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food intake

babydoll114

babydoll114

Member
Hello bari-members, my name is Tracy and I had my surgery on may 2,2012 and I am finally able to eat a little, and im excited because I had a rough first 8 weeks. I only can eat fresh fruits and vegetables, but it's better than just clear broth. I am trying new things everyday, but im not rushing it. I have had low potassium and have been dehydrated, but im trying to consume more liquids and eat more things that have potassium in them. I would like to know what you guys are eating on a daily basis because im having a really hard time with meal ideas. I know I can't eat much but I just want to know what I can and cannot have. I'm scared to try any meats because last time I tried to eat a piece of meat it made me very sick, so give me some ideas, H E L P!
 
Hi Tracy, Welcome. You should be able to start eating most anything now that you can tolerate since you are past the 8 weeks point. Try one turkey link sausage cooked up and sliced with a scrambled egg, that was my favorite breakfast. I also likes turkey or lean ground beef patties with cheese on them, I started with a 2oz patty so make sure you have a food scale to weigh things. I also like tuna with 1 tbls of fat free mayo and some pico de gallo (sliced tomatoes, cilantro, onions and peppers), two oz of lunch meat with some string cheese wrapped up like ordevours is also good, and if you like fish baked hake or cod is good, and chicken drumstick also works. Make sure to chew, chew, chew evrything real good and try not to eat more that 3 ozs of meat at first, I started with 2 and two years later I can only have 4 ozs and have a little room for vegies or rice or somthing like that. Hope that helps a little. Chek out some of the recipies posted by other memebers here they are yummy. :cool: Tom
 
BABYDOLL-Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your weight loss :) :) :) I had my surgery on 2/27/12 and I still have problems eating "whole" meats. Sometime I can manage roasted chicken but like Tom said you have to really chew it up. Some other meats I can eat without getting stomach pains are lean ham and turkey LUNCHMEAT. I think because these are chopped and formed they chew easily into the right consistency. I can also eat canned turkey, chicken and white tuna as long as it's mixed with a small amount of lite mayo. The key to eating anything is that it has to be very mosit and you have to chew it really well. You might also try low fat or fat free cottage cheese and any other cheese that you like, just remember to chew it up very well. Even though we are told not to drink anything for at least 30 minutes before or after a meal you can take a SMALL sip of a beverage along with a bite of food to make it more mosit. I have to do this with any meat I eat otherwise it hurts my pouch. My nutritionist said it was OK to eat with a sip of a beverage. Soft boiled or scrambled eggs are usually easy for us to eat or a hard boiled egg with a little lite mayo to make it moist is also good. Plain hard boiled eggs are just too dry and would probably give you stomach pain. You should also be able to eat soup by now as long as it doesn't have pasta in it. I make a lot of homemeade soup to make sure there is always something available that is healthy. In fact, I'm about to warm some up in a minute for a late lunch.

I posted a recipe for Greek spinach pie on this forum. It's really good and it's very mosit so it's easy on the pouch. If you like spinach you should try it. You can cut it up in pieces and freeze it so it won't go to waste if you don't have enough people at home to eat it within 3 days or so.
 
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Thank you Pat for your response to my post, I will try your ideas and see how they work for me. I have tried cottage cheese and it works well for me, but I need a scale so that I can weigh my food like Tom said, because it seems like I eat until I feel full and I want to stop eating before I feel full, because then I'm stuffed and feeling miserable. I don't want to guess at eating it just makes it much more harder for me to enjoy what im eating because im anticipating the full feeling. I do like spinach and I will try the spinach pie, and another thing I know I can't have bread, but what can I substitute for it, if anything.
 
Thank you Tom for your ideas I will try them all. I am glad to see there are other people out there who have gone throught what im going through because it is really hard in the beginning and without someone who has gone through this no one knows how I feel and I can't explain it to them either. They just don't get it, so Thank you and everyone who has commented on my post.
 
Hi again, cottage cheese can be measured as a 1/2 cup per serving but you may want to start with 1/4 cup. it is the same with yogurt, it took me a few months but once I get used to portioning and what things weigh on a scale I started using measuring cups but I like to use the scale every once in a while to make sure I haven't started increasing my portions, so far I am on track. Your doing great. :cool: Tom
 
I am just amazed at what people can eat. I think I have the strictest doctor. I would kill to eat fresh fruits and vegetables. I have always love fruits and veggies. I could be a vegetarian. I am only allowed protein. I find the advice given already to have said it all. Tom and Pat are wonderful and their advice is always straight on. My taste buds change so much that I don't even crave a certain food anymore. Things I ate when first out of surgery I don't tolerate now. Or I just don't like it anymore. I am so bored with food that I don't even want to eat. So try a variety of foods and remember if it doesn't agree with you today tomorrow may be different. I started solid foods 2 weeks after surgery. Good luck and keep us posted.
 
