Tag: diet

Impatiently waiting…

So let me be the first to explain, I have never been a patient person. If I wanted something, I wanted it then and there. And the older I’ve got, things haven’t improved.

And here I am having to be oh so patient and just wait for my name to hit the top of the Bariatric surgery waiting list, and man am I fed up of waiting already. I’ve been on the waiting list about 3 weeks so far and I could have to wait up to 5 months for surgery, or maybe even longer. As you can tell by the title of this post, I am so over waiting already. But alas here I am still waiting.

One good thing has happened though, I have been given the date of my education session. To the best of my knowledge this session is to educate me on what I can eat and when I can eat it after surgery. I assume this explains all about sloppy/mushy food stages. I can tell you now that I wont be blending roast dinners or chicken tikka masala’s like some people. Just the thought of that has made me feel nauseous. So anyway this education session is booked for the early part of June so I wont have to wait long to tick this stage off my list of things I am required to do prior to getting my surgery date. And people who have come through the NHS process with me still don’t have a date for their education session yet. I can only assume that this is because I don’t require any further testing for things like sleep apnoea, nor do I need an Intensive Care bed after surgery.

Anyway I digress, I am sat here impatiently waiting, and I get a phone call on Thursday morning, before 9am from a withheld number, and I know straight away this is from the hospital and it was. It was the bariatric nurse, and I think to myself this is it. This is the call to give me my date and ask me to start the Milk Diet. But nope it really wasn’t, it was to tell me I need more Vitamin D and Iron so can I please start taking these vitamins now in preparation for surgery. So even though this is a positive call and it takes me one step closer to surgery it was a massive anti-climax. I’m still waiting and man is this going to feel like a long summer whilst I do.

I promise to keep you abreast of any developments, and hopefully I will be joining the losers bench soon.

TTFN xxx

The Multidisciplinary Meeting

My dear readers, I apologise for the lack of blog posts in the past month but I didn’t have anything to report, plus I had put on a few pounds so my motivation and self love had hit a big low. But things are on the up and I have news to report.

For those of you who don’t know my bariatric journey, I will be having my surgery on the UK’s National Health Service so I have to go through a certain process before I get on the operating table.

I have completed my 6 month compulsory weight management programme and as a result I have been passed over to the surgical team to prepare and undergo my bariatric surgery.

Once I was passed over to the surgical team I had to wait for an appointment to meet the surgical multidiscipline team. Last week I had my appointment which consisted of meeting 4 medical professionals who will be heavily involved in my care/surgery.

First up was a consultant anaesthetist, this lady was a very serious yet very pleasant lady who is obviously well respected in her field. She was very to the point, but was happy with the answers and information I gave and in her opinion she would be happy for me to progress forward to surgery.

Next up was the Surgical consultant himself, he again was very pleasant and again straight to the point, however he was slightly more personable than his colleague. He looked through all my notes and the result of my liver biopsy and made the decision there and then that I would need and would be having a Gastric Bypass. I was happy with his choice as he knows best, plus as long as it wasn’t a Gastric Band I would have accepted his choice anyway. So he told me there and then that he would be putting me on the waiting list for my Gastric Bypass.

I then had to see a Nurse Consultant, who I still am unsure of what she actually wanted from me, all I remember is that she told me that the weight I was that day is the heaviest I was allowed to be and if I had put weight on I wouldn’t be having my surgery. Talk about pressure right there!! But at least I know what weight I must remain under.

Lastly I met with the surgical team dietician who was the loveliest lady, she was really impressed with the changes that I have made to my life and diet and she told me I was a model patient who had grabbed my chance with both hands and was a pleasure to work with and she wished that others were as dedicated to change as I was.

So that was all of the multidisciplinary team and I am still awaiting my letter to confirm everything that was agreed on the day, but I am not worried about that. I am really excited to receive my call from the Specialist Nurse to tell me to start my milk diet and give me my surgical date.

Its just a waiting game now, and I cant say I am the most patient of people but I know my time is coming and so very soon I will be on the losers bench having changed my life unrecognisably.

Watch this space!!!!

Sugar Free Me

This week I’ve been cutting sugar out of my diary, as I am in a full blown sugar addiction. Its scary to think how easy it is to get addicted to the sweet things, and yet as a world we do nothing to prevent this addiction, for me its more addictive than alcohol, tobacco and drugs. And its so easy for our children to access sugar in so very many forms.

So I’ve put together a 12 Step process which I have followed this week to help cut out my sugar intake.

LISA’S 12 STEPS TO A SUGAR FREE LIFESTYLE

  1. Stop buying processed foods – If it comes in a packet, a bag or a box, there is a good chance that it will contain added sugars.
  2. Make your own sauces – The amount of sugar which is hidden in premade sauces eg. bolognaise sauces, is absolutely shocking. We wouldn’t add it to our own sauce if making from scratch, so why would we accept it in premade sauces?
  3. Swap fruit juices for fresh fruits – grab fresh oranges and squeeze your own rather than buying bottled juices because as to be expected based on the rest of this post, they contain hideous amounts of hidden sugars. Think of the affect it would have on your teeth too!
  4. Avoid flavoured yoghurts – buy natural yoghurts and add your own fresh fruits rather than the premade varieties
  5. Make your own dressings – to go along with point 2 above, pre bottled dressings also contain hidden sugars. So making your own and this will rid you of sugars that you don’t realise you are consuming
  6. Give yourself a quota – If you need to add sugar to your drinks limit yourself to a certain number of teaspoons or if you want to eat some chocolate limit the number of squares you will eat per day/week
  7. Set rules – especially when it comes to desserts!!
  8. Don’t keep treats or sweets in the house – this is a massive one for me, If its in my house I’m going to eat it, so its better for everyone if I don’t buy chocolate. Because I have literally NO willpower when it comes to chocolate.
  9. If you want to use sugar, consider a substitute – if like me you take sugar in your tea, try a sugar substitute instead. It comes in a powder form or a tablet which goes much better in hot drinks.
  10. If chocolate is your downfall, eat dark chocolate. My drug of choice is chocolate, but I know a massive bar of dairy milk isn’t going to work in my favour so I have will be using a few squares of dark chocolate to satisfy those desperate chocolate cravings
  11. Avoid Mixed Alcohol Drinks – Premade alcopops like Smirnoff Ice or WDK and mixed fruit ciders are full full full of sugar. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if they contain more hidden sugar than they do actual alcohol. If you have to have a drink, ideally a spirit with a mixer is the best option for you. Even our go to wines are full of sugar!
  12. Cut out all fizzy drinks – Even diet fizz contains enough sugar substitutes to ensure a great flavour, and lets not even talk about how much sugar is in a full fat coke!! Even thinking about it has set my teeth on edge. Do you ever drink a fizzy drink and it feels like your teeth a furry? That’s the sugar reacting with your poor teeth enamel.

To help you out, listed below are some of the ways sugar can be listed in the ingredients list of our pre packed foods:

  • Sucrose
  • Glucose
  • Fructose
  • Invert Sugar
  • Fruit Juice
  • Molasses
  • Hydrolysed Starch
  • Corn Syrup
  • Honey

And when it comes to understanding food labels, here is a quick guide to help you judge the sugar levels in your foods.

A food is high in sugar if it contains 22.5g or more of sugar per 100g

A food is low in sugar if it contains 5g or less of sugars per 100g

I really hope that the tips above prove useful and that it helps you understand and also reduced your sugar intake. I am providing many more details of my sugar detox which you can find on Instagram using the handle @babebariatric

I look forward to finding out how going sugar free works for you!!