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Protien Recommendations...

Cyxelsid

Cyxelsid

Member
So, fresh off my food cravings post, I just thought I would share (and request!) some good protien tips.

My current favorite protien shakes are Premier Protien. I get them at Walmart and on Amazon. I like them because they taste OK (c'mon, it's a protien shake!), and they have a wide variety of flavors, including caramel, bananas and cream, cookies and cream, and peaches and cream. They also have a protien water, but I have not tried that yet.

Second, I bought an unflavored whey protien powder on Amazon. The one I got was Jarrow Whey Protien Powder. I like that because I can add to water, juice, broth, etc. It doesn't change the flavor, although it will change the color. It also slight changes the texture.

I have also been making my own vegetable, chicken, and beef bone broth in my InstantPot. I find that I make them far more flavorful than what I can buy. I add a lot of herbs, and unique vegetables, like mushrooms, leeks, and chard to get a much better flavor in the stock.

I have tried a couple of flavored bone broth protien powders, and really didn't care for them. They have a strange taste that puts me off.

Right now, I am trying to fight off the boredom of recovery and hydration by looking for new flavors, and ways to incorporate protien.

What else have you all come up with? Remember... I am on liquids till Feb 22... so help a guy out!
 
Cyxelsid said:
I have also been making my own vegetable, chicken, and beef bone broth in my InstantPot. I find that I make them far more flavorful than what I can buy.
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Congratulations on making your own broth! Broth cost so much money if you want to buy something high quality from a chef store, and if you buy it in a chain grocery store, you are most likely not getting broth but bullon. The way you can tell the difference is that broth will gelatinate if you put it in the refrigerator.

Which brings me to jello. You can drink jello before set if you want to and if you ask me it tastes really good. There isn't a wide variety of choice among the sugar-free, but my favorite was and is Peach. You can buy it by the case from amazon If you cannot find it in your local grocery store. And I'm not sure what phase of the liquid diet you're on because it's just so complicated for me to try to scroll back to these posts, but I think I was actually eating it during my first week, just letting it kind of melt in my mouth. It was a real treat.

If you are on thicker or non clear liquids, there is sugar-free fat-free pudding made with magic milk, or any smooth grain cereal like Malt-O-Meal cream of wheat or Farina. You can also have cream soups as long as I don't have any big hunks of something in them. I would ask my doctor for sure but I think that any thing that you can liquify can be used during the liquid phase.

Magic milk is simply one quart of nonfat milk mixed with 1 cup of Milkman dried milk powder. That gives you 16 grams of protein per serving instead of eight. Use the milk instead of water to cook cereal and pudding and cream soup.

What exactly is in your liquid phase? How many weeks do you do clear liquids, vs. Smooth liquids, versus whatever. It seems like the total time spent on a liquid diet is usually only about three weeks. Then it's on to puree and you can puree anyting, including chunky soups.

But like you, I enjoy making everything I eat from scratch. I do not trust food processors in the commercial business to make anything pure without adding tons of crap to it. So when I started to puree stuff, I relied on my blender, I enjoy making everything I eateat from scratch. I do not trust food processors in the commercial business to make anything pure without adding tons of crap to it. So when I started to puree stuff, I relied on my blender and I would combine something like turkey breast with cranberry sauce plus a little chicken broth and even a tablespoon of instant mashed potatoes along with a half cup of magic milk.

When you get there, look for homemade recipes for baby food. Then check the ingredients out, make sure they add up to the right kind of protein and have lots of nutrients and if so, blend away.
 
Wow! GREAT STUFF Diane!

My doctor has prescribed 4 weeks of liquid diet, so that will end on Feb 22. Then I will go to puree.

My first four weeks is to include foods like water, sugar-free beverages, protien shakes, fat-free/skin milk, vegetable juice, diluted juice, laow-fat strained soup, or clear broth. I am supposed to have a min of 64 oz of water and 60 grams of protien per day. I am averaging about 75 oz of water. And 75 grams of protien per day now.

Mr. Doctor did tell me that his recommended post-op regimen is more strict than others. His goal is to rehab my eating habits, so that I eat when I am hungry, not just when I want to, or I am bored.

I don't know that I fully subscribe to that, but I kniw what I was doing wasn't working. So, I am trying to follow this plan to the letter. At least for now.

Thanks again for the advice!
 
it's always a good idea to follow your doctor's instructions when it comes to this surgery. But it does bear repeating that a lot of doctors prescribe a lot of different things. If you have terrible cravings and feel terribly hungry you probably should call your doctor and mention this. It's possible your doctor might Advance you to pureed Foods. Sorry for the stilted tone. I am using voice dictating. Lot of misspellings and stuff.
 
Your tone is fine

I am actually quite surprised at the lack of actual hunger. It is mostly the cravings. I was up late watching TV last night, and started seriously craving chips and salsa. That was always my late night go to. It was a ridiculously strong craving. I ended up with a cup of chicken and vegetable stock, with a little extra salt and pepper.

Those are the things I need to work through. That and getting variety.
 
It tastes better. That is the only reason.

