GAG | eating life with head & neck cancer Ep 60 - 120

Everything I want and need to say is here. What I am not sure about is how to get the message out about this book to those that need it. I’ll be honest, I don’t know who needs it more - it might be other patients like me, their care givers, their clinicians - friends, family all of the above. I feel so deeply and strongly attuned to this information getting the air play it needs. There is so little out there to help people “Running the Gauntlet” of head and neck cancer treatment. I use that term to describe the process and then what happens ? It is …* linguistically correct* metaphorically precise* emotionally honestI hope you find the book the same. I can’t read it without it evoking such strong emotion in me. I take that as a good sign on this World Cancer Day 2026.You can get your copy here or you can mosey on over here to Amazon Eat Well. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

Book Summary – GULP.The book will be available on my website and Amazon - likely (realistically) just before or just after Christmas - I will let you know. 🍾Here’s what it is ALL about …GULP. is a practical and insightful guide designed to help people navigate the physical, emotional, and social challenges of eating after dysphagia or related feeding difficulties. The book’s core purpose is to provide both patients and caregivers with structured guidance, actionable strategies, and lived-experience insights that clinical care alone often cannot address.The book is written for individuals recovering from head and neck cancer, radiation therapy, or other conditions affecting swallowing, as well as their caregivers, family members, and healthcare professionals seeking a patient-centred perspective.Central themes include rebuilding confidence around food, reclaiming social participation, understanding the physiological and psychological aspects of dysphagia, and integrating practical, evidence-informed strategies into daily life. Readers are introduced to the Back At The Table (BATT) Framework, a structured approach to recovery that emphasizes attention to mind, body, nutrition, and social connection. Key takeaways include the importance of embracing failure as part of progress, the role of social and emotional nourishment, and the value of personalised, step-by-step approaches to regaining independence.The book is organised into chapters and series that guide readers progressively: understanding the impact of feeding challenges, practical strategies for home and social eating, culinary exploration, and integrating life skills. Modules include personal stories, real-world examples, exercises, and illustrative frameworks, making complex concepts tangible and relatable.Distinctive elements include first-person narratives, reflective insights from personal journeys such as the Camino, practical exercises, and applied frameworks like BATT and IDDSI.By reading GULP., readers gain the confidence, knowledge, and practical tools to rebuild their relationship with food, navigate social settings, and restore a sense of agency and enjoyment in daily life, transforming eating from a source of anxiety to a pathway for connection, resilience, and well-being.Eat Well - Merry Christmas 🎄 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

Circa 2019.I know many of you reading here are not HNC patients or recipients of treatment. I created these PEG tube videos because I knew at some point they would help someone else with their journey. I had no idea what to do nor how to live with my PEG tube. Small things like tucking it in my bra, what to do when the end broke off and was told and I quote “that’s because you are using it too much” …I mean really? - I’ll omit the expletive I used after I left the clinic. Do you think they were joking? No - they were not, and it wasn’t until I threatened to go to the local hardware and replace the plug myself did someone actually go an do something about it. Monty Python indeed. “Tis but a scratch!” “No it isn’t!, I have had worse” Except of course I hadn’t, and the comedy continued. My point is - if you are going through this now, or about to - there’s a lot you have to learn. Ask questions. How, why and what if - unless someone is a specialist in tube feeding, tube care or is the Black Knight of PEG tube feeding, there’s a high chance they don’t know. In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, that “’Tis but a scratch!” scene happens when King Arthur encounters the Black Knight, a lone, overconfident guard blocking a bridge. Arthur defeats him easily, slicing off one limb after another, but the Knight refuses to admit defeat. Even with no arms or legs left, he’s still yelling, “Come back here and take what’s coming to you! I’ll bite your legs off!” - that sounds pretty much how I managed this whole PEG process. The whole bit is a brilliant parody of blind heroism, macho pride, and British stoicism, that absurd determination to “keep calm and carry on” long past the point of reason.So when someone says “’Tis but a scratch,” it’s become shorthand for downplaying something serious often as dark humour, or as a badge of stubborn resilience.Sounds like me. Eat Well. xGAG.| eating life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

