Mk Neal

Jen Anderson wrote:I have not officially started menopause yet even though I am in my mid-50s.  Lifestyle or genetics I have no idea...  I did start getting random joint pain and insomnia in my late 40's, especially in my hands and elbows.  I could not get a diagnosis.  I gave up all alcohol and sugar (except for honey, molasses, date syrup).  No more joint pain or insomnia!

Glad to hear that worked for you. When I began having joint pain, I looked at all the recommendations for diet changes…and it was basically already how I eat. So I was like, I guess maybe it would be worse if I didn’t already eat well 🫤? Cutting out sugar didn’t make a difference in my joint, though I did drop 8 pounds over the course of a few weeks, then stayed at that weight since.

Josh Hoffman wrote:Look up "The Cross Legacy". You can search the type you are considering washing. When my wife told me about it, I was skeptical. But, seeing what comes off the food (and certainly what we can't see) along with the fact that the washed foods keep way longer than unwashed, has made me a believer.

This is if you must buy it at a grocery store. We don't wash anything we produce at home.

Interesting, I have always thought the opposite; that vegetable keep better unwashed, and I wash then only when ready to use them. Exception is fruits meant to be kept on countertop for fresh eating— I want those ready to grab.

r ranson wrote:Thank you so much everyone!
I'm so glad I asked as this is exactly what I was hoping to learn.  It's so individual.  And yet, common themes.

Is menopause a single event or is it a process?  

R- in strict medical terminology, “menopause” refers to just the official end of menstruation, (e.g. a one-time event), but in common parlance, people use the term to refer to all the changes leading up to the end as well. More recently, the term “perimenopause” has started being used to talk about the decade or so before the actual end of menstruation.

Sounds like the Incan bridges : https://www.thearchaeologist.org/blog/the-rope-bridges-of-the-incas-the-ancient-technology-that-united-andean-communities-fades-into-history

For me, at age 48-49 I went from having a predictable hormone cycle to wild fluctuations. I’ve had menstrual migraines since my mid thirties that alway hit 1-3 days per month. Now some months I have no headaches (yay!), but some months they are worse. Some months I swear I am ovulating for weeks straight. Some months no bleeding, other months a second period hot on the heels of the first. I have read that your ovaries basically go into “firesale” mode trying to rush out all remaining follicles, which contributes to this irregularity.

I have occasional hot flashes or night sweats, but these are not very bothersome.

I’ve had chronic joint pain and fatigue the past 8 months, which has forced me to limit my activities. Also bouts of “brain fog” similar to what I have experienced in past during migraines, feeling dull and disorganized. These do not seem to track to hormone cycle, I think I am just lucky to develop rheumatoid disease during perimenopause.

My mother did not have these kind of symptoms. She did have hot flashes and other discomforts and I believe she took hormones for some time.

I agree about not feeling the “rat race” any more. I had quit a high-stress job just before all the physical symptoms.

Sorry to hear the sieve method did not work so well for out. I've found that the easiest way to remove the pits from small stone fruits. However, you do need to cook the fruit until it is really falling off the pits, and it's easiest to use a strainer with very large holes--not a mesh sieve, but a "spaghetti strainer" type with round holes.

Another method, if you have a very large batch of fruit, is cooking the fruit until it really falls apart, and then beating the pulp until the pits settle toward the bottom, and you can ladle off the pulp on top. Works better with some fruits than others, depends on how tightly the fruit clings to the pit.

Research from Brazil that correlates fertilizer use with increased heavy metals in kale and tomatoes:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35426028/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32647963/

Douglas Alpenstock wrote:

BUT: I'm poking around some of the newer research, and it looks like there are edible garden plants that do take up lead. This is concerning.

Yes, I have seen the same. Leafy vegetables like kale as I recall.

I was reading up on this a while back, since we have lead paint on parts of our buildings and I was also worried about soil contamination. As Rusty said, lead is dangerous when it’s in a state that is easily inhaled or ingested, not so much when it is just lying around on the ground. (The danger for lead shot and sinker is to bottom-feeding ducks and fish that swallow these bits of lead)

The current (2020s) understanding of best way to deal with lead contaminated soil is cover with compost, soil, and plants that you will not need to disturb. That way you won’t have lead dust blowing around, and while the lead will never disappear, it will get bound up in other chemicals/structures so as to pose less risk to humans and animals in the garden.  Better to plant an apple tree and ground cover there and not a potato patch!

I’m with you on that, Jen.

One thing I learned from participating in last year’s “Sourdough Party” is that a small batch works out much better. Now, like you I keep just a small amount, less than a cup. Previously, I had always tried to keep twice that in a bigger jar, and much more problems with weird spoilage.