Search the Community

I know I know there are like a zillion posts on here about alcohol and how bad the calories are and everything. But I have to go to my friends 21st birthday party next week and I was wondering, how long did everyone wait until after surgery to drink alcohol? I am not planning on taking shots or drinking in excess, but it would be nice to have a glass of wine with everyone. I handle my liquor really well, and I am very cautious not to overdo things even when I was in college. So please, be honest and let me know how long you waited.. no judgments here... Thanks!

I would never say "I'm full." I would eat and eat. Stop because I was tired of eating and 30 minutes later be snacking again. I may have been eating alright things.....but I never quit eating. For me, I believe I will have that "full" sensation and I won't be able to continue eating. I don't think I am actually addressing the issue of why I continued to eat. I imagine it's like that medicine they can give alcoholics that makes them sick if they drink.....but once the medicine is gone, the addiction is still there. We are not addressing it, just giving us a tool so that we stop. That's how I think of this process. Steph

I am definitely addicted to sweets. I don't keep them in the house. I have a friend that bakes all the time, and I tell her for me, going to her house is like an alcoholic going to a bar. I tell myself when she wants me to come and visit that I am not going to give in, but it never fails that I end up eating something just because it's there and I have no willpower when it comes to sweets. How do you think overeaters got to be overweight?

As a person who loves, and I do mean loves food, I will argue with anyone who tells me I did it the easy way. It is not easy to give up your life long friend( food).it is the hardest addiction there is. We need food to survive. We don't need alcohol, drugs, sex and smoking to survive. We all are choosing a tool to help us be healthy and fit. The first few weeks is not pretty on the journey to WLS. Starving yourself is not fun.Im talking pre op diet and post op diet, it's so boring. Now at 4 weeks post op, and 35lbs lighter, it does get better. I'm trying to make many changes in my life. I have now replaced my obsession and love for my food to exercise! For me, the weight does not just fall off, I'm a lower BMI girl, been harder to lose. But so worth it! Everyone, be proud of your choice, for some it's easier than for others. I am truly going to appreciate this permanent weight loss!! Good luck to us all Sent from my iPhone using VST

Hi there I'm a nurse and iodine is a toughy. Use rubbing alcohol for an initial scrub but than soap/water will do the rest. Mind you, iodine stains readily and is hard to remove. It will be absorbed and will diminish with time, but it does take time. Unfortunate that the med team didn't wipe the initial gunk off post surgery for you. Large iodine doses screws with the thyroid so it's common practice for nurses to take as much off as possible.

I have eaten less than 20 grams of carbs per day since March, and even once I get to my goal, I will probably always have to keep them low. I am a carb addict. I may not be able to completely eradicate them from my life like an alcoholic does booze, but I will likely always have to keep them low. Maybe not below 20 low, but probably below 50 or 60 low when maintenance comes around.

Wow, it feels so good to know that sometimes people mess up, as weird as that sounds. I have been doing EVERYTHING correct from pre-op to post op. I'm 27 days after surgery, and I feel like the last week, I have been blowing it big time. I haven't been eating steak or anything like that, or drinking carbonated drinks, or even having alcohol. But, today, I had 3 pieces of wheat toast, and two small pieces of soy Protein chicken breasts in one sitting. I feel uncomfortable, and like the biggest loser. I feel so stressed out about everything. My hair thinning out, getting laid off, to the surgery. I've dropped 10 pounds, and I feel like I should be further along. In regards to the soup, I have been wanting to drink a lot of it, but have been putting 4 oz in a cup, and putting 6 oz of low sodium broth in it, to cut the thickness down. Trader Joes has some great Soups which curb your appetite. Sometimes, I put a tablespoon of Greek yogurt in the hot soup for protein. Hang in there. I just found this site, and now I don't feel so alone!

My Dr told me the reason alcohol was more potent for bystanders was because it stayed in the pouch for a longer period before moving to your stomach where even more alcohol was absorbed. Makes sense I guess.

