Written by Tammy

On May 20, 2010, I had the privilege of sharing another evening in my home with friends, Melinda and Steve, to do a protein/recipe tasting. I think we were a bit too ambitious, though. It wasn’t long before both Steve and Melinda experienced dumping syndrome and had to make use of my ceiling fan, 2 recliners, and oh yeah...  the restroom!! And while I do not experience dumping as a VSG patient, I was a bit nauseous myself. Nothing against the products or recipes we tried – I think it was just too much too quickly. We had some great stuff! Let me tell you about them.

PureFit Protein Bars – as most of you know, I walked the ½ marathon here in Nashville in April, and I was introduced to these bars at the Expo prior to the marathon. I was intrigued because they were advertised as a “gluten free” protein bar. They come in 5 flavors – Berry Almond Crunch, Almond Crunch, Peanut Butter Crunch, Granola Crunch, and Chocolate Brownie. Melinda is having difficulty with the “textures” of food right now in her journey, so she did not enjoy these bars. Steve liked them OK, but I really enjoy them. I think they give a nice new option for protein bar flavors, and I think it’s especially nice for those people who need to eat gluten free. You can get a sample pack on their website to try all 5 flavors – PureFit. Stats are as follows:

Calories – 230; Fat – 6g; Carbs – 26g; Fiber – 3g; Sugar – 16g; Protein – 18g
(Note that the sugars and carbs are natural, from brown rice syrup, agave syrup, and fructose)

Atkins Caramel Chocolate Nut Roll and Sweet & Salty Almond Crunch Bars – I had found 2 new Adkins bars that I fell in love with and wanted to share with Melinda and Steve. And they both loved them, too! Pick these up when you really want a candy bar or breakfast bar, and you can at least feel good about the fact that you are getting some protein! The Nut Roll is just like a Baby Ruth, and the Almond Bar is filled with crunchy nuts. Very enjoyable!

Stats for Nut Roll:
Calories – 170; Fat – 12g; Carbs – 19g; Fiber – 8g; Sugars – 2g; Sugar Alcohols – 8g; Protein – 8g

Stats for Almond Bar:
Calories – 180; Fat – 14g; Carbs – 15g; Fiber – 5g; Sugars – 1g; Sugar Alcohols – 6g; Protein – 7g

 Chobani Greek Yogurts – Melinda was fortunate enough to get samples from Chobani of just about every flavor they offer. We had a great time taste-testing these, as all of us enjoy good Greek yogurt. We’re partial to the plain, so that we can add our own sweeteners and flavorings to them, without the added calories and sugars of Chobani’s flavored varieties. But they are tasty – very tasty! Melinda enjoyed the Strawberry Banana and Pomegranate flavors. I enjoyed the Raspberry, Blueberry, and Pineapple flavors best. And Steve took home the Honey and Strawberry flavors. (I also scooped up the Plain ones – YAY!) The flavored yogurts are non-fat and have about 140 calories, as well as 14g of protein. While the sugars are natural, there are 20g of them, so be careful in your consumption of those.

 This picture is Linda Farnsworth's (from her blog)

Linda Farnsworth’s Mock “Rice” Pudding – I decided to whip up a couple of WLS-friendly recipes for my friends who were visiting. Linda had just posted this recipe this week on her blog, and I was anxious about trying it. I HATE cottage cheese! I wish I liked it, because it’s loaded with protein, but I haven’t found anything I can tolerate it in, including cottage cheese pancakes. I messaged Linda and said – “Does this really work? I don’t want to taste the cottage cheese.” She said it works, and I trust Linda Farnsworth in the kitchen, so I whipped it up. YUM!! YUM!! This is such a sweet, comforting treat. I’m convinced that the addition of freshly-ground nutmeg really puts this dessert over the top. I used Hood’s Calorie Countdown for the milk, Fat Free Cottage Cheese and Sugar Free Cool Whip to help the stats on it even more. A BIG thumbs-up from all 3 of us on this dessert. Check out the recipe at:  Eating Well, Living Thin.

