Around Town

Ahh gotta love summer, 60 degrees to 106 , only in New England !! LOL,
in my business , HVAC , this is a big deal for us and a big problem for Gastric bypass people in general . Its all about the water. Hydration is the key . We work in 135 degree attics and more, the other day i got a156 degree reading on a roof with the infrared gun , its WAY to easy to dehydrate in those temps,. And i cant stand taking salt tabs to help retain the moisture.For some reason the really upset my stomach, Gatorade , ummm, I know a lot of you are thinking that, but make sure you check the sugar level in in a lot of its is extremely high with fructose and glucose .
We have to make sure we drink more then 64 oz a day, because we lose it too fast, and lets face it a lot of time just getting any wheres near 64 ounces in a Gastric . It usually means that to get enough liquids , I have to cut back on solid foods.So yes , that means the dreaded protein drinks, at least Its a liquid with a lot of proteins and does double duty. Hydration and pushing the proteins high so that at least I can eat a meal at home when i finally get there.

how many people actually know themselves?
I thought that after almost 2.5 years that I would not be having any problems with life, I mean lets face it the big thing was to have made the choice to have the WLS and work to keep it off after.
Its still easy to fall back into the old habits even after that amount of time. Stress is one reason why. We all get it in different ways, business, the economy, health, just plain worrying or anything . Family trouble, life in general.
It's way to easy to fall back and frankly just UNDO all the good that you have done for yourself . So don't reach for that cookie or pastry or cup of coffee. [my big thing right NOW]
Look and see what's the problem and make an effort to figure out whats bugging you and then work to find a way around the problem and still be happy.
Try just writing your thoughts down , even if after you do you shred the evidence .It helps. Start writing your food journal again, and add your mood when your eating, it helps.Talk to people, don't go and sit and watch tv or veg, stay active and social. It helps. Make sure you don't stop taking any meds WITHOUT talking to your Med posse, that can be a major problem, and yes I am guilty of this one myself , i scaled back my antidepressants and life was miserable, so yes I am taking them the way I am supposed to again. It helps.
You are stronger then you think. You took the hardest step , and you can prove to everyone that you are not taking the easy way out , stick to the program. They easy way would be to just eat what we used to, and not redo our life the way WE want.
This is hard, food is the only addiction that you can NEVER totally get away from.Live to eat, eat to live. Hard cycle of life for sure.
We are stronger then you ever believed , we all can do this. remember that, you are not alone , that you can talk to people who are doing this , have done this and still are doing this.Together we are able to move mountains, and not just the mashed potatoes ones

my daughter had the surgery week ago , and MiniMich and I couldn't be happier. We have been really , really trying to not pressure her into this and she finally had decided to have RnY on her own.
After losing the gained water weight she lost 15 lbs in the first WEEK!! she has already lost 6 more in 3 days , so we are really really pleased with her effort for this .
She had been having a little trouble like we all do, finding the time to get everything IN! Drinking all that water, taking all her vitamins and calcium , remember those days?
I have to admit in a way its helping myself with helping her by being supporting of her efforts, after a little over 2 years you kinda get stuck in your patterns and its easy to slide a little and eat the wrong things for the wrong reasons. All the more reason to keep a food log and journal everything !


For a quick review I bring you

Gotein Protein To Go
Simply Add to Your Water Bottle
Gotein™ Protein to Go, helps refuel the body, and improves lean muscle mass while burning fat. Perfect for the sports minded person of all ages on the go. Whether engaging in a high energy sport, exercising or just looking for a healthy boost. Gotein™ is ideal at any stage of your day.

Drink approximately 1/3 of a 16.9 fl. oz water. Add complete packet of Gotein™ to your water bottle, swirl and shake well until completely dissolved and enjoy a tasty, low carb shake!

Best to use Gotein™ between 20 to 30 minutes before and after exercise or active sport. Can also be used 30 to 45 minutes before meals to help curb your hunger. Available in three delicious flavors - Chocolate, Strawberry and Vanilla.




