The BariNation Foundation Podcast

The holiday season can be stressful, especially for bariatric surgery patients. The added emphasis on food and family can kick our stress levels into overdrive. We might be seeing people who are not supportive of our journey, or we are worried about being pressured into eating foods that are not aligned with our bariatric life. Throw in grief, shame, and worry; you have a recipe for a not-so-merry and bright season. 

For some patients, their decision to undergo weight loss surgery is private. We can panic when questions and comments are asked at these events, and we don’t know how to respond. Or when we think about how we will turn down our Aunt’s famous jello salad, our brain goes blank. These are the moments, the hotspots, we can and should prepare for. 

In this episode, your hosts, April, Jason, and Natalie, sit down with BariNation Expert and bariatric therapist Lora Grabow, LMSW, to help us learn how to identify and navigate these “holiday hotspots.” A “hotspot” is an event or moment where our emotions are at play and risk. We worry about these moments because we are unsure how we will react or respond. They are called “hotspots” because we can get burned if we are not careful. 

If we think about our upcoming holiday and identify some hotspots that might be ahead, we can plan for them so that our actions or reactions at the moment are aligned with our bariatric life and goals. Lora will introduce us all to the work of Dr. Beck and her Priorities chart. She will teach us how to identify essential, highly desirable, and desirable actions to help us lower the temperature surrounding these hotspots and move through the season with space and grace. 

Remember, you're not alone on this journey. Join the BariNation Support Community and connect with people working through holiday hotspots. We partner with experts like Lora to offer support groups, classes, and meetups where you can connect with other people just like you. Visit us at https://barination.mn.co to learn more about our inclusive and welcoming support community! Remember to subscribe to The BariNation Podcast for more insights and inspiration on your weight loss surgery journey.

If you found this episode helpful, please leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform and share it with others who might benefit from this information. And you can help us produce this show by becoming a $5 monthly Patreon support! Visit www.barinationpodcast.com to become a supporter! 

About our Guest: Lora Grabow, LMSW, is a seasoned bariatric therapist with 20 years of clinical and patient experience. She is an educator and course creator, public speaker, patient advocate, and educator. She is an expert leader in BariNation and has been featured on multiple podcasts. Visit her online at www.loragrabow.com to connect with her!

About Your Hosts: April Williams, Jason Smith, and Natalie Tierney were all bariatric patients inspired to create the community and support they needed. BariNation empowers people to treat their disease of obesity in kind, compassionate, and caring ways through the community they founded. As they learn to live the pillars of bariatric success (movement, mindset, metabolic wellness), they share their experiences and “aha” moments with their friends and followers. 

About BariNation: BariNation is a bariatric educational organization on a mission to empower patients to access and utilize the tools, resources, and education needed to find and maintain personal wellness. We connect patients with the support they need, when and where they need it. BariNation hosts an online membership support community led by experts and patients and produces an award-winning weekly podcast distributed on all major podcast and video platforms.

Follow BariNation on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. You can also connect with us personally on Instagram; follow April @actively_april, follow Jason @tha_smithsonian, and follow Natalie @breakingbari_ers.

You’ve got this and we’ve got you!

The holiday season is upon us, and it's a time of joy, celebration, and yes, some unique challenges. In this episode of The BariNation Podcast, we explore the power of mindfulness and how it can be your guiding light during this festive time.

Returning podcast guest and BariNation Expert Kayla Girgen, RD joined April and Jason who kick off the discussion by diving deep into the concept of mindfulness. What does it really mean to be "mindful"? Discover how being fully present in the moment, aware of your thoughts, feelings, and emotions, can be the key to making intentional choices during the holidays.

But why do the holidays often seem more stressful than other times of the year? Is it something we create in our heads? Can this added stress become an excuse to overindulge in foods that don't align with your bariatric journey? Join us as we unravel the factors contributing to holiday stress and how to make mindful choices.

We also discuss how this might be the only time of the year to enjoy certain foods and the company of friends and family, making it hard to imagine celebrating without food as the "main dish." Can we find a balance between tradition and our bariatric goals?

