Chef Hans Rueffert: Eat Like There is No Tomorrow

I saw a  Dr Sanjay Gupta report on CNN today about Hans Rueffert.  http://www.cnn.com/video/?/video/health/2011/10/10/human-factor-hans-rueffert.cnn

Apparently Hans was a Food Network chef http://www.foodnetwork.com/hans-rueffert/bio/index.html  and has written a book called Eat Like There's No Tomorrow.  Hans is the chef at the Woodbridge Inn in Jasper GA.  I
'm now following Hans on Twitter at  @hanscooks.

I saw that a portion of Hans' book goes to   To the Gastrect Cancer Fund.  Funny how nobody told us about it!  http://www.gastriccancer.org/ 

If you've had a gastrectomy  sign up so you can help others.  Gastrect Cancer Registry  https://redcapsurvey.stanford.edu/surveys/index.php?hash=8f14e45fceea167a5a36dedd4bea2543

There's another blog,  Guide to Living without a Stomach  http://gastrectomy.healthblogs.org/author/gastrectomy/

and of course here's Hans' blog  http://hansrue.blogspot.com/  and his website  http://www.hanscooks.com/about-hans.html .

Not only did we not talk anyone else who has had a gasterectomy, never found a support group and neither has Cigna nor United Health care referred us to these resources...  ARG!  Do I sound frustrated???

And there was a Cancer Conference last week in Houston... my daughter lives there!  I could have gone to it!

Mini Red Cuisinart

I bought the cutest mini red Cuisinart at Macy's  (Sale $29).  Perfect for  1 to 1 -1/2 cups!  I made a marinade for chicken sharma... 4 cloves garlic, yogurt, ginger, oregano, .... I made a half recipe for the two of us.... http://www.mamaslebanesekitchen.com/poultry/chicken-shawarma-recipe-garlic/    It has to marinate overnight, so I guess I get to try it tomorrow!  Who says you cannot have fun finding healthy soft foods!

Valley Fever

Just when we thought things were going a whole lot better,  J's lowered auto immune system caught another
"interesting set of challenges".  The spot in his lung turned out to be positive for valley fever and not something we really lost sleep over.

So what is "Valley Fever" ?  Something we needed to learn more about!   See  http://www.vfce.arizona.edu/ValleyFeverInPeople/Default.aspx   for more information.   Dr S, the pulmonologist prescribed  Fluconazole (a the side effect could be spots )  And what do we have now?   4 Spots/pimples/lesions etc!  too!     Apparently  there are serious complications and getting spots/lesions  is one of them...So we happened to have a supply of  KEFLEX   which should help the spots.

Now why am I discussing all this?  It affect J's appetite!  He doesn't want to chew food... not enjoying food... last week he only had a 1/2 cup of pasta each day.  The rest was Gatorade, High Protein Naked Smoothie and a yogurt/applesauce/protein smoothie.  That's not a lot for his digestive system to work.   Maybe a trip to the Nutritional Psychotherapist is in order?  Is that a specialty? Ha!  Maybe we should take more of the appetite increasing pills, that are buried in the cupboard.  Or eat Papaya or pineapple for it's digestive enzyme  papain!  http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=47

Oh no back to enzymes!

For more info:
Digestive Enzymes  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digestive_enzyme
Probiotics  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probiotics
Prebiotics:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prebiotics

New Doctor today and Vitamin Pill Questions

Today we go to a pulmonologist to see about a lump in J's right lung that hasn't changed in xray's, three weeks apart.  It's a scarey day today, but I refuse to be anything but positive.

The oncologist said J's iron levels were low and to take vitamin C to balance it out.  So I bought his recommended easy to digest Iron (Ferrous Sulfate)  and  ADULT gummy vitamin C.  As a layman I am getting more and more confused.   There are childrens vitamins, adult vitamins,  male adult vitamins, female adult vitamins,senior/mature vitamins,  male adult vitamins and female adult vitamins, and senior/adult vitamins.  Guess what?  They are all different recipes!  And some are in capsule, some chewable, some gummy....

Now as if that isn't enough choice, look at brand names!  At Costco, they have their brands,  Centrum has theirs,  and One-a-Day vitamins gas their choices.

