The BariNation Foundation Podcast

We hear that balance is the key to success in everything. We need to find a balance between our work and home lives. We need to find a balance between enjoying foods that are in and out of bariatric compliance. We need to balance the things we say YES to with the things we say NO to. 

This is all well and good…but what does this balance actually look like, IN REAL LIFE? 

In this episode, April, Jason, and Natalie sat down with two of our favorite humans in the bariatric community, Rissa and Chris Stewart. Rissa is known for her CAN DO approach to her life and Chris has established himself as the modern stylist for our community! But behind the Instagram grid, both are busy professionals who are raising 5 children and learning how to live their best bariatric lives. They offered us some amazing and useful insights into how they create and maintain balance in their lives, and what they do when they feel out of sync. 

Follow Rissa on Instagram @rissarecharged and Chris @bariatric_bro 

If you are looking for extra layers of support along your bariatric journey from experts, clinicians, and patients just like you, join the BariNation membership community! Our support groups are led by bariatric therapists, registered dietitians, wellness coaches, and other clinicians and there are weekly opportunities to connect with patients just like you in peer-to-peer meetups and live events! Check it out! You have 14 days to try the community for free before your membership kicks in! See if the support is right for YOU. 

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

Obesity is a chronic disease that will require lifelong treatment. When you are a parent, you have an added layer of helping your children learn about obesity and be an active participant in your bariatric journey before and after surgery. This conversation can be challenging when we ourselves don’t understand the very disease we are fighting well enough to help our children understand why bariatric surgery is a needed and necessary tool for our metabolic goals.

In this episode, April, Jason, and Natalie welcome Dr. Myers, Dr. Riddle, and Heather Baum, Bariatric patients, and Bariatric Nurse Practioner to share with us their knowledge not only about obesity but how we can talk to children about obesity and bariatric surgery. As a parent, Heather has navigated these waters and continues to teach her children about obesity. Both doctors are also experts in childhood obesity and will share the most recent research and treatment options for children who themselves are battling the disease of obesity.

If you have a child in your life that you love, this episode will help you navigate these important conversations and arm yourself with the tools needed to help everyone face this disease with humor, humility, and honesty.

Connect with Dr. Myers at [email protected]. Connect with Dr. Riddle at [email protected]. And connect with Heather on Instagram @balanced_life_with_heatherbaum

If you are looking for extra layers of support along your bariatric journey from experts, clinicians, and patients just like you, join the BariNation membership community! Our support groups are led by bariatric therapists, registered dietitians, wellness coaches, and other clinicians and there are weekly opportunities to connect with patients just like you in peer-to-peer meetups and live events! Check it out! You have 14 days to try the community for free before your membership kicks in! See if the support is right for YOU.

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

For too many years, we allowed ourselves to lose our focus during the summer months. The warmer weather, the longer days, those summer vibes flipped a switch in our brains and all of our goals and aspirations went out the window.

If we want to lead a different life after surgery, we have to live a different life. We have to do things differently. And one of the things we need to do differently is SUMMER. Instead of falling off the rails this summer, we want to go Summer, Steady. We want to remain steadily aligned to our goals and create systems, habits, and routines that are not only aligned to our bariatric goals but just become a part of who we are. We want to create a life that we feel we never need a vacation from.

In this episode, April, Jason, and Natalie reflect on what their summers used to be and feel like and outline their goals and aspirations to remain Summer, Steady!

If you are looking for extra layers of support along your bariatric journey from experts, clinicians, and patients just like you, join the BariNation membership community! Our support groups are led by bariatric therapists, registered dietitians, wellness coaches, and other clinicians and there are weekly opportunities to connect with patients just like you in peer-to-peer meetups and live events! Check it out! You have 14 days to try the community for free before your membership kicks in! See if the support is right for YOU.

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

Food is nutrition. It is also a connection to our families and traditions. It is cultural and historical. It is artistic and at times, it is how we show love to one another. Can we still love, with food, after bariatric surgery?