When life gets busy and stressful, it's easy to neglect movement and meal choices. In this episode, we share strategies for staying mindful about movement and meals. Understand why movement is a "non-negotiable" and discover how it can lower stress, help you process emotions, and uplift your mood. And don't stress about holiday meals - most are protein-forward.

It is important to know that a few meals this season will not derail all of the progres you have made. They discuss the importance of trusting yourself to make the right food choices and, if necessary, making the decision to forgo certain events or foods.

The mantra "Enjoy, Pass, Tweak" becomes your holiday survival guide. Sometimes, nothing but the "real" thing will do, and that's okay. Remember, it's alright to have different holidays before and after surgery, and your journey is unique.

The big takeaways from this episode emphasize the significance of being mindful about your emotions in the moment, especially when triggered by food or people. Discover how having game plans ready can help you make mindful choices. And don't miss the chance to share your favorite non-food-related holiday memory or tradition; it's our listener question on Spotify!

This holiday season, join us as we embark on a mindful journey to navigate the festivities with intention and joy. Tune in The BariNation Podcast and let mindfulness be your holiday superpower.

In this thought-provoking episode, Bariatric Coach Mabel Joseph deep dives into the concept of judgment – what it is, why it's an intrinsic part of being human, and how it affects those on a bariatric journey. Judgment is a normal brain behavior, a mechanism through which we comprehend the world, determine safety, define right from wrong, and make efficient decisions to safeguard our well-being. It is a very normal human behavior. But when our loved ones judge our decision to undergo weight loss surgery and the life we lead after our procedure, our reactions to it can cause us harm. 

In this episode, we will explore how judgment weaves its way into our lives during our bariatric journey and holidays, how it can influence our choices, behaviors, and actions, and the steps we can take to move through judgment in positive and profound ways.

Join hosts April Williams, Jason Smith, and Natalie Tierney for this meaningful and timely discussion. Tune in to gain a profound understanding of judgment, its roots in human psychology, and how it plays a role in the lives of bariatric patients. Learn strategies to navigate judgment, build resilience, and move forward on your transformative journey toward better health and well-being.

If you want to continue this conversation, join us in the BariNation Community! You can help build BariNation by becoming a podcast supporter for $5 a month or join our Support Community and access and attend over 80 live support groups, classes, and meetups a month, all from the comfort of your own home. Join us today by visiting www.barinationpodcast.com to learn more. 

About our Guest:

About Your Hosts: April Williams, Jason Smith, and Natalie Tierney are all bariatric patients on a mission to connect patients with the tools, resources, and education needed to find and maintain personal wellness. They created BariNation to empower people to treat their disease of obesity in kind, compassionate, and caring ways through the community they founded. As they learn to live the pillars of bariatric success (movement, mindset, metabolic wellness), they share their experiences and “aha” moments with their friends and followers. 

About BariNation: BariNation is a bariatric educational organization on a mission to empower patients to access and utilize the tools, resources, and education needed to find and maintain personal wellness. BariNAtion understands that every patient's end goal is metabolic wellness. While each patient will take a different road to this destination, the stops along the journey will be similar. BariNation aims to connect patients with the support they need, when and where they need it. BariNation produces an award-winning weekly podcast that is distributed on all major podcast and video platforms, host a support membership community that teams up with credentialed and licensed bariatric experts and clinicians. 

Follow BariNation on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. You can also connect with us on Instgram; follow April @actively_april, follow Jason @tha_smithsonian, ,follow Natalie @breakingbari_ers, and follow Mabel @beyondthesleeveacademy

You’ve got this and we’ve got you!

If you've been listening to or watching the BariNation podcast for a while, you've heard us say obesity is a chronic and lifelong disease and that bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment. But what happens when our first surgery is not enough? What happens when our surgery does not get to a point where we are metabolically well or our first surgery triggers new and unwelcomed symptoms or complications? Revision surgery is something many patients will go through, yet it is surrounded in shame, guilt, and fear. 

