Pre-ordering now!

First I was sucked in to the chocolate chewy bites - NOW THIS?!  On pre-order now.

Free lip junk!

My fave lip stuff for free at Bath + Body Works!

The easy way out.

Melting Mama Serves Up the Good Stuff

In the latest episode of Melting Mama’s Reality Bites, host Beth Sheldon-Badore shares “pearls of freakin’ wisdom” on what life is really like after weight loss surgery — regardless of which procedure you had — and tackles the topic of getting enough vitamins and nutrients post-op. Although not a doctor or dietician, Beth has learned from her own diligent research how to avoid nutritional deficiencies, and she shares her best practices on getting enough of the good stuff (with a teaspoon of humor to help the medicine go down).  She’ll also give the inside scoop on a couple of choco-licious protein powders, and wag a finger at those who claim that weight loss surgery is the “easy way out”.

Come watch!

Specials from Gastric Bypass Supplements

Check out the specials this week at Gastric Bypass Supplements.com! 

If you live in Southeast Massachusetts (where are ya? Hi!) or Northern Rhode Island, you can visit the store too.  Check the site for the details. 

Milestone - sorta.

I did something today that I haven't done in, well, a very long time.  (You may roll your eyes, it's quite silly.)  I took my two smallest and walked around a shopping center without DAD.  I have not been able to do this in forever for two reasons:  I cannot go anywhere without a driver, aka Dad, and the bigger reason?  Mall lighting made me twitch, bad.  I used to go shopping and without fail have a seizure, I blamed the super-intense florescent lighting in most stores.  It seems to have completely stopped since quitting the Topamax.  I am still not myself, however it's working like I said before.  I walked around the mall for one and a half hours with a miserable and screaming tornado in the stroller.  She lost her mind when I hit up Payless Shoes, because "DORRRRRAAAAAAA  FLOP FLOPS!!!!!!"  I tried to avoid.  She wasn't having it.  I was bribing her sister to get a haircut for Hannah Montana idoicy.  The bribe worked, and there was a haircut and super cute blow-dry.  If only I did that every day for her - so cute when it's 'done.'

We were in a bigger town, I noted at least eight buses passing while I waited for Dad to come back.  For a half a second I wished we lived there,  I could just hop on the bus, and go home.  But, then we drove home through the town, yeah, no. *sigh*

Facebook Manners + You.

Green coupons.

The following from Oprah dot com, would be a lot 'greener' for Earth Day if they didn't require printing out.

Whole Foods 
Find out how you can get a lunch tote—for free! Download your coupon to redeem in the store. Find a Whole Foods near you.




SIGG 
Get 20 percent off any purchase. Download your coupon, then visit MySigg.com to redeem.




To-Go Ware 
Get 20 percent off any purchase. Download your coupon, then visit To-GoWare.com to redeem.

Fiber Gummies.

I know it's for kids.  But.  I have a soft spot for gummy supplements.  These have no sugar - and they are FIBER.  Fiber is a good thing.  It's got poly-dextrose.

Polydextrose is commonly used as a replacement for sugar, starch, and fat in commercial beverages, cakes, candies, dessert mixes, breakfast cereals, gelatins, frozen desserts, puddings, and salad dressings. Polydextrose is frequently used as an ingredient in low-carb, sugar-free and diabetic cooking recipes. It's also used as a humectant, stabiliser and thickening agent.

Polydextrose is a form of soluble fiber and has shown healthful prebiotic benefits when tested in animals.^[1] It contains only 1 kcal per gram and therefore is able to help reduce calories.

It may help a bit, but go chew some broccoli.

Random crap you do not need to know.

Blergh.

