nyxa

glass toys are awesome! in regards to the coldness.. they are cold. lol but that's not so bad, they can easily be warmed up by running them under warm Water or by your own body heat. they warm up pretty fast & retain the heat pretty well. you can also stick them in the freezer, if you're into that (hey, some people are- i'm not one, but whatever floats your boat!).. they are also non-porous, so that means that they won't be harboring or holding on to any weird bacteria.. so less risk of infections.. they clean up really easily.. you can wash 'em with plain old soap & Water or even toss them in the dish washer or dunk 'em in bleach or whatever. heck, sulfuric acid won't even destroy them, because glass is non-porous! lol woo hoo! another awesome thing about them (in my opinion) is that they have a nice weight to them. it makes for an interesting sensation. once you buy one, it's yours for the rest of your life. unless you break it, it's not going to have to be thrown away & over the long haul, it's a good investment. they also come in pretty colors and some of them even have actual gold in them! you can also buy ones that vibrate, if that's what'd you like.
the wooden ones don't have splinters. they're sanded down very fine & smooth. they used them since way back when. lol the emperor of china's concubines used to stick wooden eggs up their vaginas to train their vaginal muscles with.. they also had metal & wooden dildoes.. they had them all over the place.. you can research for yourself.. they made them out of everything from bamboo to ivory to jade & metal. in fact, they still sell jade eggs.. i have a set myself! lol and chrome ones, too! lol
anywho, you'll get your drive back. that's one of many good things you can look forward to! <3

MSM also helps tighten loose skin. There's a guy on YouTube -- his channel is LovingRaw, if I remember correctly.. anyway.. he was 400+ lb & lost down to his goal weight with raw food & doesn't have any loose skin. he does skin brushing & eats MSM... so might want to check him out & look into those options as well.
oh.. if you eat fruits and stuff high in collagen, that helps.. collagen is what give skin it's elacticity. one high collagen berry is the blueberry!
don't forget to moisturize your skin! they have MSM lotion on Amazon. it has all sorts of healthy oils & stuff in it! and also don't forget that your skin is your biggest organ & whatever you put on it is absorbed into your bloodstream.. so be careful about what creams and stuff you use.

i recommend a few toys, too. not just the vibrating kind.. try some made from natural materials.. personally, i love the glass & metal ones.. they're very easy to clean & last forever. they've also got nice ceramic ones and wooden ones.. lol
this would also be a great time to start practicing your vagina kung fu. xD weight train with your business & do kegels with vaginal weights or barbells inserted & by the time you get to goal (or whatever) and are confident in finding a guy, he'll be in for a big (pleasant) surprise. lol
of course toys are not the same as a dude, but you can manage your horniness a bit better.. til you become more comfortable & whatnot.. and it's always better if YOU know yourself better, because it's easier for a guy to please you, since you'll know more of what you like & want. and things change as you drop weight! expect to be bouncing off the walls before long. LOL when i was thinner, i sure did! xD even as a fatty, guys can't handle this! LOL

i saw an episode of dr phil called something like "my mate isn't hot enough for me!" one of the ladies that was on there was 145lb & had, had an RNY. she was 300lb. she had extra skin. the guy that she wanted to date refused to commit to her & love her the way that she loved him.. he dated other women & stuff.. but he just couldn't stand the idea of having sex with her, because of her loose skin. she couldn't afford plastic surgery to fix it. the guy could afford it, but didn't want to make that kind of financial commitment, especially since they weren't dating or living together or etc... but at the same time, he didn't want to date her or live with her BECAUSE of her excess skin. she was very hurt & sad about it.. dr phil told her that their "relationship" was toxic.. she said he was her best friend... dr phil said if he really loved her, he would find a way to work with her & help her.. but he won't... she said that this wasn't the first time that a guy said that to her.. about her skin. apparently a lot of guys she's dated didn't want to get intimate with her, because they were grossed out by her skin (which i didn't think was that bad)...
one thing the guy this girl was so into also said (or it was mentioned on the show) was that he was also afraid that if she got the surgery, she'd be too hot & other guys would be all over her... or that the scarring may be too bad... so basically he was saying there was no hope for them.. but the girl still wanted him anyway... REALLY bad... she kept saying that they had a connection.. and that he was her best friend..
in the end, dr phil agreed to pay for her plastic surgery, but told her that their "relationship" wasn't healthy or good for her & that once she gets her excess skin removed, she will likely ditch him & move on to greener pastures.
just telling you that story, because people can be very shallow. however... there are a lot of good, decent people out there & you don't have to tell anyone you were sleeved. they don't need to know, unless you're ready to tell them & want to tell them. that's YOUR business. also, if a guy has an issue with you having had the surgery to help yourself... he's not the one for you. there's a lot of men out there that would treat you with kindness, respect and love and that would adore you, no matter what... you don't need or have time to deal with shallow morons.

part 2...
there's also been studies done that link dairy products to breast & prostate cancer.. they said this on the news a few weeks ago- i don't recall if it was local or something like good morning america, but it was broadcast on television... there's also a book called the china study that did a study on various regions of china & showed the most common cancers and diseases among chinese people & what they ate (it goes more in depth than that, but it's hard to condense a huge book down into a few sentences without some sort of discrepancies, so please excuse me)... it was written by one of the top doctors in the united states.. here's his bio...
"For more than 40 years, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. has been at the forefront of nutrition research. His legacy, the China Study, is the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted. Dr. Campbell is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and Project Director of the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project. The study was the culmination of a 20-year partnership of Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Campbell received his master's degree and Ph.D. from Cornell, and served as a Research Associate at MIT. He spent 10 years on the faculty of Virginia Tech's Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition before returning to the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell in 1975 where he presently holds his Endowed Chair (now Emeritus).

His principal scientific interests, which began with his graduate training in the late 1950s, has been on the effects of nutritional status on long term health, particularly on the cause of cancer. He has conducted original research both in laboratory experiments and in large-scale human studies; has received more than 70 grant-years of peer-reviewed research funding, mostly from the National Institute of Health, and has served on several grant review panels of multiple funding agencies, lectured extensively, and has authored more than 300 research papers.

