LESS SALT, PLEASE?

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

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

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

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?

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!

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

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