Not That Again: Reflux Redux

After my last post, I had a fantastic dinner at home: pasta, yellow eye heirloom beans, and broccoli.  Too much of a good thing, because I ate too much at one sitting.  For a "normal" meal, my portion would have been just right, but for a GERD-stomach, this was an unmanageable volume.  I immediately realized this, and tried to avoid bed for a few hours.  Two hours later, I was exhausted and could not stop myself from reclining.

Around 4:00 AM I woke up to a regurgitating stomach -- hideous!   And upsetting.   I rarely have experienced this -- maybe twice before? -- and never to this degree.   This passed, and I have not had any issues since.  

SMALL PORTION STRATEGIES

1. Continue eating two "half breakfasts."

2. Figure out strategy for reducing dinner volume without starving myself.  Two "half dinners" is one idea, but this means eating something easy like nut butter on toast or a small bowl of soup before dinner -- after dinner is out of the question since I'm trying to avoid eating too close to bedtime.

3. Have something dinner-like for one of my half-breakfasts and have the second half-breakfast at dinnertime!  This is my favorite solution so far -- because along with improving my small portions, I need to:

EAT MORE VEGETABLES!

As much as I cherish vegetables, I don't eat enough of them!  I saw that in my one-week food diary, and I feel it in my body.   One rate limiting step is that  I'm not crazy about most raw vegetables.  You won't find me gnawing on a carrot or a container of raw cruciferous florets.   Since cooked vegetables require more prep, I wind up grabbing fruits and grains instead of vegetables 

My thought is this should not stop me and "prep away" -- with some planning (make extras during dinner prep) and shortcuts (frozen veggies!), I should be able to manage.   That I love vegetables for breakfast is a personality trait I can work to my advantage.  A heap of green beans, spinach, and edamame sounds like a good start to the day to me!    This also complements the occasional hard boiled egg I enjoy (only pastured eggs).

This morning, I sauteed a bunch of chard and will throw this together with leftover brown rice and heirloom red beans.   Time to plan and execute plans is KEY.