Inspired Reminders Bulletin: Your Body is Fighting You!

Greetings Dear Readers!

The May LivingAfterWLS Inspired Reminders newsletter was published and delivered to your Inbox today. Be sure to check it out, it is full of useful information you need to know in your WLS journey. Here is the introduction and if you are not subscribed you can can read it here in our online archive: LivingAfterWLS May Inspired Reminders Bulletin

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It's not your imagination!

Your body is fighting against weight loss.   

 

The chills & thrills of weight loss surgery.

In 2009 I wrote, "Ten years after being gut-whacked and I'm still on a diet." That is what I wanted to title my book which was eventually published as "Day 6: Beyond the 5 Day Pouch Test." In the introduction I explained, "No matter what treatment a person with the disease of morbid obesity seeks there is a tough journey to follow. There is no "easy way out." I am still on a diet. And it doesn't look to change anytime soon."

Jump forward to spring 2017: I'm 18-years removed from surgery and I'm still on a diet! I guess I'm in it for life. At one time this realization would have scared the jelly out of my doughnut. But these days it's my security blanket. I know I have a disease: obesity. I have been surgically treated for the disease. By following the prescribed lifestyle plan including diet and exercise I can work with my surgery to keep the disease in remission. That is the cold hard reality for all of us living after WLS. (See the article below Obesity Reclassified from 2013 when the AMA official categorized obesity a disease.)

Mind you, this acceptance was not easily achieved. I rebelled with vigor against the rules abandoning diet and physical activity in favor of hoping for the best. Leaving things to chance, however, did not help me control my obesity before surgery or after surgery. In our WLS community the path commonly trends to complete compliance following surgery followed by a detour along the road to chance and then, hopefully, a calm resolve of acceptance and renewed commitment to the lifestyle that supports our health and weight management goals. I've observed this trend for a decade and the anecdotal evidence predicts most patients will experience this learning curve.

Today's Bulletin features a look at why our body resists weight loss in the feature article It's not your imagination! Your body is fighting everything you do to lose weight. I found this subject revealing. I hope you enjoy it. As mentioned above you will find information about the 2013 obesity classification and also a primer Obesity Defined. Be sure to check out our Recipe: Tuna Pasta Primavera and then link through to some of the reader favorite Hot Blog Topics of the last few weeks.

I appreciate your time today, I know your Inbox is loaded with messages needing your attention. May I also take this opportunity to thank those who support our LivingAfterWLS Bookstore and other publication outlets. The LivingAfterWLS research work is self-funded and it is through your support that we are able to conduct clean research without becoming prejudiced by sponsors expecting a quid pro quo return of favorable findings in exchange for funding. Have a fabulous week and may good health be yours to enjoy!

Link to Bulletin

Kaye Bailey

Struggling with WLS? Try this at your next meal and see results fast.

Check your inbox or link here to our newly published LivingAfterWLS Inspired Reminders Newsletter. Published February 22, 2017 this hot issue is all about digestion and how making one small change in your eating habits will change the way you lose weight now! Don't miss it. Link here for the archive:

Digestion Starts Here!
Why making good chyme fuels weight loss 

"Greetings!

Thank you for your time as you join me in this weekly digest from LivingAfterWLS. Recently I've found myself busy-eating or multi-tasking through meals. The result is poorly chewed food, pouch discomfort and unsatisfied hunger. I know better. We all know better, right? From our earliest school years we were taught to slow down to eat, chew our food completely, and don't talk with our mouth full. Such sensible advice that is so easy to forget.

In today's newsletter I share a section from my Protein First book that discusses the essential importance of chewing our food well and how doing so leads to improved weight loss: The disgusting reality of digestion.  I needed this refresher and I hope you find it timely as well. You will also find a terrific weeknight recipe for Skillet Parmesan Chicken and a link-summary of popular posts from the LivingAfterWLS Blog.

Thank you for your time and I wish you a distraction free, unhurried meal where you can chew your food well and enjoy the benefits of a well-digested nutritional meal."

Kaye Bailey

Check out the newsletter in our Archive: Inspired Reminders February 22, 2017

Hot Topic: How soon after WLS can I do the 5 Day Pouch Test?

Visit http://5daypouchtest.com/index.html

I've seen this question --about doing the 5DPT in the first year after surgery-- asked in several places and wanted to share the FAQ from our recent 5DPT newsletter "Top FAQ's of 2016". In this group I have welcomed one and all --regardless of surgery date-- and the reason for that is explained here. Please enjoy this little snippet and share with others who are curious or confused about when the 5DPT is appropriate! THANK YOU!