He is the recipient of several awards, both in research and citizenship, and has conducted original research investigation both in experimental animal and human studies, and has actively participated in the development of national and international nutrition policy.
source: http://www.thechinas...om/authors.html
he knows what he's talking about, i'd say!.. and he grew up on a dairy farm in the 50's, thinking that cow milk was the perfect food, because that's how they were raised & what was a popular belief at the time.. but he soon found out that, that was not the case & that people that eat animals & animal products develop cancers and other problems... and that by eliminating the animal products consumed they could stop or reverse diseases caused by the animal products..
there's also a documentary, called "forks over knives" where Dr Campbell and another doctor- Dr Esselstyn tell their story & how the china study came to be & what they found & etc.. here's the description from youtube:
"Documentary filmmaker Lee Fulkerson explores the possibility that so-called "diseases of affluence," such as heart disease, can be reversed by simply adjusting our diets to include less processed and animal-based foods. Back in the 1960s, Cornell University nutritional scientist Dr. T. Colin Campbell was working to find a way to feed the citizens of impoverished Third World nations when a trip to the Philippines forever changed the way he thought about food consumption. There, he discovered that the rates of liver cancer among affluent children who subsisted on diets rich in animal-based foods were notably higher than in children consuming plant-based diets.
Meanwhile, surgeon Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at Cleveland Clinic, was also discovering that many of the diseases he was seeing in patients were practically nonexistent in areas of the world where people were primarily consuming plant foods. Several subsequent investigations by the researchers (who would not meet each other until the 1980s), including a groundbreaking study in China by Dr. Campbell, led them to the revelation that a whole-food, plant-based diet could prevent, and even reverse, such degenerative conditions as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer.
In this film, Fulkerson examines Dr. Campbell's and Dr. Esselstyn's theories by following the two doctors' individual, yet very similar, story arcs, from their farm-based upbringings to their astounding discoveries. The film also records the experiences of a group of patients suffering from chronic maladies as they participate in an experiment in which their diets are substantially altered and wholesome, plant-based food is, essentially, used as medicine."
you can watch it on Netflix here: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Forks_Over_Knives/70185045?locale=en-US
or if you don't have Netflix, you can watch it for free on Hulu:
there's also a book by a scientist who cured herself of terminal breast cancer just by eliminating meat & dairy & all other animal products from her diet.. she had cancer 5 times at varying stages & went the traditional, medical route.. she did the chemo & radiation & even had one of her breasts removed.. the 5th time was the one that she was terminal with & she was like "modern medicine can't help me" & figured out how to beat it & she did. she duplicated the results in other people, too.
http://www.dailymail...red-cancer.html << there's an article about her, and her book is called "your life in your hands" by Jane A Plant & is available for purchase on Amazon (and yes, i have read it & i own it).
then you have people like max gerson who did a study in the 1920's on people with various kinds of TB... he studied 450 patients & 447 were completely cured... his daughter, charlotte gerson also had TB & she cured it by following her dad's diet & is still alive, in her late 80's now... the gerson institute cures people with terminal, inoperable diseases all the time.. you can watch a couple documentaries about them here:
The Beautiful Truth: http://www.youtube.c...e?v=wvzDHGLEUyw
The Gerson Miracle: http://www.youtube.c...e?v=sbIixJI_oa4
then there's ann wigmore, and the hippocrates health institute.. they do the same thing... very large percentage of cured patients that were diagnosed with terminal illnesses. she wrote many books that are available & there's videos of her & stuff on youtube & stuff.
there's a lot of raw vegans that have cured various diseases, like IBS, Crohn's disease, cancer (all kinds- pancreatic, liver, kidney, brain, breast, prostate, etc).. as well as recovered from things like PCOS (which is an infertility issue in women), as well as recovering from paralysis from strokes/heart attacks, like this guy here.. Dave the Raw food truck driver:

it's also great for weight loss...
this guy lost 200lb in 1 year by eliminating meat & dairy & processed food from his diet & eating raw food, lots of fruit, juicing and doing a doctor supervised Water fast for 21 days..

this guy lost 230 lb, beat cancer, cured his diabetes & healed himself from a paralyzing stroke... as well as other issues.. he was on 25 pills a day & doesn't take any now. (i mentioned him above, this is another interview)

this guy went from 455 lb to a bodybuilder.. restored his body, got rid of his medications, overcame diabetes, etc..

this guy went from 400 lb to 185 & has even been featured on the tv show "the doctors"

there's also a documentary called "fat, sick & nearly dead" which is about an australian guy who had all sorts of issues & was on all sorts of pills and things.. he decided he would come to the US for 60 days, drive across the country & do a "juice fast"... and it documents his journey & has some really cool surprising things happen.. like meeting a truck driver who weighed over 400 pounds & helping him lose weight & stuff.. the guy ended up losing almost 100lb in 2 months. and no gallbladder issues for either of them! you can watch the documentary on hulu or netflix..
netflix: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fat_Sick_Nearly_Dead/70173634?trkid=2361637
hulu:
they even have a website where they go over everything in the documentary & have recipes & etc.. http://www.jointhereboot.com/
so yes, it is possible for vegans and vegetarians to succeed with a sleeve. the only thing a sleeve does is restrict how much you can eat, it doesn't have limits on what you have to eat or where you get your Protein & Vitamins & minerals.. there are alternatives for everything that you have on your regular meat & cheese diet, just from a different, more easily absorbed, easily digestable source. and like everyone else here says.. the sleeve is just a tool to get you where you want to go. you still have to diet and exercise.. and one of the reasons that i want the sleeve is because of the freedom of diet that i can have.
also, no, i don't expect you to watch all the stuff i posted... i know that no one would. i just posted it to be thorough and in hopes that someone would find something they were interested in watching & watch at least one of the videos... and in case you or anyone else ever got curious and wanted a place to start researching vegan/raw foods.

