Dr. Alan Geiss

[lisacaron 5,075]

@@SteinLaFemme I have been to the support groups there before. They usually have a few people there. I know the office is undergoing an entire reorganization right now, and I'm not sure what the status of their groups are at this point. I would give the office a call and ask them when the next group is and to confirm that it is still on.

I have not attended a group there for a few months now since they started doing this re-org and doing construction at the hospital.

We have a NYC-Long Island Bariatric Support group as well if you feel up to a trip into NYC our next group is scheduled for Oct. 25th. I'm working on securing a space in Nassau County and Suffolk County to expand our group to those area's as well.

Here are the details for the next meeting and a link to the NYC-LI BP support group thread

http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/304888-ny-nyclong-island/page-11

The next meeting of the NYC/Long Island Bariatric Pal Support Group will be held on October 25th from 2PM till 4 PM at The Atrium at 805 Third Avenue.

The building is on Third Ave between 49th and 50th Streets.

The Atrium is at the back of the space on the lower level.

We are looking forward to seeing many of our forum friends there. If any Jersey friends want to attend, please feel free to cross the Hudson and join us!!! Westchester, Rockland and any other upstate folks are welcome to come spend the afternoon in NYC as well!

We are still working on our Long Island Venue's so stay tuned!

For those folks in the outer boroughs if you are interested in putting a meeting together in your area, visit your local library and see if it might be possible to book one of their meeting spaces for an afternoon. You generally have to live in the area to do this, so if you'd like to see a meeting in your area, give us a hand to secure the space and we'd be happy to come to your area and host a meeting with you!!

Hope to see you all on October 25th in NYC!!! Come back in a few days for some more "details" and the inside scoop for the upcoming meeting.....

[lisacaron 5,075]

Hi Friends!!!

The next meeting of the NYC/Long Island Bariatric Pal Support Group will be held on November 1st from 2PM till 4 PM at The Atrium at 805 Third Avenue.

The building is on Third Ave between 49th and 50th Streets.

The Atrium is at the back of the space on the lower level.

Looking forward to seeing all of you next weekend!!!

If your stressing over Halloween...Here is a little reminder and some low calorie fun alternatives!!

5 Ways To Scare Off Halloween Candy

It’s getting cold outside, the leaves are falling, October is drawing to a close — sounds like a good time to chow down on a heap o’ Halloween candy! Not!

While Halloween can be a fun time of the year, it can wreak havoc if you’re trying to lose weight. Just a few wrong choices or one too many of the good, old “But they’re so tiny. One more won’t hurt!”excuse will be enough to send you screaming off the bathroom scale on November 1st.

Here are 5 tips to help get you through Halloween with your waistline intact. (I did have “don’t eat any candy at all” as a first tip, but figured I’d be run out of town by an angry mob with pitchforks!)

Read The Label

If you’re going to indulge, at least know what you’re getting yourself into. Read the label on the bag of candy to find the serving size and the amount of calories. The amount of calories alone may be enough for you to stop overindulging. If not, you could trying cutting back on that amount of calories with your other meals. Granted, you’ll end up replacing good nutritious food with pure sugar — definitely not something you want to do on a regular basis! But if you’re otherwise healthy, it shouldn’t hurt just this one time – within reason, of course…

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

If you’re giving out candy, buy it as close to October 31st as possible and store it in a hard to reach place (or have somebody hide it). Having all that candy in the house is just too tempting. And you definitely need to follow this rule if you’ve ever had to go out and buy more candy because you ate most of your giving-away candy before Halloween.

When it comes to the workplace, avoid people who put out candy or look away when you pass by that overflowing bowl of candy the well-intentioned receptionist has put out. And if YOU are that well-intentioned receptionist, take pity on people and move the bowl out of sight.

Keep the Wrappers in front of you!

Because it’s so easy to mindlessly pop Halloween candy into your mouth with no end in sight, keep every single wrapper so you know how much you’ve had. Your mind may say you’ve only had three mini-bags of M&Ms, but a big pile of wrappers won’t lie.

Eat Only Your Favorites

To me, there’s no point in taking on the extra calories of something you don’t like or only like a little bit. If you’re going to have Halloween candy, then you may as well enjoy yourself by eating only your favorites. Save calories by turning your nose up to anything else.

