Lapband

[jsprik]

i did roger...well, iadded the link to my blog on one of my posts on this thread...but i can add it here, it's EASY!!!

• take your favorite beans (i love northern and pinto) and put them in a pan

• season them the way you like them

• warm them up

• place beans in a bowl

• top with cheese (i use 2% sharp cheddar...can use ff if you like)

• add a dollup of sour cream (ff or low-fat)

• can add onion, peppers, jalapeno's, etc.

[li]can also use microwave if you like...

ENJOY!!!

[tprouty]

Hi Lisa.

I've found a trick that helps jog my memory so I don't put non LDL foods in my mouth out of habit. It's not that I'm hungry or craving anything. I know to eat if I'm hungry, and I don't crave the bad stuff anymore. Sometimes it's just plain habit, and sometimes it's "eating" an emotion (also a habit that has the strength of many years behind it!  )

Anyway, after getting far too relaxed with my LDL good habits over the winter, I decided I needed something to make me stop and think. I use a method that behavior modification counselors sometimes use. I pay myself for staying 100% true to LDL. For right now I am "paying" myself in $, though I will probably alter my methods from time to time just to keep it interesting. Right now, though, I am getting back into my love of quilting, and I like having a little cash to spend on my passion without feeling guilty.

My personalized method is this: Beginning every Saturday, I set aside for myself $5 for every day I am true to LDL. If I stay on plan until Friday, I have $35 to spend as I please, or to save for a future purchase (something I WANT, not a necessity -- I'm thinking cute shoes in the near future). If I slip, say on Monday, I lose all of the money saved for the week up to that point ($15), but I can still gain $20 for the remainder of the week.

I need the consequences to be immediate, but not so tough (like losing a whole month or more of rewards) that it gets discouraging if I step off the path. It has really worked for me for the past 6 weeks or so! If I automatically reach for something non LDL, I immediately think what it will cost me. By the time Wednesday or Thursday rolls around, I really do not want to eat something that will cost me $25 or $30! Not once in the last 6 weeks have I reached for anything remotely off plan.  My hubby does not need to eat LDL, so there are a lot of things in the house that are not on plan, though they are not tempting unless they are within too easy reach, especially if I am too busy to cook, or stressed or extra tired.

In the future I might choose a reward of doing something special rather than saving money. And there will probably be times when I can't afford myself  and will have to have an alternate plan. But, amazingly, it is working so well!

I really love the way I feel so much healthier, more energetic, more present with life when I eat true to LDL. But that has just not been enough incentive to permanently break the habits and the library of excuses built during so many years. I know they say it takes several weeks to break a bad habit and replace it with a new one -- but I find those old habits are always lurking in the background, using any excuse they can devise to become part of my life again.

I know I will have to deal with the emotions I habitually "eat" as they come up, but this "pay as you go" plan keeps my commitment to not cover them with food (and fat) in the foreground.

Best of luck as you figure out your own strategies!

Terri

[cameron]

Excellent post Terri, what a great idea.

[MsHeirloom]

Great motivational tip, Terri.  I think it would work for many of us.  I know I'm a reinforcement junkie.  At this point, the way I feel (physically and emotionally) is all the reinforcement I have needed.  You go girl!!!

[lrainbow2006]

Thanks Terri...that is another great idea...but I will have to think of something other than money as a reward   

My Eddie will be on a medical leave from work for at least a month or two to get his back feeling better.  I plan on using that time to really get him on LDL..boy do I need prayers on this one..lol    Our money will be very tight since it will just be my income for awhile....and that isn't all that much....

[witheraway1]

Lisa, Wishing you all the best EVER, KEEP ME PERSONALLY POSTED AS TO HOW THINGS ARE GOING. YOU KNOW WHERE I AM.    FOR YOU AND YOUR EDDIE

[cameron]

oh my goodness Lisa, does Eddie not get any pay at all while on medical leave?

One cannot put a price on getting healthier and somehow this will all work out.

We are  very concerned for you and Eddie, please keep us posted.

[MsHeirloom]

Even though finances will be very tight, this is a wonderful opportunity to get your man started on his quest for health.  I agree with Cameron; this will somehow work out.  Let us know how we can help.  Pam

[tprouty]

I know it will be a tight month or two, Lisa, but hang in there! Keep repeating that line under your picture -- "I can do this!" If you have the time to cook your beans from bulk dry beans, it saves money. But even using prepared canned or frozen whole foods, LDL is not as expensive as one might think. My "daughter" (she calls me Mom, although I didn't give birth to her) has been on LDL for about a year and a half, and her income is strictly limited to Social Security disability. Very tight, but she actually does better money-wise -- not to mention health-wise -- on LDL. She's turning into quite the wise shopper.