Looks like there are many things to consider and reconsider from everything I read in here... was hoping it could be a quick one but looks like I'm gonna have to keep it till December (my next leave for Christmas) and just keep dieting until then. I've already been dieting for a week now btw since last Saturday until date. As for my regular lifestyle diet, I'm vegetarian and I don't smoke at all (quit in 2006) and I don't drink alcohol at all (also since 2006) and I don't have any medical issues so far neither diabetes nor cholesterol nor blood or heart pressure thankfully nothing as such... my initial Dr's visit is planned for sometime next week during my leave and will see what he will advise then on the preparations and the recovery part too. Oh and btw no my work doesn't involve any lifting I'm a "fat banker" lol I sit on my desk all day and boss around a team of 33 people lol. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

I just want to add that I work for 125,000 attorneys for across the US and when I reach my goal weight I will be poster child for this surgery and I will lobby congress, insurance companies and anywho else that will listen. They should pay. If a person has proof that they have really tried in the past, they should pay. IF they have a family history of HBP, heart disease and the other co morbidites that we talk about. They should pay. They pay for preventive medicene ALL DAY LONG. This should not be any different. For pete sake, companies even pay to rehad drug addicts and alcoholics. Therefore they should make the plans available that cover this surgery. Pet insurance? Are your dogs more valuable to your company than you are? Even though providing per insurance is cost free to the company, its the principle. Don't you think?

Hullo!! Can we show the psychiatric community this thread? When my therapist tells me that food is not technically an addiction, I want to scream. Who does these things except people who are addicted? Old food, bad food, too much food. If you substitute any other substance for food in these posts, it would look like any other addiction be it alcohol or drugs or anything. My therapist says it's not an addiction because it doesn't change the brain. I call bulls**t on that. I know my brain lights up like the Empire State Building when I see Pasta. Hell...it happened last night. We ordered Italian in and I was cleaning up the leftovers last night and all I wanted to do was eat that cold dry spaghetti. Don't tell me this is not an addiction. I know that pasta is my heroin and no one can tell me different.

You didn't mention this, but their flour was rationed and consumption extremely limited, as were fruits. You just listed a host of confounding items. Also limited as you mentioned is sugar. So during this time, they limited sugar, flour, fruits, baked goods. They ate high fat tinned meats, high fat butter (limited), real meat was limited, eggs/bacon as was alcohol and beer were limited...many fasted but def observed a calorie restricted diets. BUT, the issue with the people who do low carb or keto is NOT that it's our way or the highway, or that we believe and say that ALL people MUST low carb or die...the issue is with having alternate agendas so rudely and repetitively shoved down our throats and lambasted for believing in the efficacy of our woe (way of eating). The other issue is having our dietary choice misrepresented by nonfactual BS. And most of us are sick of it. Cuz the OP posts it OVER and OVER and OVER ad nauseum. Like it's being shoved down our throats with the force of Thor's mighty hammer. Most of us who are objecting are all in the same camp: THERE IS NO ONE DIET that is suitable for everyone! LOL. We pretty much all agree that we must find our own path through the woods to arrive at a sustainable liveable diet that turns into a forever lifestyle. And that is A-okey-dokey with us!!!! I'm glad this high carb diet works for OP and others. I am. More power to them. They clearly did not have the same degree of metabolic derangement or medications that necessitate a low carb, adequate protein, lower fat diet as I have. LOL. That's ok. LOL. The even bigger question is why then, if they can now magically tolerate all manner of carbs, why did they get so fat they needed bariatric surgery? And how is their lifestyle modified so they won't repeat history? But I do hope we all agree, that you wouldn't give a diabetic or pre-diabetic heaps and heaps of carbs and expect their insulin levels and blood sugars to improve. At least I hope that's a universal understanding cuz if it isn't, then someone is engaging in magical thinking. And btw, wouldn't it be fun? Let's all make a pact to meet back here in 3-5 years and measure our success with pics, weights, and tape measures.

