Dear BariatricPal Members,

Happy Thanksgiving! Many Americans consider it one of their favorite holidays because it can mean a day or more off work, a chance to see friends and family, and a delicious meal. Thanksgiving dinner can be more than a little tough if you’re trying to follow your weight loss surgery diet, but we hope this newsletter will help by providing some motivation and some tips. Here’s what you’ll find in the newsletter.

• A Heartfelt Thanks from BariatricPal
• Giving Thanks This Year
• Thanksgiving Dinner the WLS-Friendly Way

Go through the newsletter, come check in with BariatricPal to wish us and the other BP member Happy Thanksgiving, and then go enjoy your family and friends. Happy Thanksgiving!

Sincerely,

Alex Brecher

Founder, BariatricPal

Insure Nutrition

We are always thrilled to welcome a new newsletter sponsor into the BariatricPal family, and this month, Insure Nutrition is giving us the pleasure of doing just that. Our latest sponsor, Insure Nutrition, is an online company that specializes in getting health insurance coverage for nutritional supplements. Its Post-Bariatric Surgery Nutrition products includes Premier Protein shakes in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors and OptiSource High Protein drinks in caramel and strawberry flavors. Checking if you are eligible is easy. Insure Nutrition encourages you to use its online form to find out if you qualify.

Our sponsors help make BariatricPal newsletters and other services possible. We encourage you show your thanks by considering them first for your bariatric needs.

powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury and Opurity

BariatricPal is proud and excited to announce two new sponsors for our newsletters. The new sponsors are Unjury, a supplier of wonderful tasting, highest quality protein supplements, and Opurity (from the makers of UNJURY), highest purity Vitamin supplements for bariatric surgery patients. Their support lets us keep BariatricPal newsletters coming to you each month.

Unjury was founded by a master’s degree dietitian who has been helping patients since 1974. It is committed your health. You know the importance of getting enough protein after weight loss surgery, but you also know that meeting your protein goals can be challenging. Unjury makes your task not just easier but actually enjoyable. Product flavors include Chocolate Splendor, Chocolate Classic, Vanilla, Strawberry Sorbet, chicken Soup Flavor, Unflavored, Protein’d cheese Sauce (seasonal, October through May). These ready-to-use protein powders come in single-serve and multi-serve containers, and contain high-quality whey protein to keep you full and nourished.

Launched in 2007, Opurity is dedicated to using the purest ingredients in its supplements. Opurity Bariatric Multivitamins have two unique big advantages:

First, each Multivitamin requires only one tablet per day*. Second, Opurity is so dedicated to quality that it is unique in using no ingredients from China.

Choose from chewable orange-berry multivitamins for gastric bypass and gastric sleeve patients or for lap-band patients.Opurity also sells chewable Calcium, Vitamin D and folic acid/vitamin B-12 chewables. All supplements come with a 100% satisfaction guaranteed. They return policy is: “Yes you can return it.”

Support from Unjury and Opurity helps us continue to bring you the services you enjoy on BariatricPal, so please support these two brands! When looking for your bariatric surgery supplements, first visit Unjury.com and Opurity.com. Purchasing from these companies helps support BariatricPal. Thanks to Unjury and Opurity for your generous sponsorship, and thanks to BariatricPal members who support our partnership!

*You still need calcium and sublingual B-12.

A Heartfelt Thanks from BariatricPal

It’s the season for giving thanks, and BariatricPal always glad to have the chance to do so. First, a huge thank-you to every BariatricPal member. Without you, BariatricPal wouldn’t exist. Some of you are more comfortable reading the forums than posting, and BariatricPal is grateful for your presence and support. Others of you post more often, giving other BariatricPal members advice and encouragement. Your contributions keep BariatricPal going.

Thank you to the BariatricPal Forum Hosts. You visit the forums daily or many times a day and do such a wonderful job making sure the conversations follow the site guidelines. Without you, BariatricPal couldn’t be the warm and welcoming community that it is.

Finally, thank you to those of you who have taken the time to introduce yourselves or provide feedback. It is always such a pleasure hearing personally from BariatricPal members and getting to know you just a little bit better.

What Are You Thankful for This Year?

Thanksgiving is, above all, a holiday for giving thanks. It’s easy to forget to be grateful for what we have during the rest of the year, when you may be busy nagging your children to clean their rooms, debating with your spouse about which color towels you should have in the bathroom, and complaining while scrubbing away the coffee stain on your new shirt.

