OAC Walk From Obesity - We did it!

The 2011 Walk From Obesity in Natick was today, and we kicked arse. Just wanted to say that.

(I will share photos as soon as I can get them uploaded to Flickr, this hotel has a super-slow connection.)

Top Fundraisers

1. Beth Sheldon-Badore
2. Cheryl Warner
3. Victoria Hess
4. Catherine Sheldon
5. Beth Dickens

Top Teams

1. Melting Mama's Bariatric Bad Girls  $2,690.00 Raised
2. Randall's Rangers
3. Bariatric Bad Boyz
4. Prentice Gang
5. Team HMR

This man stole my speech.

Now you know why I can't speak.

I squeed out loud. That's the highest form of review.

 

 

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The Bariatric Bad Girls Tee Shirts finally arrived today!  

I am in possession of, uh, 200+ bad-ass tees!  I love them.  I am pleased, and you will love yours.  We will be packing and shipping this weekend, and I am forcing my free BBGC labor to do it, perhaps payment is, a t-shirt?  :x

(I have BBGC members driving HOURS up here to join me in the Walk From Obesity.)

If you haven't ordered yours - please do it NOW!

 

Thank you!

I just receieved a fat $1000.00 donation for the Walk From Obesity tomorrow. 

Sometimes, people do rock.  

Thank you.  Very, very much.

This is the nicest thing I can possibly write right now.

The cycle ends right now.  Stop.

Stop Talking To Yourself.

You’ve got opinions, man
We’re all entitled to ‘em, but I never asked
So let me thank you for your time, and try not to waste anymore of mine
And get out of here fast
I hate to break it to you babe, but I’m not drowning
There’s no one here to save
Who cares if you disagree?
You are not me
Who made you king of anything?
So you dare tell me who to be?
Who died and made you king of anything?
You sound so innocent, all full of good intent
Swear you know best
But you expect me to jump up on board with you
And ride off into your delusional sunset.

____________________________________________________________________

When you make a choice to put yourself online as a blogger, you usually open up the opportunity for others to communicate with you.  

That is supposed to be part of being a blogger:  allowing two-way communication.  

However, when the opportunity for outside voices to add to the conversation are shut down, it appears that you are talking to yourself.  "Hello hand!  Hi hand!"

STOP TALKING TO YOURSELF AND ABOUT YOURSELF.

Talking to yourself is typically a non-acceptable behavior in public, am I right?  You'd likely poke fun at the women talking to her hand bag, or take a video of her and post it to YouTube.

I am not sure why we as bloggers, make it acceptable, to dump our opinions out like trash and let them stink, and not allow others to tell us THEY SMELL BAD.  We, as bloggers, must know if we are stinking.  (I am working on it.  Got new deodorant, totally NOT product linking here, sorry social media lady.)

I understand that it "feels better" to keep yourself safe in a blog bubble and to let no one penetrate your space with  different ideas.   But when you leave only a certain angle of commentary and cut out any dissenting opinion or even any questioning -- it looks strange.  Bleached.

A blog without any comments, is NOT A BLOG.  

It's you, like an evangelical preacher!  Maybe that's what YOU want?  Maybe you ARE AN EVANGELICAL PREACHER!  (But, honey, if this is a weight loss blog, it AIN'T ABOUT RELIGION.  Unless, you have a WWJD, WW? Weight Loss Blog.)

Coding Horror -

"It's more like a church pulpit. You preach the word, and the audience passively receives your evangelical message. Straight from God's lips to their ears. When the sermon is over, the audience shuffles out of the church, inspired for another week. And there's definitely no question and answer period afterward."

A blog without comments is not a community.

A blog with only half of the comments is a white-washed community.  

Coding Horror -

"However, to deny public conversation by disabling comments right out of the gate --based on the presumption that the comments will be of low quality -- is, again, awfully elitist. Have some respect for your audience. Enable comments and experiment before making the assumption that 90 percent of the comments will be crap!"

