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Local supermarkets may not be tracking trends closely, but they’ve surely noticed an unexpected spike in yogurt and egg sales. Cows and chickens are probably working overtime, and soon someone will be sent to investigate.
You might assume this surge is due to a population shift or a major marketing campaign. Sadly, it’s not. The real reason? PSP. Newspapers will likely spin this into stories about PlayStations and gaming causing obesity – but they’ll be wrong.
It’s been nearly 26 days since I changed my diet 180 degrees, and I can report overwhelming success. After an appointment with my neurologist – who advised a PEG feeding tube because I was choking (I even choked on a smoothie with a straw in his office) – I decided to fight back.
The idea of a feeding tube terrified me: physically, mentally, and socially. Sitting down to eat with family while connected to a tube? Not for me. So, I switched from a Mediterranean diet to a pulp-based one. No fast-moving liquids, no food with texture – anything risky was out.
I consulted an expert, took the advice I trusted, and built my own plan. My diet now includes:
- Yogurt
- Soft scrambled eggs
- Yogurt again
- Porridge
- Yogurt and yes again
- Soft meat sauce
- White fish pie
- Yogurt…
- Soup
- Smoothies
- Chopped liver
- Yogurt once morre
- Apple sauce
- Tahini
- Lots of hot drinks (sipped slowly)
I’m still struggling with thickeners, but the goal is simple: avoid choking. By most standards, it’s a terrible diet – except for one: safety. And the good news (touch wood!) is that it’s working.
Eating out is off the table, and yes, it’s boring. But I’m coping. Reflux appeared along the way, and I’ve managed it with two medications. Life has become routine.
Two popular suggestions I’ve ignored:
- Chew and spit favorite foods. I even offered to bring a spittoon to my daughter’s wedding tasting – she wasn’t keen.
- “Ninja” my favorite meals like steak and chips. I’m not ready yet.
This whole experience feels like a metaphor for PSP: sudden changes, hard decisions, and then adjustment. By normal standards, my diet is far from ideal. But I measure life differently now. I’m 26 days further along, managing the risk, and that’s a win.
I could easily have turned this into a mourning for the end of bread, rice (tried soft risotto once and failed badly), pasta, almoonds, grilled chicken and a hundred other things but I don’t feel like that at all.
This is good. This is positive. And to those cows and chickens working overtime – thank you. (Blood test postponed for now!)
