crackedpepper

I've never been a big soda drinker, but I know some people are/were... I love Dr. Brown's (it's a New York thing)... and every once in a blue moon I will take a sip or take a tiny little glass and let it go flat. I used to LIVE on seltzer... loved the bubbles, and no calories or sugar... I don't really miss it, I just drink Water, which I always have... BUT today, I couldn't resist buying these Soda Ice Pop things in the store, they were in CVS, they were like, you know, those little liquid ones in a plastic sleeve (which I take issue with -- food and drink should not touch plastic, especially hot foods, and these get frozen so who knows what that does, but plastic leaches chemicals... not for food) ANYWAY, there was a box of them in Jelly Belly flavors, but there was also a box with 7-Up, Dr. Pepper, Crush orange, and another one I can't remember... now they are sugary, so I will eat them over time, but I thought this would be a cool summer treat for those of you who miss soda...

well apparently he is one of the top docs, and one of the ones who fought the insurance companies to make insurance companies actually cover the procedure, so while he is not well versed in the new band, he does know almost everything - or at least he thinks he does. hopefully seeing him weds. thanks for the support!!

airkuhl - gotta love Water w/ lemon :sad: watch out, because as you get tighter, you might have a problem with beer... and you don't want to stretch your pouch, can be dangerous, slippage and all. if it doesn't bother you toooo much, you can let it get flat...

ooo strongly flavored cheese, good tip. gotta say though, and i know a lot of people use them, but they were never allowed in my house -- nonstick pans. have you ever heard about how they used to take canaries into the mines so that the miners would know there was something bad going on if the bird died, and they'd get out of the hole? well birds have died when people are using their nonstick pans... it doesn't kill us humans, but there are terrible toxic fumes that come off of non-stick, and who knows what it actually does to us in the long run.

airkuhl, lol, definitely not trying to pick on you here, but again, i've got to disagree... both splenda and stevia are still not good for you, as they trick your body (which i think you touched on briefly). again, if someone has diabetes, it's different, and splenda may be the better of the evils, but they're still not good for you. bmooney, you are not bad and evil, we all fall off the wagon...

airkuhl - you are disagreeing based on one person, i am stating fact based on cancer and heart research... you can not disagree because your father (thank god) is healthy after eating a lot of red meat, when science shows that for a great deal of the population, the opposite is true. i included links in another thread, one even saying that 1.7oz of red meat ups your chances of colorectal cancer by 21%. i'm not pulling this stuff out of thin air, i know about it, and am trying to care for people.

I beg to differ. I certainly think any bandster could get 1.7 ounces of meat down. There is new information coming out every day on this. http://fightcolorectalcancer.org/dr_lenz/2009/05/why_is_red_meat_associated_with_colon_cancer_risk_new_clues_

instead of fake WW ice cream, why not make home made sorbet? or gelato, which is made with milk, not creme? jujuvee - you sound super restrained if you can do one kiss! wow! though i don't really think hershey's is chocolate. try some real chocolate, lots of other countries make better chocolate ,and especially with higher % cocoa, you get less fat and sugar.... i do have a weak spot for hershey's, but i would call them candy.

thanks kaninag - you're right, he's starting to piss me off... but i can't alienate him either. i am going to have to change doctors anyway, so even if he doesn't fill me next time, hopefully i will be filled up soon. bandana - it is better to get an unfill than to not be able to gradually learn to live with this thing... i definitely agree that you should throw the bad food out, not only will it give you a boost, but it will also make you think next time you're shopping. and bandana, by the way, you are NOT a loser. i really love some amazing foods that are GOOD for you, and honestly can not even fathom some of the "bad" foods that my friends eat. i love peaches, and now's the time for them (be sure to skin the peaches, it's very hard to get them down with the band), i love all fruits and veggies mostly, and for treats, i love a real, good chocolate. most american made chocolate is crap. i used to eat lots of Pasta with some veggies mixed in, but now i eat like 85% veggies with 15% pasta (whole wheat, now) mixed in... don't be discouraged, once you re-do your lifestyle, you'll be eating much better food, whole ingredients, and you'll feel so much better... we are people who couldn't help being fat... i am used to eating good things, but i used to eat A LOT of it. i have also had phases of eating really bad s**t. some of it is genetic, some of it is learned and horrible eating behavior... try going to the grocery store and buying mainly produce, some whole ingredients like, well, here's a typical shopping list for me: fruit, veggies, dried fruit, nuts, Beans, yogurt, honey, milk, cheese, whole wheat pasta, oatmeal, etc etc what do you like to eat now, even if it is bad? maybe we can recommend some good stuff that you'd like.