• I need a better front door, or three doors in total.  My youngest child can let herself out.  "Inah go ousside!" " I don't want to yet, it's 6:45am."  I don't know if it's normal where you are - but here most people have 'storm doors' here.  For me - it's another layer of child-loss protection, but we don't have them, so I have to catch her in the act.  I do have a security system - and it 'bings' when the door is open - so that is usually what makes me RUN.  She has yet to make it past the locked door, the 'bing' and me, but it will happen.
• I am thinking about killing the house phone for a while.  My first grader and her cohorts cannot get off the phone.  She has been finding my hidden handsets and hiding with them to call her friends.  This would not be a big deal at all if i hadn't been in trouble with a parent for waking up someone's DAD who works overnights. 
• The bigger thing is that she (and all of us of course) is miserable because there's "Nobody to play with here, why did we move?"  I can tell her to go out to play, but it's like, well, there's the trees!  Kids don't know how to play on their own.  Go read a book. "That's boooring."  Go outside, go build a fire pile!  Then my mother is all, "THE TICKS!  THE TICKS WILL GET YOU!"  Well, they got the dog already.  
• There's something to be said for living in the 'hood.  As much as we complained that we were on top of all the other houses - and living on top of each other in that tiny house - there were at least ten kids in the immediate neighborhood.   My kids just had to open the door to find playmates.  Sure, there were also kids in my house all the time.  Here?  There's one 11 year old, I have seen her outdoors once, and she does not like my 11 year old.  Mine is a band-playing, Scrabble-Club'bing, shy kid - which does not fare well with the more um, wordly girls.
• I have been seizure-free since some time in February.  This is a good thing.  Thank you Phenytoin.  Other than the constant munchies, state of perpetual BLAH, and some visual weirdness, I am upright.
• This means I can legally drive in July/August.  Yikes.  I am terrified of getting behind the wheel, even if every single day is a reminder of WHY I need to. 
• I moved my car in the driveway and nearly forgot HOW.  I am guessing it will take a few dry runs before I even attempt to take any kids with me.  It doesn't help that I hear, "But Mama, you will crash!"  Thanks.
• But, until then, I am seriously considering asking a taxi-service for a discount rate if I will promise to use them every week or something.  For what, I don't know, taking four kids to grocery shop/doctors offices (and other things I haven't done in a year ++ on my own) is like asking to have your eyes poked out.  So, Peapod grocery delivery is probably a better idea, so we can spend the one day we have with a driver (Sorry Dad) NOT. IN. A. GROCERY. STORE.  The kids whine every time he's home, "We're not going to Wal-Mart again I hope."  Yesterday, he was home a little early - so we went out in the rain to the mall, bought some new shoes for the girls, and a wind-breaker for me.  It is not pleasant to have to only do those kind of things when we have some time.  
• Just now, "Mama, what can we do today, my friend gets to go to Pony Camp this week, and you never let us do ANYTHING."  I know.  I guess we could try to go for a walk, in the rain?

‘Centers of excellence’ have as many deaths, complications, researchers say

^{Right before his surgery at Center of Excellence.  ;)}

Source:  Reuters

Despite the fancy label, hospitals designated bariatric surgery "centers of excellence" have as many deaths and complications from the weight-loss procedure as others, U.S. researchers said on Monday.

The extra cost and effort required by hospitals to earn such a designation might not be worth it, they said.

"Designation as a bariatric surgery center of excellence does not ensure better outcomes," Dr. Edward Livingston of the University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine, whose study appears in the Archives of Surgery, said in a statement.

Bariatric surgery is becoming an increasingly popular treatment for obesity. It works by altering the digestive tract to reduce the volume of food that can be eaten and digested.

A separate study in the same journal looked at the benefits of the surgery in severely obese patients.

Large insurance companies and Medicare, the federal health plan for 44 million elderly and disabled Americans, help pay for the surgery -- which costs from $15,000 to $35,000 -- in severely obese people. And many payers, including Medicare, require the procedures to be done at hospital designated as a bariatric center of excellence.

Livingston wanted to see if patients at these centers actually got better care. He analyzed 2005 data on 19,363 patients who had bariatric surgery, including 5,420 patients whose surgery was performed at a center of excellence.

