Getting prepared

[jdavidson]

Alright three months to got till my surgery. I want to try and be prepared. Any good food ideas for the pureed and mech. soft post op part of the diet? Im pretty worried about the diet stages. Liquid, pureed, mech soft. Yikes!

[llburbach]

I was worried about all of the food stages but now looking back 6 months.....it was a breeze. You will find foods you like better than others. We are all different so find the foods that work for you. The doctor will usually give you a list of food options. I wish you the very best.

Laura

[HeartsInNC]

I second the "it was a breeze" sentiment. You are perfectly content with the liquid stage when you're there, because that's all you need or can even handle. Then when you're ready, you're excited for the new frontier of the pureed food stage. Then the soft foods, then solids, etc... however your doctor breaks it down. It's all just exciting, and not a bad thing at all. One thing I WILL caution, is not to stock up on things you think you'll "live on" during recovery, like I did. I absolutely *LOVED* a certain no-carb clear protein drink before surgery, and was so stoked to have found it that I bought several cases, but sadly...after surgery, I couldn't stomach it because of the artificial sweeteners. Wait and see. My favorite (well, favorite and ONLY protein supplement I could stomach) was Unjury medical quality whey-isolate protein powders (they have chicken soup, which I loved during clear liquids, and two different chocolates, vanilla, strawberry, unflavored and cheese sauce.) During full liquids (this is how my doc broke it down: clear liquids, full liquids, soft food, solid foods) I would mix the Classic Chocolate flavor into plain greek yogurt and it tastes just like chocolate pudding, but you get like 46 grams of protein. Their Chocolate Splendor tastes exactly like Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix- which I don't personally like, but the Chocolate Classic tastes CLOSER to Nestle Quik, which I prefer. I'd also mix a scoop of the unflavored into any smooth soup I wanted during the full liquids/pureed food stage, and that got me through and upped the protein factor. (Each scoop adds 21 grams of protein.) I'm not selling the stuff, honestly... it's just that all the other protein powders I've tried my entire life have made me gag, and if I can help someone else who's worried about how to get through it, I'm happy to. Good luck! I'm sure you'll be very happy with the whole experience!

[jdavidson]

yeah the only protein drink I have tried so far was the sample the doctor gave me. I need to look around. It is all happening pretty fast right now. I had my consultation on Last Wednesday and signed my life away that day! Next day so many specialists called me all at once to set up appointments, kinda freaked me out a little. I'm freaked out and excited at the same time. Super excited actually!!

[HeartsInNC]

Aw, don't be freaked out... just stay super excited! I did this in the scariest way possible (had to go to Mexico, by myself, and pay for it all myself because I wasn't eligible through insurance) and I still had an excellent experience with nothing at all that I would change if I could. (Well, other than the paying for it part.) The single most important thing to focus on, if you start feeling overwhelmed by everything there is to learn about your new way of living, is protein, protein, protein. Getting enough of it at first, and then later making it the first priority with each meal. You'll be eating so much less, but you still have to get in your recommended daily amount of protein so that you feel good and can build or keep muscle mass. I think it's fairly impossible, at least in the beginning, to hit your protein target without supplementing, which is why people spend so much time researching and trying (and probably wasting a bunch of money on) the different protein supplements out there. Everyone is different, and like I said I'm all Unjury all the way, but when I was researching, I found that a TON of people love and swear by Syntrax Nectar protein and they come in a zillion different varieties. They will send you sample packs also, so you should check that out. (I tried them, didn't like them, but I have that lifelong weird thing with protein powders.) In all my reading, the general consensus from what other sleevers were getting from their nutritionists was that it needs to be 'whey isolate protein' to actually do you any good, and that your body will only process 30 g at a time, so if you're using something that's more per serving, break it up into multiple servings. Okay... sorry so long... just trying to save you some time and confusion, hope I'm not making it worse!

[jdavidson]

Okay so I how do I get sample of the protien supplements. I got one sample from my surgeon. It wasnt too bad. Kinda like drinking chocolate water. I shoud look into Syntrax nectar and Unjury. Pretty much anything that is Whey protien. The free samples would be nice before spending a bunch of money. Some of that stuff is pretty expensive.

[HeartsInNC]

Ooops.... sorry, didn't mean to mislead if I did. The samples aren't free, they're just a good way to try a whole bunch of different things without buying a big container and wasting it if you don't like it. Unfortunately, they're ALL pretty expensive, but I guess when you look at the price of food and break it down by what you spend per meal, it probably works out about the same in the end. I'm not sure I can post links without being called a spammer, but I ordered the Syntrax Nectar sampler on the website MyBariatricPantry.com. Unjury has their own website and sells all of their flavors in single serving packets as well as large containers, and that's how I started out and discovered that I didn't care for the Chocolate Splendor (the one that tastes like Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa) but loved the Chocolate Classic (more like Nestle Quik, but not quite THAT good.)

These days I usually do a shake a day with 1 scoop chocolate or vanilla protein, 8 oz skim milk, 6 oz. plain Greek yogurt, and 2 tbsp PB2 peanut butter powder, and that shake gives me 51 grams of protein. I mix it up in my blender bottle in the morning and drink it in installments during the day because there's no way you could down the whole thing at once. Believe me, it makes getting enough protein each day a heck of a lot easier than if you were to try to get it all from food.

Way back in the clear liquid phase, I lived on the Unjury Chicken Soup protein powder, and jello made with the unflavored. And in full liquids, pudding made with the vanilla or unflavored. Trust me, once you get the general idea down, the possibilities are pretty much endless. You don't have to just drink protein powder mixed in with water. It also occurred to me that I should mention to you the Nature's Best Isopure Zero Carb drinks. Those are the ones that I LOVED so much before surgery but then couldn't stand after. Everyone is different and they DID help me lose some pre-surgery weight. You have a while to go yet, and if you have to do a pre-surgery liquid diet, which I'm sure you will, they may be a lifesaver like they were for me. They have amazing flavors (if you can stand artificial sweetener, which before surgery was ALL I drank) and I believe each bottle has 40 grams of whey isolate protein.

Anyway... there I go again with the long posts. Can you tell I'm home sick with the flu today? It's just that when you're an old pro like I am now, and you think back to the days as a newbie and ALL the things you wondered about and questions you had, you just can't help but want to share what you've learned. That's my big thing. Anyway, I'm happy to answer any questions anytime.

[jdavidson]

Long posts do not bother me at all. I dont know anything about this stuff yet so all of the information is so helpful. Thanks!!!