CHANGES!

For one, on bananas, i don't smell. Zero Body Odor. Nothing but smelling fresh under the pits sans deoderant. Coochie-coo doesn't have any foul odor.

Yesterday i went shopping for shoes and realized when i took off my Birkenstocks, which previously stank, that, um, well, neither the Birkenstocks, nor my feet stank anymore...at all. How curious!

I thought it was the shoes.

Wrong!

It was ME.

I suppose when one is only taking in Bananas as (opposed to every fatty and fried thing on the face of the earth)...and now a little celery, this type of fuel keeps the body running clean.

Not having body odor is a real plus. Who enjoys smelling foul????? You know, when i was eating all of the crap? I really smelled bad.

I also wake up severely early. I fell asleep at 9:30p.m. last night and i'm up this morning at 4a.m. even BEFORE the birds!

I'm no longer snoring again. Eating cooked, i snored again. That's nice!

I don't seem to have any reflux either. How nice again!

Mom is experiencing some changes, too.

She's at the rehab for her 4th day today. She gets up out of bed at least 10-15x a day, aided, to go to the bathroom, to get into her wheelchair, or to go back to bed. I believe she is getting stronger. I say that hesitantly, because it's a little inperceptable at this point since she's receiving no formal therapy yet from the rehab, but, i do see it.

She does get awfully tired, though, during the day.

Actually, come to think of it, one of the BIGGEST changes she's had is that she sits up now almost ALL day, as opposed to lying in bed the majority of the day. That is tiring to her, as well.

She is incredibly weak and frail, but yes, yes, now, confidently, i can say, she is getting stronger. She could not sit up for more than 1 or 2 hours in the hospital, and now she is up and in the wheelchair for at least 7 or 8 hours a day, maybe even longer.

Mom is starting Physical Therapy at the rehab for the first formal day today. (Saturdays at the Jewish facility are rest days, and on Sundays, they have fill-ins for therapy.) Monday starts the real thing. We are anxious to see how it goes. This rehab is supposed to be renowned for their therapy.

Even so, Mom doesn't look that hot. She looked better in the hospital. I think that tube feeding stuff was BETTER for her than the "real" food she is eating. Her coloring doesn't look so great anymore, and she has a hemmorhoid starting again, only after eating solid food for less than a week.

Mom did better on the green smoothies and vegan stuff i made for her at home. She really did. The only thing is...they produced weight loss, not what we want now.

She is profoundly weak and needs to gain about 30 lbs. I am giving up control over her diet at this point now that she is in rehab, and just observing. Maybe she does need the protein?

But, what i see is not great.

I think she's had fresh fruit once in 3 days, and the salads at dinner time amount to one slice of lettuce and tomato. She's constipated and has reflux again.

What's more, the portions are unsubstantial in general, and the hot food arrives cold.

Overall, we're considering moving her. Not just because of the food. Yes, it is fantastic that it's a Jewish facility with Jewish style food often and syogauge services, but the aides are sub-par, and the expensive "top of the line" facility has been dissappointing in general. I have a list of complaints. There was a dirty bedpan in her new room (from the previous patient) when she moved in, for example. Unprofessional, unsanitary, and gross. We're speaking with the administrator today.

~ ~ ~

Let's get back to the food as your lover concept. Dr. D says that one of our most intimate relationships is with the food we eat. We have a relationship with our food. Our food is supposed to make us FEEL good. Our discussion of pleasure vs. happiness also comes into play here. If the foods we choose are only pleasurable going down, but cause us displeasure as or after they pass through our bodies, why should we eat them? What good do they really do us?

They're like a lover who makes grand promises, but never delivers.

If my mother's food at this joint were her lover, everyone would say He'd be making her sick. Hemmorhoids, starting again.

I'm worried. I hope she doesn't go backwards. She did have alot of drainage in her one abdominal drain left.

Yet, i say to myself, most people, for years, have been eating like my mom's eating now...processed foods, depleted canned fruits and bottled corn syrup laden fruit juices....and they're thriving, right?

My heart is heavy.

...

...

I hope that my mother can regain her strength using this food, and then, when she comes home, perhaps we can move to something more nutritious and better for her, which doesn't cause her to have hemmorhoids and reflux, but which also maintains her weight gain.

~ ~ ~

I have another little change, too. Since the addition of the celery? I'm gassy! How bizarre! Does celery cause gas?

LATER:
No, celery didn't just cause gas...you know what it DID cause? The biggest poop i've had yet this week! Wow! On bananas, i hardly pooped. Like a one incher once a day. This was a 3 pounder. Haha. No wonder i felt shitty yesterday. Literally, i was shitty....haha! Hahah!!!!

I'm getting closer and closer to 300, folks. I have about 11 days until the Vibrant Living Festival in Perkasie, PA, where i'll be singing. I should be under 300 again by then. And then it's GOODBYE to weighing 300 lbs....! During the next 3 months working with Dr. D, I know i will return to my beloved weight of 250...where i looked and felt so great last summer. Yeah!

You know what?????

The PLEASURE I received from cooked food doesn't compare to the HAPPINESS and HOPE i feel right now.

This is what PureRawJoy was supposed to be all about.

Welcome Home.

xoxo michelle joy