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Joseph’s Sugar Free Cookies are a tasty treat

Joseph’s Sugar Free Cookies

The Cookie Monster would have to put up a good fight to try and steal my bags of Joseph’s Sugar Free Cookies, just sayin’. These are another find of mine from my trip to New York and they are beyond DELISH.

Like I said in my previous post about the Yasso’s Greek Frozen Yogurt, I had my eyes open for new treats while I was visiting my brother in NY this past weekend and these cookies were another great find. I found them in a discount store local to him by surprise. Again I am not a HUGE sweet eater, but at times I have a moment where I need some.

When I saw these bags of Sugar Free Cookies the flavors sounded yummy and even though there are some sugar free cookies that taste like poop, the price was right and I figured I would give them a try. I ended up buying 2 bags of them – one is Coconut and the other Lemon.

The nutritional facts looked good – here is the facts from the Sugar Free Lemon Cookies:

Those look good right? All the flavors are about the same. BUT do they taste good? Uh yeah they do – really good – you do not think I would share these if they tasted like crap right? The cookies are small, but they are extremely tasty and light which I love. I did not get a horrible after taste from them either which you do a lot of times with sugar free food. Both flavors were amazing – my favorite of the two I got is the Lemon. Not to worry if the flavors I got do not work for you these cookies are available in a ton of flavor choices.

  • Lemon
  • Coconut
  • Chocolate Chip
  • Pecan Shortbread
  • Chocolate Chip Walnut
  • Oatmeal
  • Pecan Chocolate Chip
  • Peanut Butter
  • Oatmeal Chocolate Chip with Pecans
  • Almond
  • Chocolate Walnut
  • Chocolate Peanut Butter

Do all of those sound yummy or what? In addition to the Sugar Free Cookies Joseph’s also has Brownies, Syrups, Cakes, Sweetener and Flavored Coffees. I am so gonna order more of the cookies and some of the other products to try.

Not to worry if you cannot find them locally because you can order them right from their website here: Joseph’s Sugar Free Cookies and products. That is what I will have to do because like I said it is hard to find certain things here in PA and I am so glad I found them – even if I had to travel to NY to do so.

I love when I can satisfy my sweet tooth when it comes without the fear of the dreaded “Dumping Syndrome” that looms over us Gastric Bypassers !!

Just try to take my Sugar Free Cookies Cookie Monster – I can take you !!!

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My First Ice Cream Cone since Surgery

Ice Cream Cone

I did it I had my first Ice Cream Cone since my Gastric Bypass Surgery !! I have heard so many times that Ice Cream will throw you over the edge and make you have dumping, but I ate it and survived !!!

This is kinda a funny story…My daughter and her BFF had a fight at the end school – you know 11 year old drama. The drama to me was so silly and not something I wanted to see end a friendship built over so many years, but they were both being so stubborn and not wanting to be the one to give in. That is girls for ya right?

So me and my daughter’s BFF’s mom were trying to think of how we could end this – sooo I called her and said meet me at McDonald’s because I was going to take my kids for ice cream – I would go first and then they would show up like it was a coincidence. I know sneaky of me right?

So we did just that – and of course when the girls saw each other they hugged as if nothing happened. Mission accomplished !! But then my daughter said to me “You set this up didn’t you?” Rut Roh – she was on to me. I denied it, but later confessed and was happy she was not mad at me. High Fives for me !!!

So anyways I was really craving an Ice Cream Cone and toyed with the idea of getting one. I have read over and over that Ice Cream is one of those foods that will cause dumping syndrome, but how would I know if I was going to be one of those who have it if I did not try. So I decided to take my chances.

So I was handed my Ice Cream Cone and the workers were looking at me funny when I scrapped 1/2 of the ice cream into the garbage. They asked me if something was wrong with it – ha ha. It shocked me that I even did that, but I did not want to over do it. So I ate my ice cream cone as I chatted it up with my friend and my daughter and her BFF hung out like nothing ever happened between them – it was so nice to see and made us very happy.

Now after I finished my cone I did feel a little hot flashes, but could not figure out if it was from the ice cream or the heat outside. I had no other major symptoms of dumping at all. I am not sure if McDonald’s Ice cream is filled with the same amount of sugar as regular ice cream from the store, but all in all I enjoyed it and was happy I had no bad reactions.

The thing is that if I never tried it I would have never known if I could handle it – so sometimes you just have to take the plunge – think the worst will happen and be happy when it does not.

