[EllaC]

Haha! Oh, girls. What we go through for these two fatty mounds of flesh on our chests. I am sure there could be a whole class in psychiatry studies, specifically dedicated to NBE!
Pardon me for this, but I am a visual person. That story about you gagging was like a really bad sitcom scene. I laughed out loud!
Laughing aside, I think that the gagging might give us something to think about. I definitely had gastric issues a few years ago. Stress really got to me. In fact, I ended up having an ulcer a little later. It was mostly due to stress and (what I found out later was related to that stress- adrenal fatigue) and because I changed my diet so drastically when I moved in with my husband. I used to eat rice everyday and as I had a long history of stomach things, I think the rice actually helped (I found out later that rice can help prevent ulcers). Then I was living with the husband and my poor tummy was victimized (even when I was younger, I had sometimes painful stomach issues).
As far as the protein shakes, I would say, as with everything else you consume, we watch the body. Some protein shakes don't bother me as much as the ones I took at that time (having bought ridiculous about of whey protein isolate), though I don't use them anymore.
My friend, who is morbidly obese due to genetics and hormones, started juicing/shaking everyday. She really enjoyed the yummy vegetables/fuits. It was really helping her lose weight and feel good. Then, she fell pregnant and some of her favorite foods became her worst enemies. Hahaha. One of them was tomatoes. When baby was on board, she just thought they were the most vile things; of course she went back to chomping them after baby. I found out my mother also could not handle tomatoes when we were hitching our nine months with her. But She eats them almost every day! Many blessings to the Moms!
Anyway, peanut butter it a great food to have around. I found it can help to prevent munching on terrible snacks too much. Sometimes, I just have a couple spoonfuls and feel so satisfied. I used to keep a jar under my desk and would sneak bites. My coworker was like, "What are you doing? You're crazy." I guess I introduced her to this method of snacking. And it is good with oatmeal/fruit and even in some yogurt with fruit smoothies. Oh! Now I want some. Where's my spoon...?

thanks char.
How did you know you had an ulcer? I wonder if I've given myself one Too with the stressing all the time. I started with the peanut butter too in smoothies with flaxseeds and banana and berries. It's the green smoothies that mess me up.
Stress has a lot to answer for I tell ya