DAY 37: EATING AGAIN
April 15, 2022 ~ Friday
Refeeding Update: Day 4 of 14. First day of phase 2: Raw Fruits and Vegetables
I was going to just simply write what I did today, but because many of you wanted the nitty gritty with of my experiences here at TrueNorth, I will first try to describe a lesson learned in how Satan catches us “unaware”. This is a small lesson, no biggie, but a lesson none the less. My perspective in life is that coming from Christ and that Christianity should be lived, do I always live as Christ would have me live? No, but I will never stop trying. I will endeavor to apply this type of resolve to my dietary life and strive to eat how my body needs me to eat to live a long and productive life. So, what the heck did I miss? What came at me sideways when least expecting it?
The buffet table.
At TrueNorth there is a small room where the food is displayed in buffet style and you can make choices from what is offered. All the food is whole plant based SOS free (no added salt, oil, or sugar) so the choice should be safe and simple. But is it?
I just spent 28 days fasting. I was good at it. Now, I have to start eating again. The very thing that got me into this mess. I am not sure footed in how I make my choices. Back home, I have plans in place that worked before I came here. I was following the diet and lost 25 pounds. I will go back home and keep right on going. But today, I did not have a plan for that buffet table.
The “sin” (said she with a smile) was choosing too much fruit in addition to what the doctor had send to my room. Today, I did not understand what he was doing but I understand now. By the end of the day my palate was so upset with me as I had just eaten way too much sweet. Imagine, with nary a candy bar in sight, Retta managed to eat too much “sugar” and viewing one more bite of fruit was sickening. No, my glucose was not up out of sight. We are talking about 120. As I write this, it is now down under 100. Normal for having eaten a meal. No damage done.
However, tomorrow is a new day and armed with this information about myself, this is the plan for that buffet table: ONLY eat the raw vegetables in the buffet and the 3 fruit bowls from the doctor. I will not make this “mistake” twice! And I have requested a cup of hot broth each morning to replace the habit of having coffee each morning. There is something to be said of a hot cup of liquid in the morning. Very comforting. This means I will not even go to the buffet table until that broth is gone which means I will not be hungry until mid-morning. Then I will have more control.
And I can hear you all now. Broth to replace coffee. Yes, my palate has changed, remember? The broth is infinitely more nutritious. And as you will see below, I now know how to make a whole pot of it in 30 minutes.
Raw Food: The past 3 days the juicer was masticating my vegetables and fruit. The next 3 days I must be masticating them myself. I do not mean, yes, chew your food. I mean they want you to pulverize it before swallowing. The intent is to fill the gut with the right kind of fiber that will feed and encourage the right kind of bacteria to grow back. I am tasting flavors in these fruits and vegetables that I have never experienced. I can eat a salad without dressing. The food does taste better but I still dislike fresh celery. Cooked is fine but I am not there yet! Red and green peppers are indeed sweeter but still cause burping. And zucchini has a nutty flavor to it that I had not noticed before.
Shower: I had not had a full shower since I started fasting. In fact, I was ordered to take “no” showers. But today was the day! It was so nice. I was tired by the end of it. During the fast, I washed my hair once a week, by bending over the bathtub. And took sponge baths. Taking a shower was actually exhausting so no temptation to do one.
Bed changed, Laundry done: Since this was the first real day of eating something I also got my laundry done and asked for the sheets to be changed. They also did a general cleaning of the room. The kitchen and housekeeping staff are wonderful people!
Daily refeeding numbers: Weight-176.9 Weight loss since adopting diet-58.1 BP-109/75 Heart rate-71 Oxygen level-97 Temperature-98.3 Glucose-140 Sleep-3.45 One minute pulse rate-steady 72. Muscle pain level-0 (scale 1-10) Energy level-8 (scale 1-10).
My Comments: It was a good day! I did a lot: got food from buffet; ate with friends, read a book in the courtyard, watched the Mandalorian, attended a cooking demo, visited with friends in the court yard. Tomorrow, I will be walking around the block with some new friends. Such a care free life here in the sanatorium! Dr. Streutker is still watching but I need him less and less. He took a picture of me with others in the courtyard. I have included it below.
Cooking Demo: Chef Bravo showed us how they make the vegetable broth. It is a simple process. What scraps do you have on hand? There are things you do not use like artichokes or onion peels. It takes about 30 minutes to cook it. A lot less time than for a beef broth or stock. The bones need time to brake up. Like hours and hours. The veggie broth can be stored up to 5 days in the fridge or frozen for later use. One thing to remember is to let it cool before it is put in the fridge. For home cooks this is not a big deal. For the TrueNorth kitchen where they make huge 22 quart pots, they have tricks to cooling it down. One is using a “cooling stick” created for the very purpose of cooling at huge pot of liquid down. They are frozen the night before and placed in the pot when the broth is done. Kind of like an ice cube.