April and Jason sat down with Dr. Joe Cribbins and Dr. Edmund Chen, two board-certified bariatric surgeons, to discuss revision surgery. We explore why revision surgery is sometimes necessary and needed and, we can identify when a revision might be required and better understand the steps we can take to begin the conversation with our medical teams. We spent time understanding how Jason came to his decision to pursue bariatric surgery and the guilt and shame he had to work through to find his bariatric hope again. As patients, we have to recognize that our disease will continue to progress in our lives, despite doing everything “right” and that the only way to live with the disease is to continue to treat it.

If you're pre-op, we hope you leave this conversation with a better understanding of being an engaged, informed, and educated bariatric patient. If you're post-op and struggling with weight recurrence, the return or continuation of co-morbidities, or the onset of new conditions, you can find your hope again, like Jason, and pursue different treatment options. 

Thank you for listening and watching the BariNation podcast! If you find this show valuable, become a supporter of the show. Your $5 a month helps us produce this podcast and keep the support available for patients everywhere. Visit us at www.barinationpodcast.com to become a supporter today. 

About our Guest: Dr. Cribbings and Dr. Chen are board-certified robotic bariatric surgeons in Dallas, Texas. Texas Center for Bariatrics & Advanced Surgery is the trusted destination for weight loss. Dr. Joe Cribbins is a highly sought-after, award-winning bariatric surgeon with over 23 years of experience. He exclusively uses the ultra minimally invasive Da Vinci Xi® surgical system for bariatric and weight loss surgeries like gastric bypasses. Using the Da Vinci Xi system, Dr. Cribbins & Dr. Chen provide more precise and less invasive weight loss procedures so patients can experience less pain, faster recoveries, and better results. Follow Dr. Cribbins and Dr. Chen on Instagram @one_operation_changes_life and online at https://www.texascenterforsurgery.com/

About Your Hosts: April, Jason, and Natalie are all bariatric patients on a mission to connect patients with the tools, resources, and education needed to find and maintain personal wellness. They created BariNation to empower people to treat their disease of obesity in kind, compassionate, and caring ways through the community they founded. As they learn to live the pillars of bariatric success (movement, mindset, metabolic wellness), they share their experiences and “aha” moments with their friends and followers. 

About BariNation: BariNation is a bariatric educational organization on a mission to empower patients to access and utilize the tools, resources, and education needed to find and maintain personal wellness. BariNation understands that every patient's end goal is metabolic wellness. While each patient will take a different road to this destination, the stops along the journey will be similar. BariNation aims to connect patients with the support they need, when and where they need it. 

Follow BariNation on Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest. You can also connect with us on Instagram; follow April @actively_april, follow Jason @tha_smithsonian, and follow Natalie @breakingbari_ers.

You’ve got this and we’ve got you!

Walking is one of the most accessible types of movement, yet we often hear bariatric patients downplay the amazing role it can play along our journey. “All I did was walk today” is something we often hear spoken in the community, and we are on a mission to flip that script!

Waking has tremendous health benefits that span all facets of our overall well-being. It positively impacts brain and cardiovascular health and can help us eliminate the visceral fat that often leads to dangerous medical issues. Walking truly is a powerful form of movement that is simple to incorporate into our day, free to everyone, and easy to enjoy in the company of others!

Dr. Pesta and Dr. McMann join us for this amazing conversation about the power of walking and introduce us to the TREO Foundation, an organization on a mission to raise obesity awareness and power medical research that is making positive and profound impacts on patients' lives. Their virtual Walk From Obesity is happening on November 4th, 2023, and BariNation is proud to be hosting a virtual walking team! We are raising funds for this important research and moving together for a great cause! Click HERE to learn more about the TREO Foundation and join the Barination Virtual Walk Team! 

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If our podcast has helped you along your bariatric journey, help support it by becoming a monthly donor! Your support helps us fuel this labor of love and ensures that it reaches patients when and where they need it the most. Click the link in the show notes on our Spotify homepage and be the future of BariNation!

