Fat Free Pringles

I saw these when I was grocery shopping last week, but I haven't tried them. I'm amazed at how lately companies are coming up with Fat Free products (finally!). If anyone tries them, please post and let me/the whole world know how they are! :)

Find Pringles here.

Low Fat Poptarts

When I was in the cereal isle of Walmart, I came across these sitting with all the other Poptarts.. and I had to check a second time to make sure I read the box right, and sure enough it said Low Fat. Lol.So I had to pick them up. What I discovered was that these seem to have a more fluffy pastry, and more filling than normal poptarts. They're insanely good (aren't all poptarts?). So far I've seen them in Strawberry and Cinnamon and Brown Sugar. They also happen to be no more than 5% fat. :)

Now there are also Oatmeal ones, and they are at 8%... so if anyone is daring enough to test those out if you have Gallstones, please comment and let me know if you got an attack from them. I think they are pretty tasty as well.

Find these poptarts in a store near you!

Popcorn, Sun Dried Tomatoes, and Tofu-Spinach Miso Soup

Orville Redenbachers SmartPop popcorn has only 2g of Total fat per bag. It tastes just as good as any other popcorn. Find it in a store near you!

These Sun Dried Tomatoes were really good. I made spaghetti sauce with them, not knowing really what this specific package contained, and with the peppers in it, gave my spaghetti sauce quite the kick!   There is 0 fat in this, and its delicious. Order here! I couldn't find a link to find it in stores near you, but I found this in Walmart. I'm sure it can be found in many supermarkets though.

This is Tofu-Spinach Miso soup, and it's awesome! It's inexpensive to buy, and has only 1g of fat per serving. It can be found in many stores that carry international items, like Walmart or Wegmans. I highly recommend it if you're a big fan of Miso Soup. Also, there are other varieties of Miso soup available like this, most are around 1g fat or lower. :) Find it in stores here!

Sandwich Thins

You can find information on this product here.

I don't usually like anything whole wheat or multigrain, but these are actually great. I enjoyed them and will continue to buy them. :)

Yummy Ravioli

Find this product in a store near you!

Skinny Cow

Great tasting Ice Cream Sandwich... 

Find them in a store near you!

Baptism Food!

In my other blog I mentioned that I'd post what food I'm making for my son's Baptism party, here it is!!!


Veggie Platter consisting of:

• broccoli
• carrots
• cauliflour
• pickles
• olives
• green peppers
• celery

Salad with Cucumber, Onion, Tomatoes, and Green Pepper

Pasta Salad made with fat free italian dressing, olives, green pepper, tomato, and onion.

Salt Potatoes and Fat free Butter

Pulled Pork style Chicken

and for desert we're having Angel Food Cake :)

My First Blood Test

At my last visit to the doctor to see how everything was going now that I'm on the dissolving medication, my doctor asked me to get a blood test done in July. It was basically to see if I've contracted Hepatitis from the dissolving medication.

So last week I had my blood test done, and it was a simple one vial procedure. I was scared at first because I wasn't sure how many vials they'd be taking. When I was pregnant they'd taken around 12 at one point, and that scared the crap out of me since I'm scared of needles.

It was basically just a waiting game, and I found out today that I did not contract Hepatitis at this point. I have to have another test done in September to check again.


For anyone considering doing a dissolving medication to treat your Gallstones, don't let anything I say scare you. A ton of people take the surgery, especially since it's usually what the doctor's push towards from the beginning. In most cases, those who are given the dissolving medication are generally elderly people who have less of a chance of recovery after a surgery.  My doctors did tell me more than once that they'd rather I go with the surgery. Usually I go with what everyone else recommends, but I just had a baby in January, and had a C-Section... I don't want more surgery and lifting restrictions, and to have to take it easy more. Not to mention, if there was something that I could do to help my husband not have to take leave from work more, I wanted to be able to do it. So that's how I decided on the medication.

Yes, you can contract Hepatitis from using the medication. It's something to worry about, but not usually do you contract it.

Yes you can still suffer Gallstone attacks while on the medication, but it helps if you're on a very low fat diet to ensure that you don't get attacks.


Since I've been on the medication I have also maintained a low fat diet, and have not had a single attack since I started. I do understand that more people would rather have their Gallbladder out so they can continue a normal life, and not suffer consequences from eating whatever they'd like... but I honestly have enjoyed being on a low fat diet. Sure it gets hard at times, and I stare at the bakery sections in stores, a doughnut or pizza rolls sound awesome to me... but I gained a lot of weight during my pregnancy, and if it weren't for the decision to stay on this diet (I never had the willpower to stay on a diet before) and dissolve the stones, I'd never have lost 33lbs since February.