He found that 0.17 percent of bariatric surgery patients treated at a center of excellence died and 6.3 percent developed complications. That compared with a death rate of 0.09 and a complication rate of 6.4 percent at hospitals without a center of excellence designation.

Because a "center of excellence" designation requires hospitals to hire extra staff, they are costlier to run, yet these "extra expenses associated with center of excellence designation may not be warranted," Livingston wrote.

A separate study in the same journal looked at the effects of gastric bypass surgery in two groups of severely obese patients: the morbidly obese -- those with a body mass index of 40 to 49 -- and the super obese -- those with a body mass index of 50 or higher.

Body mass index, or BMI, is a formula that takes into account a person's height and weight. A BMI of 30 is considered obese, while a BMI of 25 to 30 is considered overweight.

Dr. Michel Suter of Hopital du Chablais in Lausanne, Switzerland, and colleagues studied 492 morbidly obese patients and 133 super obese patients treated with gastric bypass between 1999 and 2006.

They found that while the super obese patients lost more weight (37.3 percent of their body weight) than the morbidly obese patients (34.7 percent of their body weight), fewer than half of the super obese got down to being merely overweight six years after the surgery, compared with more than 90 percent of the morbidly obese patients.

Despite these differences, they said improvements in quality of life and other health measures were similar in both groups. Previous studies have found obese people who have weight-loss surgery are less likely to die from heart disease, diabetes and cancer than obese people who do not.

___________________________________________________________________

SmartForme Bari-15 Soup Cream of Chicken Flavor

Smells like roast chicken.  I kid you not.  I opened the package of soup mix and got a whiff of roast chicken.  I laughed, because, I did not forsee that the mix would actually smell of chicken.

My first post-op full liquid?  Campbells' Cream of Chicken Soup.  My mother can attest to that, as I was recovering at her house, and she made it.  Campbells Cream of Chicken, sometimes with a bit of Genisoy Unsweetened soy protein powder.  She would dump it into 2 ounce cups, and I would get through it.  It wasn't bad.  It did not ruin the Cream of Chicken for me, I still like it.  DO I LIKE PUDDING?  NO.  :x

The SmartForme Bari-15 Soup mixes are instant powdered mix that you add to hot water, stir and sip.  They are acceptable for the liquid stage of post-op life and anytime after that.  (I am drinking it now.)

Attributes
Calories	80cal
Protein	15g
%Protein*	71%
Carbs	5g
Sugars	1g
Fiber	0g
Fat	1g
Portion	6 oz
Food Exchange:    2 Lean Protein

For 80 calories and 15 grams of protein, that is a fantastic ratio.  Most items in the 15 gram of protein range are higher in calories.  This soup is something that you couldn't really over-do.

"Light, warm and quite delicious! Soup du jour can be from a choice of classic favorites. All of which have 15 grams of protein, low-sugar, low fat and only 80 calories. Recommended for: Pre-Surgery and Early and Later Stage Post-Surgery."

Like I said, the powder has a great aroma.  Could almost... (not quite) if you shut your eyes and have a little food porn fantasy, make you think you are going to dig in to a real chicken dinner.  (I just pictured Willy Wonka and the Meal Flavored Gum, but that's my fantasy, get your own.)

I dumped the mix into a big cup, and added hot water from my spring water tap (THIS IS A MUST HAVE after WLS - I love having instant hot water at my fingertips.) and stirred it vigorously with a fork.  I will have no lumps, thank you.  It got very smooth and looked lovely.  Now, I have to admit, I added more water than the package stated (6 ounces) because I never measure.

The resulting soup was still nice and creamy, as creamy as a instant mix can get with water, even more than you're supposed to add.  The spices are tiny and visible throughout.  I was able to mix all of it without a lump.  The package does state  - NO BOILING WATER - because this product contains protein powder and we know what happens to protein in boiling water.  Don't do it.  The water out of my tap is juuuust cool enough to do this.