mix 1/2 packet of crystal light with 6 oz of yogurt..
source: http://www.shape.com...-lillien?page=7
you could also add a bit of Water to that & then pour the mix into a popsicle mold & make some cream pops.
sugar free, low-fat lemon frozen greek yogurt: http://www.theperfec...eek-yogurt.html
all sorts of yogurt pop recipes: http://allrecipes.co...eslikethis.aspx
cheesecake in a cup: 1 sugar free flavored Syrup of your choice (raspberry, blueberry, etc), 6 oz of greek yogurt, 1 tbsp sugar free cheesecake pudding mix... mix together & enjoy.
greek yogurt & avocado paleta: http://allrecipes.co...eslikethis.aspx
^^^ on that one, instead of sugar, add your favorite sugar substitute & instead of 2 avocados, use 6 oz of greek yogurt and one avocado.. personally, i would use swerve sweetener, because it's natural, doesn't have a funky aftertaste, is low calorie, can be measured 1 to 1 with sugar & does not raise blood sugar, so it's low glycemic.. you can buy it at whole foods or natural food/health stores or online at: http://www.swervesweetener.com/
Protein pudding: http://www.yummly.co...Free-Recipezaar
1 box of any flavor sugar free pudding mix, 2 scoops of Protein powder (probably vanilla flavored or something that would go with your pudding choice, or make the pudding vanilla so it goes with your Protein Powder choice..), 1 1/2 cups of Water or milk.. then chill.. you could probably make popsicles out of these, too. << i really like the concept of that one.. cause it sneaks in extra Protein & you're opened up on what you can have, because there's tons of pudding flavors and tons of flavors of protein powders.. so you could have something that tastes like french vanilla Cappuccino, cookie dough, etc.. or have pistachio or banana pudding flavor.. and if you added a bit of water to thin it out, you could make popsicles, so the batch lasts longer.
greek yogurt gelato: http://www.seriousea...ato-recipe.html
^^ sub sugar for your favorite sugar free alternative.. could also use lime instead of lemon.. or use some other kind of citrus.. like yuzu, orange, etc..
if you wanted something savory, you could probably puree this one.. http://www.seriousea...ger-recipe.html it's got peas, potatoes & uses greek yogurt.. it's a curry... but you could make it non-spicy by omitting the cayenne pepper. you could add a bit more yogurt to taste & thin it out to your preferred consistency with some water.

aspartame, sucralose, splenda and etc are terrible for your body... so good for you!
you should try Swerve. it's made from fruit Fiber & doesn't have a bitter aftertaste, like stevia.. it's not a chemical thing like aspartame/sucralose/splenda/etc.. http://www.swervesweetener.com/ also... ZERO CALORIES!!!!!!!!! LOW GLYCEMIC!!!!!
from their website:
Swerve is a great-tasting, all-natural sweetener that measures cup-for-cup just like sugar!
Made from a unique combination of ingredients derived from the fibers of fruits and vegetables, Swerve contains no artificial ingredients, preservatives or flavors.
Forget low calorie sweeteners; Swerve is zero-calorie, non-glycemic and safe for those living with diabetes. Human clinical trials show that Swerve does not affect blood glucose or insulin levels.
With its great taste and superior functionality, Swerve is the ideal sweetener for sugar-free baking and cooking. Many people ask if Swerve is stevia. Swerve does not contain stevia or lo han guo. Unlike other natural sweeteners that have a bitter aftertaste, Swerve tastes remarkably like sugar and has a clean, sweet taste.
alternately, you could try using things like brown rice Syrup, agave nectar and the like. agave nectar dissolves into cold drinks, like iced tea for example..

if you're feeling it, you're ready lol besides, it makes you happier & more energetic, so it is healthy for you, too! and not a bad way to burn some extra calories.. lol

sure there is. i know it's wrong & "bad" of me to say, but i will say it anyway.. your nutritionist is severely uninformed. just because someone has a little piece of paper that says that they know all the stuff that was written in a little book for them to know, doesn't mean they know everything there is to know in that entire field.. like matt damon said in good will hunting, "See, the sad thing about a guy like you is in 50 years you're gonna start doing some thinking on your own and you're gonna come up with the fact that there are two certaintees in life. One, don't do that. And Two, you dropped a hundred and fifty grand on a f***n education you coulda got for a $1.50 in late charges at the public library."... xD
vegans can easily get 60g or more of Protein a day.. as well as all the other Vitamins and minerals needed.. in fact, in the book "becoming vegan" that's exactly what they recommend you do & they show you how to get it using vegan sources of Protein.< /p>
studies have also shown that plant protein is absorbed by the body more easily than animal protein & that cultures that eat less protein and Calcium actually have thicker bone density, because their bodies don't have to deplete their own Calcium stores to process & break down the protein and calcium from animal products... there's a variety of sources of protein.. and vegan sources of B12 & Omega 3 fatty acids & etc. everything required to be healthy & stay on a low carb, low glycemic index diet.
"Vegans who eat a variety of plants, including soy products, are sure to get plenty of protein, but what about vegan raw foodists? There is more and more information being revealed that there is an adequate, if not abundant, supply of protein even in a diet this devoid of animal Proteins. It is further suggested through this research that the body prefers that the protein actually come in incomplete form (as individual amino acids) so that it can do it's job of combining them in the best possible way for it's various purposes. When the body receives complete or complex Proteins it has to rip the amino acids apart and reassemble them accordingly. Amino acids from plant sources allow the body to skip that process and go right to the end game.

