Ugh! On Being Sick...

If you've been reading since the start, you know that I was sick for a couple weeks. I was getting a sinus infection, so my doctor put me on antibiotics. If you've taken antibiotics before, you know they can have nasty side effects, which is why I avoid them if at all possible. But I followed my doctor's orders, and took the antibiotics for a week, but was careful to also take probiotics at the same time. (Antibiotics can kill the good bacteria that lives in your gut, and probiotics replace it.) But I've still come down with some gastro-intestinal problems, and after suffering for a week, my doctor has put me on the BRAT diet.

If you're unfamiliar with the BRAT diet, it should also be known as the all-carb diet. Bananas (carbs), rice (carbs), applesauce (carbs) and toast (carbs). But if I'm going to eat almost all carbs for the next few days, I'm going to enjoy it! I just got home from picking up some fresh-baked bread at the store. I got organic applesauce. I'm already wondering if toasted banana bread would fall into the banana/toast categories. As long as you don't go overboard, you can doctor these things up a bit. Dairy is off-limits, so it'll be hard to get additional protein other than what naturally occurs in the bread. But I'll be able to doctor up the rice with mild flavorings--maybe some fresh herbs, or a little chicken broth, or some soy sauce, or a little butter or olive oil.

September 24, 2007 Diet Diary

Weight: 133 pounds

Breakfast: Oatmeal with cottage cheese (cook 1/3 cups of oatmeal with 2/3 cups of water, when finished add 1/3 cup 2% cottage cheese, 1/2 teaspoon fructose, 2 teaspoons almonds, 1 tablespoon milk)

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: South Beach frozen cheese pizza

Afternoon Snack: Half of a ZonePerfect Bar, 1 banana

Dinner: 1 slice of bread, about 1 cup of white rice with a little butter, 2 cups of Pedialite

Evening Snack: 1/2 cup of applesauce, 1 slice of bread, 1 CocoaVia bar (yeah, I cheated a bit)

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 23, 2007 Diet Diary

I'm on vacation!

Weight: unknown

Breakfast: Coffee with skim milk, 2 hard-boiled eggs (only 1 yolk), toast with 1/2 pat of butter

Morning Snack: Decaf latte with artificial sweetener & 2% milk

Lunch: 1 fish taco with corn tortillas, lettuce, tomato, guacamole, cheese, 1 piece of a chicken quesadilla with guacamole, 1 light beer

Afternoon Snack: None

Dinner: Tiny snack-pack of honey roasted almonds and 100-calorie pack of cookies, 1 glass of red wine

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 2 miles

September 22, 2007 Diet Diary

I'm on vacation!

Weight: unknown

Breakfast: Coffee with CoffeeMate, 2 hard-boiled eggs (1 with yolk, 1 without), a couple bites of yogurt

Morning Snack: None

Lunch: 1 piece of foccachia dipping oil, 4 pieces of turkey pastrami topped with goat cheese and roast onions, a couple bites of potato salad, 1 glass of wine

Afternoon Snack: 1 glass of wine, a couple crackers, 1 beer

Dinner: 2 mojitos, about 10 pistachios, 4 mini-duck eggrolls with bbq sauce, 2 pieces tuna sashimi with veggie slaw, a few pieces of cheese on crackers with dried fruit and poached pear

Evening Snack: None

Exercise: Walk 2 miles