For Valentine's Day, my husband got me a new Fiestaware place setting in my favorite color.
Mar 6
Breakfast: my husband and I go out to the Tastee Diner prior to going to see the new Michael Moore movie. I don't feel like eggs for once, so I get a ham, cheddar, and tomato sandwich on an English muffin (greasy) with a side of (very greasy) home fries. And some decaf coffee, which gets refilled with regular coffee.
At the movies (11:30 am!), we get candy. I have a box of Sour Patch Kids, plus two of my husband's mini Reese's peanut butter cups, which I somehow managed to convince him to buy when initially he said he didn't want anything. I am a bad influence, I think, at times.
Dinner: I asked kid to look at the blog and make sure what I'd said about them recently was okay and not invasive of their privacy. This led to kid reading through lots and lots of blog posts and chortling, as well as reminiscing about various things we have eaten. They were very excited to run across this mention of "oaty eggs" and said accusingly, "You said you'd make them again sometime! But you never did!" So, for dinner, I did. To have enough oaty eggs to feed the three of us comfortably, I actually used an entire dozen eggs, plus 1 1/2 c. of oats and about 3/4 c. of milk. I added a little salt, and I also added some chopped almonds and mango to some of the pancakes. (I found, though, that I preferred them plain.) We ate these with a number of toppings: butter, honey, jam, yogurt, mascarpone cheese in various combinations. Also, we each had an orange on the side.
I'm really glad kid liked the blog and also wasn't upset about anything I said about them. Best kid ever.
Snacks (besides those already mentioned): 3 cups of additional coffee, 2 regular, 1 decaf. Some of a Two-Hearted Ale in the evening.
Mar 7
Breakfast (before work, 7:30 am): last of the leftover grapefruit sorbet; 1 orange; challah pull-apart roll with butter; slivered almonds.
Lunch (when I get off work at 2:30): I am walking home to scarf down a quick lunch before I meet my kid for their dentist appointment, and suffer a moment of weakness as I walk by Capital City Cheesecake. Wouldn't a really good sandwich and chips taste good right about now? Wouldn't it be easier to drink a purchased cappuccino rather than having to go home and make coffee to put in a travel mug? So I go inside and order a toasted ham, cheddar and apple sandwich on sourdough, which comes with a bag of potato chips, and a double cappuccino. This wastes about 15 minutes and has a lot more calories than what I would have eaten if I'd just gone home. Then I have to take it home and stuff it in my face as quickly as possible so I can change my clothes and jump in the car and not be late to the dentist's. It's true that I can carry the cappuccino with me, though. The rest, I didn't give the attention and enjoyment it deserved.
At the dentist's, while kid has their teeth cleaned, I start reading Elaine Gottschall's Breaking the Vicious Cycle. Kid then goes across the street to meet another young genderqueer person, a friend of kid's older stepbrother who has agreed to meet kid and offer them some support and initial pointers. When I stop to think about it, I can't believe I have agreed to let my kid meet a complete stranger at a Panera, but for some reason I am instinctively completely comfortable, and I trust my stepson's judgment. Meanwhile, I go over to Whole Foods and get a decaf coffee and continue reading Breaking the Vicious Cycle. The gist of it seems to be that people with damaged guts lose their ability to digest complex sugars and starches, which then a) do not nourish them, and b) remain in the gut to feed microbes galore, which may overpopulate and/or be pathogenic. So the diet is quite restrictive, and also quite long-term. While it promises eventual healing, the time-frame is measured in years instead of in months or weeks. Most of the individuals referenced in the book have very severe digestive problems such as Crohn's disease or are young children who are failing to thrive. I decide that this is not the most appropriate dietary modification for us, although some of the information about sugars (especially lactose) and starches is interesting and I will file it away to think about. Does this mean I am looking for a "quick fix" for my husband's really longstanding health problems, and am being unrealistic? Yes, probably. But I'm not at all sure that the "slow fix" would work either, and it would certainly diminish our quality of life in the meantime.