BABYDOLL-To answer your question about bread substitution, for sandwiches use pieces of leaf lettuce to wrap up lunchmeat and cheese. Later on when you can eat small amounts of bread look for lite versions. Also available are low carb flour tortillas but they are pricey. Last week I paid just under $5 for 8 fajita sized Mission brand low carb tortillas-ouch :( :( :( I won't be buying too many of those! I'll be buying the regular flour tortillas and just eating a half to save on carbs and calories. I don't really misss the breads too much anymore. I used to eat a lot of bread and a lot of pasta before surgery but since I've not been eating either I usually don't even think of them anymore.
 
Thank you everyone, your advice is really helpful and I don't know what I would of done if I didn't find this forum everyone is just so nice and open with their opinions and I'm just loving it. I wish I had found it sooner because my first few weeks post-op were just terrible because I was in a lot of pain and my taste buds like some have mentioned changed tremedously and I didn't like the taste of anything basically. I struggled with broth and water at first so I had to eat ice chips and no sugar added popscicles. I tried to drink protein shakes but everything I consumed was a struggle in the beginning, so with that being said I just want to thank everyone for their words of encouragement and advice, this is making life a lot more easier:)
 
Tracy-Try putting some ice cubes in your protein drinks. It makes them really cold and thins them down a bit making them easier to drink for some people. Or you can even use half milk and half protein drink and add some sweetener if needed.
 
That's a good idea! Thanks Pat I never thought of putting ice into the shake, well I never thought of anything when it came to drinking this shake because I couldn't get much down, so I just took a few sips and got full and threw it out. I thought that I'm not drinking enough of this stuff to have an impact so why drink it, so that's why I stop drinking it all together, I started off with the protein that had to be mixed in the blender or mixing cup and blending made it too foamy and I couldn't tolerate that at all so I switched to ready made protein shakes which are terrible thick, I am trying muscle milk .Has anyone else tried this and do you think it is a good protein drink to try. I'm not familiar with protein shakes so I don't know which one is right for me, but I do find that the ones already made are good because they don't have the foam like the powder shakes. Another thing I wanted to know about is protein bars when should those be eaten and about how much protein should they have.
 
Tracy-You can use a shaker bottle to make your powdered protein drinks, they won't be as foamy as those made in a blender. I tried the muscle milk pre made shakes and have one word, uuugggghhhhh. I bought chocolate and it tasted very bitter. I bought a 4 pack and have 3 left which will go down the drain the next time I clean the fridge.

EAS AdvantEDGE is a great tasting low carb protein drink with 17 grams of protein, 4 grams carbs and 100-110 calories and is available at WalMart. A 4 pack is well under $5. I've seen these at other stores for as much as $7.50. I usually get the chocolate fudge and strawberry. It also comes in vanilla and cappacino flavors. Costco and Sam's Club carry Premier brand protein shakes in vanilla and chocolate that have almost 30 grams of protein, low carbs and 170 calories and they taste real good. GNC carries a low carb protein shake but I find them bitter tasting and won't buy anymore. Whatever you decide on make sure to read the label to make sure you are buying the low carb version.

I think if you read the meal plan guidelines that were given to you, protein bars can be hard to digest and might not be recommended this soon after your surgery. Since they are dry it can cause some discomfort and you should probably eat them with a LITTLE bit of a beverage. I like mine with some coffee. Again, read the label to make sure you are buying the low carb version. Some bars are made for a candy bar substitute so make sure you are getting a bar made with protein, not just flavor. There is a store on this forum that sells protein bars. I have tried most of them, most taste good to me but I have my favorites :) :) :) It's just a matter of personal taste.
 
I tried my protein shake this morning with alot of ice and I have to say it wasn't that bad, so I think this might be doable, Thanks Pat I find all of your advice helpful. I am just so greatful to just be able to talk to other people who have gone through what I am going through, so thank you for your words of wisdom they are really getting me through my day to day dilemmas. I want to Thank everyone who has commented on my post.
 
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