FW: Message from Almonte about Real Meals and WLS Lifestyles Magazine

[Guest guest]

This is a really sad set of events.

Z

Open RNY 09/17/01

http://www.ziobro.us/

The Truth About WLS Lifestyles Magazine and Integrity

Health Resources (protein-solution.com)

Dear Weight Loss Surgery Community,

My name is Almonte. Many of you may know me from

WLS Lifestyles Magazine and Integrity Health Resources (www.protein-

solution.com). I am sending out this communication to educate you

about the companies that I have convinced so many of you to support

and to hopefully prevent any other post ops from being taken

advantage of the way I was. In addition I hope to educate doctors

and companies about protecting their patients and customers personal

information within websites from companies such as these. Therefore

I am sharing my story, in order for you to have a full understanding

I must start from the beginning.

In May of 2002 I had gastric bypass surgery. Like many

other weight loss surgery patients I did a great deal of research

prior to my surgery and after my surgery I developed a passion to

help others struggling with obesity. Many of my goals and objectives

in life began to change as the weight melted off and although I

already had a successful career I wanted to find a way to work

within the Bariatric Community and hopefully find a way to give back

as well. My surgery was very successful and my results seemed to be

happen almost overnight. I went from a size 24 to a 4 in under six

months. This seemed to draw a great deal of attention to my online

profiles in various support groups. As an early post op I like many

others found it difficult to get in enough protein. I didn't

tolerate meat well and due to the change in my tastes I couldn't get

most supplements down. One day I found a protein product called Real

Meals TM on a co-workers desk (Tom Babbino) after seeing the high

amount of protein in it I tried it and liked it. I asked Tom where

he had gotten it from. I had never heard of Real Meals TM before.

He told me that his brother Dan Babbino had been trying

unsuccessfully for the past five years to build a company to sell

Real Meals TM as well as some other products manufactured by the

same company. However, he was no longer selling the products due to

a falling out with the manufacturer Sepe over a deal gone

bad. At that point in time I had not explained to Tom or any co-

workers exactly what surgery I had undergone. Weight Loss Surgery

had not yet peaked in the media and most people didn't really know

that much about it. That day I explained the surgery to Tom and

showed him some of the research I had including on nutrition and

protein. I suggested that we get together and market Real Meals to

the WLS community because of its high amount of protein. I showed

him some of the on-line communities out there and explained how I

chat with and email back and forth with hundreds of people a week

within these communities. That night he contacted his brother Dan

Babbino to see if he could salvage the relationship with

Sepe. Dan Babbino and I began communicating on a regular basis. We

decided to give it a try. At that point an old co-worker of Dan's

Ricard was also brought into the equation. She had also

worked with him before when he tried to market other products from

the same company. I spent the next couple of months doing countless

hours of research on weight loss surgery and nutrition to provide

everyone within the group with the knowledge we would need to make

this work. We decided that we would launch a website and purchase a

banner on obesityhelp.com to advertise. Myself, Dan, Tom and

would split all start up costs, overhead and advertising equally out

of our pockets. We each paid twenty-five percent of everything and

would get twenty-five percent of the profits. In addition a portion

of the profits from each product sold would be donated by the

manufacturer to gastric bypass research. Many of you will remember

the website as well as posts by me and email advertisements stating

this until recently.

After a year of being up that statement was recently removed with no

donation ever being made. In the fall of 2002 the website

www.protein-solution.com was launched. A profit was made in the

first month. maintained the website, my husband was in

charge of all of the shipping out of my home, I was in charge of all

customer questions that came into the website as well as to work

with Dan on marketing ideas, I let them use my story and pictures on

the website as well as stayed active in the Bariatric Community at

support groups and online communities. This was a dream come true

for me I was working within the Bariatric Community. I loved the

speaking at support group meetings as well as chatting with post ops

everyday that was what I was doing long before my surgery anyway.

Dan and I were working everyday to come up with more ideas like the

recipe page and I worked with Sepe on more FAQ's.

I was also doing more and more research all the time that I always

posted to internet boards. Providing educational resources for pre

and post ops was a passion of mine. This was drawing more and more

attention to my story. By this time I had lost nearly 100% of my

excess body weight in only six months putting off a lot of charts.

It was also good for business. A lot of post ops wanted to copy what

I was doing in hopes of the same results. However, a steady growth

rate was not good enough for Dan. He wanted to get rich overnight.

Although we were pulling in a profit the cost of advertising was

high even with us splitting it four ways. At that point Dan wanted

to add more products to the website herbal energizer pills, stress

relievers, herbal arthritis care products etc. Wanted to do research

prior to doing this and speak with Bariatric surgeons on the effects

these products may have on post ops. This was the first falling out.