Eat Protein

This tip is a bit tricky. Eating Protein will help counter-effect the rapid rise in blood sugar from all that candy. But you have to keep in mind all the extra calories you’re eating. Try to eat a piece of candy with a meal or a healthy snack. (I can hear a chorus of “Yeah, riii-iiight” just about now, as mini-chocolate bars are gobbled down across the country with nary a healthy food in sight… Well, don’t say I didn’t try to make you eat healthy!)

If you decide to go all out with the Halloween candy, watch out for cravings after overindulging. You may come crashing down hard after the sugar rush and experience intense cravings. Whatever you do, don’t reach for more candy! Instead curb cravings with these 5 little words:

Distraction

Get your mind off of the doughnut and onto to other subjects. Leave the room if you have to. You can’t distract yourself if the doughnut is staring you in the face. Out of sight means you won’t be thinking about it. Take a short break. Start reading a book or working on a difficult project. The odds are you’ll completely forget about the doughnut, candy bar, or whatever food siren is calling to you, and the craving will disappear. Distraction is a great tool for your weight loss program.

Delay

Delay the gratification. Give yourself permission to have some candy in 20 minutes. 20 minutes is long enough that the craving for the candy will pass but not so long, an hour say, that waiting seems pretty much impossible. If 20 minutes passes go ahead and eat a few bites of the candy, then wait another 20 minutes before you finish it.

Drink

Substitute a long cold glass of Water. The Water gives your mouth something to do besides eat — plus the water will fill you up. Even though it’s only temporary, the feeling of fullness is satisfying. If you’re craving sweetness, add a splash of fruit juice to the water. Vary your beverage choice if you like, just be aware of sugary drinks like sodas and juice. Don’t add extra calories!

Disgust

Another way to curb your craving is to picture the candy for what it really is: fat. Ugly wobbly, slimy, disgusting fat. Fat that plans on sticking to you for awhile… a long while. Go to the grocers and ask them for a pound of fat trimmings from beef. That’s what the candy will turn into once you give in to the craving. A pound of fat takes up more space than you might realize. Freeze that pound of fat. Whenever a craving hits get it out of the freezer so it reminds you of what you’re really eating.

Dance

Dance instead of eating the candy. If you’re too embarrassed to dance that’s okay. The point is to exercise for a bit instead of eating. Take a walk, climb the stairs, or break out in a set of jumping jacks. The results are two fold, you’ve added a bit of calorie burning to your day and you’ve avoided the candy!

Get out there and do the Monster Mash!!! Can't wait to hear your scary tales next Saturday!!!

Happy Halloween!

[heyyoeddie 4]

Is anyone else concerned with all the changes at Syosset Hospital?

First Dr. Powers left last summer, so I switched back to Dr. Geiss (who performed my LapBand surgery, but Dr. Powers had been my main doctor after I needed to have my gallbladder removed post-LapBand).

On my last visit they told me that Dr. Geiss would no longer be seeing patients, but I read in this thread that he is moving to North Shore Hospital instead?

I called to change my upcoming appointment today, and was told that all the PA's are gone and Dr. Geiss's patients would now be seen by Dr. Alison Barrett (whom I've never met).

[lisacaron 5,075]

@@heyyoeddie I will be up front and honest with you. I was worried when the changes started happening, and I gave it the benefit of the doubt. I love Dr. Geiss and his staff and slowly the changes went from personal care to the type of care one might expect at a walk in clinic where no one knows you or your medical history.

Even still I gave it the benefit of the doubt and I met Dr. Barrett after waiting to see her for 2 hours, I was less then pleased if you would like more information you can personal message me.

Needless to say my husband and I have left the Syosset hospital practice. We are now being cared for by Dr. Shawn Garber, who is part of NYBariatric Group. I can't expand enough upon the differences in the practice along with the personalized care we receive from Dr. Garber and his staff. Their office in Mineola is state of the art in technology, (this is not impressive to some (my husband included) I work in technology and I love that this office is full of the latest in baratric technology and health care!)

[heyyoeddie 4]

@@lisacaron Thanks for the info, just sent you a PM.