green

Congratulations, Swanny, you, like me, are a September bandster. I was banded two Thursdays ago so the memory is pretty fresh. I spent Friday, Saturday, and much of Sunday in bed and I slept a lot. By Monday the only real pain issues I was having was with gas. I certainly didn't need the demerol though I took it at night to help me get to sleep and I still had to sleep on my back. I was able to walk around, goof on the computer, have a bath, and do a little bit of laundry. I felt pretty good but I tired easily. From that Monday life just got better and better! Then you get to eat soups and that is a total rush! I hope hearing my experiences helps you a bit.

I am lucky that I never acquired a taste for pop. Like beer, though, and that's a problem.

Aw shucks, t'weren't nothin'.....

I do think that we have the same rights as anyone else to exclude a potential lover on the basis of his looks, though we do not have a right to exclude a potential friend. When we go hunting for a house we have a set of criteria that we want met for we are searching for our ideal home. When it comes down to the practice we all find ourselves making compromises. We may opt for fewer bathrooms in order to get that dream kitchen for example. But one thing we all have in common is this: nobody is going to buy an ugly house. It is fortunate that your idea of looks is different from mine and so most of us go away from our hunting experiences (for a house or a mate) relatively content. We not only live in a lookist society, we are lookist ourselves. It is just a simple fact of nature. We are all initially attracted to that which looks beautiful. This is why industrial zones are never featured on travel brochures. This is why Hollywood puts their thin beautiful actors into the fat suits or spends 4 hours before a shoot putting their ugly make-up on. This is why you want your home to look pretty and why you have had the lapband operation. My ideal of male beauty was influenced by my father who was short, dark, thin and very, very handsome. This is what turns my crank. Most of the guys I have been involved with have been tall and thin and there has been one or two blondies in the mix. (For some reason they are often younger than I am, too. Go figure.) But I had a 7-year relationship with a fat guy who was one of the best looking guys I had ever seen - from the neck up. Initially I was too freaked out to look at his body and so we spent the first 4 months of our relationship in the dark but, man, I have never felt as petite and protected and feminine as when I was cuddled up against him in bed. I grew to love his bulk. There is nothing wrong with being a lookist. There is something wrong with being rigid and inflexible.

I am suddenly drawing a blank on what the initials PB stand for but what it means is you got yourself a burp with cargo. LOL Oh yah, productive burp. Somewhere on the main site someone has posted a sheet of information that they received from their doctor about fills. It is very interesting. It advises doing a liquid diet the day before, not eating after midnight in order that the stomach be empty. While you can drink lots of water, and should in order to be well hydrated, the water should be room temperature. Cold water can alter the shape of stomach temporarily and thus the fill won't be as accurate or as effective. They suggest that after the fill you do a liquid diet for 24 hours in order to help your stomach out. I found this post interesting as it all made sense to me. As for fruit, I guess bananas are the one fruit that is easy to chew up and digest. They are also supposed to be one of the healthiest things to eat on the planet. Too bad I can't stand 'em. Haha. Remember that you can also take juice boxes with you along with bottles of water. It's not exactly fine dining is it? Wah.

It's funny (and annoying) how that whole sizing thing works. It even works with shoes. I take anywhere from a 10 to an 11 depending on the shoe and who made it. If it was made in China then Green can fuggedaboutit. They make the smallest size 11 I have ever tried to squash my foot in. I would never dare order pants out of a catelogue. I have to try those on.

Sure, I'd be delighted to. Argon, I think a better cracker with the baba ghanoush would be a water cracker or a Finn crisp. Breton's are a little too flakey and salty to really high light the contrast. The stuff is traditionally eaten with pita.

Yah, I've just been banded and I am a little freaked out about this hair loss thing that I've been reading about. Does it happen to everyone? I have always had such thick hair that it's a torment in the summer. It would be very weird to lose it at my age. What's the deal with the hair loss? When does it happen? And I've always been a fan of aspirin. Is this it for the stuff? My doctor never told me any of this stuff (not that it would have mattered).

