BD At The Hospital

As some of you know, I'm passionate about Jordan's blended diet (BD). Just because she has a tube to her tummy doesn't mean she can't have real meats, fruits, & veggies, just like the rest of us. Actually, we should all eat as well as Jordan does -- really! To accomplish this we have a Vitamix blender that will liquify anything (okay, I've personally only tried food items). The Vitamix is her teeth, and her g-tube is her esophagus. And the recipe I've developed* is almost perfectly balanced in calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, and fiber -- not to mention vitamins, minerals & other nutrients.

For those of us that are orally eating, our food is "blenderized" by the time it hits our tummies, so what's the big deal? None of us are expected to survive on a diet of Ensure for every meal for the rest of our lives, and if we did, I wonder how strong & healthy we'd feel day in and day out (not very, I'm convinced). But there certainly is a lot of money to be made by large pharmaceutical companies that "teach" the medical world that "g-tube = formula" (at least $6 per can, which adds up quickly at a few cans a day). Many people find huge resistance for blended real food from dieticians and the medical world, but we are lucky to have great support for Jordan's BD here in "the granola northwest" -- as a fellow BD mom loves to refer to our little neck of the woods.

These past couple of days have proved that. The nurses here at the "Hotel Emanuel" have been fascinated with Jordan's blend each day. They look at the container & try to guess what's in it by the color. I've been able to make a couple of batches and bring them from home, and each one is unique (and a slightly different color). Yesterday's was fairly green -- but no one guessed broccoli! Actually, it was: pork, chicken, broccoli, peas, grapes, pear, yogurt, barley & oatmeal, flaxseeds, a pinch of salt, some blackstrap molasses, canola/olive/codliver/flaxseed oil, and cranberry juice. The day before had chicken, carrots, and banana, and was distinctly orange.

I'm very thankful that not only do we get support for feeding Jordan real foods instead of formula, we've been able to stop her reflux & constipation, and get her off Zantac & Miralax, just by giving her real food.


*After I developed it I was able to get a couple of dieticians to analyze it & help me make sure it was, in fact, balanced for Jordan's specific needs -- but I couldn't find one to do all the initial legwork for me up front. Again, the only difference between doing a menu for Jordan and doing one for an orally eating person is that Jordan's hits the Vitamix before it goes into her tummy. Dieticians are supposed to be able to make menus for people -- that's their job. Their resistance is peculiar.