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My weight continues to drop, although it can vary by about 8 lbs, depending on the state of my bowels. This is not the weight-loss program anyone would volunteer for, folks. The health measurement station in the grocery store sez that my bodyfat is now at the low end of healthy. Hmmm. Doctor sez I'm no longer in the "overweight" category for body mass index. I may have lost as many as 30 lbs in 9 months, since diagnosis of stomach malfunction.
I have just finished reading "The Making of a Chef" by Ruhlman. It's got me pumped up about making and eating fine food. I've given myself the task of learning to make some French sauces. I also made a date at the chef student-served dining room at our local vo-tech school and ate my brains out (metaphorically speaking)two nights ago. Although my innards paid the price, all is calm now and I sure remember that meal.
I'm doing a lot of cooking of garden foods these days. Learning how to avoid "FODMAP" foods is getting easier. (These are malabsorbed sugar molecules that ferment in the gut and that can really bother gastroparesis and IBS patients.) I will intentionally miss apple season entirely this year. Last year, I ate and ate of apples and was incredibly uncomfortable. It's so unfair, because apples are such good food. Apple skins are fiber and apples contain lots of fructose and also sorbitol, which enhances the power of the FODMAPS already in my digestive system. The combo is a one-two punch to the bowels.
I've been boiling down tomato pasta sauce from heritage tomatoes. Some are much sweeter than others. I need to pinpoint the non-sweet varieties so I can buy and plant next year. I've been having a tremendous lot of fun with the heritage tomato plants and with the interesting many-colored pepper plants we bought from Hugo Feed Mill, in Minn. on Hwy 61 north of St. Paul. A worthwhile endeavour, I assure all. "Black plum" roma-style is a particularly funky tomato...it makes a very dark red sauce that I refer to as an "alto" in flavor and is not sweet.
I'm getting tired of ratatouille, eggplant lasagna, impromptu concoctions of rice, tomatoes, eggplant, and summer squash, and caprese salad. I need to hit the recipe books again.
I'm drinking moderately...mostly box wines by Big House. I use the wine in the cooking and can drink a glass or two with little effect on gut. These are cheap in the liquor store right now. Although the alcohol does slow the digestion, it's nothing compared to the slowness induced by the vegetable fibers and the cooking oils. Because of gastroparesis, I try to keep the daily fiber down to 11 g and the oil down to 50g according to the fat secret calculations, but it's tough.
I eat good cheeses. To alter the beer maxim, "Life is too short to eat crappy cheese." Best affordable cheeses in my vicinity are at Burnett County Dairy Store near Grantsburg, Wisc. Their aged cheddars do not bother my lactose problem and they are an affordable luxury. Their AlphaSelect line of cheeses is also wonderful. Sitting on the deck, enjoying a September sunset with a glass of wine and cheese and non-wheat crackers, well, life is good.
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152.8 lb
Lost so far: 24.2 lb.
Still to go: 2.8 lb.
Diet followed reasonably well.
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losing 0.3 lb a week
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