Check out our FAQ Special Edition 5DPT Bulletin

Can I do the 5DPT in my first year after surgery?
Without exception patients must follow the dietary program directed by their bariatric center for the first year following surgery. No exceptions. I do not recommend or encourage anyone in the first year post-surgery to do the 5DPT. Please, follow the plan your center prescribed specifically for you.

Remember, your first year of attentive care from your bariatric provider was part of your surgery package. The bariatric center has your health information and surgical information and they are highly invested in you reaching a favorable outcome with surgery. While the 5DPT and other after-surgery programs are effective in our life-long weight management they are written for the general audience. You will see the words, "in general" or "as a rule" or "many patients" etc., that prompts awareness a program is generalized. Your bariatric center, however, is working for you specifically and they understand that one size does not fit all after WLS surgery. Take advantage of the care your surgical center offers - this is truly one of the few times in life where you are the total focus of attention.

In a 2016 Bariatric Times editorial Dr. Christopher Still reminded surgeons of the importance of face-to-face interaction with patients and customary post-WLS dietary and behavioral coaching. "When evaluating a patient for a specific meal and physical activity plan, remember that it is not one size fits all. While one diet may have been successful in one patient, it may prove unsuccessful in another similar patient for a multitude of reasons. Sometimes finding the right plan takes trial and error. When working with your patients, remember to help them focus on realistic goals and finding a routine that is just right for them." This is never more important than during the first year (or even first 2 years) following WLS. Please, stick with your bariatric center in the beginning, get your monies worth, and get your personalized lifestyle plan that affords you the greatest success in weight and health management with your surgical tool.

---

The only OFFICIAL 5DPT Group on Facebook

Participation Helps! With that said, it cannot be overstated the value that comes from following a 5DPT participant group that uses the plan to get back to the basics they've forgotten. New patients can learn and benefit from the mistakes of others and be well-equipped to quickly spot behaviors that may take us off track from the basics. Don't wait to find yourself well into the danger zone to start learning from others. It is the shared experience of the group that makes the individual strong.

Link to the newletter: Top 10 FAQ's about the 5DPT

These questions are addressed in our FAQ Special Edition 5DPT Bulletin:

• One: Will the 5DPT work for me?
• Two: Will my pouch shrink by doing the 5DPT? 
• Three: My center didn't give me the Four Rules. Does that mean they will not work for me? 
• Four: Can I do the 5DPT in my first year following surgery? 
• Five: How can I make it past Day 1?
• Six: I Don't like water at all! What are other options?
• Seven: Stress eating habits derail me, how can I prevent this?
• Eight: I want to make a few tweaks to the 5DPT, will it still work?
• Nine: I messed up, do I need to start over? 
• Ten: Can I just use any prepared soup or soup recipe or do I have to use the specific 5DPT recipes?

Today's 5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin: Top FAQs of 2016

Hot Off the Press!

5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin: Top FAQs of 2016

Have you checked your Inbox today? We've published our most popular newsletter of the year - the top 5 Day Pouch Test FAQs of 2016 asked and answered. This is the one you will want to print and keep as ready-reference in support of your healthy weight management goals this year!

You can also link here to our newsletter archive:

5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin: Top FAQs of 2016

Greeting from Kaye: 

"Hello dear readers and happy 2017! I do hope you are off to a great start and have made a pledge to making 2017 your healthiest year ever.

Today we deliver our most popular newsletter of the year: a review of the top 10 FAQs about the 5 Day Pouch Test from the previous year. This year our newsletter is a bit lengthy. The marketers keep telling us to keep newsletters brief, that readers do not have a long attention span. But you know, the LivingAfterWLS readers are different. You are knowledge seekers and information collectors. You know that detailed understanding goes a long way in putting in motion a plan that works. So please, take a few minutes to enjoy this newsletter online, or using your browser print commands make a hard copy to keep. I learned a great deal in preparing the answers to the FAQs and I think you will as well. Here are the questions answered in this newsletter:

    One: Will the 5DPT work for me?
    Two: Will my pouch shrink by doing the 5DPT?
    Three: My center didn't give me the Four Rules. Does that mean they will not work for me?
    Four: Can I do the 5DPT in my first year following surgery?
    Five: How can I make it past Day 1?
    Six: I Don't like water at all! What are other options?
    Seven: Stress eating habits derail me, how can I prevent this?
    Eight: I want to make a few tweaks to the 5DPT, will it still work?
    Nine: I messed up, do I need to start over?
    Ten: Can I just use any prepared soup or soup recipe or do I have to use the specific 5DPT recipes?

