Last night Mr M and I  had company over for dinner. I made a whole BBQ chicken, BBQ sausages, chicken gravy, steamed carrots and broccoli; a very dairy potato bake and two desserts: chocolate brownie sundaes with homemade hot fudge sauce AND creme brulee.

I ate everything except sausages (I don’t eat hotdogs or sausages), drank 2 beer and nearly an entire bottle of white wine. See, it was my last night of culinary bliss and over indulgence.

Today, I am on a strict diet as my body gets ready for the “procedures” on Tuesday. Today, I am allowed to eat the following and only the following:

• Rice Bubbles (Rice Krispies for you North Americans)
• Corn Flakes
• Skim milk (on cereal)
• White bread
• Plain crackers
• Rice
• Boiled chicken
• Steamed fish
• Clear soup
• Chicken noodle soup
• Spaghetti with no sauce
• Boiled eggs

I also must consume clear drinks every hour for the next 2 days. I am falling behind on this. Right now, I’m drinking a black Americano. I used to like black coffee but now, not so much. Since living “Down Unda” I have become very accustomed to flat whites (like a latte with more milk and less foam).

I am making chicken and rice soup for dinner. I will have 2 glasses of white wine – Hey, I’m allowed.

Tomorrow, I can have NO solids. None. Not a cracker, not a piece of toast…nada. But I must continue with the hourly glasses of clear liquids.

I will be admitted to hospital at 3pm and at 5pm the bowel ridding concoctions are begun. I must say, I am looking forward to the “clean out”. I hope I don’t miss too much of The Voice with all my back and forth to the toilet. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to my bloated tummy. I am not going back to eating gluten.

Starting tomorrow, when I can have no food, I am going gluten-free for the sake of my body and overall health and wellbeing. It’s the only committed restriction I will have, though I will limit dairy as well. I find I cannot keep up with a long list of dietary no-nos and I think it is wheat and gluten that is playing a big part to my issues. I may be wrong. I may have something horribly wrong with me but I am confident that it’ll be nothing more than IBS. It’s not only the internal problems that are my concern. It’s also what I look like on the outside.

I don’t like having a protruding tummy. I like to wear form-fitting clothing. I like to wear bikinis in the summer, sometimes all day long if it’s really hot. I like to feel sexy. I don’t feel or look sexy with a gut the size of a 5-month pregnant mother-to-be. I know it’s vain but it is what it is. So it’ll be me and Tracy Anderson back at it later this coming week. I’m changing my mindset. I need to remember that I eat to live not live to eat. It’s so easy to confuse the two. I do love food though so I’ll never be one to be too fanatic about it. And chocolate is in my diet to stay.

What is the one indulgence you refuse to give up?