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Chew Bags???

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Taking the HIGH ROAD

I had a conversation with my cousin last night and she said something very strange to me.... "Bren, don't change who you are when you are thin." I thought... what an odd thing to have someone say to you. So we discussed it and I understood what she meant more.   She said, some people trade one addiction for another... Then she talked about a friend of her's whose sister would become indignant if someone mentioned how great she looked after losing weight. Then you have the ones who become better than everyone else And worse yet, the floozies, who don't know how to handle attention without doing it on their backs.   And lasty, I read a post about someone who was sick of people asking how much weight they had lost, on this here weight loss forum... and all the comments that followed. And it made me think of the bigger picture.   The truth is, we live in a world that is obsessed by a persons physical appearance, and the amount of pure hate and prejudice heaped on people who are fat is immeasurable. I myself live in a ridiculously prejudice part of the country. Cowboys with stickers on their trucks of a boy pissing on fat chicks. You name it. The ridicule is endless. Getting jobs, being taken seriously by doctors, even enjoying a night out with a meal has been difficult. I've endured so much hate in my life.   But now as with then I prefer to take the high road. My surgery and my weight loss haven't been advertised. But if people notice and say something to me, I am certainly not going to take offense. Rather it is an opportunity to educate people in some fashion or another. To connect with people. If people notice and ask questions, you don't have to be a nasty person. Because the first person you should be doing this for is YOURSELF! It's not anyone's business if I lose or don't lose, but they will notice, and they will ask. Being honest with even strangers can change their way of thinking.   How many times has someone asked you... "How are you?". How many times do you think they really meant it to hear the real answer? Many years ago I started giving people the TRUTH! And I never ask that question unless I am prepared for the real answer. I don't want to hear... "We're fine". I want to hear... how you REALLY are! Maybe it makes your life too personal to the world, but you cannot imagine the effects you can have on other people with your honesty.   Most people are good natured and when they ask a question they may well be facing their own battle and want to connect. Our world has become far too seperate. We don't care about our own neighbors. We have to start caring again. I don't want to stand in the middle of a crowd and feel completely alone any longer. If you ask me about my weight loss, I am going to tell you, and I'm going to ask you a question about your life, and maybe... we'll help one another.   Just be who you are... no matter what body fits around it.   Bren
BrenM

BrenM

4
 

Chew Bags????

I got to thinking about something a little while ago and I thought, why not throw it out there for discussion.   Background- Had my lap-band surgery 03/10/2011. So, this is my 4th night awake. I'm doing so so, hurting quite a bit still, which makes it hard to sleep, as do narcotic pain meds. Throughout these last few days, and the last 3 weeks I've been on a liquid diet. At times totally successful, and a few times I fell off the wagon. Understanding I am human, I'm not going to hide it or pretend I am perfect.   I tried to start a full liquid diet today and was sorely unsuccessful. The runny grits, no good. Took 4 bites and felt like I had sandpaper stuck in my throat. Tried some sugar free pudding tonight, again... just very uncomfortable, so I stopped after 3 bites. My stomach is still very swollen despite hot and cold packing. So I'm guessing that's part of the issue.   But the truth is also this, even the last week before surgery I was having a hard time gagging down the protein shakes and crap. I was literally living on vitamin water zero, hence my few lapses. I'm not craving food as much as chew. I don't find many foods to taste that great to me, but if it has the right texture I'm addicted. When you put the two together, it's a winning combination.   What do I enjoy THE MOST? A perfectly cooked steak. It was my last real meal before starting the liquid diet. Oh man do I miss it. I MISS MEAT!!!   So, as I said earlier, I got to thinking. I've worked with the mentally and physically disabled in the past, and for some... eating was not an option. They were fed through tubes in their stomaches. PERIOD! But for some who were fed through the tubes, they were given the opportunity to have sensory stimuli. TASTING!   How do you let someone taste something without letting them swallow it? I mean you have to be able to swallow at least your own spit for it to work. The therapists would use 'chew bags'. Some sort of solid food placed into a pourous yet not meshlike cloth. So no pieces could come loose. And we'd hold these bags in the patients mouthes and they would be encouraged to chew. Of course they got some of the flavor, and they chewed. It was kind of cool.   So I just tried it myself. A peppered piece of lunch meat and cheese in a chew bag. I got my chew on, I swallowed a little bit of flavor/spit. Nothing bad there, and I feel... ok. Kind of wierd, but like the garlic clove crunching I did the first 2 weeks, I had to do something, and it works. I feel Much better!!!   Bren    
BrenM

BrenM

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