Everything has protein in it, so the effect of eating a variety of foods is the accumulation of all the essential amino acids. Nuts and seeds have a lot of protein compared to fruits and vegetables but a lot of raw food diet advocates tout green leafy vegetables as a good source of protein. By using a variety of greens (in great abundance I might add, up to one pound per day!) the body receives all the essential amino acids that it needs while also getting many other minerals, plenty of chlorophyll and lots of Fiber."
source: http://vegetarian.ab...and-Protein.htm
what they don't mention there is that you can juice your leafy green vegetables & other fruit & vegetables & get the same amino acids in liquid form, so you don't have to eat pounds of fruit & vegetables. making it into a liquid also saves your body from having to break down the Fiber & stuff & it can absorb it that much quicker & easier.

think about it for a second.. one thing that we're all raised (or i would think we were anyway) is knowing something about shaolin monks and/or kung fu & how "cool" it is... shaolin monks are generally thought of as being fierce, strong, agile, and "bad ass"... but they eat an all plant based diet... they're lean, muscular & extremely tough...
here's a video of a shaolin monk knocking out a US Navy Seal... he's shorter & lighter & has a shorter reach & was thus at a "disadvantage"...

most people that think living a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle after the sleeve can't be done just haven't put in the time to research & they're used to what the TV tells them & what is taught in schools.. most people are on what they call a SAD.. "standard american diet"... most people are happy with being complacent and (i'm sorry to say) ignorant of what's going on around them & are fine with doing whatever a doctor or somebody tells them to, without asking any questions or doing any research on their own, just because said person has a little piece of paper that says that they know what a book told them.. i think we find too much comfort in that.. i understand about doctors, because they spend years researching the human body, but they do it from a chemical/synthetic perspective.. they haven't explored everything & a lot are blocked off to the idea of more natural methods.. which i think is funny, because it's how the human race has survived since the beginning & there wasn't diseases like cancer around until recently.. when we started thinking we were so smart & messing with food's DNA & spraying insecticide, pesticide & etc all over our food. HMM... ironic, isn't it?...

there are people on this forum that are vegetarians/vegans, as well as other people that have had other types of surgeries, too.
a lot of nutritionists also have vegan & vegetarian options in their repertoire. yours was probably just spouting things that they personally believe, not what is factual.. a lot of bodybuilders will also tell you that you can't build muscles or get "big" if you're a vegan & that it's impossible & etc... that is not the case.. here's just couple (of many) proofs of that:


^^ the guy above is named marcus patrick- you can look him up on youtube. he's a raw vegan & has been a vegan for 10+ years.
vegans have protein powders, like sun warrior, vega, garden of life, etc.. for Vitamins & minerals, there's stuff out there like green vibrance.. for b12, there's spirulina.. for Iron & stuff, there's kelps and seaweeds.. for Omega 3's there's flax and other plant based ones.. like vega's saviseed, which has 17x more Omega 3 per oz than wild sockeye salmon... for protein, there's also nut milks, like almond, cashew, and even hemp & soy milks. there's tofu, edemame, quorn (which is made from a fungus & is low carb/high protein), seitan, Shirataki noodles (which are made out of some kinda yam), etc.. every living thing has some protein in it, too. leafy green vegetables, like kale, spinach, swiss chard, collard greens, beet tops, turnip greens, dandelion greens, etc all have high mineral, Vitamin & antioxidant properties, as well as protein... they all contain fiber as well, which helps keep you from being constipated.
here's part of an episode of tyra, where she did an update for "diet wars"... and this is the result of the weight loss as mentored by Alissa Cohen (a famous raw food chef)..

part 2...
there's also been studies done that link dairy products to breast & prostate cancer.. they said this on the news a few weeks ago- i don't recall if it was local or something like good morning america, but it was broadcast on television... there's also a book called the china study that did a study on various regions of china & showed the most common cancers and diseases among chinese people & what they ate (it goes more in depth than that, but it's hard to condense a huge book down into a few sentences without some sort of discrepancies, so please excuse me)... it was written by one of the top doctors in the united states.. here's his bio...
"For more than 40 years, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. has been at the forefront of nutrition research. His legacy, the China Study, is the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted. Dr. Campbell is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and Project Director of the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project. The study was the culmination of a 20-year partnership of Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Campbell received his master's degree and Ph.D. from Cornell, and served as a Research Associate at MIT. He spent 10 years on the faculty of Virginia Tech's Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition before returning to the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell in 1975 where he presently holds his Endowed Chair (now Emeritus).

His principal scientific interests, which began with his graduate training in the late 1950s, has been on the effects of nutritional status on long term health, particularly on the cause of cancer. He has conducted original research both in laboratory experiments and in large-scale human studies; has received more than 70 grant-years of peer-reviewed research funding, mostly from the National Institute of Health, and has served on several grant review panels of multiple funding agencies, lectured extensively, and has authored more than 300 research papers.

