Wilted Produce

I had a tooth pulled yesterday.  It was the first tooth I had ever had, as they call it, extracted.  The dentist did a good job and the event was more pleasant than expected. The dental office staff was supportive and answered all my questions. There were post "extraction" instructions which include, "do not smoke or drink alcohol for 1 week" and "avoid all excessive activity for 24-48 hours."  I imagine that is tough on smokers, alcoholics, and folks who have a compulsive need to work out every day.  I am not having those problems.  Another instruction is, "A soft diet is recommended for the first 3 days."  My problem is finding fresh, organic celery to juice.  I want to add it to my freshly juiced daily vegetable juice as part of my soft, nutritious, post-extraction diet.

Has anyone noticed that often the organic sections of supermarkets and health food stores have old, wilted produce?  The celery stalks are flexible, not crunchy.  Sometimes the stalks have brown cores which are not evident until one cuts into the stalk.  The lettuce, chard, dandelion, and beet greens sit on the shelf limp and wilted.  How old is this stuff?  The fact that it is labeled  "organic" is not excuse for the aged condition of the produce.  Beef should be aged, not celery.

I told the produce man that the organic celery has been old and wilted lately.  If it were fresh I would buy two bunches.  I showed him the sad, wilted lettuce, beet greens, etc.  His response was that it was cheaper than the health food store.  I said it was old, so should be cheaper, but I wanted fresh produce and would have to go somewhere else to get it.

There was an apparent disconnect between my desire for fresh organic produce and the store offerings at a cheap price.  Frankly, much of the produce I was looking at should have been donated to the hog farm or compost heap.  Does anyone care?  Is anyone buying that old, wilted, depleted produce?

I juiced some cucumber (peeled, non-organic), organic carrots, a bit of ginger root (peeled non-organic at less than half the price of organic), organic apples, peel, core, and all, and some baby spinach (organic from the place with a name that sounds like "Costlo").  It was delightful.  Each of the three pints had different proportions of the above ingredients.  One had no spinach.  One had no cucumber.  All were tasty.  I added a bit of vitamin C powder and protein powder prior to drinking each pint.  Each was kept stored in the refrigerator until consumption.  All were consumed in one day, because the instructions said, "Adequate food and fluid intake following dental surgery is very important."  It has been hot, over 100 degrees, so I also drink water, sometimes with ice.

The tooth site was sutured.  I was told the suture material is not really cat gut, nor is it from cats, although it is often referred to as cat gut.  In my state of post-extraction delirium I do not remember whether it is from cow or what?  The sutures dissolve in the mouth in 2 to 4 weeks, although they can be removed in 2 weeks or sometimes less if they are bothering the patient.  They form a nice little "x" over the extraction site.

That's all for now, as I must follow instructions and "avoid all excessive activity."  When I feel up to it I will search for some fresh organic celery to juice.

Happy trails to all,
Southwest Desert Blogger
C. (c)2011