Shopping (Whole Foods, after the above; kid joins me as I leave the produce aisle): unsalted roasted peanuts, unsalted roasted cashews, store-brand water crackers, quart of store-brand vanilla ice cream, unsalted roasted almonds, half-pint of organic heavy whipping cream, store-brand flour, small jar of mid-grade caviar (!-- kid begged, as we have never tried caviar. I said, "How about we wait for a special occasion?" Kid said, "it IS a special occasion: my coming out." How could I refuse?), whole wheat lavash bread, roasted pumpkin seeds, two packages Whole Foods fresh gnocchi, can of organic fire-roasted crushed tomatoes, rosemary bakery bread, lactose-free sour cream, pesto, salad from the salad bar, feta crumbles, unsalted butter, package of three red bell peppers, 2 bunches organic mustard greens, two packages frozen spinach (they were out of fresh spinach! Entirely!), Seasnax sesame seaweed sticks, raspberry Bellavitano cheese, brown free-range eggs, Power-C vitamin water (kid's choice), organic yellow bell pepper, boneless chicken breasts, two packages fresh sorrel, 4 rolls Seventh Generation toilet paper, 2 lb. bag yellow onions, organic garlic. $166.
After we get home, kid and I try caviar. I eat it on water crackers with a dollop of sour cream, and it is pretty good this way. Kid eats it straight, or on crackers with no sour cream. Kid says it is salty and they enjoy this. The little jar was just enough for several crackers apiece. Was it worth $30? Not in my opinion. But we had fun doing it.
Dinner: the Whole Foods gnocchi, boiled and served with the pesto we bought and a little extra parmesan cheese. Whole Foods salad bar divided up into three side salads (baby greens and romaine, green and purple cabbage, parsley, green peas, orange bell pepper) and dressed with homemade red wine vinaigrette. The fresh gnocchi were good, but these were marked that they came from some centralized distribution (New Jersey?) rather than being made in-store.
Other snacks besides those described above: 2 other cups of coffee, 1 regular, 1 decaf, with half and half.
Before bed at night, I finished the Elaine Gottschall book and did some more research on the internet. What other gut repair diets are there? The other major one that I found was the GAPS diet, which says that it is derived from Elaine Gottschall's SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet). The GAPS diet itself does not seem that radically different from Gottschall's or indeed Junger's, all of them emphasizing meat, eggs, healthy fats, and vegetables, and eschewing all grains and processed sugars, as well as most dairy. However, it involves an incredibly demanding "Introduction Diet" in which virtually all human sustenance is simply eliminated and then very gradually reintroduced (the pace depending on the individual's own digestive capacity). An initial week (or whatever) of only bone broth infused with sauerkraut juice, interspersed with ginger tea with honey? Yeah, no thanks. And I think my poor husband would agree. Although, I have to say, there is something about such extreme measures that appeals to me.
Breakfast: my husband and I go out to the Tastee Diner prior to going to see the new Michael Moore movie. I don't feel like eggs for once, so I get a ham, cheddar, and tomato sandwich on an English muffin (greasy) with a side of (very greasy) home fries. And some decaf coffee, which gets refilled with regular coffee.
At the movies (11:30 am!), we get candy. I have a box of Sour Patch Kids, plus two of my husband's mini Reese's peanut butter cups, which I somehow managed to convince him to buy when initially he said he didn't want anything. I am a bad influence, I think, at times.
Dinner: I asked kid to look at the blog and make sure what I'd said about them recently was okay and not invasive of their privacy. This led to kid reading through lots and lots of blog posts and chortling, as well as reminiscing about various things we have eaten. They were very excited to run across this mention of "oaty eggs" and said accusingly, "You said you'd make them again sometime! But you never did!" So, for dinner, I did. To have enough oaty eggs to feed the three of us comfortably, I actually used an entire dozen eggs, plus 1 1/2 c. of oats and about 3/4 c. of milk. I added a little salt, and I also added some chopped almonds and mango to some of the pancakes. (I found, though, that I preferred them plain.) We ate these with a number of toppings: butter, honey, jam, yogurt, mascarpone cheese in various combinations. Also, we each had an orange on the side.
I'm really glad kid liked the blog and also wasn't upset about anything I said about them. Best kid ever.
Snacks (besides those already mentioned): 3 cups of additional coffee, 2 regular, 1 decaf. Some of a Two-Hearted Ale in the evening.
Mar 7
Breakfast (before work, 7:30 am): last of the leftover grapefruit sorbet; 1 orange; challah pull-apart roll with butter; slivered almonds.
Lunch (when I get off work at 2:30): I am walking home to scarf down a quick lunch before I meet my kid for their dentist appointment, and suffer a moment of weakness as I walk by Capital City Cheesecake. Wouldn't a really good sandwich and chips taste good right about now? Wouldn't it be easier to drink a purchased cappuccino rather than having to go home and make coffee to put in a travel mug? So I go inside and order a toasted ham, cheddar and apple sandwich on sourdough, which comes with a bag of potato chips, and a double cappuccino. This wastes about 15 minutes and has a lot more calories than what I would have eaten if I'd just gone home. Then I have to take it home and stuff it in my face as quickly as possible so I can change my clothes and jump in the car and not be late to the dentist's. It's true that I can carry the cappuccino with me, though. The rest, I didn't give the attention and enjoyment it deserved.