Best Wishes and Happy Healthy 2017 to You!
Kaye

PS: Be sure to visit and bookmark the LivingAfterWLS Blog. After spending last year deep in research tasks I am back to posting great timely content to the blog.

From the Archives: Managing Slider Food & Evening Munchies

5DPT: May Bulletin - Managing Slider Food & Evening Munchies

ICYMI: In Case You Missed It the 5 Day Pouch Test May Bulletin is now available live in our online archive. Link to 5DPT Bulletin to read your information packed newsletter full of facts, tips, and hints to successfully manage your weight with weight loss surgery, the 5 Day Pouch Test, and LivingAfterWLS. Click now - the information is great & free! Enjoy. Link: 5DPT May Bulletin

    "Thank you for joining me today in this information packed 5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin. I have been following various conversations in social media groups about weight regain after bariatric surgery and share with you today articles that I hope will promote a calm understanding of how weight regain happens. Featured topics include slider foods, ways to relieve nausea, and protein supplements. I hope you find something useful as you pursue a long lasting healthy weight with surgery. Thanks for taking time from your busy life to join me here today."  Continue Reading

Remember the Official 5 Day Pouch Test Website is open 24/7!

Four easy things for a perfect WLS day

Hot Off the Press! LivingAfterWLS Inspired Reminders email bulletin.

Link to check out our fresh new layout and power-packed content to support your weight loss surgery health and weight management goals. View it live in our archive or subscribe to receive this valuable information delivered free to your Inbox.

LivingAfterWLS Inspired Reminders September 8, 2016

Enjoy a perfect WLS day by doing these four easy things this morning.

Do These Four Simple Things Today!

Broken eggs and a perfect day

by Kaye Bailey

The old wisdom warns that trouble comes in threes and I've found it to be more true than not. It seems if my day gets off to a rocky start things are unlikely to improve as one problem leads to the next. Maybe, like me, you have all the desire in the world to get your day off to a great start doing what is necessary to support your WLS goals and then, as the saying goes, life happens and off track we go. In the 5 Day Pouch Test we use the metaphor of broken eggs: if we drop one egg from the carton and it breaks we don't discard the rest of the eggs. We clean the mess and move forward understanding that broken eggs happen but one broken egg is not worth spoiling the whole dozen. In the day-to-day of living we can apply the metaphor and rationalize that one oops in a day doesn't mean the entire day is a disaster. But sometimes it is easier said than done, at least for me.

What if we had a sure-fire strategy to start the day with four easy actions that support our big picture goals of weight loss and weight management using the WLS tool? If we've already accomplished four simple actions in favor of a good day won't those help shield us from the bumps and bruises of the daily "broken eggs" we are bound to encounter?

Today's Inspired Reminders Bulletin offers four easy, quick, and affordable things we can all do to prepare the way for a perfect WLS day. I invite you to try these four little actions every day for one week and just see what a wonderful world of success opens for you as you pursue the best life, Living INSPIRED After WLS.

Link to the Bulletin

Cooking with Kaye: Thanksgiving Recipes

Cooking with Kaye Newsletter:
Thanksgiving Recipes
View in our online Archive

"I hope this message finds you well and excited about pursuing a healthier way of life with weight loss surgery. Thank you for taking time to join me here: I know your Inbox is as full as mine with many things asking for your time and attention.

With Thanksgiving upon us this week, I share some recipe classics and few new favorites that I hope will find a place on your table. Each year about this time we get dozens of requests for our classic recipe, Creamy Butternut Squash Bake. It's included here along with a new take on the old favorite green bean casserole. And I just know you are going to love my Jasmine Rice with Pomegranate and Scallions. I cannot get enough of this fresh aromatic side dish. We've also include some great hints and tips for navigating the feasting days of this season - I hope you find them useful and supportive of your weight management goals. Above all else, enjoy the day and the gratitude that is Thanksgiving.

