The spice of life

My Father always said, 'Variety is the spice of life.' I guess Grace has needed some spice in her life! We were so happy that we found meals that worked for her that we just kept repeating them over and over. We are not sure if her drop in appetite has to do with the lack of variety or just that she has always had a few good eating days followed by some not so good eating days. Whatever the cause, she is eating again today!!

We tried the recipe for keto-pizza today. It is slices of pepperoni with some mainara sauce and some mozzarella cheese all cooked together in the oven. Grace got 4 slices of pepperone with a dab of sauce and a drop of cheese. I made some her some and sepearated them from the rest. We all had the same lunch. Tom said they made great appetizers! Grace really liked them though so it worked.

Yesterday she started to eat macadamia nuts again. She liked them before the diet started but she stopped eating them in the hospital. They are great on the diet because she gets a lot of them per serving and they take away some of the stand-alone fat she needs to eat.

For her snacks we have been making her puddings - heavy cream and jello sugar free instant pudding mix. Grace gets one gram of the pudding mix and a little more than half an ounce of the heavy cream. We have been giving her them for every snack. I think that is more because the vanilla pudding tasts like cake batter and the chocolate is divine!

Grace just reminded us in her own way that we need to keep trying new things and not get into a rut with what worked before. Grace stopped losing weight and actually managed to put on a few ounces. We are thankful for every ounce she gains back.

We continue to be encouraged by the results we are seeing. Before Grace went into the hospital, she wanted to be carried everywhere. She was forever coming underfoot and asking someone to pick her up. I have been at partied with her where I have refused and told her to stand or walk, etc and she would go up to anyone else with arms outstretched asking them to pick her up. The past few days we have noticed that she is doing that a LOT less. She only seems to want to be picked up now when she is tired.

Happy Chinese New Year! Our family friend Angel called today to wish us a Happy New Year. I am glad that she reminded me as I was so wrapped up in the diet preparations that I totally forgot! Gung Hoy Fat Choy - I think that is the right way to say Happy New Year in Chinese!

Marie, Tom, Rita and Gracie