Paying myself in something other than $$ to remind myself to make LDL choices will work just as well -- perhaps better. I can think of all sorts of fun and inexpensive activities to treat myself to if I put my mind to it.

I hope you can help Eddie get enthusiastic about making the changes he needs to make. For those couples and families who are doing LDL together, it is wonderful to have the mutual encouragement and accountability.

And you know we'll do all we can to encourage you, too!

Take care!
Terri

[witheraway1]

Lisa, Eddie should be able to draw disabily, usually the Dr fills out the paper and you have to mail the claim. That comes I think every 2 weeks. As long as the DR. SAYS HE CAN'T WORK.

[lrainbow2006]

You guys really do offer encouragement and it amazes me how much you all care and you don't even know us. 
Eddie's company is out of Missouri and for some reason it doesn't offer any disability.  And I don't know how it works if he were to do something through NY..  I have a friend looking into our options but I don't think there are many.  He was out of work 8 weeks last year due to his hernia operation and we made it through without it but barely.  Thank God I had a bit of a tax refund.

I know LDL can be inexpensive with the beans and such, but fruits and veggies sure are high.  I tried growing tomatoes last year...haha...Our growing season is so short  by the time it was over I had lots of little green tomatoes.  I'm not gonna do that again.

On another note...my mouth has been killing me!  It's been a week since my extractions and it seems to be worse than the first day.  I may have to go back to the dentist and see if something is going on.  Eating anything is painful but I have been having alot of smoothies, sugar free popsicles and scrambled eggs.  I did have some rice today...I know...non LDL..but I was hungry and it was soft. 

[witheraway1]

Lisa, see if you have an infection right away please.

[cameron]

Lisa,was it your wisdom teeth you had pulled? This situation with your teeth does not seem right. I was thinking the same thing, maybe you have an infection. Please go back to that dentist as soon as possible.

[lrainbow2006]

No...not wisdom teeth...  (lost wisdom a long time ago)  but 2 molars, one on each side, bottom.  Today it feels somewhat better but I know as soon as I eat something it will hurt again.  Food, for a change, is unappealing.

[jsprik]

lisa....does your breath stink ( i know, kinda personal,lol)?? do you have a bad taste in your mouth?? these could both be signs of infection...

or, you may have "dry socket"...

either way, you want to call your dentist and tell him/her what's going on...

i had all four wisdom teeth pulled back in '09 ugh!! i thought i was going to die...that made my mouth hurt for weeks, i thought it would never go away!! found out that was completely normal...i encourage people, if you don't HAVE TO HAVE IT DONE, DON'T...but to make sure nothing is wrong, i would call the dentist!!

hugs and prayers...
jo

[jsprik]

Lisa, Let's Do Lunch really is Not that expensive re the fruits and veggies...when you consider all the money saved on all the garbage foods you no longer buy for yourselves...plus, as you begin to eat less and less your grocery bill goes down and down.

God bless,

RT

RT...where we live it is DEFINITELY more expensive to eat healthy, by far!!! but it is definitely doable, too!!! the few months we were off of LDL, we spent a lot less on groceries than when on...

but it's a choice to eat healthy or not, regardless of what it costs...

the "costs" of better health far outweigh the extra on your grocery bill!!!

blessings,
jo

[cameron]

For myself, I also find that I want to eat out LESS, there by saving even more money, fat and calories (even though we don't count them!)

[crickadoodle]

Cameron, I agree with you.  The higher quality foods we are eating are more expensive than low quality junk food, but if you prepare it at home and eat at home you save so much money that way.  Also, beans are still a good quality protein that is inexpensive.  I guess you get what you pay for and the quality of the food is well worth it.  Also, the money you save on medical bills is worth it -- not to mention your health being better and there isn't a price on that!!  If everyone ate like this, health care costs would nose dive.  That is the truly sensible way to make health care affordable -- but it requires personal responsibility, which no one wants to take anymore.

In fact, all the debate in our country over health care and how supposably just having health insurance suddenly makes you healthier.  That is just plain silly, if you think about it.  I think if they'd have never started this health insurance stuff, people would have managed their own health much better and costs would have stayed lower because the attitude that "my insurance will pay for it" would be non existant.