OK lets give it a wizz, I made it EXACTLY the way it said to, the vanilla , which is one of my favorite flavors, after pouring it in the bottle it actually looked like coconut milk, watery and kinda weird but heck i drank it anyway, lets just say I tossed the bottle in the fridge to get COLDER, after a couple of hours I tried it again, sigh another failure, it had that nasty protein taste and a weird after taste so i dumped out the bottle and recycled it.
I did buy a chocolate too , and gave it to Mich and my daughter J to give it a try. Mich made it up and handed it to me after she sampled it, all we both had to say was , yuck.
It LOOKED like yoohoo chocolate flavored water but man it was just to weird for us, she ended up dumping it out so I can definitely say this is NOT going to be on our to do list again. so lets do it

easy of making 5, lets face it , how hard is it to dump this in your bottle?
general appearance 1 , didn't even look appealing
taste 0 , yep , pretty ruff on this one , couldn't stand it

so we have 6 out of 15 ,
my opinion? not worth the money or even more, the calories

Hola everyone!!! MiniMich and I are in Spain having dinner and taps , I ordered a chicken salad and this is what poped out


Needless to say Mich and I both had a good giggle over this one , a runny egg on a rice bed surronded with french dressing? chicken salad?

we are wandering around for the next 2 weeks in Europe, so its going to be real spotty doing any updates. I know i havent been real good at keeping this up and I promise to do better when I get back.
In the mean time here is nice present for you from gastricbypasssupplements.com any order you place online enter into the coupon code NEBAR10 and you will get a 10% discount on your online order !! Hey its a deal for the readers of my blog from Mark and John over at Faunce Corner so make sure you tell em thanks !! It works out pretty nice when you hook it in with the in store pick up.

I will try and check in from the ship or an internet cafe and see if i can get a bunch of pictures of the food and stuff and let you know how we do with the meals ..

Peace

Marc

so shoot me, its been a slow time for me to write on the blog, sometimes just dont FEEL it you l know what I mean?
For now , lets see, I had my 2 year check up finally , and its good, along with having a for real sleep study, and yep ITS for real its GONE!!!
Everything else is doing good, my meds are fine , for the most part they are all cut way down and am on only the bare minimums . Only thing I wish is that the bloomin wather would break because I am soooo sick of the crappy weather and the gray.
At least in another 3 and a half weeks the Fabulous Mini Mich andI will both be going on vacation, for our 30th anniversary I have arranged to take her to the Med on a 2 week cruise So this should be a blast.

yep I know, haven't been updating lately but hey that's life . Right now its my busy season with heat and stuff .

So, right now the fabulous MiniMich and I have been fighting with a new problem, at least for her , she has become hypoglycemic. Now isn't that a kick in the pants?
I mean come on, we go almost 2 years with only minor glitches after the first run of junk and now this? Well , guess what ? It's becoming more and more of a problem as time goes on with people whom have had the WLS. Personally I believe its because the data base has become more widespread due to the fact of more surgeries having been done , ergo more will show up. For a long detailed versiona nd smoe pretty good info go check out Melting Mams's blog, she has had this problem for a while and it does suck ,I can agree with her on it, I have seen Mich almost pass out from the low blood sugar of ummm 45? Where its supposed to be around 95-100?
So no, it's not a lot of fun . Right now all the Dr's are scratching their heads and going , uhh , we really don't know about this , maybe we can send you to someone else. Maybe an endocrinologist is the next guess. Shrugs , kinda frustrating is all. Even the Nutritionist are giving conflicting info sometime, so this is basically going to be a wing it and see what keeps the BS at an acceptable level .
We do know Carb's are bad, bad , bad. They do cause a fast crash and then you need to drink juice and have a protein to fix it if you take in to many carbs at once, at least that's what we are finding with Mich.
We even have a glucose injector , so if she ever does pass out ,I get to finally get even and give her an injection !! Subcutaneous of course no going intramuscular. Hey !! Trust me, I know what I am doing , she stuck me for years so I think I can stick her back .

