Urgh
(Yes, another sicky post. Nothing too graphic in this one, though. Really.)
One of the minor things they noticed when doing bloodwork on me at the ER was that my serum levels of protein and calcium were slightly low — not dangerously so, but a tad below the normal range. My guess is that it’s because of the fact that the coughing bug I picked up over Thanksgiving has killed my appetite for the past two weeks, so balanced meals have been few and far between, and I’ve been averaging maybe 1.5 meals (nutritious or otherwise) a day. Yeah, my diet has been crap. It hasn’t been helped by my getting home so late, so that if I prepare a normal meal, I won’t be eating until nearly 8:00, and forget actually preparing a meal to bring with me the next day. Except for the lunch out with my parents on Friday, veggie consumption has dwindled to a handful of baby carrots a day, fruit consumption is maybe a glass of hot cider, and I’ve just stuck some veggie cold cuts or LightLife barbecue on some bread and called myself fed. (Happily, the doctor was perfectly supportive of my veganism, and simply handed me a printout from the Vegetarian Resource Group [incidentally, love it when doctors admit they Google], told me to drink fortified soymilk, and to take my vitamins daily instead of whenever the hell I happened to remember, as has always been my habit up ’til now.)
Anyway, about 1:30 today I realized that I still hadn’t eaten, and that I should probably address that, since the last time I’d had something to eat was about 9:00 Saturday night. (Well, I had a cup of hot chocolate hempmilk Sunday evening; I was just happy that stayed down.) Consequently, I set about preparing an actual, proper meal with veggies and everything: tempeh bacon, and an entire zucchini sliced and sauteed with an entire (but petite) red bell pepper. Beverage: chocolate soymilk, providing 70% of recommended daily calcium and 40% recommended daily protein. Dessert: meds and a vitamin pill.
It was good, but perhaps it was a little overambitious (i.e., large) for the first meal in over 36 hours. I mean, I haven’t been sick at all, but it’s been over three hours and my stomach definitely feels a little odd. Nothing painful or nauseated; just . . . odd. There’s just an awareness of the organ’s existence, which is not normal for me but not really problematic as long as it doesn’t get worse. I can walk upright without pain, but it’s as if I feel my stomach bobbling around as I move (that’s my actual organ-type stomach, not my belly, which I’m sure bobbles around anyway). It’s rather peculiar.
I chose tempeh primarily because it was there and already marinated, and also one serving has 44% of your suggested protein and 15% of your suggested calcium, plus other nutritional goodies. It only now occurs to me that perhaps something that also contains 12 g of fiber (which the package rates at 48% of your daily suggested dose) per serving might not have been quite as delicate on my empty and feeble stomach as I’d like. Erm. This may be interesting.
I think I’ll bow out of tonight’s HOA meeting; I’m downloading OpenOffice again (never got around to it after the Great PC Crash of Aught-Seven) so I can fill out my proxy and deliver it downstairs before the meeting. Bleagh.