He is the recipient of several awards, both in research and citizenship, and has conducted original research investigation both in experimental animal and human studies, and has actively participated in the development of national and international nutrition policy.
source: http://www.thechinas...om/authors.html
he knows what he's talking about, i'd say!.. and he grew up on a dairy farm in the 50's, thinking that cow milk was the perfect food, because that's how they were raised & what was a popular belief at the time.. but he soon found out that, that was not the case & that people that eat animals & animal products develop cancers and other problems... and that by eliminating the animal products consumed they could stop or reverse diseases caused by the animal products..
there's also a documentary, called "forks over knives" where Dr Campbell and another doctor- Dr Esselstyn tell their story & how the china study came to be & what they found & etc.. here's the description from youtube:
"Documentary filmmaker Lee Fulkerson explores the possibility that so-called "diseases of affluence," such as heart disease, can be reversed by simply adjusting our diets to include less processed and animal-based foods. Back in the 1960s, Cornell University nutritional scientist Dr. T. Colin Campbell was working to find a way to feed the citizens of impoverished Third World nations when a trip to the Philippines forever changed the way he thought about food consumption. There, he discovered that the rates of liver cancer among affluent children who subsisted on diets rich in animal-based foods were notably higher than in children consuming plant-based diets.
Meanwhile, surgeon Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at Cleveland Clinic, was also discovering that many of the diseases he was seeing in patients were practically nonexistent in areas of the world where people were primarily consuming plant foods. Several subsequent investigations by the researchers (who would not meet each other until the 1980s), including a groundbreaking study in China by Dr. Campbell, led them to the revelation that a whole-food, plant-based diet could prevent, and even reverse, such degenerative conditions as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer.
In this film, Fulkerson examines Dr. Campbell's and Dr. Esselstyn's theories by following the two doctors' individual, yet very similar, story arcs, from their farm-based upbringings to their astounding discoveries. The film also records the experiences of a group of patients suffering from chronic maladies as they participate in an experiment in which their diets are substantially altered and wholesome, plant-based food is, essentially, used as medicine."
you can watch it on Netflix here: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Forks_Over_Knives/70185045?locale=en-US
or if you don't have Netflix, you can watch it for free on Hulu:
there's also a book by a scientist who cured herself of terminal breast cancer just by eliminating meat & dairy & all other animal products from her diet.. she had cancer 5 times at varying stages & went the traditional, medical route.. she did the chemo & radiation & even had one of her breasts removed.. the 5th time was the one that she was terminal with & she was like "modern medicine can't help me" & figured out how to beat it & she did. she duplicated the results in other people, too.
http://www.dailymail...red-cancer.html << there's an article about her, and her book is called "your life in your hands" by Jane A Plant & is available for purchase on Amazon (and yes, i have read it & i own it).
then you have people like max gerson who did a study in the 1920's on people with various kinds of TB... he studied 450 patients & 447 were completely cured... his daughter, charlotte gerson also had TB & she cured it by following her dad's diet & is still alive, in her late 80's now... the gerson institute cures people with terminal, inoperable diseases all the time.. you can watch a couple documentaries about them here:
The Beautiful Truth: http://www.youtube.c...e?v=wvzDHGLEUyw
The Gerson Miracle: http://www.youtube.c...e?v=sbIixJI_oa4
then there's ann wigmore, and the hippocrates health institute.. they do the same thing... very large percentage of cured patients that were diagnosed with terminal illnesses. she wrote many books that are available & there's videos of her & stuff on youtube & stuff.
there's a lot of raw vegans that have cured various diseases, like IBS, Crohn's disease, cancer (all kinds- pancreatic, liver, kidney, brain, breast, prostate, etc).. as well as recovered from things like PCOS (which is an infertility issue in women), as well as recovering from paralysis from strokes/heart attacks, like this guy here.. Dave the Raw food truck driver:

it's also great for weight loss...
this guy lost 200lb in 1 year by eliminating meat & dairy & processed food from his diet & eating raw food, lots of fruit, juicing and doing a doctor supervised Water fast for 21 days..

this guy lost 230 lb, beat cancer, cured his diabetes & healed himself from a paralyzing stroke... as well as other issues.. he was on 25 pills a day & doesn't take any now. (i mentioned him above, this is another interview)

this guy went from 455 lb to a bodybuilder.. restored his body, got rid of his medications, overcame diabetes, etc..

this guy went from 400 lb to 185 & has even been featured on the tv show "the doctors"

there's also a documentary called "fat, sick & nearly dead" which is about an australian guy who had all sorts of issues & was on all sorts of pills and things.. he decided he would come to the US for 60 days, drive across the country & do a "juice fast"... and it documents his journey & has some really cool surprising things happen.. like meeting a truck driver who weighed over 400 pounds & helping him lose weight & stuff.. the guy ended up losing almost 100lb in 2 months. and no gallbladder issues for either of them! you can watch the documentary on hulu or netflix..
netflix: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fat_Sick_Nearly_Dead/70173634?trkid=2361637
hulu:
they even have a website where they go over everything in the documentary & have recipes & etc.. http://www.jointhereboot.com/
so yes, it is possible for vegans and vegetarians to succeed with a sleeve. the only thing a sleeve does is restrict how much you can eat, it doesn't have limits on what you have to eat or where you get your Protein & Vitamins & minerals.. there are alternatives for everything that you have on your regular meat & cheese diet, just from a different, more easily absorbed, easily digestable source. and like everyone else here says.. the sleeve is just a tool to get you where you want to go. you still have to diet and exercise.. and one of the reasons that i want the sleeve is because of the freedom of diet that i can have.
also, no, i don't expect you to watch all the stuff i posted... i know that no one would. i just posted it to be thorough and in hopes that someone would find something they were interested in watching & watch at least one of the videos... and in case you or anyone else ever got curious and wanted a place to start researching vegan/raw foods.

wow! you look amazing! lol i just realized i said the same thing.. but it's true! lol so i guess that's a good thing, right?

thank you all for the kind words & support. i realize i can come off as overbearing sometimes.. but it comes from a good place.. i'm just passionate! lol --- i come in peace! <3
notime-- that's cool that your nutritionist is a vegan. but there are vegans/vegetarians out there rocking their sleeves. lol it may be a little harder in some ways, but it's doable! even if you can't or don't want to be a vegan, it's good to incorporate some stuff from that lifestyle in your diet, like you guys are talking about doing! doesn't have to be a full on conversion, a little does help a lot!
here's a video of a lady whose been sleeved, she's demonstrating how to sprout some seeds to eat & talks about the benefits of the Water that the sprouts are in..

on a side note, in regards to sprouts.. i saw on doomsday preppers (a tv show) where one family stocked up on various sorts of seeds and Water to sprout & live on in case of a major disaster.. because they (the sprouts) have everything you need to survive.. amino acids, minerals, Vitamins, carbs and fiber. i thought that was pretty cool!

Well, if you read all of your posts objectively in this thread, you have your answer:
"Most of the time, I don't get all my Protein."
"I know I don't drink enough water"
" I am a nanny for two little girls who like to snack all day"
Instead of eating carp, get good things to snack on. What are you teaching them by allowing to snack all day? If you stay compliant to the guidelines, IMO, it is easier.

My first initial response after reading the topic head line was, "At night.."

One a serious note, it took me a good 3-4 weeks. The first couple weeks I was really tired and took naps. I never take naps.