Connect with fellow patients and experts in the BariNation Membership Community! As a member, you can access virtual support led by bariatric therapists, registered dietitians, wellness coaches, movement experts, and patient moderators. Try our community for 14 days free, then it’s just $39 a month! Find us at https://barination.mn.co

Follow BariNation on Instagram @bari.nation for continued support aligned with your bariatric journey. Follow April @actively_april, follow Jason @tha_smithsonian_, and follow Natalie @breakingbari_ers

As if the bariatric journey is not emotional enough, we can exerpieince grief when anything in our life changes. The loss of a connection to what we knew or the past can trigger the waves of grief, even happy moments or momentous occasions can cause grief to be present in our lives. We want to better understand the waves of grief and leanr how we can grow through the grief, using it as a powerful tool for growth. 

We sat down with Timisha Malone, a bariatric therapist who specalizes in grief and a patient herself. She has over a decade of experience walking people through grief and helping them harness the powerful momentfum grief can create in our life. And becuase she is also a bariatric patient, she is able to offer us specific and targeted suggestions for every step of our bariatric life. She helps us understand that moving through grief actually requires stillness, a willingness to find stillness, name our feelings, and connect with a peer community to help us navigate the emotional changes. 

If you have been wondering “why am I feeling this way” and can’t quite put your finger on what is causing your feelings or emotions, this episode is for you! We invite you to connect and grow with Timisha in the BariNation Support Communtiy, where she leds our bi-monthly Bariatric Grief Support Group. This group is designed to help fellow patients undertand grief, its many waves, and provide a safe place to practice the stillness needed to move though grief. Join Timisah and hundreds of fellow patients at www.barination.mn.co

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If our podcast has helped you along your bariatric journey, help support it by becoming a subscriber! For $5 a month, you can help grow the BariNation podcast and ensure it continues to help the thousands and thousands of patients who rely on it. Your support helps us fuel this labor of love and ensures that it reaches patients when and where they need it the most. Become a supporter at www.barination.mn.co.

Follow BariNation on Instagram @bari.nation for continued support aligned with your bariatric journey. Follow hosts April Williams @actively_april, follow Jason Smith @tha_smithsonian_, and follow Natalie Tierney @breakingbari_ers

Walking is one of the most accessible types of movement, yet we often hear bariatric patients downplay the amazing role it can play along our journey. “All I did was walk today” is something we often hear spoken in the community, and we are on a mission to flip that script!

Waking has tremendous health benefits that span all facets of our overall well-being. It positively impacts brain and cardiovascular health and can help us eliminate the visceral fat that often leads to dangerous medical issues. Walking truly is a powerful form of movement that is simple to incorporate into our day, free to everyone, and easy to enjoy in the company of others!

Dr. Pesta and Dr. McMann join us for this amazing conversation about the power of walking and introduce us to the TREO Foundation, an organization on a mission to raise obesity awareness and power medical research that is making positive and profound impacts on patients' lives. Their virtual Walk From Obesity is happening on November 4th, 2023, and BariNation is proud to be hosting a virtual walking team! We are raising funds for this important research and moving together for a great cause! Click HERE to learn more about the TREO Foundation and join the Barination Virtual Walk Team! 

____________________________________

If our podcast has helped you along your bariatric journey, help support it by becoming a monthly donor! Your support helps us fuel this labor of love and ensures that it reaches patients when and where they need it the most. Click the link in the show notes on our Spotify homepage and be the future of BariNation!

Connect with fellow patients and experts in the BariNation Membership Community! As a member, you can access virtual support led by bariatric therapists, registered dietitians, wellness coaches, movement experts, and patient moderators. Try our community for 14 days free, then it’s just $39 a month! Find us at https://barination.mn.co

Follow BariNation on Instagram @bari.nation for continued support aligned with your bariatric journey. Follow April @actively_april, follow Jason @tha_smithsonian_, and follow Natalie @breakingbari_ers

Grief is an emotion that is triggered by the loss of something. Grief indicates a loss of connection, a severance between us and something or someone. Bariatric patients can experience grief along their journey but not realize it in the moment. We can be filled with feelings of sadness, anger, and resentment and wonder why we are feeling these things, especially when we think we should only be feeling happiness and joy after surgery. Turns out, grief is a normal emotion after surgery and recognizing it is the first step to move through it.