I really feel like having Gallstones has made me aware of the things I eat and drink, and just what things are out there that I can use in place of what I was used to. I'd never have found any of this stuff I post on this blog, the coffee creamers, the fat free cheeses, if I wasn't put in this situation. While having Gallstones sucks and makes me a tad paranoid (always afraid I could have an attack), I've been quite happy. I'm excited to see more of what's out there & blog about it! I love the fact that though there are a ton of people out there with Gallstones, afraid to eat anything, if they come across my blog they'd know that they aren't just stuck to salads and bland food. All you have to do is spend a few more minutes in the grocery store and look at all the products, read the nutritional information, you'd be so surprised to see what's out there! :)


So what I was getting at before...
While there are many things to consider when you are deciding surgery or dissolving medication, though there are things that sound scary, like contracting Hepatitis, really weigh your options and think, how likely is it that this will happen to me? Know that it IS possible, but chances are slim. But use it as a learning process..

Fiber One Snack Bars & Baking Oils

I was searching like a madman in the baking isle at Walmart for a cooking oil today. I thought that I would try to make the Pumpkin Pie bread recipe using low fat ingredients to see if it tastes any good, but I noticed that I couldn't find a single low fat oil aside from the spray oils :/  I thought however that I would try to change the recipe a little to go without oil, or replace it with something else... After I tr this I will update with how it was and if it was good, the revised recipe.


After looking through a bunch of the snack bars in the Fiber One section, these were the only bars I could find that were low fat...

Activia Light Yogurts, Edy's Slow Churned Yogurt Blends, Miss Meringue Cookies

Recent shopping adventures found me these few products:

Activia has a great selection of fat free yogurts and a great pack of 8, that are 4 of one kind and 4 of another. They're a good portion for a light snack, and taste great.

Click here to find Activia in a store near you!

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I was looking around to find an ice cream that wasn't too high in fat and ended up finding this:

Click here to find Edy's Yogurt Blends in a store near you!

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My husband was talking sweets while we were in the store and that made me curious to look around the bakery section of Tops Supermarkets. I managed to find these on display at the cookie table... and they are delicious!

Want to order some? You can do it directly though their website!

That's all that I have for today! Enjoy!!! :D

Hello!

     Hey there! My name is Donna and I have Gallstones. I started having attacks late July 2011 when I was pregnant with my son. At first I had no idea that I had Gallstones. My attacks were random and happened only once a week, if that. Usually they'd strike when I was on the way home after a meal out with my husband, and would end up making me throw up. I was sure it was just morning sickness from my pregnancy, but I didn't think that morning sickness was accompanied by chest pain. 
    One night in August awoke around 12pm with the chest pain and difficulty breathing. My husband called my midwife and she said to go to the hospital. I was hesitant because I'd been experiencing these attacks and figured it would be over within 30 minutes, so I tried to tuff it out. After 3 hours it hadn't gone away. So to the ER I went. 
   After hours of tests and lab work and ultrasounds, they ended up sending me home, saying that it was just bad indigestion, and told me to get on an antacid. Weeks later when I spoke with my midwife she gave me a script for what was basically a strong dose of Prevacid. It did work for a while, and I had no more attacks until the end of my pregnancy. Around 35 weeks (end of December) I started having attacks again. My midwife again prescribed me Prevacid, and this was the strongest it came. My attacks disappeared until mid January, and they came back again. 
     My general doctor gave me a script for an ultrasound in February, when they discovered that I didn't have indigestion at all, I had Gallstones. They never said how big, only that my Gallbladder was full of them. This was news to me! When they called me to inform me of what they found, they told me that surgery was basically my only option. I had the consultation with the surgeon about a month ago, and he lied straight to my face about how there is no medication that can take care of the Gallstones, and that if there was I'd have to be on it for the rest of my life. The second that I said I would like to consider a medication, the surgeon got mad and said he'd let my doctor know and goodbye. 
     That only made my decision easier, I don't want a surgery by someone who is more willing to lie to my face than to tell me up front my options and kindly give his opinion on why he thinks that I may benefit from the surgery. This man was rude, and only out for money.
     
    After speaking to my general doctor, she wrote me a prescription for Ursodiol tablets and I was to pick them up in an hour at our local Walmart. Well, the tablets for a month supply ended up costing over $250.00... So I had to go without again for a few more weeks. 
    After a lot of research, I managed to find one place that delivers medication to you and it's way cheaper than most local pharmacies (unless you have great insurance!), and it's HealthWarehouse.Com. Thanks to this online pharmacy (Accredited by the BBB ;] ) I will be receiving my prescription in a week or two, and for only $35 ( rounded up I think ).




     Now, even though I'm going on a dissolving medication, I still need to maintain a low fat diet to lessen the chances of attacks, which is the point of this blog. If you think you have Gallstones, have Gallstones and are getting on medication, are having surgery and are looking for low fat recipes, or just looking for a low fat diet, I'll be posting any recipes I know or have tried that I found that will be low fat. 
     Also, I've been researching products to use in place of things like Peanut Butter, Salad Dressings, Cheese... and any that I find I will make a post on where you can find that product! 
  
  I hope you enjoy this blog & please leave any comments if you have anything to contribute as far as low fat foods and yummy recipes!