voiceomt2002

You should check with your nutritionist to see how your doc prefers starchy vegetables to be classified. Mine would say it's a starch, and he doesn't care what produced it. (grin) I'd serve this on a day where I knew I was definitely eating low carb the rest of the day, even with my substitutions. After all, 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin is a whopping 9 carbs all by itself. Still, for something as tasty as a dessert, it's not bad!

This looks like dessert to me! I haven't got any granola bars, but I'll be a sprinkle of nuts would work with less carbs. Pumpkin & Granola Parfait 1 serving View Nutrition Facts Ingredients 1 container (6-ounces) plain low-fat yogurt 2 teaspoons honey (I subbed Splenda) 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice 1 whole-grain crunchy granola bar, crumbled 1/2 cup canned pumpkin Directions Mix together yogurt, honey and pumpkin-pie spice. In a bowl, layer yogurt mixture, granola-bar crumbs and pumpkin. Delicious! This isn't cheating! Woohoo! Okay, be reasonable! 1/2 cup is plenty

LOL!! I had to buy a book on re-designing and sewing jeans so I could fit my old jeans! LOL! Okay, remind me not to get the big hair back, too?

Lemon and Herb Rubbed Pork Chops Ingredients 1-1/2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel - 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed 1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon dried sage, crushed 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 8 cloves garlic, minced 4 pork loin chops, cut 1-1/4 inches thick Directions For rub, in a small bowl combine lemon peel, rosemary, salt, sage, pepper, and garlic. Trim fat from chops. Sprinkle rub evenly over both sides of chops; rub in with your fingers. For a charcoal grill, arrange medium-hot coals around a drip pan. Test for medium heat above pan. Place chops on grill rack over pan. Cover; grill for 35 to 40 minutes or until chops are slightly pink in centerand juices run clear (160F), turning once halfway through grilling. (For a gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium. Adjust for indirect cooking. Grill as above.) Lena's notes: Makes only 4 chops. They may be dry if you cook them too long, making them difficult to get past the stoma. Undercook them slightly and allow them to rest for 5-15 minutes, covered with a sheet of foil. They'll finish cooking while resting. This will allow time for the juices to redistribute into the meat, giving you a moister bite you can get past the stoma. AFTER THEY"VE RESTED, cut them up into tiny pieces before you sit down, and you'll be less tempted to gobble. Nutrition Facts Calories 292,Total Fat (g) 10,Saturated Fat (g) 4,Monounsaturated Fat (g) 5,Polyunsaturated Fat (g) 1,Cholesterol (mg) 105,Sodium (mg) 371,Carbohydrate (g) 3,Total Sugar (g) 0,Fiber (g) 1. Karen Marshall North Attleboro, MA508-463-7142 Wildtree Herbs Independent Representative_www.wildtree. com_ (http://www.wildtree .com/)

Lemon and Herb Rubbed Pork Chops Ingredients 1-1/2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel - 1 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed 1/2 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon dried sage, crushed 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 8 cloves garlic, minced 4 pork loin chops, cut 1-1/4 inches thick Directions For rub, in a small bowl combine lemon peel, rosemary, salt, sage, pepper, and garlic. Trim fat from chops. Sprinkle rub evenly over both sides of chops; rub in with your fingers. For a charcoal grill, arrange medium-hot coals around a drip pan. Test for medium heat above pan. Place chops on grill rack over pan. Cover; grill for 35 to 40 minutes or until chops are slightly pink in centerand juices run clear (160F), turning once halfway through grilling. (For a gas grill, preheat grill. Reduce heat to medium. Adjust for indirect cooking. Grill as above.) Lena's notes: Makes only 4 chops. They may be dry if you cook them too long, making them difficult to get past the stoma. Undercook them slightly and allow them to rest for 5-15 minutes, covered with a sheet of foil. They'll finish cooking while resting. This will allow time for the juices to redistribute into the meat, giving you a moister bite you can get past the stoma. AFTER THEY"VE RESTED, cut them up into tiny pieces before you sit down, and you'll be less tempted to gobble. Nutrition Facts Calories 292,Total Fat (g) 10,Saturated Fat (g) 4,Monounsaturated Fat (g) 5,Polyunsaturated Fat (g) 1,Cholesterol (mg) 105,Sodium (mg) 371,Carbohydrate (g) 3,Total Sugar (g) 0,Fiber (g) 1. Karen Marshall North Attleboro, MA508-463-7142 Wildtree Herbs Independent Representative_www.wildtree. com_ (http://www.wildtree .com/)

