The BariNation Foundation Podcast

What started out as a conversation about skin turned into so much more. Loving our skin means that we are using our three pillars of success before and after bariatric surgery to truly love ourselves. Our skin is the largest organ in our bodies, yet it is something that most of us have neglected. We people say "skincare" we instantly think of our face and how we care for the skin on our face. I think most men would just give you a blank stare when you asked them how they cared for their skin. But if we want to find acceptance, contentment, and even happiness in our own skin, we have to start showing it some love.

In this episode, Desiree Mize aka Dez aka @wokeuplikedez joined us to talk about how her relationship with her skin has changed, how she loves it now, and what she does to set her day off on a positive note. There are going to be some days that we just *don't* want to do the work of weight loss surgery anymore. Dez shares with us some simple, easy things that we can do to set our mindset on the path of achievement, and how this mindset can spark our movement and metabolic wellness. This episode will leave you with some practicable and actionable steps you can take TODAY to help you love your skin and your bariatric journey!

Follow Dez on Instagram and check out her *growing* health and beauty empire at www.wokeuplikedez.com

We also encourage you to VIEW this podcast on our YouTube channel. We shared some graphics and images that aid our visual learners who listen and enjoy listening! If you like what you hear and see, follow/subscribe to the feed and leave us a review!

Our goal is to create content that is of value to our community. If you have a topic, idea, question, or threat you would like us to explore in-depth, please leave us a comment on whatever platform you are listening to or watching from or message us directly on Instagram! We are @east2west_wls and welcome your feedback! Please like, share, and review this podcast- your review helps us grow and reach more people.

Where to follow along:

Instagram: @east2west_wls

YouTube: East2West_WLS

Jason: @tha_smithsonian

April: @actively_april

Natalie: @breakingbari_ers⁠ 

We are diving right into this month's support topic- we recently sat down as an East2West_WLS Crew to talk about our current skin situation! We wanted to reconnect with each other and find out where everyone is at with this skin relationship and turns out, we are all kind of in the same boat. We all acknowledge that our skincare has taken a back seat and we are ready to move it up to the shotgun position!⁠

⁠In this episode, we talk about what our relationship with our skin was before our #bariatricsurgery, if or ho wit has changed #postop, what we are most excited to learn about this month in regards to our skin and how to care for it, and what our current favorite way to care for our skin is now! 

Episode Topics:

We also encourage you to VIEW this podcast on our YouTube channel. We shared some graphics and images that aid our visual learners who listen and enjoy listening! If you like what you hear and see, follow/subscribe to the feed and leave us a review!

Our goal is to create content that is of value to our community. If you have a topic, idea, question, or threat you would like us to explore in-depth, please leave us a comment on whatever platform you are listening to or watching from or message us directly on Instagram! We are @east2west_wls and welcome your feedback! Please like, share, and review this podcast- your review helps us grow and reach more people.

Where to follow along:

Instagram: @east2west_wls

YouTube: East2West_WLS

Jason: @tha_smithsonian

April: @actively_april

Natalie: @breakingbari_ers⁠

A vice is something we turn to when we are feeling BLASTED (Bored, Lonely, Anxious or Angry, Hungry, Sar or Stressed, Tired, Excited, Depressed) and we have run "out of gas". We can turn to our vice when we want to escape these feelings and trade them in for something exciting, rewarding, pleasurable, and when we need to just "numb out". And after bariatric surgery, we actually NEED to buy new clothes because our old ones are falling off our frame. But many of us walk a fine line between need and want, quickly finding our bank accounts drained and the old feelings of shame and guilt returning. 

Colleen @discoveringcolleen has confronted head-on her post-op shopping vice and is taking steps to overcome this behavior. In this episode, she opens up about her shopping vice and describes what it looked like in her own life. She recalls her "ah-ha" moment and then tells us how she is finding control once again. 

