Day 6 Recipe: Chicken with Apples & Blue Cheese

The Details:
Page 154 of Day 6: Beyond 5 Day Pouch Test
2/27/2010
4 Servings.
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Estimated Cost: $12 or $3.00/serving

The Review:
Changed recipe slightly to use one cut-up roaster chicken rather than boneless-skinless chicken thighs (this was a better bargain in this week's grocery flier. So seasoned chicken with You Have Arrived Poultry Blend and baked in 375F oven for 35 minutes while cooking the apples/onions in skillet sprayed with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Topped with chopped walnuts and dried cranberries for nutritional boost of omega 3 fats and antioxidants. Served blue cheese crumbles on side as Jim likes a very small amount of blue cheese while I prefer a more generous amount. Delicious supper. Served green salad with apple slices, green onion, chopped walnuts and dried cranberries with choice of dressing. Full meal hitting all the necessary flavors for satiation: savory, salty, sweet, sour. A perfect Day 6 meal!!! Made my leftovers in to a take-n-go salad for today's lunch! Perfect!

Fun Friday in the Neighborhood

Are you ready for some good times? Then join us for the LivingAfterWLS Fun Friday weekly game where we answer questions, get to know one another and win fabulous prizes! This week our question is presented by our fun and daring Fun Friday Hostess DarlingGwenda from Down Under - She wants to know five things on your Bucket list. Go here to play:
Fun Friday February 26, 2010

For a look at our past prize winners visit the Fun Friday Hall of Fame 2010! You can link there to the original quiz game conversations and have a good laugh! As you will see, Fun Friday is a great way to jump in and participate in the Neighborhood, your weight loss surgery Safe Haven Circle of Friends.

Other areas of interest:

Winter Heat Accountability Challenge

5 Day Pouch Test Support

Day 6 Accountability

LivingAfterWLS and The Neighborhood is your online resource for ALL surgical gastric procedures to help arrest obesity through weight control. We offer support for patients of gastric bypass, gastric banding, gastric sleeve, gastric revision and all others. Please join us!

Lap-band patients go here: Bandit Buddies

Gastric-Sleeve patients go here: Heart on Your Sleeve

Veterans of stomach surgery go here: Voice of Vetrans

We look forward to seeing you soon in the Neighborhood!

For help navigating the Neighborhood click the Guidelines tab in the top toolbar for complete instructions.

CHEERS!
Kaye

The 5 Day Pouch Test---AGAIN!

by Kaye Bailey
Since the publication of the 5 Day Pouch Test plan in August of 2007 I've done the plan roughly four times a year or once a quarter. It seems contrary to what I preach --that the 5DPT is not a fad diet or a quick weight loss gimmick-- because each time as I share, online, my romp through the 5DPT it appears I do it far more frequently than I advise. Today I'm taking a moment to explain myself, to cover my tracks and to a little 5DPT talking.

First, to keep the 5 Day Pouch Test plan fresh we need to introduce new recipes. While I can assess a recipe on paper the best way to know if it satiates the body and mind is to include it in a full run of the 5DPT. Each time I do the 5DPT there are new recipes on the menu that you may (or may not) see published in the Bulletins and in future editions of the Owner's Manual. I will never offer recipes that I have not personally tried in the actual 5DPT format, so that is one reason I need to do the test at least 4 times a year. It is more like a science experiment for me these days than a "get back on track" program because, in all honesty, I have my eating game fairly well under control. It helps having to be accountable to my LivingAfterWLS family! Thank You!

Second, like yours, my life is a frantic world moving at rapid pace and there is a certain comfort to be found in plain old predictability. I was on the run for the first 20 days of February and while my eating did not get out of control it was not consistent or healthy. My water intake was hit-n-miss and I overlooked some vitamin doses. Looking at the calendar this week I thrilled at the prospect that I could be hopelessly boring and consistent with my meals. Protein First. Lots of Water. Warm comfort soups and soft proteins. Oh how I looked forward to pampering my pouch. At this point it isn't about losing weight or getting back on track for me; its about just slowing down, nurturing my body, taking a rest from the frantic and just being at ease with my pouch and my body. Hard to find fault with that. Like most things it is easy to say "I want to take it easy on my pouch this week," but it is another thing to say, "I want to use the 5DPT to help me take it easy on my pouch this week." Having a goal and a plan always helps us get to where we want to go.

Finally, We are all in this together. Many people look to me for guidance as they find their way back to basics with the 5 Day Pouch Test. It is my humble honor to occasionally join so many others in this quest for better health, better control, stronger empowerment as we together make our best lives with weight loss surgery. A swim coach who never dips a toe in the water cannot understand the current against which his athletes swim. And so it goes for us, if I never do the 5DPT then I cannot understand what current others must strive to overcome. We are in this together and I'm in the thick of things with you. It is so nice for me to have you here knowing we never have to travel this journey alone.

