newbie has a few questions

I am waiting for insurance approval but have a few questions I hope they arent silly  but im just trying to understand everything. with RNY can you at some point have alcohol again. I drink rarely but do like a nice margarita when vacationing. how does everyone handle vacationing and eating?

I'm a little over 3 months post op and can tolerate small quantities of wine/ occasional drink.  Just have to watch sugar content and make sure it's a small amount.  Alcohol hits very fast...

Yeah, you can have alcohol again.  Alcohol is high in calories, though, so you shouldn't plan to have it a lot.  Also, due to the changes in your digestive system,  you may get drunk on a pretty small amount.

As far as how I handle vacation and eating, I'm not entirely sure what you mean.  Did you have specific questions about it?  I handle it by making mostly healthy food choices, just like I do the rest of the time.

I'll cover my take on the "vacationing and eating"....

You'll need to mentally prepare yourself that a vacation does not equal pigging out!  You will try new foods, and probably will end up having a few splurges, but you should still stick to what you know is healthy for you.  I know that often, a lot of people (and at times me in the past!) consider a vacation to be a totally free fest of all the food you want with no boundaries - after all, you are "on vacation".  You need to be ready to concentrate on the other parts of the vacation - after all, if the only reason to go on vacation was to pig out, there'd be no reason to waste the money on the airline tickets and hotels! 

I've been on several vacations since my RNY and I treat the food portion of my vacation as a chance to try new foods I wouldn't normally eat - like exotically seasoned dishes or locally made dishes that aren't easily available at home. I do not treat it as an excuse to eat junk. If I concentrate on still eating properly such as getting my protein in first, I find I'm pretty darn full and there's no room for drooling over sweets.  If there is, I'll simply get a small fork-full from hubby to excite my taste buds.  

Now, I'm still new to the whole process (only 8 months out), but I've been able to change my focus on eating times so that I concentrate more on the social aspect and not oinking my way through piles of food. I find that in the past I might have gotten several so-so dishes just because I could. Now, I look at the menu to find something fun that meets my needs so that I am still doing something "vacation-like" but I still get my protein properly.

I've already had big family outings, reunions, cross country road trips, ball games (miss that cotton candy!), and a deep sea fishing in Costa Rica.  I also have a cruise planned for October.  I've already started mentally preparing myself for the cruise... after all, on my previous cruises I've had the 24 hour ice cream along with multiple desserts on each meal!  I'm already working on what I'll do when the rest of the group goes for midnight ice cream.... so far I'm thinking a protein bar that I'll lightly swipe in hubby's ice cream to get the cold and flavor. For the meals, I'm planning to concentrate on getting exotic appetizers and entrees to sample and I know I'll simply be too full for dessert!  I think I'm prepared and I will succeed because I've studied my weak points. 

thanks everyone I actually was thinking the same thing about trying different things that i might not ever have the chance to. I drink very rarely but wanted to know how it effected others. knowledge seems to be power here.