Are you  drinking enough water ? Sometimes not taking in enough fluids can make your skin dry .
A great suppliment to keep our hair and skin supple is Vitamin E ... you might want to try this .

Also, from the tine I was a little girl ,my mother would bathe me in a tub and use Olive Oil in the tub , The olive oil locks in the moisture .  To this day I do a Olive Oil bath once a week. I take steroids on a daily basis and this totally sucks the moisture from your skin . So give that a try if you want .

For your face , you might want to find a good night cream .,I swear by Oil of Olay . My mother once again used it daily . She would wash her face then before applying any make up , she would put on the OIl of Olay .. than at night time she would clense her face and put the Oil of Olay on to go to bed with . She always had great skin .

There are some really great products on the market for dry facial skin . I use the Oil of Olay and  a product made by ROC . It is a night cream to prevent wrinkkles and add moisture to our skin .

For my legs , when I shave them I use Avon's Skin so Soft ,,then I Rinse and rub in OLive oil befhind it ,
I hope this helps you ..
Hugs ,
TInk

9 Cold, Hard Weight Loss Truths

Nutrition Articles | Pitfalls and Plateaus FORM {margin:0; padding:0;} #article {line-height:22px; font-size:14px; padding:5px 0px 10px 0px;} #article A{line-height:22px; font-size:14px; color:#ef4a4a;} #article A:hover{line-height:22px; font-size:14px; color:#5a5ab5;} #article OL {margin-left:20px;} H1 {font-size:24px; font-weight:bold; padding:0px; margin:10px 0px 6px 0px; line-height:27px;} H2 {font-size:19px; font-weight:normal; font-style:italic; padding:0px; margin:0px 0px 6px 0px; line-height:normal; color:#666666;} H3 {font: 15px Georgia, times,arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-weight:normal; margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 6px 0px; color:#999999; border-bottom:1px dotted #ccc;} H3 A{font: 15px Georgia, times,arial, verdana, sans-serif; color:#999999;} H3 A SPAN {font: 15px Georgia, times,arial, verdana, sans-serif; color:#999999;} H4 {font-size:18px; font-weight:bold; padding:0px 0px 10px 0px; color:black;} H5 {font-size:16px; font-weight:bold; padding:0px 0px 10px 0px; color:black;} H6 {font-size:13px; font-weight:normal; font-style:italic; margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 0px 0px; color:#999999;} #article_ad {width:300px; height:250px; border:1px solid #E8E8E8;} #article_ad_w {margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 8px 15px; float:right;} #article_ad_caption {font-size:11px; color:#999999;} #article_ad_caption A{font-size:11px; color:#999999;} #article_ad_caption A:hover{font-size:11px; color:#ef4a4a;} .ar3_pic {margin:0px 0 15px 0;} .ar3_180x150 {margin:0px 0 15px 0;} #related_content { text-align:left; margin:0px; padding:5px 20px 0 20px;} #related_content ul.links {margin:0px 0px 0 0px; padding:0px; } #related_content .links li { list-style:none; padding:4px 0px 4px 8px; color:black; font-size:11px; text-decoration:none;} #related_content .links li a{color:black; font-size:12px; text-decoration:underline; font-weight:normal; } #related_content .links li a:hover {color:#5a5ab5; font-size:12px; text-decoration: none; font-weight:normal; } A.art_continued { font-size:13px; text-decoration:underline; line-height: 14px; font-weight:bold; } A.art_continued:hover { font-size:13px; text-decoration: none; line-height: 14px; font-weight:bold; } #about_author { text-align:left; margin:0px; padding:10px 20px 0 20px; line-height:15px;} #article_comments { text-align:left; margin:0px; padding:5px 20px 0 20px;} #article_comments A{ font-size:11px; text-decoration:underline;} #article_comments A:hover{font-size:11px; text-decoration:none;} #article_comments UL {margin:0px; padding:0px 0px 10px 0px;} #article_comments LI {padding:5px 0px 5px 0px; list-style:none; border-bottom:1px solid #FFFFFF;} #article_comments LI A{ font-size:12px; color:black; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline;} #article_comments LI A:hover{ font-size:12px; color:#Ef4a4a; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none;} #article_paging { padding:12px 0px 15px 15px; margin:10px 0 10px 0; font-size:12px;} #article_paging a {font-size:12px; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:underline; text-transform:capitalize;} #article_paging a:hover {font-size:12px; font-weight:bold; text-decoration:none; text-transform:capitalize; } a.poll_link { font-size:12px; text-decoration:underline; font-weight:bold; } a.poll_link:hover { font-size:12px; text-decoration: none; font-weight:bold; } .poll_title {font-weight:bold; color:black; font-size:12px; margin:6px 0 6px 0;} 9 Cold, Hard Weight Loss Truths What the Diet Industry Won't Tell You -- By Brie Cadman of DivineCaroline.com Email   Print       Even if you’re not trying to lose weight, chances are you’ve seen some ideas on how to do so: “Eat what you want and lose weight!" “Lose 30 pounds in 30 days!" “Finally, a diet that really works!" “Lose one jean size every 7 days!" “Top 3 fat burners revealed" “10 minutes to a tighter tummy!" But these claims are readily rebuked by anyone who’s tried to lose five, 10, or 100 pounds. Losing weight ain’t that easy. It’s not in a pill, it doesn’t (usually) happen in 30 days, and judging from the myriad plans out there, there is no one diet that works for everyone. Looking past the outrageous claims, there are a few hard truths the diet industry isn’t going to tell you, but that just might help you take a more realistic approach to sustained weight loss. 1. You have to exercise more than you think. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends getting at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise most days of the week; this includes things like shoveling snow and gardening. And while this is great for improving heart health and staying active, research indicates that those looking to lose weight or maintain weight loss have to do more—about twice as much. For instance, members of the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR)—a group of over 5,000 individuals who have lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off for five and a half years—exercise for about an hour, every day. A study published in the July 28, 2008 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine supports this observational finding. The researchers enrolled 200 overweight and obese women on a diet and exercise regimen and followed them for two years. Compared with those that gained some of their weight back, the women who were able to sustain a weight loss of 10 percent of their initial weight for two years exercised consistently and regularly—about 275 minutes a week, or 55 minutes of exercise at least five days a week. In other words, things like taking the stairs, walking to the store, and gardening are great ways to boost activity level, but losing serious weight means exercising regularly for an hour or so. However, this doesn’t mean you have to start running or kickboxing—the most frequently reported form of activity in the NWCR group is walking. 