Do the Hops and Barley in Beer Count as Fiber?

First off, welcome to the readers coming over from Wise Bread! I hope you’ll join the interesting discussions happening in the comments, and here are some posts about money and frugal living you might like.

Second off (is that a phrase?), surgery went well. (For new readers, go here and here to see what I’m talking about.) I appreciate all the good wishes and healing thoughts – they help.

I’ve jumped full bore (okay, not literally, since that would cause me to spring a stitch) into Diet 2.0. When I say diet, I don’t mean the lose-weight variety (though that’s a likely byproduct), but I mean reinventing what I put in my body on a daily basis, so I don’t have to go through this surgery Ever Again. Because at the rate I’m going, I’ll soon be eligible for the Mt. Sinai Hospital Club Card: Buy 10 surgeries, get your 11th free! And that’s just sad.

Diet Changes I’ve Already Made

- Halving my coffee intake. I was doing 2+ cups a day, and since caffeine is a problem in excess, I’ve switched to just one cup in the morning. I haven’t even noticed the difference.
- No more nightly wine. I've implemented this one by default since a wine/Percocet spritzer, though tempting, is probably a bad idea. But once I’m off all the meds and able to go back to my wine-lovin’ ways, I’m doing this. I predict I will not like it.
- 40 grams of fiber a day. Dr. Weil recommends this and the research supports it, so that’s what I’m going with. If you use high-fiber breads and pastas, plus lots of whole grains, fresh fruits, and vegetables, that number isn’t as hard to hit as you’d think. I’m just hoping it doesn’t mean I have to be within two yards of a bathroom at all times, because that would be, you know, inconvenient. And exhausting.
- Mostly vegetarian, fish once in awhile. Not hard so far.
- Cooking from scratch. Yes, it takes more time, which I’ll have almost none of this fall, but my plan is to make a couple big batches of something healthy on the weekend and eat that the rest of the week. I’m thinking four-bean chili, multi-grain pilaf with vegetables, bran muffins. I even have a dream of making whole grain breads, but I may be getting ahead of myself.

I have lots of questions for my doctor at Wednesday’s post-op appointment about his recommended high fiber, low fat diet. What about peanut butter and almonds? Eggs and avocadoes? And dear God, what about alcohol and caffeine? Because if I have to give those up entirely, I may as well also only watch documentaries and read The Economist, resulting in perma-frown and crabby countenance, and you may as well just kill me. Which will be easy, since I will have already died of boredom.

One of the many upsides of this grand experiment is near and dear to my frugal girl heart – it will save money. Less spent on coffee and wine, less spent on packaged foods, and for God’s sake, less spent on cream puffs and pizza.

Now it’s just a matter of keeping all these positive changes going, because this time I don’t have a choice. Anyone have discipline tips, ways to stay focused on the big picture instead of caving to a craving? An electric fence for cheese, maybe? Let us know.