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So my day to day activities I blogged about and I am still dreaming of donuts and pizza. Cancun in January and am really trying to stay fit.
https://phatchances.wordpress.com/2015/11/09/the-routine/
My routine is listed above in my blog. Halp.
Is homemade better? Of course. But lots of peole don't make their own. So if you are going to use a commercial product better one that is mostly chicken with only a few additions. And cane sugar rather than corn syrups. And tastes good and is easy to make. It' a superior product compared to the dreck in the rest of its class ; -)
Ironic how the third and forth ingredients are sugar, artificial sweetener, yet on the nutritional label it doesn't mention that. This is one reason I make my own :)
Starting Weight 375 SW 375 Height 5'9"
You can find some great ideas for shakes at http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com - not only shakes but everything!
Good luck!
Starting Weight 375 SW 375 Height 5'9"
I love inspire! You can get it online
www.bariatriceating.com. It costs 32 for about 20 servings but it's fantastic! Plus you only need to drink 6oz for 24grams of protein so even if you don't like it it's about half a cup.
they have tons of flavors too
pumpkin pie
peanut butter cookie
Peanut butter cup
white chocolate strawberry
dutch chocolate cake
Carmel latee (not caffeinated)
vanilla
and a lot more... Sooo good
Anemia and other malabsorption issues can be dealt with. I am not clear on why your Dr is so reluctant to use IV therapy for your Iron deficiency. You do need to monitor your levels regularly so that you do not bump the levels too high. The danger of the IV iron is an anaphylactic reaction. If you have a reaction they will treat you with epinephrine. And then you will be back to the drawing board viv a vis your iron.
The danger to your liver is in the event of an over dose. Regular monitoring will prevent that.
When my anemia was at its worst my hematocrit was in the low 20's and my hemoglobin was down around 5.
At that point I was pretty much bed bound except for perhaps an hour a day. I was taking Prescription iron supplements that were readily absorbed but I was prone to anemia before my surgery and had a perfect storm of a month that involved 4 medical issues that in and of them selves were not a problem, but collectively resulted in a rapid drop in what were already only borderline ok levels.
I wound up getting 250ml quarterly of Ferrous sucrose. Within 3 weeks of the first infusion I began to recover and within 6 weeks felt around 80% of normal.
I was on those quarterly infusions for 4 years and they kept my levels in the high 40's.
During that time I remained on oral supplements, Multibid x2 a day.
Two years ago I began processing iron and absorbing it better and went off the IV treatments.
Currently I have normal hematocrit and hemoglobin levels.
I remain on the x2 iron supplements plus what I get in my multi.
Based on my experience I am wondering why your Dr has not moved on the the IV treatment. He seems to be very conservative. You might want to inquire about it. It was a life saver for me. Literally.
Never mind the calorie debate (and carbs do not equal fat ; -)
They are not what your body, on a very reduced intake diet, needs. You only have room for so many bites of food. Your body is burning the fat like crazy, so you don't need fats, unless you are a DS, in which case fats are not a problem, calorie wise, but don't do you any good either. You don't need carbs because your body just turns the unused ones into fats anyway. Protein fills the need for your body to maintain muscle mass. Your body cannot convert fats to carbs or protein, and it can not convert carbs to protein. Only protein can be used to build the muscles.
Not enough protein in your diet and your body burns your muscles instead. Amino acids are an issue as well. It is more difficult to get the complete essentials from a vegetable based diet. You have to consume larger amounts of food to get all the amino acids you need to make up complete proteins. That can be problematic when you are on a reduced volume diet.
Additionally many carbs are problematic because after you eat them they continue to absorb liquid and expand in your system. Which you will find uncomfortable. At least.
Also, the roughage works in a sort of counter intuitive way for many WLS patients and rather than providing good fiber provide somewhat indigestible fiber which leads to gas, cramping and guts in an uproar.
Try having a Cesar Salad, with all that yummy Romaine lettuce.
Or a nice bowl of beans and rice. Take a book when you head to the bathroom. You are gonna be in there awhile...
We are starting the second week of post op clear liquid diet for my daughter and I have been looking at posts about the clear diet. One thing I keep seeing is people hating their broth and saying it tastes nasty or flavourless.
Everyone shopping for a clear liquid diet should know about Better Than Bouillon. I have been using it for decades now and didn't even think about it when we went in for her surgery, I just packed it along in my bag of goodies. Which was good, because the broth they served her resembled dish water more than anything else. With ho****er from a microwave I was able to make her broth that tasted good. It made a big difference in her morale when she was feeling really crappy.
It is a concentrate that comes in a glass jar. They have a lot of flavours, beef, chicken, fish, lobster, fish, ham etc. It has no MSG and a minimum of extra 'stuff'.
For the purpose of most people here the chicken and maybe the beef or au jus, are the ones you would be interested in drinking as broth. Between 2 teaspoons and a Tablespoon in 8 oz of boiling water makes a really good cup of broth
They have an organic low sodium version if that suits you better.
They are available at Costco. You can also order them online direct from the company or on Amazon. They are not cheap, like bouillon cubes, maggi, knorrs, or other brands, but not bank breakers either. They are less than the boxes of stock, like Swansens. And if you are going to be drinking it you want it to taste good!
Before you go drinking any stock, broth, bouillon, cube, soup base LOOK at the ingredients, they can be scary. Besides tasting awful when you are drinking them straight!
