On this eve of Thanksgiving I appreciate you taking time to spend with me in this special edition of the 5 Day Pouch Test Bulletin. I know your Inbox is buzzing with incoming messages and your task list is long and time is short. So thank you for your time.

The feasting season is a challenging time of year to do the 5 Day Pouch Test - I know this as well as you. But over the years I've found that a few reminders of what we learn (and re-learn) during the 5 days go a long way in helping us stay on track in the midst of countless obstacles. I've gathered 7 of my go-to tactics from the 5DPT and invite you to implement them this season. None of us wants to wake up to the harsh reality of holiday weight gain come New Year's Day. But we don't want to miss out on the spectacle we call life either. I think we can each find our own happy middle and this year let's truly enjoy LivingAfterWLS during the holidays. Also featured today is  the short article "Hot Stove: Avoid the Burn" and be sure to put our Delicious Turkey Salad on your leftovers menu this week, you will love this fresh light salad with loads of flavor and health promoting nutrients.

In case you missed it, earlier this week we issued our Thanksgiving issue of Cooking with Kaye featuring old classics and new favorites. Link Here: Cooking With Kaye Thanksgiving 2013.

I am grateful for all of you in the LivingAfterWLS community who work very hard every day to live healthier and manage your weight with the surgical tool. May your Thanksgiving be bountiful and celebrated with heartfelt gratitude. I wish you the best this holiday season and always.  Thanks for LivingAfterWLS with me!

 
by Kaye Bailey

Pause to remember: Stand to be grateful.
It is a funny thing, the way the mind works. The healthier we become the less we remember how truly sick we were before surgery and before weight loss. This suggests that when we fall off the wagon of dietary compliance it is not so much about a moral breakdown or weakness. Perhaps we simply don't remember how bad obesity felt.  If we pause to reflect and be grateful for our new-found health we are moved to make wise choices that support our new manner of living. Use our LivingAfterWLS Personal Self-Assessment worksheet to remember where you came from and plan where you are going.
Download Free Self-Assessment Worksheet

Kindness from within
Now is the time we begin to treat ourselves kindly. Practice kindness on yourself in the same nurturing way you treat your loved ones with kindness. We didn't ask for obesity and we didn't ask for the fight of a lifetime to keep it under control. Treat yourself kindly. Find your personal hell-bent determination. You already know how courageous and powerful you are: you learned that when you underwent bariatric surgery.  Pull out your strength and reserves: you are worthy of your own kindness.

Grazing and Liquids
Holiday parties feature an array of tasty treats upon which to graze and delightful beverages in which to partake. This is an epic collision between our No Snacking rule and the Liquid Restrictions. We can avoid the wreck and still enjoy the festivities quite easily by following a pattern of nibbling or sipping, one or the other, but not at the same time. Enjoy a few tasty treats from that buffet, pause-mingle-converse, and then raise a glass of cheer. Alternate allowing 30 minutes for nibbles and 30 minutes for sips. We eat less and drink less following this pattern. More importantly, we are part of the celebration and can still respect ourselves in the morning.

Perfection is never the goal
We do not have to manage our plate with an all or nothing strategy: this has never worked for keeping our obesity under control. We must find the happy place between perfection and imperfection. Life is no time to insist upon perfection. Life is a time of growth, learning, improving, and accomplishing. And with that come mistakes big and small and successes grand and petite. In a given week during the holidays we will have 21 meals. That is 21 opportunities to make healthy or unhealthy choices. Some choices will be stellar; some will be hasty, some will be wonky-wrong. Each choice stands alone: we cannot drop-out of our WLS after one bad meal. I see as dieters one of the biggest dietary mistakes we make is thinking we must be totally perfect or totally imperfect.  Do your best in the moment, deal with each meal opportunity as an independent event, make good choices most of the time, and celebrate your beautiful and unique imperfection.

Stop Short: Discomfort is a Signal
The tool works by causing discomfort when we have consumed enough food. The point is not to see how close we can come to nausea. Instead we must eat until satisfied and then stop to avoid getting sick. The discomfort in the pouch is the signal to stop eating. Practice pouch awareness and put the fork down at the first sign of fullness. For me, before WLS, holidays were socially acceptable opportunities to gorge myself. It is an impossible exploit to accomplish after WLS. Exercise restraint and stop short of the discomfort. This is how the weight loss surgery tool is meant to work. This is how we can optimize the performance of the tool.

Protein First - Even on Holidays

5 Day Pouch Test Owner's Manual pages 17-18

 
Shared with permission from Cooking with Kaye: page 44.
Copyright LivingAfterWLS 2012 (C) All Rights Reserved

The fresh orange sections featured in this full-meal salad brighten the turkey and enhance overall feelings of satiation. Consider this for your day-after lunch following a feasting holiday like Thanksgiving. You'll welcome the lightened change of plate.

Ingredients:
8 cups baby salad greens, ready-to-eat
12 ounces cooked turkey, chopped
1 medium sweet red pepper, cut into strips
4 oranges, peeled and sectioned
1/2 cup commercial honey-Dijon dressing, reduced calorie
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Directions: In a large bowl toss together the salad greens, turkey, and red pepper. Divide salad mixture among four chilled salad plates. Top each salad with orange sections, 2 tablespoons of dressing and 1 tablespoon of slivered almonds.

Nutrition: Serves 4. Each serving provides 281 calories, 28 grams protein, 8 grams fat, 25 grams carbohydrate and 5 grams dietary fiber.

Try This: Turkey is such a versatile protein; it lends itself to many flavors. Try including fresh berries, chopped apples or stone fruit such as peaches or nectarines in this salad. ~ For an added boost of dairy protein and calcium add one ounce of shredded or cubed cheese per serving. ~ No oranges? In a pinch 1 (11-ounce) can of mandarin oranges, drained, may be used in place of fresh oranges.

*Freeway Chef Defined:
Like the swift-moving divided highway, Freeway Chef recipes are an efficient way to get from preparation to meal without relentless starts, stops, and side trips. Use these recipes for their efficiency in preparation: enjoy them for their hunger-taming deliciousness and nutritional power. Most of the recipes in Methods to Meals are graded Freeway Chef.

Cooking with Kaye: Methods to Meals
Available in hard-back comb bound format and eBook format.
Learn More

LivingAfterWLS, LLC
Kaye Bailey, Founder
Evanston, Wyoming 82931