What to eat...or not to eat?

Last year, on Aug 30, I had the unfortunate experience a spontaneous splenic rupture which is a rare, dramatic and potentially life-threatening condition. No one knows why it happened that day, there was no previous trauma and the pathology report showed no sign of infection, anemia or  other ailments. The doctor had never seen it before (did not instill confidence btw), there was no reason and yet it happened. 

First of all it was the most painful and disconcerting thing that had ever happened to me. Since there were no obvious signs of anything wrong the paramedic originally thought I had gas...yes GAS! Three children born with out any drugs and he thought I called an ambulance for gas. (Had it not been life threatening in the end, it may be a funny story...perhaps one day). After hours of internal bleeding and slowly loosing my ability to function, a CT scan showed the doctors what the problem was and I was rushed into emergency surgery. During the operation they cut me open (obviously), rearranged many of my organs, gave me 8 units of blood and finally got to offending spleen and removed it.

Now I tell this story because it caused me to do some reassessing and without a spleen there is a higher chance of infections so becoming healthy is a priority that I have slowly been working on. It has taken many more months to recover than what I had thought but here I am ready to start doing more. I have started walking again and that has helped but what about my diet?? I love healthy food but living alone has caused some unhealthy habits to form....toast and cheese has become an easy meal. While there is not a specific diet tailored for people with asplenia it is important to take steps to improve your immune system and reduce the risk of infection. This means cutting back on red meat and high fats....so good bye to Keto. It means more vegetables and grains, antioxidants and anti inflammatory foods. Well with grains then the good ole Paleo is also out. Weight Watchers? No

What is one to do?? 

First, I do NOT want to diet. . . .not as a verb anyway. I want a healthy diet. . . .as in a noun.

diet (n.)

  1. the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats.

"a vegetarian diet"

 A few years ago (before my 4 years of horror) I had started eating a clean, well balanced diet....little to no flour or sugar and processed foods....I felt great!! Time to start shopping at the market, cooking and making salad dressings. Time to bring out my kitchen gadgets and cookbooks and looking at food as nutrition and fuel rather than filler.

Success or defeat....

Where do the days go??

 It has been months since my last post and I am afraid that in many ways I must admit defeat in my effort to restore. . . yet, in some ways I have succeeded.
... I have managed to read much more than I had been and to date have completed 18 of the books on my list and a few that weren't.
....I have gotten my blood pressure to a normal and healthy level.
....I have gotten my apnea tested and seem to have found a solution to my lack of sleep, for now I am getting 4-6 solid hours a night and feel much better.

Although I have not lost weight, solved my car issue or figured out how to live as an empty nester each day dawns, each day ends and I am still standing.

I have come to the realization that the last 5 years came and hit me so hard that some days I wondered if I would ever recover.  Last week sat and wrote a list of the many things that had happened, changed and hurt over the past years, seeing it made me realize that although I have felt defeated I am not. 

I am still standing!

During the years of craziness assumed I was coping well, being strong but I have come to understand that my 'coping' did not allow me to grieve, although it was certainly God holding me up (again), it did not allow me to rest in Him and let Him be my stronghold.

So, for the very first time in years I will wait quietly, I will accept my victory, I will spend time in my fortress and I will NOT be shaken!