Happy New Year Every One !!!
Lets start it off with the reality, no we are not going to make bs New Year resolution , we all now we do NOT keep them anyway. That we are making a new life for ourselves and that is the reason we all decided to have the WLS . It doesn't matter wither it was R-n-y or lapband it was the descision to DO something with our LIFE.
That was the turning point , making the decision. Finding the courage to admit WE couldn't do this alone , and yes I admit I had to admit this too. That this was the final resort for myself too as I had tried every diet too and no worked as the spirit was willing but the willpower failed.
When you are truly ready for this , you will know, and you will truly work your arse off to make it happen, This is not " the easy fix, the simple way, the cheating method " . Anyone that tells you that is WRONG . This requires more dedication and work then any diet you will ever do, because this is going to be a total life changing experience One for the better .
That's the facts. No sugar coating, no BS, no well you can kinda maybe possibly . You will because you want to, and that is the real reason. You. It really is all about us.
Live long , eat right, enjoy life , see your grand kids grow up and play with them.

Peace

Marc

Yep you heard me right , Flair , food and YOU!!
the way to a man or woman's heart is through the stomach , and lets all admit it , we already know this
So what do we do about it with Gastric Bypass or LapBand? Why we do what we do every time pinky, We take over OUR world!!! We adapt and modify and make the food work for us and not the other way around. We just need to look at it and probably just tweak it a bit here or there {theworldaccording to eggface is a great example}
Mich and my philosophy on food has become something , maybe a bit unusual, we believe that due to the decision we have made we have become more food snobs then food gluttons. The concept in gluttony was to eat whatever it was , tasting good till we exploded err sorry we gained so much we look like we exploded especially me. Were as a food snob will EAT only what tastes good and enough of it to satisfy , rather then quantity , its become all about quality.
Thats were the flair part of it comes in, if you are going to spend the time cooking , make it GOOD not just in taste , but in visual style as well. Pleasing to the pallet, pleasing to the eye , makes your mind and pouch happy happy so you are happy!
Here's a good one to look at a tweak for , simple and easy to work with

Devil's Steak Sauce
By: Bernard Montgomerie
"A brilliant steak sauce that really brings out the flavor of any type of grilled steak. It's best with eye fillet or Scotch steaks. Raspberry jam is the wildly inventive twist that really makes this sauce unique




Original Recipe Yield 1 /2 cup

4 servings

Ingredients

2 tablespoons raspberry jam
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
2 tablespoons malt vinegar
5 drops hot pepper sauce
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. In a saucepan over high heat, blend raspberry jam, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, tomato sauce, malt vinegar, hot pepper sauce, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce heat to low, and simmer 10 minutes, or until

Serving Size 1/4 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe 4
Amount Per Serving
Calories 62
Calories from Fat < 1
% Daily Value
Total Fat 0g < 1 %
Saturated Fat 0g < 1 %
Cholesterol 0mg 0 %
Sodium 232mg 9 %
** Potassium 111mg 3 %
Total Carbohydrates 15.9g 5 %
Dietary Fiber 0.1g < 1 %
Protein 0.1g < 1 %
Sugars 14g

not bad but look at the sugar

here's a little tweak



* Splenda Brown Sugar Blend, 6.0 tsp (remove)
Jams and preserves, sugar-free, 2 tbsp (remove)
Lea & Perrins, Worcestershire Sauce, 6 tsp (remove)
Tomato Sauce, .1250 cup (remove)
* Balsamic Vinegar, 2 tbsp (remove)
Hot Pepper Sauce, .25 tsp (remove)

and the results

4 Servings

Amount Per Serving
Calories 53.2
Total Fat 0.0 g
Saturated Fat 0.0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 0.0 mg
Sodium 143.4 mg
Potassium 30.6 mg
Total Carbohydrate 13.0 g
Dietary Fiber 0.3 g
Sugars 10.3 g
Protein 0.3 g

Not a great change , the sugar dropped some, enough tobe worth it , you decide, to me it is and the calories, welllll those only drop about hmmm 7? shrugs it was about the sugar.