Being Thankful on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a day dedicated to reminding you to give thanks for your messy children, your spouse with less-than-perfect taste, and your ability to purchase a new shirt. Still, it’s almost too easy to forget to be thankful when you’re so busy planning, shopping for, and making Thanksgiving dinner, and getting ready for the chaos that comes when your entire family comes together.

Time to Give Thanks

Making sure to set aside a few minutes to think about what you are truly grateful for this year can even help your weight loss. Being more positive can help you stick to your weight loss surgery diet and get over setbacks more easily. Plus, being grateful for a variety of people and things, even if they have nothing to do with weight loss directly, can inspire you to stay on track so you can be at your best.

So what are you thankful for this year? Is it one or more of the following?

• Weight loss over the past year.
• Your weight loss surgery and surgeon.
• The support of your friends and family during your weight loss journey.
• Your decision to get healthy, even if you haven’t gotten surgery yet or aren’t even sure if you want weight loss surgery.
• Your family, friends, job and home.

On Thanksgiving and every day, it’s worth the effort to give thanks for what you have. Being grateful doesn’t cost you anything, and recognizing what you have can make you feel richer every day. Plus, being grateful instead of complaining can translate into better weight loss and health.

Thanksgiving Dinner the WLS-Friendly Way

All this discussion about giving thanks on Thanksgiving is well and good, but we know there’s something else on your mind: Thanksgiving dinner. You can easily down thousands of calories if you’re not careful, but that will cut into your weight loss and could leave you feeling sick for days.

With all that tempting food and the tradition of overeating, what can you do to keep Thanksgiving from being a disaster? Actually, you can. Just like you do with everything else on your weight loss surgery diet, you have a better chance of coming out on top if you plan ahead.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Too Bad

Here’s a secret for you: you can get away with a modified Thanksgiving dinner for only a few hundred calories. Why “modified?” Well, because it’s not quite the same as eating the full-blown feast with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, rolls and butter, and two kinds of pie. But it does give you some of the flavors you love, and it lets you enjoy the meal with everyone else.

The following meal has less than 500 calories. It’s more than you may normally have at one sitting, but it’s a far sight lower than the thousands you might have had in previous years.

• 3 ounces skinless turkey breast with deli mustard
• 2 tablespoons cranberry sauce
• 1 cup green Beans
• 1 green salad with light dressing
• ¼ cup mashed potatoes

Keeping It Under Control

There are some things you can do to help keep your Thanksgiving dinner from getting out of hand. These are a few tips.

• Watch out for quantity. Keep thinking about your weight loss surgery diet portions. They may be way smaller than what you used to have at Thanksgiving, but they’re all you need.
• Focus on enjoying every bite that you do have, not on going back for more ASAP. Chew slowly and enjoy the flavors.
• Don’t forget to enjoy the company at Thanksgiving dinner. Talk and listen, and put your fork down while you do. That’ll help you slow down and eat less.
• Stop when you’re done. Don’t keep serving yourself seconds and thirds, and don’t feel obligated to have dessert. Make it clear that you’re finished by folding your napkin over your plate. If you can, excuse yourself to brush your teeth, or pop in a sugarless breath mint.

Keep your Thanksgiving dinner under control, and you’ll have a quite a few benefits. The first is that you’ll keep your weight loss on track, and you won’t risk having side effects like dumping syndrome or getting anything stuck in your band.

Another motivation for keeping yourself in check on Thanksgiving is to build up momentum for the next month. As the holiday season continues from now until New Year’s, you’ll need to have a lot of self-control as you pass up Christmas Cookies and candy, holiday party foods, and all of the other treats that are everywhere this time of year. Start off on the right foot at Thanksgiving, and you’ll be well on your way to possibly having the healthiest holiday season so far.

Whether or not you’re traveling, and whether you’re hosting Thanksgiving or going out, have a wonderful and safe holiday. Happy Thanksgiving!

@@Alex Brecher

have a wonderful/happy thanksgiving day

kathy

Edited November 27, 201411 yr by proudgrammy

Thank u Alex and same to you and your family...

I got small paper plates instead of the standard large paper plates & protein & a few veggies steamed I even had a tbs of stuffing & that was my meal I also took some pics & took a walk with one my Sons because he just wanted to so it was a great day HAPPY Thanksgiving & I have a lot to be thankful for this year, my Family & friends & people I have met or people who encouraged me & others & for me being able to have a life& mobility again from the tool my Surgeon put in .

Thank you, Alex, I hope that you and your son had a great day.

It was a great day. I have much to be thankful for. My food was more than usual yesterday but today is back to normal. My new normal! Love my band. Love BariatricPal.