Episode Topics:

Reading Recommendations:

We also encourage you to VIEW this podcast on our YouTube channel. We shared some graphics and images that aid our visual learners who listen and enjoy listening! If you like what you hear and see, follow/subscribe to the feed and leave us a review!

Our goal is to create content that is of value to our community. If you have a topic, idea, question, or threat you would like us to explore in-depth, please leave us a comment on whatever platform you are listening to or watching from or message us directly on Instagram! We are @east2west_wls and welcome your feedback! Please like, share, and review this podcast- your review helps us grow and reach more people.

Where to follow along:

Instagram: @east2west_wls

YouTube: East2West_WLS

Jason: @tha_smithsonian

April: @actively_april

Trigger Warning: Alcoholism and Death

Bariatric patients face an increased risk of many health issues after surgery. But Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) is one of the least discussed issues, even though it increases our chances of major complications and even death. Study after study has shown an increased risk of AUD, leading to severe complications and death three years post-op. The medical community is not in agreement on why this happens, so many years post-op. But understanding that we are at an increased risk after surgery is all we need to know to better equip ourselves to recognize the warning signs of alcohol dependence and addiction to ensure we do not find ourselves on the wrong side of the statistics. 

We had the opportunity to sit down with Ryan and his dad Greg to talk about their mother, Lynee. She was one of the first patients to undergo RNY over 20 years ago and died 10 years after her procedure due to chronic and severe medical conditions. A few years after her procedure, she developed AUD and become dependant on alcohol, exhibiting many of the signs of alcoholism. Her drinking dramatically impacted her physical and emotional health, as well as strained relationships with her family. Ryan and Greg directly link her death to her alcoholism.

We are so thankful to get to know Lynee through Ryan and Greg. And we are grateful that they are willing to share their personal and intimate moments of their lives with us, to help us all understand the risks we take undergoing bariatric surgery and how we can find lasting success when we think we are "healed".

We also encourage you to VIEW this podcast on our YouTube channel. We shared some graphics and images that aid our visual learners who listen and enjoy listening! If you like what you hear and see, follow/subscribe to the feed and leave us a review!

Our goal is to create content that is of value to our community. If you have a topic, idea, question, or threat you would like us to explore in-depth, please leave us a comment on whatever platform you are listening to or watching from or message us directly on Instagram! We are @east2west_wls and welcome your feedback! Please like, share, and review this podcast- your review helps us grow and reach more people.

Where to follow along:

Instagram: @east2west_wls

YouTube: East2West_WLS

Jason: @tha_smithsonian

April: @actively_april

Our brains are wired to keep us safe when we sense danger. If we are experiencing physical or emotional pain, our brains work every possible scenario until it finds the most effective and efficient way out of the pain. What our brains do not understand is that sometimes those pathways out of pain actually create more lasting and long-term pain because they negatively impact our overall quality of life. 

Wendy defines a vice as something we turn to when our emotional or physical resources are low. It is something we do to escape, numb, cope, or provide us the temporary relief. Something becomes a vice when it interferes with your quality of life and impacts it negatively. Most vices start out as something pleasurable or something healthy, but when done to excess, cross into the vice category. 

Identifying and addressing our vices is an important step to finding our happy, healthy weight and overall contentment after bariatric surgery. These vices will eventually lead to weight regain because vices make us feel shameful or guilty, which then draws us back into our old eating habits. We must identify our vices and work to cope with stress and discomfort in different, healthy ways. 

Episode Topics:

Wendy Rawlings is an amazing Licensed Mental Health Counselor who seems patients all over the nation. Visit Wendy online at www.wendyrawlings.com

We also encourage you to VIEW this podcast on our YouTube channel. We shared some graphics and images that aid our visual learners who listen and enjoy listening! If you like what you hear and see, follow/subscribe to the feed and leave us a review!

Our goal is to create content that is of value to our community. If you have a topic, idea, question, or threat you would like us to explore in-depth, please leave us a comment on whatever platform you are listening to or watching from or message us directly on Instagram! We are @east2west_wls and welcome your feedback! Please like, share, and review this podcast- your review helps us grow and reach more people.

