A Smaller Target

Product Review: Rockin' Roll

Yesterday I was out with a friend shopping.  We went all the way over to Manhattan Beach to go to the Old Navy store there because we'd heard they had a plus size section.  Okay and to be honest, there was a plus size section, but a: it was tiny and b: it was useless unless you wanted sleeveless tee-shirts and/or capri length pants. 

Now I've nothing against capris --for other people, they make me look about 3 inches shorter than I already am-- and I'm all for "big girls should wear sexy clothes if they want to" but even though I've lost 65 pounds, a sheer sleeveless "tiny fit" shirt doesn't fill me with excitment.  My arms need more covering than that.

So after our shopping disappointment, we went across the parking lot to the Vitamin Shoppe.  I'm out of my beloved Power Crunch bars so I wanted to get a few to tide me over until I could order some more.  While I was looking for them, I saw the new Rockin' Roll bar.  I'd read about this at Bariatric Eating where Susan Maria said it tasted like a PayDay bar.  Since I loved them, I decide to try it.

First, the bar is very good.  The peanuts are nicely salty and the caramel almost tastes right.  There's still a protein after taste, but the bar is very good and quite filling.  I ate half in the afternoon and the other half at the movies (we went and saw Layer Cake at the Laemmle Fairfax).  I'm not sure I'd buy a box -- they'd be around for a while.  But I'd definitely recommend as a once-a-week sort of treat. 

Food facts: Calories 290, Fat 16g, Carbs / Net Carbs 25g / 2g, Fiber 6g, Sugar 2g, Protein 21g. 

More good news.  The Laemmle is an older theater with smallish seats.  I didn't have a lot of extra room, but I fit.  That was very very cool.   As was the film. 

Jolly Rancher is not my friend

Yesterday HWLBO and I went for a walk to a store about 6 blocks from here.  I needed baby powder, he needed Coke and chocolate (I'm the one who had surgery and changed my eating habits, not him).  On our way we passed a Sav-On and priced the items there before continuing to Vons.  We found out that Vons was cheaper for everything except the chocolate so we headed back to Sav-On for that.

As he gathered up his BabyRuths, he asked me if I could have anything as a treat.  I thought about it (I love candy and always have) but also wanted to be good.  So I scanned the sugar free section, which gets larger everyday, and chose sugar free Jolly Rancher candies, which were really good and even came in sour apple, my favorite.  Had I written this as a product review last night, it would have been glowing.  They taste just like I remember Jolly Rancher's hard candies tasting and are very hard and flavorful.  I ended up eating 6 while we watched Dr. Who "Pyramids of Mars."

About an hour later I got the first cramp.  And then more.  Now I haven't had the gas problems some people suffer with following DS surgery.  Until last night.  It lasted all night long.  Since I'm polite (ha!) and didn't want to pollute our bedroom, I ran back and forth to the bathroom all night long.  Thinking about it, I probably should have worn my pedometer.  Throughout the night I tried yoga positions, curling up in a ball, walking briskly.  Gas would move (loudly too -- it sounded like I'd swallowed a tuba) but then more would be trapped.  Can I just say that trapped gas, while silly sounding, is very very very painful?  I was afraid I was going to need to go to the emergency room.  Not just because it's no fun to go to hospitals in the middle of the night (or anytime really), but because I was imagining the admission process:

"Reason for visit?"

"Painful and excessive flatulence."

At which point everyone would both snicker and move back a respectful distance.

It finally was over at about 10am.  I collapsed into bed and slept until 3pm, so now my schedule is totally off, but at least it's over.  And it could have been worse.  I could have had one or two right before the very important job interview I have a week from today.  Ugh.  Not sure if that idea makes me want to laugh or cry.  Maybe both.

Luna over at the DS site said Jolly Rancher's and Crystal Light both effect her this way too.  I'm sure not going to be drinking any more CL any time soon.  But at least I learned something.

The Jolly Rancher is not my friend.

Not-So-Out of Control

So what I've found, being up here, is that while there's no physical hunger, my desire to eat sweet carb-y stuff when I'm stressed out hasn't diminished.  This week has been a real struggle.

