Real Food

I will talk about Real Food in just a little while since it has taken up most of my time the last three days. But first, I will quickly try to recap what has happened to me in the past week.

Last Thursday I was able to get outdoors to finish mowing the rest of the property.  I spent the afternoon making up those four birthday cards that needed to get in the mail. Also on Thursday, I had a visit from long standing neighbours who were good friends to my husband and I for a number of years. They have both fostered and adopted children of the Children's Aid Society for as far back as we have known them, and in fact still do.  He is also a carpenter by trade and has done us many favours over the years. Shortly after losing Rick, he came to visit me and informed me that his wife had had a stroke. What a shock. These are not old people I am talking about. They are maybe in their fifties. She has been progressing well with physio, but when they came for the visit this past week, it was to tell me that he has cancer in his throat, jaw, head and in some of his lymph nodes. It is progressing quickly and he is already on morphine for the pain. I feel sick. They still have young kids at home.

On Friday, two friends of mine came over to the house, with lunch for all of us, and helped me clear a few flower beds of weeds. It was a huge big job. These were beds that I haven't been able to take care of for a couple of years. I had to take down some trees that had taken root because they were growing too close to the foundation of the house. We pulled out weeds that were taller than us. I told you I have some lovely friends.

On Saturday, the same two friends picked me up and took me to Bath where the Tall Ships were docked. With passports that were gifted to us by another dear friend, we were able to take tours of some of the ships and see some re-enactors from the Loyalist Days. I have lots of photos to share in another post.

We arrived in the morning and got to tour the boats early before the crowds got too bad, visited some of the craft vendors who had set up, had lunch at one of the many food trucks, talked with the re-enactors about their costumes and accoutrements, and finally visited some of the shops on the main street. We were inside one of the shops when we got a terrific thunder storm with hail and damaging winds. Many people were caught by surprise. We stayed inside until the storm passed and left for home after 3 PM. But we didn't go home because the sun came out and it was fantastic weather. So we decided to go to Napanee to the Waterfront  patio restaurant to have dinner. Besides having a gorgeous view of the water, we sat beside a huge water feature. We each had a different dinner salad  and each of us thought we had the best salad the restaurant had to offer. So delicious.

Sunday was spent on the phone with family, I did two loads of laundry and I downloaded all my photos of the day before. I had a nap in the afternoon, and rested.

Monday was spent outdoors pulling weeds again (more than two hours worth) from the driveway, and I trimmed grass from around the front lawn. My son and his GF came over after lunch for a visit. I did not write my Daybook like I planned, nor did I post my blog about the Tall Ships Adventure. On Tuesday, I had an early morning appointment with my GP, and this is where the Real Food Diet comes into play. For decades, I have been "pre-diabetic". My file has been flagged accordingly, so my blood work always requires a sugar analysis. Well, I knew it would be high. I think I even mentioned it in a blog just a little while back, that the Doctor's office would be calling me for an appointment soon. And they did. I have been eating a lot of carbs in the evening to feel better and to fill the void in my life. I was expecting a lecture from my new doctor about weight and exercise and yet another glucose test. But no. She surprised me by presenting this Real Food Diet,( also high fat, low carbs diet) She took my weight, BP, measurements and presented me with handouts and a web-site to research. She told me it flies in the face of everything I have been doing to this point, and I should follow it. It is such a challenge, that I am keen on trying it. She will see me in 6 weeks. It is NOT the Diabetic exchange diet that you may be following. In fact, it sounds counter productive. I can almost hear my arteries clogging up as I write this.

Calories come from meat and fat. Carbs come only from above ground veggies and berries.  I cannot have any grains at all....no bread, no cereal, no legumes, no flour. Occasionally I may have some root veggies, but sparingly. Some fruit like clementines and melons can be eaten, again sparingly. Fat is eaten as high fat dairy, extra virgin olive oil, avocado, coconut oil, butter and lard. I had another specialist's appointment yesterday afternoon, but the last three days have mostly been spent researching, printing recipes and coming up with a new grocery shopping list. Yesterday I bought cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, avocados, mushrooms, spinach, lettuce, celery, tomatoes, cucumber, zucchini and yellow squash, green onions, peppers,  shallots (turnip and  sweet potato as a change). I bought 2 lbs. of butter, 2 cartons of regular cream cheese, 4 pints of heavy whipping cream and  2 litres of whole milk. I already have mozzarella and cheddar cheese and I still have some specialty cheeses in my freezer from the Cheese festival. Today I washed, sliced, chopped, or shredded  most of the vegetables. I made the homemade mayonnaise which is used in a lot of the recipes. I boiled some eggs to keep in the fridge. I used a clear turkey broth I made for a soup thick in veggies and turkey with just a few pieces of carrot. It has mostly zucchini, green beans, cherry tomatoes, and broccoli. It is a good thing I have all my meat bought in the freezer, because I have had to spend almost $80 more.

I am drinking tea, both hot and iced with no sweeteners. I am allowed to take sweetener, but only with protein. So breakfast today was 2 eggs plus the egg white left over from making the mayonnaise, spinach wilted in butter and grated cheese and my cup of coffee with whole milk and sweetener.

Lunch was my bowl of soup and three sandwiches made with romaine lettuce leaves wrapped like a tortilla around a slice of turkey breast which was wrapped around a piece of cheddar.

Dinner will be leftover from last night....a salmon fillet, broccoli and mashed sweet potato. I will make a salad with the romaine, tomato, green onion, cucumber, avocado and cherry tomatoes with a olive oil vinaigrette.

I am crossing my fingers. I have avoided sugar in the past, and I know the longer I stay away from sugar, the easier it is to not have any cravings. The fat stays with me longer so I am feeling full for longer periods. It is so crazy, it just might work. Wish me luck.