I can relate to the overfull thing because I really had to "relearn" my sleeve capacity once our lifestyle changed. In Bishkek we were constantly invited to dinner events and if you know anything about Central Asian hospitality that means HOURS long meals (and vodka fests, thanks to Soviet influence) and it's terribly rude to decline food. And it's not as if you're serving your own portions to yourself if you're a respected or honored American guest. They'll show respect by dishing out your portions for you and refilling your drinks...and the parade of food is never ending, with plenty of bread as well as rice and noodle dishes there to stuff a sleeve well past capacity. It was actually a real challenge for me to learn how to eat only a few bites and claim whatever reason for not eating. I'm sure I offended many a host unintentionally. And yes, more than once I had to delicately excuse myself because my food had swollen up and I was desperately uncomfortable. When you're so full that all you have to do is bend over and you slime, it's bad. ...I think this is the only time I ever appreciated Turkish toilets, though. I had finally navigated my way around that issue and learned to simply eat a bite of everything, share my food with my husband and politely decline food when I got pregnant. And then I COULD eat more food but it took me forever to discover just how much that was, and I went through another learning period just like when I was freshly sleeved. I certainly wouldn't say it's perfectly normal for us, but then, after years of eating a certain way and establishing habits it's not too difficult (especially when involved in socializing) to forget what just a few years of sleeved life have taught us. It definitely hit home that we really have to be careful forever and that bad habits could slip back in for all of us if we're not mindful about our eating. A lifetime of overeating and mindlessly grazing doesn't just disappear for good after a few years of being sleeved, apparently! I do drink but not too much as I experience the same very strong reaction alcohol as Oregondaisy - one mixed drink, if sipped too quickly, could have me falling over! One drink with a sip here and there will get me through an entire evening nowadays. And I try to beg off the vodka shots (gotta love living in the former Soviet Union!) whenever possible. ~Cheri

I finally have my date Yehaaaaaa. :smile2: I attended a seminar way back in October (feels like years ago) and I was convinced that the band was right for me. I had to wait for my insurance to kick in and that doesn't happen until June 21 so I am doing all the pre op things at this stage and have been booked in for the op on the 26th June. I can't come soon enough. I feel about the lowest I have ever felt about my weight. It seems to have skyrocketed in the last few months. My surgeon Dr Cox asked if I had always been overweight and what I had tried. I told him I had been dieting since I was 12 with everything I could find. Shakes, grapefruit, weightwatchers, xenical, duromine, cabbage soup. I told him what happened and the best way I could explain it was that I could diet and lose weight but then something clicks in my head and bang it all goes on again. The best way to describe it is like an alcoholic who has given up - they cannot just have one drink the go on a bender. I am the same way with food - last year I lost 18kg with weight watchers but at my daughters 21st I though OK I think I look alright now and started eating a bit too much and before I knew it I just couldn't get enough and I am now 25kgs heavier. HOPEFULLY this tool will help me control this as I shouldn't be able to overeat

please feel free to add your own! this one is about Water, and since we drink so much, I felt it was appropriate. :001_smile: To paraphrase W.C. Fields, "I don't drink water, because fish screw in it." To my friends who enjoy a glass of wine... and those who don't.. As Ben Franklin said: In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria. In a number of carefully controlled trials, scientists have demonstrated that if we drink 1 liter of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli, (E. coli) - bacteria found in feces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of poop.. However, we do NOT run that risk when drinking wine & beer (or tequila, rum, whiskey or other liquor) because alcohol has to go through a purification process of boiling, filtering and/or fermenting. Remember: Water = Poop, Wine = Health Therefore, it's better to drink wine and talk stupid, than to drink water and be full of shit. There is no need to thank me for this valuable information: I'm doing it as a public service!

https://asmbs.org/patients/who-is-a-candidate-for-bariatric-surgery Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, osteoarthritis, lipid abnormalities, gastrointestinal disorders, or heart disease.

I gained 6 lbs January to end of March (stopped exercising regularly, tracking my food, weighing myself daily, and probably ate more, but I don't know since I wasn't tracking!!). I went back to my routine and lost those 6 lbs in 3-4 weeks in April, while we were in lock down. But then 4-5 of those effing lbs came back again between May to August (dessert & alcohol consumption increase) and it took me almost 2 months to lose them again. Which was a wake up call about how my super weight-loss powers have diminished. Moral of the story is if your aim is to maintain a certain weight, do something about it now when it's only a few pounds vs later when its much, much more. There is no mystery on how to do this: exist in a calorie deficit until you reach your goal. I dropped down to about 1300-1500 cals a day...if I went lower, the weight would have come off faster, but I didn't, so it didn't.

