Drink Up

As with all food related daily prompt questions there are two answers to this. One from before I had gastric bypass surgery and one from after.

Is the implication here that the answer is an alcoholic beverage? Am I just reading into it because I live in a booze friendly society? Maybe, maybe not. I’ll just state for the record that my answers do not involve alcohol because I don’t drink. I never have. My Uncle was an alcoholic and I’ve always assumed that was the hidden reason for my complete and total lack of desire to ever get drunk. I’m 52 years old and I have never been drunk. Never. Somehow though, I don’t think my Uncle is the reason for my disinterest in the bottle. I think I just don’t like the idea of losing self control. I don’t know. Maybe I should talk to a shrink about it. One of the post-gastric bypass diet restrictions is never drinking alcohol again. Many patients struggle with that. I don’t. Nothing changed for me.

Okay, back to the question. Post surgery, my favorite drink is probably water mixed with Crystal Light sugar free lemonade mix. Most days see me drinking at least 64 ounces of it. It is my go-to drink in these crazy new world times.

Prior to the surgery there was one clear favorite. One undeniable winner in the beverage sweepstakes, unfortunately for me. It was Coca~Cola, babie. I drank it by the truck load. I bought it by the gross (no I didn’t, but it often felt that way). Seeing me without a can or bottle of coke was a rare occurrence. Unfortunately, I have the mangled, screwed up teeth to prove it. Oops, I guess. In later years, as my weight problem spiraled out of control, I switched to diet cola. I preferred Diet Pepsi to Diet Coke. It was the only Pepsi product that I preferred to the Coca~Cola analog. I never loved it the way I loved coke though. It was there for me when I needed it, but it never spoke to my soul the way my caramel colored, caffeinated, carbonated drug of choice did.

Do I miss drinking coke? A little. Caffeine and carbonated drinks are also on the post surgical no fly list so unless I am willing to risk getting sick I will never dabble again. I am okay with that. I will continue to be okay with that for the rest of my days. I lost 220 pounds. The sacrifice is more than worth it.

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Hey Gemini, or whatever you’re calling your bad self these days, generate an image of a Jedi Knight enjoying a tasty beverage.