anonemouse

I was banded on July 3rd. I've felt nauseated a couple of times, and a couple of times I've had to slow down because I was eating too fast and nearly got food stuck. Other than that, I've not had ANY problems. I have no doubt that the OP thought she was telling us "the truth about the lapband." I have no doubt that it was the truth for her, albeit highly dramatized and exaggerated (after all, if she'd been spending ALL of her time over the toilet, she wouldn't have time to get online). Unfortunately, her "truth" wasn't everyone else's "truth." That was the problem. She stated her experience as if it was everyone's experience, and it WASN'T and ISN'T. Yes, newbies should be exposed to the good, the bad, and the ugly. But there is no need to try and scare them intentionally and unnecessarily. The fact is, most bandsters don't experience anything like she described, at least not to anywhere near that extent. If they did, the FDA would never have approved the band.

I just got back from the grocery store. I got a bag of HamBeens 15-bean Soup mix. Has anyone tried making this? I am trying to get myself to eat more Beans, for an alternative to meat. I don't normally like them, so I'm hoping that I'll like this. I also got a couple of types of Morningstar Farms veggie meats. I got the chik patties and the veggie patties. Anyone know if they're any good>

It might. I know that I have to take any pill with some liquid other than water. My throat seizes up if I try to swallow pills with water, and it can make me throw up. Something about the texture of the pill, combined with the taste.

It's pretty good. I mean, I don't think I'll ever love Beans, but it's definitely something I can eat. Next time I make it, though, I think I'll try fiddling with the recipe. Just think, this is the first time I've EVER willingly eaten beans. And I do mean ever. I'm a notoriously picky eater.

Seriously, my eyes are watering!

Holy cow! I think I may have added a tad too much cayenne, red pepper flakes, and chili powder!

These beans are going to be much by the time cooking is finished. The lentils are already mush, and I've got an entire hour left for cooking.

I've added country ham, onions, and red pepper flakes, so far. I have another batch of onion to add, black pepper, carrots and peas, and chili powder. Plus the little packet of ham flavor that came with it.

I think it had them in there.

I firmly believe that barium is one thing that people have varying abilities to taste, depending on their genetics. There are other chemicals and elements that people can either taste or not taste, depending on whether they have the genetic alleles for tasting. To me, barium is completely and utterly disgusting. I can never get a good reading from upper GI tests, just because I have a very hard time getting the barium down and making it stay down. It makes me gag, and the gagging makes me burp out the air that the little crystals make. The chicken patties are made of tofu, I think. And by the way, this soup is looking pretty disgusting right now. Looks like a hamhock and Beans in dish Water. Hopefully it will get better the longer it cooks.

The Inamen/Allergan band is also made of silicone.

Honestly, my only experiences with frats and sororities were with my brother joining one and myself having to attempt to teach members general biology for the last 5 semesters. I haven't been too impressed, to say the least.

I can't get my computer to play the video. Is it just what the description said, an invitation to her, or did she take them up on the invitation? If it's just the invitation, they can invite anyone they want. Hell, they could send green, mrspruett, and myself invitations to come, but that doesn't mean we all sympathize with them.

I don't ask people to be perfect, just decent. People who use their religion (whatever religion it may be) as an excuse to discriminate against others or to hate other people aren't good people. Period. It's not about being perfect, it's about being a decent human being to the people around you, regardless of their sex, sexuality, color, creed, whatever.

I took a couple of nursing-type classes in high school (at the time, I was planning to go to med school later). One of them was a clinicals class, where we'd spend part of the day in a health-care facility (we went to 3 over the course of the semester). The first rotation I had was in the cancer center at the local hospital. The third rotation was in the ER. Both of those were cool, although it was always really slow in the ER. (Except for one day, when a guy came in coding, but I had to leave right then.) The middle rotation, though, was in a nursing home. THAT opened my eyes. Most of those nurses appeared to absolutely hate what they were doing. They yelled at the patients, yanked pillows out from under them, and had no respect for their privacy. One of the patients got regular laxatives. They'd let him lie in a giant pile of shit in his bed, and then move him to a shower chair that had an open back to it. Of course, he had on a regular hospital gown, the ones that gape open in the back. They wouldn't put any other cover on him as the rolled him down the hallway, with his ass visible to anyone watching and shit dripping on the floor the entire way.

Ditto. Left to my own devices, I tend to sit on my ass and either play on the computer or sleep.

For some reason (I have absolutely NO idea why), I was about to say that anything would be improved with an addition of choc/pb protein. Then I thought about it. THAT would be utterly and completely disgusting. Imagine, chocolate and peanut butter flavored bean soup with hamhocks and tomatos. Yack! :phanvan :rose:

If this turns out disgusting, y'all are getting the blame! :guess

I am sick to death of so-called "Christian" bigots. Take the one girl from my old university, for example. She went to church every Sunday and was very out-spoken about her Christianity. You'd think that she would be a very kind, accepting person, then, wouldn't you? Well, so did I. Until I had to ride in the same car with her on the way to a fieldtrip. Somehow, everybody in the car got into a conversation about where they'd like to visit, and the city of Miami was mentioned. What came out of her mouth? "I don't like Miami. There's too many faggots and queers." I was completely stunned that she's think that we'd all agree with her and was comfortable enough to let hate like that cross her lips. Christian, my ass.

I was trying to refine my opinion, since it came across as you believing that my opinion was that celebrities shouldn't be criticized, which wasn't what I was trying to say. Does that clear it up?

I know you didn't. I never said you didn't have a right to state your opinion. I was trying to state my belief that while criticism of a person or their opinion is all well and good, people saying that celebrities (or other people) that state certain opinions should be forced to leave the country isn't kosher. I wasn't trying to imply that you carried that belief, just trying to figure out a way to state my own opinion more clearly.

Okay, the beans are soaking! I bought a can of diced tomatos, a country ham hock, an onion, and a bag of frozen carrots and peas to put in it.

I guess I'm just having trouble putting my opinion into words. I don't think their opinion is any more or less valid than my own or yours. It just makes me incredibly uncomfortable when people say that they should keep their mouths shut or that they should leave the country. I mean, what does our country stand for, if not the freedom to believe what you want and speak about it? So what if they are celebrities? They have the same rights as the rest of us. Judging from how vocal we are now, we certainly wouldn't shut up if we had the opportunity to have our opinions covered by the media. Criticism is one thing. Saying that they should be forced to leave the country is another.

I'm really hoping that I'll like it, so that I could make that and have a bunch of ready-made meals. I'm not fond of cooking meat when I'm at home. I'm lazy about cooking unless I happen to be cooking for several people. Plus, cooking for just myself makes me paranoid about the doneness of the meat, so I don't enjoy eating it. Sometimes, I really think that I could easily become a vegetarian.

Interesting (not just about Nixon making him a drug agent). I just don't think we should criticize celebrities for being open about their opinions just because they happen to get put on the nightly news. I mean, I think we should all have the right to be open about our beliefs and our opinions. Being famous doesn't take away someone's right to an opinion. Honestly, I think everyone should have the right to say what they think. That opinion being shown on the news doesn't mean that it carries any more or less weight than anyone else's. It's not their fault if some idiot decides that they want to change what they believe just because some celebrity had a certain opinion.