For example the ingredients in the chicken are;
Chicken Meat and Natural Juices*, Salt, Cane Sugar*, Maltodextrin*, Yeast Extract, Dried Onion*, Potato Starch*, Dried Garlic*, Turmeric* and Spice Extractives*.
In comparison;
Swansons; CHICKEN BROTH, SALT, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, DEXTROSE, YEAST EXTRACT, CHICKEN FLAVOR, FLAVORING, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, CHICKEN FAT, HYDROLYZED SOY PROTEIN, CHICKEN BROTH POWDER
Knorrs; Salt, monosodium glutamate, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, chicken fat, hydrolyzed soy/corn protein, dehydrated mechanically separated cooked chicken, dehydrated chicken meat, dehydrated chicken broth, autolyzed yeast extract, dehydrated onions & parsley, lactose, water, colour, spices & spice extract, disodium guanylate, disodium inosinate, citric acid, tartaric acid, hydrogenated soybean oil and sulphites.
Maggi; SALT, SUGAR, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED PALM OIL, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, CORNSTARCH, AND LESS THAN 2% OF ONION POWDER, CHICKEN FAT, DEHYDRATED CHICKEN, GARLIC POWDER, TURMERIC, DISODIUM INOSINATE, SPICES, TBHQ (PRESERVATIVE)
Ok first off I'll also give a back story. I had a lap band in 2006 did great lost all my weight and was doing so good I loved life, them in 2008 we go into an accident and my lap band was compromised so they had to do a VSG or I could just take out the band I didn't want to loos my tool that keeps me this happy healthy person so I went for it one of the points they made over and over was how great it would be because they would be removing the lower part of my stomach and that is where this gland is that cause you to feel hungry wow that sounded so great no more being hungry. Little did I know that that gland also helps you to absorb your iron and b vitamins with out it you don't have the right stuff so when your food goes out of your pouch into the small intestine it won't be absorbed your iron and your B are absorbed in the first part of your small intestine. Now I am anemic my ferritin is a 3 I am just now after 3 years able to hold my own at keeping my other numbers up, but I can't get the ferritin up at all. With it being that low my symptoms are joint pain, restless leg syndrome, abdominal pain all the time, weakness, confused a lot of the time, I get overwhelmed easy, and am always tired, and cold. I have also been told I have fibromyalgia and RA as well as a few other of the autoimmune diseases. I am in a B Vitamin crisis right now the B vitamins are your neurological helpers they keep the nerve endings covered without that covering I itch all the time my hands go numb and are like pins and needles. My Dr has me vitamin loading as I can't take the B shots I get sick and each time I have to get an iron infusion I am sick for a week or more with such bad joint pain I don't even want to get out of bed. At first they will look for bleeding inside when they don't find that they will label you as iron deficiency and just start giving you infusions that's great they do help and not everyone gets sick, but the problem is you can't have too many of them as it can hurt your liver and your heart. I see some people on the board who have many infusions in a short time and I think that's dangerous, my Dr feels the same way. The only thing we can try is to take more vitamins then is good for you and that can also cause other health issues, and they make me sick and it hurts my guts so bad I had to back off of them. I would make sure they do a full blood work up to check your B's as well as your Sed Rate you need a good Dr that knows blood a hematology Dr is the best place to go, but even at that they don't always know what to do if you don't absorb even a very small fraction of what you take it can take years to build up your stores and even ten it may not be good enough to make you symptom free. I know that this is not very good news, but what you need is to stay on them all the time ask what each test means and don't just take what they tell you as law. The other thing you need to look out for is hernia after this kind of surgery you have a week abdomen and are pron to them I had one and one doctor I went to told me I just needed to poop more and the pain would go away like that's going to heal a hernia if I would have followed his advice it would have been much worse as part of my intestines was going through the hole. Things to keep in mind taking calcium with iron will void the iron you need to keep them well apart from each other. Also soy is death to iron it will strip it right out of your body soy is in all kinds of stuff we don't know about like I can't believe it's butter has it in there the protein shakes you may be drinking can have a lot of soy in them soy is really bad for people like us. The last thing I'll say is don't give up your fight is just starting education is the way to go find out all you can about iron deficiency and B vitamins as well as others that you are running low on make them do the blood work I can't say that enough you have a right to know what your numbers are all of them including your vitamin stores. The sad thing is they know when they remove that gland you are going to have a hard time absorbing and they do it without telling you that part. The other thing is as more and more of us are turning to WLS the doctors are unsure what to do this is becoming an epidemic amongst WLS people with no end in site. My Doctor told me of a client of hers that had WLS 25 years ago and was in the first stage of Alzheimer's her B 12 was so low it barely registered on the test with shots she has started to do much better but if it goes to long it can't be reversed that's true with other neurological issue as well. I sometimes fall for no good reason or walk like I'm drunk I don't drink so that's not it its the B vitamins. You can in no way get enough of what you need in the food you eat, as we have a very small poach and it takes a lot of food to make a difference. Hope this helps you and anyone else I wish they would let you know before hand that this can happen they no it can. Some WLS centers are bringing on doctors just for this issue.
Deb
There isn't any biological basis for the carbophobia that is rampant in our community. Or rather, there's no reason to throw the baby out with the bath water. Added sugars and highly refined starches are not your best choices; however, whole foods and whole grain foods are perfectly fine. In fact, they will help with one of the most common problems in our community: constipation due to lack of fiber.
Not a one of us got fat in the produce department of the grocery store.
uwe0306 · 3 replies · 237 views
