Archive | Food RSS feed for this section

The newly wired life

8 Apr

My mouth has started to feel sore, but I’m not too worried because my mouth used to feel this way all the time when I had orthodontic braces and went in to have them adjusted. My tongue is adjusting to having wires on the bottom of my mouth. I don’t really understand how this is possible, but I haven’t been able to find any wires on the top of my mouth.

The oral surgeon called this evening to check in with me, which was nice. He was able to understand me, which I found impressive (he said he had plenty of practice). He repeated some things which he had apparently told me earlier when I wasn’t alert enough to remember them. He told me that the procedure went well and that he was able to get the bone exactly where he wanted it. He also talked to me about the Zip-N-Squeeze bags he gave me for taking in purees and liquids. I actually haven’t tried to use them yet; I’ve just been drinking through a straw.

One consequence of having my jaw wired is that I now have to crush my Vicodin tablets before I take them. This certainly isn’t a difficult task, but I’ve found that whatever I take it with tastes very bad.

There is some good news, which is that I can now tilt my head back without any pain.

Nightmare scenario

8 Apr

Lately, I’ve become worried about the possibility that my blender might break. Mine is definitely a low end model, and even when I bought it, I saw several reviews complaining that it hadn’t lasted long. I’ve only had it for a couple of months, but it’s going through a period of heavy use. If it does break, I’ll probably be able to replace it eventually, but until then I’ll be on a diet of soy milk and soy protein powder. I’m certainly not afraid of soy, but I prefer to avoid the whole monoculture thing.

Tags: , ,

Nourishment

7 Apr

Keeping myself nourished is already proving to be something of a challenge. I’ve been taking in two kinds of liquid food: canned soups pureed in my blender and smoothies. I like soups, but they aren’t that filling. Having more than one can of soup raises concerns about excessive sodium intake. I may have to find some low sodium soups. As for smoothies, I’ve been making them with soymilk, soy yogurt, soy protein powder, bananas, and sometimes frozen fruit. Here my concern is taking in too much soy. I certainly don’t buy the anti-soy propaganda that’s out there, but I do tend to try to avoid consuming too much of anything. With the yogurt, protein powder and milk, one of these smoothies could easily have three or four servings of soy in it. Even with all that soy protein, I seem to need more than three meals a day, so it could come out to quite a few servings of soy each day. I did buy a few individual serving packets of rice and hemp protein powders, so I’ll have to try those out. I also have a little bit of rice milk in the refrigerator, so I can use that instead of soy milk in a smoothie or two, but I always find rice milk to be less filling than soy, so that won’t necessarily help the problem at all.

A failed experiment

7 Apr

I had some kale and about a third of a block of tofu in my refrigerator, so I tried steaming the kale and adding it and the tofu to a smoothie last night. The result was pretty unpalatable, so I ended up dumping it and making a more conventional smoothie.

Tags:

Monday shopping

6 Apr

I made a quick stop at the Safeway across the street from my dentist’s office after my appointment so that I could buy some full-sized straws. I also ended up buying some bananas for smoothies and some chocolate soymilk, which was on sale.

After a brief stop at the office to arrange a ride home from the oral surgeon’s after my procedure, I went to Walgreens. There I acquired a Water Pik (I opted for a cordless model since my bathroom doesn’t have any outlets), a two-pack of children’s toothbrushes, and a package of little brushes, called Brush Picks and made by a company called DenTek. Although nobody had suggested this last item to me, I bought it because the brushes reminded me of some brushes that I used to use when I had orthodontic braces. They came eight to a package, and each one has a small brush at one end and a flexible pick at the other end. Eight is more than I’ll probably need, but this was the only size package I could find.

I then caught a bus to Whole Foods Market, where I purchased soy protein powder, antibacterial soap, natural mouthwash (Tom’s of Maine brand) and a couple of Amazake smoothies. I bought some frozen fruit with the dual purpose of adding to smoothies and icing my jaw on the bus ride home.  I also looked for a calcium supplement, which proved to be harder than I thought. The supplements were organized by brand, so I had to look through each brand separately (rather than finding all of the calcium supplements in one place). I couldn’t find one that was specifically labeled as being vegan, and eventually an employee came over and asked if I needed any help. I told her what I was looking for, and she told me that calcium citrate should be vegetarian. I didn’t have the energy to explain the difference between veganism and vegetarianism, but I was baffled that somebody working in the supplement section of Whole Foods in Berkeley could lack that knowledge. She started pointing out different supplements to me, but I had already decided that she wasn’t going to be much help. Eventually, she left to check on something else (for which I was relieved), but she told me she would come back. I managed to find a supplement whose ingredients looked vegan (although it was only labeled as “Suitable for Vegetarians” and free of dairy). It seemed good enough, especially given the circumstances, so I took it to checkout and paid.

Tags: , ,

Newer Entries →