The DietChef Thing: Day 15.

Hey everyone.

Today has been very good on the whole, only marred by really nasty bone pain, mostly in my legs, but we carried on regardless, or as regardless as we could.

I am actually fairly bright eyed and bushy tailed when I wake up, for a change. Due to a hormonal imbalance, just one more of the things about my body that doesn't work as it should, my energy levels in the morning are, in a doctor's own words. "Pretty shitty, like an old banger coughing and spluttering as it tries to start up." Now she said that, not me. She never spoke a truer word! I had to laugh though. She was a lovely young Malaisian girl and had none of the mealy-mouthed vagueness and reserve I'd mostly seen in doctors up to then. There was no doubt that she'd hit to the heart of the matter and told it like it was. On most mornings I do feel like an old banger, coughing and spluttering as it tries to start. But this morning I feel quite perky and bouncy, so I bounce, with Karen's help, off to a nice shower.

When we get me settled in my usual place we sort out today's food, ooh, some new things and some old favourites, that's good. Chocolate Granola and yogurt for breakfast, I make short work of that. I'm longing for the day, maybe a couple of months down the road, when I can lift the restrictions and have a few berries on top to make a bit more moistness. I'll probably go for blueberries or pomegranate seeds. I'd rather have strawberries, but that would mean Karen would have to slice them up, we'll see what happens. Mind you, strawberries are quite low in calories, once you take away all that sugar and cream.

After breakfast I have work to do. I get Sharlice, my virtual phone baby for the week, ready for the day, I do a few jobs, do my usual nerdling about on Twitter, then this pesky bone ache starts up and my head decides to join in. Sometimes when I hurt I can distract myself with music, movies, radio plays, books, whatever. Holding the little ones helps a lot too. When it gets really bad, like my legs have been today, I just put some nature sounds on, curl myself up and imagine myself somewhere else.

I think everyone deals with pain in different ways, and most of the time distracting myself, or merely ignoring it and getting on with things works for me. Sometimes though you just have to grit your teeth, put on something peaceful or even turn everything off, and blindly endure it. Or I have to. Just ride it through until it goes away. Because everything you try makes it hurt worse. That's another weird thing about pain. How can things unrelated to it make it hurt worse? But they do. the lightest touch, the softest spoken word, the quietest sound, the gentlest movement of the air or of the furniture you're sitting or lying on, it can set off a chain of unbearable ripples of throbbing agony. Sometimes meds won't touch it. Sleep might cure it, or it goes with time. It's a frightening thing to live with because it's so implacable, if that's the right word to use. It seems to have its own steely will, though of course it doesn't, but it feels that way because it always seems to come when you least want it. You feel it crawling up the back of your neck, or inching up your arms and legs, and you think to yourself: "Oh please, not now, don't start up now, I've got so much to do today, I wanted to go out, I've got this, that, the other I want to get done." But nothing will stop it, and you're always having to cancel things, and half the time people think you're exaggerating and think you're being vapourish and hypochondriac, or being an attention seeker, and oh! it can be hard sometimes. I think about my many blessings, my wonderful husband, my loving friends, my littles, my work, so much more, and of all the people who are battling much worse than I'll ever have to fight, and think I'm a poor pitiful and pathetic creature to snuffle over a bit of Migraine and bone ache. But I do sometimes long for the days when I didn't have a load of meds in my bathroom, when I could plan an outing a week or a month in advance and positively know I'd be well enough to go on it. When my stomach wouldn't drop with acid, cold, aching fear when I saw lights flash behind my eyes or I felt those tell tale twinges in my limbs.

Anyway, that is quite enough of this kind of maundering. I am allowing myself the indulgence of writing down thoughts which I normally don't utter here, but we mustn't stray too far off the beaten track. I am feeling a bit better by lunchtime and it is one of my best soups today, Curried Parsnip, so that cheers me up even more. As I heat and eat it I marvel at the fact that I am eating three nice meals a day, plus a snack, I haven't eaten three meals a day since I was at school, or just after! I know the routine of set meals at set times is what is really helping me not to be hungry all the time, like I have been on every single other diet I have ever been on. And then of course it's so easy. All the work has been done for me. All I have to do is heat it and eat it.

The afternoon passes in more things I need to do, some Emails, talk with friends, some Twitter, my usual leisurely style. I'm looking forward to dinner, it's Chicken Chasseur tonight, this is going to be a whole chicken breast, not chunks. It's cooked with onions, mushrooms and potatoes in a rich wine sauce. Finally it's six O'clock, I cook my dinner and my serving of fresh spring greens. and sit to the table.

First bite: yum yum! the chicken is lusciously tender, the sauce, after my usual sprinkle of salt, is rich, winey and delicious. The cubes of potato have held up well to the long, slow cooking it has had. the onions and mushrooms have been cut up very small, but they've given the gravy a lovely rich taste. I'm glad I decided to reorder a few of these on spec, before I'd tried them, as I knew there was a whole chicken breast inside and I thought I'd like them. The crunchy greens are a perfect foil to the lovely tender casserole and I am well pleased. My plate is, as ever, sparkling by the time I am done.

My noble husband is teaching a webinar training course this evening, so I listen to a radio play on headphones and try to be as quiet as a mouse. By the time he is done it is practically tea and snack time. Something new tonight, the oaties I love, but with berries in.

First bite: yum, but not as yum as the chocolate ones. I never have liked fruit in cookies, it cooks too much and goes like toffee and gets a burnt taste. Having said that though, I don't know why, but this tiny pack of oat cookies fills me up more than either the chips or the popcorn does. I wonder whether I should adjust my order and get more. I'll think of that, I still have two kinds of oaties to try. If I really like them maybe I'll go ditch the chips, I like them but I can live without them, and I have to have more caramel popcorn! I really really do!

So there you are, that's my day, sorry for the long diversion as well as the food news, but as the new things get less you might get more diversions, but I hope they won't all be slightly gloomy ones like that. In spite of the bone pain it's been a good day, I've felt up in myself, I've kept on track and I can feel the forward momentum still going forward. Long may it continue! Time to hire a Nanny for Sharlice and find a nice book and a soft pillow for myself. Goodnight everyone.

Food eaten today.

Breakfast: Chocolate Granola, plain, no fat yogurt.

Lunch: Curried Parsnip Soup.

Dinner: Chicken Chasseur, serving of sliced spring greens.

Snack: Oat Cookies with Berries.

Drinks: Tea, no milk or sugar.

Bad? no.

Are you hungry? no.

Mood? Good.

Music: John Pizarelli, I'm In the Mood for Love.