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The book sounds really interesting. I find stuff like that fascinating. You can tell it wasn't a UK book though - they had such severe rationing they hardly had any meat. That recipie sounds as though it would have taken a whole villages ration coupons for a month! Although i suppose things like rat and squirrel would have been available.......... The other meats like beef , pork etc i think were used to feed the troops.

One food I would love to be able to eat more of is fresh fish. However the cheap imported (from areas that may not be totally sanitary) types are currently about Aus$18 per kilo and good quality fish eg Salmon and Tuna are in excess of Aus$30 per kilo. I remember when we used to eat bread or toast with dripping(the fat that comes off the roast meat). In fact in the early 60's diets had a lot more fat in and people were not as obese. We also used to eat desserts - my mother,aunties,grandmother would have desserts most days, usually fruit and custard and at weekends they would bake rhubarb crumbles, fruit cake, apple pies etc. But we did not eat as much in between meals and there were very few convenience foods. A small packet of crisps or a tube of smarties was a treat not an every day occurence. Fruits and veg were eaten in season and were fresh - it was not possible to get everything all year around! And yes people did a lot more incidental exercise then. I would still like to know why with all these "labour saving" devices i don't have more spare time. I would actually like to get a WW2 cookbook. I think it is amazing what people survived on with rationing and how inventive they were. i think they used mashed parsnip with some kind of flavouring as a banana substitute etc. We may have strayed far from the original topic but this is actually a really interesting thread! LOL,

Sue are you sure you are happy with your decision? I have been reading this forum and have read a couple of your posts and you seem to be looking for confirmation that taking the band out is the right thing to do. I could be completely wrong and if I am please forgive me.I am not trying to judge you and if you think having the band out is the right thing to do then that is what you should do. Have you maybe considered switching surgeons? Maybe your problems are not band related maybe they are surgeon related. Maybe a different surgeon would be able to sort your problems out. I would hate you to have your band out and then discover that it was not the cause of your problems and then regret having it removed. Whatever you do I wish you good luck.

Sounds as though this would be an expensive way to go. A bit like doing "lite n easy" or one of those other programs. I think it is important that we learn to cook nutritious, band friendly meals for ourselves. I'm not saying you are one of them but I know there are a lot of people that don't cook at all and I think in many instances this can be a contributing factor to weight gain. I like,as far as possible, to eat the same as the rest of my family. I don't want to be different. Occasionally however there is nothing wrong with using a service like this. Its also good to be able to have some healthy prepared meals in the freezer for when you don't have time to cook.

Slightly to the left of centre approx halfway between my BB and my bust.

I remember one of my aunts who always had jam with her toast instead of butter - because fats were fattening , sugar wasn't! I agree with this totally. If something is banned it becomes forbidden fruit and you want it MORE! If you are allowed everything in moderation then you have a plan that you are much more likely to stick with. We need to aim for the healthy lifestyle not focus on being on a permanent diet. its what you do 90% of the time that counts.

The preop diet is hard but we have to do them for a reason. if you want to eat stuff that is not on the diet contact your surgeon and see what he says.You don't want to end up in a situation where maybe they can't operate because you didn't stick to it. You also have to remember that postop you HAVE to stick to it. Yes it is hard but it is only for a very short time. We all think that at the time that we can't do it but we surprise ourselves. I find it hard to believe now 5 weeks after surgery that i actually survived a month on liquids!

Thats good. Allways best to err on the side of caution.

I agree crushing chest pain is a classic heart attack symptom. There are also lots of other symptoms people aren't aware of. Did you know that it could just be neck or jaw pain, back or shoulder pain etc etc. Quite often there is no pain in the chest area at all! I certainly wouldn't be messing around if I had crushing pain in my chest.

My apologies for "hijacking" the thread if that is in fact what I did.I actually thought there were posts prior to mine that were saying that carbs were not good.I do have to admit that I do easily get sidetracked though! To the OP I hope that your pain has now gone and that you are feeling heaps better.

For those of you that have difficult eating certain foods e.g bread I am interested at what stage of the process they started. Was it before you got any fills, after your first fill or only after you had had a number of fills? Thanks

I agree with restless.When we have symptoms like this we should be looking for urgent medical attention. We also need to not automatically assume that symptoms are caused by the band - there can be other reasons.

Maybe I should have specified low GI carbs. Obviously we need to eat things which are nutritious over those that are not. I believe that we need to eat all food groups . Yes even fat but it should be the healthy kind (e.g the kind found in fish ). There have been lots of studies on the effects of no fat in a diet as well. But I do believe that carbs have their place and one of my reasons for getting the band was so I did not have to follow a diet for the rest of my life. I eat things like oats for Breakfast. Not instant oats proper oatmeal cooked in a pot. Or I may have a poached egg on a slice of wholegrain toast - I find that a lot more satisfying than just eating the protein(egg). In fact if I were to just eat the eggs without the toast I would probably consume a lot more calories as I would find it easy to eat a number of eggs. lunch might be something like a wholemeal wrap. Especially if I am out and need to find something I can eat. It can be hard to find a meal that is just Protein. I would never eat a whole bowl of rice as it doesn't appeal to me.I've never even thought of adding butter to it. For an evening meal a small portion of rice , potatoes or Pasta with my veg and protein makes it more satisfying and probably again cuts the number of calories I consume. I cannot imagine eating my meat, then my veggies and then my rice - I hate the taste of plain rice. But eating something like curry with rice, lasagne or whatever means I can eat the same as the rest of the family , it tastes good and I am able to be satisfied with a smaller amount. But everyone has to do:- What their Dr has advised What suits them What they are able to stick to. Which is what I am doing!

