My diet obviously doesn’t really lend itself to eating out. I can always order green salad with oil and vinegar but I still feel uncomfortable compromising on the organic front. Since I aim to eat raw salmon a few times a month, however, I do have a go-to special meal out: sushi. Green tea, half an order of edamame, miso soup, and wild-caught salmon sashimi hit the spot and my nutrition goals.
Last night we went out with friends for the first time since my diagnosis and had an absolute blast. My salmon was fantastic and the green tea was flowing. The sushi house was in a super cute neighborhood of open-air bars and upscale restaurants. The weather was perfect. After we said our good nights, I couldn’t resist suggesting one more drink with Brad at a sidewalk wine bar.
Normally I would have ordered a sparkling mineral water but I was thrilled to see they had a “mocktail” on the menu that was just cucumber, mint, lemon juice and soda water – normally mocktails are loaded with sugar or fruit juices so this seemed like a find. I confirmed “no sugar” with the waitress and when she brought our drinks asked Brad to test it first.
You can guess where this is going. It didn’t taste particularly sweet but something just seemed off. It took a few sips before I realized I was tasting pineapple juice. The bartender confirmed that he’d improvised a sugar replacement. I got a little panicked about glucose levels and feeding the cancer. I had to pull out my phone to calculate the actual damage before I felt better. Even if I’d downed a full ounce of pineapple juice (which I didn’t), I was still under 20g of net carbs for the day. And really, pineapple and papaya juice are strongly recommended on many cancer diets so it was probably good to get a hit of those nutrients.
No harm done and I learned two things:
- Don’t trust restaurants. I need to confirm myself what goes into my body for the time being.
- Don’t panic over little blips in the diet. I need to chill out. I’m eating so crazy healthy overall and stress is not good. A few sips of fruit juice are not a calamity.
Such a fun night and another demonstration that I can live a totally normal life.
