Ok, so my brain has sort of shut down the last couple weeks… I haven’t been able to think of much of anything to write about. So I’m gonna cheat a bit and post a few links to other online articles for you to check out.

First up, there’s this story in the Falls News Press about a guy you’ve seen posting here on FFD – Tom/Beariatric. He and his friend Chuck did an 8-day, 325 mile trip from Pennsylvania to Washington DC.

Gough and Bilcze became increasingly involved in cycling following their surgery and both are organizers of a bicycle club for fitness called The Spin Off Cyclists, which is targeted toward weight loss surgery recipients. Gough had always dreamt of going on a long-term bike tour and had spoken with Bilcze about traveling some of the Great Allegheny Passage while they were planning biking routes for The Spin Offs. After learning that the Passage connects to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal trails and taking a few hours to contemplate a long-term bike trip along the trails, Gough decided to take on the challenge and invited Bilcze along for the ride.

“I knew I wanted to do something like this eventually, but I thought it might be in a few years,” Bilcze said. “If I could be successful at this, it would be with Chuck.”

Read the full article, Two weight loss patients complete 325-mile bike journey online and check out their blog about the trip at crossingmountains.com

Next up.. Jen Emmert, aka priorfatgirl on Twitter has started blogging for my local paper, the StarTribune. Her first post is an article on making Healthy Comfort Foods. It’s basically a review of a cooking class she took…

There was no magic involved as Stacy moved on in her cooking lessons and showed us how to bread chicken strips without bread or bread-crumbs. A simple and easy mix of finely pulserized cashews and flax seed served as our “bread crumb” like coating for chicken strips.

Moms & dads pay attention because if you’ve ever fed your children out-of-the-bag frozen chicken strips out of convenience, than this lesson was for you! Within 4 minutes, Stacy had cut up chicken into strips, coated them with the healthy alternative and carefully laid them on a sheet pan. This was a recipe that is sure to send the frozen convenient food manufactures crying to their mommies because no one is buying them anymore.

You can also catch Jen on her blog at priorfatgirl.com

And finally….

Here’s an article I found that I liked, simply because it was one of the few articles about WLS that I feel was very honest and balanced. I even ended up writing the reporter and thanking them… something I’m not sure I’ve ever done before.

Bariatric surgery: When do the benefits outweigh the risks?

So yea… the reporter ended up contacting me back, and may interview me about some stuff for some related story. We’ll see…

That’s it for now, I’ll try to come up with some actual, original stuff to say again soon. Oh, and speaking of biking, check out my radio show this coming Saturday – The Wake Up Call – I’ll be talking with a guest from a local bike shop on some basics of biking for fun and fitness.

Joe Nadglowski and others from the Obesity Action Coalition (OAC) at are the annual American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) conference in Orlando this week, and so they decided to run a bit of a special.

Through the end of this week (June 17, 2011) they are offering 50% off their annual membership for individuals, professionals and physicians, so what used to cost $20, $50 or $150 is now just $10, $25 or $75 – a heck of a deal to support a worthy organization.

If you aren’t sure why the OAC is such an important organization, check out my mini-interview with their President, Joe Nadglowski to find out more about them. And if getting half-off the membership isn’t enough of an incentive – if you use membership code BTV2011 you’ll be entered in to the Bariatric TV membership drive drawing (ends June 30) for a chance to win one of those K-Cup coffee systems… and on top of that you can also use your membership receipt as an entry in to my very own Dash From Obesity fund raiser.

So c’mon… what are you waiting for?

Last week I linked to an article on The Huffington Post that was pretty negative regarding agave nectar and presented a bunch of info to back a claim on how it is worse for you than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Well, Andy over at Small Bites has another opinion on the matter. And honestly, his opinions have been ones I’ve come to respect and trust… and he really does back up what he talks about.

