A lot of folks who have had weight loss surgery were affected by diabetes, many of them maybe dealt with insulin… so many of them likely had medical alert bracelets or other form of medical id’s. If you visit various forums related to the various bariatric surgeries (like my favorite, bariatrictv.com) you’ll find discussions pop up from time to time about whether or not bariatric patients in general should wear some sort of medical id. It’s something I’ve been on the fence about for .. well… over two years. But I’ve finally ended up getting something for myself… one from Road ID.

I’ve looked at a number of medical alert type IDs over the last couple years, but honestly… I’ve just never been in to wearing “jewelry”. I find rings uncomfortable. I don’t even wear a watch any more, I haven’t for over a decade because it bothers me when I’m at a keyboard (exception is when I’m doing stuff like running, biking, playing paintball, stuff where I’m not at a computer and need to keep track of the time). I debated about the dog-tag style – I actually used to wear a set while playing paintball, one of which had emergency contact info on it. But again, wearing daily I just couldn’t get in to it.

I don’t really need something related to surgery. Well, there’s a bit of debate on that I guess – and I’ll get in to that in a bit. One thing I have always recognized though is the need to have emergency contact info with me, especially when I was out biking and such. Yea, putting the whole ICE thing in your phone is nice. But worst case scenario.. I’m on my bike, crossing a road and get clipped… my phone goes flying who-knows-where? Or it stays in my pack, but gets crunched by the vehicle that hits me? So yea, not reliable. I didn’t typically carry my wallet with me, didn’t want it in my pocket (for times I had a pocket) and didn’t want to worry about losing it should something happen… and really, didn’t need it. So my solution – well, about 4 months after surgery my drivers license expired so I put my expired one in a small credit card type case, a couple bucks of emergency money and kept that in a small pack on my bike. Oh yea, I wrote an emergency contact name/number on the back of the license with a Sharpie.

I suppose it wasn’t ideal, but it had my name, address and my mom’s phone number on it. But now this year I’ve taken to running a bit, mostly at the gym, but I was also running outside some. Sometimes I would grab that case and have it with me, but most of the time I wouldn’t. Sure, I’m probably at a lot less risk for getting swiped by a car in the short distance it takes me to get to trail from my house… but sometimes I would go around a local lake where I’m on the shoulder, there is no path. So I decided I needed to get something.

And while I’ve never been in to jewelry, I have sported those gel-bands here and there. Years ago, I had a black P.O.W. one I would wear quite a bit. Last year when at the State Fair with my then girlfriend and her girls, we each got a couple from some of the exhibitors and I would even wear those once in awhile. Then there’s the pink, BBGC one I got from Beth and Andrea in Vegas this year. I even wore that one while doing the Warrior Dash this summer. So when a discussion about medical alert ID’s came up again online, I decided I needed to just get one. Heck, I even had a gift certificate from a site that sells nothing but medical alert IDs. But again.. they’re all “jewelry”. And if it wasn’t something I was comfortable with, I wasn’t gonna wear it. If I wasn’t gonna wear it, what’s the point?

Then I was reminded of Road ID. Now these aren’t “medical alert” items per se. As the company name suggests, they’re geared towards those who need an emergency ID while engaging in sports and such. They have the basic styles that are worn on the wrist, stuff you can put on your shoe, dog-tag style, a shoe-wallet one. Heck, they even have one you can get for your dog’s collar. Me, the Wrist ID Slim is what I ended up getting. The band is the same size as the typical gel-band you’ll see all sorts of folks wearing, only visible difference is the ID tag portion that wraps around the band and is about an inch and half long.

