While recovering from minor oral surgery last week, the left side of my face spazzed out – like a “charlie horse” in my face! Very painful. At the time, I thought something went wrong with my surgery. I buzzed over to the oral surgeon to find out its just my face being a dork. This was both a huge relief and very annoying. The doc put me on a liquid diet, prescribed some meds, and instructed me on some “physical therapy” type massage (or manual manipulations).
My take-aways through this liquid diet ordeal:
- It’s not as easy as you might think to get good and filling nutrition via only liquids.
- Liquid diet doesn’t mean only liquids – it simply means no chewing. Yogurt, Jello pudding cups, etc. are fair game.
- If you have a filling meal (a solid protein shake), you don’t need any snacks beside water.
- Having a good, dependable blender at home is a money-saving must!
- Those GoGurt tubes (or in my family “yogurt squeezies”) are a decent snack if you just gotta have one.
- I won’t actually die of hunger, but I will get very grumpy, which add a whole new level of self-control practice when interacting with others with love and grace.
- You can loose a decent amount of weight if you don’t go crazy on ice cream. (I don’t like ice cream that much, so that’s an easy one for me).
- I’m crazy grateful for my husband’s mad shake making skills – whatever blender you’ve got your eye on babe, get it!
- I’m really, REALLY grateful for the simple ability to chew food.
Recovery
I am doing much better, and getting better each day. I’m hoping that the lessons I learned on this journey help me continue to improve my diet patterns – less snacking, more water, and seeking better nutrition from each meal.
Aaaand my liquid diet continues for 2 more weeks. That was a frustrating blow. I’m better, but not better enough. Patience, I tell myself. Patience, I pray.