Stress = Comfort Foot

What do you do when you're dealing with holiday stress that's ratcheted up with a family member's critical illness in another state (which means jumping on airplanes and living out of suitcases.)

Why eat, of course.

Making good choices after having my gastric sleeve is the best revenge, even when you want to revert to old urges. And having the sleeve as a tool to limit my good choices is such a good thing. I so could have gone completely off the rails earlier this week.

I was in New York City, trying to deal/help with a sibling's illness and hospitalization. His illness is scary and definitely life-threatening if he's not a good patient (and that's a concern.) He has wonderful friends in NYC, but no family there. It's a complex problem and one of the most incredible stress magnets I've been around since my surgery almost a year ago. 

So far, so good. Going for the protein and secondarily veggies first when eating out. Have had some adult beverages, but won't let that get out of hand.

I'm darn happy if I just stay even through this crisis. Losing more weight would be a bonus.

Stay posted. This is a gigantic challenge and probably the first test of my long-term sleeve weight-loss maintenance.

Onward,
Carol

Tips from the Road: Traveling When You've Had Gastric Sleeve Surgery

The Indian Taco at Tocabe American Indian Eatery in Denver.

In the past few weeks, I've been going, going, going, and haven't been doing a lot of posting, posting, posting.

All that traveling has meant a whole lotta eating out and challenges to stay on track with my six-month-old gastric sleeve surgery. But I did pretty well and managed to get a few more pounds off.

I was in Houston and Galveston Island, Texas in late May, visiting friends and family with hubby; Keystone, Colo., at TBEX12, a travel blogger conference in mid-June; Kerrville in the Texas Hill Country at a family memorial service a couple of weeks ago; and am writing this from Lagos, Nigeria, where I'm helping hubby move back to the States (He worked there the past four years.)

And I confess that while I tried a few things that weren't strictly on the program, I found I could find something workable on just about any restaurant menu even Italian restaurants. Several of the hotels where I/we stayed, particularly Keystone Lodge, had nice kitchens with refrigerators great for stashing the leftovers.

Hubby's Texas waffle. Yikes, I didn't eat this.

Here's a few tips from the road:

Make good choices: Driving to Keystone, I stopped in Denver at Tocabe American Indian Eatery, an Osage Indian-themed restaurant I'd heard about on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on Food Network. The pic above was actually my neighbor's Indian Taco she kindly allowed me to photograph.

I ordered the equivalent only without the fry bread, a Melting Pot Salad with pulled bison brisket flavored with pungent herbs and spices, black beans, salad, cheese and roasted house-made salsa, romaine lettuce with a squirt of sour cream and chipotle sauce. I should probably mention that I'm not a big believer in fry bread as a Native American food because it came about from the rations of flour and lard Native American tribes received from the U.S. Government on their forced relocations from the East Coast in the 1800s.

I'm a big fan of main-dish salads, grilled proteins and veggies when eating out. I've mentioned before that the grilled chicken at KFC is one of the few fast foods I'll eat.

Assorted Sashimi Plate at Full Moon Café in Norman, Okla.

Stay away from the white food: Eat around the rice, potatoes, grits, pasta — or better yet, tell the wait staff you'd rather have more veggies or fruit instead. As much as I love sushi, I stuck with the beautifully presented Assorted Sashimi Plate (sushi seafood without the rice) recently at the Full Moon Café in Norman, Okla. High quality protein, no fat, no carbs.

Start with the protein: Because I fill up so quickly, I eat my protein first, veggies second and fruit third if I have room.


Hubby and I ate at the wonderful Pearl Garden restaurant on Victoria Island on my birthday a few days ago and I ordered Prawns and Cashews in a Crispy Basket. The prawns didn't have any sauce on them, but were perfectly cooked, tender and succulent. I loved the presentation in the crispy potato basket, but didn't eat that. I snapped a pic, just because the dish was so beautiful. I did have some wine, which brings me to my next point. 

Prawns and Cashews in a Crispy Basket at Pearl Garden

Watch out for the alcohol: I've found if I have wine, I don't lose. And hard liquor knocks me on my butt promptly; I just can't metabolize it very well. More on that in a soon-to-come post. It also breaks the rule about not having liquids with more that 15 calories per 8 ounce serving. Hmmmmm — makes me thirsty just thinking about it.

Stay hydrated: Bring your low-cal sports drinks in a cooler. I like the Fuze Slenderize, PowerAde Zero, Sobe Lifewater. Unfortunately, PowerAde doesn't fit in my drink holder in the car though, which is inconvenient.

On a related note, drink lots of water while waiting for your entreé: Because I can't drink liquids while I'm eating, I drink my water first. Steph, my fantastic WeightWise nutritionist/dietician, says we're supposed to wait an hour before drinking anything after eating — so get your water while you can.