Featured Recipes:
Moist Tender Traditional Turkey
Article: Holiday Grazing
Jasmine Rice with Pomegranate & Scallions
Creamy Butternut Squash Bake
Green Beans with Turkey & Bacon

Link to the Newsletter



Quick read to help you stay on track during the holidays:  The 5 Day Pouch Test: Express Study Guide

Weekly Digest: Self-Compassion Leads to Weight Loss

The 5 Day Pouch Test: Express Study Guide


The LivingAfterWLS Weekly Digest is out: Check your email Inbox or go directly to online archive to read the weekly newsletter: Digest October 14, 2014

"We didn't ask for obesity and we didn't ask for the fight of a lifetime to keep it under control. Treat yourself kindly. Find your personal hell-bent determination. You already know how courageous and powerful you are: you learned that when you underwent bariatric surgery. The 5 Day Pouch Test will help you find that place again through the course of five days focused on your mental and physical wellness. Pull out your strength and reserves and let's do this together.." 

~Kaye Bailey page 21,
5 Day Pouch Test Manual

Thank you for joining me in this week's LivingAfterWLS Digest, I know your time is valuable and appreciate you spending some of it with me. Today I address the issue of self-compassion and kindness and the role it plays in our health and weight management after surgery. As a group we are generous with our kindness and caring for others, but oh-so-hard on ourselves. Not a day goes by where I don't receive an email full of self-loathing and disappointment when WLS has not gone text book perfect as planned. Words like "failure" "disappointed" "angry" "depressed" and "hopeless" are used to describe setbacks that are perceived as personal weakness. Yet if we were to listen to a friend talk this way about herself we wouldn't allow it - we would build on her strengths and abilities and buoy her spirits with encouragement and praise.

It is time we turn the table and exercise self-compassion and self-kindness. Doing so is the first step in taking positive action to manage our weight and health using the surgical tool we so desperately needed. Our featured article, "Encouraging self-compassion for a positive body image" is a good starting place to launch your campaign for self-kindness. Follow that with some "me time" spent on the LivingAfterWLS Personal Self Assessment, your quarterly review of your goals, progress, and plans. Download the worksheet for free: Self-Assessment Worksheet.

Other features in today's Digest include some fact-filled links on the big health headline: Ebola Virus Disease; updates from the new and improved LiviingAfterWLS Blog; a great recipe for Beef with Soba Noodles; and a quick study on the health benefits of walking.

I hope you find this digest useful in your ongoing efforts for improved health with weight loss surgery. You have the power to make this your healthiest season ever! Let's do it together!

 

CHEERS!
Kaye

Link to Digest in our Archive

Dining on Man Food: Cooking with Kaye Newsletter

Cooking with Kaye recipe newsletter - online in our Archive and delivered free to subscribers Inboxes.  Enjoy this special issue featuring 11 great recipes and interesting topic - men vs. women in diet and health management strategies.

Link to Archive: Cooking with Kaye

Cooking with Kaye: Wings to Fly For page 94

Greeting Article:  A recent assignment lead to me to looking into gender difference when it comes to the foods we eat while dieting. Turns out there is a big difference in how men and women approach dieting. And ladies, it may be that the guys are onto something. While women tend to diet to extremes cutting fat, carbs, processed foods and filling the void left behind with sweet fakes, men go for the gusto and enjoy manly foods --think bar food-- making small healthy tweaks to ingredients and preparation methods while controlling portions. Women tend to feel hunger is necessary for weight loss while men rarely go hungry, even while dieting.  In other words, men continue to eat and enjoy the foods they love, indeed the foods that contributed to their obesity, but they do so in a new and improved way.

One more big difference became apparent: men are not emotionally attached to food nor do they assign food moral values the way women tend to do. A man will over eat too much of the wrong foods at times but he is not likely to belittle or punish himself for "being bad." He will chalk a score for the other team and move on to the next play. For women, a single event of unhealthy eating can turn into a downward spiral of self-loathing and punishment, often in continued poor food choices.

In Today's Cooking with Kaye I share some of the things I learned about the differences between men and women who are dieting. Keep in mind, these are generalizations and I understand that one size does not fit all when it comes to dieting. I know there are many different behaviors to match our personalities when it comes to managing our health and weight with diet. I hope these generalizations, whether familiar or completely foreign to you, provide new insight into weight management. At LivingAfterWLS we talk so often about the WLS experience being a journey full of opportunity to learn, grow, and improve. No matter how different we all, we are all in this together

 Link to Archive: Cooking with Kaye

5DPT Bulletin: Rock your WLS like nobody's business

When we treat obesity as a disease rather than a personal moral failure or emotional weakness we can rationally take the action which brings forth favorable results.