Where to follow along:

Website: www.east2westwls.com

Instagram: @east2west_wls

YouTube: East2West_WLS

Jason: @tha_smithsonian

April: @actively_april

If you follow Phil, the founder, and creator of Dive Bar Nutrition on Instagram- you might have the perception that he is a super crazy, off-the-wall guy who loves making freaking delicious protein bars. But in the first 5 minutes of our conversation with him, we realized he is so much more than his Dive Bar persona. He is a highly intelligent, educated *professor* who has overcome it ALL to create the life he always knew he could live.

Phil is not a bariatric patient, but his heart and soul live to support people who are seeking to live their best lives. His personal background of substance abuse left him empty but knowing there was more in store for him. He overcame his vices and pursued an education in nutrition and exercise science, becoming a legit *professor* and now the owner of a nutritional supplement company that has a fierce following of devoted fans- East2West_WLS included!

Phil is a master at identifying what is holding people back, helping them overcome their vices, and charting a path towards lasting health. I am not going to lie...this conversation wanders. But it wanders because each time he answered one of our questions, a whole new village of insight and knowledge was presented to us...how could we NOT stop at every village along the way?

If you are struggling to overcome a vice, or are working hard to keep one in check, this episode is for YOU!

Follow Phil on Instagram @divebarnutrition and check out his website, where you can order yourself the most amazing "hard" protein bar you have ever had in your life. Use our code "E2W" for 22% off your order!

We also encourage you to VIEW this podcast on our YouTube channel. We shared some graphics and images that aid our visual learners who listen and enjoy listening! If you like what you hear and see, follow/subscribe to the feed and leave us a review!

Our goal is to create content that is of value to our community. If you have a topic, idea, question, or threat you would like us to explore in-depth, please leave us a comment on whatever platform you are listening to or watching from or message us directly on Instagram! We are @east2west_wls and welcome your feedback! Please like, share, and review this podcast- your review helps us grow and reach more people.

Where to follow along:

Website: www.east2westwls.com

Instagram: @east2west_wls

YouTube: East2West_WLS

Jason: @tha_smithsonian

April: @actively_april

Curious what life will be like after bariatric surgery? Jason and April recently sat down with their friend Katie @katie.vsg to hear how her life has changed after her VSG procedure! Katie is so open and honest about her experience, and this conversation is a continuation of her raw accounting of how life has changed after her procedure. One of the biggest "ah-ha" moments so far has been the impact feeling "normal" has had on her. We asked her some hard questions and she answered them with brutal honesty. We *LOVE* @katie.vsg and we know you will too!

We also encourage you to VIEW this podcast on our YouTube channel. We shared some graphics and images that aid our visual learners who listen and enjoy listening! If you like what you hear and see, follow/subscribe to the feed and leave us a review!

Our goal is to create content that is of value to our community. If you have a topic, idea, question, or threat you would like us to explore in-depth, please leave us a comment on whatever platform you are listening to or watching from or message us directly on Instagram! We are @east2west_wls and welcome your feedback! Please like, share, and review this podcast- your review helps us grow and reach more people.

Where to follow along:

Website: www.east2westwls.com

Instagram: @east2west_wls

YouTube: East2West_WLS

Jason: @tha_smithsonian

April: @actively_april

We all go into bariatric surgery with expectations. But what most of us find soon after our procedures, what we expected is not what actually happens. We expect to lose 100 pounds in three months or we blissfully think that hunger will be a thing of the past. When these expectations turn into myths, we get discouraged. We instantly think that our tool has failed and that we have failed our tool. It is why we have a 50% chance of regaining me or all of our weight 2 years after surgery.

HAVE NO FEAR, Megan @mybariatricdietitian is here! Megan is a Registered Dietitian who is passionate about understanding and support this community. Her message and support focus on dispelling these myths and getting to the root of the issue. In this episode, she talked with us about:

If you do not follow Megan, do so now! She is also the author of one of our community's most coveted cookbooks, The Complete Bariatric Cookbook and Meal Plan!