LOL at the thread title *sorry I have a dirty mind*
By day 3 post op I felt back to normal and now that I'm a week out I have zero pain and my incision doesn't hurt. I have 3 kiddos and have been able to do everything for them that I was doing before.

part 2...
there's also been studies done that link dairy products to breast & prostate cancer.. they said this on the news a few weeks ago- i don't recall if it was local or something like good morning america, but it was broadcast on television... there's also a book called the china study that did a study on various regions of china & showed the most common cancers and diseases among chinese people & what they ate (it goes more in depth than that, but it's hard to condense a huge book down into a few sentences without some sort of discrepancies, so please excuse me)... it was written by one of the top doctors in the united states.. here's his bio...
"For more than 40 years, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. has been at the forefront of nutrition research. His legacy, the China Study, is the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted. Dr. Campbell is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and Project Director of the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project. The study was the culmination of a 20-year partnership of Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Campbell received his master's degree and Ph.D. from Cornell, and served as a Research Associate at MIT. He spent 10 years on the faculty of Virginia Tech's Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition before returning to the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell in 1975 where he presently holds his Endowed Chair (now Emeritus).

His principal scientific interests, which began with his graduate training in the late 1950s, has been on the effects of nutritional status on long term health, particularly on the cause of cancer. He has conducted original research both in laboratory experiments and in large-scale human studies; has received more than 70 grant-years of peer-reviewed research funding, mostly from the National Institute of Health, and has served on several grant review panels of multiple funding agencies, lectured extensively, and has authored more than 300 research papers.

He is the recipient of several awards, both in research and citizenship, and has conducted original research investigation both in experimental animal and human studies, and has actively participated in the development of national and international nutrition policy.
source: http://www.thechinas...om/authors.html
he knows what he's talking about, i'd say!.. and he grew up on a dairy farm in the 50's, thinking that cow milk was the perfect food, because that's how they were raised & what was a popular belief at the time.. but he soon found out that, that was not the case & that people that eat animals & animal products develop cancers and other problems... and that by eliminating the animal products consumed they could stop or reverse diseases caused by the animal products..
there's also a documentary, called "forks over knives" where Dr Campbell and another doctor- Dr Esselstyn tell their story & how the china study came to be & what they found & etc.. here's the description from youtube:
"Documentary filmmaker Lee Fulkerson explores the possibility that so-called "diseases of affluence," such as heart disease, can be reversed by simply adjusting our diets to include less processed and animal-based foods. Back in the 1960s, Cornell University nutritional scientist Dr. T. Colin Campbell was working to find a way to feed the citizens of impoverished Third World nations when a trip to the Philippines forever changed the way he thought about food consumption. There, he discovered that the rates of liver cancer among affluent children who subsisted on diets rich in animal-based foods were notably higher than in children consuming plant-based diets.
Meanwhile, surgeon Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at Cleveland Clinic, was also discovering that many of the diseases he was seeing in patients were practically nonexistent in areas of the world where people were primarily consuming plant foods. Several subsequent investigations by the researchers (who would not meet each other until the 1980s), including a groundbreaking study in China by Dr. Campbell, led them to the revelation that a whole-food, plant-based diet could prevent, and even reverse, such degenerative conditions as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer.
In this film, Fulkerson examines Dr. Campbell's and Dr. Esselstyn's theories by following the two doctors' individual, yet very similar, story arcs, from their farm-based upbringings to their astounding discoveries. The film also records the experiences of a group of patients suffering from chronic maladies as they participate in an experiment in which their diets are substantially altered and wholesome, plant-based food is, essentially, used as medicine."
you can watch it on Netflix here: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Forks_Over_Knives/70185045?locale=en-US
or if you don't have Netflix, you can watch it for free on Hulu:
there's also a book by a scientist who cured herself of terminal breast cancer just by eliminating meat & dairy & all other animal products from her diet.. she had cancer 5 times at varying stages & went the traditional, medical route.. she did the chemo & radiation & even had one of her breasts removed.. the 5th time was the one that she was terminal with & she was like "modern medicine can't help me" & figured out how to beat it & she did. she duplicated the results in other people, too.
http://www.dailymail...red-cancer.html << there's an article about her, and her book is called "your life in your hands" by Jane A Plant & is available for purchase on Amazon (and yes, i have read it & i own it).
then you have people like max gerson who did a study in the 1920's on people with various kinds of TB... he studied 450 patients & 447 were completely cured... his daughter, charlotte gerson also had TB & she cured it by following her dad's diet & is still alive, in her late 80's now... the gerson institute cures people with terminal, inoperable diseases all the time.. you can watch a couple documentaries about them here:
The Beautiful Truth: http://www.youtube.c...e?v=wvzDHGLEUyw
The Gerson Miracle: http://www.youtube.c...e?v=sbIixJI_oa4
then there's ann wigmore, and the hippocrates health institute.. they do the same thing... very large percentage of cured patients that were diagnosed with terminal illnesses. she wrote many books that are available & there's videos of her & stuff on youtube & stuff.
there's a lot of raw vegans that have cured various diseases, like IBS, Crohn's disease, cancer (all kinds- pancreatic, liver, kidney, brain, breast, prostate, etc).. as well as recovered from things like PCOS (which is an infertility issue in women), as well as recovering from paralysis from strokes/heart attacks, like this guy here.. Dave the Raw food truck driver:

it's also great for weight loss...
this guy lost 200lb in 1 year by eliminating meat & dairy & processed food from his diet & eating raw food, lots of fruit, juicing and doing a doctor supervised Water fast for 21 days..

this guy lost 230 lb, beat cancer, cured his diabetes & healed himself from a paralyzing stroke... as well as other issues.. he was on 25 pills a day & doesn't take any now. (i mentioned him above, this is another interview)

this guy went from 455 lb to a bodybuilder.. restored his body, got rid of his medications, overcame diabetes, etc..

