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Tbh, I'm not a fan of bariatric cook books as many tend to recycle the same stuff (don't get me started on all those authors who act like they invented the ricotta cheese bake lol) I find that you can find everything & more on YouTube! Also Pinterest if you want to read your recipes instead.

I interviewed about 7 different doctors/clinics and 4 of them had 'program' fees and lots of pre and post-surgery requirements not required by my insurance which means my insurance would also not have paid for these tests. The clinic I finally chose has no program fee and only requires special tests based on the health of each individual, which means they can back it up to the insurance company and it will be covered. I do have to drive an hour one way to the clinic but since I only have to do it every couple weeks for a fill...and then maybe not for months...it's worth it. Personally, I'd keep looking around because there are good bariatric clinics and doctors who do not require a fee.

Read this Today. Recent study of obesity and loss of taste buds. This is the conclusion half of article. So Dando looked at one more group of mice – a bunch of mutants that can't produce a molecule called TNF alpha, a compound that creates inflammation in the body. TNF alpha and other compounds that create inflammation are naturally higher in obese individuals – both humans and mice — and cause them to have a higher background levels of inflammation. Even when these mice became very fat, they also didn't lose any taste buds. "[It means] taste bud loss is really related to that inflammatory state," Dando says. That's a key finding, says Dr. John Morton, the chief of bariatric medicine at Stanford University, who was not involved in the new study. "We've known for a long time that obesity is a disease of inflammation," he says. "Before this study, we didn't know that there is a connection between inflammation and the proliferation of taste buds, and that actually leads to the decrease in taste sensitivity." It's important to note that this study was done in mere mice, but Morton says that the situation is likely the same for human beings, too. "In this particular circumstance, it's reasonable to make that extrapolation [to humans.] We've done human studies that have similar findings," he says. That blunting of taste may make it more difficult for obese individuals to adhere to certain diets, Morton says. With a diminished sense of taste, people need stronger, more richly flavored food in order to enjoy it as much as someone with 25 percent more taste buds. "Often that means more sugar and fat," Morton says. "And more calories." It's not a permanent loss, though. Studies on bariatric surgery patients show that they start noticing food tastes better and more intense a couple of months after their operation. "This is a two-way mechanism. Probably the opposite happens," Dando says. Taste buds do come back.

Feeling so relieved, im really excited about my choice to have my surgery in Mexico but the only thing I was worried about was having a bariatric doctor to go to for my aftercare instead of just a general doctor. But I was just able to secure a bariatric doctor from blossombariatrics that will see me for all my follow up care, I feel so relieved. Sent from my SM-N910P using the BariatricPal App

It's free but at what cost? 5-10yrs, I would be probably have gained an extra 100lbs and maybe diabetic, or God knows what LOL. I am thankful be able to do this myself. I even if I decided to pay out of pocket in would have been no less than 19000 even with insurance. So mexico here I come thanks to bariatric pal

Failed my pre op assessment today. My bloodwork didn't pass. My sleeve is scheduled for the 31st but I won't know until the 27th if the surgeon will go ahead with a high platelet count. So upset. Mostly because my records show that my platelets were high consistently over the past year while on the bariatric pathway. I only found out today how high they have been. I brought this subject up in April and was told "not to worry" and that the team felt the high platelet count wasn't "significant". Then they blindside me today, ten days pre op. No one can "make a decision" due to work schedules so I have to simply wait it out. Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

Work went good and then band practice after. ..the only incision that is sore is the one right above my belly button. My only secret is moving around as much as possible (to get the gas out) and drinking at least 64 oz of water. I am only drinking protein shakes (isopure) and eating homemade chicken broth and beef broth. I will start vitamins this weekend. My surgeons were great. Dr. Korman and dr. Samouha at marina del rey bariatric hospital. I am following thier instructions carefully and praying every day for a quick and painless recovery. I consider myself very blessed I know some of you are in s lot of pain. Keep your spirits up a positive attitude does wonders for heeling.

Rebecca, I am no help to you. I can't stand the protein shakes anymore. I lived on them during the pre op diet, and now I can't stomach any of the ones I've tried. Muscle milk, Atkins, Body Fortress, and Bariatric Advantage have all been gross to me. They make me gag.

Vitamins come in many shapes and forms. Which form of Bariatric vitamins do you prefer using after undergoing weight loss surgery?

