Sunday, April 16, 2006.

(Photo: The surprisingly scrumptious "nut burger" sandwich)

My nut "burger" made a delicious lunch today. I had that along with a salad around 3 pm. I wish I could convey through photos how good that burger tastes, but they aren't the prettiest things you ever saw! Felicia made enough for us to have a burger every day for days. We're joking that by then we'll be sick of them, but I hope not. It's so nice to have a variety of foods to choose from right now: green smoothie for breakfast, and then several things to choose from for lunch and dinner: flaxseed nacho chips (yep, another Chef Felicia production) with guacamole, sushi, hummus sandwiches, salads, trail mix of seeds, nuts and dried coconut, nut burgers, and Carob devastation pie as a treat! Eating raw hasn't been this fun since I discovered the Go Raw Cafe!

My girlfriend has lost almost 15 lbs in the three weeks since she joined me on my raw odyssey. She originally was going to do this for a week but she did so well that she's continued with it and has even written about it on her own website, which she started in 2004 back when she first had her gastric bypass surgery. You can see her before and after pictures and read about her foray into raw foods by clicking this link, which takes you to her page on the obesityhelp.com website. She is really excited about the idea of using raw foods to reach her goal weight.

Gastric bypass is not the quick fix people think it is; it still takes effort not to put that food in your mouth. You can stretch your stomach back over time and regain all of your weight back, plus some. Many people who have had gastric bypass surgery don't get the support they need to eat properly after the operation. This means they have not dealt with the reasons they became severely overweight in the first place.

Felicia says that she feels, as do I, that the addiction she has for certain foods are inherent in the food itself; she doesn't crave the foods she was eating before now that she eats raw because those foods are out of her system. Both of us feel that the addiction is physical. Luckily Felicia has caught herself in time.

We hope that other gastric bypass patients who are struggling with food addiction will read Felicia's story and give raw foods some consideration. We can only speak for ourselves, of course, but if any gastric bypass patients - pre OR post op- are reading this and are dealing with food addiction, we suggest you talk to you doctor about trying a diet that includes as much whole, unprocessed, uncooked food as possible. Gastric bypass patients (especially ones just out of surgery) have special dietary needs, so its really important to learn about nutrition- something Felicia can attest to and hopefully will write about on her site.