Vegan Experiment

Wesley Chapel, Florida

Yesterday, I went with Al to his appointment with the ENT doctor.   I wanted to make sure they didn’t start talking sinus surgery!  

The doctor put a scope up his nose and confirmed he has a lot of  “stuff”  clogging his sinuses.  He gave him a prescription for prednisone,  and an antibiotic.  He wants him to have a sinus CT scan done in 3-4 weeks (after he completes the drugs) and see how the sinuses look.

I hate for Al to take either of these drugs, but he’s feeling so bad, that we need to get him feeling better as soon as possible.   He has tried treating it on his own , but it’s been going on too long.  I have heard that dairy products can cause some of these problems. Maybe our new diet will help also.

After we got home with the prescriptions, Al read the warnings on the antibiotic and realized the antibiotic  will cause a sensitivity to the sun.  He’s taken those before and knows that he will really be bothered by the heat and sun.  It’s beyond a minor sensitivity.  He feels miserable when he’s in the heat or sun. 

That’s not good news considering we’re planning to leave for Vero Beach on Sunday.  We have beach and kayaking plans.  He decided to call the doctor and see if he can prescribe anything else.

Last night we got a comment from the Good Luck Ducks with a link for a way to massage your head and neck to help get the sinuses to drain.

Some people have had good luck with this.  

Here it is for anybody who might be interested.

He will give it a try, but at this point I think he needs drugs!

I apologize to my rv blog readers out there that are getting bored with our new vegan diet experiment.   I promise, I’ll have something more exciting to write about soon.  (I hope)

I think I’m going to start another blog where I can detail our experience with this vegan thing.  I want to keep track of things for my own personal use. 

So……today is day 4  of our Vegan diet experiment.

I got a milder energy boost yesterday.  It wasn’t like the first day where I couldn’t stop talking…Al was probably glad for that.

This morning for breakfast I drank another Vegan protein shake, and ate some fresh blueberries and cherries.

I am now getting that little burst of energy again.  No humus this time, so I guess that’s not where the energy boost was coming from.

So far, none of these energy boosts for Al.  It could be because of his sinus infection.  I hope he will get the energy boost too because it’s making me really like this new way of eating.

We ate all we wanted yesterday….and then some.  By the time dinner time arrived,  I was not hungry, but I figured I’d better fix Al something good for dinner.  He’s doing so well with this new style of eating,  that I don’t want him to revolt and head   to Outback for a big fat steak!

For dinner,  I fixed spaghetti with garlic bread.  I used my favorite Prego Tomato, garlic and onion spaghetti sauce.  No meat.   The margarine for the garlic toast is not completely vegan, but we compromised on that.   I made a salad with Kale, pumpkin nuts and baby spinach. It was actually pretty good.  We went to bed satisfied and full.

When we were out at the doctors office and shopping yesterday I was concerned we’d get hungry and go looking for a McDonalds or Pizza Hut.   We decided to bring along a little baggie filled with salted almonds, (no, I am not giving up salt), walnuts and salted pumpkin seeds.  We didn’t get hungry so we didn’t need them but it was best to be prepared.

So far, it’s been a breeze except for a few minutes in the grocery store yesterday.  I went to look for some hummus, and ended up in the cheese and dairy aisle, which was right next to the meat display.  I never found the hummus.  I felt kind of lost and a little sad,  realizing there was nothing there for me at all.   It was an odd feeling.    Wow…it was an eye opener. 

However, I recovered and  the next aisle I found had a lot of stuff we could eat….rice, beans, and the like.  I felt much better!

It’s currently 4:30 pm.  My burst of energy has continued.   I have been doing some house cleaning and laundry.  I finally got hungry about 3pm and fixed a vegan sandwich that I had to invent.  I was surprised how good it was.

I had a flour tortilla that I spread a thick layer of hot spicy hummus on.  I spread some uncooked baby spinach then some partially cooked lentils.  The lentils were in a pot with onions and chopped garlic, but they hadn’t gotten done yet so they were a bit crunchy.

I rolled the tortilla up and cooked it in the Nu-wave for 4 minutes.  I expected it to be bland and dry, but it was spicy and good. 

I took a picture before I rolled and cooked it.  I looked pretty good to me.

So far, this vegan experiment is going well.  I have energy, have eaten all that I wanted, and have been satisfied.

We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

In the meantime….any of you vegans out there can feel free to share some tips or recipes.