Last week was the MISS Conference (Minimally Invasive Surgery Symposium) in Salt Lake City, UT . The first part of the week is laparoscopic general surgery and the latter part of the week is the bariatric surgery section. There was a lot of enthusiasm and interest surrounding gastric plication. It is now a hot topic on the agenda of these meetings and the interest is growing substantially. There was a GPS course at the meeting and surgeons advertising future courses at their institutions. We have begun GPS training courses as well. There are a lot of surgeons wanting to learn how to do GPS and offer it to their patients. The GPS is still considered experimental/investigational since there is no long-term data in the U.S. There is longer-term data internationally that looks good and a couple of surgeons in the U.S. like us are seeing good weight loss averages with the procedure but it is certainly an early stage technology. There were surgeons at the meeting who felt that this procedure looks promising but is not ready for prime time yet due to the absence of long-term data and there were surgeons like myself at the meeting who have experience with the procedure and have successful patients and we feel it is a good operation with the caveat of long-term data. What I see is that patients are driving the interest in GPS because it doesn't involve implants, staples or intestinal malabsorption. It is wonderfully simple - it's just your stomach, only smaller. I have also been fixing plication cases done by other surgeons so I feel strongly about proper technique. I will keep you updated as we gain information on this new procedure.

Hello, I used The team of Valenzuela/Cabrerra and I have 100% confidence in this team. I could have chosen other more well known doctors for the same price, but I chose THIS team and have no regrets! My Primary care physician has been impressed as well. She said my incisions look fabulous and all of my bloodwork is perfect so I should continue to follow the instructions of my surgeon. I will say there have been recent posts about Mexico Bariatric Center which were not so favorable. (not getting back with people in a timely manner, telling incorrect information etc) These complaints seem to involve new coordinators.. but when I went through them I had CHRISTY as my coordinator and she was AWESOME. So I guess, I'm going to change my recommendation based on new information from other patients.. I still recommend the team of Cabrerra/Valenzuela without reservation BUT I only recommend MBC if you are using CHRISTY as your coordinator as the other coordinators through this company don't seem to be getting good reviews recently. Edited to add: The doctors do a leak test during surgery and then after surgery as well. This team also uses a drain which is what I felt most comfortable with.

Hello everyone, I am new here :-). I started my process 1 1/2 years ago, got prgnant on the pill, had baby, and picked back up in september. Ive gotten all my clearences and evals done. As of 2 weeks ago, my surgeon sent everything to the insurance company. I have BcBs as primary (they do not cover surgery) and horizon nj health as secondary. So ill post some helpful info. Surgeon :Dr. Chris Boynton, Lumberton NJ 609-267-7050 insurance BCBS PPO, (PRIMARY), HORIZON NJ Health (Secondary) Psych Consult: Diane Palmer, (Kennedy Health systems, Stratford) I will post the number when I find it. Consult was 100% covered with HNJH. No out of pocket expense Nutritional consult: Virtua Dieatary, 100% covered. Bariatric Nutritionist was through the Dr's office. HNJH would not cover, so office charges $35, one time :-) Bariatric Nurse: Chris Aroglia, she is awesome!!!!!!!!!!! She's ontop of everything and is always reachable. The hospital is Virtua Mt. Holly I am currently waiting for my primary to deny, so tgat it can be sent to secondary. I will update on how long the approval process. Otherwise it was 3 visits, all your necessary clearances, 2 nutritional appointments, and my PCP referral. Hope this helps :-)

I really hate having to dig for recent topics in our little corner of the bariatric world.

Didn't hurt at all. Though I did make the mistake of shaving myself the night before surgery. I was only warned about the shaving the day of surgery.That gave me a case of itchy folliculitis after surgery. I have a bottle of pain meds I didn't have to use. It must be different for everyone cause all the ladies have told me they were miserable. Followed the nurses instructions to the letter and walked off the CO2 gas they inflate your belly with. So I didn't have the fake heart attack or chest pains people so often get after bariatric surgery. The two people my surgeon operated on before me didn't seem to want to get out of bed and kept buzzing the poor nurses. I only got pain meds twice because the nurses noticed that they had skipped my Heparin blood thinner shots. So if you behave yourself and follow the nurses instructions, they will let you out within 24 hours for good behavior. Otherwise you will have to stay an extra day listening to IV alarms and people whining. The doctors who popped their heads in to say hello told me the surgery went perfectly...I am now waiting to see their drive-by bills.