After my blog entry on feeling out of control, HWLBO and I did a spanking scene for the first time since before my surgery.  Eek!  My pain threshold is way way way down now.  A friend commented when I told her about it that I had a "virgin bottom" again.  Hee!  Too funny to even try and imagine that, but true nonetheless.  My feelings of guilt and annoyance with myself over the carb-binging fed into my feeling during the scene, making it more edgy (in a good way).  I even wore one of my school uniforms that had been too small for a while.  HWLBO took a picture of me in it while I was standing in a corner (oh yes, we do that too), but I don't think it'll end up getting posted here, despite his encouragement. 

For the next few days I tried really hard to eat right and was feeling a lot better, both physically (too many carbs and I have gas!) and emotionally. We'd also played a little bit each evening, something that made me feel good too.  Then last night, for reasons unknown, I ate about a cup of vanilla ice cream.  Why?  Don't know.  It tasted good, but I could tell I felt terrible, even before I finished it.  Yet I did anyway.  Almost like I wanted to see what would happen.

What I expected was gas.  What I got was a night spent going to the bathroom.  Like about 25 times between midnight and 8 am.  Ugh.  Whatever I needed proved to myself was definitely proved.

This entry is a promise to myself not to do that ever again. 

Protein, Protein, Where for Art Thou?

There's been a lot of discussion on protein suppliments on the Duodenal Switch  website, with lots of reviews of protein powders / drinks and bars, and a number of people commenting that they much prefer to eat meat than drink or eat suppliments.  In theory I agree with them, but I'm really stumped on how I'd get enough protein in without the use of a suppliment.  Heck even with it, some days I'm scrambling to find something to eat at 9 at night so I can hit my minimum.  And that's with only having 60 grams a day as my protein goal.

I've got to imagine that this just gets easier the further out we get.  I mean, I'm getting sick of protein drinks too -- even my beloved IDS shakes.  I'm not sick of Power Crunch bars yet, but give me time.  I'd like to eat more hot food because I spend a lot of time feeling chilly and hot food is warming.  But hot food is only hot for me for a little while -- maybe my first few bites.  Meat -- beef, chicken, lamb, pork -- just feels too heavy right now.  I end up only getting a few bites in before feeling full.  Or worse yet don't stop in time and end up hurling (yuck!). Cheese is okay, especially cottage cheese, but I've always been allergic to milk and still am a bit.  I've been doing okay post-op, but don't want to push too much dairy into my diet in case it starts the eczema reaction again. So my major non-suppliments choices seem to be eggs (another allergy food) and fish, especially tuna salad.  Good, but it's  getting a bit dull.

Maybe when I'm in Portland I'll try and eat more fresh fish... oh wait I haven't blogged about that trip yet, have I?

Basically my dad is turning 60 this year.  To celebrate, my mom and he are going on a 10 day trip to Hawaii, their favorite place.  But the thing is, my parents (well, mostly my mom) take care of my 99 year old grandparents who live with them.  They're both in pretty good health, but they are 99 and can't do things like cook and such for themselves. Also, my grandfather is senile and so can be difficult at times. Plus, being so elderly, they're both also kinda wobbly so they can (yikes!) fall down quite easily and need help.  So HWLBO, God bless him, is going with me to take care of them.  We leave on Thursday night and will be in Portland for two weeks.

This isn't the hardship it would have been last year.  My parents have put in high speed wireless (finally!!!) and so we can both take our computers up with us and blog from there.  See, I won't be gotten rid of so easily.

Those of you who note such things may have noticed that this entry is going up in the morning.  I've had an unexpected hour to write because I made a  mistake and thought my 11:30 appointment with Dr. Kaufman (it's been 6 weeks!) was at 10:30.  Fortunately I realized my mistake before I dragged HWLBO out of bed, but not before I'd gotten myself up, showered and dressed.  Still, now that I'm up, it's great to have the extra hour to write.

And now for my protein shake....

Product Review: Power Crunch Bars

Power Crunch... the protein bar of my dreams.