I ordered mine on September 2 and it shipped on the 6th. I got it about 4 days later I think. I’ve been wearing it ever since. I did consider getting the ankle one, and had it been a case of getting something only for when out biking or running I might have. But since I plan on wearing this 24/7, I didn’t think I should have something where in an emergency it might get overlooked. I do have a slight concern in that regard because of the gel-band style, but I think if I’m in a situation where emergency personal have to attend to me, they’ll likely check out what’s on my wrist “just in case”. In the middle of winter if I’m wearing long pants and maybe boots… they likely won’t be checking my ankles out. And while there’s other colors available, I went with basic black, again cause of the wearing 24/7 thing. I figure even if I find myself in a formal situation it won’t stand out like the red or green would.

My only… well… concern. Not sure what I’ll do next time I wear a watch in a more formal situation. When I played paintball last, I wore them both on the same wrist. I suppose I could switch the band to my right… but I know it’ll be kinda weird. I’m just used to only wearing something on the left, that’s all. I’ll deal with it when it happens.

Now as for what to put on it… well, this was another nice bonus about the Road ID, even though I went with the smallest one they offer, I still got 5 lines of text. So here’s what I went with…

ROBERT M PORTINGA
GASTRIC BYPASS 20090408
NO BLIND NG – NO NSAIDS
PAT XXX-XXX-XXXX MOTHER
DR JOHNSON XXX-XXX-XXXX

It should all be pretty self explanatory, except maybe the middle line; my name, my surgery type and date, my mom’s name and number as well as my surgeon’s name and number. Now the middle line, the “no blind ng – no nsaids” is something that gets almost hotly discussed at times when it comes to gastric bypass types and what to put on one of these things.

First of all, what is a “blind ng”? Well, an NG or nasogastric tube is used during gastric intubation via the nasal passage. It basically provides access to the stomach for diagnostic or treatment purposes. If you really want to see what it’s about, check out the following video…

Now the danger of a “blind” insertion comes when someone isn’t familiar with the “pouch” on someone who has had bariatric surgery. A non-blind insertion would require the use of a scope that let’s the person doing the insertion follow the progress of the tube until it gets to where they’re looking to go. So yea, if they are trying to reach in to your stomach they could easily be reaching further than they should because of your surgically altered anatomy, thus risking poking a hole causing other unintended damage. So while if someone is aware of, and familiar with the altered anatomy of a bariatric type, they can probably handle doing it blind. They’re gonna know about where the pouch is, and when they meet resistance they’re not gonna go trying to shove past it thinking maybe it’s just caught against the stomach wall or something.

Now I’ve talked to a friend that’s been a nurse, works in a hospital ER, etc.. and she said it would be very very rare that they would do an NG tube in the field, that it’s not like some EMT would be doing so. So yea, there is a bit of doubt as to if you would need to put this on your alert. But, I suppose when all is said and done, it’s worth having because in an emergency, you don’t know who’s going to be treating you. Even if it’s a very qualified nurse or surgeon, you don’t know if they’re familiar with bariatric surgery… and even if they still do it blind, it at least gives them a heads up that hey, you’re dealing with a special case here… and unless they’re trying to suck something out that’s threatening your life, hopefully if they’re unsure what the concern over doing a blind NG is, they’ll take the time to ask someone and find out.

The no NSAIDS… well… honestly, I personally am a little more doubtful about the necessity of this one. If I’m unconscious in an emergency situation and need some medication to help save or stabilize me that happens to be an NSAID, I’ll risk the short term exposure. Now if I ended up in a coma and needed ongoing treatment, then yea… I would hate to be given something that’s going to probably cause further issues like ulcers on top of everything else. And again, I would like to think who ever ends up treating me would know better… but you can’t count on that. So bottom line, I put it in there as well so at least it gives anyone treating me a heads up… and hopefully once I’m out of any sort of immediate risk, they’ll take the time to figure out what’s best for me in the big picture.

Now, keep in mind, I’m writing all this from the point of view of a RNY/Gastric Bypass patient, but the above concerns are fairly consistent no matter what surgery type you’ve had. But as always… I’m not here to give any sort of medical advice, if you want that – talk to your own nurse, physician or surgeon, K?

