Fat Frog Diary

This email begins a series sent to a friend considering bariatric surgery. I've decided to share my emails with her, since this uses some of the recipes and concepts previously expressed herein. I want to reiterate that the opinions expressed in my blog are my own. I am not a medical or nutritional professional. The information I give is based solely on my personal experience. Your Mileage May Vary (YMMV).  I promised I'd give you information on how to make the process of getting ready for bariatric surgery easier, so here goes. I'll be doing this in sections, mainly because it takes time to absorb the concepts and put them into practice. Not only that, but there's a lot of information to share! First we'll go over the boring, repetitive basics every yo-yo dieter knows. Still, this is important to remember. After all, practicing now means you avoid dumping syndrome later, and who really wants to feel nauseated, stomach cramps, weakness, shakiness, and sweating...

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/238037/chef-johns-salmon-mango-bango/?clickId=right%20rail1&internalSource=rr_feed_recipe_sb&referringId=82923%20referringContentType%3Drecipe#recipe-toolbar OMG, this is soooo good! I used frozen mango, but it worked just as well. The salsa was out of this world good. I could slather a brick with the stuff and eat it.

That's 1/2 soup can of water. Sorry about the flash. I ended up adding another 1/2 can of both milk and water when I made it.  For those of us with a post-op bariatric surgery, I highly recommend cutting up the sprouts, or better yet, pulse them in the food processor long enough to shred up a bit. I used the food processor and pulsed about ten times.  I personally cut up my bacon with kitchen shears right into the hot pan so they're already in bite-sized chunks. 

I was struggling with the diet because I had misread the list of allowed foods. I had been trying to follow the 24 hour clear liquids diet! OMG! No wonder I had been struggling. Needless to say, I have enjoyed vegetables and white meats this afternoon and evening. Full tummy and contentment. 

I don't talk about my diet much on Facebook. No one gives a rat's patootey about your diet except someone else on the diet. Your friends will applaud when you've lost a few pounds, but this is a long-haul marathon slog. In fact, it's a full lifestyle change. This is kind of like how vegans seem to brag about their diet choice and post recipes like they expect you to join in. The most I could ever manage was a lacto-ovo-pesco-pollotarian. (Willing to give up beef and pork, but will eat chicken, fish, eggs, and milk.) I've been back on a low-carb diet for months, and transitioning over to the Phase One of the pre-surgical diet has been relatively smooth. Do I miss my carbs? YOU BETCHA! Especially my morning bowl of hot cereals. Everything else I can live without, but that's a lifetime habit to have a bowl of carbs in the morning to fuel the day. I don't even miss red meat right now. This may change, but so far I'm okay with just fish, eggs, beans, white ...

Have you seen the 21-Day Fix diet? I kept coming across pins on Pinterest related to it, and I was intrigued by the seeming simplicity of simply measuring by using colorful containers. No counting! Let me state right at the beginning that I didn't buy the book, nor did I buy the colored containers. While they are inexpensive enough on Amazon, I want to "try before you buy" and simply see if it would help me in my weight loss adventures while I wait for surgery. I'm a dedicated foodie. That's one reason why my BMI is a whopping 43. I love food, and I love combining my foods into interesting and tasty combinations such as mini-peppers cut in half and stuffed with half a mozzarella stick. Yumm! Who says diets have to be boring? Anyway, I checked around and found the number of colorful containers for my weight. Each color represents a different food group and each container is a specific size to match a serving of that food group. For instance, I am allowed 3 gr...

Just a quick little tip for a snacker who doesn't want to fall off the wagon. (Me!) I'm sure you've seen those mini-peppers in the store in bags, looking colorful and tempting. Were you scared of the heat? Don't be. No heat! Those things wouldn't cause a hot flash even if Leonardo DiCaprio walked by stark naked. (Sorry Leo!) Cut them in half and you can stuff them with cream cheese and ground beef, but for a simple snack with no fuss, cut a mozzarella stick in half and stuff the pepper with that. I stuffed four peppers with four halves of two mozzarella sticks and microwaved them for a minute to melt the cheese to gooey deliciousness. Yum!

