Neurosis and Tomato Soup...

Since my Gastric Bypass surgery 18 months ago I've been neurotic about what I eat. Granted, on some occasions I eat whatever I want and do just fine. I always have been watching my sugar intake and I carefully check labels for grams of sugar and nutrition information. I've been told I'm over the top about it, but when I don't check - I inevitably run into problems.

In an effort to scale back how much I cook and the cost of food, we've decided that simple dinners will work. So last night, I made one of my favorites - cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

It was so yummy going in - I could taste it before I put it in my mouth - good comfort food that was creamy and delicious. I got in about 1/2 my soup and part of my sandwich before it hit me. I started losing visual focus and my head started to swim. Then the heart beat started going faster and I started to get cold and clammy. Thinking I was having a hypoglycemic attack (fairly frequent this week), I took a glucose tablet. When I started to feel even worse, I retrieved the empty can from the trash and checked the sugar content. Twelve grams. That is double what I usually allow myself for any serving of any food. Problem solved - sort of. Now I just had to live through the feeling yucky part of the whole process. I ended up in bed at 7:30 p.m. and I never got up until this a.m.

The last time this happened was in Salt Lake City when I ate 1/3 of a blueberry bagel. I'm not sure how much sugar was in that thing, but it made me feel really bad!

Now. I may complain about this occasionally. If I'm careful, this usually doesn't happen. It's when I think I'm safe, that I run into problems. I chose to have Gastric Bypass surgery over the lap band surgery so that I would have this effect if I ate something I wasn't supposed to - so I guess I got my wish. Think - revers Pavlov's Dog theory. 132 pounds later, I don't regret my decision at all - I can live with a few times feeling crappy to live with my weight loss results. This is the hard part about surgery - but I'd rather learn to eat right (even if I mess it up occasionally) and learn to live with my new body.

Lessons are learned every day.

Almost a month

Wow. I don't know where November went. It was on it's way...I knew it was coming and then it was here and gone.

I was thrilled to have my parents here for two weeks. They came from far away and were here for Thanksgiving. It was something to be thankful for indeed. I think it was one of our best visits ever. E and L kept the grandparents in stitches most of the time, and L even impressed us with his first steps on Friday.

I feel incredibly blessed at this time in my life. I worry daily for M's job as the budget cuts here are deep and are not done yet. My job, while OK right now, will probably be OK, but it is still scary to hear about major budget cuts and projects being postponed. I was in high school during the last recession, so I wasn't really effected all that much. Now that I'm the one paying the bills, it makes all the difference.

I really pray for all of those who are in need right now. I have many friends who have been laid off or with spouses who have been laid off. They are in crisis right now. I hope that all will be OK for them. I am thankful that we are where we are and that we could potentially survive on one income for a period of time. 2009 will be a year of saving so that if something does happen, we would be OK. I guess that is my lesson for 2008 - save and plan for peace of mind.