After doing my research I found that several surgeons warned on

their websites not to take products such as these prior to surgery

due to possible complications from them. I had always been very

adamant on maintainingnesty and integrity within this business and

not saying anything that could not be backed up with research or

that could potentially hurt someone. I could not deal with the

responsibility of someone getting hurt with something that I

recommended. I refused to back or promote these products to Bariatic

patients. This was not a popular decision among the group. I

suggested that instead we look into developing Bariatric Vitamins.

At that time I was taking children's chewable vitamins made by the

same manufacturer of Real Meals. The manufacturer made some

altercations to these children's chewable to make them better for

post ops. We all split the cost of developing the new labels and

ordering at least a years supply and we launched the new vitamin

line.

While waiting for the vitamins to be launched we were still

marketing though banners on obesityhelp.com, word of mouth, and some

email advertising to the email addresses that I had in my own

address book. We still weren't growing fast enough for Dan. We moved

the shipping responsibilities to Tom's wife and my husband began

making phone calls to every Bariatric office in the country as well

as nutritionists to send samples and information. The cost of the

samples and the shipping was split the normal four ways I covered

the cost of all phone calls.

Dan and Tom decided that we needed to send more emails.

At that time Dan purchased a computer program called NIM Software.

It was a computer program that would allow him to go into website

and extract all of the email addresses within the website. The

companies that I know he extracted email addresses from are

obesityhelp.com (more than 100,000), wlssuccess.com, vitalady.com,

spotlighthealth.com, thinnertimes.com, Barbara 's website,

ASBS, LivLite, Bariatric Treatment Centers, BSCI,

imnotfatanymore.com, and a countless list of surgeons, bariatic

centers and companies as well as the yahoogroups. The only one they

were unable to extract from was Colleen Cooks BSCI it was protected

and came back with only names @fakemail.com. This may be a

suggestion for the rest of the companies out there that there are

ways to protect your website from this sort of harvesting. If you

have one of the websites listed and would like a copy of the

information harvested from your website please reply to this email

and I will give you any information I have. If you are a company

that would like to know if your website was harvested I will give

you any information I have. However, I imagine that were much more

websites harvested than what I have knowledge of. Information was

downloaded on my home pc after Tom Babbino was having difficulty

with his computer and needed to purchase a new one. Therefore, my

information is also seriously outdated. I know that this program was

also later downloaded onto Brain son's computer for additional

harvesting; however, his involvement will come later.

Dan Babbino then decided he no longer needed obesityhelp.com; he had

all of their members email addresses. So he cancelled the

advertising contract. I later found out that he did this owing

thousands of dollars to obesityhelp.com for unpaid invoices for

advertising we had already received. This was much to my

embarrassment due to the fact that many members of obesityhelp.com I

considered as personal friends and we had been supporting each other

for more than a year.

During this entire time I had dreams of writing a book. I had

thousands of pages of research from both before and after my

surgery. I had had the ability and know how to compile the research

I needed to make such a life changing decision as WLS. However, I

knew a great number of people were out there that did not have the

resources that I did. I didn't want to put in just the plain facts

and figures though. I wanted to share the emotions, struggles and

prejudices a person goes through being morbidly obese. Provide the

resources a person needs to weigh the benefits and risks that are

associated with this surgery prior to making the decision of whether

or not WLS is for them. Share the struggles you go through both

physically and emotionally after surgery. Share best practices for

success and warn people of what could cause them to fail. The only

problem was there was no point in time where I was not constantly

learning more that I would want to include.

A magazine seemed like the perfect idea, I could add more on a

regular basis, but I wasn't sure if it was a possibility. I wasn't

sure if it would be possible to just start a magazine. I talked to

my surgeon and his wife that also works within the Bariatric

Community. He showed me some newsletters that were out there with

some of the same concepts. I showed them to Dan and told him I

wanted to create a newsletter but I wanted it to be much more and

bigger and better. I suggested maybe we could get some advertising

offset to cost. He loved the idea and said that we could also

advertise Integrity Health Resources and Real Meals TM for free. He

told me that he had a friend that he used to work with that had

produced some trade magazines like Bally's magazine. He put me in

touch with his friend Dunkel. I explained the concept and the

market to him as well as provided him with a great deal of my

research. His then did some of his own market research as well.

This was about the time that weight loss surgery was beginning to

hit some newstation or talk show on a weekly basis. We worked

together and put together a market research survey to be sent out.

