guitarman

I'll be the lone capricorn, January 11.

Anyone ever use Stevia as a sweetener?

Congratulations Jack on adjusting to the new you lifestyle. Your words are always encouraging. I'm sure a lot of us wish we had your point of view and strong will power to push those evil yearnings aside. It is really a head game. I spent the entire weekend in Arkansas visiting with my wifes family. Every house you went to they wanted to feed you. The whole southern hospitality thing. Talk about being difficult to keep above Water especially without a fill and no restriction. However I think all of us are going to have to find our own personal way of killing these demons and Like I said, your point and view is refreshing and shores up a lot of us who can resist everything but temptation.

Don't worry about it. I have a theory on this whole liquid diet thing. I have it on good authority that it isn't all that necessary. The reason I say this is that I was scheduled to have surgery on April 19th. I received the call from the doctor that my insurance approved the procedure around April 11. The Nurse said that would give me 8 days to be on the liquid diet to get the liver down. Well around April 14th she called me and said the insurance didn't approve the hospital where the doctor was doing the procedure and that she found another one that would do the procedure April 29. So she said for me to start my liquid diet Apeil 18th to give me a 2 full weeks. So let me tell you I pigged out the weekend of April 16/17. Then Monday the doctors office called and said they were going to go ahead and do the surgery the following day, the 19th, as originally scheduled. I freaked out................ I told the nurse that I have not been on a liquid diet for the required amount of time. She said, Oh don't worry. Not a big deal...................What?!?!?!?!? She then told me that it is totally up to the doctor and That Dr. Smith could work around it. She said the liquid diet is also a primer for getting used to the after-surgery diet. I am not saying you don't need to do it. It really does shrink the liver and prevents it from bleeding when it is touched. But talk to you Doctor and be honest with him. The worst that could happen is that he pushes your surgery date back and you get to try again. But the reality is that he will probably do it anyway. But please do talk to him.

Has anyone out there seen this movie, Donnie Darko? I just saw it the other night for the first time and man I can not get my head wrapped around it. I think it's a great flick but it does make you think. I won't get into the details of it so as not to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it. But just wanted to see what anyone else thought about this if they had seen it.

That must have been a terrible experience for your friend then.:-) Because this flick is all about alternative thinking. Regardless though it does take some time to just connect all the dots. Have you been to the official website? It kind of connects some of them for you but this movie was specifically made for each viewer to come up with their own ideas of what it is about. There are so many open ended questions and so many things planted in the movie. For instance, when he is riding his bike home i the opening scene a red trans-am passes him which is the same car that is driven by frank. and why is he laughing at the end of the movie when he is in bed, just before you know what happens?

Well I am finally back amongst the living following surgery and the liquid diet. Things kind of got harry there for a while but all is fine now. Except...... Ice Cream. Who in their right mind at the grocery store came up with this stupid 10 for 10 sale on half the things in the store????? That person ought to be drawn and quartered. OK Here's what happened. I am at the store with my DW and we're in line getting ready to use the God-Awful self-pay thing. (Another great invention) She says she has to grab a loaf of bread and runs off like the wind. OK, That's fine. I'll just run these things through and she'll be back in no time. Well about 5 minutes (an eternity when someone is behind you tapping their foot) go by and she returns with 10 (count'em 10) pints of Blue Bell Ice Cream. "They're 10 for 10!!!", She said. "That's lovely.", I said. I think I can safely attribute 50 pounds of my excess weight to Blue Bell Ice Cream. I don't know about the rest of the USA but I am sure you folks from the south can relate. There was a time when you could only get Blue Bell in Texas but it has since moved into OK, AR and I think LA. If you haven't had this demonic concoction then I say to you, Never start. If you have been to outback steakhouse and had the chocolate thunder from down under it's too late. They use Blue Bell Homemade vanilla in all of their chains. This stuff is addicting. So much so that people make pilgrimages to Brenham, TX to tour the creamery and to see the happy singing cows in the pasture. That's why the Ice Cream is so good, because it comes from singing cows. I know it's true, I saw it in a commercial. :-) And get this. Their motto is, "we eat all we can and sell the rest." From the dutch chocolate to the Cookies and cream. From Rocky road to chocolate chip. From Homemade vanilla to tin roof. I am in ice cream hell!!!!!! Now Luckily enough for me my Wife and kids have no weight problem and I am fairly sure that with a 16 and 14 year old in the house I can eliminate this overstock of ice cream before too long. However my wife did say she had to go back to the store this afternoon and I know for a fact she can resist everything EXCEPT temptation. she may come back with a new freezer to hold the overstock. So in the meantime I shall continue to repeat MY motto which is, "Success is seldom permanent but failure can be." To all my fellow banded brothers and sisters remember to just say no to singing cows. But if the temptation is too much check out their website at www.bluebell.com and see what I'm talking about. No I don't work for these people but I am quite sure I have sent some of their children to college.