Why aren't everyone's opinions valid?  

What makes one person's comments, questions and ideas more valid and useful than another?  

Is it due something we can classify, like age, sex, race, color, creed, nationality, disabilty -- or is it just because You Don't Like Her or That One, He's Just, Weird, Delete Him."

Who gets to choose who gets to comment -- or who gets to "stay?"

I find it disgusting.  As bloggers we must find spammers and eat them for breakfast, yes, I delete ALL spam and all suggestions to spam.  I probably over delete, since I see every outlink as spam, and I do not allow ANY not-in-context of conversation sales links, MLM or other crap spread on my pages, anywhere.  

But legitimate community interaction should be not only suggested but thanked.

Stop cleansing your communities, your blog readers are NOT your employees, they do not work for you, you do not pay them, every opinion, IS VALID.  Unless someone is attacking you, let it fly.  

What harm is there in DIFFERENCE?  Try it.

Updated with links ... Puff puff pass.

I warned you that I would be making an unpopular choice.  I did, it's done.  Now that I have had a day to sit with it and get feedback, it's become entirely clear that I made the right choice, and that it is going to blow up in my face regardless of my intent.  I told you it WOULD.

For you.

Happy Agnostic Easter Day if you happen to celebrate!

(We don't, we're in it for the free candy.  I did not get my extra dark truffles, so we're still what, six months and counting on those?) 

Please do not use today as a day to whine, bitch, moan and complain about all the things you can't have, don't want or don't want others to have.  It is a waste of energy.  Instead:  enjoy your three bites of ham, turkey, lamb, or err, pie?  You can have my pie, I don't like it.  You have any greens -- I'll happily take those!  

Food drama is over rated, build a mashed potato bridge and get over the gravy moat it.  

Love - Food Apathy Girl Who Had Bacon For Breakfast And Is Pleased With That And Is Really Tired Of Reading About How HARRRRRRRD It Is To Deal With Food And Holidays And OMG I Am Going TO Have To Diet Today!  STOP THE INSANITY, Thank You Susan Powter, Amen.

No Sleep After Brooklyn! OAC Ethicon Endosurgery Obesity Online Forum Event 2011

Perez Hilton chats with Richard Simmons

Pink - Perfect (AHMIR cover) - Anti-Bullying Video - EFFING PERFECT

OAC Walk From Obesity is TOMORROW! HELP!

I'm walking in the Walk From Obesity on April 30th.  TOMORROW!

I'm in SECOND PLACE for FUNDRAISING!

Last year I raised almost $2500.00 for the Walk.  (Also, the year before...etc.)

I just raised the equivalent of about $3000.00 in memberships for the OAC's Membership Drive.

Don't make me sweat for no cause, kids. I don't sweat on purpose for ANY reason.  You don't think I am serious, I am.  *grin*  Add to that, I'm going to be sweating by myself, with my boo-boo.  *tear.

Please join me?  If you are local enough - do it.  Please!

Cheery, positive people DIE sooner!

MSNBC -

For decades we’ve been told that stress can kill you, that happy people live longer and that hours in the gym will keep you healthy. Now researchers have turned this kind of long-cherished conventional wisdom on its head. The new mantra: Stress can be goodfor you. Serious people may live longer than those with sunny dispositions. The treadmill may not hold the key to longevity.

Say, WHAT?!  I AM GOING TO LIVE FOR-EVER. 

Less cheery folks, more room for apathy!  Yay!  CONFETTI! 

Wait, that's not exactly the right response.  So, there's that. 

I'm not really apathetic at all, I just don't understand being positive for no reason.  I need a reason.  Show me why, and I am behind it 100%, positively.

The Longevity Project

These conclusions come from a unique study, which followed 1,500 Californians across eight decades. The study is described in a new book, “The Longevity Project.” Study co-author Leslie Martin says that some of the new results surprised both her and her co-author, Howard Friedman.