January2014:
5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin available in our archive and delivered to your Inbox. Great inspiration for your healthy New Year!


"Here we are, a fresh new start. First, let's think back to the beginning of this journey. WLS patients recall very well the research we did prior to surgery, the questions and answers, and the learning. As a group we are above average knowledge seekers. So it stands to reason that along the way, well after surgery, we again turn to education and learning in support of our weight loss goals. Today let's look at managing our obesity from a clinical approach rather than an emotional reaction. The medical community officially recognizes obesity as a disease. So its time we start doing the same."

Featured Articles:
Treating Obesity - The Disease
Learning & Practice
Success tips from the ProfessionalsComfort Eating is Okay if....

Link Below: 5DPT Bulletin January 2014

Vitamins: A Do or Don't after WLS?

Published Today: LivingAfterWLS Weekly Digest

Vitamin Supplements: What you need to know now

Link to the newsletter: LAWLS Digest: Vitamins

 

You most likely heard the news earlier this week shouting, "Stop wasting your money on vitamin supplements!" This headline was pulled from the Annals of Internal Medicine in which the authors of an editorial conclude there is no evidence that routine use of vitamin and mineral supplements brings health benefits. The editorial stated, "The routine use (of vitamins) is not justified and they should be avoided. This message is especially true for the general population with no clear evidence of micronutrient deficiencies, who represent most supplement users in the United States and in other countries."

Those are strong words and mainstream media took notice with many news broadcasts and newspapers repeating the headline to stop wasting money on vitamins.

I've read many arguments for and against the use of vitamin supplementation over the last few days. The common factor in my research indicates these studies and expert opinions are intended for the general population of people who eat a balanced diet of nutrient dense food and who have no mitigating health circumstances. I'm not sure I know anyone who fits into that general population.

When we consented to have a surgical weight loss procedure we committed to a lifetime of following a carefully prescribed diet that most likely includes the use of vitamin and mineral supplements. We understood before surgery that our the low caloric intake after surgery and decreased absorption efficiency would require supplementation to meet our basic nutritional needs. Our bariatric surgeon and nutritionist prescribed specific supplementation to each of us. This prescription is to be followed throughout the course of our life with adjustments being made by us in collaboration with our health care team as nutritional needs change. Our nutritional needs are monitored with blood tests, overall health and well being, and life stages.

Today's digest offers many features regarding vitamin supplements and the weight loss surgery patient. I encourage you to spend time reviewing your personal vitamin and mineral supplementation. Are you getting all the nutritional support you need with diet and supplementation? Are you following the vitamin protocol prescribed at the time of surgery? Are you monitoring your nutritional wellness with blood tests and assessment of your overall health and well being?

I realize this is a particularly busy time of year to be asking one more thing of you. If you don't have time today to give thought to this topic save your newsletter to read later. Give it a good look-over when you have downtime before the new year begins. Set a goal to get your nutritional health in tip-top shape in 2014. Can you think of a better gift to give yourself?  Consider using our LivingAfterWLS Personal Self-Assessment Worksheet as part of your goal. Using it reminds us how far we have traveled and where we would like to go. Download the worksheet in pdf format: Self-Assessment Worksheet

I am grateful for all of you in the LivingAfterWLS community who work very hard every day to live healthier and manage your weight with the surgical tool. May your holidays be bountiful and celebrated with heartfelt gratitude. I wish you the best this holiday season and always.  Thanks for LivingAfterWLS with me!

Cheers! Kaye 

Published Today: LivingAfterWLS Weekly Digest

Vitamin Supplements: What you need to know now

Link to the newsletter: LAWLS Digest: Vitamins

Featured in Today's Digest:
Refresher: The B Vitamins
Using Dietary Supplements Wisely
What vitamin supplement is best for me?
Holiday Tips: Stay on Track & Enjoy
Recipe: Chicken breasts with apple stuffing

Link Now:  LAWLS Digest: Vitamins

7 Quick & Easy 5DPT Tactics to Prevent Holiday Weight Gain

5DPT Bonus Bulletin:

7 Quick & Easy 5DPT Tactics to Prevent Holiday Weight Gain

Link to Bulletin in Archive

The feasting season is a challenging time of year to do the 5 Day Pouch Test - I know this as well as you. But over the years I've found that a few reminders of what we learn (and re-learn) during the 5 days go a long way in helping us stay on track in the midst of countless obstacles. I've gathered 7 of my go-to tactics from the 5DPT and invite you to implement them this season. None of us wants to wake up to the harsh reality of holiday weight gain come New Year's Day. But we don't want to miss out on the spectacle we call life either. I think we can each find our own happy middle and this year let's truly enjoy LivingAfterWLS during the holidays. Also featured today is the short article "Hot Stove: Avoid the Burn" and be sure to put our Delicious Turkey Salad on your leftovers menu this week, you will love this fresh light salad with loads of flavor and health promoting nutrients.


