I am still making my way through my stack of protein that I have bought and have decided maybe it is time to get one of those protein shaker cup things.  I know what they do and what they look like but the few stores I have remembered to look for one at did not have any!  Where the heck do you get these things?!  And is one kind better than the other?  I see some with strainer lids, some with wire coils at the bottoms and some with wire balls inside (like the  picture above).  How do you know which one to get?

Oh . My. God. It was delicious! It was every bit as good as MM described it. Now the carb count is a little high for everyday eating but I think it is a great “purse/backpack snack”. Even with 28 grams of carbs it is better than most anything that would come out of a college vending machine! Plus it has 8 grams of protein and every little bit helps! It looks like a cereal bar with a peppermint white chocolate coating on the bottom but it tastes like a cross between a candy bar and a cookie. I normal hate sweets (even before surgery I hated sweets) but I am addicted to these Luna Peppermint Stick bars after just having one. I immediately went to Amazon.com (my favorite store ever, plus with Amazon Prime everything I order ships for free which is super convenient with as much as I order!) and saw the had a case of 15 bars for $20. On the side bar it said “sign up for subscribe and save and get this item for only $17!” I forget how much I paid at Walmart for the one bar I got but I think it was $2.09. When I was at Fresh Market I saw they had them for $1.59. So I can order them from Amazon at $1.13 a bar AND they will automatically send me a case once a month?! Of course I ordered them immediately! I ordered them yesterday morning and they got to my house tonight!
So as I mentioned, I order a lot of stuff from Amazon. This is not a shameless ad telling you to buy from Amazon- I have legitimately ordered from there very regularly for the past several years! This week alone the UPS man has been to my house 3 times already. We’ve had 10 “dates” this year so far you would think we would be on a first name basis by now! Then again he only ever sees me in my pajamas and sometimes they are the same pajamas from the day before, but still! I’m just kidding about having an affair with the UPS man, but I have seen him at least ten times this month so far! I ordered a Tag Jr Reading System and a Tag book for my niece for her second birthday next month, so the Reading System came yesterday and the Tag Book (Panda Bear, Panda Bear) came today with my Luna bars.

I’ve had problems with protein supplements since surgery.  Basically- they make me puke.  The ones that don’t make me puke make me feel so sick to my stomach I WANT to puke!  So I am on this quest to find a protein supplement that tastes great, doesn’t have a million carbs in it, and doesn’t make me sick.

While at Walmart one day picking up a Luna Peppermint Stick bar (Melting Mama did a review of it a while ago that made it sound so delicious I wanted one immediately! ) I decided to grab a 6 pack of the Body Fortress Super Whey protein shots with 26 grams of protein.  I know, I know!  It is an inferior protein source compared to whey isolate but some protein is better than none at this point!  I will write a review a little bit later (probably tomorrow), but I will say as long as I held my nose I was able to get it down and keep it down.

I have a stack of protein bars to try (the previously mentioned Luna bar, an Oh Yeah! Bar, and some others) as well.  Plus I have 8 powder samples and 3 different kinds of protein shots I just ordered from Vitalady today coming in the mail.  Haven’t heard of Vitalady?  Check her out; lots of vitamin and protein options plus some WLS food options as well.  I should do a more detailed review of her site but I am a little worn out after my Wii Fit yoga session this morning and need a nap before the kids get home!

So total I have lost 64 pounds already!  I feel great!  I have gone down 8 sizes in jeans already in 2 months!   I do get tired pretty easily and have some exhaustion issues but I bet when I do my labs next month it has to do with iron levels.  Other than that it has been an awesome journey post-surgery.  Still have to get used to drinking at least 80 ounces of water a day and taking in all my vitamins but I have been able to get 80-100 plus grams of protein in a day just from eating food and some protein bars on some days.  Protein shakes make me ill and vomit.  I’m still trying them out to try to find one that works!  I have lots of vitamin and protein reviews to get done, as well as some recipes.  One of my resolutions is to update my blogs at least 4 times a week but I am hoping for 7 days a week.  We will see how well that goes!  Hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Years!

Tonight’s dinner was yummy!  We used boneless chicken thighs and cooked them with onion, garlic, shallots, and red bell pepper and served it with a variation of tabbouleh. We didn’t have bulghur wheat so we used brown rice.  We also added some zucchini and roasted eggplant as well.  I used this Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa on Food Network) recipe for the inspiration!

Tabbouleh

Copyright, 2001, Barefoot Contessa Parties!, All rights reserved

Show: Barefoot ContessaEpisode: The Mediterranean Feast

• Level:

Easy

• Yield:

8 servings

Times:

Prep 30 min

Inactive Prep 1 min

Cook –

Total: 31 min

Bottom of Form

Ingredients

• 1 cup bulghur wheat
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (2 lemons)
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 cup minced scallions, white and green parts (1 bunch)
• 1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves (1 bunch)
• 1 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley (1 bunch)
• 1 hothouse cucumber, unpeeled, seeded, and medium-diced
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Place the bulghur in a large bowl, pour in the boiling water, and add the lemon juice, olive oil, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Stir, then allow to stand at room temperature for about 1 hour.

Add the scallions, mint, parsley, cucumber, tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt, and the pepper; mix well. Season, to taste, and serve or cover and refrigerate. The flavor will improve if the tabbouleh sits for a few hours.

As I have mentioned before, with the type of weight loss surgery that I have had (a DS- duodenal switch) I have malabsorption.  I have tried pretty hard to journal my food (write down everything I have eat or drank during a day) so I know how many calories, fats, and carbs I am putting in my mouth but I wonder how many of those calories to I actually absorb?  One of the main reasons I journal is to keep track of my protein intake as well.  Now there is a DS calculator already out there called DS Math.  The problem for me is that it runs in Java, the user interface is not really appealing to me, and you have to add all of your own food entries into the program (so you have to add the food, serving size, calories, fat, etc yourself).

Granted I do have a degree in computer programming (and I am sure I will be helping him with the project) but Scott is going to help me create an online version of a DS Nutritional Calculator!  It will be all online so you won’t have to install anything to your computer, you will just log in with a user name and password.  Plus we will be installing a database already into the website so you will be able to search for a food and just add it to your daily food log.  Of course there will be the option of adding custom foods as well.  You will be able to adjust the malabsorption rates in the settings as well and it will reflect your actual calorie/fat/protein intake!

I am very excited about working on this project!