And yes the amounts might look weird, but they are the equal to quantity , they were done by a conversion by sparkpeople,com recipe calculator

BTW this got a 5 star rating HERE

Well its that time, the Holidays are here and that means its party time , sort of , kind of , maybe. For Mich and myself it means last night we throw a big party for all of our friends and family as a Thank You for the year.
It's all about the love. It's an open house party for everyone we know.And we try to make sure that everyone feels the love and gets enough to happy.
Of course that means a ton of food and drinks. So what do you do? Everyone want to drink WITH you , and they want to TOAST you!! Well , I just made sure I had a glass of water for the most part with ice in it for most of the evening ,even though I did try a couple sips of Absinthe and a couple sips of Honey Bourbon . IT was mostly water or sugar free kool aid for me in the drink department,
Mich did a fantastic job on making sure everyone has plenty of food to eat, from homemade cacoila to chicken wings and a good bunch of the left overs are going into the freezer today But as usual , because the party lasted almost 7 hours , i did tend to pick so today I will make damn sure I am careful and due almost protein only and water to compensate for what I over ate last night.
It is the way I have managed to work through the holidays, try like hell to maintain NOT grazing through all the good things and then maintain a super strict diet for the next couple of days AFTER even if I think I have done good during the party.

Merry Christmas Every One

Marc

weight loss and stress are a strange combination to talk about. Part of the reason I haven't been updating a lot lately is that I am running our business alone right now, my partner and her husband , whom is my service manager are away for a 3 week trip to Australia right now, during which is normally our busy time. But with it being so warm we figured not a big deal . And I was all for it .
Lets face it , 60 degrees is not good for a heating company , we aren't going to be that busy.It's slow enough I have my crews on slow hours , rather then laying anyone off they are each taking one day a week off.
Well during the first week my main server crashed .Yep, the one that runs my vertical company software, you know the proprietary one that you need to pay a fee every year to the software company to maintain. Yep THAT one!The one that does all my billing and bills receivable and payable . Hmmm? not a good thing. Well I finally managed to get it to boot and run but to fix it took me almost a week. It involved Hirem's boot cd {Thanks you Hirem !! This is a great piece of work if you need it!!} and portable usb hard drive and replacement hard drive. Oh and like 8 hrs of time over Thanksgiving to mirror the drive both ways.
And I wondered WHY? my weight had gone UP? Stress!! oh and Thanksgiving maybe but I believe more in the stress theory. It's a damn good thing I drink decaf coffee .
So , finally get that little thing fixed and low and behold this week, the workstation starts acting funky , okayyyyy now what?? It's drive seems to be running all the time and running slow as molasses , well lets hit it with spybot and the antivirus. WTF!! 88 Virus and Trojan ???? OK don't panic , clean , oh no, system files white list unable to clean. yep, the windows files themselves are infected. lets reboot and it goes into an endless reboot . #$%#$%^#$. As I slowly bang my head on the desk. Can we all say "FUBAR" Yep totally melted down. Lovely, just wonderful. This one has the quotes we write on it , and more vertical software. sigh, can't win.
Someone hide my garlic croutons and lock the door .
The workstation didn't have a backup of itself, so this little exercise in frustration has taken me 3 days to fix and I am still not happy with the way its running. At least it works ,I have recovered almost all the data , I need to get a couple programs back up but it's working again. The vertical software company is supposed to log in and fix the supported programs . Stress, nah this isn't stress , much .
Give me the damn croutons and no one gets hurt.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone !!

It's a crazy day for us, lol, we have 22 people over for thanksgiving along with them bringing there 2 dogs !! Relatives are staying with us from, Ohio and N.C. .Mich already cooked a 22 lb Turkey just so they can all have sandwiches later and we are going to be cooking 2 more 16 lb ones for lunch! More Later.

