…a distinct lack of keeping up with everyone’s blogs and my own reviewing and such this week. I’m trying to make it to my tests on Thursday without having to rush the date to the doctor’s, and it’s taking some trial and error to figure out what I can eat without having serious problems. As it turns out I’m extremely glad I happened to have review copies of Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Diet and Eat Clean Diet Cookbook—it’s perfect super-low-fat food, which is just right when I’m potentially having gallbladder problems. It’s also surprisingly delicious so far. Most such diet cookbooks are on the bland side for my taste, but so far these aren’t. There’s a parchment-baked fish recipe in there that’s wonderful, despite the fact that white fish isn’t my favorite. There’s also a very simple roasted salmon recipe that’s wonderful.
Along those lines, if you’re having problems with fatty food making you sick, umm, salmon is a REALLY BAD idea. You’d think that’d be obvious, of course. But there I am thinking, salmon’s all healthy, a bit will be fine, right? *groan* Thus ensued much pain and a day of mild fever. (I never claimed to be a rocket scientist, and when I’m tired I’m even worse.) Never got above 99.5 F; if it had broken 100 I probably would have been heading straight for the doctor’s. Anyway, since then I’ve been going back and forth between normal and 99.5, and eating super-low-fat food. We made oat bran bread this weekend from Whole Grain Breads and that was PERFECT.
One thing I find really surprising about all this is how much my body & brain conspire to make me do what’s right. For the most part, with a few exceptions that fool my taste buds (such as the aforementioned salmon), fatty or oily food doesn’t even sound good, much less taste good.
But, I’m also really exhausted through all of this, so I’m getting almost nothing done. I’m sleeping more than anything. I think that’s probably the most frustrating part, as I have a bunch of books I want to read & review, T-shirts to make, a project to work on, gardening I want to do. The cats worry over me, which is really cute. I wake up from a nap sleeping on my side and find one on curled up on my hip and the other on my side.
I am hoping, however, to review Michael Turback’s Mocha tomorrow. I did manage to slip one not-too-fatty last recipe in this weekend (well okay, I also sipped it really slowly and had it in several sittings) and I think we’ve made enough out of the book to review it at this point.
Anyway, none of this is meant to be whining, since gallbladder problems are common and generally not very serious (assuming that’s what’s going on, which seems likely). Partly I’m babbling out of tiredness and partly I wanted to make sure folks weren’t left thinking I’d just abandoned the various things I should be getting done.
Are you absolutely positive that they’re not vampire cats, draining your energy while you sleep?
Either way, I hope you feel better soon!
P.S. I have holy cat litter and garlic-stuffed steaks if you need them.
Hmm. I suppose it could be revenge for not sharing that salmon with them… Perhaps the garlic-stuffed steaks wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Rare, of course.
Hope you’re feeling better soon! 🙁
Hmmm….I totally relate to being out of the ‘reading my favorite blogs’ loop. I have been there for about two weeks. I am thrilled to have a morning to myself today to ‘catch’ up. It is very relaxing for me 😉 Gallbladder problems?? I had them too. About two years ago I finally had mine removed….the spicy chicken from Outback finally did me in 😉
SFC: Thanks Angela!
Danielle: I’m glad you’re getting a chance to relax and catch up. 🙂 It was very relieving to read up on the whole gallbladder thing and find out how common it is; weird symptoms are a lot less scary when you can think of them as “normal,” you know? And oh god, I love Outback, but yeah, that would do it!
Sorry to hear that Salmon bit back– I would have made the same mistake, I think. Fish is lean, right? I guess there’s a reason it’s called Fatty Tuna after all…
Scott: Yeah, I was kind of going, it’s oily, but it doesn’t count, right? I think because generally to prevent gallstone trouble it’s saturated fat and cholesterol that are at issue, but it seems like once you already have trouble, it doesn’t have to be saturated to make you feel cruddy.
Sorry to hear you’ve not been feeling that chirpy. Hope you get better soon.
Hope you get that cleared up soon! I know a few people who have had gallbladder surgery, it’s pretty much outpatient at this point, in and out and you’re done, and they go back to (finally) normal lives afterwards. No fat at all isn’t that good, especially if you have to give up good fats like salmon and olive oil! 🙂
Cynthia: Thank you! No fat today; tests tomorrow; then hopefully they’ll get it cleared up soon.
yunk: Today is my fat-free day before the tests, and it’s certainly a challenge! I never realized that plain old oats had fat in them, so I can’t even have something like oatmeal. So far I’ve nuked some butternut squash and had it with a bit of brown sugar and cinnamon; had an Egg Beater omelet with mushrooms and a bit of cocktail sauce for flavor; and a banana and some tea. I never feel quite full, but at least it tastes good.
Augh. @.@
I hope you feel better soon, hon! ^_^
Thanks Pocky! It’s not too bad as long as I’m careful with what I eat, but it would be nice if the tests would show something so I could stop getting more tests done…