I flew up to Brisbane to present at the inaugural Australian IDDSI conference as a guest speaker. IDDSI stands for International Dysphagia Diet Standardisation Initiative and it refers to texture modified food for people with swallowing difficulties. I asked one the members of our reference committee to nurse my iPhone tripod and just ensure it captured me presenting - mostly because I wanted to hear how many um’s i said .. quite a few. Just a bit of housekeeping to put this in context. The woman introducing me is Dr Lisa Sossen APD, PhD who aside from keeping me fed whilst away via Textured Concept Foods - is a Dietitian who works mainly in the aged care field. Lisa is the founder of Lisa Sossen & Associates and also specialises in cancer nutrition. It was an emotional introduction and it took me by surprise and then it hit me as I started to present. This is just a snippet and I have the full recording which (despite my nerves and dry mouth) I managed to get it out in the allotted 20 minutes! My book GULP. Taking a seat back at the table after head and neck cancer was not ready for this presentation despite my best efforts and it will be finalised this week. Shoutout to Precise - they have some Mango Jelly in a tub I have now a new craving for and it’s packed with protein and will make brilliant future hiking snacks. Super special thanks to Julie Cichero and Peter Lam founders of IDDSI and all round good humans. If you would like to view the whole presentation leave a comment below and I’ll send you the private link. Only to my subscribers here at GAG.| eating life. Eat Well. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

You can find the book launch details by signing up here - it will be available on Amazon and my Payhip Store - by October 2025.At the heart of GULP is the Mind Food Body System - the practical framework designed to help individuals eat safely and live socially after head and neck cancer. But behind the system lies a deeper philosophy: the Commensality Comeback. This model represents the emotional and social restoration that occurs when eating becomes more than nutrition-it becomes connection. GULP brings them together, offering both the strategy and the soul to navigate life after radiated dysphagia.* GULP = the full package* Mind Food Body = the “how” (system/process)* Commensality Comeback = the “why” (philosophy/purpose)I developed the Mind Food Body System based on my own experience recovering from head and neck cancer and learning to eat again after a PEG tube. During that time, I noticed significant gaps- especially in how information was shared between patients, carers, and the clinical team. This system was created to close those gaps with a practical, structured approach that supports safer eating and better communication.The Commensality Comeback isn’t a concept I invented-it’s the bigger picture. It reflects the return to shared meals and social eating after medical treatment. GULP supports that comeback by combining the system with easy-to-use tools.Here’s how it all fits together:* Philosophy – The Commensality ComebackA shift toward restoring shared meals and connection after treatment* System – The Mind Food Body SystemA practical framework to guide patients and clinicians through the return to oral eating* Tools – GULPA set of resources (book, app, and toolkit) to support learning, planning, and implementationGULP. Is my story, my challenges and how I went about creating my best food life and new life having had a PEG tube for 15 months. It is intended as a story but an educational story, built with layers of experience in food, cooking, hiking, strategy and an unwavering belief in oneself. It’s all designed and created to ensure that you..Eat Well. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

If cancer gave me anything it was a hot cup of tea and a good talking to.I wanted to read stories from people who had a clue.I wanted to get some sort of idea about what it was I was going through and what others had experienced.I didn’t want to get unsolicited advice from a thousand people on social media about the dodgy looking ulcer on their tongue.Not helpful, non of it.…and so GAG.| eating life was born.This is a documented life journal told in story format of my setbacks and comebacks after surviving head and neck cancer.Now I am a writer and international hiker. A story teller and still, after everything a foodie at heart.May it provide the inspiration and clarity you need. Eat Well. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

Wow survivorship. The second battle - I didn’t see it coming. There are people who actually do their PhD’s in this so I’ll leave the details to them. I guess the nuance of what I write is now based on “survivorship” and as I have documented my journey from day 1 - it’s becomes a useful resource, for not only me but those that unfortunately are coming up the rear of which there are many. This next stage is where I need your help. Your thoughts, comments and ideas publicly written if possible, that way it doesn’t just become because “I said”.You know what I mean, so if you can make a comment here on Substack, Linkedin, social media or even just send me an email - and being comfortable with me using your words in the public arena is all super helpful. Please share this publication - it helps get the message out there …Becoming a paid subscriber also super helpful. 😉GAG.| eating life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Eat Well. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

