LESS SALT, PLEASE?
–
The wife and I brought to our knees
To ask for less salt, please…
We both hold fluids
Like stones by druids,
The salt content we both must ease.
–
–Jonathan Caswell
LOBSTER LEGS
His legs, swollen and red,
Were as bad as his doctor said…
Vanquishing edema
Takes more than a dreamer,
Much consistent treatment, instead!
–Jonathan Caswell
FORBIDDEN FAVORITE FOODS
(Mostly as Haiku)
Diet swords crossed
Winning control of his fare…
Far-reaching food fight!
–
Super-Special sub,
Three meats, lettuce and cheese…
Scrumptiously okay!
–
Still buying candy,
Pretzels for a rainy day…
Edema won’t leave!
–
Low-salt, high fiber
Candy bars masquerading…
Wise ones watch labels!
–
Complimentary,
Small portions of chips…
Regular soda!
–
Convenience kills,
Easily lost is control…
Salt and sugar win!
–
Eating half only,
Sandwiches enjoyed longer….
Maybe wife gets some!
–
Meatloaf and gravy, rare,
Mass. Turnpike revelation…
Suddenly set right!
–
Candy corn for kids,
Bag closed carefully between…
Cheating doesn’t help!
–
Diabetic mood
Carbohydrate-tidal force…
Glucose levels swing!
–Jonathan Caswell
WATER PILL WOBBLE
(“Yellow Rose of Texas”)
He got his medications
With double water pills,
Flushing out his fluid
Will take care of his ills…
With water weight reducing
He’ll easier breathe,
So he’ll not have to quickly
Make out a will to bequeath!
–
He’s feeling rather wonderful
As he runs for the pot,
Cloresterol reduction
Is not all that he’s got…
All this extra exercise
Is doing good as well,
As long as he wobbles
Carefully to avoid a spill!
–
His doctors have him taking stuff
With scientific names,
But when they say the name brand
He thinks they’re playing games…
It’s him who must coordinate
Between health services,
So there’s no duplication
Of what the other says!
–
He’s healthier but faces
Changing what he eats,
To not binge out on candy
Or salty tasty treats…
This is the hardest thing of all
But he’s got little choice,
He’s got to stop fooling himself
His doctors all voice!
–Jonathan Caswell
LIVING AS ONE?
Discussion with a neighbor
Wasn’t copacetic…
Reminded me of living
With a non-diabetic.
–
The neighbor served key lime pie
One member of a pair….
So he could go on “living”,
That sounded so unfair!
–
The other one got nothing,
Nor even dessert at all…
Is it any wonder diabetics’
Will powers often fall?
–
My Mom and Dad were such a pair,
He was and she was not…
His exercise machine sat next
To where she kept candy bars in stock.
–
The freezer kept them extra cold,
Every session he’d sneak one or two…
She wondered why his sugar stayed high
‘Til the truth came suddenly to…!
–
She tried different hiding places
And he’d figure them out quick…
She’d notice the supply took a nose dive
And her husband got real sick.
–
With my wife and I, we’re both
Diabetics…inequality is less there…
But I will bring home the salty snacks,
The edema makes that choice less fair.
–Jonathan Caswell
SOMETHING’S NOT AFOOT!
Went to bed with both shoes on,
For a nap my sheets upon…
Uneven stance
When rising, chanced
To see which shoe had not stayed on.
–
My left shoe or slipper, see,
Is the one kicked off normally…
But it was elevated
Edema to have abated,
Immobilized, essentially!
–
Imagine the queer feeling
Of sitting up, revealing
The right shoe gone
And the left still on…
So why all this useless squealing?????
–Jonathan Caswell
QUICK SNACK
Peanut butter crackers taste
Like something eaten with haste…
When blood sugar gets real low,
Potato chips are the wrong way to go!
–
Sugar is fine if just a little,
Don’t want to turn diabetes brittle…
Protein burns slower than starch and fat,
Edema swells with that salty crap!
–
Carrots are great but go through quick,
Protein like cheese is a useful trick…
Amazing what turns up from long ago,
Protein–said my Dad–is the way to go!
–
He said it in a letter my wife just found,
He passed away–ten years in the ground…
My brother then was talking to me
And told my Dad ’bout my peanuts and candy.
–
So up from the past, a nutrition trick,
Avoiding high sugars and getting sick…
Peanut cracker sandwiches will do just fine
If I don’t consume more than a package at a time!
–Jonathan Caswell