• Not all stress is the same. If you hate your job, ditch it before the stress kills you. But, if you love your job, don’t sweat the stress.
• Reach out and touch someone — on a regular basis.  People who connect with friends and family tend to live longer.
• Don’t make your dog your best friend. Pets are all well and good, but they are no substitute for human contact.
• Be careful about who you choose to marry. A good marriage may lead to longevity, but a bad marriage – and divorce – can shave years off your life.
• If you’re an exceedingly sunny person, tone it down a bit. “People tend to think of cheerfulness as good, but we found exactly the opposite,” Martin says. “Cheerful kids lived shorter lives. That was a big shocker.”

Overly optimistic people tend not to be as careful as those who have a more serious take on life. “If you’re one of those people who expects things will always turn out great, you may benefit from listening to the perspectives of others,” Martin says. “Awareness is a key component. And being a little more prepared and a little more risk-averse.”

• If you hate the gym, don’t go. While it’s good to be fit, you’ll never stick with an exercise regimen that you hate or that bores you.
• Don’t retire early. A lot of people think that early retirement will help them live longer, but the study shows that the opposite might be true.
• The Longevity Project
  

 

What Would You Do?

First off, I do like this show: "What Would You Do?"  on ABC.  

I find it highly unrealistic, and cannot even IMAGINE that people don't figure out that these are ACTORS > ACTING > LOUDLY > IN PUBLIC, but... people do, and it makes a great talking point.  If I were there, in these unrealistic situations, I'd either walk out because of the annoyances or JUMP IN.

This time, it's about WEIGHT LOSS SURGERY.

Go figure, Dr. Oz is there. (Remember his show a couple weeks ago about the band?  I giggle.  I giggle because it's not a real situation. )

As my nine year old says:  AWKWARD.

People in glass houses CAN DO and MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

This is cool.   A man lived in a fish-bowl style apartment (feet away from the Nestle Tollhouse Cookie Booth) in the Mall of America for a month.  

Why?  

Watch:

Living in a fish-bowl, answering to the internet's demands. Hmm. I wonder about that. Does it work? Short answer: YES. I would suggest that many bloggers who share TMI would say that they feel like they are sometimes in a fishbowl, but it helps us immeasurably. 

Home from the BIG CUPCAKE!

I'm a little sleep-deprived here.  O-o  I got home from my trip to New York City at 5:00am and tried to sleep, and sort of failed at it and am now falling into a million little caffeinated pieces.  

 

So, HI!  How have you been?

Thanks to the Obesity Action Coalition and Ethicon Endo Surgery for having us to the city for the super event.  I mean that.  Porter Novelli, the public relations crew that set up the trip for all of us bloggers and online 'influencers' did a great job with everything and the event went so smoothly.

That was until it was OVER and the sky opened up and said, "You, stay in the airports!"  

Yes.  I  had to fly home with my head between my knees last night praying to Cheetos that I didn't seize out, throw up or implode.

I'll write more tomorrow, but I wanted to get my photos up today.

I'm in the news for the OAC!

We would like to announce that our top recruiter was Beth Sheldon-Badore from Plymouth, MA. Beth recruited 156 new members to the OAC! She won a one week vacation getaway for two.

Beth chose to re-gift her grand prize to one of the people who she recruited. The lucky recipient of Beth's grand prize is Penney Vachon from Fennville, MI! Congratulations and special thanks to Beth for her tremendous effort.

OAC Member Corner
Beth Sheldon-Badore

My entire world has been touched by obesity. I grew up as an overweight child. I married an obese man. I have overweight and obese family members. Myself, my husband and several extended family members have had weight-loss surgery and I guarantee more family members will follow suit. We have had varying levels of success with weight-loss surgery and it makes me wonder, "what if?" What if we had more knowledge of the issues that led to our obesity prior to having bariatric surgery? While weight-loss surgery has helped us in immeasurable ways, losing thousands of pounds; we must teach our future generations how to avoid the triggers of obesity. I am concerned for the future health and well-being of our children, and education starts with us. 