2. A half-hour walk doesn’t equal a brownie. I remember going out to eat with some friends after a bike ride. Someone commented on how we deserved dessert because we had just spent the day exercising; in fact, we had taken a leisurely 20-minute ride through the park. This probably burned the calories in a slice of our French bread, but definitely not those in the caramel fudge brownie dessert. Bummer. And while it’s easy to underestimate how many calories some foods contain, it’s also easy to overestimate how many calories we burn while exercising. Double bummer. Even if you exercise a fair amount, it’s not carte blanche to eat whatever you want. (Unless you exercise a ton, have the metabolism of a 16-year-old boy, and really can eat whatever you want). A report investigating the commonly-held beliefs about exercising, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, concludes that although exercise does burn calories during and after exercise, for overweight persons, “excessive caloric expenditure has limited implications for substantially reducing body weight independent of nutritional modifications." In other words, to lose weight, you have to cut calories and increase exercise. 3. You do have time to exercise. If you have time to check email, watch a sitcom or two, surf the Internet, have drinks, coffee and dinner with friends, go clothes shopping, and on and on, then you have time to exercise. Yes, sometimes you have to sacrifice social, TV, or leisure time to fit it in. Yes, sometimes you have to prioritize your exercise time over other things. But your health and the feeling you get after working out is well worth it. 4. Eating more of something won’t help you lose weight. The food industry is keen to latch onto weight loss research and spin it for their sales purposes. A prime example is the widespread claim that eating more dairy products will help you lose weight. However, a recent review of 49 clinical trials from 1966 to 2007 showed that “neither dairy nor calcium supplements helped people lose weight." This idea—that eating more of a certain type of product will help you lose weight—is constantly regurgitated on supermarket shelves (think low-fat cake, low-carb crackers, whole grain cookies, and fat-free chips), but is in direct opposition to the basic idea behind weight loss—that we have to eat less, not more. 5. Calories in = calories out? There is a fair amount of controversy over the basic question of how people gain weight. Is it simply a matter of energy intake being greater than energy expenditure? Or is there more to it; do the type of calories we eat matter and can avoiding certain types help to lose or prevent weight? The various low-fat, low-carb, and glycemic index advocates can’t seem to agree on which it is. However, most can agree, and logical sense would tell us, that drinking 500 calories of soda is not equal to eating 500 calories of fruits and vegetables. One is simply “empty" calories—those that provide no real nutritional benefit and don’t do much to combat hunger. Whether you ascribe to the simple idea of trying to burn more calories than you take in or focus on avoiding certain types of calories, you want to minimize intake of empty calories, and maximize nutrient-dense calories. 6. Your body is working against you. Most people have noticed that it’s hard to lose weight, but easy to gain it. This is a relic of harder times, when food was not as abundant as it is today. Our genetic taste buds made energy-dense food desirable because it was necessary to pack away calories so we could make it through the thin times. We feasted when we could, in preparation for the famine. But now that we live in a time of abundance, that system predisposes many of us for weight gain and retention. And for obese dieters, this system is even harder to overcome; after weight loss, they become better at storing fat, making it harder to keep weight off. However, this isn’t to say that many haven’t lost weight and kept it off successfully. It just means you have to be diligent. 7. Our cultural environment is also working against you. Let’s face it, modern society does not make it easy on those trying to eat healthfully and exercise. According to Linda Bacon, associate professor of nutrition at University of California at Davis, “We get a tremendous amount of pressure to eat for reasons other than nurturing ourselves, and over time, people lose sensitivity to hunger/fullness/appetite signals meant to keep them healthy and well nourished. It’s hard for people to come to a healthy sense of themselves given the cultural climate, and nutritious and pleasurable options for healthy food are not as easily accessible as less nutritious (ones)." That doesn’t mean this can’t be overcome, but it does require maybe putting other parts of your life on a “diet." TV would be the biggest culprit, since many food advertisements, especially for children’s junk food, come during this time. Other areas to put on a “diet" are chain and fast food restaurants (where portion sizes are distorted), a bad-influence friend, or driving, which may help increase walking and biking. 8. Maybe you don’t need to lose weight. Some feel that the medical problems associated with excess weight are exaggerated. Gina Kolata, a New York Times science writer questions the notion that thin is a realistic or necessary objective for most. In her book, Rethinking Thin, she asserts that weight loss is an unachievable goal for many, and that losing weight isn’t so much about health as it is about money, trends, and impossible ideals. Recent research also challenges the idea that being overweight is bad. A study in JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that being 25 pounds overweight did not increase the risk of heart disease and cancer, and may even help stave off infections. It’s true that people can be fit and healthy and not necessarily be thin, just as it’s true that thin people may not necessarily be healthy. Good health, rather than weight, should be our focus; too often, it’s not. Striving for an unhealthy level of thinness may be detrimental to our health, but understanding the health repercussions of obesity is also critical. 9. This is not a diet; this is your life. The diet industry would have us all think that we can lose weight fast, and that’s that. But most people who maintain their weight understand that eating and exercising are not temporary conditions, to be dumped once a pair of jeans fit. Instead, they are lifestyle choices, and ones to be made for the long haul. Editor’s Note: This article is courtesy of www.DivineCaroline.com.

