LAWLS Bookstore

Friday, November 21, 2008



HAPPY FUN FRIDAY NEIGHBORS!

Today is the day we play our favorite Neighborhood Quiz game and have the chance to win fabulous prizes and learn something about your Neighbors! Our ever charming hostess SongBirdDiane presents this week's challenging question: Two Truths & a Lie. That question was penned by our favorite pre-op writer PapaJohn. And our South Dakota friend, Florabelle has promised fabuous holiday gift baskets for this week's lucky winners.

Please join us - there is always fun in the Neighborhood!

AND NOW FOR THE QUESTION...
Tell two true things about yourself and one lie. The next person who posts tries to guess the lie and adds two truths and a lie of their own. This could get interesting.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Lemon: The Healthy Healing Fruit


Hello Neighbors!

Today in the 5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin I presented a recipe for Lemon-Ginger Healing Tonic. This is a warm cleansing beverage to be enjoyed first thing in the morning as part of the 5 Day Pouch Test. The tonic works because lemon is an astringent that helps remove toxins from our bodies and we soon feel energy and we feel clean. This can be said of most citrus fruit. I think there are many cleaning products that have been sold on their "lemon fresh" claims.

Lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruits are all antioxidant rich. And they are low-glycemic. That means they won't disrupt our high-protein diet with a sugar surge. Of course we all know that citrus is rich in Vitamin C. Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant with properties that protects both the cells and the blood from free-radical damage. Vitamin C helps restore and regenerate the cells. Adequate intake of Vitamin C can decrease the incidence of colds and infection. It improves the skin, hair and nails.

To include Vitamin C from citrus in your diet add a squeeze of fresh juice to your water or tea. Season grilled protein with citrus. Add orange sections to your salads or main course meals. And of course, give the Lemon-Ginger Tonic a try. You'll love how clean you feel!

Lemon-Ginger Tonic
Begin each morning of the 5 Day Pouch Test with this comforting and cleansing lemon-ginger tonic. The lemon-ginger tonic will increase your energy and work to detoxify your stressed digestive system. In addition, this tonic has a cleansing affect on the liver, and increases the production of bile to clear any backlog in the common bile duct. Using this tonic as part of your 5 Day Pouch Test will leave you feeling cleansed and powerful with an eagerness to take full control of your pouch.

2 lemons, washed and sliced 1/2-inch thick
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
3 cups boiling water
honey or artificial sweetener to taste

In a teapot or saucepot combine lemon slices, grated ginger and boiling water. Cover let steep 10 minutes. Pour tonic through strainer to remove solids. Drink warm adding sweetener to taste. Garnish with lemon slices if desired. Be sure to drink all three cups. This is best first thing in the morning before eating or drinking anything else. If you are on Days 1 & 2 (liquid days) you do not need to wait 30 minutes after your last sip of tonic to have your liquid meal.

I like to start my day with this tonic even if I'm not on the 5DPT. Getting the day off to a clean start helps keep me on track.

Friday, November 14, 2008

5DPT Owner's Manual: Good & Bad News


Hello Neighbors!

Just a quick update on my forthcoming book, "5 Day Pouch Test Owner's Manual" that I have been telling you about for several weeks. First, the BAD NEWS: We have experienced a minor production delay and the books will not be available for shipment until December 1. I am so sorry - I am told these things happen in publishing. If I could turn the wheel of the printing press myself I would because I know how important this is to so many of you.

Here's the GOOD NEWS: we are extending our Free First Class Shipping offer on all pre-orders!!! This offer is good through November 30th. Free shipping on all books to all destinations, including outside of the United States. And don't forget - all pre-orders come with 2 FREE GIFTS.

Go Here to Reserve YOUR Copy

Please take advantage of our pre-order sale and receive free shipping and 2 free gifts: the 5DPT Wallet Card & 2-Page 5DPT Journal.

Order Now

CHEERS!
Kaye

Participant Request: Your Personal WLS Experience

Hello Neighbors!

I am appealing to you for help with a book being developed by Tricia Greaves, owner/president of "Be Totally Free". She is the founder of a program to address issues of weight control, weight loss and eating disorders. Her work is very good and very much aligned with our LivingAfterWLS Empowerment Philosophy. As part of her growing body of work and support network she is researching weight loss surgery.

You are invited to participate in the survey and contribute to this exciting project. I have done the survey and I trust that Ms. Greaves will treat our topic with utmost sensitivity, accuracy, and kindness.

Click here: Weight Loss Surgery: Your Personal Experience

Neither myself or LivingAfterWLS is affiliated with Be Totally Free, or Ms. Greaves and we will not receive compensation for your participation. However, I do ask that you mention the LAWLS Neighborhood as part of your response to Question 8 about your support network. I do not think we can ever over-emphasize the value of support in this life long journey.

Thanks for taking a moment from your busy day to help build on the growing body of information about our very unique way of life.

