lovetowrite

As well as the 1800 calories diet, my husband was given ‘an exchange’ diet.   This is where you have to weigh everything you eat, and then choose what food you are going to eat. 

There are a few free items such as salt substitute and pepper, but this diet drove me crazy.  It is hard enough trying to get my husband to walk, he has neuropathy of the feet, and then to tell him, that if he has regular salad dressing, he has to give up something else.

Moderation and small meals is the way too go.  His sugar readings are in the 75 - 120 readings, that his doctor requires.  That makes me happy.

The diet sheet my husband was given is from Roche Pharmaceuticals, so I guess they know what they are talking about.

I will give you a day’s worth of meals, just to give you an idea of what 1800 calories is:

Breakfast.

2 slices whole wheat toast.

I teaspoon butter

1/2 cup 2% cottage cheese

1 cup fruit cocktail canned in juice

8 oz. 1% milk.

Lunch

1 medium baked potato, 6 oz.

1 cup broccoli, steamed or microwaved

2 cloves of garlic

2 teaspoons canola oil, to saute garlic and toss with broccoli

3 oz. low-fat cheese to melt on potato and broccoli

Salsa

1 peach

Water or non-caloric beverage.

Dinner

5 oz. center loin pork chop, grilled

1 cup mashed potato, made with no fat

1/2 cup corn

2 tablespoons low-fat margarine, for potatoes and corn

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup beets

1 cup cauliflower

Water or non-caloric beverage.

Snack

8 oz. skim milk

1-1/4 cups strawberries.

Blend with ice for a shake.

That is all a 6 foot tall guy weighing almost 200 pounds is supposed to eat.

I actually took parts of the seven day diet and added some of my husband’s favorite food to it.  He didn’t need to lose weight, just control his diabetes.

Not only did we attended the lectures for the heart, but also for the control of diabetes.  My husband was given a pyramid chart with the food choices.

At the bottom are the grains, beans, and starchy vegetables, and they suggest 6 servings a day.  Then the vegetables and fruits, which are three to five servings a day.  Nearer the top are milk and meat/fish etc., with two to three servings. 

Finally at the top of the guide is the, ‘in moderation’ group of fats, sweets, and alcohol.

He was told to eat small amounts, often, and not to skip meals altogether.  They also gave him a diet sheet for 1800 calories a day.  For a guy six feet tall, weighing almost 200 pounds, that is not a lot of food.

The surgeon was right, after my husband’s quintuple by-pass surgery.  Hubby really did want to live.  After having 2 heart attacks, and the surgery, he realized that he needed to take better care of himself.

We both attended lectures at Bayonet Point Heart Institute at the hospital.  He was going to have to knuckle down with his eating, and start to get on an exercise regime.  Life would get tough for him, in order to live longer.

He had been on pills for the diabetes for 20 years, but after the surgery was put on 2 shorts of insulin a day.  This better controlled his sugar readings.

When the surgeon was taking out the 93 staples, from my husband’s chest and inside leg, he looked at him and asked the question.  “Do you want to live or die”.

I actually answered for my husband, and the answer came back, that if he wanted to live, he would have to give up the stress, of owning a restaurant.

This was such a shame because it was making a profit and we could have got rich on it.  We immediately put it up for sale and within 8 months we had sold it.

It was heartbreaking for both of us, because now we wouldn’t have money coming in on a regular basis.

Now the restaurant business is really hard for a diabetic.  Before we owned it my hubby’s sugar readings were fairly good.

When we were extremely busy, he would order food from the kitchen, and very often I would have no idea what he was eating.  On a Sunday, when we had lines at the door, he would eat any mistakes that the servers/cooks made.

His eating, or what he ate, got out of control, without me noticing.  He had 2 heart attacks within a week of each other, so I took him to the E.R.

He ended up having quintuple by-pass surgery.  This was due to the stress of the restaurant, and eating everything in sight.

It was time to think about giving up our livelihood.

My family live in England, and the best gifts I received today, were the phone calls to and from the family.

 My 4 year old grand-daughter phoned me, and was ecstatic about Father Christmas coming down the chimney, and eating his cookies and drinking his milk.  The presents were mentioned later, but for a 4 year old it is magical.

Then the 10 year old came on, and told me about all the gifts, and her sisters too.  Next I spoke to my daughter and got the rest of the news.

I called my Dad, in a retirement home, in England.  He is 92 years old and couldn’t believe that I have been swimming today.  Here in Florida it is 80 degrees.

 Happy holidays to you all.

Our servers stayed with us for years.  We had one very reserved lady, who would never be rude to a customer.

This day she came to my husband crying.  She had been waiting on a couple and it had taken 15 minutes to get their food to them.  They had refused it, and gave her a lot of abuse, then left the restaurant.

My husband went into the parking lot and caught up with them.  They said that they were not paying for the meal.   My husband said that you are paying for your drinks, as they had refils too.  The guy threw $2 out of the window and left.

About an hour later, we got a phone call from the mother of one of this couple.  She really chewed into my husband, and told him that the hot chocolate was cold, and that they shouldn’t have been made to pay for it.

They were not charged for the food, which the employees ended up eating, and they had coke and iced tea.  This was one of many of the problems that we had to deal with.

Therefore, the customer is not always right.

This was such a nightmare.  Do you remember Florida getting hit with the no name storm, in the Spring of 1993.

Our restaurant was far enough away from the water, so we were able to open.  However, some of our employees didn’t show up, because their houses were under water.

That day I was a ‘jack of all trades’ trying to feed the endless line of people.  So many only had the clothes on their backs and no money.  We didn’t turn anyone away.  Other people eating in the restaurant would ask for checks of families without.  We would provide for them too.

Service wasn’t the best, we ran out of some of the menu items, and the only complaint we had, was from a server, from another restaurant.

The following day was even worse.  People were out of their homes and couldn’t go back.  So many didn’t have electricity so we did the best we could for our community.

We had one great cook and were looking for another one.  We heard of a lady, who was highly recommended, but she was working for Denny’s restaurants.  She wanted to join us but had been working long hours there, to get extra money.

 We gave her an up-front payment of $1,000 for her to come and work for us.  We allowed her 6 months to repay the loan.

She ended up being an amazing cook and stayed with us for 4 years.  The only reason she left was to go back up north.  This meant that we had to train a new cook and that is always frustrating.