Carbs are not the evil monster a lot of people believe them to be. They do actually form an important part of a healthy diet. In fact reading a lot of the posts on this board it seems like a lot of bandsters are on the "Atkins diet" or at least a modified form thereof. I have not been told to stay away from carbs nor have I been told to eat Protein first.What my surgeon aims for is a balanced diet. Having said all that though I have been warned that rice can cause problems which means that I am not likely to try eating it in any kind of quantity. I think it is better if you choose the kind that doesn't stick together in clumps when cooked and also mix it with your mince or whatever you are eating with it.

I could be wrong but I don't think that there are too many people that only have 3 incisions. It seems that the majority of people have 5 - no matter how experienced their surgeon is. I also don't think that most people have one hidden in their belly button, for most the port scar which is the big one is higher up.

Yes this is true.Some people research more thoroughly than others. Being as it is too late for the OP to do this now do you have any practical advice on what she can do now?

Chiropractors are fine, complementary medicine definetly has its place. However in this case I don't think it is the answer. If the pain started after the lapband surgery and is relieved by eating then i would say it has something to do with the band.If it is troubling you speak to your lapband surgeon again and if you are sure you want to go ahead with the Chiropractor ask your surgeon his thoughts and if it would be OK. Far better to do this than just go ahead and possibly risk something happening to your band.

I find it extremely scary that so called professionals such as these cannot do what they are supposed to be able to do. Surely they should not be licensed to perform fills until they are able to do it properley first time. Its a bit like when they take blood - you expect them to be able to find the vein first time not poke you like a pincushion. I have only had one fill , which was done by my surgeon and he found the port first time. No flouro - I just had to lift my head and shoulders ( a bit like a stomach crunch)and that was it. I thought that was how it was supposed to be - I certainly didn't think I was lucky but after reading a couple of posts on here with similar problems I now think that I must be. I feel really sorry for you as this must have been extremely distressing. i only hope you have better luck next time - either that or find a new Dr.

I have been taking normal medications and have not had any problems. I take a Multivitamin,paracetomol and Bp meds all in tablet form. I don't crush them just take them with liquid. Maybe once I have more fills they will cause problems but so far so good.

I believe it is quite common to not lose weight inbetween surgery and getting proper restriction.At the moment your focus should be on healing rather than weight loss. I'm concerned that you have vomited a number of times already. Are you following your doctors recommended diet? If not then you really do need to follow it as it is to ensure that you heal correctly and help prevent future problems. Are you eating slowly and chewing properley? Remember it is not normal to vomit after this surgery. It is possible to PB but that should only happen later once you are starting to get restriction. Is it possible that your band is prefilled? How many scars do you have? I have 4 but I believe upto 5 is standard. 3 of mine are really small ,the port one is quite a bit larger. I am 5 weeks post op and already they are starting to fade. i am sure that yours will do the same and that eventually they will be hardly noticeable. As to the shoulder pain it is normally from the gas they pump into you during surgery so it should not recur when you have a fill. Wishing you all the best, hope you feel a bit more positive about the experience soon.

I was banded the day before you. I have had one small fill so far and it has not made a huge difference. I stop eating sooner than i would have previously but not because I am full but because i think that what i have eaten should be sufficient. I do get hungry between meals particularly between lunch and dineer but try my best to eat something healthy. I have never felt the urge to test my band. I am well aware of its limitations and want to use the tool in the way which it was intended to be used - the same as any other tool. For instance had I just bought an expensive sewing machine I would not decide to test to see if it could knit as well. It has to be used in the way that it is intended. I think that you need to remember why you got the band and what you want to achieve. To work with it not against it. To have a small quantity of a slider food e.g icecream occaissonally would not be a problem but obviously seeing how many sliders you can fit in is. Maybe if you cannot address this issue on your own you might want to consider getting some kind of counselling. Something that addresses why you are eating and ways to conquer it.We all know that the band cannot address the head hunger. Hope I'm not sounding too preachy as that is not my intention. I'm not perfect either. Good luck

That is an inspiring story. Thanks

If I had an experience like that I would be looking for a new Dr. I wouldn't let someone that takes 50 attempts to get something right work on me. In fact i wouldn't even let them near my animals! And you are not a failure.

Oh and the other thing I do is put veggies through the grater on the food processer and then add them to the mince before making spag bol, cottage pie or whatever. Its a great way of getting extra vegies in.

Actually soft pasta was on my dieticians recommended food list for the mushie stage and I had no problems with it whatsoever. I definetly think its worth trying. In the troubleshooting guide it suggested cutting long pasta into short lengths or using shells/spirals instead. I think the problem with bread and rice is not so much that they enlarge but they can clump together and form a big ball, White rice tends to do this more than long grain varieties. I also think that these problems tend to occur more as you get more restriction but I could be wrong. I was told things needed to be able to go through a straw for my initial 2 week liquids stage , not for mushies. Just shows how much the recommendations differ fron Dr to Dr