andrea - you don't necessarily have to cook, though - just assembling things and putting them together in a to-go container is better and cheaper for you than hitting up your local sandwich place. for instance, fruit/veggies and cheese and crackers, and a yogurt cup... there's a lunch right there... and instead of a cooler, what about those thinner insulated bags they have these days? or you can cook a nice medley of veggies and store it in a ball jar and just keep taking some... that way you don't have to cook 4 dinners, but just keep eating leftovers... i'm not trying to preach, i just honestly care, and it's sooo much better for you. in terms of eating out, i would say just try to look for the healthier options on a menu - where do you usually go? if you get a salad, can you get oil and vinegar on the side, so they don't drown your lettuce? what about subway? you can get a big sandwich there with mainly vegetables, and tell them what to put on it, so they don't load it up with mayo. hm, what else? i would tell you to try to go mainly vegetarian... i have posted before that even people like the new york times' mark bittman are saying even if you love meat, you should be mainly vegetarian... and red meat, well i would either cut that out all together or have it once every few months. it's very bad for you. Soup is also a good option, depending on what it has in it. smoothies are SOMETIMES good if you can choose what goes in them, my dr. told me that a lot of eople remain fat by going to places like jamba juice, though. i'm trying to think of what else i do when i go out... if i get a sandwich, i usually take off most of the bread, but i rarely get sandwiches anymore. if you're in an italian place, or actually, any place, you can ask them what dishes they have that are primarily vegetables... instead of (trying to) eat a big thing of pasta/chinese rice/etc... if i think of anything else i will try and let you know! one other reason i say eating in is good is because you get to experiment with what you can eat for when you do eat out, you know?

isn't soft food phase like cream of wheat and pudding and stuff? if so, then definitely not. they are a relatively soft cheese, but definitely not soft food... plus when i first got banded, i got stuck on them, because i was used to just shoveling them down. i know that the laughing cow also makes those spreadable cheese wedges, much softer. but go to a cheese shop and ask them for softer cheeses... they can recommend good stuff - but make sure you tell them you're not looking for high fat stuff, brie is wonderful, but filled with fat. just beware that cheese can be tricky, like i said, i got stuck on the babybels - make sure you chew and chew and process that stuff in your mouth!! if i can recommend any other cheese, let me know!

airkuhl - the carbonation stretches the pouch, think about how if you shook the or can up, the container could not contain all the bubbles, so it can hurt, stretch (which is bad for you), and just a tiny bit fills you up bmooney - i just went into it on another thread, about how sugar free stuff is really bad for you... i'm telling you, what's most refreshing is a big glass of Water with lemon... better than any sports drink i've ever had and also, coffee with ice and milk... so good! good luck on quenching your thirst!

That's not true - red meat is horrible for you - I'm not saying people can't have it once every few months or so, but it causes colon cancer and heart disease... I would say that bacon is automatically bad for you... Refined sugar, bleached flour... most of the processed stuff out there...

yeah i take it back, i tried them and they're too sweet... just not so great...

Did you call the lap band doctor?

i'm so mad... i got a newer band, which is 14ml, and my doctor has only filled it to about 3ml, and always gives me a hard time about filling it anymore - last time i went to see him, he wouldn't even give me a fill, because i had failed to see him for a few months (i was sick all winter). i started on 1/8/08 at 322.5, and last time i weighed myself, a few days ago, i was 254, and i only lost that weight because i had the flu and dropped like 10lbs because i was not eating at all... before that i had been at a plateau in the 260s. he says i should be losing a lb and week so i'm "just a little behind" -- i think this is nuts - i should be below 200 already! what's your experience with fills and since you guys were banded when i was, i'd be interested to know your progress so far, since i'm just barely at 70lbs.

laughing cow makes the babybels - i LOVE those... i used to eat like a bag at a time, but now with the band i can't, which is good... if i eat one too fast it gets stuck, ouch!

Cross-posted from another thread: Proteins: soy (soymilk, tofu, soybeans, edemame), dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, ESPECIALLY cottage cheese - so much protein), nuts, beans and other legumes (like lentils)... I'm a vegetarian, but fish and poultry are also packed with protein. As I said on another thread though, beware salmonella when handling poultry (and eggs), mercury poisoning w/ fish, and avoid red meat, because it causes colon cancer among other problems - like heart problems. Here's a resource for vegan protein, but again things like dairy and eggs are packed with protein (and yolks are high in cholesterol, so beware of that if you have a problem with it... sometimes if I'm making egg salad I'll use like one yolk and 2 egg whites, you can do the same w/ scrambled or you can eat no yolks at all... lots of places these days will serve egg white omelets or scrambles... i like the flavor of the yolk, so i might throw one in there... Vegan food are primarily cholestorol free. I am not a vegan, I'm a vegetarian... people ask me "what do you eat?!" -- I eat everything, I don't consider animals food... even when I DID eat meat, it was maybe once a week or bi-weekly, it's very easy to maintain a mostly vegetarian lifestyle, and even people who love meat, like the New York Times' Mark Bittman are now saying that it's best to be mostly vegetarian... it's not that restrictive, and people like him still eat meat, just not all the time... Protein in the Vegan Diet -- The Vegetarian Resource Group