It felt really good to sip on a WARM soup that I knew had protein this morning.  I felt like I was doing something good for myself, instead of what I might eat at this time of the day (100 calorie English Muffin + Butter = no protein.)

The taste is initally a pleasing, creamy chicken flavor, not too much different than a regular cream of chicken product, but no bits of meat and a slight indication of protein.  You can't tell that this is a protein product until after you are done, it has a very slight after-taste.  But, I wonder if adding a shake of salt would kill that entirely.  I felt like I wanted a bit more savory.  (When I review the next one, I might try that half-way through.)

But how awesome to have a HOT protein choice.  And, it doesn't have to always be CHOCOLATE.  I love my chocolate, but I also want options sometimes.  This product would have been super as a new post-op.  I would have made it with less water, or even warm unsweetened soy milk for additional protein, just a touch even, and sipped on it contentedly.  Beacuse, it's got no chunkage. 

• Product - SmartForme Bari-15 Soup Mix, Cream of Chicken Flavor
• From - SmartForme
• Pros - Taste genuinely good, 15 grams of protein in a soup, good for all stages of post-op life after clear liquids.
• Cons - Slight protein taste?  
• Rating - Pouchworthy, ^MM.
  

United's Plan To Charge "Obese" Passengers For A Second Seat

Your thoughts?

Reason # uh...32! why I love school vacation.

Because you still get up at 6am, write a blog post, a long one at that, get distracted by a child and a sleepover guest who are "Making Breakfast," and while that is occurring, you come back to another child online playing Club Penguin who signed off on your stuff before saving.  I am not going to re-write it, I am only good for one shot at a topic, usually when I am irked or happy about something, otherwise I forget what I was writing about.  That said, it's gone, my thoughts and the post.  *POOF*

How much COULD a taxi cost for a week?

Even if they look good.

It still makes no functional sense to wear really high heels.

(Baklava and wine.  Get all the carbs in at once.)

She stopped at the socks, thank gawd.  But, then she put olives on her fingers, dropped them, and who knows if they got eaten.  Blech.

I tried to wear the shoes.  It's not possible to wear reallyhighheels when you are trying to take photos also.  I knew that, I brought extra shoes, but I like to pretend I'm taller than I appear.

This space for rent.

I had to push my naughty cat down the page.  Sorry, it was too funny not to share, she's relentless.  Now you can look at my breakfast of champions.

Inappropriate LOL@mycat.

I can haz doggeh style?

Yes, she's an indoor cat, no she's not fixed, and she is clueless.

Wow.

Mimi did it.  (MIL)  She's at goal and the hospital put her on the website. 

Go figure, right?  From THIS!  Regardless of all the setbacks, she's done it.  The woman does NOT touch sugar, and is tiny.  She's giving ME clothes!  (Because I touch sugar, haven't had a stitch of plastics and have a muffin top.  ;) ....)

'At last Bonnie Badore can closely hold what is close to her heart.  "At 354 pounds, I couldn't even hold my grandchildren.  Now I can," she lovingly boasts. "I had to keep my grandchildren at arm's length because of my weight and it tore me up inside."  Now, after loosing 210 pounds, holding and hugging her grandchildren tops the list of Bonnies favorite activities.

Before Bonnie stepped on the scale at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Surgical Weight Loss Center, Bonnie already was a terrific grandma.  She already had a winning personality but loosing 210 pounds gave her a whole new outlook on life. "I now have hope for a future that I didn't have before I had the gastric roux-en-y bypass operation.  Now I can do so many things. I live life to the fullest, and I want to help others to live their life to the fullest. I not only hold my grandchildren, I can sit on the floor and play with them and run with them. I am having so much fun."

Life wasn't always fun for Bonnie Badore.  Bonnie opens up in an interview with Linda Trainor, Bariatric Nurse Co-coordinator. She discusses the physical and emotional journey she undertook to obtain vibrant health, happiness and to heal some of the real unspoken wounds of being overweight.