I still, very occasionally, get gifts from unsuspecting givers. Two such items arrived this past week via a flustered delivery driver.I know both givers, one quite well the other I have spoken only via the telephone and only ever on a professional footing. The trouble I face is I look as though not much has happened to me, although if you peer closely you can see the tell tale signs of radiotherapy, the neck dissection, that ever so slightly drawn look only head and neck cancer patients have, that sort of landed fish look. Crooked teeth (my once prized possession unbanded) so unless you listen oh so carefully to my speech, or happen to be in the sneeze zone of sharing a meal, you’d likely not know what I have been through. So you can forgive the uninitiated when they send you a full box of Charlesworth mixed nuts as a Christmas thank you gift. I know, I know it’s the thought that counts, but I am (and say this with hand on heart) really surprised anyone gifts food of any description in this day and age when every second person seems to have allergies to gluten, peanuts, avocado, fruit, vegetables, Mariah Carey you name it. Don’t get me started on school canteens and the fact that one is allergic to peanuts we all are allergic to peanuts rhetoric. I think the giving of food to anyone in the head and neck space is a very bold move. I recall back when I was still navigating my PEG and trying to work out how to actually eat real food when someone (who absolutely should have known better) presented me with a bottle of sweet dessert sauce. My guess in their thinking was “it’s a sauce” “it has no bits” - “it’s … add in the reasoning and the seasoning”. I opened it with trepidation and sure enough, whatever was in it made my sinuses swell up and burn my mouth and throat to within an inch of its life. That bottle stayed open in my fridge for the next 18 months and only then I could manage to consume it. Anything that lasts that long (I don’t do expiration dates - Brie, Camembert, Mariah Carey point in case, are always better after their due date) I am always dubious about, but when you can’t eat or swallow a thing you tend to ignore the obvious red flags.Here’s a list of what I think is pretty safe in the head and neck cancer gift giving space. * A cotton Japanese Handkerchief (male or female) those things are big beautiful and soft and make excellent stylish wipes.* Vitamin E Laden moisturiser / cream with aloe vera - I use Tri -Natural Products * An enriched lip moisturiser with SPF 50 - great for those small spots in the corner of your mouth (angular cheilitis) * A Spotify / Audible audio subscription * A meditation app like - WAKE UP/Head Space * Scented Candle* A linen tea towel - a nice one that grown ups have* Buff (head cover - for sensitive ears) * An experience - insert zoo / museum / game to attend / race track / lap around a circuit * A travel gift card (that might be a me thing 😉)* Warm gloves (again male / female) * A tray of mangoes if you feel the need to do food or insert “avocado “ pending the point above * A good water bottle or drinking vessel with the correct opening for drinkingAnyway you get my drift. A quick list off the top of my head to get you thinking.I arrived home after 6 weeks walking to two very fat cats, but otherwise a very dishevelled house. My favourite Japanese lacquered spoon (gone), my Nutrifleur toothpaste (all used), pots, pans and lids just shoved wherever and not in sets. Mouldy towels, unwashed dishes, a dead garden - shall I go on? Still, the cats were happy.The one thing that they did leave for me was a huge (and likely very expensive) food hamper, the contents of which I could not eat… none of it - I could just manage the Pukka caffeine free tea bags. It contained the following items :- * Bag of mixed nuts - No* Tin of Cadbury Favourites (Chocolates for my non Aussie readers) - No ( FYI - cheap chocolate burns like the all get out and is in no way pleasant to consume) if you are a Chocolate person I do eat dark Haighs at 70% cocoa but that’s taken me years to get to that point and even then it is hit and miss. * Some slab of indescribable salted Caramel Rocky Road - No * Chocolate dipped Almonds - Double No * Trail Mix - for the love of all things spicy - NoI would have prefered they put the money toward a house cleaner, there you go, what an idea, maybe a gift certificate of a clean house.My point is - know thy market, dont think because its soft, runny, smooth it will work - it likely won’t unless you know the person really really well. Because a gift received that completely alienates you as a human is not fulfilling its intended purpose. You can forgive those that simply don’t know, but when something is explained in agonising detail and still ignored, you have to question the sincerity of the trail mix. Eat Well.Enjoy this post ? You can share it and help more people and caregivers … thanks 💜 This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