It's been a stressful two months with my husband out of work. We saw financial ruin at every turn and panicked daily at 3 AM. I'm a stress eater, and for awhile there I tested my band and hovered at gaining weight despite a band with close to 9 cc's in it. I gained and lost, adding more unnecessary stress to my life. Even when I thought I was watching my carbs, I refused to keep a food log. I truly believed I was limiting my stress by allowing myself some freedom. (Self-delusion time! Call me Cleopatra, Queen of Denial!) This weekend, I decided “enough is enough” and went back to my doctor's advice about keeping a food log. Immediately, I got results. The two pounds I'd gained dropped off me, and I was shocked to discover I once again –quite deservedly, I might add!-- had to go through with withdrawal from my carb addiction. I'm now back on track and less than one pound away from where I was when all my troubles and stress began. I now know the value of my food log and I will not stray away from it again. Someday, perhaps in the not-so-distant future, I'll be able to maintain a decent weight without logging every morsel I put in my mouth, or perhaps occasionally forgiving myself for a slice of birthday cake on my birthday. But today is not that day, and I love my smaller body size and healthier lifestyle too much to consider a quick stroke of a pen a hardship.

Honey, call your doctor ASAP. Doesn't matter what the reason is, you're a hospital case waiting to happen for dehydration and nutritional deficiency.

Hi, Imaluckydog! Yes, I do have all the recipes you need. Here are the links: http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/voiceomt2002/Recipes/CreamofVegetableSoup1.jpg http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/voiceomt2002/Recipes/CreamofVegetableSoup2.jpg http://i516.photobucket.com/albums/u323/voiceomt2002/Recipes/BasicChickenBroth.jpg One is my basic chicken broth, the other two are how to make delicious cream of vegetable soups of all kinds to get you through. I highly recommend using a crock pot to make the chicken broth and freezing about ten ounce serving sizes. Most recent bandsters can only manage about four ounces, but invariably the family wants their bit too. I make the cream of mushroom soup on a regular basis to replace the high-sodium and carb condensed versions in cans, so I have a large amount on hand for recipes. I manage to freeze only half because of my family dipping in! (Hiding the ladles don't work, they used a coffee cup! ARRGH!) While you're there, feel free to browse through all my other recipe albums. Many of those recipes are for the bandster. Also, look around my earlier entries of my blog for more mushies. I posted quite a few. I'm always on the lookout for more!

It's been a stressful two months with my husband out of work. We saw financial ruin at every turn and panicked daily at 3 AM. I'm a stress eater, and for awhile there I tested my band and hovered at gaining weight despite a band with close to 9 cc's in it. I gained and lost, adding more unnecessary stress to my life. Even when I thought I was watching my carbs, I refused to keep a food log. I truly believed I was limiting my stress by allowing myself some freedom. (Self-delusion time! Call me Cleopatra, Queen of Denial!) This weekend, I decided “enough is enough” and went back to my doctor's advice about keeping a food log. Immediately, I got results. The two pounds I'd gained dropped off me, and I was shocked to discover I once again –quite deservedly, I might add!-- had to go through with withdrawal from my carb addiction. I'm now back on track and less than one pound away from where I was when all my troubles and stress began. I now know the value of my food log and I will not stray away from it again. Someday, perhaps in the not-so-distant future, I'll be able to maintain a decent weight without logging every morsel I put in my mouth, or perhaps occasionally forgiving myself for a slice of birthday cake on my birthday. But today is not that day, and I love my smaller body size and healthier lifestyle too much to consider a quick stroke of a pen a hardship.

Let me know what they say about your personal fishing line, BG.

DH and I went to one of those "We Buy Houses" guys yesterday. While Patrick declined to touch our house, he did it for the right reason-- we don't need him right now. Patrick assured us that the mortgage company will call eventually, and they will likely make a deal that will allow us to keep our home. It's just likely to take awhile. He said the sheer number of foreclosures happening dictates the mortgage companies are willing to work with anyone who'll talk to them despite the embarrassment. Besides that, the volume of foreclosures mean it can take more than a year to complete the process! If Randy takes a year to find a job, then we may as well hang it up. We don't need much in the way of income. A mere $1600 a month would guarantee we could stay here and still eat. Randy and I took a few hours to digest the information and numbers Patrick gave us and decided to take his advice. We relaxed and vowed to not be so hard on ourselves. Good thing, too. The coffee pot blew up last night. LOL!