 Featured Article
5DPT tactics to make the season bright

Have fun, enjoy living, and stay on track with these helpful hints 

 
by Kaye Bailey

When I hear from someone doing the 5 Day Pouch Test during the holiday season I admire their courage and true grit. It seems that doing the 5DPT during the feasting season is about as easy and going upstream without a paddle. Yet over the years I've heard from many WLS Neighbors use this time to get cozy with their pouch and fixed on following the WLS rules in hopes of avoiding the dreaded holiday weight gain. While this time of year isn't particularly conducive to the 5DPT there are many opportunities to polish our skills using strategies we learn from doing the 5 Day Pouch Test.  I've pulled some of my favorite nuggets of empowerment from the 5DPT Owner's Manual - 2nd Edition to share with you here.  Use these tactics in a manner suited to your lifestyle and traditions: work that surgical tool like nobody's business.  Find yourself on January first having done the holidays right without forfeiting joyous fun or forsaking your healthy weight management goals.

Continue Reading

Have you missed our LivingAfterWLS Newsletters?

Recent changes to gmail may have you missing our terrific LivingAfterWLS Newsletters including Weekly Digest, Cooking with Kaye, and 5 Day Pouch Test monthly bulletin.
 

Technical Note for our Gmail Subscribers

Gmail's inbox has changed again. To help you navigate the changes, we've taken a closer look at the service's new customizable tabs. Designed to make your inbox more approachable, tabs organize your incoming mail into categories, giving you an at-a-glance look at what's new.

We take great pride in our LivingAfterWLS emails and maintain an 85/ 15 percent ratio of editorial content (85%) to promotional content (15%). Our promotional content provides revenue so we may offer our newsletters free. In some instances the new Gmail tab may file our newsletters under Promotions rather than placing them in your Primary tab. The technical news site Mashable has a terrific tutorial on customizing your tabs so you can find our emails and other important correspondence where you expect to see it. Link to the Tutorial 

Weekly Digest: Boost Your Metabolism this Easy Way!

LivingAfterWLS Weekly Digest:

Change your health destiny

Walking is like magic at boosting metabolism

In today's Weekly Digest we focus on Rule #4 of the Four Rules: Daily Exercise. For me this is the most challenging of the Four Rules, it just seems so difficult to include daily exercise into my over-scheduled schedule. But there is something so basic, so easy, so inexpensive that we can do daily and it will completely change our metabolism, our mood, our weight loss results. That thing is walking. Study after study confirms that a little walking goes a long way to improve our health and weight management efforts. Today's Digest is full of information and inspiration to get us moving, one step at a time, in the right direction. I am already excited to get out and get walking!

Link to Digest: October 21, 2013

Featured Articles:
October Theme
Walking: The Disease Fighter
High Protein Diet Promotes Fat Loss
Boost Your Metabolism Fast: Walking
Tips for Walking Safely
Recipe: Tuna & White Bean Salad
Neighborhood Closure

Don't miss an issue of our LivingAfterWLS Weekly Digest. Click the subscribe link in the left column and join our list. Your privacy is valued and information is never shared. Join us!

Stop Counting Carbs and Lose Weight

Hot off the press - LivingAfterWLS Weekly Digest
Great topic today: Never Count Carbs Again
Link to the full newsletter in our archive: Digest Sept 3 2013

Opening Article from the Digest:
A major area of concern and sometimes confusion for us after weight loss surgery is how many grams of carbohydrates should we eat in a day. Have you been perplexed over the carbohydrate question? Today we take a look at carbs and the role they play our diet after weight loss surgery.

It is popular in the health and nutrition fields to describe carbs as "good carbs" or "bad carbs". I prefer not to use those words because they assign a moral trait to food and food does not have moral traits. Food is food. When we remove moral assignment from the food we eat we can be smart, thoughtful, and rational with our choices. But if we assign morals to food and eat "bad carbs" then we must be bad. You know the self-blame cycle I'm talking about.