We sat down with Kedric Barrett, one of our community’s most outspoken patients and advocates to learn how he has shifted and changed the role food plays in his family after surgery and if food still plays a role in their traditions and culture.

This conversation went deep, deeper than we expected. Ked shared with us some of his most recent struggles and how he is acknowledging what has changed and what it is doing to move through this rough patch. And how food is playing a prominent role in this struggle.

Follow Ked on Instagram @sleevedbelievethehype and check out his amazing seasoning at www.hypeseasonings.com

If you are looking for extra layers of support along your bariatric journey from experts, clinicians, and patients just like you, join the BariNation membership community! Our support groups are led by bariatric therapists, registered dietitians, wellness coaches, and other clinicians and there are weekly opportunities to connect with patients just like you in peer-to-peer meetups and live events! Check it out! You have 14 days to try the community for free before your membership kicks in! See if the support is right for YOU.

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

Parenting comes with its own unique challenges and roadblocks. But when you add in your own bariatric journey to the mix, things can get REALLY interesting.

Jason sat down with our friends Rob DeMideo and Niki Stryjak to talk about how their bariatric surgery has impacted their parenting. We wanted to know if surgery has changed the way they parent, the role food played in their families before surgery and if it has shifted, and how they talk to their children about obesity, body changes, and bariatric surgery.

If you care for and love littles and are a bariatric patient (or preparing to become one), this episode is for you!

Follow Niki @modernmom_vsg and Rob @my_weight_is_history on Instagram!

If you are looking for extra layers of support along your bariatric journey from experts, clinicians, and patients just like you, join the BariNation membership community! Our support groups are led by bariatric therapists, registered dietitians, wellness coaches, and other clinicians and there are weekly opportunities to connect with patients just like you in peer-to-peer meetups and live events! Check it out! You have 14 days to try the community for free before your membership kicks in! See if the support is right for YOU.

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

April, Jason and Natalie sat down with Jason’s wife, Sarah to reflect on the power of peer support and the importance of a strong support system. Whether it's a best friend, family member, peer support advocate, mental health counselor or our own BariNation community, meeting someone who has personally changed your life and supports you is the most powerful thing someone can have.

We are so thankful for our digital spaces. It provides us a safe place to create and grow new friendships and support. Finding support on your bariatric journey can be scary and you might not be sure where to start looking. In the episode, we deep dive into the importance of the power of a peer support system.

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

April, Jason, and Natalie sat down to reflect on their time at Advent Health’s Bariatric Retreat hosted by The Bariatric Society. The power of our stories was on full display and hearing them in person amplified the message and the power this community has.

We are so thankful for our digital spaces. It provides us a safe place to create and grow new friendships and connections. Meeting in real life can be scary, what if your internet friends are not who they appear to be online? What if you don’t share anything in common? In the episode, we hope to dispel your fears of meeting in person and give you some strategies to make those first encounters positive and meaningful.

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

Knowing our stories can be a powerful tool we can use to help us move through difficult moment’s along our journey. But what can we do when people question or push back against our decision to undergo bariatric surgery? We can speak in stats! When we have statistical data to back up our decision, we arm ourselves and others with factual information about the chronic disease of obesity that help solidify our choices and provide a definitive rebuttal to anyone who wants to question our medical decisions.

Dr. Eric Smith, DO joined us for this powerful conversation and we are thrilled to have him as a patient advocate in our shared community! Dr. Smith seeks to end the shame and stigma that surrounds bariatric surgery by supporting his patients through every stage of their journey! Follow Dr. Smith on Instagram @drericsmith_ .

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

Turns out, the most important person who needs to know our story is yourself. That might sound odd, but if we don't acknowledge and understand our own story, we will never be able to identify those beliefs and ideas that can hold us back after bariatric surgery. It can be a painful process to go back and reflect on the impact weight has had on your life and how you dealt with it at the time. But by looking back, we can plot a course forward, into a brighter and more aware future.

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

You’ve got this and we’ve got you!