This morning, dry and unpainted, I was down to 204 pounds, which is 69 pounds lost from my all-time high of 273. Weight loss has been slow and I'm still losing hair, so I know my body is still adjusting to changes.

Onward,

Carol

Making It Manageable: Eating Out

Three weeks after my Dec. 27 gastric sleeve surgery, my mother had her 87th birthday and we usually take her to dinner at someplace nice like Legend's Restaurant in Norman, Okla.

But I was just off my two-week liquid diet and on to the next stage, affectionately called "mushies."Those are things like scrambled eggs, cottage cheese and tuna fish salad without veggies.

I never told my mother I was having surgery, just that I had been dieting. I made sure I didn't sit next to her and played with my grilled salmon throughout the meal. It worked.

It took me awhile to get the hang of eating out in restaurants, but it was something I really wanted to get to, partly because I like the social, communal aspect of eating out in good restaurants with people I love. I also have done a bit of food writing, which I really enjoy. Dietician Steph Moore at WeightWise told me eventually I'd be able to take bites of everything and anything, although at three and a half months out, I'm not there yet.

Seared Tuna Salad from Full Moon Sushi, Norman, Okla.

The phase of eating I'm on now is mostly protein and veggies, with occasional fruit. I avoid bread, rice, pasta, etc., although occasionally I've had a bite. And I make sure I always get my oil in, because I know it's so important for my skin, cell walls, hair, regularity, etc.

One of the first times I ate out, I didn't order anything to drink and everybody at the table and the wait staff were puzzled by that. And the more I refused anything to drink, the more my well-meaning family pressed, which I found odd. I learned to order water or whatever and drink it up until the meal comes. I haven't had that problem since.

My favorite thing to order is probably main-dish salads. Today at lunch, I met my daughter Kat and her boyfriend at Full Moon Sushi in Norman, Okla., one of my favorite restaurants -- not just because the food is darn good, but the wait staff and ownership is so warm and welcoming. Trouble is, that I'm not eating my beloved sushi because I'm not eating rice and I'm not up to eating sashimi yet. Sashimi is the raw fish served by itself without rice. I turned to their bistro items they offer usually for people who don't like sushi. Turns out their bistro lunch and dinner menu was a quietly tasty secret hiding on the front of their menu.

I ordered Full Moon's Seared Tuna Salad -- sushi-grade tuna crusted with white-and-black sesame seeds, about a tablespoon of lime créme fraîche which is sort of similar to sour cream, asparagus and the cutest little crunchy wonton nest in the middle. All for $8.99.

My other favorite off the bistro menu is their seared scallops, served with creme fraiche and balsalmic drizzles, veggies and risotto, (which I didn't get), for $12.99. I've also had their beef tenderloin ($12.99,) the best buy on a tender beef dish in town. 

I think if you order carefully, you can eat almost anywhere. Restaurants are generally happy to accommodate your request to not have potatoes or risotto on your plate, and put salad dressing or sauces on the side so you can control how much you get. 

One safe thing to order has been grilled or baked salmon. I've tolerated shrimp including ceviché well, except for a too-buttery scampi that kind of made me gag one time.

I always was a fast eater that I attribute to growing up with two hungry younger brothers. Eat it or you might not get to. My dad used to say, "Eat, eat, eat," loudly at the table urging us not to piddle with our food. He was a dentist who came home for my then-stay-at-home mother's wonderful, hearty lunches and we'd walk home and back from grade school to have lunch together as a family. People don't do that anymore.

But echoes of those great lunches and dinners and my family's cooking (we all turned into pretty decent cooks) can get me in trouble now. I carry nausea medicine, Promethazine, in my purse just in case of emergencies.

Yesterday, I was having lunch on an outdoor patio restaurant in lovely weather with my little mom and think I ate my grilled salmon wedge salad too fast because I was stressing. And the nausea came rushing over me. I stifled it, but was concerned I might get sick in front of my mother and she'd be upset. I went digging through my purse and put the nausea medicine on my wrist under the table and started rubbing my wrists together quickly. My mother just looked at me like I was nuts. But it passed and she let it go. I have to remember -- I had major surgery. I'm still healing.

Go-to items as far as fast food are KFC's grilled chicken and taco salads without sour cream at most restaurants. Main-dish salads are available at most fast-food and sit-down restaurants and they're lifesavers. Like I mentioned before, order the dressing on the side. I should probably note I really try hard not to eat fast food, but sometimes it's tough to avoid it when you're on the road, which I am a lot.

It's all doable if we make good choices.

Hooray, 60 pounds total gone, from my formerly 273-pound frame. Forty-four pounds since Dec. 27 surgery. 

Onward,
Carol