this guy went from 400 lb to 185 & has even been featured on the tv show "the doctors"

there's also a documentary called "fat, sick & nearly dead" which is about an australian guy who had all sorts of issues & was on all sorts of pills and things.. he decided he would come to the US for 60 days, drive across the country & do a "juice fast"... and it documents his journey & has some really cool surprising things happen.. like meeting a truck driver who weighed over 400 pounds & helping him lose weight & stuff.. the guy ended up losing almost 100lb in 2 months. and no gallbladder issues for either of them! you can watch the documentary on hulu or netflix..
netflix: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fat_Sick_Nearly_Dead/70173634?trkid=2361637
hulu:
they even have a website where they go over everything in the documentary & have recipes & etc.. http://www.jointhereboot.com/
so yes, it is possible for vegans and vegetarians to succeed with a sleeve. the only thing a sleeve does is restrict how much you can eat, it doesn't have limits on what you have to eat or where you get your Protein & Vitamins & minerals.. there are alternatives for everything that you have on your regular meat & cheese diet, just from a different, more easily absorbed, easily digestable source. and like everyone else here says.. the sleeve is just a tool to get you where you want to go. you still have to diet and exercise.. and one of the reasons that i want the sleeve is because of the freedom of diet that i can have.
also, no, i don't expect you to watch all the stuff i posted... i know that no one would. i just posted it to be thorough and in hopes that someone would find something they were interested in watching & watch at least one of the videos... and in case you or anyone else ever got curious and wanted a place to start researching vegan/raw foods.

my grandma gave me one. lol i love it
i mix spices for my curries & stuff, grind coffee for my dad, make homemade whipped cream, make smoothies, beat eggs (not often, but sometimes), if i need a small amount of something, like an onion, to be blended for a recipe, then i use it for that.. beats cleaning the food processor or a whole blender just for that.. make my avocado chocolate pudding with it.. mix it up & eat it from the same container,. and can save the rest of it for later.. lol less dishes! it does great on bean dips, like hummus.. etc it's also really good for pain in the butt jobs like mixing corn starch with Water... xD

so now you're L337. lol

sounds fun!!! i'd love to go to iceland & see that, too!

congrats on losing 101 lbs!
my doctor told me i should only eat 2 meals a day... so at least yours wants you to eat 3.
i am sorry to sound rude or mean, i don't have that intent.. but i have to ask.. why did you bother having surgery and why does everyone suggest for everyone else that you follow what your doctor says to a t... then you go get a checkup & blow off what your doctor says, because you think you know better?... i mean... why did you go to him in the first place, if you don't want to listen to him?
did you ask him why he wanted you to cut back on your food intake?.. personally, i don't let my doctor leave the room until he answers all my questions to my satisfaction. i do my own research about things online & i come to forums like this & then i ask him why he wants me to do or take certain things.. and i tell him right then if i'm willing to do it or not. lol i mean.. i want him to know what i'm doing to myself, so he can help me.. he saved my life once already.. but i let him know when i'm not comfortable with something or if i don't understand or whatever.
if you go the medical route, then you have to believe that the doctors are supposed to be there to help you & there's a reason he wants you to eat the way he said....
take my opinion cum grano salis (with a grain of salt)..

i like the tiny plate thing lol that's cute!
i'd probably just be like -- i'm trying to eat healthier so i had some nuts before i came over, so i wouldn't eat so much... or "hey, i'm trying that roca labs thing where it fills up your stomach, so i can't eat too much!" lol

congrats on losing 101 lbs!
my doctor told me i should only eat 2 meals a day... so at least yours wants you to eat 3.
i am sorry to sound rude or mean, i don't have that intent.. but i have to ask.. why did you bother having surgery and why does everyone suggest for everyone else that you follow what your doctor says to a t... then you go get a checkup & blow off what your doctor says, because you think you know better?... i mean... why did you go to him in the first place, if you don't want to listen to him?
did you ask him why he wanted you to cut back on your food intake?.. personally, i don't let my doctor leave the room until he answers all my questions to my satisfaction. i do my own research about things online & i come to forums like this & then i ask him why he wants me to do or take certain things.. and i tell him right then if i'm willing to do it or not. lol i mean.. i want him to know what i'm doing to myself, so he can help me.. he saved my life once already.. but i let him know when i'm not comfortable with something or if i don't understand or whatever.
if you go the medical route, then you have to believe that the doctors are supposed to be there to help you & there's a reason he wants you to eat the way he said....
take my opinion cum grano salis (with a grain of salt)..

MSM also helps tighten loose skin. There's a guy on YouTube -- his channel is LovingRaw, if I remember correctly.. anyway.. he was 400+ lb & lost down to his goal weight with raw food & doesn't have any loose skin. he does skin brushing & eats MSM... so might want to check him out & look into those options as well.
oh.. if you eat fruits and stuff high in collagen, that helps.. collagen is what give skin it's elacticity. one high collagen berry is the blueberry!
don't forget to moisturize your skin! they have MSM lotion on Amazon. it has all sorts of healthy oils & stuff in it! and also don't forget that your skin is your biggest organ & whatever you put on it is absorbed into your bloodstream.. so be careful about what creams and stuff you use.

his needs??? what about mine? LOL what if the girl is the randy one?

part 2...
there's also been studies done that link dairy products to breast & prostate cancer.. they said this on the news a few weeks ago- i don't recall if it was local or something like good morning america, but it was broadcast on television... there's also a book called the china study that did a study on various regions of china & showed the most common cancers and diseases among chinese people & what they ate (it goes more in depth than that, but it's hard to condense a huge book down into a few sentences without some sort of discrepancies, so please excuse me)... it was written by one of the top doctors in the united states.. here's his bio...
"For more than 40 years, T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. has been at the forefront of nutrition research. His legacy, the China Study, is the most comprehensive study of health and nutrition ever conducted. Dr. Campbell is the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor Emeritus of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University and Project Director of the China-Oxford-Cornell Diet and Health Project. The study was the culmination of a 20-year partnership of Cornell University, Oxford University and the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Campbell received his master's degree and Ph.D. from Cornell, and served as a Research Associate at MIT. He spent 10 years on the faculty of Virginia Tech's Department of Biochemistry and Nutrition before returning to the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell in 1975 where he presently holds his Endowed Chair (now Emeritus).

His principal scientific interests, which began with his graduate training in the late 1950s, has been on the effects of nutritional status on long term health, particularly on the cause of cancer. He has conducted original research both in laboratory experiments and in large-scale human studies; has received more than 70 grant-years of peer-reviewed research funding, mostly from the National Institute of Health, and has served on several grant review panels of multiple funding agencies, lectured extensively, and has authored more than 300 research papers.