to all my bariatric pals thanx to all who are thinking of me and my family i feel all your arms hugging me in support thank you kathy

A quick fix?! I have to share what some simpleton thought I could do instead of bariatric surgery - liposuction! LIPOSUCTION! imagine, 100 lbs through liposuction, people are too stupid for words!

hello everyone! im new to this forum and semi new to the bariatric experience and joined because of the great discussion here. I am in northern nj and have horizon nj health, plan a *thanks to obamacare*. I qualify for transportation to and from bariatric appointments...which is a huge plus, as with plan d I did not. I first set up bariatric surgery in mid 2012 and was set to have my gastric sleeve done in march 2013. but in nov 2012 I found myself pregnant (my adorable baby is now 5 months old) and I had to postpone surgery. now, its 2014 and in addition to seeing more doctors accepting HNJHealth...I also see more offices. my original appointments were with a doctor in east orange...but his bedside manner was so rude I have since forgotten his name!!! I can't remember it for the life of me. then I switched to dr. greenbaum at virtua in Willingboro nj...awesome doctor...very no nonsense, one of the first physicians in nj to perform bariatric surgeries...etc. I only had the pre screening appointment with them however before I realized I was pregnant. but now I am considering switching doctors as I am really starting ALL over again from scratch. I see dr. marc Neff has moved (he was further south at one point) and now dr. Goldstein takes horizon nj health. I am looking into nj bariatrics in springfield. if they accept horizon nj health as stated by a member above...then I am going there because springfield is definitely the closest. when I first started my journey the five year history wasn't a requirement. just a 3 month history of weight loss effort with the current surgeon and your pcp. that has changed but everything else seems the same. I just have one question: how does everyone get to their appointments? with plan a of HNJHealth I qualify for transportation. but as mommy to an infant I have to bring my little one along as well as my husband. I am not sure if transportation is provided for the patient only or if they can ride with me. has anyone used their transport service to get to and from appointments? I hope to make new friends here and be a huge help as well as get help *and I already have to be honest!* I look forward to discussing with everyone here and others.

Hello all, I am new here. My PCP broached the subject of bariatric surgery recently. I am pretty interested. Has anyone dealt with this insurance company recently and bariatric surgery? When I called they told me the first step is to do 12 months of a documented weight loss program before anything else related to surgery. Timing wise, I found this a bit discouraging- as I have time intensive goals next september. Anyone have experience going through Horizon NJ Health? Thanks.

Google Bariatric Psych Evals. They did mine by phone for 100.

Hello all you lovely people My name is Susan and I subscribe to this thread and have been following it..."lurking" if you will. I am VERY angry with my bariatric surgeon's staff. Maybe you all can help me? My husband and I are both jumping through the bariatric hoops in the hopes to be approved for the sleeve. Because my husband is diabetic and his health is primary, I have been firm in that I would like him to have surgery before me. The doctor and staff understood and set up the nutrition and dr supervised appts within the 90 day period, which I know you all know about. They told him on his last appt that his 90 days start from his first nut appt, not his first dr sup'd appt. These two appts were 2 months apart due to their scheduling. So now they are saying that his 90 days extends to the end of May when it was supposed to be all wrapped up THIS month. Please advise me. Did your 90 days start with the NUT appt? Is that true? I'm so pissed. This is what THEY do all day, every day! And they screwed it up and just say "oh, sorry". I can't tell you how depressed we are over this. Thank you all.

If you are old enough to take control of your life, then you are old enough for the surgery. My parents hated the fact that I elected to have bariatric surgery to solve my obesity, and I did it twice. (They were very comfortable with the "diet" yo-yo, and if I merely had the self-disciple, I wouldn't be in the situation. They see it as a failure and weakness, even though I have had success with both procedures.) But usually, are family dynamics contribute to the way we are (fat and unhealthy) on many levels. You will quickly discover those issues as you go through surgery and will need to navigate through them for the surgery to work long term. Of course, you can do it, as you see countless people on this forum choose to make it happen each day as well. As you likely know, age does not determine success, your determination to work through your issues as you stick to the program does. You know if you are ready, and when you really are, the rest of the people in your life don't matter.