Hi All, I have just come back from the same clinic that Rukhshandah went to for the VGS. The post op diet for the 1st 4 weeks is below. Is that the same as Dr Aceves? I was very impressed with Dr Cierny in Brno, both Rukhshandah and I went there via a UK company called Cosmetic Bliss (don't be put off by the cheesy name). First day diet: Usually an i.v. Fluid has been administered and a contrast X-ray examination precedes per oral alimentation • Drink slowly in small sips of Water, tea. • Wait in between the sips for a minute or two. • Do not drink more than 50ml at once. • Nothing but tea with or without sugar, or still mineral water. • Wait for least 10 minutes between drinks. Your total per oral fluid intake should be not exceed two glasses or 0.5 litre in the first postoperative day. First two weeks • Clear broth or Soup without vegetables or meat and not too creamy. • Low fat, sugar free yogurt. • Skimmed milk. • Natural fruit juice or pureed soft fruit (apple, banana, pear, etc). • Vegetable juices. • Low calorie drinks. • Sugar free Protein supplements, with skimmed milk. • Water (6-8 cups / 2.0 - 3.0 litres a day). Between meals you may drink vegetable juice, milk, fruit juices & water to ingest sufficient liquids and prevent dehydration. Sample Menu - Week 1 & 2 Breakfast 1/3 cup pureed fruit ½ cup yogurt lunch ½ cup consommé or broth 1/3 cup pureed fruit dinner ½ cup yogurt ½ cup pureed fruit Third and Fourth Week after Sleeve Gastrectomy A liquid/pureed diet for your meals during week 3 and 4 after the operation may help you to get used to smaller stomach. Remember to keep a high level of protein in your diet. You will need to use a blender or food processor. The food has to be blended until reaching a applesauce consistency. Avoid spicy foods; they may irritate your stomach. Here is a list to give you some suggestions for what you can eat on weeks 3 and 4: Liquids or beverages, and milk. • Good options: Tea, non-carbonated drinks, natural fruit juices, coffee, water, skimmed milk, low fat and sugar free yogurt. • Limit or try to avoid: Artificial fruit juices, soda, alcohol, all carbonated beverages, Iced tea with sugar, milk or yogurt products with nuts or seeds, chocolate milk, sweetened condensed milk, whole milk. Fruits. • Good options: Applesauce, pureed pears, and bananas. • Limit or try to avoid: Canned fruits or fruits with syrup. Vegetables. • Good options: Pureed vegetables, vegetable juice. • Limit or try to avoid: Raw vegetables, canned vegetables, vegetables that cause discomfort (gas forming). Soups. • Good options: Broth, cream soups make with skimmed milk, egg drop soup, low sodium bouillon or consommé. • Limit or try to avoid: All other. Starches. • Good options: Mashed potatoes. • Limit or try to avoid: Bread, Pasta, rice and all other starches. meats or protein supplements. • Good options: Pureed chicken, fish, tuna, veal, beef, low fat cottage cheese, baby food meats, mashed or pureed tofu, pureed egg or egg substitute, sugar-free Protein shakes, No sugar added Instant Breakfast. • Limit or try to avoid: Peanut Butter, others. Fats, sugars and others • Good options: Sugar free Jellies and puddings, sugar free ice cream and frozen yoghurt, low fat (slimmers) puddings. • Limit: Others. Sample Menu – weeks 3 & 4 Breakfast 1/2 cup yogurt and 1/3 cup pureed fruit (or4-6 tablespoons cooked refined Cereal, adding 3 tablespoons of skimmed milk) 1 hour later 1 cup fruit juice (or milk) 2 hours later 4-6 tablespoons yogurt 1 hour later 1 cup water (or unsweetened fruit juice) Lunch 3 tablespoons pureed chicken with 2 tablespoons pureed vegetables and 2 tablespoons mashed potatoes, 1 cup water 1 hour later 1 cup water 2 hours later 1 cup protein supplement (or1 packet No Sugar Added Instant Breakfast) Dinner 2-3 tablespoons chicken (or fish or tuna)with 2 tablespoons vegetables and 2 tablespoons mashed potatoes 1 hour later 1 cup skimmed milk 1 hour later 3 tablespoons cottage cheese with 4 tablespoons pureed fruit 1 hour later 1 cup broth-type soup or milky (semi-skimmed or skimmed milk) drink General Recommendations: 1. Eat small meals five times a day and limit snacking in between meals. 2. Eat slowly and chew food until it reaches a mushy consistency. (15 to 20 times per bite). 3. Stop eating or drinking right before you feel full. 4. Eat only good quality foods. 5. Drink low calorie liquids. 6. Drink enough liquids /about 2.0 – 3.0 litres per day. 7. Drink after each eating 8. Exercise moderately, however not sooner than 2 weeks after the operation