Since I started Small Bites, I have always said that, as far as I am concerned, “sugar is sugar is sugar”.  All sweeteners offer 4 grams of sugar (16 calories) per teaspoon.  The best thing you can do is limit all added sugars — whether it’s white sugar, brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, or agave.

That said, I don’t see the need to demonize agave, which brings us to this post.

Honestly, I was hesitant to present the original article because I do have reservations about The Huffington Post in general… but it seemed a worthy enough article that I figured I would move past my own prejudice and share it. Do I regret doing so? No, not really, but I think you are doing yourself a grave disservice if you don’t also read Andy’s article as well.

You Ask, I Answer: Agave Is The New Enemy? [Small Bites]

Thanks to Darya over at Summer Tomato for the link to this Huffington Post article by Dr. Joseph Mercola that gives some frank info on agave nectar and comes to conclusion that it’s probably not any better, and maybe worse for you than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Unfortunately, masterful marketing has resulted in the astronomical popularity of agave syrup among people who believe they are doing their health a favor by avoiding refined sugars like high fructose corn syrup, and dangerous artificial sweeteners.

And if you’re diabetic, you’ve been especially targeted and told this is simply the best thing for you since locally grown organic lettuce, that it’s “diabetic friendly,” has a “low glycemic index” and doesn’t spike your blood sugar.

While agave syrup does have a low-glycemic index, so does antifreeze — that doesn’t mean it’s good for you.

Most agave syrup has a higher fructose content than any commercial sweetener — ranging from 55 to 97 percent, depending on the brand, which is FAR HIGHER than high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which averages 55 percent.

This makes agave actually WORSE than HFCS.

A team at Princeton University did a study using rats to check out how the consumption of high fructose corn syrup (often used as a sweetener in sodas and other foods) effected obesity, and how it compared to other sweeteners like regular sugar…

Male rats in particular ballooned in size: Animals with access to high-fructose corn syrup gained 48 percent more weight than those eating a normal diet.

“These rats aren’t just getting fat; they’re demonstrating characteristics of obesity, including substantial increases in abdominal fat and circulating triglycerides,” said Princeton graduate student Miriam Bocarsly. “In humans, these same characteristics are known risk factors for high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, cancer and diabetes.”

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Couple of interesting news items that made the rounds this last week or so…

First off, a lack of a good nights sleep may lead to weight gain… and if you get sick, taking antibiotics may increase your weight too!

Sounds like a good excuse for me to go shut myself away from everyone and take a nap.

Like many folks, I keep my vitamins in the kitchen. Hand place to grab a glass of water when taking them. Many also keep them in the bathroom for pretty much the same reason. Making taking their supplements part of their daily routine.

But according to this article from smartplanet.com based on a Purdue study, you may want to move your stuff outta there… cause moisture could be making your supplements less effective.

I found this article in the Washington Post, Super-size equipment helps D.C. area EMTs move the obese, thanks to a twitter post from Zombar, another post-op dude.

Basically it talks about the increasing need to upgrade and super-size ambulances and other medical equipment to handle the growing trend of a growing girth in the American populace, and as he put it, Thoughts of EMTs dragging me out of the house on a tarp is one of the myriad reasons I chose to have WLS.

I’ve gone back and forth about posting things here on FFD that are just links to other sites, news articles, etc… when I find things of interest, I like to try and summarize how they are relevant to someone looking in to or has had WLS. But, I don’t always have the time to do so… and I figure why not start sharing these things I come across anyways?  So…  I’m starting up the “newsroom” category to use for when I post links to outside stories.

I have a couple to share real quick, one was posted by someone on twitter this morning and another from someone over on the BTV forums.

Confidence rises in weight loss surgery – at first I thought this was going to be about how the patient confidence rises, but it’s more about how WLS is increasingly becoming accepted as a treatment for morbid obesity.

Weight-Loss Surgery Pays For Itself After 2 Years, Study Shows – This is an older item, from September of 2008, but even then studies were showing how WLS would pay back in spades, not just from a health perspective, but also money wise.