But yes, I do recommend getting some sort of medical alert ID, and soon. It really is like a simple bit of insurance, and one of those things you’ll hope you never need… but won’t regret having in case you do. And when it comes to the Road ID stuff, I really can’t find anything bad about them… though the one suggestion I would make is they find a way to be able to have the medical alert symbol to some of the stuff. Like for mine, it could simply be another small tag with the symbol that fits on the band. Anyways, if you like the jewelry look, there’s lots of great options out there – in fact, feel free to share links to where you got yours in the comments so others can check them out. In fact, I’m going to post the photo of mine on the FFD Facebook page… and invite others to share what they have as well.

And one last heads up – yes, the links here to the Road ID site are affiliate links. That means should you click on them and choose to buy something (they have other sports-safety related stuff too by the way), then I earn a small commission. Yes, I could use the bucks to help offset hosting costs and such… but if you have an issue with that, don’t use my links, just put road id in your favorite search engine and I’m sure you can find your way to their site. But hopefully you’ve come to know me well enough that I don’t just recommend stuff for the heck of it.. I recommend stuff I’ve tried, like, and probably use. So if you are thinking you might actually want to buy something though, I would really appreciate it if you use one of my links.

Last night I had dinner with my cousin, she is a massage therapist and has been building her own business. We got together to talk about some ways we can maybe start working together as she has a couple partners in a new shared office area and wants to start offering more “wellness” services. After dinner we turned on NBC to catch the Cutting-Edge show, and watched for the commercial I’m in.

The reaction of her daughters was fun, they got very excited seeing “uncle Rob” on TV. With the kids, a couple dogs and talking shop, I didn’t quite catch all of the show, so I went looking online to see if I could find it to re-watch. I couldn’t really find it directly on any of the NBC main site, but I did find an affiliate station that seems to have the clips set up as a series of streaming videos.

Here’s one clip that I figured would be the best one to include here as it’s about a dude that had gastric bypass. If you want to check out some of the rest of the segments, head over the the KSDK web site.

A couple of quick thoughts on stuff I do remember from last night…

• They mentioned the “four main” types of surgery, RNY, Banding, VSG, and then they talked about the newest procedure being looked at… plication. There was no mention of Duodenal Switch (DS).
• There was some decent coverage on the importance of exercise and changing how you need to eat after WLS.
• One doctor defined “dumping syndrome” as when food passes too quickly in to the intestine… which I’m not sure most of us would agree with. I don’t think it’s the rate.. it’s an effect of what’s put in there.
• One patient talked about how their program required the usual.. psyc eval, meeting with dietitian, but also mentioned having had to meet with a personal trainer. I think that’s actually the first of heard of that being a “requirement”.

There were also segments that had nothing to do with weight loss surgery and focused on eating better, getting exercise, dealing with obesity in children. I thought it was all pretty good information, nothing jumped out at me as being hyped anything. There was some stuff at the end about a wellness program being done at Woodwinds Hospital, which is local to me… I want to go back and check it out as I missed most of it cause the kids were getting a bit restless and we started having some tickle fights. Hey, least we got some exercise, right?

I’m going to try and watch more of the segments… and also Nightline had a show on last night about eating disorders that from what I hear touched on some WLS stuff as well. Going to try and find that to check out as well. If I come up with anything more to say about either of these I’ll be sure to let you know.

Also, one of my photos was used as part of the landing page that Allina set up and was promoted during the broadcast here yesterday… go check out their services and information on their Healthy Weight page.

In case you’ve been under a rock somewhere, you should know by now that Bariatric Advantage now has a fourth flavor in their line of Calcium Chewy Bites – caramel. They debuted this flavor right around the time of the WLSFA event last May, and you couldn’t take two steps around the main hall without it seeming like someone was having themselves a caramel calcium chew.

So yea, there’s also been lots of reviews of them in the weeks that followed (like this one and this one), and I was going to do one, but ya know… what else was I really going to add to the mix other than saying something bout it being “dude-worthy” or giving them “two dudes up” or something. So I sat back and enjoyed the samples I got, picked up a bag and added it to my own regular rotation and just sort of chilled.

