Liquid Diet Challenges and Overcoming Them
Oct 29, 2011
Time is flying! I counting today, I only have 4 days of my liquid diet left! What has it been like? Actually not bad – I love to cook and experiment in the kitchen. I actually love my soups. Especially my curried butternut squash soup – that I thicken, upon serving, with two tablespoons of greek yogurt! YUM! And my homemade cream of broccoli and then my cauliflower soups. Oh my! So good. Now one of my soups was an epic fail. LOL I made a mixed vegetable soup with a bag of stir fry vegetables. I am not sure what when wrong or when it all went bad. But even my boxer (who eats everything) backed away from her food when I poured some on it. Oopsie! LOL.
Over the last 10 days I have gone to McDonalds, Smitty’s, Wendys, Press and Bean and a gala fundraiser (that I organized). At McDonalds and Wendy’s I bought a glucerna(diabetic shake) with me. And it was good. I did not agonize over what the others were eating. I focused on the company and the conversation. It was okay. I went to Press and Bean with a good friend and support of my fundraising work. It was not hard to find a meal to eat there. They had a really nice creamed vegetable soup – it was made with Cream so they thinned mine with a little broth and I ate about ½ the serving. I was satisified – not full- when I stopped. That is a feeling I am slowly getting used to...
The Gala – the hardest liquid diet day by far – I had ordered stuffed Cornish hens- a wonderful chocolate mousse an could not have a taste. The wonderful staff at Glendenning did make me a homemade beef broth, which was delicious. But it was NOT Cornish hen with wild rice stuffing. Chicken is my favourite food. I wanted it. I left my table pretending there was a matter for the organizer to attend to..I wandered until the plates were cleared. I did okay but I struggled this night. I wanted the bird like there was no tomorrow. I would have gotten up on the stage and did the chicken dance to have one. I was tempted but I did not think that it would help plead my case with Raleen and Rhoda. I knew it would also slow the shrinking of the liver. See these were no ordinary Cornish hens....the emcee referred to them as Cornish turkeys. Oh my not even a taste.... Guess what I am making myself when this diet is over...LOL
For the most part – I am focusing on the foods I can have. I always try to focus on the positive it is what keeps me going. My soups are good, the protein pudding recipe is good, my shakes are good. I have to find the low calorie Tropicana – I now have a recipe for a creamsicle shake- I really want to try it. I will just a small bit at first to see what it does to my sugars.
I feel my liquid diet has been a huge success. I was my personal challenge to incorporate this in my life. My life is busy, hetic, full of meetings and temptations. If I am going to succeed I can’t hide away during this time. I need to look temptation in the face and say “SCREW YOU” I actually do say that (well not always out loud) and it helps. Looking at my friends angus beef burger and saying SCREW YOU to the burger felt good and made me smile. Now I can say that out loud to my friends...at the gala not so much.
What are my tips for the liquid diet
1) Plan – plan your meals, plan your snack.
2) Make your own soups – so easy, hardly any time and so MUCH better than anything out of a box
3) Search recipes for your shakes...who says that you have to have the same shake all the time
4) Unflavoured protein powder is versatile – I put it in my soups, jello, puddings. There are so many different ways to get your protein in!
5) Track your foods. Make sure you are getting enough and not too much protein (I taking in too much at first and had to regroup a little)
6) Ricotta and cottage cheese really help mix things up!
One thing I have not checked on and I must – I want to know if Kozy Shack sugar free tapioca pudding can be eaten in the liquid diet phases. I hope the answer is yes.
My solid meal for after the two week diet – skinless chicken, brussell sprouts, and broccoli with some swiss cheese melted over the veggies. I am a geek I know. But this is what I WANT!
And so far on my liquid diet I have lost over 13 lbs and 4 days to go! That is a whopping total of 30.6 pounds gone in the last 5 weeks! Tracking and walking are my secrets to success!!! I also have a fierce determination to take my life back, becoming healthy and move on. I see surgery as a tool to achieve that - not the be all and end all solution. I guess that right now I see myself as an apprentice, a student - studying hard and learning all I can about what life will be like. I know I have to work my sleeve (when I get it) it will not be able to do the work it on its own. Just like a hammer is useless unless you use it right so is a sleeve. So it is my goal to learn as much as I can in these two weeks, to live as normal as possible and learn techinques that will help ensure my success. And more importantly - a long, healthy life!