and i can't remember if it is subs or things like corn syrup, which are sugars turned into other crap -- i think it's the corn syrup and the like, it tricks your body and your body doesn't know how to process it... though i'm sure a lot of people on this board have diabetes... i was right on the cusp of it before my surgery... so obviously sugar is out of the question in that case.

yeah - they give people in my family headaches - they're really SO bad for you, sugar substitutes... i don't know if they have any data on splenda or stevia yet, but i know others like aspartame and oh man, there are so many sugar substitutes, have caused cancer in lab rats... and I don't know if it's ever been proven, but people too I'm sure.

Proteins: soy (soymilk, tofu, soybeans, edemame), dairy (milk, cheese, yogurt, ESPECIALLY cottage cheese - so much protein), nuts, Beans and other legumes (like lentils)... I'm a vegetarian, but fish and poultry are also packed with Protein. As I said on another thread though, beware salmonella when handling poultry (and eggs), mercury poisoning w/ fish, and avoid red meat, because it causes colon cancer among other problems - like heart problems. Here's a resource for vegan protein, but again things like dairy and eggs are packed with protein (and yolks are high in cholesterol, so beware of that if you have a problem with it... sometimes if I'm making egg salad I'll use like one yolk and 2 egg whites, you can do the same w/ scrambled or you can eat no yolks at all... lots of places these days will serve egg white omelets or scrambles... i like the flavor of the yolk, so i might throw one in there... Vegan food are primarily cholestorol free. I am not a vegan, I'm a vegetarian... people ask me "what do you eat?!" -- I eat everything, I don't consider animals food... even when I DID eat meat, it was maybe once a week or bi-weekly, it's very easy to maintain a mostly vegetarian lifestyle, and even people who love meat, like the New York Times' Mark Bittman are now saying that it's best to be mostly vegetarian... it's not that restrictive, and people like him still eat meat, just not all the time... Protein in the Vegan Diet -- The Vegetarian Resource Group

and I am not trying to sound preachy, I am just caring... it's so much better to cook your own food... I'm not saying never go out, but going out every day, you just don't know what's going in your body half the time, and even when you do, it's not healthy. and i echo what someone said above... i've always been a home cook, but I cook SO MUCH MORE now that i've been banded.... I find that if I go somewhere and order something, a lot of time I have to tweak it to make it good for my band, and sometimes it's impossible... I can just make what I want to my specifications at home, you know? Don't get me wrong, I'm bad sometimes... I'll still go out for pizza and salad at the local parlor once in a while... It's not like I'm not human!!

just wanted to give a few more examples... something like oatmeal or cream of wheat, which is ideal for us, only takes a few minutes on the stovetop, and it's super cheap and healthy... same thing with stir-frying, or even quicker and wo/ oil, steaming veggies... lots of veggies, like broccoli, can just be put in a bowl with a splash of water and covered up and microwaved... things we have become accustomed to having other people do for us, or having "instant" versions of, well, we forget how simple they are...

i just said this on another thread - kashi makes a lot of stuff now, even frozen meals. i don't know what kind of stuff they put in lean cuisine and the like, but i'm assuming there's a lot of preservatives. honestly, and i know you don't want to hear this, but maybe you could take some kind of quick cooking class? it's really not that hard -- actually, you don't even have to cook... you can just take good ingredients and toss them together... making salad and making your own dressing... stir frying some veggies and Beans... i would be happy to give you a few tips if you wanted... depending on what you like to eat. i[m a vegetarian, but i do know how to cook meat... though again, like i said on the other thread, i do not recommend red meat.. as it causes colon cancer among other things. even though i do not eat them, healthier meats include fish and chicken... full of Protein... though you have to be careful about salmonella with chicken and mercury with fish. cooking can be not so time consuming, if you don't make it too complicated, and it is SO MUCH cheaper (and obviously SO MUCH healthier) to make your own food our of whole ingredients... Kashi.com was giving out coupons before, I don't know if they still are, but you can check their site...