But ya know what, I think I do have something to add to the mix here. See, if you go waaaaaay back, I wrote about the other three flavors that Bariatric Advantage has out there, chocolate, lemon and raspberry. In that review I likened them to Tootsie Rolls, Starburst and Laffy Taffy.

I still think of them like that, and of course the new ones are .. well.. caramels. Sorta like the Kraft ones you would buy and melt down to make caramel apples with in the fall (I hear someone actually tried melting some down and making apple dip with a bunch of them!). So again, we’re back to what is there new that I can offer?

See, I had a bag of each flavor of the chews, all four of them, and when I just had chocolate and lemon, before they were color coding the wrappers, I kept them in separate containers so I could tell them apart. Now though, I just dump them all in a dish and grab a couple each morning to toss in with my lunch. And the “candy” flavors make them sort of a nice little afternoon treat. But you know what, just because you take two of these at at time, doesn’t mean you have to take two of the SAME flavor at a time. This is where we get to the Rolos. Some of the flavors mix better than others, but one of my favorites is taking one chocolate and one caramel… eat them together and it’s like popping a Rolo in your mouth.

So bada-bing, bada-boom. Not only are you getting a nice dose of calcium (and being from Bariatric Advantage, you know it’s good stuff in the nutrient department), but you can help kick a bit of that candy craving at the same time. Heck of a deal eh?

My favorite combo is probably the raspberry-lemon, with maybe chocolate-raspberry coming in third. But hey, feel free to mix and match to your hearts content and find your own favorite… then maybe let me know what it is in the comments below. And maybe hit up the BTV eStore to order yourself some caramel (or other flavor) calcium chewy bites!

Oh, and just for kicks, check out this old Rolo commercial…

When you’re a bariatric patient, you can count on two things. First, you’ll hear all the time how you’re not supposed to drink your calories. And second, protein drinks are a fact of post-op life. But, sometimes that life gets a bit hectic, so making up your favorite protein shake or smoothing using whatever powder you prefer can be a hassle.

Sure, there are single-use packs out there. There’s even some good products that come pre-measured in a bottle where you just add water. But with those packs, you still need some sort of shaker like the Blender Bottle to keep from getting those protein powder lumps and the bottles work, but they can be a bit on the bulky side at times.

Well, thanks to one of the vendors I met out in Vegas last month I now have just the thing. Gotein.

Think of Gotein as Crystal Lite on steroids. Gotein is a powder you shake up in a bottle of water and drink… it’s that simple. Really. I’m going to keep this short and to the point. Here’s what you’ve gotta know.

Flavors: Vanilla, Chocolate, Strawberry.

Nutritional Stats: 17g protein from a mix of whey isolate and whey concentrate, 110 Calories, 6g carbs with just 1g of those carbs from sugars. They also throw in a decent mix of vitamins, a bit of artificial flavors, but mostly natural stuff including actual cocoa powder and real strawberries. Check out the product page for full nutritional stats.

Mixing it up: Just like those Crystal Lite packets it’s easy. Dump in a bottle of water, put the cap back on, give it a good shake, drink. BUT – these packets won’t fit in your pocket. There’s just over a quarter-cup of powder in each. You’ll need to make sure you have LOTS of room in the bottle before adding the powder and mixing it up. You screw this part up and you won’t be happy. You’ll either spill half the mix out of the bottle or you’ll end up with a lumpy mess.

Taste: If you’re looking for something to curb a sweet tooth, at just 1g sugar, this ain’t it. It’s smooth, it’s mild, and there’s no blechy protein after taste or anything.

This may be just me, but I like it a LOT better with ice cold water – and in fact when I can, I just use my own bottle with water and a couple of ice cubes to keep it nice and chilled.