I am here

Happy Thursday everyone. I just received my latest addition of Obesity Help Magazine. Each month I receive 5 issues. If anyone would like a copy, I will be more than happy to send you a copy. Just send to me your address and as soon as I can get to the post office I will put in the mail to you. I would highly suggest, if you do not subscribe to it, do so … it is a great resource for WLS patients. It contains up to date articles on everything related to Weight Loss Surgery, as well as before and after photos and recipes. It is a great investment. I wanted to share with you something I found that is awesome in my eyes.. On the back cover is an advertisement for Protica Liquid Protien products. They have come up with some new products. The newest is their SunKist Priotein like candies Each 2.5 oz serving contains 24 grams of protein. Next you have what they call Protein Gem. They look like jello cups. Each gelatin cup contains 25 grams of protein and is ready to go.. Great for traveling. Protein Twist, these are little candy like shots containing 15 grams of protein and 100 calories. To order these or get further information, be sure to go to www.protica.com Thanks, Tink

This weeks Leader hand out deals with Halloween and treats .. as we approach the holidays , we need to be armed with education , awareness and safeguards to get us through ... I hope you enjoy the handout ... if you have any questions or concerns .. please let me know ..



http://images.obesityhelp.com/forums/ohsupportgroup/TrickorT reat_October2007Handout.pdf