If the survey responses came back positive we would talk about the

next steps in making this a reality. The survey had an amazing

positive response. His only concern was whether or not we could fill

the magazine with enough editorial content. I told him that would e

absolutely no problem. I suggested that we build an editorial

advisory board made up of professionals to make sure that all

information was factual and no one would ever be mis-informed by an

article. The editorial advisory board was started with people within

then community that I personally knew that supported what I was

doing and knew me and understood my passion. Once it was decided

that the magazine would become a reality I began polling everyone

both online and at support group meeting for what they wanted to see

and not see in the magazine. I obtained writers for just about all

of the articles in the first issue of the magazine. I asked my good

friend Herida to be on the first cover and to be the main

story in the first issue. Pete was great he loved the idea of the

magazine and the passion that I had for it. Around the same time

son came into the picture. At one time years ago he,

and Dan had worked together at a company that produced trade shows.

He had some experience in advertising and was unemployed at the time

so we gave him the title of publisher.

It was around the same time that I made the personal decision to

have plastic surgery. Although I had faired very well compared to

most post ops when it came to loose skin, I had given birth to four

children, spent a great deal of my adult years morbidly obese and

lost more than 120 pounds my tummy was pretty squishy. Dan and Tom

were not happy with my decision. They had wanted to promote that if

you took Real Meals TM you would not need plastic surgery. Even

though the manufacturer himself did not say that. Although I do

believe that the high amounts of protein I consumed along with being

active probably helped me maintain a good amount of lean muscle that

had been hiding under the fat and left me with a more toned look

than most after the weight loss. It makes sense if you have a couple

inches of muscles on your upper arms and or thighs or abs you will

have less loose skin. However, I also believe that genetics, age,

the amount of time you were MO and luck also play a big part in it.

I explained that an advantage of me having the surgery would be I

would be out on disability for awhile and able to put 100% of my

energy into the magazine and IHR. Pete and I had several speaking

events lined up and the time off from work would allow me to attend

them all. The first one was scheduled only six days after my

surgery. Although it seemed like a great idea when it was booked,

any of you that have had a full abdomiplasty know that this was not

the easiest feat to accomplish. Little did I know that I would not

be able to stand up straight by then. Never the less I got through

it and Pete and I spent the next several weeks working on his

article, doing photo shoots for the magazine, and promoting the

magazine at speaking events to both medical professionals, pre-ops

and post-ops. In addition I was supplying Dan and with lists

of contacts, potential advertisers, additional research, and

finalizing the articles for the first issue. As well as my normal

influx of emails and work for IHR.

Next before I went back to work it was time to go to the ASBS

convention to promote the magazine. Due to the fact that I was told

that we had no budget even though subscriptions for the magazine

were flowing in and I paid our own expenses to attend ASBS. I

later found out that and Dan took their expenses out of the

subscription money and not their pockets. There is not an attendee

at the convention that would not tell you that Pete and I worked

there from morning till night. To the point that I was seriously

worried about Pete. and Dan did attend a couple of hours a day

for a few days and attend a few meetings.

Around this time the publishing company was formed, DDB Media. Dan

and I talked about this at length. Dan convinced me that my name

could not go on the LLC being formed because I had some outstanding

hospital bills from when my son was born three months prematurely

years before. He said it would prevent them from getting the credit

they needed to publish the first issue. I was promised a separate

contract that would guarantee me editorial control, the permanent

position of managing editor even if the magazine was ever sold, 10%

of all of the net profits of the magazine, a salary for the position

of editor as well as the 25% of all profits from Integrity Health

Resources. He told me that the lawyer just needed to finish the LLC

first. I trusted him, after all he and his brother were friends of

mine. Because of this trust and my belief in the magazine being

successful I was paying 100% of all travel for speaking events out

of my own pocket.

