Friday, 16-02-18

. . . and back to the frugal factor again, thankfully.  Apologies for the next nine paragraphs - please feel free to skip them if you want - I won't be offended.

When I got home, while there was no letter on the doorstep informing me of my op date (shame), there was a copy of the letter sent to my GP that says it should be in March (Dr C ** told me mid-March) and a copy of the 'liver shrinking diet prior to laparoscopic surgery'.

My gosh, it's a bit strict.  The hardest bit for me is the lack of vegetables.  I am only allowed three veg portions a day and two fruit.  One veg portion is 45g cooked veg such as broccoli, carrots, etc (using common sense, that won't include starchy veg) or a 'cereal bowl portion of salad' and fruit is as expected although no mention of bananas for the same reason.  The fruit is meant to be for snacks but it may not be as I don't always have snacks.

There's no mention of herbs, spices, stocks, etc, so I will - but sensibly.  Ditto spray oil and stevia.

It doesn't say whether the rice/pasta portions are cooked or raw but I think I might assume raw, looking at the amounts for other carb items, but, thankfully, the protein group does include pulses and I am assuming they are cooked portions.

And it recommends taking a daily multivitamin and mineral tablet which really goes against the grain and shows that it's not a healthy way to eat.

On the other hand, I should be able to keep frugal.  I can see my way through it.  It includes yogurt as a daily portion (three cheers) and I have some stevia sweetener in so will use that when a bit of sweetness is needed.  I should be able to sub two of my small home made slices of bread for one of their portions and I shall just have to convince myself that I like cottage cheese because a dairy portion is 200gs-worth which is a lot.
And if I don't lose weight, it will be a very odd thing!

Well, I will be a Good Girl (more or less) and Do As I Am Told but I am very thankful that it is just for three weeks and I am so going to miss my vegetables.  It's so strict, maybe it will sort out the twinges I keep getting too.
I bet it was written by someone who doesn't cook!

And until I get the firm date, I am assuming mid-March so will start this monstrosity on Monday.  Eeeek!


OK, back to today with apologies for the rant and the long post.  Here's my plans.
B:  porridge with fruit and natural yogurt
L:  home made soup and a slice of bread to dunk
D:  baked fish (herbs, lemon juice, baked in foil), slimming world chips, broccoli
Ss:  apple, orange

From the freezer:
the fish - pollack, so not an expensive fish

The frugal factor:
Well, seeing as any stuffing myself before Monday will be totally counter productive in all ways, portions continue to be small which makes for frugality.
The soup will be just for one and I'll try and fit it into the parameters for the lunch requirements (which says no carbs but allows pulses!) and the bread is home made

** Dr C is Dr Charalampopoulos and I am NOT typing that out every time!