It's that good. We have Ben and Jerrys here and I will admit it is very good also. However you can only get it in the little pint sizes so it never has sold here as well as Bluebell. It kind of ticked off quite a few people here when Bluebell went to surrounding states. I guess some of us wanted a monopoly on the stuff. I guess they won't ventire to extremely far as they deliver their own product with their own trucks. But heck, thise 18 wheelers can leave Texas and be in New York in 2 days these days. So it may show up there real soon. Meanwhile Ben and Jerrys will suffice just as well. Especially Cherry Garcia.

well chocolate is officially on my evil list. It is evil and aware. I was at a party last night and had on a white T-shirt. Someone mad a cake which had chocolate sauce dripped on it. So I took a very small bite. Pea Sized, in fact. I then went into the main party room and the first thing my wife said was, "So you've been in to the cake!?!?!" Sure enough, there on my white shirt was a drop of chocolate 3 times bigger than the piece of cake I had. It's just not fair....... boo hoo.......:-)

I think you are right about feeling lucky. I don't want to PB ever. With proper preparation and forethought it appears that I can avoid these episodes. What's funny is that the foods I have gotten stuck I tend to lose my appetite for them altogether even though it wasn't the food fault. Thanks guys.

congratulations.......................The RNY does take the weight off faster but I believe the band is not only a tool for helping you control the amont you eat but it is also a tool to help you overcome the mental stranglehold food has over us.

I generally don't have the mucus problem except for first thing in the morning. I can feel it just sitting down my throat. A little coffee gets rid of it though.

Hey Bandit, If it makes you feel betterI can resist everything except temptation. :-) Don't sweat the small stuff. The truth of the matter is that 2 poptarts are not going to kill ya. I think we all assume that the sugar and carbs are going to attach themselves to us as fat everytime we eat them. The fact of the matter is that they surely will if we eat like that everyday. However a treat once in a while will do no harm. The sugar and carbs are leaving your body fairly quickly I would think if you are eating them only once in a while. But I am not a doctor. All I know is that while I am banded I am still following the carb addicts diet which I had previously lost over 30 lbs on while waiting to get the band. The carb addicts diet works like this. Avoid all carbs all day except for one hour at night. For that one hour you can have all the carbs you want. It works. The Bass player in my band has lost over 90 pounds doing this and he doesn't have the band. He eats lean meats and salads during the day and then downs bread, Pasta, etc..... for dinner everynight. The weird thing is that after a while your cravings for carbs start to go away. here is a link to an interview with Dr Rachel Heller andher Husband Dr.Richard Heller that is on WebMD. http://my.webmd.com/content/article/1/1707_50256.htm Check it out. You can buy their books in paperback at Walmart.

I am an engineer for a company who designs and manuafctures pump system for golf course irrigation as well as municipal Water systems for consumption. Megan I may have to get with you. Loved your web site. I do a lot of woodworking on the side and have often thought of taking what I build to Market. I think it's a niche market.

difficult to arrive at because so many factors are involved. The band is simply an adjustable orifice plate (restrictor plate). there is no volume to measure since the band is not in itself a receptacle. so through a restricter plate we would measure flow and again with so many different things be introduced into the system such as liquids and solids the measurable flow rate through the band is always a moving target.

Jack you are absolutely right. I guess I should have stated that I was metaphorically speaking when using the pressure and dead head theory as in relation to the human body. Whereas in Water systems we receive our restriction from friction losses vs. flow rate and pipe size while the human body provides restriction based on stoma size and the time it takes for the body to process the Slurry. I still have a brown yard with crab grass :-)

Hey fellow Texans!!!!!!!!! I am new to the site and have been made to feel very welcome so far. My Nameis Mark and I play in a local Dallas/Ft. Worth band. I am scheduled for surgery on April 19th with Dr. Smith in Ft Worth and I can't wait. I would very much like to meet as many of you as possible so from time to time I will post an invitation as to when/where our group will be playing and would like to personally invite any and all to come out for a good time. We play all kinds of music and really love to bring the crowd into the action. We are in kind of a Hiatus from the club scene at the moment with doing several outdoor benefits and private weddings/parties. However June 4th we will be at Hanks Grill in McKinney Texas from 8:30 - 12:30. If anyone is in the area I would love to meet you. You can always check out our website at www.souldoubtband.com for other dates as well. Thanks Much.