Yep its that time of year , not only is it cold but the dreaded leftover season starts this week. Along with having a bunch of people over for Thanksgiving ,we are in the process of redoing the upstairs bedrooms , fun fun, it never will be done.
Now back to reality, the season of leftovers , hmmm, pie, cookies , desert?
This is a tough time of year for everyone that is out of surgery for 1 -2 years, heck "I know that its becoming one for me in that my appetite is kinda back , and that the problem is its for carbs.So how do we work through it?Several things are available, go back to the basics, drink lots of water, we need that anyways, make sure we eat our proteins FIRST, then veggies , then the bloomin carbs.
Make sure NOT to skip meals, even if its a protein drink that you have, YOU need to eat something to make your body happy happy.Is it possible to not ever want to eat? nope not in my opinion in that food is the one thing we can never really get away from, like o2 we need it to survive so in that we are stuck with eating so we may as well make it good choices hadn't we? So lets look at it as a challenge that we can conquer because we are well on the way to doing it already.

Honey Mustard Grilled Chicken




By: Connie
"'If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed', ye shall make and enjoy this simple, tangy, delicious grilled chicken dish!"


Original Recipe Yield 4 servings

Ingredients

1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon steak sauce
* 4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

Directions

1. Preheat the grill for medium heat.
2. In a shallow bowl, mix the mustard, honey, mayonnaise, and steak sauce. Set aside a small amount of the honey mustard sauce for basting, and dip the chicken into the remaining sauce to coat.
3. Lightly oil the grill grate. Grill chicken over indirect heat for 18 to 20 minutes, turning occasionally, or until juices run clear. Baste occasionally with the reserved sauce during the last 10 minutes. Watch carefully to prevent burning!

Nutritional Information open nutritional information

Amount Per Serving Calories: 266 | Total Fat: 8.3g | Cholesterol: 70mg


And they do make a sugar free honey, that does taste like real honey. This recipe can be changed up use left
turkey

For all of you that have sleep apnea and are on the fence wither WLS can help you let me tell you this one, for years I have had severe sleep apnea , to the point I was on a cpap unit . Yep, even to the point of the upstairs neighbor at one of apartments called down in the middle of the night to tell Mich to roll me over I was snoring so loud it woke them up upstairs !! That's pretty bad snoring .
Mich and I had talked about this the other day , and Thursday was the day I had my follow up for the newest sleep study that I had done so it kind of all ties in.
First off, the odds are very good it will help with the apnea, based upon how much we way is what can force the breathing passages to be forced close and block off our o2 . According to MiniMich , I stopped snoring in the first 2-3 weeks after surgery, the funny part was the kids complained they couldn't sleep because of my NOT snoring !!
The results that came in are fantastic, NO MORE SLEEP APNEA, as in GONE and this is clinically documented now , so yep am doing the happy dance .
One reason we can all use this is , life insurance .The lack of sleep apnea can be a good reason for your insurance company to reevaluate your entire policy, combined with the weight loss this will have a very positive impact on your premiums, I was a guinea pig for my own agent and they dropped me into almost the lowest bracket you can get for someone my age,pretty damn good .There is no reason you can't ask them to redo the policy for the weight loss alone . They will probably recheck , redo the policy and amazingly enough , mine has told us they will review in this again at the 2 year mark a to make sure not falling into bad habits again,
So yep,I do believe that the WLs is the real reason for losing the weight and keeping it of, despite the always watching what you eat, {supposed to being do right thing)
The insurance company actually cut my insurance in half , so there ya are , from 1600 a year to 725 , not so bad a deal huh?