 This picture is Ree Drummond's (from her blog)

Brandielle’s Molten Chocolate Lava Cake – I’m a BIG fan of Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) and her Tasty Kitchen website. In a recent blog, Ree highlighted the Top Rated Recipes on the entire site, and this was one of them. As I read it, I began to see where I could tweak this to make it more WLS-friendly. And I’ve always wanted to see if I could make a chocolate lava cake and make it work. This is so simple to make, and yes – it really, really works! Best thing we ate all night (and what probably put Melinda and Steve over the edge). I used sugar free dark chocolate, Whey Low, and sugar free Cool Whip for the topping. Absolutely delicious! I will make this again for friends and family, because they’ll never know it’s better for you. Here’s the original recipe with no tweaking:   Ree Drummond

Melinda and Steve also taste-tested Trader Joe’s Sprouted Wheat Protein Bread (photo unavailable), which I’ve already reviewed, along with our friend Freddie’s delicious Whey Low Pear Preserves. Big thumbs up there, too. I appreciate Freddie giving me the courage to make my own sugar free jams, jellies, and preserves. I made some fabulous Strawberry Freezer Jam this week, and it’s setting up in my freezer right now!

As you can see, it was another successful evening together with some great friends and some great products and recipes. I encourage you to get out there and hunt down products that will make your journey even more successful and enjoyable. And get in the kitchen, too! You’ll never know what you can accomplish until you try (and maybe fail a couple of times, too!).

And now for the moment you have all been waiting for.....(drum roll please)

Written by Tammy

I’m excited about writing this review for the Slimpressions “Have” shapewear garment. My dear friend Melinda received one and was gracious enough to offer it to me! Thank you, Melinda! I’ll be forever grateful, and here’s why.

I’m pretty happy with the way my body bounced back after WLS. I don’t require an abdominoplasty, although I do suffer from a minor case of shrinkles on strategic parts of my body. I’m OK with that. However, the one place that I’ve really fought to accept on my body is my arms. They’re not awful, but they’re not the toned arms I’ve always dreamed of having. I don’t really have enough hanging skin to merit the pains of brachioplasty, so I’m opting to learn to live with them. But I’ve really been searching for a good shapewear garment to help compress my arms. This is not an easy task! And I’ve tried several. And then, Melinda (and Slimpressions) came to my rescue!

You can check out the information and pictures of the Have garment here:  Slimpressions Haves

 You’ll note that it’s much like a T-shirt with “gentle” compression. (Actually, the compression is pretty tight, which is good!) In fact, the compression is so nice that I am not wearing a bra when I wear this garment – it’s really not needed. I’m a 38B, so if you’re larger, you might want to try it with a bra. The sleeves come down to my elbow, so it’s not a garment you can wear with really short sleeves, unless you make it look like a T-shirt under another shirt for a layered look. That actually would work. Most of my clothes are three-quartered sleeves or long sleeves due to my cold-naturedness post-surgery, so this works for me. And wow, do my arms look fabulous and flab-free!

The directions for putting this on state to “step in, slide up, and slim down.” Not happening for me. I’m larger on the bottom than the top (always have been – didn’t change after WLS), so this has to go over my head. I won’t lie to you – it’s a bit of a struggle to get it on. All good compression garments are that way, though, and this one is a Size 1, the smallest size they offer. It is well worth the effort, however, to see toned arms in the mirror. I just tug it around my body until it fits like a glove.

I also thought it would make me feel hot, as today is a nice summer day in the 80’s, and I’m wearing it on a busy day at work. But it’s quite comfortable, and the mesh armpits give nice breath-ability. It’s really comfortable and tagless for even more comfort.

Yes, it’s $72, and yes, mine was given to me. But I’ll be buying another one! This puppy is fantastic, and I can now say Hello to some of those smaller shirts I’ve been wanting to try, but couldn’t get on because of my flabby arms.

Thank you, Melinda, and thank you, Slimpressions! This is a great find!

Note from Melinda:  I love the Slimpressions Skinny Minnie garment which has the spaghetti straps, no sleeves.  I have not tried the tanks-a-lot but think that this too would be among my favorites.  There is a Slimpressions garment designed just for you depending on your trouble areas.  I encourage you to look at their site to find wonderful products that are great quality, and actually work.