Cost: At $25 (well, $24.95) for a carton of 12, this ain’t the cheapest stuff out there, but it’s not the most expensive either. But given the quality of the product, the taste, and the convenience – it’s well worth the cost. It’s very easy for me to keep a few of these in the Jeep and my laptop bag all the time so I have one handy no matter where I’m at.

The cost still bugging you? Fine… I have a discount code for ya. MED05 - enter that when you make a purchase of individual carton to get 20% (basically $5) off per carton. Or if you’re gonna order at least three carton anyways, just use the Pick your own Combo option and you automatically get $5 off per box.

If you’re still a bit gun-shy, hit the home page and get the “free” sample pack. You get one packet of each of the three flavors, you just pay bout $3 to cover shipping. Shipping is extra on any of the orders by the way, but they have a number of retail places that carry Gotein around California, so if you’re out west you may be able to get it local.

I had written to Laura, who was working the booth in Vegas, and when I ordered a carton of the strawberry for myself she was nice enough to throw in some samples of all three flavors for me to pass out to the people in my support group… I’ve received nothing but positive feedback from them, and I know at least one of them has ordered some of their own since.

If you don’t mind, if you do order, please use the links I have here on my site – I did join their affiliate program so I do earn a bit of a commission if you buy something via my link. Not much, but hopefully something to help off set my hosting costs and such. If doing so is an issue for you, search Google for Gotein and you’ll find their site on your own easy enough.

Oh, the only other thing I would add is that I wish they could come up with some Crystal Lite type flavors… some tropical, or fruit punch or citrus type flavors maybe? And keep them low sugar! Not everyone wants a super-sweet drink. That’s bout the only thing I could think of right now that would make this product any better. If you’ve tried them yourself, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

When I was checking around for possible prize sponsors for my Dash From Obesity fund raiser, I wanted to find some stuff that had nothing to do with bariatrics… cause while some of the bariatric products out there can be used by just bout anyone, I wanted stuff that anyone could also make use of. So I decided to check in with the queen of prizes, miss Diva Taunia (who is also donating some GREAT stuff she put together with the help of Bariatric Advantage). I checked out a few of the recommendations she gave me and one item in particular caught my eye…  Banjees.

What are Banjees? Well, basically they’re wrist wallets… and they look something like this…

Like I said, they’re a wrist wallet, designed to help you carry a small stash of stuff with you at times you don’t want or need a wallet (or purse in the case of you ladies out there). Maybe use it to keep your ID, keys and a bit of cash in while jogging or biking. Or maybe it’s another option for throwing your mp3 player in while exercising. Or use it when running some errands and you just don’t want to deal with your full wallet?

I haven’t actually had one to check out directly yet… but I’m working on it… part of the problem is, they’ve got over 60 designs to choose from and just about all of them are reversible. Taunia has her own review of them if you want to check out what she had to say.

Also, Sprigs, the company behind Banjees has some other nice looking stuff as well… most of it’s geared towards the chicks, and most everything is fleece based, but one thing that I may check out for my own use is their Perfect Fit Gloves… I’m always looking for some decent gloves that aren’t too bulky for using when driving and such. They have “grip dots” on the finger tips, I think if they could make it conductive so you could use touch-screen phones while wearing them, that would be a killer feature.

Anyways, go check out the Sprigs website to see what they have to offer and check them out on Twitter and Facebook.

I met Mike of Healthy Brands, Inc. in Vegas last month – he was manning the table at the WLSFA Meet & Greet for their Reviva products – a liquid multi-vitamin and a liquid calcium.

He was offering samples that day of both… and since they were free, what the heck, I gave them a shot… figuratively and literally. He was doling them out in little plastic, well.. shot glasses (we got one in our event goodie bag as well).

The multi-vitamins is fruit-punch flavored. It was decent.. not overly sweet or anything. The stats on them look pretty decent too… the Vitamin A, for example, is not beta carotene, so it’s workable for RNY and DS types, but the amounts don’t stack up to most of the bariatric products for bypass types out there… but seem pretty comparable to stuff geared towards those with bands.