DH and I went to one of those "We Buy Houses" guys yesterday. While Patrick declined to touch our house, he did it for the right reason-- we don't need him right now. Patrick assured us that the mortgage company will call eventually, and they will likely make a deal that will allow us to keep our home. It's just likely to take awhile. He said the sheer number of foreclosures happening dictates the mortgage companies are willing to work with anyone who'll talk to them despite the embarrassment. Besides that, the volume of foreclosures mean it can take more than a year to complete the process! If Randy takes a year to find a job, then we may as well hang it up. We don't need much in the way of income. A mere $1600 a month would guarantee we could stay here and still eat. Randy and I took a few hours to digest the information and numbers Patrick gave us and decided to take his advice. We relaxed and vowed to not be so hard on ourselves. Good thing, too. The coffee pot blew up last night. LOL!

As long as the color black is never offered! I own two black maillots because they were the only color offered besides a hideous print. Now I'm scared to wear them to the beach for fear beachgoers would grab up buckets of seawater to throw over me as I sunbathed, yelling about the beached killer whale and calling Sea World so I could be a mate for Shamu.

LOL!! If some trucking company crosses my DH's palm with enough silver, I'd move from my beloved sun and sand.

Buwahahahahaha!! I have my own mulch pile, presently under an inch or two of water with all this rain.

Hooray for Parrot Heads! Dancing to a steel drum band with you, babes! Break out de barbeque and fire up some shrimp, mon! I'll try not to be toooo envious! PAAAARTAAAY!

Sometimes, there are solutions to stress right under your nose. Just a day before my DH called to tell me he'd lost his job, I signed up for a "Learn to Quilt" class from the local quilting guild. At first, going to classes when my DH was home with no job seemed frivolous and even selfish. However, I've found a certain peace and satisfaction in this art form. Funny thing is, it ties in with my losing weight. Last summer, while I waited to visit the surgeon and jumped through all the hoops like a circus poodle, I was also humiliated to find myself making clothes in a size larger than the pattern companies made. I had to "size up" from their largest, creating a pair of pants that were grotesquely huge. In despair, I never finished those pants. I was too mortified. The other day, I found those pants buried under the piles of cloth I made teddy bears out of for my grandchildren. I laughed and cut those pants into 6" charm squares for a quilt. Then I looked at my closet door. Hmmm! I have clothes in there that cannot be re-tailored down, but the memories of the "fat girl" events they represent should never be forgotten. I now have a pile of clothes to be cut down into a memory quilt of charm squares and black rails, since many of those clothes were black (or matched black) because I honestly believed black was slimming. No, I just looked like a black beach ball. I'll finish the pretty new blue quilt I'm learning on within the month. Then, I think I'll start on my memory quilt. Maybe I'll use it as a visual aid when I write "No Fat Chicks" this fall. Lena

Sometimes, there are solutions to stress right under your nose. Just a day before my DH called to tell me he'd lost his job, I signed up for a "Learn to Quilt" class from the local quilting guild. At first, going to classes when my DH was home with no job seemed frivolous and even selfish. However, I've found a certain peace and satisfaction in this art form. Funny thing is, it ties in with my losing weight. Last summer, while I waited to visit the surgeon and jumped through all the hoops like a circus poodle, I was also humiliated to find myself making clothes in a size larger than the pattern companies made. I had to "size up" from their largest, creating a pair of pants that were grotesquely huge. In despair, I never finished those pants. I was too mortified. The other day, I found those pants buried under the piles of cloth I made teddy bears out of for my grandchildren. I laughed and cut those pants into 6" charm squares for a quilt. Then I looked at my closet door. Hmmm! I have clothes in there that cannot be re-tailored down, but the memories of the "fat girl" events they represent should never be forgotten. I now have a pile of clothes to be cut down into a memory quilt of charm squares and black rails, since many of those clothes were black (or matched black) because I honestly believed black was slimming. No, I just looked like a black beach ball. I'll finish the pretty new blue quilt I'm learning on within the month. Then, I think I'll start on my memory quilt. Maybe I'll use it as a visual aid when I write "No Fat Chicks" this fall. Lena

