mere IL-6 kommer der ud fra blodbanen i dine muskler.

Anne-Sophie Wedell-Neergaard forklarer, at man ikke skal opfatte undersøgelsen som en konklusion om, at man bare kan spise løs af de usunde sager, hvis man træner en gang i mellem. Det kan nemlig sagtens tænkes, at resultatet havde været endnu bedre, hvis deltagerne også havde ændret deres kostvaner i en positiv retning.

Du godeste – jeg vidste, der må være en eller anden hage ved det hele!

Sikke en skør verden vi lever i. Men jeg kan godt lide Anne-Sophies ansigt: jeg må gøre mit bedste, for hendes skyld. Der får jeg min motivering. Hvis bare jeg kan øge min kondicykelsessioner til 45 minutter – og job done, og Anne-Sophie vil være meget glad for mig, det her jeg ikke nogen tvivl om!

11:00 Jeg henvender mig til andre medier (Onion News) for at få lidt en følelse af balance her – for et par år siden dukkede der en epidemi af sundhedsartikler, der enten bekymrede eller opmuntrede mange englændere, hvis jeg husker rigtigt, for eksempel:

Den sidste artikel, dvs historien om Steven Jensen, havde den meste indvirkning på vores landsby bare på grund af, at han var en lokal mand, synes jeg. Han fortalte lokale journalister, at hans nye look virkelig havde henledt en masse opmærksomhed blandt venner og familie, da han først meddelte, at  han for nylig havde stoppet slankekure og allerede begyndt at se resultater.

"Det har kun været en måned siden jeg lavede skiftet, men du kan se, hvor meget min krop er ændret," sagde Jensen og tilføjede, at han greb sig i at købe en ny garderobe sidste uge efter at have opdaget de fleste af hans tøj ikke længere passede til ham.

"Jeg ser ikke bare anderledes ud, jeg føler mig anderledes. Jeg mener, hvem ved, hvor jeg vil være, hvis jeg fortsætter med denne plan hele året? "

Jensen tilføjede at det, at droppe sin slankekur samtidig med at hans kone droppede sin slankekur  havde gjort det lettere for dem begge.

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!! Men jeg kan godt lide Jensens ansigt. Jeg overvejer for tiden at følge Jensen-metode, snarere end Anne-Sophie-metode, men først og fremmest må jeg vælge i samråd med Lois, ligesom Jensen først talte med sin kone. Jeg er ikke nokk sikker endnu  - juryen er stadig ude om det hele. Men yikes – fremtiden ser lyst ud pludselig!

12:30 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går jeg i seng for at tage en gigantisk eftermiddagslur. I mellemtiden smutter Lois ind hos naboerne (Stephen og Francis), for at takke dem for at passe på vores hus i vores fravær i Haslemere under juletiden, da vi boede 8 dage hos vores ældste datter, Alison, og hendes familie.

15:00 Jeg står op og sætter mig med computeren. Jeg designer en kalender, der fremviser nogle af mine yndlingsfotoer af Lois fra vores forholds tidligste år.

tilblageblik til 1970, da vi først kom sammen,

i en gammel landsby i grevskabet Oxfordshire

tilbageblik til 1973: nu giftede, men uden børn endnu – en kort ferie i Wales

Lykkelige dage!!!!

18:00 Vi spiser aftensmad og bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om livet at Emily Bronte, der skrev den klassiske roman, Wuthering Heights. Programmets vært er den charmerende supermodel, Lily Cole.

De 3 Bronte-søstre levede i en verden, hvor kvinder for det meste var begrænsede til køkkenet og soveværelset, men de alle 3 trodsede konventioner og udgav bøger, selvom de oprindeligt gjorde det under mandlige navne, for at undgå offentlighedens misbilligelse.

Lois og jeg vidste ikke, at det for det meste var tækket være deres far, Patrick, en anglikansk præst, men også en meget fremsynet mand, der eksempelvis kæmpede for afskaffelsen af slaveri i det britiske imperium først i 1800-tallet.

Han var en liberal mand i sin familie også, og tillod sine 3 døtre at gøre næsten hvad som helst de havde lyst til i deres barndom, hvilket må have fremmet deres moderne attituder overfor kvinders rettigheder osv.

Begge Lois og jeg kan godt lide Lily Cole, programmets charmerende vært, og vi har en masse lejligheder til at beundre sit pragtfulde røde hår og lange ben. Hun er 5 fods 11, 1 inch højere, end mig, hvilket er rart.

Lily Cole, supermodel og programmets charmerende vært

vandrer kryds og tværs på hedebakkerne nær Emilys hjem i Haworth, Yorkshire.

Lily er uden tvivl en ægte stor fan af Wuthering Heights, men der tidligere på året var en massiv skandale i pressen over, at hun var blevet inviteret til at spille en stor rolle i begivenhederne, som var blevet organiseret for at fejre 200-årsdagen for Emily Brontes fødsel.

Lily Coles deltagelse i begivenhederne organiseredet for at fejre

200-årsdagen for Emily Brontes fødsel, voldede lidt af en skandale, for at sige mildt

Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!!

21:00 Vi fortsætter med at se lidt fjernsyn, en interessant dokumentarfilm, der handler om bugtalerdukker fra den periode, hvor de var mest populære, dvs i 1970’erne og først i 1980’erne. Programmets vært er den charmerende Bradley Walsh.

Det er interessant, at bugtalere gik ud af mode i Storbritannien i midten af 1980’erne, og mange bugtalere gik konkurs, eller endte deres liv i fattigdom eller depression – yikes! Men disse slags underholdere har for nylig oplevet lidt af en genopliving i USA, som resutat af præstationer på talentshows, såsom  X Factor og America’s Got Talent, så måske vil denne nye mode brede sig herovre også, men det er juryen stadig ude om.

Den pragtfulde Amanda Holden taler lidt om sin (og min og Lois’) yndlingsbugtaledukke, Nookie Bear og sin ”assistent” Roger de Courcey.

Ulig mange bugtaglere plejede Roger at have en beundringsværdigt realistisk og ikke-sentimental holdning over for sin dukke, Nookie Bear, og troede aldrig et øjeblik på, at han var reel, og han havde for vane at kaste Nookie tilbage i hans kasse i slutningen af hvert show.

That's the way you do it !

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!