  So if there are all these choices, how do you know which one to take?  And if you take J-tube feedings that have all the vitamins/minerals  and you also drink a quart of  NakedSuperProteinShake... your blood test comes out okay,  But there is another test that the oncologist must have had that showed low in iron.  We didn't get a copy of that list to our nutritionist or for ourselves. So it seems the only way to tell if you are getting enough or too much of  vitamins or minerals, you need a blood test... and how many kinds are are?

Moral of today's story, get copies of all reports PERIOD.  Take those results to all the interested parties in case they need them.  I wish that we had a centralized, web based medical reporting network so communication is better.  In the mean time, get the papers!

Anti- Antibiotics Smoothie for a sore throat and Measuring Cups

I found a way around having a smoothie when you aren't supposed to have milk for 2 hours before and 2 hours after a pill.

I went to Smart and Final and bought a shelf stable one quart vanilla flavored soy milk carton for under $2.

At Sprouts, I found several vegan protein powders but the cheapest was $6.99 in the bins!  They even had all the nutrients on a label, I just snapped a photo of it!

• So I first made a smoothie with a banana, 1/3 c of the protein powder and added Gatorade as a liquid. I don't recommend that  choice!
• Next day I tried the soymilk, 1 Cup  (not chilled, not so tasty),  1/3 c soy protein powder, banana, 1 piece of cantaloupe, 1 piece of  pineapple, 1 piece of honeydew melon.  ((Tolerable)
• Third day soy milk, chilled,  soy protein powder,  1 T Five Alive,  1T Fruit flavored Omega Blendz , 2 drops coconut flavoring  1/3 c  coconut-pineapple juice from Sprouts.  Color was not appetizing... maybe I should have added blueberries.

At Target,  I found the neatest  4 pack of nested "food prep" cups with measuring lines.  They are made out of silicone and you can squeeze them to pour the ingredients out.  The set cost about $5 and I might go back and buy several for xmas presents. I love them!!!  It makes measuring  small amounts for your smoothie so easy! 

Quest for portable breakfasts

I've been looking for egg sandwiches and have seen several in the grocery stores using bagels, pita, wraps, pancakes, waffles, English muffins, quiche and crossants.  I  got to thinking about frittata's, bread pudding, omelets and other egg dishes.

In one of my cooking magazines I  saw the mountain high yogurt baked french toast recipe.   It was spectacular...  I would add a  little citrus rind next time... http://www.mountainhighyoghurt.com/recipes/baked_french_toast2.htm   as it reminds me of  crepe Suzzette....sort of.  I didn't think the baked french toast needed extra syrup or yogurt.  I also put half the baked french toast cubes in muffin tins.  Yum!

I'm trying a new dish today, based on one in Betty Crocker online... using  1.5 cups brown rice, about 3 T of olive oil, four eggs, 4 strips of nitrate free turkey bacon, 1 cup cottage cheeese and 5 slices of Havarti cheese. It smells good.

I'll let you know!

Easy to Digest Food

Check out these two websites, recommended by RD A  http://www.buzzle.com/articles/foods-easy-to-digest.html

and    http://www.gicare.com/diets/Gastroparesis.aspx

Each person is different, that's why one goes to dietitians !  I guess the human body is  tricky and  is always in a state of flux.  One day something works, another day it doesn't.  That makes it really tough on engineers who think in black in white.

Smoothie Resources

I bought a yogurt maker  http://www.amazon.com/Cuisipro-Donvier-Electronic-Yogurt-Maker/dp/B0000DE4TY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1307028201&sr=8-4   Warm up milk and cool it  then add active yogurt, pour in to jars and 10 hours later, viola... yogurt.  And I got a yogurt cheese maker http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/greek-yogurt/cheese-maker.  Its wonderful, almost like cream cheese!  The recipe said not to use ultra high pasteurized milk, but it works fine.  Only problem is the organic milk from Costco is 1% so I should add  cream or half and half to bring up the calories.

High Pasteurized half and Half works great!

Now I wonder what is easier to digest... skim probably, with whole being the worst?

I now use 4 cups of whole milk, and two cups of half and half.  My yogurt is so good.  I am now trying to figure out if buying whole milk and heavy cream might be cheaper? Then there is the whole milk yogurts and greek yogurt.  The greek yogurt is higher in protein.