In an earlier blog, I ranted a bit about some of my stresses. This weekend, I found the solution to two of my issues and relinquished worry about a third. I'll talk a bit about #3, then #1. Number #2 is for tomorrow. #3-- I've relinquished worry about my the possibility of losing my house. Let's face it, we were risking a lot when we bought it, and it did put us in the financial position of rarely having money for extras or emergencies. DH and Dante constantly fuss about whose turn it is to mow the lawn until I'm ready to bash their heads together. While we don't need the hit on our credit, I think visiting the "We Buy Houses" guy a couple miles from here just might be the very thing to lower my stress. After all, there are just some things that are malignant and best treated like surgery--just get it removed as quickly as possible. #1-- One of my stresses was also having the guys right behind me in the office when I tried to write. I'm one of those writers who must be completely alone and concentrating in the zone to get the job done. We finally moved the gaming computer into my bedroom, separating the computers and giving me a man-free space to write. The only things in here besides my computer are my grandmother's antique secretaire I use for bills and household work, and my beloved antique vanity I use as a sewing table. Now, it's blissfully quiet in here. No more bangs and explosions as masculine aggression is focused on killing tiny pixels on the screen. Ahhh!

Honey, an ugly hasp and padlock is better than unhealthy fat on the hips, right? Heck, even a locking toolbox would work as long as the food was locked away from me. I know another WLS person who ran a long bike chain through the handles of all her kitchen cabinets and gave her DH the key. She had to get out what she'd cook with the night before, right after dishes, and then her DH locked all the "naughty stuff" cabinets up tight. She had one cabinet designated for her "safe" snacks during the day. Her DH was a cop, so he had a very flexible schedule. He could eat from the "naughty" cabinet then lock it all up again. This was my "desperate measures" trick just before surgery.

Love those signs, BG. Yeah, you just wait for your fills and try to maintain healthy eating as best you can. Even fills don't mean perfection, they just provide a little more restraint on the volume. After all, ice cream slides right past the stoma, but it's bad for you. Doesn't matter how many fills you get, the methyl-ethyl-bad-stuff can still be shoveled in and swallowed. I'm still locking DH's massive carb binges like Oreos and monkey bread in the pantry only he and Dante have the key to open, and I'm definitely in my Sweet Spot at last. I can still open my mouth and swallow those treats!

I can hardly wait to write later, BG. I won't bore anyone with the professional details. Maybe that little bit of stress relief finally broke the dam of my writer's block, but I'm itching to get back to my newest story. Or maybe I just need a shower and a flea dip. LOL!

In an earlier blog, I ranted a bit about some of my stresses. This weekend, I found the solution to two of my issues and relinquished worry about a third. I'll talk a bit about #3, then #1. Number #2 is for tomorrow. #3-- I've relinquished worry about my the possibility of losing my house. Let's face it, we were risking a lot when we bought it, and it did put us in the financial position of rarely having money for extras or emergencies. DH and Dante constantly fuss about whose turn it is to mow the lawn until I'm ready to bash their heads together. While we don't need the hit on our credit, I think visiting the "We Buy Houses" guy a couple miles from here just might be the very thing to lower my stress. After all, there are just some things that are malignant and best treated like surgery--just get it removed as quickly as possible. #1-- One of my stresses was also having the guys right behind me in the office when I tried to write. I'm one of those writers who must be completely alone and concentrating in the zone to get the job done. We finally moved the gaming computer into my bedroom, separating the computers and giving me a man-free space to write. The only things in here besides my computer are my grandmother's antique secretaire I use for bills and household work, and my beloved antique vanity I use as a sewing table. Now, it's blissfully quiet in here. No more bangs and explosions as masculine aggression is focused on killing tiny pixels on the screen. Ahhh!

I own an old Hamilton Beach mini-food-processor that worked about the same way for chopping up very small amounts of food. I still use it occasionally, since drier forms of meat like "chunk albacore tuna" can still be uncomfortable. Giving the tuna a whirl with a bit of mayo can solve the issue.

You know I stole this, right? LOL! Thank you for the smile.