My Google Translated Elevator Pitch … Side effects of head and neck cancer treatment means I have trouble swallowing food & drink.It’s happening.I am about to navigate 6 weeks of eating on the hoof, away from my kitchen and most importantly, away from my country of origin. I am travelling half way around the world to walk across the Pyrenees and Spain. The Camino Frances I have experience of course, two previous Caminos under my belt, my very first Camino hand selected based on the food alone. The Portuguese Coastal way, think soft fleshed fish, BBQ vegetables and soup instead of crusty bread, cheese and meat, like ham & bacon. The perfect bacon I had all but given up on, presented itself on the buffet at the hotel I first stayed in Porto. Unlike failed attempts to eat “bacon” in Australia, it was soft, flavourful and seem to disintegrate on impact. I put it down to the pig, the way it was raised, my attempts in Australia was akin to chewing shards of glass, little joy in any of that. That was the plan, it worked well and I ate fish soup, a lot of garlic bread and plenty of beautiful fresh fish with steamed potato and sometimes mayonnaise. I had a lot of stunning coffee (cafe branco) and pastries filled with sweet custards dusted with icing sugar. I consumed tuna and fish pastries and quite unexpectedly I did not choke, sneeze or gag much, if at all. The pastries had enough fat to slide and if and when they caught, I had coffee and or water on hand. Stunning pocket sized morsels that kept me going kilometre after gruelling kilometre.I chose the Portuguese coastal way as my first Camino for no other reason than my expectation of the food on offer. It turned out that I could manage quite a variety of food, including some breads, some cold meats and definitely the beer and the Portuguese wine - mental note to self, don’t talk yourself into not being able to eat something. I talk about the food here to some length in takes you to my You Tube channel.Eating in Portugal go to time stamp 3 mins where I speak directly to thoughts as to why I could manage something like bacon in Portugal but as to why it varied between establishments. I also love the ocean and the two combined made an ideal active holiday for me. The first one since head and neck cancer treatment and my first in Europe. I spent the majority and most of my adult life in Australia and South East Asia, so to experience Europe in Portugal whilst walking a spiritual path was the perfect introduction for me. In Portugal I noticed olive oil was served with most things, little acoutrement packages of oil, mayonnaise, mustard, sauce - every where I went that meant I could add a little moisture to food that I sampled. I was surprised with what I could manage and as my confidence grew walking, so did my food repertoire. The only meal I had which caused me some problems was smoked salmon and avocado in Lisbon. I carefully selected what I thought I could manage off the menu but it came smothered in a seeds and the avocado was too unripe for me to manage. I couldn’t chew it, break it down nor swallow it easily, it also came with lettuce and we all know how that turns out.I went hungry that night and there was no kettle in my room so I couldn’t prepare a cup of soup or a cup of tea. Be aware, Spain and Portugal don’t as a rule have kettles in rooms so preparing soup in a cup or noodles when desperate was not possible. Spain - what’s next. I am excited and filled with anticipation as to how Spain will unfold. I am only in France for a few days and I suspect that will be a different culinary experience again. My first two Caminos gave me an enormous amount of food confidence, food confidence I had not realised had been eroded from many months of Peg tube feeding, my relationship with food had changed dramatically and the process of walking and eating became symbiotic and the process to which my new life began.I don’t panic about what I can eat, I know that there will always be something I can manage even if I can’t communicate internal radiated fibroids in Portuguese or Spanish but what I can say is this …Los efectos secundarios del tratamiento del cáncer de cabeza y cuello significan que tengo problemas para tragar alimentos y bebidas. Translated means Side effects of head and neck cancer treatment means I have trouble swallowing food & drink.What Spain will provide is part of my food learning journey, I will not pack any additional preconceived food fears, I will pack healthy optimism and the knowledge that I must try to eat at least 3000 calories a day to compensate the 25-30 kms of walking. I know there is considerable amounts of meat available and often selecting any vegetarian options are just easier from a dental hygiene (ORN) and time perspective (eating with others). I have lost weight on previous Caminos and chocolate, Portuguese custard tarts (Pastel de nata) and wine became a staple in my daily eating and main calories (mostly empty calories) so I try to maintain weight and energy with eggs, potato (frittata), dairy, yoghurt, butter, oil, soups, fish and orange juice. Fruit and salad is always challenging, I miss fresh fruit and things like berries, apples and melon are very challenging for me. Hotel buffets come into their own here and being able to choose across a selection is often the best way to start the day. Hotels don’t take kindly to pilgrims stocking up their daily meals at their breakfast buffet which I totally appreciate and understand, I have in the past explained my situation and offered to pay for additional food (cheese slices, small tubs of fruit yoghurt, bread rolls I know I can eat, bananas, sauce, mayonnaise satchets) and put these in a clip lock snack bag for the day’s walking. I do lament the almond cake which is often served with coffee, I don’t bother for I know that will be like trying to mix a bag of cement powder with an eye dropper of water. Mental and Emotional PreparationAs I draw closer to my departure date, I start the mental preparation of the journey. The practical packing, booking and payment processes have been done, now is the time to run through the trip and set myself up for success.Sometimes the biggest challenge food wise is the flights over (from Australia it can be up to forty hours if not days to get to the destination) and airports in my experience often pose the biggest food challenge. I am prepared with snacks in my carry on luggage I purchased in Australia, teabags and of course dark chocolate. On international flights I have tried pre ordering Halal, vegetarian and all sorts of special food. For me just sticking to the routine in flight meals often prove to be most successful. Dysphagia is not recognised by airlines as a ‘special needs’ meal and often to compensate for blandness of vegetarian meals it will be over seasoned with something that will make me cough, choke or sneeze. Always carry your own extra water and I have learnt a nice cotton hanky for such occasions.I am determined to pave a better food path and better life for people suffering the side effects of head and neck cancer treatment. I hope you come on the journey with me. Want to find out how I started eating again after PEG Tube feeding for 15 months? The Complete Guide and how I started that long journey can be found at Gum Road. You can have a look here Eat Well.GAG.| eating life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