The ASBS conference turned out to be a huge success. Pete and I came

back with a large list of new contacts, companies interested in

advertising, and upcoming speaking events together nationwide. As

many of you know by this time Pete had become like a part of my

family. He was close friends with both me and my husband as well as

Uncle Pete to my four children. He had also confided in me that he

had a medical condition that he was dying from unrelated to the

surgery. He had several goals that he wanted to accomplish before

dying. I had already helped him with a couple of them. He had one

more favor to ask. He wanted to spend a couple of days living it up

doing everything he couldn't do most of his life. He wanted to Jet

Ski, snorkel, swim and live it up for a couple of days. As the

convention came to a close Pete and I went to accomplish his final

wishes. Any of you that saw the first issue of WLS Lifestyles saw

the picture of Pete waving on the Jet Ski, that was the final

picture ever taken of him. We had left on Friday and returned on

Monday. Upon my return I found Tom Babbino furious. Remember that we

worked together at the same company. Tom Babbino asked me to go

outside with him to the patio. At that point he ripped into me

screaming at the top of his lungs that he knew that I had posted on

my profile as well as told several people that I had had plastic

surgery. Apparently they had wanted this to remain a secret, they

wanted people to believe that if you took Real Meals you would not

have any sagging skin and would not need plastic surgery. Even the

manufacturer did not make these claims. In addition he and his

brother were furious that I had taken the weekend off. Let's also

remember this was my first weekend off in nearly a year. Tom

screamed at me outside of my job for nearly twenty minutes. I had

not informed co-workers of why I had been out now the entire

building knew it was to have plastic surgery to remove excess skin

after the weight loss. Although, I have always been very open and

honest to the Bariatric community this is not something that I was

comfortable with discussing with all of my co-workers. Tom also told

me that he and Dan had made the executive decision to cut me out of

the profits of Integrity Health Resources and WLS Lifestyles. I then

found out that Dan at the same time was on the phone with my husband

with the same conversation. At one point my husband said to him that

I took a couple of days off to do what Pete wanted, he told him that

Pete was dying and that after all of the free work he had done for

the magazine he deserved a couple of days of fun. Dan's response

was " It's not my fault the guy ate too many & )(*)(*) & cheeseburgers

in his life. " I had left work after the conversation with Tom and

called Pete upset. Pete immediately met me. My husband then called

and told me of his conversation with Dan as well. By coincidence I

then drove by Dan and we both pulled over at a parking lot near the

mall. He then continued to blow up at me in the same way that Tom

had. Unfortunately Pete had also pulled over within ear shot of the

conversation and heard everything, including Dan cutting him down.

told Dan that he no longer had permission to use my photos, story or

name in the first issue and I would tell the truth about everything

he had done to the editorial advisory board members that I knew and

pull the articles that I obtained and reminded him that the only

reason Pete was doing this was out of friendship with me. Pete at

that time was working with the Oprah show to do a follow up show as

well as they were re-airing the show he did in March. Dan's attitude

seemed to change he apologized and said that he only blew up out of

stress. We agreed to start over; however, I had decided to contact a

lawyer the next day. After Dan left, Pete came over seriously

distraught over the conversation he had heard. He immediately called

his lawyer on his cell phone. Explained the situation and made an

appointment for me. He took me home and spent most of the night up

talking with my husband. The next day Pete asked me to go out to

lunch with him he said that he really wanted a lobster. After lunch

he asked if I minded if he drove to a lake nearby where he used to

have his boat before he became homebound from his weight. There he

thanked me for all I had done for him and for the friendship of me

and my family. He told me that he had lived more in the past couple

months of his life than he had in the past 20 years. We talked about

the recent events with Dan and Tom. I told him that I was worried

about him, he didn't look good, I told him to go home and rest he

had had a long couple of weeks and I would see him the next day.

The next day I called him in the morning and got no answer, after

trying to contact him for hours I went to his apartment. I found

Pete dead at his computer, he died of heart failure. I never got to

see the lawyer that he had set up for me.

The next weeks seemed to fly by. We added a tribute to Pete in the

magazine and everyone there seemed to be very supportive and sorry

for the events of the week of his death. The first issue came out

and was a huge success. I attended the speaking events that Pete and

I had scheduled together. The last one being the WLS Convention in

Nashville where he had been scheduled to be the keynote speaker.

also attended the convention in Nashville. Upon returning from

Nashville Dan finally had my contract ready. The contract was no

where near what we had agreed upon. I asked for the proper

amendments to be made and he agreed. I forwarded all of the

additional contacts and advertising information I had. I finalized

the articles for the second issue with the various people I was

working with. As soon as I sent Dan and Tom everything they needed

for the second issue they broke off all communications with me.

They refused to answer calls and only returned my calls at my work

number at hours they knew I would not be there. Finally, I was told

that they had decided to cut me out of the magazine and IHR. They no

longer needed me they had all of the contacts they needed for the

Bariatric Community. I was told by that they did not believe I

had done enough for the magazine. Dan Babbino has threatened to

physically hurt me if I ever let anyone know the truth about the

companies.

I later found out that I was not the only one post op given false

promises. I also found out that when they were communicating with

several contacts, they were telling them that I was still very

involved and they were talking to me on a regular basis. They

continued to use my name and picture to promote the magazine and

still are today.

What do I hope you get from my story? If you are a post op beware of

people out there that will take advantage with you. Especially in

the first year post op you are dealing with a great deal of changes

both physically and emotionally. It is not the time to make major

decisions. If you do become involved with any company make sure that

you speak to a lawyer first and inform him of every step. Get a

contract upfront and have it gone over by a lawyer. The weight loss

surgery community in many ways is still considered as an untapped

market that potentially has very high profits for a various numbers

of businesses. People will do desperate things for money. And even

though your intentions are sincere and from the heart there are

people out there that will take advantage of that passion that you

have. Anything I do from here on out with the Bariatric Community

will be to only benefit reputable non-profit organizations.

Almonte