CHEERS!
Kaye

Thursday, November 06, 2008

Weight Loss Surgery is Easy, Right? WRONG!


This is one of my syndicated articles with Ezine Articles. Just this morning I listened to another news story about how surgical weight loss is easy, and a cop-out. Those who take this path are weak and too lazy to do it the "old fashioned way" (diet & exercise). Who says we don't follow a diet and exercise? Reports like this anger me! Nine years after getting "gut whacked" I'm still working to control my health by maintaining my weight, exercising and following a mindful diet. How about You? Has weight loss surgery been easy for you?

I hope you enjoy this article - Please leave your feedback.

CHEERS!
Kaye


Gastric Bypass: The Easy Way Out of Fat Land - Right?
By Kaye Bailey

If you listen, even for a moment, to the talk in overweight communities you will almost always hear that gastric bypass weight loss surgery is the “easy way out” of Fat Land. People with weak spirits and good insurance get a lucky break, have their stomachs whacked and stapled and lose weight the easy way. Weight Loss Surgery: seen by pious public to be surgical baptism for the guilty gluttonous slothful.

But those of us who step in the water to be cleansed of our fatty sins know better. Weight loss surgery is NOT the easy way out, a simple dunking of the repentant, the sins atoned, and the price paid, the soul and body healed. We know the atonement is paid every day for the rest of our lives when we set our healthy house in order with gastric bypass.

We understand that WLS is not easy. Why, then, does the public think it’s redemption to weight loss?

First: what the public sees is a rapidly diminishing person recently repaired by gastric bypass. The pounds melt away seemingly in a plain sight. What hides behind the curtain are the ugly demons. Dumping? We don’t talk about it. Vomiting? We don’t tell our regurgitating stories. Head games driving you insane? Who you going to tell? Who is listening? Exercising? Nobody wants to hear about the “E” word. So what the public sees front and center stage is a person consistently succeeding at massive weight loss; a person glowing in their own rebirth and betraying the fat and hopeless around them. How else can it be explained? WLS must be the magic pill, the easy-way-out of obesity hell.

Second: the WLS grass-roots public relations machine tells the public gastric bypass is easy, thus we become our own worst enemy. Tell me if this doesn’t sound familiar: “I can still eat the same things, just less of them! ha ha ha!” or how about, “I lost 145 pounds and never had to do a moments exercise – WLS is fabulous that way – no exercise required.” And so the popular belief perpetuates that fat glutton slobs can lose weight just by eating less of the same foods and never exercising. Brilliant! How easy is that?

Let me tell you what weight loss surgery is really like for me.

I am six years post-op. Two nights ago I vomited my dinner (bacon-seared sea scallops and green beans) because it was just a bit too greasy for my sensitive stomach. A week before that I became deathly ill, it’s called dumping, from snacking mindlessly on Chinese chow mein noodles. Disorientation, hot sweats and then cold chills – dumping – a dire consequence of eating the wrong foods with the malabsorptive system. This morning, just like most mornings, I walked two brisk miles on the treadmill to begin my day. This evening I spent 25 minutes strength training to maintain my muscle tone, keep my metabolism running high and making damn sure I don’t regain one single pound.

And this is how it will be for the rest of my life. I will vomit, dump, exercise and be vigilant day in and day out if I want this easy weight loss surgery to work for me.

My body does not take weekends off from weight loss surgery. I don’t get chocolate cake just because it’s my birthday. I do not have a double-cheeseburger with fries and a shake just because I’ve had a stressful day and I deserve it. My body is on the gastric-bypass plan 24-7.

Do you think that’s easy?

Weight Loss Surgery post-ops understand what I’m talking about. Many of us go through a phase of fighting the gastric bypass and engage in snacking or grazing. We out-eat the stomach pouch and regain weight and we become self-loathing. We vomit and dump and do it all over again thinking we can somehow trick the body. Eventually we learn and we get it: WLS is for life.

Weight loss surgery pre-op patients want badly to understand this, but the dieting culture has taught us to be strict for X-number days and then we get a free day. The culture has taught us if we can stick to a plan for X-weeks and lose X-pounds then we can “get back to normal”. We are all expert dieters by the time we elect to have gastric bypass surgery.

There is no back to normal after WLS – it is a lifetime lifestyle commitment.

Kaye Bailey © 2005 - All Rights Reserved

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kaye_Bailey http://EzineArticles.com/?Gastric-Bypass:-The-Easy-Way-Out-of-Fat-Land---Right?&id=71012

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Sexuality, Obesity & Weight Loss

There is a recurring topic in weight loss surgery communities about how weight loss affects our sexual health and sex life. Right now we are talking about it again in the LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood, read here: Obesity, Weight Loss & Sexuality. Here is one of my previously published articles on this topic:


Sex Is Better After Weight Loss Surgery
By Kaye Bailey

There is no question that obesity affects all aspects of our lives, including our sexuality. A Duke University study concluded that 65 percent of obese people seeking treatment reported an impaired sex life. Physical causes exist that impair sexual function in the overweight. Obesity can alter testosterone levels in men and increase their risk of impotence. Morbid obesity can result in back pain and depression - both of which reduce sex drive. And the obvious, obese men and women can have difficulty positioning for sexual intercourse.