I don’t often eat ice cream anymore, I find the melt point a little bit difficult to manage, back when I first had treatment for Oropharyngeal stage four cancer, the ice cream use to burn my throat, it felt gritty and as a result, unless it’s top shelf (high fat content) and expensive, I don’t enjoy it. I started making my own “ice cream” with just frozen bananas and that with some seeded strawberry puree is the bomb. You’d think this would be relatively easy to eat in public and it was, except I was sitting in my car and not having to talk to anyone. I avoid eating in public quite a bit now unless I absolutely have to. In part because I can’t tolerate having food stuck to my teeth and or gums and I get so tired trying to eat, converse, keep myself looking like an adult and managing dental hygiene. It all just has too many moving parts. Today, quite uncharacteristically I bought an ice cream (its dead of winter here) and ate it in the carpark whilst I waited for my meeting. Cones made of wafer are pretty good as I still can’t tolerate wooden sticks in my mouth. Nope, can’t stand the ‘feel’ of them any more, I often tell my surgeon when he’s giving me an endoscopy and checking my throat - please rinse that wooden tongue depressor under running water before putting it any where near my mouth. Wooden cutlery / bamboo cutlery I’ll have none of it thank you very much. Airlines and on board cutlery is my next challenge. Eat Well. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

For those of you who have been here with me for a while, know that I hike, and when I say hike, I mean hundreds of kilometres. It saved my sanity, my life whilst healing from Stage 4 Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. This will be my third hike in Europe in as many years. This will be the longest one yet. The Camino Frances which will test my food confidence and my early ORN just enough to make it really annoying. I have a fundraiser with Head and Neck Cancer Australia so If you can afford to, please consider donating which will motivate me to continue to train and bring you updates. I’ll be honest I am still working out how I am going to record this trip but if you feel as though you want to know more about my hiking life - I have a You Tube channel which I created to document my hikes for my personal record and enjoyment. Copy eat and travel write Other hikes about food confidence can be found here and living in Vietnam when it all went horribly wrong here or my first Camino Portuguese hereI plan on writing and sketching this hike in memory of my artist mother, Moira McClaren. I am taking her sketching pencils so that a little bit of her comes with me, mum loved Spain and she and dad never had a chance to go back so I am making up lost time and opportunities.More to follow. Eat Well. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

