I hope you read my other post about the details of my all liquid diet. I am currently learning how to chew again and chewing is becoming easier with each passing day. I’m even starting to get some feeling back in my face. 6 weeks really flew by, but my surgery also feels like it was a lifetime ago. Being restricted to only liquids for 6 weeks got me thinking about food in a different way. I also realized a lot of things about food and the customs that surround it. Here are a few thoughts I have on food now after experiencing an all-liquid diet:
- Everyone is obsessed with food: You never notice how frequently people post pictures of food on Snapchat…Instagram…Facebook, until you have been only drinking broth out of a syringe for a few days. Talk about food envy. I felt like every single post I saw had to do with food and I was so frustrated because all I wanted was to sink my teeth into some solid food. I used to be as guilty as the next person when it came to posting pictures of delicious food. During my recovery, I would only post sarcastic snaps of me with my syringes. Now that I have been eating solids again for around 2 weeks, I’m right back into my old ways. Everyone loves to brag about and show people the food their eating. Now that I can eat again, I am no exception. I never used to question it, but now I notice which people I follow post mainly food and what kind of food is posted. For example, tacos, sushi and brunch always pop up on my feeds. Surprisingly enough, soup and Ensure don’t usually make the cut.
- Food=Energy: If we want to get all scientific here, the real purpose of food is to supply us with energy. When I was drinking half a cup of soup and some juice a day, I had very little energy to do anything. I would also like to stress here that I had just undergone major surgery and that definitely took a lot out of me (not literally though) so of course I was tired all the time. But by the time I was starting to gain some strength and energy back, it was extremely dependent on how much liquids I consumed. Now don’t get me wrong; I love food, I cherish food, and I want to enjoy GOOD TASTING food. But when you are restricted in the way that I was, food is just a survival tool.
- If you want to lose weight, change your diet: This may seem like common sense since “they” (whoever they are) always say weight loss is 80% diet, 20% exercise. After being on an all liquid diet for 6 weeks, I am more of a believer now that weight loss is based almost 100% on diet and working out is just something to pass the time. I have been working out and going to the gym regularly since I was 13. Hear me out, I like working out, going to the gym, going on a run, and being in shape. But I lost 15 pounds in 6 weeks just because of what I was eating — or rather, what I wasn’t eating. So if you really want to buckle down and ditch some pounds, focus on what you are putting into your body. You can’t eat eat a whole package of Oreos, then go to the gym and still expect some results.
- Food is expensive: I saves A LOT of money when I wasn’t going out to eat all the time. Before my surgery, I used to go out to eat at least 2 times a week and was totally used to the large amount of money I would spend on food. I saved a lot of money during that 6 weeks drinking my food which is great, but now that I can eat solid foods again…my wallet is starting to get lighter and lighter. Oops.
- Eating is such a social thing: I have wonderful friends and family who came visit me at my house during my recovery. But when I finally started to venture out of the house and hang out with people again, I actually had to think of different things to do that didn’t involve food. Normally when I would catch up with friends I would suggest going for coffee or ice cream or out to dinner. Instead, we would go on walks or to museums or just hang out and watch TV. I also felt like such an outsider when my family would eat dinner or when I would hang out with my friends during meal times. When I wasn’t part of our family dinners anymore, I felt like I missed out on a lot of good conversations. So much happens when food is the focus and can really be a common ground for people to bond over. When I didn’t eat with everyone, I felt left out.
- Cravings are a dirty liar: So many times during those 6 weeks did I want to eat so many foods that I couldn’t. A Red Robin commercial would come on TV and I would immediately want a cheeseburger. I would see a picture of waffles on Tumblr and my mouth would start watering. Whenever I got a craving and I couldn’t eat it, I would either just go to sleep or drink some water because I didn’t have another choice. I’m a believer now that cravings don’t mean anything and are very easy to ignore when you can’t physically eat.
Life seems pretty normal now that I have “no restrictions”. I still tend to stay away from hard and crunchy foods because its pretty uncomfortable and I still have braces so the usual rules still apply: no apples, popcorn, ice, gum, etc… I have a rubberband on the right side of my mouth that prevents me from opening it too much, so I still cut up most of my food and eat it with a fork. I’ve been going out to eat with a lot of my friends and it’s hard to believe that I’m around 8 weeks post-op now. Time flies when you’re focused on food.