The calcium is a blueberry flavor, and it’s very good. I picked up some of this when I got home (Mike offered me a bottle in Vegas but I only had carry-on luggage and wouldn’t have been able to get it on the plane). It’s much thicker than the multi-vitamin and doing a “shot” doesn’t work very well. You’re better off mixing it in to something, like a protein shake, some yogurt, or something else you don’t mind that bit of berry flavor being added to. And it’s calcium citrate, in case you were wondering, so you’re good to go no matter what surgery type you’ve had.

Or you can do like I do, and take a swig right from the bottle.

The recommended daily dose for adults is 2 tablespoons (or 1 fluid oz) for either one, though that gets you 1000iu of calcium. When I brought up the recommendation most folks give you regarding doing just 500iu of calcium at a time, and his response that while yes, after about 500-600iu you may not fully absorb the remainder, it trails off slowly, and it’s not like it just cuts it off at that point. So for someone with a normal stomach, I suppose downing it all in one dose is fine, you’ll get your remaining calcium from other food sources during the day. For you pouched types that are already doing multiple-doses anyways, I’d say do the 1tablespoon of this at a time… get your money’s worth out of this stuff.

Speaking of servings and cost, the bottles are 64oz so you’ll just just over 30 servings from a bottle that’s gonna cost you just over $15 (available online as well as through Sam’s Club and Costco). So on that front, they’re not the cheapest per dose you’ll find, but there are some out there that run more too.

Bottom line… I think they’re very good products, both from my (admittedly still limited) knowledge of the nutrients as well as from a taste and cost side of things. BUT – while being liquid is a great thing, especially for early post-ops, it’s also a bit of a disadvantage for folks that usually need to take multiple doses throughout a day. It’s not portable. So yea, while I tend to use the calcium as my morning dose, I still rely on other products for my other doses during the day.

Be sure to check them out online at revivanutrition.com and follow them on Twitter.

One of the vendor tables at the WLSFA Meet & Greet last month included Premier Nutrition, and like a good vendor does, they brought samples! They were pouring up samples of their ready to drink (RTD) protein shake that come in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.

Now I’ll admit off the bat, I haven’t tried that many RTDs… cause honestly, nobody wants to buy a 4-pack or 6-pack and be stuck with something they don’t like. But over the last couple years there are a few that I have tried that just … well, let’s just say they’ve left a bad taste in my mouth. Literally and figuratively. You know what I’m talking about… that just plain blechy, proteiny after-taste. I still have one left from a 4-pack I bought about 6 months ago sitting in the fridge waiting for someone to pawn it off on. So yea, I actually kind of avoided stopping at their table for most of the day.

It was getting towards the end of the day when I finally did stop by and grabbed up a shot of chocolate… and was very pleasantly surprised. There was none of that protein-powder smell and no blechy after-taste. The chocolate flavor was subtle, not over powering, not too sweet. I stopped back again towards the end of the day, gave Charlene one of my FFD cards and checked out the package some more. She also gave me one of the strawberry shakes to take with me… and unfortunately I put it on ice Sunday night, planning to drink it Monday and spaced out, leaving it in my ice bucket as I checked out.

The drinks pack 30g of protein in to 11 ounces along with 2g net carbs (5 total) with just 1g coming from sugar (and no sugar alcohols!) along with 3g of fat for a total of 160 Calories. Not too shabby. They also pack about 25% of the RDI for most of your usual vitamins and they seem to be in pretty RNY friendly forms (such as Vitamin A Palmitate, Cynocobalamin for your B12) and the protein is whey based. So yea, it’s not going to replace a dose of your multi-vit, but it’s good to know that what it does give you is in a form that we can make use of. The stats seem pretty much the same no matter what flavor, and the only ingredient I’m really wondering about is the sunflower oil… not sure why that’s in there… but at just 3g of fat it can’t be that much.