We also encourage you to VIEW this podcast on our YouTube channel. We shared some graphics and images that aid our visual learners who listen and enjoy listening! If you like what you hear and see, follow/subscribe to the feed and leave us a review!

Our goal is to create content that is of value to our community. If you have a topic, idea, question, or threat you would like us to explore in-depth, please leave us a comment on whatever platform you are listening to or watching from or message us directly on Instagram! We are @east2west_wls and welcome your feedback! Please like, share, and review this podcast- your review helps us grow and reach more people.

Where to follow along:

Website: www.east2westwls.com

Instagram: @east2west_wls

YouTube: East2West_WLS

Jason: @tha_smithsonian

April: @actively_april

The first step in change-making is actually committing to doing things differently. The second step requires that we use new and different tools to make the change happen and stick. Unfortunately, there is no "Home Depot" of mindset and headwork tools that we can make a quick stop in to pick up what we need. Enter East2West_WLS and Lora Grabow, a Licensed Master Social Worker who has dedicated her life to helping bariatric patients acquire and use the mindset and headwork tools needed to find lasting success after our procedure.

Lora masterfully describes why reframing our food relationship is so difficult and gives us an actual, physical example of what this discomfort feels like. She then arms us with some tools and strategies we can use to reframe our understanding and relationship with food. This will be one of those episodes you will download and listen to on REPEAT...it's THAT good!

Follow Lora on all of the platforms and visit her website for information on her services, masterclasses, and seminars!

Instagram: @loragrabow

Website: www.loragrabow.com

We also encourage you to VIEW this podcast on our YouTube channel. We shared some graphics and images that aid our visual learners who listen and enjoy listening! If you like what you hear and see, follow/subscribe to the feed and leave us a review!

Our goal is to create content that is of value to our community. If you have a topic, idea, question, or threat you would like us to explore in-depth, please leave us a comment on whatever platform you are listening to or watching from or message us directly on Instagram! We are @east2west_wls and welcome your feedback! Please like, share, and review this podcast- your review helps us grow and reach more people.

Where to follow along:

Website: www.east2westwls.com

Instagram: @east2west_wls

YouTube: East2West_WLS

Jason: @tha_smithsonian

April: @actively_april

Meal prepping is one of the most dreaded elements of our bariatric recovery. So many of us struggle with meal planning and prep, even though it is a tool we can use to find long-term success after bariatric surgery. We might be riding high on the meal prep train for a week or two, then we fall off the tracks and into old habits and routines. Change is HARD, it feels awkward. But that is how you know change is happening. 

We sat down with Kathryn, the Bariatric Queen herself, to understand all of the ins and outs of meal planning and prep. She is 5 years post-op VSG and has *mastered* the tricks of the trade. In this conversation, she shares with us how she came to her current meal prep habits and explains WHY it is such an important and necessary too along the bariatric journey. She also details her recent health struggles and implores everyone in our community to remain vigilant with your vitamins and your surgical and nutritional guidelines after surgery.

Follow Kathryn on ALL the social media platforms!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bariatricqueen/

TikTok: @bariatricqueen

Blog: https://bariatricqueen.com/

We also encourage you to VIEW this podcast on our YouTube channel. We shared some graphics and images that aid our visual learners who listen and enjoy listening! If you like what you hear and see, follow/subscribe to the feed and leave us a review!

Our goal is to create content that is of value to our community. If you have a topic, idea, question, or threat you would like us to explore in-depth, please leave us a comment on whatever platform you are listening to or watching from or message us directly on Instagram! We are @east2west_wls and welcome your feedback! Please like, share, and review this podcast- your review helps us grow and reach more people.

Where to follow along:

Website: www.east2westwls.com

Instagram: @east2west_wls

YouTube: East2West_WLS

Jason: @tha_smithsonian

April: @actively_april