Housekeeping: Hello there, if you are new here be sure to check out the podcast too, link on the GAG.| eating life homepage. Soup. It’s a noun but one I use as a verb and an adjective. Rightly or wrongly. I am working on improving my gut biome. There’s nothing glamorous about gut biome for most people, but for me it’s a fascinating and challenging view on food we don’t often consider, and now for me one that requires extra special attention given my inability to eat most fresh fruit, berries, salad, seeds and nuts without some serious culinary intervention. Post head and neck cancer treatment (aka radiotherapy) sometimes I can eat that, but on other days, those ending with a “y”, I can’t. Or one week I am absolutely fine with a certain soup, the next week not so much. It makes it incredibly hard to meal plan and prep in advance. So improving gut biome has been challenging. Radiotherapy and the alterations it leaves to a “functioning swallow” I have had stages of difficulty of swallowing from the start to current day. I had a PEG tube inserted before I left hospital following radiotherapy, surgery and the nuance of swallowing was lost on me for the first 15 months, that is the nuance of texture, melt point, grip, slide and inhale risk. The things we learn. Cancer booklets on suggested food items available way back when, unhelpful in their suggested trail mix to keep protein levels up, baked beans on muffins (skin issue let alone the “muffin” issue) keep snacks in the car - ridiculous to think that any HNC patient was going to eat in the car. Five years on I have never eaten a snack in the car, I now, where possible plan phone calls around eating, meetings around eating and any face to face encounters around not only what I eat but my proximity to a mirror, bathroom and my water pikster. Back to the beans in question. In my quest to improve gut biome I have gone all out to eat more fruit, vegetable, nuts and seeds as 98% of my diet. I have just completed month one. I feel amazing, I have lost 3kgs in weight (6.62 pounds for those that operate in pounds) and I am starting to notice some very subtle changes to bloat, swelling, skin tone and eye clarity, and the dreaded radiotherapy frog spawn. It’s ever so improved, just the tiniest bit. Salads were lost to me for so long, previous posts I have talked about the bricks and mortar of my salads. I make hummus with chickpeas, organic tahini (seeds), loads of garlic and lemon juice and sometimes added fresh beetroot just for colour. My sister kindly donated some homegrown eggplant that were made into babaganoush again with added garlic, tahini, cumin and smoky paprika. These dollops of gloop held the structure of salad together for me. I’d add quinoa, pearl barley, roasted vegetable and oven baked pita wraps to scoop up the gloop!Avocado, roasted butternut squash and black beans, with purple onion, fresh herbs and vinaigrette dressings with olive oil, dijon mustard You get the idea. I had to experiment with beans - so I purchased navy beans and soaked them for 8 hours and then simmered them until tender for another 1-1.5 hours. I couldn’t manage them. Grainy, skin issues, like eating grit off the bottom of a budgie cage. I turned to my hike in Portugal, well Galicia actually and turfed those beans into a pot with beef broth, loads of sliced green cabbage, celery, onion, garlic and simmered away until it resembled one of the soups I had on my pilgrimage hike across Spain and Portugal. Then I blitzed the lot with a hand held blender until smooth and creamy. Success with the navy beans finally. Eating more fruit a bigger challenge again, I long gave up biting into an apple. Strawberries with their summery lusciousness have to be pureed and seeded, watermelon for me almost impossible, mango better but banana requires a great deal of concentration. Smoothie bowls of tinned peaches, silken tofu, organic chia seeds and topped with dairy free coconut yogurt and sprinkled with pan roasted pepita seeds, dessicated coconut, slithered almonds - all toasted just to the right texture to enable swallowing. Is this dedication to eating worth it? For me yes, I am not going to lie to you, it takes some time to get the hang of it, but I note the food shopping list remains constant with enough variation to mix up meals, I am eating a load more fruit, vegetable, protein and as a result a lot more nutrient dense food. I have all but eliminated bread, biscuits, sugar (other than a sneaky Biscoff - who ever created those things is a genius! ) and I have forgiven myself for not eating like I use to. I love soup and always have, now I embrace the fact they are the one constant food item in my eating repertoire. Eat well.GAG.| eating life is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Soup can be a noun referring to a liquid dish typically made by boiling meat, fish, or vegetables in stock or water. As a verb, it describes the action of preparing or consuming soup. Finally, "souped" can function as an adjective, often used informally to describe something enhanced or modified, as in "a souped-up car." So, soup is versatile—it's not just for eating but also for describing actions and modifications. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

There's a a full transcript available. This episode I talk about my reason for being and why I create these resources for you.Here are the links I refer to during the podcast:Gumroad Resources Check out the latest E guide and the Mind Food Body ProgramRota Vicentina Travel - Ricardo This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

I promise you links within and here they are my lovelies …Mind Food Body Program E Guide to living your best food life Kelly McCormick Podcast This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe

can access the workshop information here This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit yvonnemcclaren.substack.com/subscribe