I found this on the side of a box of Jell-o Vanilla Sugar Free Pudding and tried it. I made one change and one omission. I changed the cookies to a sprinkle of graham cracker crumbs and I didn't use any Cool Whip. Oh, and I used the sugar free varieties of the pudding and gelatin. However, I will type the recipe faithfully. Do what you want. It's your life. Mini Lemon Cream "Pies"  1 pkg (3.4 oz) Jell-o Vanilla Flavor Instant Pudding 1 pkg. (3 oz) Jell-o Lemon Flavor Gelatin 1-1/2 cups boiling water 8 vanilla wafers (or graham cracker crumbs) 1 cup thawed Cool Whip whipped topping (optional) Combine dry pudding and gelatin powder in a medium bowl. Add boiling water, stir for 2 minutes, until completely dissolved. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Place 1 wafer in the bottom of each of the 8 dessert dishes. Cover with the pudding mixture. Top with the Cool Whip. Chill for at least an hour. Refrigerate any leftovers.

I don't know about you, but most Jell-o Jiggler and Knox Blox recipes want you to use 4 boxes of Jell-o, and the Knox Blox formula looks like a chemist's list of ingredients. But what if you want enough for one person? What if you only have one box of three different flavors? Now what? Break out the calculator and guess? NOPE! Here's your simple formula. You can commit this to memory. For every one box of Jell-o, use one cup of hot water. Now here's the rest of the tricks: 1. Use a spray like Pam to lubricate the inside of your mold. Wipe most of the foam away with a paper towel, leaving just a slick surface. 2. When mixing the gelatin and hot water, stir with the whisk for two minutes. Yes, set a timer. There's one on your phone, microwave, and probably your stove. Use your Echo device. Use a timer. Seriously. Stir for the whole two minutes and pay attention. Create as few bubbles as possible. Stir, don't whisk. Bubbles leave unsightly pock marks on...

Yield: 4 servings 6 bacon strips, diced 2 small zucchini, cut into ¼ inch slices 2 small yellow squash, cut into ¼ inch slices 1 medium onion, thinly sliced In a large skillet, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp; remove to paper towels. Drain, reserving 2 T drippings. In the drippings, saute the zucchini, yellow squash, and onion for 6-8 minutes or until crisp-tender. Sprinkle with bacon to serve. Lee Plumb, NCICS

A creamy, smooth blend of three convenient mixes that's very versatile. 1 package (3-1/4 oz.) Jell-O sugar free pudding and pie filling 1 package (3 oz) Jell-O sugar free gelatin (any fruit flavor) 2-1/2 cups water, boiling 1 tub sugar free Cool Whip, thawed or whipped cream! Y Combine pudding, gelatin, and water. Stirring until thick and clear. Chill until slightly thickened. When thickened, add to Cool Whip, folding together. Spoon into individual dessert dishes. Chill until firm. Makes about 4 cups or 6-8 servings.

You can actually make it with any flavor of Jell-O. It's worth the time and trouble when you're craving ice cream!

Cabbage Beef Soup Ingredients: 2 T vegetable oil 1 lb ground beef ½ lg onion, chopped 5 cups chopped cabbage 2 (16 0z) cans red kidney beans, drained 2 cups water 24 oz tomato sauce 4 beef bouillon cubes 1-1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp salt 1 tsp pepper Directions: Heat oil in a large fry pan or electric fryer and cook ground beef and onion until beef is well browned and crumbled. Drain and transfer to a large slow cooker. Add cabbage and the rest of ingredients. Stir to dissolve bouillon cubes. Cover with slow cooker lid. Cook on high 4 hours or on low 6-8 hours. Stir occasionally. Serve in large soup bowls with crusty artisan loaves if desired.

Best darn low carb ice cream I've had to date. It's easy, cheap, delicious, healthy, and not pretentious at all. Because it's made and ready to be eaten in less than an hour, it kills that "I want ICE CREAM!" craving before it sabotages your diet. 

I was surprised at how tasty and easy these are! However, I was silly and used a disher scoop as opposed to putting them in ice cube trays for a smaller, more manageable bite. Keep the size as smaller than an ice cube.