The main wires in my mouth may be removed as soon as next week! (Fingers crossed, but I’m trying not to get my hopes up in case x-rays indicate the fracture isn’t yet as healed as it needs to be.) I’ll still be restricted to soft foods for another THREE MONTHS but just being able to open my mouth will be a massive relief. I’m also warned that my jaw will be weak and sore at first, so chewing even the softest pablum may prove painful and tiring, but I’m still looking forward to it immensely!
I’ve learned a few things being on this liquid diet; check my earlier posts about devising palatable smoothies and trying to pack them with sufficient calories and nutritional value. For instance, yesterday I made a pretty nifty chicken soup, with homemade stock and caramelized vegetables. But once it went into the blender to be reduced to drinkable sludge, it lost much of its interest — and so did I, once my hunger was assuaged.
I had never quite realized how much of food’s appeal is simple sensory pleasure. I was unaware of how long I continue to eat past satisfying my hunger, simply because food tastes good and is fun to eat! But dinner is a drink, one drink is, inevitably, much like the next — be it cucumbers whirled with yogurt or butternut squash with silken tofu, or my homemade chicken soup. And if there’s no point beyond merely satisfying hunger, you find it takes a surprisingly few sips to be sufficiently sated. No wonder people lose weight a diet like this, even when they’re dropping pats of butter or glugs of heavy cream into their concoctions. (Yes I do that.)
I’m curious what eating will be like in the future, with this new awareness. Will I be newly , acutely conscious of my appetite, and stop eating, as I now do, as soon as I realize I’m no longer hungry? Or will food seem so miraculously delicious, varied and thrilling that I never stop? I wonder!
Another burning question, recently posed by a friend — what will be the first thing I eat? Many of my go-to foods will be off-limits for a while — no crispy salads, no steamed vegetables (unless overcooked!), no crunchy nuts; I’m not even sure I’ll be able to handle a tender piece of meat. So: how about a fluffy omelet overflowing with sharp cheddar?
Linnetontheleaf 
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