That's a compelling image, Jack. It would make for a pretty good screen saver, especially if you could get those shorts dancing.

I take 2 chewable adult vitamins per day, some chewable calcium, and I crush the rest of the meds I am supposed to take. Right after I had my operation I had my husband buy a pill crusher at the local pharmacy. It's been a good investment.

Better to be too busy than not busy enough, sez Green. This will help distract you from your depression and from your desire to eat. Or at least that is how it works in theory, isn't it? One of the best forms of exercise is walking and that main campus is a big one. You will certainly be getting some workout just by being there. And as for the food issue, you may wish to pack some of those boxes of apple juice, the ones that I am coming to hate, as these will give you the vita C and the fruit sugars will give ya a little boost. Along with these you could carry some packs of yogurt and some bananas. This crap is boring, I know, but it is healthy and easy to digest. This means that you won't PB. Pre-lapband I would have told anyone who suggested such a diet to me to F**k off! :puke: In fact, I myself am one of those fat people who has almost no sweet tooth at all. I hate fruit but love vegetables bathed in such things as butter, cheese and olive oil. But now we are lapbanders and serious folk and so this morning I started the day with a box of apple juice and a bunch of crushed up pharmaceuticals. Now I am drinking skim milk and planning on my nuked soup lunch. Anyhow, do keep writing, eh. I love reading yer posts.

Thank you, Cloe, for those really kind words. It is true that although I have two serious limitations - the most dysfunctional kitchen in the world and I am lazy - I do like to eat well. I have always figured that I wanted every ounce of my fat to be high quality on the pleasure scale! No wasted calories, eh grrls! Nothin' but the best for greedy Green! This is why I am fussy about the quality of the cheese and bread I buy. When I make myself a grilled cheese sandwhich I want extra-old cheddar on a really gorgeous bread - I am nuts about good bread - that has been nicely toasted and is crunchy. Instead of wolfing down a big barrel of Chapman's icecream I will wolf down a small tub of Haagen Daaz. When the icecream is gone, it's gone. The H.D. is just as fattening and it tastes better. I have also never, ever used margarine in my life. Butter tastes better. I guess I have always been a taste freak. Hahaha. Maybe that is why I am size fat! I am also a cheese freak. I love the stuff and I have the cholesterol to prove it. I put cheese in salads, pasta, casseroles and soups. I eat a lot of vegies, in giant fattening salads (yep, mine are fattening), pasta, and stir fries. I think that I am fat because I sure love carbs and I sure love dairy and I sure love to eat a lot. I also like eating lamb but only when it is cooked rare and with care. The French, Greeks, and the Italians do brilliant things with lamb. My mum, who came from England, used to kill the poor beast all over again when she was cooking it. In the middle east they do really brilliant things with ground lamb and spices that I learned about from eating in ethnic restaurants, etc. I guess I learned a lot of my present likes and dislikes after I became an adult. Toronto is such a multi-cultural joint and there is no shortage of interesting and cheap restaurants for a greedy grrl like myself to investigate. :hungry:

I hope you enjoy yourself in Toronto. I grew up here and so I really love it. The shopping is good and there is lots of variety. Unfortunately there is a lot more variety for thin people with small - size 9 or less - feet. It is a difficult city to get lost in when you are in the core because it is built on a grid. Good luck on the surgery, too.

Wow! I am hoping to get to an Argon state of mind.

You would be surprised. I was when I first tried it. The eggplant is baked before it is mashed and it doesn't have the same texture at all. It isn't slimy. The mixture is delicious and tastes like hummus. It has a lighter texture though.

