Surviving Thanksgiving

Well, the first of the big food holidays is past.  I did most of the cooking even though I initially said I wouldn't.  I mean really, is it fair for someone who only eats a golf ball-sized portion to spend all day cooking?  Actually, when I compare my kitchen stamina with previous years I was able to do a lot more.  My family loves my stuffing.  I have to admit it was delicious.  

When dinnertime came I had some dark turkey meat, small bits of mashed potatoes and stuffing with some gravy.  When everyone was eating their pie I had some sugar free popsicles.  I felt satisfied but not overstuffed like everyone else.  I certainly didn't have turkey narcosis from the L-tryptophan.

More than anything on this day of thanks I was able to focus on the joy of being with my loved ones and thankfulness for a better chance to be around to enjoy them for a longer time. 

I hope all my readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving and will have a joyous holiday season in the next few weeks.  

Love to all, 

Marlena of Mohegan

Gee, I wonder...

Gastrointestinally speaking I have not had a great week.  First, I had a visit from Chuck.  I thought Chuck had forgotten me.  For dinner the other night I had a fish fillet and some broccoli.  Now the broccoli was well cooked but I guess I didn't chew it carefully enough. It took about five rounds with Chuck to get myself unclogged.  I think maybe broccoli and I are no longer friends as it has caused me problems before this. 

That was not the end of my GI troubles.  The lower end had some adventures too.  I will spare my readers the gruesome details.  It is enough to say that on two different days I had events that required great urgency.  Neither of these near disasters happened at home however.  One was at church and one at work.  I was able to manage the episode at church on my own.  At work I was not so lucky.  Fortunately a special coworker of mine came to my rescue and helped me extricate myself from the situation gracefully. 

I thought I might've had an attack of the dreaded Dumping Syndrome because I had eaten a graham cracker shortly before the episode at work.  It turned out not to be the case as I continued to have symptoms for the next 36 hours. 

Tonight, or rather this morning, I went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1.  We arrived at the theater about 90 minutes before the show in order to get good seats.  The movie was 2 hours and 40 minutes long.  I don't remember my bottom feeling so sore from sitting that long in a movie.  I guess it must be because my bottom isn't as well padded as it used to be.  Ah, well.  I'll just bring an extra cushion next time. 

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

Did you kiss a veteran today?

Tonight I took my favorite veteran, my husband of 26 and1/2 years, out to dinner.  Applebees had a special free meal for veterans and current members of the armed forces.  The place was packed.  We had to wait an hour for a table but we met a lovely Scottish lady who kept us entertained.  She was quite a character. 

We had a nice dinner but our server kept asking me if everything was ok.  Finally she asked if there was something wrong with my dinner because I'd hardly touched it.  I explained that I'd had stomach surgery and I could only eat a small portion.  I assured her the  meal was fine and I planned to take the rest home for my lunch tomorrow. 

I had chosen an entree from several that Applebees offers that are Weight Watcher approved.  In NY all restaurants are required to list calorie counts for everything on the menu.  Even before my surgery I was less likely to order a dessert that had a calorie count over 1000 calories per serving.  Now, of course, I don't even think about dessert at all. 

So lovely to go out to eat and not feel guilty about anything!!

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan. 

Onward to the holidays!

Today was my grandson Lorenzo's first birthday.  We had a big party at home and naturally there was lots of food.  I had a few more carbs than usual but I was able to resist birthday cake with ease.  It amazes me to think of all the food we consume  in social situations merely because we think we are expected to eat it.  Nobody minded that I did not eat cake.  There are occasions when we do get pressured to eat something though.

I once had a boyfriend with whom I visited his grandmother on Sunday evenings.  She was Irish but would always fix us Pirogi which for those who don't know is a Polish dish similar to ravioli stuffed with potato, cheese, sauerkraut or all three.  There was always more than we wanted to eat.  Usually for dessert she would give us a dish of chocolate chip ice cream with a side of green jello.  She would start pressuring us if we didn't finish all she prepared.  She would start telling us that she didn't have money to waste and she bought this food especially for us.  Then she would lament that she could not eat all this food herself so we were breaking her heart. 

Other food persuaders might not use the same strategy as grandma did but we all have trouble saying no to friends who make us something special when we come over to dinner.  We don't want to insult anyone's cooking. 

I went to an Italian wedding once where the food started out around 4 pm at the cocktail hour..  There was a huge buffet with more than enough to be called dinner.  The rest of the food was served over the next eight hours.  It didn't seem like a lot of food as each course was graciously  and individually served.  We never felt overly full, just pleasantly satisfied.  My date and I left at midnight although the party showed no sign of winding down.  When we stopped to think of how much food we had eaten during the whole reception we were feeling quite guilty. 