In this episode, we sat down with Lora Grabow, an amazing bariatric therapist and expert in the BariNation Support Community to understand grief from our bariatric lens. We wanted to know why it happens, how to recognize it, and what we can do to move through it. We invite you to join Lora in her upcoming Growing Through Grief class on Thursday, October 17th at 4:30pm PST / 7:30 pm EST in our Support Community. Learn in real time from the experts, with the support of your bariatric peers! Visit www.barination.mn.co to become a member and RSVP to the class! Follow Lora on Instagram @bariatric.therapist and visit her online at loragrabow.com

Have you experienced grief along your bariatric journey? Was the emotion of grief something you expected to encounter in your post op life? Respond to these questions on our Spotify homepage or keep the conversation going in the Community! 

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If our podcast has helped you along your bariatric journey, help support it by becoming a monthly donor! Your support helps us fuel this labor of love and ensures that it reaches patients when and where they need it the most. Click the link in the show notes on our Spotify homepage and be the future of BariNation!

Connect with fellow patients and experts in the BariNation Membership Community! As a member, you can access virtual support led by bariatric therapists, registered dietitians, wellness coaches, movement experts, and patient moderators. Try our community for 14 days free, then it’s just $39 a month! Find us at https://barination.mn.co

Follow BariNation on Instagram @bari.nation for continued support aligned with your bariatric journey. Follow April @actively_april, follow Jason @tha_smithsonian_, and follow Natalie @breakingbari_ers

The season is changing and we are looking fallward! April, Jason, and Natalie sat down for a reflective conversation about the season ahead and what they are hoping it will hold for them. Jason made a big breakthrough during our conversation that he is hopeful will help him get to back to a place of holistic wellness. And all three shared some things that have been making a positive impact on their bariatric journeys! 

If you have been struggling with some major changes in your personal life and finding that you are having a hard time being okay, this episode is for you. Goodby summer, hello fall!

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For 10% off all ProCare Vitamins and supplements, use code BariNation.Join our Patreon to help support the podcast by going to patreon.com/BariNationPodcast.

Are you feeling alone or stuck in your bariatric journey? Connect with fellow patients and experts in the BariNation Membership Community! As a member, you can access virtual support led by bariatric therapists, registered dietitians, wellness coaches, movement experts, and patient moderators. Try our community for 14 days free, then it’s just $39 a month! Find us at https://barination.mn.co

Self-care is having a *moment*. But for good reason. Our modern lives can make caring for ourselves seem antiquated. There is a feeling that if every second of our lives is not filled with something useful or progressive towards our goals, it is actually empty. This is simply not true. Self-care is not something we do to brush off feelings of pain, anger, or frustration. They are actions we can take that actually make a positiv impact on our life. 

So what does modern self-care look like? How does a busy mom of two, entrepreneur of multiple thriving businesses, active wife, aunt, and adult child do to show reguard for her own health? You might be suprised! Listen or watch on to find out! Spoiler alert- hanging out with your friends, specifically your bari friends made the list :) We also had a wonderful conversation about the upcoming fall Bariatric Soceity Retreat in San Antonio, Texas! JOIN US! 

For more information about this amazing Retreat and to purchase tickets, visit www.bariatricsociety/retreat. Use code BariNation when you check out for $20 off your ticket!

Follow Stephanie on Instagram at @one_hungry_mother and on her business page, Bariatric Society, at @bariatricsoceity. 

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For 10% off all ProCare Vitamins and supplements, use code BariNation. And if your purchase a vitamin subscription, you can get access to a 4-week trial and a discounted monthly rate!Join our Patreon to help support the podcast by going to patreon.com/BariNationPodcast.

Are you feeling alone or stuck in your bariatric journey? Connect with fellow patients and experts in the BariNation Membership Community! As a member, you can access virtual support led by bariatric therapists, registered dietitians, wellness coaches, movement experts, and patient moderators. Try our community for 14 days free, then it’s just $39 a month! Find us at https://barination.mn.co

Follow BariNation on Instagram @bari.nation for continued support aligned with your bariatric journey. Follow April @actively_april, follow Jason @tha_smithsonian_, and follow Natalie @breakingbari_ers