Well I know I am getting in on this late but let me see if I can clarify. Not to blow my horn but I am an engineer and design irrigation systems for golf courses so the facts of Fluid passing through a pipe is somewhat familiar to me. I hope I don't bore anyone. The size of your stoma (pipe) has nothing to do with how much you can pass through it. The size has everything to do with the velocity in which the fluid passes. Like a pipe the stoma could be overpressurized if more fluid is forced through it than what it can handle. With pipe we might see a burst if the PSI exceeds 150psi. With ther stoma we feel the overfilling and then the burst comes back up like a PB. So really the volumn of the Stoma has nothing to with how much you can pass but does equal into the equation when we consider friction losses because of the size of the pipe and the drag the Water can experience while going thru. If we exceed the acceptable friction loss then we get the backup and essentially do what we call in the field as a "Dead-Head." Now we can also consider the dynamic viscosity of the fluid as well and also considere it's temp. Example; water at 32F has a dynamic viscosity of 3.732. Ok real boring I know. the bottom line is that we don't have to worry about all of this with the human body. All we need to do is take small bites and chew slowly and throughly. If anyone is still interested in measuring the volumn of a pipe then here is the formula. V= PI*R2 * L v = cubic feet of pipe pi = 3.14159265 (3.14) R2 = radius in feet squared L = length in feet now that I have put everyone to sleep......................can anyone tell me how to get my grass green and get rid of the crabgrass.

Hayden Christensen is the kids name in Star Wars. He was also in Life as a house and briefly in the virgin suicides. I guess he is about 25 right now. a real good young actor.

don't know what your budget is but what about the kid playing anaken skywalker in the new star wars.

That was too cool. I do have one but I am hesitant to share it because of the language. But it is too funny. So here it goes. If anyone is offended please accept my apologies and please do not click on the link. Also if you are work put your headphones on. This is called, "Mad Cow" WARNING: BAD LANGUAGE http://www.totallytom.com/MadCow.html

I love to cook. But I love to eat too. So no more homemade Lasgana or marinara sauce for a while. I am having to explore other options and this is one that I used to make a lot. however here is a fatfree marinara sauce I have used before. Lazier Marinara Sautee 1 medium yellow onion, chopped, in a few splashes of red wine. While that's underway, chop up as much garlic as you like -- for me, that's a lot, maybe 8 cloves -- and throw it in with the onion. Start dumping in the spices: about 2 tablespoons basil, 2 tablespoons oregano, 1 tablespoon rosemary and 1 tablespoon thyme. This is all according to your taste, and based on the idea that you're using dried spices. If you have fresh, take it easy. More or less is fine. Oh yeah, some freshly ground black pepper would be good. If it gets dry in the pot, just splash in some more wine, or some dry veggie broth mix and a little Water. When the onion's pretty soft, add 4 28-oz cans of Progresso (my favorite, but you may have another) CRUSHED tomatoes with added puree. If you're really feeling ambitious, cut up a few fresh tomatoes (it helps to pull out the seedy parts, I think) and put those in the pot. There you go. Add wine, water or veggie broth to taste, seasonings to taste. I add in about 1 tablespoon of sugar. This makes a huge quantity of completely FF marinara sauce, for a fraction of the price of bottled.

Here is something some may consider trying. Fresh salmon seared in a pan with olive oil. Add whatever herbs you desire. I like greek seasoning. Then some steamed snap peas (green beans) on the side. and then a mango/ornage salsa which consist of 1 chopped mango, 1 medium chopped orange, 1 small chopped onion, and a little cilantro. Place this salsa on top of the salmon. It is yummy. You might think the onions and cilantro would bitter the taste but it really doesn't. The salmon brings out all of the individual flavors.

I think we all have to re-establish a relationship with food. From getting away worrying about eating to worrying about what we are eating. I know I have too and it is hard right now. But we'll make it.

wow talk about killin a thread....... I feel so ashamed. I promise I have better jokes than those.