My family comes from England. We were always very formal with people and never touched except in times of great emotion. I am still somewhat uncomfortable with hugging people unless I have been drinking. When I was living in France I had to learn a new trick. Folks over there give each other air kisses on both cheeks when they greet each other and again when they say good bye. Though I lived there for 3 years I never really got comfortable with that. I was raised that kissing someone was a sign of the great affection you felt for them. Remember, I have trouble even hugging folks. In France I was routinely kissed by individuals whom I knew personally loathed me. Of course it is just a custom there but one which I never learned to like. Still, one of the interesting things about being around different people is exactly that, their differences. I learn a lot about people and even more about myself.:puke:

My ideal man used to be short and very thin, built like a gymnast, and brunette. This is because this was how my father looked. Most of the men I have been involved with have been tall and thin and as I have gotten older they have gotten much better looking. I did have a plump significant other once and we were together for seven years. He was a very intelligent, very good looking man but he was big and though I liked him a lot it took me months to go to bed with him with the lights on. LOL! And yet I never felt more at home, nor more feminine than when I was lying against his body. I love my husband but he is the one man that I still think of with love and affection out of all my exes. And as for the men, my husband didn't want me to have the lap band. He was afraid that I would get too thin. I know a few men who do prefer a fleshier woman.

Baba ghanoush is very similar to hummus except that it is made with roasted eggplant that has then been mashed. The same flavours go into it as go into hummus.

When I had a job where I had to deal with people, a long, long time ago, I would just say "can I help you?" This is entirely neutral. What bothers me are individuals who wish to sell me something and open up contact by asking me, a complete stranger, how I am. On the phone or at my front door they will do this even before identifying who they are. I remember when I was very young a salesperson would say, "Hello. My name is (fill in the blanks) and I represent the so and so company and I would like to interest you in (fill in the blanks)." Very brief and to the point. Now they say "how are you?" How are you going to reply to that? None of your biz. Ya really wanna know?? Fine, and yourself (not that I am interested because you are a stranger). Fine, thanx, is what I say and then I say "so what do you want to sell me?" That always shocks them.

Unfortunately I have to be really fussy about what shoes I buy. I learned this the hard way by buying a lot of shoes that hurt my feet. While the skin on the bottom of my feet is probably about an eighth of an inch thick, the skin on top of 'em is really thin. I get blisters really easily even when the leather is really soft. And I can't wear heels over an inch. I actually tell people that I have Lesbian feet (except when I am around my tenant who is one). This is because I have to wear flats that are kinda wide at the front end. And my feet come in drag queen size. Anyhow, given that my feet have imposed certain restrictions on my footwear choices, I try to get the prettiest footwear that I can and I am always offended when I see that manufacturers have made it hard for us......again! Ugly clothes, ugly shoes. It's not right, you know.:kiss2:

Thanx, Neenagh, for the welcome. Yep guys, I love baba ghanoush and hummos and all those lovely garlicky spreads. I also love that Mexican one made out of mashed avocado, guacamole, and I love a really good, fresh salsa. And I love raita which is an Indian yogurt and cucumber salad. I was thinking that maybe I could eat this stuff during my stay in mushie-land. I sure am enjoying soup-ville after that first week. :hungry: For some reason I can't stop talking about soups. :help:

So today I went shopping for food, eh. More Gardenay soups and some yogurt as well. I don't actually have much of a sweet tooth, I am more of a salt and garlic kinda grrl, so I got some tzatziki which is yogurt Greek style - lots a garlic and minced cucumber. I am very happy! I also got lo-fat yogurt with chocolate in it. Little yogurt puddings. I am saving those for when I run out of the tzatziki.

The gas pains are finally beginning to go away and I had soup today. Those Gardenay soups that Campbells make are going to come in very handy over the next pair of weeks. I had half a cup of Mediterranean tomato and it was sublime. I bought a bunch of these soups at Walmart before I got operated on. I see that I am going to have to keep on drinking apple juice which I am coming around to loathing. I also got to buy me some yogurt and start drinking milk. It seems I am gonna need some kinda nutritional supplement. Anyone got any ideas on this?

I just had my first half cup of soup. Mmmm...soup! I am so happy. I hate apple juice.

The Toronto Laparoscopic Band Centre (last Thursday). It was easy for me as I live quite close to the Centre.