Q: Why did you decide to go all out for the Membership Drive Contest?

Honestly, I saw the 50,000 number, and thought "Wow, that's a lot. We have to get on this, right. now." The current membership and viewing audience would need to be quite vocal.

Q: Were you surprised by how many people you were able to recruit to join the OAC?

No. I thought I would reach more. I think if I had more in-person contacts I would have. I am an at-home mom of four, and my only real adult contact is online via my social media outlets and my blog.

Q: Why do you tell your followers of your blog to join the OAC?

My peers are mostly post weight-loss surgery patients, who are quite likely to want to help out, join a cause and make a difference in the fight against obesity.

Q: In one word, describe the OAC. Advocacy

Bariatric Advantage Peppermint B12

Available for pre-order now!

MINT!

There's always someone cooler than you.

 

Swallowing Not Required For Bitterness To Induce Nausea

Here's an idea that any early post op WLS'er would probably tell you:  

"Swallowing Not Required For Bitterness To Induce Nausea!"   

Remember the first time you tried to get in those nasty "But, I thought they were good!" vitamins or that first taste of a sticky protein shake?  Or, cough syrup?  <shudder>

Do you recall the instant-frothing-at-the-mouth, while you ran to the sink with a mouth full of saliva wondering what you did wrong?  

I do!  It's a particularly harsh reaction in early post op gastric bypass patients, and pregnant women, at least in my experience, I spent years pregnant!  

 Your mileage probably varies, but for myself, I react to vile foods and substances.  If you give me a foul vitamin, for example, I will become a rabid dog.  (See photo examples.)  This is the precursor to getting sick.  I rarely ever get sick, because I avoid putting foul things in my mouth.  <g>  

Magic.

Medical News Today- 

"The mere taste of something extremely bitter - even if you don't swallow it at all - is enough to cause that dreaded feeling of nausea and to set your stomach churning, according to a new study reported in the April 12th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication. 

"This work shows that our body and our physiology anticipate the consequences of foods we might eat, even if those foods contain toxins or anti-nutrients," said Paul Breslin of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and Rutgers University. 

Of course, it is well known that the promise of something tempting to eat can cause a physiological response. Think Pavlov and his salivating dog. It also seems intuitive that bitterness, a taste associated with most plant-derived toxins, might be linked to nausea. However, Breslin says, the evidence was lacking. 

In the current study, Breslin and the study's first author, Catherine Peyrot des Gachons, asked 63 healthy (and brave) individuals to sample an intensely bitter but non-toxic solution. He says the flavor could be compared to a typical concoction of liquid cold and flu medication on the bitterness scale. Participants held the bitter solution in their mouths for 3 minutes before spitting it back out. The experience led most people to report feelings of nausea that were either mild to moderate or strong. A second bitter solution had the same effect on people, unlike sweet, salty, or umami tastes. 

During the taste-testing sessions, the researchers also recorded the electrical activity in the stomach using electrodes. Certain irregular patterns of stomach muscle activity are a hallmark of nausea, Breslin explained. 

Those results made it clear that the self-reported nausea wasn't all in the study participants' heads. The exposure to bitter solutions produced responses in the stomach that were comparable to those caused by extreme motion sickness, the researchers report. 

"It was known that our body can anticipate the ingestion of nutrients and prepare for them," Breslin said. "It was not known if our bodies anticipated the ingestion of toxins or anti-nutrients and prepared for this. Here we show that our bodies punish us for holding strong toxins in the mouth and that our stomachs respond so as to trap them and likely vomit them back up if swallowed." 

The findings suggest that those already prone to nausea - including pregnant women and patients undergoing chemotherapy - should take particular care to avoid bitter tastes. "In some instances, extreme nausea is worse than extreme pain, and anything we can do to help manage this is important," Breslin said. 

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Article URL: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/222090.php