Sugar Blues

It’s been a while since I’ve written. Toasticles found out that he has type 2 diabetes. Tough diagnosis for a guy whose favorite food is, well, toast. I feel so sorry for him. He’s having a hard time dealing with it and he can’t seem to settle down and follow a food plan. Plus the medication gives him diarrhea, so he’s been playing around with the dosages. He has lowered his sugar, but he’s miserable. So we haven’t eaten out much. Our mainstays of Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese are full of rice and noodles, and sugar in the sauces, which he can’t have. We went to (gasp) Red Lobster, which wasn’t that bad. At least he could get plain fish and veggies. And I scarfed their yummy cheese biscuits.

What he’s looking for is the old-fashioned coffee shop. We were raised in the 1950’s, when you could go into a coffee shop that had a Formica counter and red leatherette booths, and on the menu would be something called a “diet plate,” consisting of a plain hamburger patty and a scoop of cottage cheese on top of a lettuce leaf, with maybe a tomato slice alongside. Even back then carbs were the enemy, although we called them “starches.” Try and find that today! We’ve been to a few of the dinosaur coffee shops that still exist, but those experiences are too horrifying to describe here. BJ’s actually came through, with a plain hamburger patty and a green salad (dressing on the side) for under ten bucks. It’s still a chain, however, and that stings.

I bought a George Foreman grill with the idea that Toasty can make his own food, grill a hamburger or a chicken breast. So far he hasn’t. I’ve made salmon that was surprisingly good, and I even grilled baby bok choy after sprinkling it with soy sauce and a drop or two of sesame oil. That was great! I love bok choy – it’s a very juicy vegetable.

The main premise of “Eating El Camino” will therefore have to wait for a bit because the majority of those restaurants won’t fit into Toasty’s diet. But I still have lots of stuff to blog about, so stay tuned!