Obesity has been officially categorized as a disease for four years now. The categorization of obesity as a disease puts more of the burden on doctors to help you lose weight, but some people are still wary of the title. Who cares what obesity is? You might wonder whether it matters whether obesity is a “disease” or not, especially if doctors have not managed to help you lose weight, except, possibly, your bariatric surgeon. But, the name actually does make a difference. It gives obesity and obesity treatment more attention. It can help remove the stigma surrounding obesity. It gives doctors a mandate to treat you. It could lead to increased medical insurance coverage for obesity treatment, from diet programs to bariatric surgery. Here is why obesity is a “disease.” Obesity meets a definition of disease comprising three criteria: "an impairment of the normal functioning of some aspect of the body;" (changes in organ function, for example) "characteristic signs and symptoms" (excess body weight, for example) "harm or morbidity” (obesity-related complications, such as diabetes and arthritis, for example) The American Medical Association, the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, and The Obesity Society are among the respected organizations who agree that obesity is a disease. Obesity is not only a disease but an epidemic based on the number of people it affects. It affects 35% of American adults, not including the other 30% who are overweight and at risk for obesity. Nearly one out of five children are obese. Healthcare providers can take charge. One point of calling obesity a disease is to allow and even require, healthcare providers to treat it. No longer should they simply tell you to lose weight, or, worse, ignore the “condition” in the first place. Instead, they should provide care for obesity, including developing treatment plans and following up with you to discuss progress. Now there is a roadmap. Now that obesity treatment is in the realm of medical professionals, there needs to be a standard approach to treating it. The American Heart Association, along with the American College of Cardiology and The Obesity Society, have published clear guidelines for treating obesity. Identify at-risk patients and patients with obesity using BMI, and monitor them at each appointment. Enroll patients with BMI of 30 or over in a medically-supervised weight loss program (note: this is not the same as your doctor telling you to eat less and lose weight on your own!) Keep weight loss surgery in mind for patients with extreme obesity and an obesity-related condition). Weight loss surgery is a recognized treatment for obesity. The third prong of the roadmap is especially important if you are considering weight loss surgery. The recommendation to consider it when treating high-risk patients has a few effects. It reduces stigma, from primary care physicians and your other regular doctors, surrounding WLS. It increases the number of patients who may have WLS covered by insurance. It encourages patients and professionals alike to learn about WLS. No longer is weight loss surgery considered to be an extreme or fringe approach. The ASMBS states that experts who agree that bariatric surgery has a role in obesity treatment also include the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, the American Diabetes Association, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Further progress is needed. There is still much to be done in the medical arena. Healthcare professionals aside from bariatric specialists are often still in the dark about recognizing obesity and treating it. Worse, many still have stigma or bias against overweight patients, and still, engage in patient-blaming. Obesity almost certainly has genetic components along with lifestyle factors. While it may be a disease, it is also a disease that you can work to treat. Now that it has officially been recognized as a disease, let us hope that patients and healthcare professionals can work hand-in-hand, each doing their part to fight obesity.

I just bought two cookbooks—Fresh Start Bariatric Cookbook and The Gastric Sleeve Bariatric Cookbook, both by Sarah Kent. I haven't made anything from them yet, but have looked through them and am excited about making several of the recipes.

Walking and/or swimming on a daily basis is pretty good exercise for this point out. I walk or cycle most days (I do lift light weights every other day as well, because I would like to minimize the loose arm skin, and I've got heavier dumbbells on their way to help with that). The only motivation I have is stepping on the scales and seeing the numbers getting smaller, or trying on clothes and finding things fit that I never dreamed of getting back into. I was 285 the day of surgery (HW 310 when I started at the bariatric office), and CW is 241. That's motivation

I am in shock and so upset. I needed my pcp to fill out a form for medical necessity for the surgery. She also needed to fill in my weights, comorbidities and also a years worth of progress notes from my visits. I faxed the form from work to their office, with a letter stating they could notify me when completed and I would pick it up. Well......a coworker came in to me today with a fax for me. All of my personal health information, my weight for the past year AND the fact that I am in the process of qualifying for bariatric surgery was for anyone to read. They randomly faxed this information to my employer. I have no idea how they got the fax number. I could not believe it. My employer has no idea I am having surgery. Or at least HAD no idea. A good friend got the fax and brought it to me. Next thing I knew, another person gave me another copy that was faxed. Not sure what else is floating around. I am hoping it wasn't read, and I did ask the coworker to keep it quiet. I blasted the doctors office. But I am truly so upset. I wanted to wait until I was approved before i told work. I just feel like any moment someone else is going to drop off my personal health information at my office door Just venting. Ugh!!!