In progress:

Almost at goal:

Confession.

Guess what?  I finished an entire package of calcium supplements, I took them every day.  This has NEVER happened before, even though I am a big fan of several other varieties (Celebrate's Calcium + D Hot Cocoa flavor specifically, it's my go to.)  I never follow-through well.  I forget.  (Even if you put them in little daily vita-minders, what were we talking about?)

^{(Frankly this girl is lucky to get her underwear on in a timely fashion, or her sweatpants on right-side out.  Surely you understand?  Maybe you don't, but whatever.)}

I suppose that is the real review of a product.  I did it.  I liked it.  Can I haz moah?

• Product - BA Chewy Bites
• Via - Bariatric Advantage
• Price -$29.96 for 240.
• Pros - Little chews of brownie love!  Taking calcium, especially if you've been tainted by yucky calcium of horse pills - can be a pleasure.
• Cons - I would have to take five a day, but I haven't decided if that's a pro or con.  We shall see if I am effected by the polyglycitols.  But, TMI, I never get in enough anyway - even with the calcium I already have and love.   (My thing is,  I really, really want to be able to take my supplements all in one shot. If I have to space it - I forget.)  Update:  I can't tell.  LOL.
  
• Rating - Pouchworthy, ^MM.  I would suggest these to non-WLS girls also, who need additional calcium, and are diabetic or would rather not have sugary calcium chews.

Internet gurus? Help!

Web people:  Why is there an IP address loading and reloading my site like crazy, like every second... at times?  Is it a computer, what?  How I can find out?

My entire stat page is filled with this IP address: 

64.127.102.82 (Abm) crazy reloader [Edit Label]

California, San Francisco, United States, 0 returning visit

Date	Time	WebPage
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WHAT IS THIS!?!?!?!

You like free shipping.

Time for a Kay's Naturals special, it's been a while:  Get 20% off with coupon code "mama" and get FREE SHIPPING with any order over $60.  Enjoy!

It's the perfect opportunity to try a new to you product line that is super for weight loss surgery patients OR to stock up on Kay's products if you are already a fan like me.

"Kay's Naturals snacks and cereals are made with a better balance of soy protein, fiber, carbohydrates, and good fats, our products are delicious and uniquely satisfying snacks and cereals that can actually help curb the appetite, whether at home, at work, or at play."

Kay's Naturals has given a great deal of thought to the all-natural ingredients of its products.

• PROTEIN: By combining Soy protein with other proteins from whole grain cereal sources, we were able to get a complete amino acid profile, thus making Kay's snacks & cereals a complete source of protein. A single serving contains the same amount of protein as two slices of packaged sandwich meat. Researchers have found that soy protein, when part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.

• FIBER: The fiber used is pea-fiber, making the high protein more digestible. This helps to prevent complications associated with high protein diets. Carbohydrates: Kay's Naturals has striven for balance between carbohydrates (12-14 grams per serving, 1-3 grams of which are fiber) and protein (10 grams) for a healthier product.       

• WEIGHT LOSS AND/OR MAINTENANCE: Due to the substantial protein and fiber content along with the low fat aspect of most of our products, they are very filling while being an effective means of assisting in weight loss and/or maintenance programs."

What are MM's favorite Kay's Naturals products? 

• Crispy Parmesan Protein Chips
• Almond Delight Crisps
• ALL varieties of Protein Cereal, they are all delicious!
• White Cheddar Kruncheeze
• Hazelnut Sweet Chips
• Cinnamon Toast Pretzel Sticks

I eat most of the snacks and cereals straight out of the bag or box, and the kids like the cereal with milk of course, but you can also use them in recipes. 

I have used Protein Chips in casseroles and as bread crumbs for meat dishes, and they work really well. 

Try Lemon Herb on Pork and Chicken, and Crispy Parmesan in Meatballs and on Chicken Parmesan!  The Chili Nacho Cheese Protein Chips make AWESOME high-protein nachos.