HappyMartin

You can start right here with this thread. You can try Google. Just search Banting. Also try searching Low Carb High Fat Diet. Noakes' new book is also a good resource. Amazon has lots of books if you want to go that right. Low carb living and so on. Info is easy to find. Clarity not so much. As always get a medical check up before doing anything odd. But then again, our modern diet is pretty odd to start with and we never got any medical advice for that now did we?

I am also after the Linea Mini. End of the year I hope to buy one. Have you any indications of price?

Honestly I don't like its looks at all. Glass sides doesn't work for me. It's just visual clutter. As for its specs I'm totally not qualified to say.

My ex broke her pelvis on a road ride. She was riding again after 5 weeks. Said it was OK. Guess it depends on severity.

Multiple rib fractures, fractured pelvis and internal injuries. Will require surgery but it seems only after a period that allows stabilization of injuries. Insane accident. Thank goodness he is conscious and has no head injuries. Too many cars around but the riders have a fit if they have to wait very long for a mechanical so I don't know what the solution to this might be.

And the artificial sweeteners taste like hell anyway. I suppose it's all about the insulin response that occurs wether it's a natural sugar or an artificial sweetener. As you say. Best to avoid

I didn't yet but I'm expecting 50 to 60 K. The Linea Mini you mean?

Ah V12man. I totally sympathize with your wife. I now don't want to buy a new coffee machine anymore. I wish I never started with this coffee thing. Think I will go back to Ricoffy. So jokes aside. I will get the butt ugly little Oscar fixed. I will save money. I will buy the Linea Mini. I was reading reviews on various sites and they say the Simonelli MDX grinder which I have is a match for the Mazzer SJ but not as pretty. I will put up with the looks and put up with the Oscar until I can afford what I really want Basically I am taking V12mans advice

Thanks for the info. Looks good to me and at 27k for the model I fancied it should be on

Rocket Giotto? Anyone have any experience or knowledge of these machines. Found one with the specs I would like though to be honest even the specs are a bit of a thumb suck for me. Bit like reading about bicycles and choosing one from a catalogue while never having actually ridden on one. Anyway we try. Can't find a local price for the Linea Mini. Looks amazing but I'm almost afraid to ask the price. Reccomeded by V12man so that makes me kind of want one.

I drank coffee the first time but not this time. Ended up with a massive headache which I suspect was caffeine withdrawal. Very unpleasant. I think coffee for me is cheating. If I were to drink coffee I would certainly make it black and no sugar. When I say I drink tea it is only weak loose leaf green tea or rooibos. No milk or sugar. Glad you also felt great after fasting. I find it very interesting.

Thanks jcza. I hadn't seen that. Informative and interesting. Does not contradict anything I read and raises a few other interesting ideas. Fasting is tough.

I will suggest that thanks V12man. I'm at my wits end with this thing

I have been trying a new thing with my diet. I have been very strict for the past month regarding carbs. As is usual I eat what I want on the bike but have eliminated almost all carbs at other times, even fruit. Dropped a few kg I wanted to lose but actually my weight has been quite stable the last year or two. Anyway the change is a periodic fast. I did some research, yes that means I googled it, and came up with a few ideas. I mention it here since it goes to the heart of LCHF theory I think. The first Sunday evening of the month I have my last meal and then start my fast. The first time I stopped eating until Wednesday morning. 80 hours with just water and green tea. This time I will go until Thursday morning. The information I dug up is as follows. It seems we are designed to cope with periodic episodes of not eating. More than that we derive certain benefits from it. It helps with IBS. Provides relief to some forms of arthritis. Lowers blood pressure. What I can tell you from my side is it resets your tastebuds in a quite amazing way. Everything tastes great afterwards. I find I stop snacking after the fast, I eat smaller portions by choice. Sugar cravings vanish. Day one is the tough one, huge headaches and constant thinking of food. By day two I only get hungry at meal times, otherwise I feel great. We will see about tomorrow. I was surprised to read that even conventional medical opinion is not against fasting. The sweet spot seems to be between 3 and 4 days so I am going for 3 and a half days this time. I also discovered that all religions seem to have some tradition of fasting to some degree. Why I think it's not incompatable with LCHF is it quickly forces you into burning fat for energy. After about 24 hours moods stabilize and so does energy. The days after the last fast which was just two days felt amazing. Calm and no energy dips or rises. I coincide the fast with my rest week so I'm only doing light yoga at the moment.

My Oscar is back at the importers for repairs. Went in for a replacement heating element and service. I think this is the fourth time in a month it has been back for the same repair. It overheats and blows steam out a safety valve. It seems they are incapable of sorting it out but after R3750 for the original repair I have to keep trying. Thai time they told me there might be something wrong with my electricity. Seems unlikely to me. I run the usual appliances in my house and have never had a problem.

My birthday is 25 December so I have been doing that all my life

Would love one of those. It looks awesome.

I thought they were. Well I won't buy another one. I'm sure my little bit of business won't bother them.

Thanks but I'm not in a fighting mood over it. The machine is working well now and when I upgrade at the end of the year I will just go elsewhere. But thanks for the offer.

I'm not fond of complaining but I had really awful service from that Simonelli dealership in Parkhurst. I practically begged them to phone me back. Asked on at least three occasions for them to call and tell me what was going on. They just never did. The last time they said they would call when the machine was ready. I eventually phoned on Monday and they were like yes it has been running fine on our test bench since last Tuesday. They did at least finally sort it out but it took three goes. Cost almost 4k and took about a month. As I say. I'm not so satisfied with the service. I am currently still looking for my next machine. No it won't be a Slayer. Perhaps one day though.....

Thanks for all the advice. My budget won't include a grinder. I have a decent Simonelli I paid about 12k for. I'm happy with it. Just the machine now

Um. That's like 60K!! It looks lovely but I may go as high as 30k. Don't think I will go to 60K. Too much lying would be required I'm afraid. Even 30 I am having some sales issues with. But thanks for planting the seed.

Need a bit of advice. I bought a Simonelli Oscar from Nuovo Simonelli in Parkhurst about two years ago. It stopped working a little over a month back. Sent it in for a service and a fix. It was apparently the heating element that needed replacing. Cost R3650 to repair and service. New seals, sieve, seal, des ale and so on. Got it back and it worked OK for a few days. Then it started making these loud burping sounds and steam would hiss out from inside the machine. Sometimes go on and on and then trip the power. Turning it on would sometimes trip the power. Took it back and after three days when I phoned was told it is working fine. They could find nothing wrong. Took it back and it's worse. This time shot a video. Took it back yesterday and they admitted they hadn't opened the machine. They just plugged it in and it seemed fine to them. Showed them the video. Made them promise they would phone me to tell me what was going on as so far they have never called or returned a call. So far nothing. So I'm about to give up on it. Will save up and buy a new machine. Not a Simonelli. Or certainly not from these guys. I'm not so happy with the service. My question is what and where from? I'm wanting to spend about R20k. I don't want a grinder on board. I have learnt a lot with the little Oscar but would like to move up a level and keep learning. Any advice would be most appreciated.

Got my Oscar back today. Seems the performance has been slowly falling off over time. It is now amazing. Pulled a great shot and my steaming was the best ever. You don't notice a slow drop on performance very easily. It feels like a new machine to go with my new eyes that have also been slowly degrading over time.

And if they do will that spoil it for you? I don't care how CSA feels or what they bask in. I'm pleased and proud and full of hopes for the South Africans. Actually for all and any Africans as well. I remember how wonderful it was to see Dimpey in yellow in 2013. I never gave the CSA a thought at the time.