Peace
MinMarc

This one ties in well with my other rant the other day about watching what you eat during the holidays, Obeisityhelp.com is a great site for all kinds of information




The holiday season is fast approaching, bringing parties and possibly pounds. The abundance of cakes, cookies, pies, candies and casseroles can sabotage even the strongest of wills. In fact, the average holiday weight gain can range from 5-10 pounds. The excess of calories can start as early as Halloween and continue all the way through New Year’s Day. However, there are ways to avoid those extra holiday pounds. Here are 10 tips to help you have a healthy holiday season: WD153

1) Eat what you want. Yes, you heard it right! Give yourself permission to eat your favorite foods but in appropriate amounts. Deprivation can breed overindulgence, so don’t deny yourself. However, it is important to practice self-control. Try to eat half the portion you would normally eat, and eat it slowly, savoring every bite and every taste. Chew slowly and try to figure out what ingredients are contributing to that wonderful taste.

2) Plan ahead. Keeping the above idea in mind, budget for the calories in your favorite foods. Know what foods will be served and treat yourself to your favorites but be aware of the calorie content of those foods. Decide on what calorie content you can budget for that meal and fill the rest of the plate with free foods. Free foods are foods low in calories and high in nutrition like broccoli, carrot sticks, celery and other items on the veggie tray. Fruits, though not as low in calories as veggies, are also a good choice due to their high nutrition content. Try dipping veggies in salsa, since this is almost a free food, or choose other dips but in small amounts.

3) Stay in tune with your emotions. During this busy and sometimes stressful time be sure to stay in tune with your emotions. It can be easy to turn to food when emotions, good or bad, run high. Take a few seconds, before you eat, to “check in” with your emotions and your motivation. Think about whether you are eating for hunger, comfort or celebration. If you are eating out of emotion think of another activity to do that you enjoy.

4) Exercise. It can be easy to fit in exercise during this busy holiday season if you are creative. Try extra trips around the mall or walking to the shops or grocery store. Get the family involved by planning a family walk, softball game or touch football game. Planning fun activities helps the whole family understand that fitness can be fun and creates lasting memories.

5) Initiate healthy holiday makeovers. Choose white meat rather than dark, avoid gravy or try to just use turkey juices, use fresh cranberries for cranberries sauce, season veggies with herbs and/or margarine spray, and choose vinaigrette dressing instead of creamy dressings. Try seasonings like rosemary, olive oil and sea-salt to season sweet potatoes, instead of the candied versions. Look for lower calorie versions of your favorite recipe (see the tasty lower cal recipes at the end of the article)

6) Give healthy holiday gifts. Giving the gift of nutrition helps you realize how bountiful healthy food is and helps others embrace good nutrition during the holidays. Some healthy holiday gifts include holiday fruit baskets, apothecary jars, winter herb trays, and seasoned vinegars in fancy glass bottles.

7) Think before you drink. Alcohol serves up a double whammy since it stimulates the appetite and is calorie laden and nutrient poor. Feel free to imbibe but just go forth with knowledge, keeping in mind the following: regular beer typically has 150 calories, while light usually has around 100 calories. Martinis have 250 calories, 1.5 ounces of distilled spirits (vodka, gin, rum, scotch or whiskey) have 100 calories. Wine has 100-120 calories in 4 ounces while 4 ounces of wine coolers have 215 calories. Mixed drinks like margaritas and pina coladas can have more than 500 calories per six ounces.

Don’t arrive hungry. Try to have a small, low cal snack before leaving the house. Tote around water with you at the party to help fill your stomach. Offer to help the host or hostess to avoid snacking right away.

9) Use your time wisely. Time can be short during this busy season so take steps to save time whenever you can so that you can have time to exercise and prepare healthy meals. Some time saving ideas are shopping online instead of braving the long lines at the mall or sending e-cards instead of mailing holiday cards.

10) Share your leftovers. Bring in leftover pies, cakes, casseroles or other calorie rich foods to work to share the wealth. Why should you be the only one eating all those calories?
And remember, no one is perfect. If you have a high cal transgression once or twice it won’t cause very much damage (it takes 3500 excess calories to gain a pound). Just pick yourself up, dust yourself off and go for a nice long walk!