He is the recipient of several awards, both in research and citizenship, and has conducted original research investigation both in experimental animal and human studies, and has actively participated in the development of national and international nutrition policy.
source: http://www.thechinas...om/authors.html
he knows what he's talking about, i'd say!.. and he grew up on a dairy farm in the 50's, thinking that cow milk was the perfect food, because that's how they were raised & what was a popular belief at the time.. but he soon found out that, that was not the case & that people that eat animals & animal products develop cancers and other problems... and that by eliminating the animal products consumed they could stop or reverse diseases caused by the animal products..
there's also a documentary, called "forks over knives" where Dr Campbell and another doctor- Dr Esselstyn tell their story & how the china study came to be & what they found & etc.. here's the description from youtube:
"Documentary filmmaker Lee Fulkerson explores the possibility that so-called "diseases of affluence," such as heart disease, can be reversed by simply adjusting our diets to include less processed and animal-based foods. Back in the 1960s, Cornell University nutritional scientist Dr. T. Colin Campbell was working to find a way to feed the citizens of impoverished Third World nations when a trip to the Philippines forever changed the way he thought about food consumption. There, he discovered that the rates of liver cancer among affluent children who subsisted on diets rich in animal-based foods were notably higher than in children consuming plant-based diets.
Meanwhile, surgeon Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at Cleveland Clinic, was also discovering that many of the diseases he was seeing in patients were practically nonexistent in areas of the world where people were primarily consuming plant foods. Several subsequent investigations by the researchers (who would not meet each other until the 1980s), including a groundbreaking study in China by Dr. Campbell, led them to the revelation that a whole-food, plant-based diet could prevent, and even reverse, such degenerative conditions as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and some forms of cancer.
In this film, Fulkerson examines Dr. Campbell's and Dr. Esselstyn's theories by following the two doctors' individual, yet very similar, story arcs, from their farm-based upbringings to their astounding discoveries. The film also records the experiences of a group of patients suffering from chronic maladies as they participate in an experiment in which their diets are substantially altered and wholesome, plant-based food is, essentially, used as medicine."
you can watch it on Netflix here: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Forks_Over_Knives/70185045?locale=en-US
or if you don't have Netflix, you can watch it for free on Hulu:
there's also a book by a scientist who cured herself of terminal breast cancer just by eliminating meat & dairy & all other animal products from her diet.. she had cancer 5 times at varying stages & went the traditional, medical route.. she did the chemo & radiation & even had one of her breasts removed.. the 5th time was the one that she was terminal with & she was like "modern medicine can't help me" & figured out how to beat it & she did. she duplicated the results in other people, too.
http://www.dailymail...red-cancer.html << there's an article about her, and her book is called "your life in your hands" by Jane A Plant & is available for purchase on Amazon (and yes, i have read it & i own it).
then you have people like max gerson who did a study in the 1920's on people with various kinds of TB... he studied 450 patients & 447 were completely cured... his daughter, charlotte gerson also had TB & she cured it by following her dad's diet & is still alive, in her late 80's now... the gerson institute cures people with terminal, inoperable diseases all the time.. you can watch a couple documentaries about them here:
The Beautiful Truth: http://www.youtube.c...e?v=wvzDHGLEUyw
The Gerson Miracle: http://www.youtube.c...e?v=sbIixJI_oa4
then there's ann wigmore, and the hippocrates health institute.. they do the same thing... very large percentage of cured patients that were diagnosed with terminal illnesses. she wrote many books that are available & there's videos of her & stuff on youtube & stuff.
there's a lot of raw vegans that have cured various diseases, like IBS, Crohn's disease, cancer (all kinds- pancreatic, liver, kidney, brain, breast, prostate, etc).. as well as recovered from things like PCOS (which is an infertility issue in women), as well as recovering from paralysis from strokes/heart attacks, like this guy here.. Dave the Raw food truck driver:

it's also great for weight loss...
this guy lost 200lb in 1 year by eliminating meat & dairy & processed food from his diet & eating raw food, lots of fruit, juicing and doing a doctor supervised Water fast for 21 days..

this guy lost 230 lb, beat cancer, cured his diabetes & healed himself from a paralyzing stroke... as well as other issues.. he was on 25 pills a day & doesn't take any now. (i mentioned him above, this is another interview)

this guy went from 455 lb to a bodybuilder.. restored his body, got rid of his medications, overcame diabetes, etc..

this guy went from 400 lb to 185 & has even been featured on the tv show "the doctors"

there's also a documentary called "fat, sick & nearly dead" which is about an australian guy who had all sorts of issues & was on all sorts of pills and things.. he decided he would come to the US for 60 days, drive across the country & do a "juice fast"... and it documents his journey & has some really cool surprising things happen.. like meeting a truck driver who weighed over 400 pounds & helping him lose weight & stuff.. the guy ended up losing almost 100lb in 2 months. and no gallbladder issues for either of them! you can watch the documentary on hulu or netflix..
netflix: http://movies.netflix.com/WiMovie/Fat_Sick_Nearly_Dead/70173634?trkid=2361637
hulu:
they even have a website where they go over everything in the documentary & have recipes & etc.. http://www.jointhereboot.com/
so yes, it is possible for vegans and vegetarians to succeed with a sleeve. the only thing a sleeve does is restrict how much you can eat, it doesn't have limits on what you have to eat or where you get your Protein & Vitamins & minerals.. there are alternatives for everything that you have on your regular meat & cheese diet, just from a different, more easily absorbed, easily digestable source. and like everyone else here says.. the sleeve is just a tool to get you where you want to go. you still have to diet and exercise.. and one of the reasons that i want the sleeve is because of the freedom of diet that i can have.
also, no, i don't expect you to watch all the stuff i posted... i know that no one would. i just posted it to be thorough and in hopes that someone would find something they were interested in watching & watch at least one of the videos... and in case you or anyone else ever got curious and wanted a place to start researching vegan/raw foods.