food....it's a good thing.

i have always loved food. my nana (metcalf) used to correct me...'you love people, you LIKE food.' that was her mantra. sorry, nana. i love people and i love food. and i have always loved 'good' food...fresh spinach, warm baguettes, organic peanut butter, steamed clams, unsalted butter, raspberries and peaches...oh, and corn on the cob. and pie. the list goes on. i have eaten plenty of  unhealthy food over the years, too. hot dogs. french fries. ramen noodles. boxed macaroni and cheese. the rare meal of hamburger helper and the odd box of instant potatoes. and candy and cookies and marshmallow fluff. i wish i'd eaten better the past 58 years because i am now enduring reflux/gerd and  pancreatitis and a host of digestive maladies. i am now paying for the years of poor food choices. 





i thought of food so much this past month. the hospital meals were not great but not awful. the rehab served a delicious jicama/carrot slaw  with a grey mystery meat that i ignored. the nurses kept me supplied with packets of peanut butter and stashes of graham crackers. gary smuggled in menudo, caldo de res, and ritz crackers. my sister, dee, sent me amazing things like maple sugar fudge,
along with books and magazines. but i missed fresh herbs and fresh vegetables.

i was 'irregular' due to pain meds and bland foods so i was given lots of softeners and miralax. instead of increasing fluids and fiber, they gave me pills. i came home feeling  sick to my stomach. yesterday, gary shopped and we stockpiled fresh fruit and vegetables. i had fresh watermelon with my green chile hamburger for supper. i ate a peach and an orange and a spoonful of organic peanut butter. i have just eaten  a tub of bacteria-rich yogurt followed bya glass of almond milk. i have a pot of homemade chicken and brown rice soup simmering on the stove. my stomach finally feels better. oh, and wait until i attack gary's banana cream pie he has stored in the fridge. not exactly a healthy food but  i prefer to think of it as potassium packing......and i need the calcium, too!