Instead of good carbs and bad carbs I prefer to use more accurate terms:

• Fruit and Vegetable Carbs or Complex Carbs
• Grain and Starch Carbs or Complex Carbs
• Processed Manufactured Carbs or Simple Carbs

I have them arranged in nutritional importance to us after undergoing weight loss surgery. Like other nutrients carbohydrates are measured in grams. A 2008 broad-canvas study of bariatric centers revealed that few bariatric surgeons or nutritionists give a specific daily quota for carbohydrate intake. Most default to the 113g RDA recommended by the National Academies' Institute of Medicine for people following a 1200 calorie a day diet. It takes roughly 8 to 10 cups of fruit and vegetables to equal 113g complex carbohydrates and I do not know any weight loss surgery patient who can consume that much volume.

That is good news. While it is unlikely we can ever reach that daily intake by eating fruits and vegetables it is also unlikely we will ever over eat our carbohydrate allowance when we select high moisture, high fiber fruits and vegetables. A variety of fruits and vegetables promotes good health because they contain disease fighting vitamins and nutrients. Fruits and vegetables enjoyed with lean protein improve the overall eating experience for weight loss surgery patients because they are high in moisture. This is a relief when we are following the liquid restrictions and not drinking a beverage with meals.




Link to the full newsletter in our archive: Digest Sept 3 2013

Today we look at complex carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables. We have some great tips and recipes to include them in your diet for life-long weight management. Pictured here is a typical breakfast plate for me that included 2 ounces white meat roasted turkey, 1 hard-cooked egg, 6 blackberries and 1/2 large kiwifruit. After enjoying this meal I will not feel hungry or crave sweets for several hours. Nutritional Count: 182 Calories. (44% Protein, 32% Fat, 24% Carbohydrate); 20g Protein; 6g Fat; 11g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber. 75% RDI Vitamin C, 25% RDI Niacin, 5% RDI Calcium.) I consider this plate a perfect breakfast and while I don't get it right every morning it is a goal I aim for because on days when I get this right I am powerful and in control.

Continue to the full newsletter and don't miss a bit of this great information that supports your ongoing weight management with surgery.

Link to the full newsletter in our archive: Digest Sept 3 2013

You Deserve Success: Avoid this one mistake on 5DPT

Question: What is the biggest mistake you see people making on the 5 Day Pouch Test?

Kaye's Answer: 

Not learning and following the plan or changing the plan drastically.

Learn the plan. Read the plan in full and be sure you understand it. Read the plan completely in order to understand the progression of your diet from Day 1 to Day 5. Pay close attention to understanding the liquid restrictions and slider foods: these are the most common problem areas that lead to weight regain after weight loss surgery.  As you become familiar with the 5 Day Pouch Test compare it to the early dietary stages following your weight loss surgery. Think back to what worked for you then and imagine the same will work for you again. Remember, you already know how to lose weight using your surgical tool. The effort you put into the 5DPT will return you to that place of healthy and reasonable weight management using your tool.

5 Day Pouch Test Plan
 

Try not to make too many changes to the plan. Keep it at 5 Days. Don't restrict foods and go hungry. Really pay attention to what changes you are making and constantly think about the Four Rules can be your way of life, not just a temporary means of taking off a few pounds only to put it back later. This is a way of life we agreed too when undergoing surgery and it is for our lasting health. The 5DPT can help you get back to doing what works with WLS to support your lasting health and weight goals.

This brief Q&A article was taken from the August 2013 5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin. If you missed it Link Here - available for free in our LivingAfterWLS email archive. Click now for articles, inspiration, recipes, empowerment! Go Ahead!

A Storm of Enthusiasm is Coming to Your WLS World!

LivingAfterWLS Weekly Digest: July 30, 2013
Practice leads to Back to Basics

Greetings!

We are about to turn the page on a new month as summer slowly slips away. I hope you are well and have been enjoying some favorite activities of LIVING during this slower-paced season. Thank you so much for selecting this correspondence from the many that fill your Inbox, I appreciate the time you spend with me.

Our July Theme, Practice Practice Practice, has focused on the constant effort health management requires of us, particularly weight management with surgery. Your feedback has shown us this topic has been quite an eye opener for many of us as we share the expectation that we should have been able to get WLS done right from the very start. But time has shown it is an endless pursuit of following the rules, self-assessment, constant learning, and a few detours along the way. There are days when I wonder, "Am I ever going to get this right?" and look at me - the focus of my workday is on understanding life after weight loss surgery!

