Stomach Soothing Thirst Quenching Lemon Ginger Iced Green Tea

In keeping with our January Theme - The Four Rules, today I offer this terrific recipe for flavored herbal tea that both soothes the stomach, quenches thirst, and meets our Rule #2 - Lots of Water requirement. Remember, a goodly amount of daily water is essential for weight loss and in continuing weight maintenance with bariatric surgery. Earlier this month we talked about the benefits of lemon water. This Lemon Ginger Tea has the added benefits of green tea (including powerful antioxidants that promote fat loss) and the stomach soothing properties of ginger.

I use this recipe often and enjoy it served warm, freshly brewed or over ice. There is a certain clean feeling that comes from drinking beneficial herbal tea. I think if you are not already including green tea in your healthy weight management plan that once you do, you'll be hooked. Give it a try! Herbal tea counts towards water intake and provides many health benefits.

Lemon Ginger Iced Green Tea
Ingredients:
2 cups water
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
6 green tea bags
juice of 1 lemon
low-calorie sweetener of choice, to taste

Directions:
Add water, ground ginger, and lemon peel to medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to where it sustains a gentle boil and cook for about 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat and add the green tea bags. Steep this tea mixture for 10 minutes, stirring or dunking the bags often.
Remove tea bags and stir lemon juice into the tea liquid. Cover and refrigerator for up to 1 to 2 weeks.

For a warm cup of pre-brewed tea simply heat to desired temperature in the microwave. To make a cup of iced tea, pour 1/4 cup of the concentrated tea mixture into a tall glass and stir in 3/4 cup of cold water, add sweetener as desired.  Add ice cubes and enjoy!

Further Study: Restrict Liquids, Drink Lots of Water - HUH? Making Sense of WLS Guidelines
In a country where food and drink go hand in hand weight loss surgery patients are challenged to follow the liquid restrictions as instructed by their bariatric center. But understanding and following the liquid restrictions plays a key role in long-term weight maintenance following gastric bypass, gastric sleeve, or adjustable gastric banding (lap-band) surgeries. Learn more: Restrict Liquids, Drink Lots of Water - HUH? Making Sense of WLS Guidelines

Metabolic Set Point - When weight loss stalls

Is your weight loss stalled? 

Question: Kaye Bailey do you have an article or presentation on how our body's reach a set point? I find that my body is trying to reset the normal weight but higher than I want.

In our LivingAfterWLS Project 2014 Facebook group we are discussing MSP - Metabolic Set Point - in relation to our weight management efforts with weight loss surgery. This is a complex topic and I am working on a more extensive article to share with you. In the meantime here is a bit of a summary addressing the issue that confounds and frustrates us in the chase for goal weight after WLS.

If you haven't joined us yet hop on over to Facebook and join our Project 2014: Uniting like-minded people through education, support, and community, while promoting health sustainability and weight management with weight loss surgery.

Link to Facebook Group



by Kaye Bailey

I'd like to briefly mention a few things that contribute to metabolic set point and since most of our group is women I'll address the female biology more specifically.

MSP (Metabolic Set Point) is the rate at which the body burns energy and the popular "calories in/calories out" is not particularly accurate or representative. The MSP is a product of the food we eat, the exercise we do, the presence or absence of hormones including estrogen, ghrelin, testosterone, our age and gender, our reproductive stage of life, our history of weight loss/weight gain, and so much more. I am working on a full newsletter to cover these topics more completely.

Knowing how many ingredients are in each individual's MSP is key in understanding personal weight management independent of another person's weight management.  We do so much comparison and competing in weight management which leads to great frustration when we encounter a plateau that quite possibly is our personal set point. Our care providers (doctors, surgeons, nutritionists) set goal weight based on antiquated data. In addition, we ourselves set a goal weight that is often random and most often unrealistic (i.e., I want to weigh what I did when I got married, or was in high school, or weigh less than my husband or less than my pet zebra, or add your own reason).

 When I had surgery my goal weight was 135 (I really don't remember why) and I got there for about one joyous day. This was an impossible weight for me to maintain: I was miserable and so was everyone around me. Additionally I was hungry, tired, and weak and did I mention really cranky.  It turns out my set point is about 155: I've been stuck there for about 9 years. That's a long plateau! In my fantasy world I'd like to be 145 and 135 would rocket me to the moon. But the fact is - I am healthy at 155. I feel healthy, I look healthy, and I’m rarely cranky.  I haven't heard the old "Have you been sick?" question for years - feedback I got daily when I was 20 pounds lighter.

So, taking my experience and listening to so many of us over the years I've come to believe that finding our personal MSP is extremely liberating. If we can maintain a healthy weight, through conscious effort including consistent health-promoting choices, we avoid the misery of chasing unrealistic goals which lead to the further misery of yo-yo weight fluctuations. By this I do not mean settling for good enough weight loss, not in the least. I just think that when we lose a goodly amount of weight we must be ever vigilant to look for the signs that we have arrived at the destination of great health and personal content. And this destination is most likely different from the one we had in mind when we left on the journey.

so - that's all I'm giving up for now. I love this topic and I appreciate the opportunity to share some thoughts and look forward to presenting more information in greater depth. Thank you!

Post Surgery Weight Gain

Are you disappointed and frustrated with your weight loss results after bariatric surgery? Maybe you didn't get the best information from your surgeon. Link to the article below to learn one of the most common reasons weight loss stalls and weight regain happens. 

What Your Bariatric Surgeon Forgot to Tell You That Will Cause Weight Gain.
A significant number of people who undergo bariatric surgery for weight loss will at some point regain some of the weight they lost initially with surgery. Patients who stray from the high protein diet prescribed by weight loss surgery nutritionists to eat simple processed carbohydrates, called slurry foods, are likely to gain weight. Learn why.

Link to Article

Plateau keeping you from goal? Easy Fixes

5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin - May 2012

Plateau keeping you from goal? Easy Fixes For Metabolism Slumps

There is great speculation among the seasoned ranks of weight loss surgery patients that at some point the magic of gastric surgery is gone and the body resets its metabolism adjusting to the new smaller stomach and different digestive system. During the phase of rapid weight loss, called by many the "honeymoon period," patients of gastric surgery seemingly lose weight without effort. In truth, patients are eating a diet so low in calories their bodies are near starvation mode. As the body heals from medical injuries sustained in surgery and adapts to the new stomach and digestive process of gastric bypass, gastric banding or gastric sleeve, it does tend to metabolize and store energy (food) more efficiently.

Read Full Article