Daily Sustenance

When people find out that I have had bariatric or weight-loss surgery (WLS), they often ask what I eat during the day. Am I hungry and how do I know when I am full? So let me tell you what I had to eat yesterday (9/11/2009).

I got up Friday morning early since I am still suffering a bit from jet lag, having just returned from California after a 12 day working trip. At 4:00AM it is quite beautiful here in Umbria and I made myself a cappuccino and sat out on the terrace. It was a tranquil morning and the birds weren’t even up yet. At about 5:30AM I decided to fix myself another “capuch” and cook some eggs. They have very fresh eggs here in Italy and they are extremely good. So I lightly fried a couple of medium eggs in a bit of butter in a non-stick pan. I seasoned them with a salt mixture that I have put together here as my “house” seasoning (salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, and paprika), put them on a small hand- painted ceramic plate and went back out to the terrace to eat. It is a very nice way to greet the day.

At lunch, my wife returned from gardening up at the rental houses and was hungry. I had made a tuna salad that could be used on a sandwich, in a sliced tomato or on some crackers. The tuna salad was made with tuna in olive oil and drained, ¼ cup of giardiniera mix (pickled vegetables including cauliflower, onions, peppers, and carrots), ½ cup of marinated artichoke hearts, and 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise. I then added a teaspoon of pickled capers and put everything in the food processor with the steel blade and mixed it thoroughly until it was mostly smooth but with some texture. Into a bowl it went and then into the refrigerator until ready to eat. Elizabeth likes her tuna with some tomatoes from our garden. I prefer mine on saltine crackers. We get saltines here in packets of 4 or 5 (depending upon the brand) and they are exactly how much I can eat. Portion control done for you. So I had four cracker sandwiches made with a total of about 3-4 ounces of tuna salad and some bottled water for lunch.

For dinner, we went out with friends to a local trattoria to participate in a city festival or festa celebrating Festa 1800. The center of our little 13th century town was crowded and everyone seemed to be eating and drinking, sometimes at the same time. There was music, crowds, dancing, and people in costume. We sat down and ordered from an extensive menu. In Italy the menu items are divided in antipasti, primo piatto, secondo, contorno, and dolci. This works out to be the antipasti, the first plate as pasta or soup, the second plate which is the meat course, contorno are the side dishes like vegetables, potatoes, and of course dolci are the desserts. Obviously I cannot eat a full meal like that so I looked over the menu starting with the antipasti (generally the perfect sized dishes) and finally selected a fish stew dish made with baccala or dried salt cod. Everyone else at the table had at least a primo piatto, a secondo, a salad or vegetable, wine and several had a caffe macchiato. No dessert!

My fish was a small serving of three pieces of salt cod (4 ounces or so) that had been stewed in a wonderful tomatoey sauce. Lots of great flavor and the fish was succulent. A small piece of bread was used to sop up the sauce and I was done. My recipe for fish stew is remarkably similar in flavor and that recipe will be coming soon. The conversation at the table was lively and then we headed off to see the rest of the festa.

So there is my eating for one day in September. It is similar to most other days and the varied tastes and foods that I enjoy make up easily for the volume of food I no longer need or can eat. All of the meals provide good levels of proteins, exciting flavors and manageable portions. That is what this story is about.