My Friday and Saturday

The nursing home chapel. My wife wanted me to take a picture of it, so I did. She has only seen it once, and that was when we took her outside the first week she was there. She hasn't been off her floor since, and won't be again until she dies.

When I got my orientation about dietary requirements, dos and don'ts way back before my surgery, I took in a lot of information. I had been given many lectures and paperwork to help me in my journey. But, much of that information was useless before the surgery.
Information about vitamins, minerals, utensils, liquids, etc. didn't mean much because I didn't need to follow that to be comfortable. I hadn't had the surgery yet, so the information was just floating around, waiting.

In the lecture about liquids, I almost changed my mind about getting the surgery. How could you not drink something with your meal? How could you not have a drink after your meal for at least an hour?
Now the great thing about the surgery, is that you can't cheat with drinking, or you pay the price, heavily (no pun intended).
Well, one other part of the information, was that because you could only take in so much at one time, you had to learn how to sip, not gulp liquid. As with everything before, when I could inhale a quarter pounder, and a large coke just washed it down, this didn't make sense. Afterwards, was a different story.
So, the rules are:

• No liquids 15 minutes before a meal, or one hour after a meal.
• You should consume the equivalent of a half gallon of liquid a day.

So, just when can you stop thinking about your stomach, food and liquid, and just relax?
Never!

Well, smart ass me, has always adapted the rules to fit my needs and wants. Always. I have never accepted everything they tell me. They represent everything I hate about the world. They are the cause of all my troubles, not me. Not little old me. I'm not to blame, they are!

So, in order to adapt, I came up with this plan. Feel free to try it.
Protein drinks:

• The instructions on the container tell you to add the powder to 8 ounces of water. If I did this, I would need a lot of protein drinks in order to get to a half gallon of liquid. I would also be adding more calories to my diet.

I don't like water. Just plain water is not good to me. I don't like plain water. Here's what I do:

• I like chocolate.
• I get a one quart shaker bottle.
• I add two scoops of protein powder, usually chocolate or one of it's variations.
• I fill the bottle with decaf coffee, or add a small amount of regular coffee.
• I add a packet of sweetener (usually sweet and low).

I mix it and drink the whole thing out on my porch while watching the scenery or surfing the web over a 20 minute period.

I drink a second bottle later in the day, of crystal light. I use two different containers, and I have them in the fridge ahead of time.
The chocolate protein gets watered down a bit, so the coffee and sweet and low give the illusion of a thicker, stronger liquid.
I get my protein and liquid requirements in two drinks.
That makes a few minutes a day when I don't have to think about eating or drinking.
So, I beat them at their own game. Take that, them!

I plan my drinking sprees so I can hit the bathroom an hour afterwards. Driving a bus doesn't allow for going when you have to, so I sometimes carry the bottles with me and drink when I know I can hit the bathroom at the scheduled time. That sometimes means letting the drink sit for awhile before drinking.
Any other liquid I drink during the day, and I do drink more than my required half gallon, just to be safe, is a plus. I make sure that I only have one protein drink per day because of the excess calories, and possibility of a slight amount of sugar added to the protein powder by the manufacturer.
I was adding protein powder to my yogurt in the morning, but have stopped that in favor of adding fiber supplement instead. I get my protein allowance every day. I make sure of that.
This morning, for example, I added claw crab meat to my omelet. I also had a small piece of lox with it. Plenty of protein there!
I may fiddle some more with my liquid sometime down the road if I ever tire of chocolate........shudder..........I will never tire of chocolate!