In addition to physical impairments we have social and emotional impairments. Sexy is seldom depicted as obese and never as morbidly obese. Because we compare ourselves with the social ideal of sexy we feel body conscious, self-loathing and undesirable. One community member, Jan*, said, "Most of us have been obese all our lives and never experienced the normal teenage years of sexual tension. We were often never asked out on dates, never flirted with or only offered sex by people who did not love us, but we misunderstood their intentions due to our insecurities."

Weight Loss Improves Sex Lives for Many
Recent studies indicate that even modest weight loss may improve the sex lives of many obese people. Participants in a study conducted by the Obesity Society in Vancouver, Canada reported that participants who lost on average 17.5 percent of their body weight reported improved sex lives.

Mike*, one of our LivingAfterWLS community members, said he enjoyed a loving and devoted relationship with his wife of 26 years, but they did not have a sexually intimate relationship. "The reason was clear," he said, "I had ballooned to 368 pounds and was embarrassed to even attempt to be intimate with my 5'3" 109 pound wife. I was sure she had no interest in having sex with a ‘fatty' like me. My self-esteem was shot. I lost all confidence in myself. Needless to say, our sex life was zero."

In February Mike underwent WLS to improve his health and lost 110 pounds in seven months. He said, "I decided to make the plunge and indicate to my wife my 'intentions'. It was a bit awkward at first but then WOW! We had the best sex we have ever had in our marriage. It's been amazing." He says their relationship changed over night and they are making up for lost time. "I feel so guilty now that my wife stayed with me all this time, not being able to enjoy a good sex life. Besides the obvious benefits of health improvement I have more incentive to continue on my new lifestyle. And believe me, it's worth it!"

Mike's weight loss and improved sex drive resulted in a favorable change to his marriage. But that isn't always the case after weight loss. Maryann is married to a man with a heart condition that is treated with medications that cause sexually dysfunction. She said, "As I lost weight my sex drive went to overdrive. He couldn't perform. At the same time I was receiving more and more attention from men. It led to an affair." Maryann recently ended the affair and said, "I love my husband very much and cannot believe I allowed myself to stray. I found out the grass is not greener on the other side."

*Name changed per request of the subject.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kaye_Bailey

Update: 5 Day Pouch Test Owner's Manual

Hello Neighbors!

Just a quick update on my forthcoming book, "5 Day Pouch Test Owner's Manual" that I have been telling you about for several weeks. We are still on track to receive the books next week (November 12) and we will begin shipping all of the pre-orders immediately. The response to the pre-order sale has been overwhelming and I am deeply humbled by the interest in this publication and the potential for so many of you to have new hope and belief in your surgical weight loss tool. Thank you very much for your interest. If you pre-ordered the book please keep an eye on your inbox for notification that your book and free gifts are on the way. You will also find a USPS tracking number in the email.

And if you haven't ordered yet please take advantage of our pre-order sale and receive free shipping and 2 free gifts.

PRE-ORDER THE 5 DAY POUCH TEST OWNER'S MANUAL

CHEERS!
Kaye

From the back cover:
There is nothing more discouraging to a person who has undergone surgical weight loss than gaining weight. Feelings of failure, shame, embarrassment and self-loathing lead to anxiety and often more weight gain. Sadly, many lose hope believing their surgical pouch is no longer functioning properly. But there is hope.

Hundreds of people have taken control of their surgical pouch by following the 5 Day Pouch Test. At the end of Day 5 many who were sad and hopeless at the beginning of the week report euphoria knowing their pouch is functioning properly. Hopelessness is replaced with confidence. Five days. That is all it takes to turn things around.

If you are one of the many people struggling with regain after surgical weight loss I invite you to give yourself the power of the 5 Day Pouch Test. I believe that success with weight loss surgery, and in life, can be found when we focus on inner strength rather than inner weakness.

You Can Do This!

Kaye Bailey is an internationally recognized advocate for patients of weight loss surgery. Her vast collection of articles is widely syndicated in several languages. She is the founder and chairman of LivingAfterWLS, LLC: the parent company of the premier websites LivingAfterWLS.com and 5daypouchtest.com. The LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood, billed, "A safe haven circle of friends" is a compassion driven online community that is internationally recommended by bariatric centers as the best online resource for surgical weight loss support. Ms. Bailey is a dynamic speaker with a generous spirit of acceptance, compassion, and motivation that has touched many audiences. She makes her home in Wyoming with her husband Jim and several cherished pets.