I try and eat about 1200 calories a day on cross fit day and 900 a day on running day. For example, I ate 7 x: 1. Protein shake with chia seeds (100 cal), 2 energy squares (120 cal). 2. 3 oz Protein (120 cal) 3. 3 oz protein, 2 oz veggie (150) 4. 2 energy squares (120 cal) 5. 1 AMRAP bar (300 cal) 6. 5 oz protein, 2 oz veggie (200) 7. 10 oz protein shake (100) Total: 1210 I have gone the last 2 months with my weight staying pretty constant @ 190 since adding daily creatine and 10 lb of lean muscle after reaching gol in February 2013. As for stalls, one day up 2 lb, another day down 2 lb. However, yesterday was a big drop of 5 lb overnight after my weight went up 5 lb from a Cinco de Mayo drink session (2 margaritas) and 2 glasses of a full Chardonnay the day before that. I ran long on may 5th and for an hour on may 6th. Women have to deal with TOM, but men have to deal with Water retention due also. as for alcohol, i am going to cut down the intake because it does mess with your weight and water retention. It also does not help when needing to run or do a WOD. Now it is about 2x a month except for the last weekend. I drink about 1.5 gallon a day. However, I want to cut down my water drinking after dinner so I am not up 3-4 x a night in the bathroom.the chia seeds help tremendously with retaining water in the GI tract for when it is needed during working out. The Aztecs really knew what they were doing when eating a handful chia seeds before running 100 miles in the Andes.just remember to drink enough of water before and father to support the internal water retention of his sees. I always drink at least 40 oz first thing in the morning an hour before the seeds and then drink water all day long.

It is time to blog. I have been away far too long. Let talk about my band. My band is perfect. I have restriction (or whatever you want to call the perfect adjustment) I get full quickly. My hunger is controled. So now you get to hear about what happens if you don't do your part. You gain weight! I have gained. I don't know how much. I don't want to step on my Wii Fit to find out. So here is the perfect example of why you have to work the band. It doesn't do all the work for you. I have only been hitting the gym about twice a week. I have been eating unhealthy food and I have been eating when I am not hungry. I haven't been keeping track on what I am eating. I know that I can come here and no one will judge me, but I also know that I need to start blogging again and getting back to the rules. -Keep track of what I eat (on sparkpeople) -Cardio at least 3 times a week -Don't eat unless I am hungry -Solid protien first then a health side until I am full I have heard plenty of storied of people that say that the band doesn't work. Well I lost 115 lbs in one year. The band works for me, but I know if I don't work at it I will fail. The band helps. It makes it easier, but if I don't want it bad enough I will gain the weight back. I can lose more weight and all I have to do is follow the rules. I have found that since I have given up almost all bread, pasta, rice and potatoes that I have developed a killer sweet tooth. I have to get that stuff out of my system. I am really looking forward to the New Year to jump start my loss, but I am starting right now! I also have to admit and face the fact that I am an emotional eater. I have been banded over a year and lost over 100 lbs and I am STILL and emotional eater. We are looking at putting our 16 year old daughter in a Christian based residential program because of her bad choices and everytime I think about it and have to deal iwth it I want to eat. I feel it like an alcoholic looking for a drink. I am looking to pick up a part time job to make an extra $2000 a month to put her in this 15 month program. I work Monday through Friday days and now I may have to work Friday and Saturday nights (RN). I worry about working more and working out less and emotional eating. I guess every day is a new set of challenges. I know blogging with help and I am so glad that I have this place to come!