They carry the chocolate at Costco, and according to their website also at Sam’s Club. Charlene said in the fall they carry the vanilla too, otherwise you can get any of them, including the strawberry direct from their website at premiernutrition.com – and no matter where you get them, they tend to run just over $1.50 per drink. Sam’s and Costco carry 12-packs or you can get 18-packs online.

Now, I did contact them after Vegas about donating to my Dash From Obesity fundraiser, and they did donate a case each of the three flavors… and she also sent me a case of the strawberry to try out as well as a box of their Titan High Protein Bar – I need to disclose they were sent to me free of charge. I also have to admit, I asked about their Titan Protein Cookies, and thought they were sending me those… I’m really curious about them cause oatmeal raisin cookies are one of my “weaknesses”. I was hoping for just one to try out to see if they’re worth ordering. I may have to break down and just order a box to try. I’ll do a write up about the bars another time though.

Anyways, back to the strawberry – like the chocolate, they have no aftertastes, it’s a light berry flavor. Oh, the consistency on these is… not watery, but they’re not a thick shake either. I suppose it’s on par with drinking a glass of skim milk, so in that regard I’m not sure that something like this would work as a meal replacement, just don’t see it as being all that filling for very long.

But, this would make a good choice for those early post-ops in the liquid stage, and later on a decent snack or good for after a work out to replenish some protein without a huge amount of calories.

Personally, I’ll plan on keeping some of these in the fridge for a something that’s ‘grab and go’ when I know I need to kick up my protein for the day or to toss in the cooler and have with when I’m out on the paintball field.

Photo Credit: Premier Nutrition (twitter – facebook)

Ok, so a couple weeks ago I wrote about the pretzels and cookie bites. Like I said before, the folks at Kay’s sent me out a box of samples to try out and tell you all about. This last week I munched on some of their flavors of Protein Chips.

Now, I have to confess, when I first tried these out over a year ago… I didn’t like them. The had a decent flavor, but they were.. I dunno.. hard, dry, like a too-thick cracker or something and just didn’t do anything for me. I think I still have a partial package sitting in the back of my cupboard somewhere.

So yea, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to these, cause while I have no problem telling you all what I think, I wasn’t thrilled about writing a bad review. Well… silly me.

I don’t know when it happened, but they’ve changed how they make these things… and I love ‘em. They’re more of a… puff. Real light, airy, crispy and crunchy. And the flavor is still .. actually might even be better than I remember. The weird thing is, I think the picture on the package is what they used to look like, not so much what they look like now. And of course once I opened them I was too busy munching on them to think of taking a picture.

They’re pretty much the same texture I enjoyed with the cookie bites… but a savory flavor instead of sweet. And like the other stuff, they’re “high” protein, gluten free, no trans fats, and overall a pretty decent snack.

The Crispy Parmesan and the Chili Nacho Cheese were my favorites.. the Lemon Herb was.. it was ok, but not one I would likely buy for myself. The other flavors, I’ll be getting some more of. There’s a couple of small stores not too far from me that carry their stuff. If you can’t find Kay’s Naturals products at a store near you, you can order them through their website or other online venues.

Next up I’ll let you know what I think of their cereals!

I’ve tried a few Kay’s Naturals products over the last couple of years, and have pretty much enjoyed them – they’re gluten free, have some nice protein (via soy protein) in them, typically pretty low in fat, not too bad on the carb front, and the ones I’ve had have been pretty good. Well recently someone from Kay’s contacted me on Twitter and wanted to know if I would like some samples to do a review on… and well, I figured, hey.. free stuff, right? Why not?

Well, I got home the other day to find a box on my front steps, and when I opened it.. it was full of lil packets of some pretty good stuff. About a dozen in all actually. I’ve been trying to decide the best way to tackle this… cause even if I ate one package a day, we’re looking at a couple weeks worth of snacking here. So maybe I’ll just hit up a few at a time as I check them out.