I've had a really hard time finding a protein bar I liked. Most of them are some sort of solid, sticky sweet slab covered by way too thin a layer of chocolate.  Detour, Atkin's, Balance, whatever, they haven't worked for me. I end up eating about 1/3 and then feeling sick and throwing the rest out. This seemed to happen even if I've started with half a bar. I want to find one though because I'm having trouble with good sources of "on the go" protein (lots of stuff makes me feel sick).

Today HWLBO and I were at the LA Times Festival of Books (it was great, but I don't wanna talk about  how I had to dash out of Ricky Jay's talk so I could go toss my lunch in the ladies) and stopped into UCLA's student store -- which has more protein bars (and even the Stallon Pudding) then I'd ever imagined. I bought an assortment of protein bars, including a "One" cookie -- which was supposed to be a chocolate chip peanut butter protein cookie, but only if you've totally forgotten what cookies actually taste like. I threw it out after the second bite.

And then I tried my first Power Crunch (vanilla).  Wow.

Okay, the downside first.  These bars have 190 calories and  "only"  14 grams of protein.

The upsides.

1) They are like a large cream-filled wafer cookie. Really. Yes, I can tell there's not much sugar, but it's still pretty good.

2)  the wafer texture makes it crunchy.

3) it dissolves in my mouth making it easy to eat and swallow -- I finished one in about 15 minutes, which is really fast for me.

I went back and bought the other flavors.  I can only hope they're as good.     

I figure 14 grams that I actually get down  is better than 25 that I only manage a third of.    It was especially good today, because after being sick, I'd pretty much lost my day's protein.  With the help of the bar and a drink when I got home, I managed to hit 55 grams, which is above my minimum.   

So yay Power Crunch!  They're $2 each at UCLA.  Anyone know a cheap source?

Another Product Review: Nectar Roadside Lemonade

Blech!

I mixed up a 16 oz container of this protein drink last night for the first time, thinning it and cutting it with crystal light lemonade with high hopes.  Lots of people seem to like this stuff and I was excited at the idea of being able to get in protein that also counts toward my water.  (I'm getting 40 - 50 oz, but feel like I need twice as much and just can't fit it all in.)

It tasted bad.  Like either really bad margarita mix (sans booze) or like the lemon flavored fleet stuff I used to do my bowel prep.  Ick.  I managed to drink half of it before I decided life was too short to choke anymore this stuff down and I threw the other half away. 

Thank God I'd only bought it in sample sized packs.  It'll be a while before I venture to try any of the other nectar flavors I have waiting.  If anyone has any tips on making this stuff taste better, I'd love to hear 'em.

Product Review: IDS Protein Shakes

I've been drinking 4 - 8 oz of protein shake a day for the past two weeks since surgery. Pre-op I bought a bunch of samples from Bariatric Eating   (they have samples of all the powders they sell -- if they don't seem available you can just write and ask). My favorite has been by IDS . I like the belgian chocolate flavor the best, but the vanilla cinnamon is nicely flexible (including becoming chocolate with the addition of a heaping teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa). Adding cocoa helps, I find, because it takes off the overly-sweet taste and covers any after taste too.

I can't smell or taste the protein and they mix up quite thin. I even kinda like the banana flavor (they sent a 2 pound tub of it free due to an ordering mix-up -- hint: if the scoop doesn't seem to be there, search around with a kitchen knife... for some reason they're always at the very bottom) with the addition of a little chocolate cocoa. IDS is, however, made from whey protein for those that are sensitive. It hasn't triggered my milk allergies, however.

Here's my current favorite recipe:

1 scoop of IDS
1 heaping tsp of unsweetened Gharadelli  cocoa
1 tsp SF vanilla syrup
8 oz  silk brand soy milk

Blend in blender and pour over 2 ice cubes (it takes me 45 minutes to drink this and I don't like it to get warm). 

Oh, I forgot to say... made with soy milk, my shake has 30 grams of protein and 12 grams of carbohydrate... made with water the carbs drop to 2, the protein to 24.  Add one half gram of protein and carb for the cocoa.

IDS stuff is on sale this month at Bariatric Eating if you want to check it out.  The shipping from them is a little pricey, but I've had good luck with all their products. 

Including the very cool stainless steel shaker.