At the dentist's, while kid has their teeth cleaned, I start reading Elaine Gottschall's Breaking the Vicious Cycle. Kid then goes across the street to meet another young genderqueer person, a friend of kid's older stepbrother who has agreed to meet kid and offer them some support and initial pointers. When I stop to think about it, I can't believe I have agreed to let my kid meet a complete stranger at a Panera, but for some reason I am instinctively completely comfortable, and I trust my stepson's judgment. Meanwhile, I go over to Whole Foods and get a decaf coffee and continue reading Breaking the Vicious Cycle. The gist of it seems to be that people with damaged guts lose their ability to digest complex sugars and starches, which then a) do not nourish them, and b) remain in the gut to feed microbes galore, which may overpopulate and/or be pathogenic. So the diet is quite restrictive, and also quite long-term. While it promises eventual healing, the time-frame is measured in years instead of in months or weeks. Most of the individuals referenced in the book have very severe digestive problems such as Crohn's disease or are young children who are failing to thrive. I decide that this is not the most appropriate dietary modification for us, although some of the information about sugars (especially lactose) and starches is interesting and I will file it away to think about. Does this mean I am looking for a "quick fix" for my husband's really longstanding health problems, and am being unrealistic? Yes, probably. But I'm not at all sure that the "slow fix" would work either, and it would certainly diminish our quality of life in the meantime.
Shopping (Whole Foods, after the above; kid joins me as I leave the produce aisle): unsalted roasted peanuts, unsalted roasted cashews, store-brand water crackers, quart of store-brand vanilla ice cream, unsalted roasted almonds, half-pint of organic heavy whipping cream, store-brand flour, small jar of mid-grade caviar (!-- kid begged, as we have never tried caviar. I said, "How about we wait for a special occasion?" Kid said, "it IS a special occasion: my coming out." How could I refuse?), whole wheat lavash bread, roasted pumpkin seeds, two packages Whole Foods fresh gnocchi, can of organic fire-roasted crushed tomatoes, rosemary bakery bread, lactose-free sour cream, pesto, salad from the salad bar, feta crumbles, unsalted butter, package of three red bell peppers, 2 bunches organic mustard greens, two packages frozen spinach (they were out of fresh spinach! Entirely!), Seasnax sesame seaweed sticks, raspberry Bellavitano cheese, brown free-range eggs, Power-C vitamin water (kid's choice), organic yellow bell pepper, boneless chicken breasts, two packages fresh sorrel, 4 rolls Seventh Generation toilet paper, 2 lb. bag yellow onions, organic garlic. $166.
After we get home, kid and I try caviar. I eat it on water crackers with a dollop of sour cream, and it is pretty good this way. Kid eats it straight, or on crackers with no sour cream. Kid says it is salty and they enjoy this. The little jar was just enough for several crackers apiece. Was it worth $30? Not in my opinion. But we had fun doing it.
Dinner: the Whole Foods gnocchi, boiled and served with the pesto we bought and a little extra parmesan cheese. Whole Foods salad bar divided up into three side salads (baby greens and romaine, green and purple cabbage, parsley, green peas, orange bell pepper) and dressed with homemade red wine vinaigrette. The fresh gnocchi were good, but these were marked that they came from some centralized distribution (New Jersey?) rather than being made in-store.
Other snacks besides those described above: 2 other cups of coffee, 1 regular, 1 decaf, with half and half.
Before bed at night, I finished the Elaine Gottschall book and did some more research on the internet. What other gut repair diets are there? The other major one that I found was the GAPS diet, which says that it is derived from Elaine Gottschall's SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet). The GAPS diet itself does not seem that radically different from Gottschall's or indeed Junger's, all of them emphasizing meat, eggs, healthy fats, and vegetables, and eschewing all grains and processed sugars, as well as most dairy. However, it involves an incredibly demanding "Introduction Diet" in which virtually all human sustenance is simply eliminated and then very gradually reintroduced (the pace depending on the individual's own digestive capacity). An initial week (or whatever) of only bone broth infused with sauerkraut juice, interspersed with ginger tea with honey? Yeah, no thanks. And I think my poor husband would agree. Although, I have to say, there is something about such extreme measures that appeals to me.
Then again, asceticism in general appeals to me.