Maybe I could add powdered milk to increase the protein?  Don't know how they do it.  It is harder to digest if I put Greek yogurt in his morning smoothie!

Pick your Doctor

We thought we would be getting a list of which doctor to go to for what ailment...

While under specific care... your surgeon, oncologist, radiologist, gastroenterologist, urologist, cardiologist each seems to have some say.

For long term care, the primary care physician is the one to go to schedule blood tests,  B12 shots and replacement J Tubes.

I really wished someone would give us a flow chart as to who to go to.  We've seen 3 dietitians, several PA"s  and 5 Emergency Room Doctors.  They all are comfortable in their own specialty.  Fortunately, J's brother is a family doctor and he is there at all hours to help keep us on track!  Thank you Dr. M!

It was truly enlightening when a young ER doctor asked us what we wanted to do!  So I guess we've earned our PHD along the way!

J Tube Replacement Rate

has to be replaced every 12 weeks, if the feeding rate slows down, make an appointment or you'll be spending all day in Emergency to replace a blocked line.  Funny how nobody told us before our 5th replacement!

When we got a thicker tube, this did not become an issue! I am hoping we won't have a j-tube any more as he has not had had any tube feedings in several months.  He needs to get over the fear.  I would think he would want to go swimming!  Some people do swim with j-tubes, bandaged up.

Pre biotics and probiotics

Simply put I think Probiotics are the good things in yogurts.

Prebiotics help you digest food.

I went to Sprouts and bought a bottle of enzyme tablets that help you digest foods.  BIO ALIGN by Source Naturals  http://store.sourcenaturalscatalog.com/sn0660.html  The bottle says to have one with each meal. That would be pretty expensive, about 75 cents a day...  J hasn't tried them yet.

5/12 Costco now carries several kinds of digestive enzymes.  There must be a demand.

Smoothies

Now that J is drinking smoothies with his yogurt... we have started looking for variations.  I've put the smoothie recipes on index card and made a scoring system.   I also write the ingredients down.

I bought Smoothies for Life! Yummy, Fun, and Nutritious! by Daniella Chace and Maureen B. Keane (Paperback - Apr 22, 1998) mostly because they have nutritional data and numbers are so important to J!!!


I just made a smoothie (He didn't finish it) with a whole banana, 4 T protein powder, 1/2 c milk, 1/2 c Fage Greek whole milk yogurt, 1/4 peanut butter and 1 t cinnamon.  It needed an ice cube or two! It packed a whopping 843 calories!


Thanks to my sister in law I  found King Arthur Flour's flavorings... I think I will have to see them on my next trip to Boston.   Check out the yummy sounding cherry or cider concentrates!  They are so strong all you need is 1 drop per cup!  http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/ingredients/flavors-and-extracts?sortFormSortOrder=desc&page=1&sortby=popularity   Forget the prices, with the money you'll save by not buying smoothies at the bistro!

There is a book I want called  Super Charged Smoothies... I keep getting it from the Phoenix Library Overdrive downloaded to my kindle.  http://www.amazon.com/Super-Charged-Smoothies-Sara-Corpening-Whiteford/dp/B006W3Z98C/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336659536&sr=1-1

His default smoothie:  7 ounces yogurt, small cup of applesauce, 1 protein powder scoop (about 1/3 cup) and a little milk.  I usually make the yogurt with whole milk and half and half.  He lost weight when I didn't make the super yogurt.  I switched  to store yogurt because his cholesterol was too high.  

 He isn't adding bananas because he drinks the protein smoothies during the day and that is too much potassium!

Eating sort of

With the help of a J-tube, J is getting all his nutrition.  Needless to say there was a lot of nervousness about eating.  Applesauce didn't go down well, too high in acid.  Ensures didn't go down well.  It was then we knew we needed help with nutrition.  So we made an appointment...

Adhesions and Antibotics

Things were not getting better,  J kept saying he was feeling acid coming up!  Guess what he was right and until he vomited bile,  De B  realized they needed to go back in and check things out.  J had adhesions or scar tissue that was blocking his swallowing.  So they fixed him up and sent him home with lots of antibiotics for a hospital infection.  And yes we did get a doctor to admit that antibiotics do have an unsettling effect on the gastro system.  Its funny how every doctor has a different slant.  Now that J is off antibiotics, he is able to start eating.