As a follow-up to our practice theme, in August we will focus on Back to Basics. August is a terrific month to review the basics, set goals, and actively get back to working the WLS tool in a manner that it in turn the tool works for us. In today's Digest we visit the Four Rules in a brief refresher.  Also today please see a clarification to last week's article on liquids, and don't miss the featured recipe: Tuna and White Bean Salad.

I often talk about the "Storm of Enthusiasm" that is necessary in the movement toward change. You felt the Storm of Enthusiasm in the days and weeks prior to surgery and your new chance at finally getting control of your health and weight. In the next few weeks we will recapture that Storm of Enthusiasm together! I can hardly wait. The following is a brief excerpt from the 5 Day Pouch Test Owner's Manual:  (Continue reading in our Archive)

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LAWLS Digest: Diet Soda is Making us SICK!

Hot off the press - the LivingAfterWLS Weekly Digest -- Terrific Topic. 

View newsletter in our archive:  Link Here

 

 

Diet Soda is Making Us Sick
New studies implicate diet soda in weight gain and deadly disease

 

Here we are in the heart of summer and I do hope  this message finds you well and thank you so much for selecting this correspondence from the many that fill your Inbox, I appreciate the time you share with me. While summer for me offers abundant opportunity to be more active than any other season, it also poses a problem for me. High temperatures and bright sunshine spur cravings for a refreshing iced Diet Coke with a squeeze of lemon. This was my mainstay beverage before weight loss surgery and now and again I find myself indulging in that old refreshing thirst quencher.

But I know this is not a sensible choice following weight loss surgery and a recently published study confirms that partaking of diet soda is detrimental to health and weight loss efforts. I know I'm not alone in the WLS Neighborhood when I reach for an ice cold Diet Coke, so this week's bulletin is all about the "don'ts" of diet soda and carbonated beverages after WLS. It is as much a reminder for me as it may be for you. Bottom line - carbonated soda does not support our weight management with WLS.

While we can stack the evidence against carbonated beverages (diet or regular) a mile high the single most basic reason to eliminate carbonated soda from our diet is it simply has no nutritional value. It is empty. 
This truth, above all else, should be used to inspire us to make better beverage choices. Will you pledge with me to make healthy beverage choices most of time? I'll toast our good health with a refreshing glass of iced green tea with a squeeze of lemon. Join me!

Featured Articles:

• How Diet Soda Contributes to Obesity
• Caffeine, Carbonation, Alcohol
• 7 Side Effects of Drinking Diet Soda
• Summer Fresh Smoothies

July 23, 2013 LivingAfterWLS Weekly Digest


LivingAfterWLS and Kaye Bailey consider it a privelege to publish quality email newsletters in support of your healthy weight loss and weight management with weight loss surgery. Make sure you never miss an issue by subscribing to have this terrific content delivered free to your Inbox.

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Also in our Archive:

5 Day Pouch Test July Bulletin
Secret to successful WLS

Special Edition Digest
Must Read:
Obesity Reclassified.
"Obesity is a medical condition, not a moral failure."

5 Day Pouch Test June Bulletin
Don't Blame the Equipment

Cooking with Kaye
June 18, 2013
The Tricky Salad Plate

Weekly Digest: June 10, 2103
Summer Living After WLS:
The Heat is ON!

Weekly Digest: June 1, 2013
Summer LivingAfterWLS:Make this Your Best Year Ever

The Science of Success: 5 Consistencies

by © 2008 Christine Carter, Ph.D.Link to the Original Article by Dr. Carter

People who rise to greatness tend to have five things in common:

1. They practice hard, in a really specific way. Nobody makes the list of true greats effortlessly. Accomplished people devote hours upon hours to what researchers define as "deliberate practice." 

2. They practice consistently. K. Anders Ericsson, author of a landmark study on this topic, says that "elite performers in many diverse domains have been found to practice, on the average, roughly the same amount every day, including weekends." 

3. They gain experience over the long haul; researchers call it the 10-year-rule. Most successful people average ten years of practice and experience before becoming truly accomplished.

4. Most greats have had significant failures-it goes with the territory. 

5. They believe persistence leads to success. Great performers have been shown to believe that their persistent effort will lead to success; researchers call this self-efficacy.

Read the Expanded article in our July 5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin