COFFFEEEEEEE , mmmmmmmmmmm, "now say it moaning like a zombie!!!"

If you don't know it I am a coffee freak since my WLS, never really liked it before but , oh MY give me that manna NOW!!
I have been a big advocate for cold brewed coffee ever since i found it. For those of you that don't want to make your own to find out the difference , go to a Borders book store , they serve it in their cafe's Seattle's Best Cold BREWED coffee. Give it a shot. If you like it let me know, I will be glad to hear from you and share how I make my own, or just check the old posts and you will find a simple method and links on how.
In the mean time here's a nice work over from our gal pal Hungry Girl, she does a damn good job of working over those bad for us things and coming up with alternates.




Play It Cool...

We're big fans of Starbucks. But when the coffee chain comes out with a drink that's way higher in calories than need be, we bypass the real deal and make a delicious low-calorie swap... much like this one, our Cherry Bomb Iced Mocha!

Ingredients:
One 25-calorie packet hot cocoa mix (like Swiss Miss Diet or Nestlé Fat Free)
2 tsp. instant coffee granules
2 tsp. fat-free non-dairy powdered creamer (like the kind by Coffee-mate)
1 1/2 tsp. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
1/4 cup light vanilla soymilk
2 tbsp. sugar-free calorie-free black cherry syrup (Torani's is the best!)
1/4 cup Fat Free Reddi-wip

Directions:
Place cocoa mix, coffee granules, powdered creamer, and 1 tsp. chocolate chips in a large glass. Add 1/4 cup very hot water and stir until ingredients have completely dissolved.

Add soymilk, syrup, and 1/2 cup cold water. Mix well. Add lots of ice (crushed is best!), and top with Reddi-wip. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 tsp. chocolate chips. Now enjoy!


Serving Size: 1 large drink with whipped topping (entire recipe)
Calories: 114
Fat: 2.5g
Sodium: 193mg
Carbs: 17g
Fiber: 1.5g
Sugars: 9g
Protein: 4g

POINTS® value 2*


compared to the original Star$




Serving Size: Grande (16 oz.) w/ 2% milk and whipped topping
Calories: 370
Fat: 17g
Sodium: 70mg
Carbs: 55g
Fiber: 2g
Sugars: 46g
Protein: 9g

POINTS® value 8*


and yes i noticed the difference in the protein, but hey add Chocolate Protein powder instead of instant cocoa or just use a unflavored protein , just make sure you check the calories

Lets eat summer time food , one of my favorites is a German potato salad, HG has made a good change up for you to look at !!


ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, cored and roughly chopped
10 oz. baby red potatoes, roughly chopped
3 cups dry coleslaw mix
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
3 tbsp. precooked real crumbled bacon (like the kind by Oscar Mayer)
2 tbsp. Hellmann's/Best Foods Dijonnaise
1/2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
Dash black pepper
1/4 cup chopped scallions

Directions:
Place cauliflower and potatoes in a large microwave-safe bowl with 1/3 cup water. Cover and microwave for 6 minutes. Stir, re-cover, and microwave for 8 minutes, or until tender. Once cool enough to handle, drain excess water and set aside.

Meanwhile, bring a large skillet sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat on the stove. Add coleslaw mix and onion. Stirring frequently, cook until soft and slightly browned, about 8 minutes. Add contents of the skillet to the bowl with the cauliflower and potatoes. Set aside.

To make the dressing, combine all remaining ingredients except scallions in a microwave-safe bowl. Add 2 tbsp. water, stir, and microwave for 1 minute, or until warm. Mix thoroughly.

Add dressing to the large bowl with veggies and potatoes, and toss to coat. Add scallions, gently mix, and serve! (P.S. If you're making this ahead of time, refrigerate and then warm it up just before serving.)

MAKES 8 SERVINGS



Serving Size: heaping 3/4 cup
Calories: 85
Fat: 0.75g
Sodium: 324mg
Carbs: 16g
Fiber: 3.25g
Sugars: 6g
Protein: 3.5g

POINTS® value 1

Compare that with the original German Salad


Serving Size: 3/4 cup
Calories: 305
Fat: 12g
Sodium: 555mg
Carbs: 42g
Fiber: 3g
Sugars: 14g
Protein: 6g

POINTS® value 7*

and here's a link to the original


Hg German Potato Salad

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.

You know what we all enjoy a good meatloaf , our kids even are taking bet's on what we are going to make on Sunday for supper, Lol . For the last couple of weeks they all have been guessing meatloaf and we have been tricking them by makig anything but, so this week we DID!!



We normally have these little mini meatloaf's




Ingredients

1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1 teaspoon salt
1 pound ground beef
2/3 cup ketchup
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons prepared mustard

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, combine the egg, milk, cheese, oats and salt. Add the ground beef, mixing well, and form this mixture into eight miniature meatloaves. Place these in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In a separate small bowl, combine the ketchup, brown sugar and mustard. Stir thoroughly and spread over each meatloaf.
4. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes.

Serving Size 1/8 of a recipe
Servings Per Recipe 8
Amount Per Serving
Calories 255
Calories from Fat 129
% Daily Value
Total Fat 14.4g 22 %
Saturated Fat 6.7g 34 %
Cholesterol 77mg 26 %
Sodium 656mg 26 %
Potassium 248mg 7 %
Total Carbohydrates 16.6g 5 %
Dietary Fiber 0.6g 2 %
Protein 15.1g 30 %
Sugars 12.5g


if you want to print it here 's a link mini meat loaf


And yep, everyone was bonker's They only left Mich and I two of them, of course that's enough for for 2 meals each

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.