One of the first ones that caught my attention was the “Honey Flavored, Almond Filled Protein+ Cookie Bites”. 100 calories, 3g fiber, 2.5g fat and 10g of protein in this 1 ounce package.

I had them with my lunch… and well, they’re good.  I could taste the almond more than the honey… but they didn’t make me think cookie at all. Maybe it’s cause they weren’t overly sweet or anything.

When I first opened the package my first thought was “shredded wheat”. That’s kinda what they looked like to me. But they’re not wheat… They’re very light and airy, they have a good crunch to them. I don’t know what they would have been like in a bowl of milk, but they did remind me more of a cereal than a cookie. Maybe sort of a grown up, healthier version of Cookie Crunch cereal?

There’s only one store near me that I’ve found Kay’s Naturals… and I haven’t seen these there before, but I’m going to ask next time I go, cause yea, I could see having these again.

The one I have found, and have bought on a regular basis are the Cinnamon Pretzel Sticks. They’re 120 Calories with 10g of protein, again from soy, and of course gluten free.

My favorite way to eat these is dipping in peanut butter. There’s must something bout that mix of cinnamon, crunchiness and peanut butter I love. I’ve often packed this as a snack to have when out for a day of bike riding or paintball. That said though, just like the Cookie Bites do not remind me of any sort of cookie, these really don’t remind me of pretzels in any way except the shape (sticks). Maybe it’s the cinnamon?

Well, it’s likely more the texture. To me, pretzel sticks have almost a flakiness to them that these don’t.

If you’re looking for something that’s gonna be a substitute for your typical salty, crispy pretzel sticks… I’m not sure this is gonna do it for you – but they are worth trying out on their own merits.

They also have the Jalapeno Honey Mustard Pretzel Sticks, same basic stats. I’m still undecided on these. the texture and such is the same as the Cinnamon Toast ones, which is neither good nor bad, but I’m not sure I care for the flavor. Don’t get me wrong, anyone that knows me, knows I love me some hot peppers. But I dunno… on their own they just haven’t impressed me all that much.

I still have a bunch of other stuff to check out, including some cereals and their “protein bites”.

If you can’t find Kay’s Naturals products at a store near you, you can order them through their website or other online venues.

all images copyright Kay’s Naturals

Ok, not really. But what I do eat is the Calcium Citrate Calcium Bites from Bariatric Advantage. I know everyone and their sister has talked about these before, but I figured it was bout time for me to throw my two cents in on this.

Everyone loves the taste… the chocolate taste a bit like a Tootsie Roll, and I’ve been telling everyone the lemon taste like Starburst… but… there was no getting around the slightly gritty texture they have. It’s just the nature of calcium citrate.

But, the good news is, Bariatric Advantage has managed to reformulate things to go along with the introduction of the raspberry bites that came out last summer. I managed to get a free bag of these when I made it to a local talk by Dr. Jacqueline Jacques from Bariatric Advantage.

I gotta say, they are incredible… and taste like a bite of Laffy Taffy. And the texture… supper smooth, no grittiness at all. The chocolate and lemon were re-worked to make them just as smooth too, so if you tried these early on and were put off by the grittiness, I really think you need to give them another shot.

Ok, nitty-(and not so)-gritty details. You get 60 chews in a bag for $10 plus shipping. If you add them as part of their auto-reorder plan you can get free shipping, and if you order 3 bags at once you get a 4th one free.

Each bite has 250mg of calcium citrate, 125iu of D3, 15 calories, 3g carbs from 3g of sugar alcohols. These are not meant to be your sole source of calcium. Guys would need to do 6-8 of these a day, women even more. That could get spendy, and well as adding 100+ calories. I typically do a couple as my afternoon dose of calcium for a nice late-day “treat”.

I do have a referrer code, if you decide to check Bariatric Advantage out, please use this link, but even if I wasn’t earning points I would have no problem recommending their products, besides the Chewy Bites I also use their multi vit and b12 on a daily basis.