So onward we go! I've just finished some Tomato-Basil Carb Monster Soup and it was filling and delicious and delightfully predictable! If I sit really still I think I can hear my little tummy humming a happy tune.

CHEERS!

Pumpkin Shrimp Soup

Kelly at Facebook asked for a reprint of this recipe - since I'm doing the 5DPT starting today I was glad to be reminded of another great soup. Hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Shrimp Soup - Another 5DPT Great!

Day 1 & 2 Liquids
The Low-Carb Pumpkin & Sausage Soup recipe is a favorite of seasoned 5 Day Pouch Testers. (Page 69 of the 5DPT Owner's Manual or online here: 5DPT Recipes). Recently I came across another pumpkin soup recipe that showed great promise: but first I needed to calculate the nutritionals and give it the family taste test. It is smooth as silk and delicious. The numbers are great too, being much lower in fat than the sausage recipe. Shrimp and whole milk provide protein while the pumpkin and other vegetables provide complex carbohydrates to keep the Carb Monster away. Give this refreshing change a try and I promise it will be part of your Day 6 menu rotation in the cold months to come! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seafood Seasoning
1 (14-ounce) can fat free reduced sodium chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin puree, no added salt
1 cup whole milk
8 ounces cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined (if frozen, thawed)*
freshly grated nutmeg for garnish, optional

Over medium-high heat in a large soup pot, melt butter and cook the onions, carrots, and garlic, covered until tender, about 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the Old Bay Seafood Seasoning and 1/2 cup of the chicken broth. Working in batches puree the cooked vegetables in a blender or food processor following safety guidelines for processing hot food (see article below). Return vegetable puree to cooking pot. (Alternatively, use an immersion blender to puree the soup).

To vegetable puree add the remaining broth, pumpkin puree, milk and thawed drained shrimp. Heat gently to a low simmer, not boiling, and allow to cook 5 minutes until soup thickens slightly and is warm throughout. Serve immediately in measured 1 cup portions. Garnish each serving with a sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg.

Serves 4. Per 1 cup serving: 245 calories, 19g protein, 23g carbohydrate, 6g dietary fiber, 5g fat.

For leftovers reheat in the microwave on low to avoid overcooking the shrimp.

*Canned shrimp, crabmeat, or salmon would work equally well in place of the frozen shrimp if necessary. Just make sure you have 8-ounces of seafood after draining the liquid.

Visit the LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood for more WLS Recipes

Headaches With the Weight Loss Surgery High Protein Diet

Why do we suffer from headaches when we transition from a high-processed carbohydrate diet to a high protein diet? Many weight loss surgery patients are asking this.

There are, actually, several reasons for headaches when abiding a high protein, low carb diet. More importantly, there are several little things we can do to relieve the headaches:

First, when we transition from a processed carbohydrate diet to one rich in protein as advised by most weight loss surgery (bariatric) doctors and dieticians we increase our intake of tryptophan. A short list of foods high in tryptophan includes cheese, meat, nuts, and soy. Ingestion of tryptophan releases serotonin in the brain, which is considered a vasoconstrictor: it tightens our blood vessels. In modest amounts this helps us feel good; but in greater amounts to which we are not accustomed it causes headaches.

To balance the increased tryptophan (an amino acid - good thing) intake we should include appropriate complex carbohydrates in our weight loss surgery eating rhythm: 2B/1B (2 Bites Protein/1 Bite Carbohydrate). Here are some smart food choices for your weight loss surgery diet::

Carbs:
apples
artichokes
basil
bean sprouts
beets
carrots
celery
cranberries
cucumbers
green beans
pears
spinach
squash

Fat:
olive oil

Protein:
lamb
lentils
tuna
turkey

Next, we absolutely must be certain to supplement our diet with essential vitamins and minerals, and in this list I personally include herbal supplements that centuries of human use have proved beneficial to our health and well-being. Please review the list of supplements:

Feverfew: 200-300 milligrams daily

Ginger: 1,500 milligrams taken in 3 (500-milligram) doses daily

Magnesium: 1,000 milligrams a day (WLS post-ops are known to be deficient of magnesium)

Calcium with Vitamin D: 1,000 milligrams daily

Vitamin B6: 50-100 milligrams daily

Vitamin B Complex as prescribed by your doctor, oral, sublingual or injected

If you wake in the morning with a headache I encourage you to have a serving of Emergen-C. I strongly believe Emergen-C is healthful to us because in a single dose you get 60mg magnesium, 200mg potassium; 60mg sodium; 50mg calcium carbonate; (your electrolytes); in addition to vitamin B6 and B12; vitamin C, niacin, thiamin, zinc, and few others. Our little gastric bypass and gastric-banded tummies can absorb this supplement rapidly and it is not difficult or painful to take. If you have not tried Emergen-C please do. As a note, continue your regular vitamin regimen when taking Emergen-C. Use this water soluble product to get just a little extra nutrition.