It is so unlike me to be strong in the face of temptation.  I hope I can sustain my resistance to sugar-laden goodies.  I am not even halfway to my weight loss goal.  Before weight loss surgery patients are counseled to expect some periods of depression and feeling of loss.  I have not felt that way yet.  I do miss my morning egg-Mcmuffin and I always seem to hear a McDonald's breakfast commercial on the radio just as I'm driving past McD's on my way to work.  But I have broken the habit of stopping there.  The only thing I ever buy there now is bottled water. 

So as the holidays loom ever closer (at the department stores they're already here) I feel strong yet cautious about all the temptations ahead.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

On Halloween Eve I bought a new broom!

Don't worry, I'm not planning to ride the broom tonight.  Here I am on the first chocolate holiday of the year.  I've had nary a Junior Mint.  I have not tried even one piece of candy since my surgery.  There was that fortune cookie I ate a couple of months ago but that's the closest thing I've had. 

Oh, you say, you've never heard of the chocolate holidays?  I invented the term to describe all holidays for which there is a chocolate candy specifically made for that day.  Naturally there are no chocolate holidays in the summer because of the hot weather.  So Halloween starts off the season which includes Thanksgiving (foil covered turkeys), Hanukkah (chocolate  gelt coins), Christmas for chocolate Santas, Valentines Day and Easter.  Mother's day marks the end of the season not for specific Mother's day treats but just because so many of us get a box of candy when the kids can't think of anything else to buy.  There are now colored M&M's and festively wrapped Hershey Kisses for most of these holidays too.

You must have surmised by now that I am a chocoholic.  I admit it.  I'm in recovery though.  I have not cheated because of the threat of the dreaded dumping syndrome.  I have had chocolate protein powder and protein drinks.  There is sugar free Nestle's Quik for chocolate milk, sugar free fudgesicles and chocolate sugar free pudding.  I've also had sugar free hot cocoa since the weather has turned colder. 

I don't know why I could never have had this strength of will before my surgery.  I've had too many years of chocolate overload.  This year I handed out candy to the trick or treaters and did not even try to smell a candy bar.  It didn't kill me.  It didn't even hurt.  I can do this thing.  I feel great.

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan

Bless my blog.

It's been a long time since I posted anything.  I'm finding that now that I'm back among the working again I am no longer the last one to go to bed in my house.  I liked the solitude of 2am to think and write.  In the evening competition for the computer is at its peak. 

I've been reminded of something I found out a long, long time ago.  Losing weight can make you feel better and live better.  Your life, however, is still your same life.  There are still bills, frustrations and the common cold.  Some days my job just sucks. 

We all seem to think that if only we were thinner, blonder, richer or had a smaller nose everything would be better.   This became very obvious to me the first time I lost a significant amount of weight.  I was 21.  I lost 72 lbs. and thinner than I'd ever been.  Some friends and I were driving to a party one night and on the way another car ran into us.  There were no serious injuries but we were stranded about sixty miles from home.  It was my first car accident and I was really upset that my car was wrecked.  Things worked out all right.  We got a ride home and my car was not a total loss.  When I got it back from the body shop it was as good as new.  I learned that night that thin people don't have a monopoly on happiness. 

On a more positive note, I am down nearly 80 pounds.  Doing my job is a million times easier than it was before I had my surgery.  Even though my work is very stressful at least I don't stress about basic things like breathing.  It's wonderful. 

I'm finding lots of clothes in my closet that I can wear now.  I've had to throw out a big bag of clothing that was too big!  Yeah!  Its great! 

Love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan. 

I'm having a busy week

Since this is my second week back at work and also opera "Hell Week", I haven't spent much time blogging.  I have to admit that the night they started bringing the trapped miners in Chile up to the surface I was up after midnight watching the second miner come out.  It was really terrific.  He brought up some small rocks in a bag and passed out some copper ore to the President of Chile and a few others.  I thought that was a very upbeat thing to do.  It's amazing when the whole world is watching something positive.  It was wonderful to see. 

As for the opera, we are finished with rehearsals.  We have performances on Friday and Saturday nights and Sunday afternoon.  I'm holding up pretty well.  Our last production I had difficulty moving while singing.  I had to make sure I got to the backstage area well before my entrances so that I wouldn't be out of breath when I went on.  I could never have managed working and performing in the same day. 

I passed Dr,. Choi in a hospital hallway the other day.  She said I'm looking great.  I do feel great most of the time.  I've had some back spasms a couple of times.  I don't know what that's about.  Naturally it would be impossible for me to be completely pain-free for any length of time.  I still have arthritis flare ups when the weather is bad. 

I'm managing my meals and snacks with this busy week.  I made a yummy protein shake tonight.  Chocolate flavored protein powder with frozen unsweetened dark cherries with a little sugar free chocolate syrup with milk.  It was almost like eating chocolate covered cherries. 

Many kudos to Amanda, my daughter for feeding the family when I'm so busy.  Love you!

And love to all,
Marlena of Mohegan.