I agree that it works for some people, and some people want to be able to eat a more varied diet. But for me, I literally didn't have room for carbs(even an apple) if I wanted to get in my Protein grams in 4 meals per day which is what was prescribed by my surgeon. As for carbs on labels, it's hard to screw up carbs on fresh or frozen (no preservatives, no salt, nothing added) on green Beans, broccoli, pinto/black beans(which I made from raw form) and romaine lettuce which is pretty much the veggies I ate through my losing stage. I even skipped using mayo/miracle whip and subbed in greek yogurt for a lot of my meals for chicken/tuna/egg salad, with a little mustard, or dry ranch dressing. I also relied on the glycemic index for veggies/fruits intake for counts. If it was over 55 points on the glycemic index, I never ate it in my losing stage. My goal was to lose as quick as possible. I won't deny that at all. For me, my goal was to hit goal, and worry about maintenance when I got there. I should add that because eating carbs even the "good ones" didn't work for me in the past. I was diligent with weight watchers, and my body fought to lose with eating little portions of "good foods". I did the points system and the "whole foods" program numerous times, and both had minimal results. I didn't see it as a diet, I never felt deprived so that could be why I was so stringent on my intake. I think people just have to find what works for them, and how they want to lose weight, change their relationship with food, and really change their habits. My losing stage taught me a lot about what I was able to tolerate, what I could eat without feeling deprived, and I learned tricks to make food more "sleeve-friendly" while not losing flavor. I live an extreme life of moderation in maintenance because it's what works for me. I drink soda, I eat bread, Pasta, rice, potatoes, all veggies, alcoholic beverages are weekly indulgences (before the pregnancy) so by no means do I live a life of dieting or monitoring all my intake like I did during my losing stage. For me moderation in maintenance is what works for me, also that moderation can easily get out of hand, and luckily, I can go back to "better choices" cutting carbs to an extent, and still lose weight. I should add that I had another driving force to losing quickly. My husband was deployed during my revision. After my complications, and a slow start with weight loss (I was fed 1800 calories a day for almost 2 weeks via a TPN bag/picc line so I didn't lose a ton of weight), a 2nd hospitalization that resulted in weight gain again, I had a goal to lose 60lbs before his return in 4 months from the day of my revision. Because I was so stringent on my intake, I had dropped about 80lbs by the time he came home and he walked right by me at the airport. So, there were some other driving forces to me losing quickly, getting healthy, and making a full recovery after extensive complications. I had to "get better" before he came home. He wasn't allowed to come home during my complications, he was in a shithole of Afghanistan, dealing with the the mental issues of deployment on top of his wife nearly dying due to complications, he was worried that I was going to be "sickly" and not myself. Sorry for the ramble, I just thought I should clarify some of my reasoning and what all went into my decision-making process during my losing stage.

I DID IT!!!! I GAVE MYSELF THE INJECTION. Fyi, when one is menstrating you don't have to do the blood thinning injections. I got my period the evening before surgery so didn't have to do the injection. I had to wait until my period ended to start injections. Today was the first day and it was a sinch!! No pain, no burning. Just alcohol area and let dry, push needle in, inject slowly and DONE!!! No big deal. Thanks everyone for your help. MDG

The end of summer sales are coming up and you can pick up some great bargains in your gonna be size. One size equals about 15 pounds, so buy some shorts, capris, etc about 4 sizes smaller than what you wear now. It will also be a great incentive - to fit into them come cruise time. I bought my dress for my Oct wedding in Mar and got a great deal. I also bought it two sizes too small and made myself work to fit into it - and I did! I love to cruise! My DH loves to tell people that they do everything for you except powder your butt. For formal night, I would buy a party dress at the after-new-year sales. You will be very close to your 60 pound loss then, so size will be less of an issue. Don't go too naked on the top, though, as they keep the AC turned up on those ships and the dining room gets cold. Money exchange...you can look up the exchange rate online right before you leave and almost all airports have a place to exchange money. Also any bank, once you arrive at a port, will give you current rates. Merchants WILL scam you. We just got back from Mexico and every place was charging 10 pesos to one US dollar. The rate was actually 10 pesos to 90 cents, so they made an extra 10% off every transaction if you paid in USD. Even so, don't expect huge bargains in port cities, or truly "local" stuff. Most of the world's souvenirs are made in China! Alcoholic drinks on cruise ships are very expensive. coffee, tea, juice, and Water are free and more healthy, so I'd stick with them. We were settling up our bill on the last day of one cruise and overheard a party of 3 young women weeping and wailing. Their bar tab was $1300!!! Staterooms are small and the closets are tiny. Don't over-pack. Also, be aware that most airlines allow 40 pounds per bag and if you go over that, there is a steep charge. One last thing...arrange transfers in advance from the airport to the dock and back again. Most cruises do not include these and depending on the distance, a cab ride could be very costly. Hope you have a great time!

I've had belly button problems over the last month or so. Super itchy, red, smelly. Just yuck. After looking around online, fungal infection seemed to be the most likely culprit. First thing I tried was some athletes foot spray I had laying around. Ouch! The amount of alcohol in it + broken skin was not a very pleasant combo. Picked up some athletes foot cream. A little dab delivered via q-tip 2-3 times did the trick. I'm still treating it, but no longer have any symptoms. Just trying to make sure it's totally gone.

chewing gum often contain sugar alcohols and it can increase the amount of air you take in, causing bloating, and if swallowed it can also block the opening between your stomach and small intestine.