On one of the LapBandTalk forums, someone asked me if I really do count even the carbs in my coffee creamer and manage to stay under 30g a day.

I do indeed count the creamer in my coffee. It kills me to limit my coffee, but switching to hot tea helps in the winter. I stopped taking Metamucil and switched to Miralax on my doctor's recommendation. I don't have to count the Miralax.

Yes, keeping the carbs that low is very rough sometimes, especially during holidays and family celebrations. However, I can be forgiving of myself for the rare celebrational moment, as long as I'm reasonable. Sometimes it means getting inventive, other times it means depending on someone else to be "coach" and say, "Aunt Bea, we really appreciate what you did baking that birthday cake, but Lena's only allowed a sliver of cake. Anything more will cause a blockage and a hospital visit. Thank you."

Really, it's outside influences that cause me the most distress. I actually have learned to love living low carb now that I no longer crave the carbs like I did at first. It's others who think they're being kind by offering me carbs despite my protests and refusals that make it difficult. "Oh, this little bit of mashed potato won't hurt you!" Yes, it will.

That's the hard part-- getting them to understand what kind of damage one little serving of rice, pasta, bread, cakes or potato can do to us. I've actually had to make a paste of ground up cooked rice to prove how it can create a plug that will act like a cork on the LapBand. A bowl, a “little bit” of rice, and a just a few tablespoons of water all mashed with a fork prove my point very well.

When I'm in control of what is on my plate, I love how my LapBand forces me to live a low carb life. The food is delicious and plentiful. Who knew real mayonnaise, real butter, and whipping cream were lower in carbs than the so-called diet foods?

I challenged my daughter recently concerning learning to live low-carb. I told her that I can live with 30g or less of carbs every day and still eat things like Saigon Shrimp, Cauli-rice, Sausage and Egg Cups, hot dogs, bun-less hamburgers, pickles, salads, and even cheesecake without going over 30g of carbs a day.

I told her to pick up her favorite soup, salad dressing, Special K cereal, and a steak-n-potato meal for dinner. She considers this a good healthy diet meal plan. Seems healthy, right? Her calories and carbs would have choked a healthy adult male. The soup alone had 60 carbs. I thought she’d faint over the number of carbs she put in her mouth every day, thinking she was dieting!

The next time my daughter went to the grocery store, she did some comparison-shopping and came home sputtering with outrage. All those so-called “diet” foods were often higher in carbs, calories, and/or fat than the regular versions. My daughter was furious that she’d paid extra money for bad tasting “diet foods” only to find she’d have done better to get the better tasting real things.

Then I gave her a one-day meal plan based on many things she already had on hand, such as eggs, tuna, cheddar cheese, and some ground beef. Instead of Special K cereal, she had a hearty breakfast of an egg and broccoli frittata with a sprinkling of cheddar cheese, for lunch a Caribbean Lime Tuna Salad wrapped in romaine leaves with a homemade tomato soup, and for dinner a “comfort food” special of Bacon and Cheddar Meatloaf with sides of canned green beans (with a bit of beef broth replacing the water they were canned in) and Faux-tay-toes using some frozen cauliflower she’d stuffed in the bottom of the freezer.

Her husband was ecstatic. He plowed through his dinner like a man on a mission, according to my daughter. No one believed her that this all was her new diet food. Yes, she portioned out the servings for herself and kept to the carb count. Any lifelong dieter knows how to measure a serving! The big deal was, she wasn’t hungry! She prefers hot tea anyway, so she didn’t have to count the carbs in the creamer like I do, but she did have to switch to Splenda.

Sure, she’s struggling. She doesn’t have the help of a LapBand, and her husband and kids squall when she gets rid of the breads, cakes, potatoes and rice. But She’s learning she can do without or substitute where she can. I have hope one day she’ll be able to join me in the low carb world. Nevertheless, for now she’s aware of how much she puts in her body and does her best.

I wish all my friends and family would understand how they’re harming me whenever they offer me carbs.

Once you switch to intaking under 30 carbs. How long did your body crave it? That's the problem I am having. My body craves it like I'm a drug addict. When I try to do low carbs. So I just lowered my calorie intake, but I do want to give low carbs another try.

My body craved carbs severely for about 2-3 weeks. Even now, one slip and I have to suffer a day or two of jonesing.

I admit the reason I'm here is because I have little to no willpower. It took removing all the carbs --even the canister of sugar!-- to a locked cabinet and handing the key to my husband and roommate for two solid weeks. We even removed all the sweets from the refrigerator in the house and put them in the spare fridge we have outside. Now, most folks may not have to go to that extreme and could do without even cleaning out the fridge, but that's what it took for me.

Frankly, my husband is the worst saboteur. He can eat anything he wants, and isn't afraid to share. Thankfully, his new job as a trucker will take him away from me for weeks at a time. I'll bake his cookies, cakes, pies, and breads while he's home and lock them in The Carb Cabinet. LOL! The rest of the time, I can be a low carb gal. There's a bikini calling my name for the summer of 2010, doggone it.

Being a diabetic I have always been encouraged to eat a low carb diet. I think you are doing a good thing for you body eating this way. I will hopefully be banded in May and then I will consider going back to the low carb lifestyle. This time I plan to make lasting changes. Best of luck to you. I am glad you found a satisfying lifestyle that works for you.

Thank you, Daco525. I was pre-diabetic a year ago, with my blood sugar numbers hovering just below that critical level. Now that I've been living low carb for a few months, I'd be interested to see what my blood sugar numbers are now.

I do encourage you to start low carb living today. Many of us who are waiting for banding are not only overweight, but our livers are also so full of fat they can't stand the strain of surgery. By living low carb, you reduce that liver and increase your chances of a healthy and short recovery.

My liver was in bad shape when I first visited Dr. Baptista, and I knew it because my Primary Care physician had already shown me pictures from a previous surgery as well as lab results. She hadn't told me how to fix it. Dr. Baptista and his staff did, and why it got that way--carbs.

By immediately lowering my carb intake, I prepared my body for surgery. I lost a few pounds, learned to make cool substitutions for the carbs in my lifestyle, and changed how I did meal planning.

RestlessMonkey, a regular to this site, can tell you the heartbreak of finding out on the day of surgery that your liver was too fatty to safely operate. Can you imagine waking up from anesthesia to be told that, after all the anticipation and planning?

The only reason I am afraid to start the diet now is I still have 3 months of weigh in for insurance approval. My doctors already informed me not to lose more than 5 lbs or I may be denied. My last weigh in is May 1st. I plan to start a rigid diet then and hopefully I will receive approval and have the lap band at the end of May. My BMI is currently 38 with co morbidities (diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol)

Wow, aren't you lucky! My insurance wouldn't approve anyone who didn't have a BMI of 40-plus. I'll be waiting on you to join us, Daco525.

Did your daughter get all those yummy sounding recipes from you? If so, willing to share? Recomend any books?

I'm diabetic, have been for going on 10 yrs, we're hoping the band will fix my health probs or at least make life enjoyable again.

Sounds like you're doing wonderful, way to go!!!

Hi Jenn. Most of the recipes I mentioned --except the tomato soup and Saigon Shrimp, I have to add those-- are on my other blog, Fat Frog Diary Just click on the name here. Some of the recipes are from back in 2008, so be sure to take your time. I know the Bacon Cheddar Meatloaf is recent. Beware! That one may be low carb, but that doesn't guarantee low calorie.

Cauli-Rice is so easy, you don't even need a recipe. Grate a raw cauliflower, then steam it up. Looks just like rice, and can be treated like cooked rice. I make a batch and keep it in the fridge until I need it. It can last about 1-2 weeks in my fridge.