By This Time Next Week...

...my surgery will be done with and I'll probably be resting.  Apparently I'll feel okay by the next day, but I haven't ever had this type of surgery before and I've got no idea how long it will take to recover. 

This is my last week to enjoy solid foods until early September.  For 1-2 weeks after surgery I'll be on a liquid diet (the first two days clear liquids only), and the following week I'll be on a puree diet.  I've got specific goals I have to meet each week before I can move on to the next stage.  For the first stage I need to consistently drink 64oz of fluids per day.  For my pureed diet it's being able to eat 3 meals per day, for my semi-solid diet it's chewing my bites 30 times, and once I'm back on solids it's resting between each bite.  Each stage is designed to help me get used to my new stomach, or 'pouch', without hurting myself.  Hopefully by the time my birthday hits I'll be able to eat regularly and I might even be able to enjoy a literal (small) bite of cake.  It will be glorious.

For the moment I'm slogging through the high-protein/low-carb meals.  I've got a good system going on now, but this is definitely not the diet for me.

I've given a lot of thought to how I want to eat once I'm back on solid food.  I've never been a fan of the 'fad' diet, but I do think there is some good that can come out of having a limited set of daily foods to build a healthy diet around. I'll have to wait and see what works for me once I'm adjusted to the band.

Last Meal: Estancia Churrascaria.
E decided that for my penultimate last meal we should eat at this delicious restaurant.  For those who are unfamiliar with Brazilian steakhouses let me paint you a picture.  After your waiter takes your drink order you're directed to a large salad bar with a variety of tasty (so I'm told) vegetables, cheeses, and cured meats.  Once you've had your fill of roughage, your waiter brings out a clean plate and the feast truly begins. 

Each diner has a card that is red on one side and green on the other.  As you flip your card over to green you're swarmed by servers with long skewers of smoking, steaming, glistening, and aromatic meats.  Bacon wrapped filet mignon, pork tenderloin covered in parmesan, pork sausage, garlic sirloin, beef ribs, leg of lamb, juicy chicken breast...yum.  This all you can (m)eat extravaganza continues until you turn your card over.  At this point you tuck in, but the wise take their time and eat each cut slowly so as to savor the meat and pace themselves for more.

We invited two friends along, A and J, who both appreciate the finer qualities of the churrascaria.  We first ate there of A's birthday a few months ago, and after stuffing myself full of beef, chicken, and pork I wondered where these restaurants had been all my life.

Obviously a place that serves mostly meat (they also have mashed potatoes, polenta, fried bananas, and cheese rolls - foods meant to fill you up) was a perfect choice for me given my current dietary restrictions.  Estancia is a thing of beauty and I've developed a fine method for eating as much meat as possible (hint: eat light before hand, pace yourself, avoid the filler, only get 2-3 meats at a time.)

As amazing as Estancia was on Sunday I learned a good lesson that I need to keep in mind over the coming months.  I ate a lot of food.  Too much.  For the rest of the day I felt sluggish and had the meat sweats.  After working on ways to control my portions and pay attention to when I'm actually getting full, eating a meal without observing those techniques really wasn't a good idea.  I ignored them intentionally because I knew that this would be the last time I could eat that amount of food in one sitting.  While I was uncomfortable I don't regret eating that much.  It made me reflect on how not so long ago I would eat like that daily.  I appreciated one last face-stuffing, but I'm glad to say that I could do without that again. 

Who knows? Maybe by Thanksgiving I'll be able to eat a whole 6" diameter plate's worth of food!