Mom would have considered this a kind of poetic justice. I've always loved chocolate. Ice cream too. Fall is a great time of the year to delve deeply into either or both of them.
Both is the preferable choice, of course.
One of the first things they repeated to me in the hospital - and I do mean "repeated" - was that my pancreas would be having a hard time handling fats. Yeah, OK, whatever. I mentally reviewed a bit of recent shopping before the trip, stocking up on brats. Not just any brats, but the jalapeno cheddar ones. Fat wrapped in fat with a kick for flavor. Yummmm!
They are still in the big freezer. I remain an optimist that I'll be able to eat them before they get freezer burn. Or at least that when I can eat them again, I won't care if they do have a little freezer burn. Meanwhile "meat" is chicken breast. Nice and lean. Still good, but not brats.
I didn't have to give up coffee, at least, though I cut down my "mix" of instant powder to just coffee. I wasn't sure about the cocoa powder I add to it. I'd stocked up on all kinds of that of course, but sugarless, some with and some without any milk powder. But powder, so presumably no fat. Anyway for a while I cut that out, going straight to black, nevermind how bitter. The docs OKed that in the hospital.
As my system slowly crept towards "more normal" I began adding more foods. One was ice cream. Small portions in chocolate coating, for portion control of course. In the grocery stores, they don't come in singles. They come in 6-packs. I hadn't bought any for a very long time, and they have new flavors now. I wasn't sure which I'd like the best....
Well, I had to try them and find out, didn't I? Just, maybe not every day. I'd been very good about ignoring them, until the first one. And the second. And by a couple weeks later.... Well, I did give the very last of them to Steve and begged him to eat them for me. He's such a sweetie he didn't argue a bit!
I did notice I regained two pounds before that. I also noticed - how could I not? - that I had more excuses to be losing those pounds super quickly than keeping them. I was stuck in the house again until my gut settled back down. Luckily I had the supplies I needed to keep from creating too many messes for several days. (Nuff said, right?)
Just before Halloween I went shopping for candy to hand out. I'd gotten the kind which are basically sugar tablets in all colors already, but I found an aisle display of actual chocolate kinds suitable for the kids as well that didn't have a terrible price. They were so-o-o-o tiny. I offered Steve his chance to grab the kinds he liked and could eat, mostly meaning no nuts. He foraged a bit, and the remainder of all of them went in a box for distribution.
That box waved at me, doing it's invisible "I'm over here!" dance routine, for the next three days. Fortunately I'd buried the chocolates under the colored candies. But the last day, I decided - just curiosity you understand! - to check out what the varieties were. There were baby Hersheys, tiny peanut butter cups, pea sized malted milk balls. They obviously had been sitting out enough days now that a quality check was required. Wait now, were those really still good? Be sure and check another three, right? Can't give the kids old stale stuff, after all. It wouldn't be kind.
As it happened, no kids visited our place. It had been rainy. I'd planned to take whatever was left over, put it in a bag, and drive it over to the local food shelf. Of course I had to wait an extra couple days before I dared get far from the house again, due to the fatty chocolate after the fatty ice cream, of course, but this morning, before the food shelf opened, I dropped the bag in the place outside to drop off stable foods. Today is also the 3rd day when nobody gets SNAP benefits for their groceries.
Now you might feel like scolding me for not dropping of something nutritious... and boring, and taste-free, and even more expensive than a bag of candy. But they'll likely be getting that kind of food shelf stock for the future for a while - and that's if supplies hold up. A lot of people won't have gotten out on the 31st. Shouldn't they have a chance to have a bit of candy in what could be very hard times ahead? There will be enough green beans ahead. EVERYBODY donates those to the food shelves.
Meanwhile I'm definitely off chocolate again for a significant time. Crackers still do well in my gut, but no toppings. Chicken breast works, and frozen fruit on Greek yogurt - all so far so good. A bit boring... can be a relief.
Steve has us meeting friends at a favorite restaurant later this week. I have no idea what I'll be able to order from their menu. But it won't be anything with chocolate for a very long time.
Dang!
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