If your headaches are chronic and you suspect more than the weight loss surgery high protein diet please keep a headache diary in an effort to identify the cause of the headaches. Dr. Alex Duarte suggestions tracking these things:

Diet - Diet and food allergy is the most prevalent cause of headache.

Hormones - Fluctuating hormone levels are known to cause frequent headache.

Weather - Changes in barometric pressure and other weather conditions can trigger headaches.

Stress - Frequent cause of headaches.

Change in Routine - Disruption of regular routine (such as change in diet) is known to cause headache.

Dental Problems or Endodontic surgery are known to cause headaches

Sensory Stimuli - sight, smell, and hearing can cause headaches.

Hypoglycemia causes headache.

Herbal remedies for headaches are, in my opinion, more effective and less disruptive than chemical OTC remedies. Try supplementing your diet with Feverfew, Ginger, Ginko Biloba, Chamomile, Capsaicin, and/or Valerian.

Learn from others who are battling headaches as a result of the weight loss surgery high protein diet: LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood

Kaye Bailey 2010 - All Rights Reserved

Kaye Bailey is an internationally recognized writer, speaker and weight loss surgery advocate. She is the author of the highly successful weight loss surgery back to basics plan: 5 Day Pouch Test and the 5 Day Pouch Test Owner's Manual. Her follow-up book, Day 6: Beyond the 5 Day Pouch Test, was published in December 2009. It provides guidance for long-term weight and health management with all bariatric surgical procedures. Ms. Bailey is known for her powerful "you can do this" manner and her belief in the power of personal responsibility. She is the founder of LivingAfterWLS, LLC parent company to the LivingAfterWLS.com and 5daypouchtest.com websites. Supporting both websites is the LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood, an online compassion-driven community for weight loss surgery, gastric bypass and gastric banding patients.

LivingAfterWLS

The LivingAfterWLS Neighborhood Online Community 5 Day Pouch Test

Article Source: Headaches With the Weight Loss Surgery High Protein Diet

Facebook Connections

Social Media is the buzz these days - it is how we give and receive much of our communication. In the spirit of the times LivingAfterWLS and has several destinations for connecting with other like minded folks who are pursuing health and obesity recovery with weight loss surgery. Follow these links to connect with us on Facebook:

Kaye Bailey Profile Page

LivingAfterWLS Facebook Neighbors

Official 5 Day Pouch Test Facebook Group

Day 6: Beyond the 5 Day Pouch Test Group

Sweetest Month! Chocolate & Strawberry Challenge

A repeat of the March 2009 Challenge -----

I'm going to give you and assignment and because I know you do very well with specifics I will be very detailed with this assignment. Are you ready for the challenge? OK, take a moment before you continue reading this and think about all the reasons why you can do this assignment. Do not allow one single "I can't do this" thought into your beautiful brain, ok????

The assignment:
Please go to your grocery store and purchase two items:
1 quart of fresh strawberries (they are looking really good this time of year)
1 jar sugar free chocolate syrup (or 1 bar of 70% cocoa dark chocolate)

Next - think about these beautiful berries that are full of vitamin C, fiber and carcinogen fighting phytochemicals. Putting these strawberries in your body is a nurturing gift. Think about that today, but don't eat the strawberries just yet. Just focus on how sweet and succulent they will taste and how you will kindly nurture your sweet cravings with this wonderful food. Think about how you will feel as you eat them and how you will feel in the morning knowing you did not give you body food that made it sick and sluggish. Remind yourself that you deserve to feel healthy and in control of your eating and you are capable of being healthy and in control of your eating.

What you are doing is creating that "mental storm of enthusiasm" for nurturing your body with smart food choices.

Now, tonight when the sweet craving hits I want you to wash 6 strawberries in cold running water. Dry them gently with a paper towel and arrange them on a pretty plate. If they are large cut them in bite-size slices. Drizzle them with the sugar free chocolate syrup -- not too much -- just a drizzle. Then find a comfortable place without distractions to sit and enjoy each bite. If you like, invite your boyfriend to join you with YOUR refreshment and kindly ask him to respect you by not having his chocolate in front of you. Enjoy every single bite and reflect on how good it feels to treat yourself in a nurturing and healthy manner.

This is a treat and a ritual you can do every night. If you chose to get dark chocolate instead of the syrup just melt one or two ounces on low in the microwave and dip your berries into the creamy chocolate that is actually low in sugar and rich in antioxidants.

Will you take this assignment????

Join me!! Let's give that sweet tooth something to smile about!