So far as I get brave and try things with sugar I seem to be lucky that I have had no reaction or dumping,. BUT that does not mean it will never happen. I hope it never does – but I may not have encountered the food that does not agree with me totally.

It seems for me that when I have heavy carbs that is the thing that makes me feel sick and I am happy about that because carbs have always been the thing that I would eat the most – sugar for me is a treat and I am thankful I am not one of those who is a sweet freak.

So my Ice Cream was a success as well as reuniting Best Friends. The next day they went to the town pool and spent the day together !!

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My first Nutrition Appt since my Surgery

Doctor Patient Records

Doctor Patient RecordsHere I am at the start of week 6 and I finally got to see my Nutritionist. I was very excited for this visit and had my food diary in hand along with my list of questions. I was hopeful she could shed some light on why I did not lose at my 5 week weigh in.

I was really hoping that when I stepped on the scale in the office I would have at least lost 1 pound or even a 1/2 pound, but NOPE-NADA. Even their scale showed no loss since last week – URGH – really???

So there I am in with my Nutritionist Amanda – she is so pretty right? Anyway I was excited to get down to business and see if she had any insight or if I was missing something. So of course that was my first question – Why? She told me it is not abnormal for this to happen even this early on. My body is in shock and adjusting. I did just lose 19 pounds in a month which is pretty good even if I was expecting more.

She also said there will be many stalls and plateaus on my journey – it is just what happens. I have accepted it and will move on and not stress over it. I will hope to see some changes next Monday on my weigh in day and if I do not then I will panic like a crazy lady and maybe stalk my surgeon (lol).

I had her skim through my food diary to see if there may be any red flags and she said it looked good. She told me at this point in time I should be eating about 3/4 Cup of food at a sitting. I should also not be taking in more than 800 calories and about 250 per meal (I know I am under that at this point). Sugar content in a food should be less than 10 grams per serving and more than 15 is bad (I have not had anything really with much Sugar content – scares me).

I had a bunch of other questions about foods and if I was able to eat them now and if it was OK. I was excited that she told me I could have fruit – I knew I could have canned fruit in natural juices, but eating the real thing like an Apple, Peach or Nectarine was very exciting. I LOVE fruit and with summer not to far off I am excited for all the summer fruits which are my favs. So on the way home I picked up a couple nectarines at the store – I hope they taste good even though they are not in season.

I also asked about Peanut Butter and Jelly – I like myself a good PB&J every now and then. I can have Peanut Butter, but not too much of course and she said to look for the Sugar Free Jelly. I did stop at the store on my way home and I picked up a Natural Jelly that has no High Fructose Corn Syrup and only natural sugars.

We also talked about breads and being I am a starch baby and miss my bagels she suggested the Thins. OK so its not my New York Bagel, but if I had a craving that would work for me if I needed it. I did pick up some Sandwich Thins to try out – they are very thin and I thought they would be great for a PB&J or my Chicken Sandwiches to change things up.

I did touch base with her on her thoughts about Artificial Sugars and them causing you not to lose weight as I talk about in my recent post HERE. She did say that she had known that they can cause you to crave sweets and that is what can cause weight gain, BUT she was not very aware of the things I had read about them. Regardless I have cut out the Light 4C Ice Tea and switched to plain water – it can’t hurt right?

OH and I cannot forget that I had told her that after I eat sometimes I will get very cold. So cold I need to go under blankets and I shiver. I was surprised that she said this was a form of “Dumping”. So here I thought I had escaped the wrath of Dumping Syndrome and even though I have not gotten the severe dumping where I feel like I am gonna die, I do seem to get another form. When I think back to when this happened to me each time I had a bit too much to eat at one sitting. I am happy to have not gotten the “I wanna Die Dumping” because the feeling of being cold is easily helped with blankets. I hope that is the only dumping I will ever have, but again time will tell and I may not have had a food yet that has truly disagreed with me – like sugars. Fingers, Eye, Toes and Legs are crossed that I can escape it.

So I got my list of questions answered and was excited for some of the new foods she told me to try out and add in. She also assured me again that my stall was not abnormal and not to dwell on it. So I will continue doing what I am doing and I should see the weight loss pick up again. If it does not I am to contact the office and as my hubby said I may need to go in for service (lol). So here is to hoping for a good loss come my next weigh in day !!

I will meet with Amanda again at my 3 month anniversary and of course she is always available for me if I need her sooner.

I am so lucky to have such a great medical staff behind me !!!

Thanks Amanda for making me feel a bit better about my weight loss stall – I will not stress out about it – for now.