A little help from a friend

I owe a huge thank you to my dear friend Sarah! She is the queen of all things healthy and good for you! Sarah took the time yesterday to go with me and my 2 boys (Jasmyn was at a playdate) to Pilgrim's Health Food store and walk me through the different options for Protein powders.

Apparently all protein powders are not created equally! Ha! I knew this on some level but I did not know to what extent that was true. She introduced me to a whole new world of protein powders that are all natural, no fillers, no chemicals and sweetened with Stevia. I have been eating them for the past 24hrs or so and I no longer have the headaches that I was having from the artificial sweeteners in the other protein powders.

Additionally she let me have samples of the protein powders that she had at home to try out before I commit to buying the $30 jug. Yay! I love samples!

Sarah also schooled me on the differences in brands of Stevia. Some Stevia is cut with fillers and other chemicals to help it mimic sugar in volume. These fillers and chemicals leave a bad after taste and can trigger headaches for me. Sarah has a brand of Stevia that is perfect! All it has in it is Stevia and Lactose. Yay for no more headaches!

So I am on day 3 of this 26 day diet. With these little tweaks and tips from Fig I will make it through the next 23 days! Thanks Sarah aka Fig! You are the best!

I hate fake sugar!

No only do I hate the taste but I hate that it gives me migraines. Horrible pain behind my eyes and makes me want to sleep migraines. Unfortunately almost all protein powders have fake sugar in them. So when they put me on this crazy liquid protein diet I was sure that I was gonna have a migraine for the whole month! Thankfully I figured out a new plan!

First we will talk about the crazy diet requirements. The protein shakes/meals have to met the following criteria:

at least 150 but no more than 200 calories

No more than 15 gr of Carbohydrate

No more than 9 gr of fat

at least 15gr of protein

When we went to shop for protein powder most of the powders we found were flavored. And sweetened with fake sweeteners. Ugh. But I figured I had to try them. So all day yesterday I used the chocolate powder as well as a vanilla powder. By the end of the day I had the worst headache. It was horrible. Something had to change.

Today I decided to try some new things. I used unflavored powder and real food ingredients to bring the shakes up to the criteria. So today I tried Chocolate milk and unflavored protein with a little water and some ice cubes. It was tasty, stayed within the criteria and best of all did not give me a headache!

Chocolate milk smoothie ~ 1 scoop unflavored protein powder, 1/2 cup 1% chocolate milk, 1/4c water, ice cubes. Blend and drink. 180 Calories, 15g Carbs, 23g Protein and 4gr Fat.

Tomorrow I am gonna try some other recipes. Here is a few more I am gonna try.

Berry Smoothie ~ 1 scoop unflavored protein powder, 1/2 c plain yogurt, 1/3 cup berries (works for any of the following Raspberry, strawberry, blueberry, blackberry) 1/4 c water and some ice cubes. Blend and drink. 174 Calories, 15g Carbs, 25g Protein, and 3 g fat.

Cream of Broccoli protein meal ~ 1 scoop of unflavored protein powder, 1/2 cup Campbell's Cream of Broccoli soup condensed, 1/4 to 1/2 c water. Mix with wire whisk, heat and serve. 190 Calories, 14g Carbs, 21g Protein, and 7g Fat.

I can also have Cream of mushroom and Cream of Chicken although the numbers are a bit different all three fit with in the criteria I listed above.

Tomato soup Protein meal ~ 1 scoop unflavored protein powder, 1/4 c condensed tomato soup, 2Tbsp of half & half, 3/4 c water, oregano and basil to taste. Mix with wire whisk, heat and serve. 195 Calories, 13g carbs, 22g Protein, and 5g fat.

I have also decided that I like unsweetened herbal teas! I have to reframe it in my mind though. I consider it flavored water instead of tea. Like when you put lemon in your water. You don't expect it to be sweet like lemonade, instead you expect your water to have a faint taste of lemons.

So that is it so far. The diet thing is killing me, but with these new recipes I think I will make it. Although tomorrow I may go look for a different brand of unflavored protein powder.

Die in Diet

Yesterday I went to my first appointment with the dietitcian. It is her job to administer and monitor my Pre-operative diet. Because my BMI is so high I have to undergo a 4 week pre-op diet to prepare my body for surgery. The goal of the diet is to help me shed some weight prior to the surgery. Apparently your liver sits right on top of the stomach. When the surgeon is trying to do my WLS he will need to move around my liver as well as visualize my stomach beneath my liver. The higher your BMI the bigger your liver is. By losing even a small amount of weight you can help shrink your liver and make it easier to preform the surgery.

There are 2 parts to the Pre-op diet. The first stage is a mostly liquid protein diet with 1 small meal per day. This stage lasts from today, Sept 23 until Oct 4th. It should be a full 14 days, but with my surgery date approaching we cut it short by 2 days. This stage consists of 3-4 protein shakes, and 1 small meal per day with 2 small snacks. The goal is to be right around 1000 calories for the day. Low carbs high protein diet. I will write more about the protein shakes in a later entry. It is complicated!

The second phase which will start on Oct 5th and last until the 18th eliminates the small meal and I am just allowed liquid protein shakes. 5-6 per day.

Today was the first day and I think I might die! I am told that today is the worst of it and that it gets easier. I have a horrible headache! I can't have coffee, caffeine or any carbonated liquids. These next few weeks are gonna be hard!

Surgery date set!

Last week I had a my lab work done and got my chest xray done. All the tests came back just fine with the exception of my Vitamin D levels. I need to start taking a vitamin. The my Dr signed off on my file. I am CLEARED for surgery! Woohoo!!!!

Yesterday the surgery scheduler called. I have 2 pre op dietitian appointments and then my surgery. Plus 2 post op appointments as well. All of those dates have been scheduled!!!!!

My surgery date is October 19, 2011!

I am both scared shitless and soooo excited!

Waiting for scheduler

Yesterday I went and got my lab work done as well as the chest X-ray that was required for my surgery. I have called my Case manager to let her know that these final 2 tests were completed. Now she will give my file to Dr. S for final review and approval. Once we have Dr. S's approval we will move forward with the next step.

I have to complete 4 weekly appointments with a nutritionist prior to surgery. I will have to complete the dietary changes to prepare my body for surgery. As soon as I have they 4 nutritionist appointments scheduled they will also give me my surgery date.

So now I am just waiting for the scheduler to call me to set up Nutritionist appts and to schedule my surgery.

Getting closer...............

Insurance Approval

After much waiting and making numerous calls to my Dr's office and to the Insurance Company I finally have pre certification/authorization for my WLS. This is amazing! I am so very excited.... and scared at the same time. LOL!!!

The next step was calling the surgery group and asking what they still need from me before we can schedule surgery. I got ahold of my surgery case manager this afternoon and we went over the next steps.

Step 1: Blood work and a chest xray that can be ordered and taken care of by my primary Dr. So that should take 2 working days to get the results back. I am going to try to get an appointment for Monday or Tuesday to have those things taken care of.

Step 2: Case manager gives the completed file to my surgeon for final review. Once he signs off on my case he gives file to surgery scheduler.

Step 3: Surgery scheduler then makes my appointments with the nutritionist. I will have a 4 week special diet to adhere to before the surgery. 2 weeks of that will be a liquid diet. Blech. Once the Nutritionist appointments are scheduled and we know when the 4 weeks start then we can schedule a date for the actual surgery. I think I have weekly appointments with the nutritionist. It is looking like the surgery will be 3rd week of October sometime.