I compared regular Carnation dried milk vs Milkman dried milk and the nutritional benefit was the same. However the Milkman taste with nonfat dairy milk was incredibly different. My family of 10 began cutting milk half-and-half using Milkman back in the 60s. We could not afford to buy enough milk for our entire family. We were thrilled when Milkman appeared on the scene advertising that it would produce milk with a "kiss of cream." Having used only farm milk all our lives we had a more sensitive palate to milk. The Milkman actually reproduced the taste of milk from a farm. But the Magic Milk recipe that I used came directly from my nutritionist after bariatric surgery, because it doubled the protein content in the milk. My nutritionist had all my liquid and soft food recipes use Magic Milk instead of water in cereal, puddings, and cream soups. It was also much more tasty when drinking milk straight or later, using milk on boxed cereal like Cheerios or whatever.
 
dianeseattle said:
It tastes better. That is the only reason.

I compared regular Carnation dried milk vs Milkman dried milk and the nutritional benefit was the same. However the Milkman taste with nonfat dairy milk was incredibly different. My family of 10 began cutting milk half-and-half using Milkman back in the 60s. We could not afford to buy enough milk for our entire family. We were thrilled when Milkman appeared on the scene advertising that it would produce milk with a "kiss of cream." Having used only farm milk all our lives we had a more sensitive palate to milk. The Milkman actually reproduced the taste of milk from a farm. But the Magic Milk recipe that I used came directly from my nutritionist after bariatric surgery, because it doubled the protein content in the milk. My nutritionist had all my liquid and soft food recipes use Magic Milk instead of water in cereal, puddings, and cream soups. It was also much more tasty when drinking milk straight or later, using milk on boxed cereal like Cheerios or whatever.
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Thanks DianeSeattle. I have been trying to cut out lactose since my surgery, but my almond milk is disappointing in the protein area. Maybe I can try the Magic Milk with a dose of Lactaid. I appreciate the info!
 
That sounds like a really good idea, although I do not know what Lactaid is. Also this isn't really my business but why are you avoiding lactose? Every post-op diet I have ever heard of involves eating yogurt, cottage cheese, and milk-based soups and cereal portions. There are a few dairy products that have the highest protein content of any food you can eat. That's why doctors and nutrition is put them on the list. I also was given a container of almond milk or something and it didn't have any milk tastes but it also had almost no protein, which is kind of shocking if it's derived from a nut.
 
dianeseattle said:
That sounds like a really good idea, although I do not know what Lactaid is. Also this isn't really my business but why are you avoiding lactose? Every post-op diet I have ever heard of involves eating yogurt, cottage cheese, and milk-based soups and cereal portions. There are a few dairy products that have the highest protein content of any food you can eat. That's why doctors and nutrition is put them on the list. I also was given a container of almond milk or something and it didn't have any milk tastes but it also had almost no protein, which is kind of shocking if it's derived from a nut.
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Good question. I have been having problems with gas and since my surgery have completely lost control of my bowels. My doctor suggested eliminating lactose to see if it helps. So far, no. It hasn't. The doctor assures me this is normal and will get better with time. I am 3 weeks post surgery, with no real improvement.
 
I don't think your doctor is right. This is definitely not a normal thing, to lose the contents of your bowels. That never happened to me nor to anyone I know who has had this surgery. There are always some changes in your bowels but that usually only lasts a few digestive Cycles, or up to about two weeks, while you are still on a liquid diet. You should not have diarrhea or loose stools at all. And you should not I have so much gas at that point.

it's always it's always difficult to second-guess a doctor's order when you do not have intimate knowledge of the patient's actual symptoms. But I know that if that was happening to me I would demand treatment, not suggestions for foods to cut out of my diet. Don't do what I say just because I'm saying it oh, but you have tried to talk to your doctor about this. So now I think it's incumbent on you to do research about how many people have a similar experience, and if your bariatric surgeon is the one telling you this, I would talk to my regular doctor about it because it may very well not be related to the surgery at all. It may indicate a serious problem from some type of disease. You cannot afford to get dehydrated at this point in your recovery, and when you have loose stools and you're not able to make up for the loss of fluid by drinking water, you are in danger of becoming dehydrated. And I believe any bariatric surgeon would give you something to help you out instead of just suggesting that you alter your diet. And for the record, cheese is considered to be a binding food, which makes nice healthy stool.

What is your nutritionist saying?
 
dianeseattle said:
I don't think your doctor is right. This is definitely not a normal thing, to lose the contents of your bowels. That never happened to me nor to anyone I know who has had this surgery. There are always some changes in your bowels but that usually only lasts a few digestive Cycles, or up to about two weeks, while you are still on a liquid diet. You should not have diarrhea or loose stools at all. And you should not I have so much gas at that point.

it's always it's always difficult to second-guess a doctor's order when you do not have intimate knowledge of the patient's actual symptoms. But I know that if that was happening to me I would demand treatment, not suggestions for foods to cut out of my diet. Don't do what I say just because I'm saying it oh, but you have tried to talk to your doctor about this. So now I think it's incumbent on you to do research about how many people have a similar experience, and if your bariatric surgeon is the one telling you this, I would talk to my regular doctor about it because it may very well not be related to the surgery at all. It may indicate a serious problem from some type of disease. You cannot afford to get dehydrated at this point in your recovery, and when you have loose stools and you're not able to make up for the loss of fluid by drinking water, you are in danger of becoming dehydrated. And I believe any bariatric surgeon would give you something to help you out instead of just suggesting that you alter your diet. And for the record, cheese is considered to be a binding food, which makes nice healthy stool.

What is your nutritionist saying?
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Thanks, DianeSeattle. I called my surgeon today requesting more pain meds and, after talking to the nurse, they finally agreed to run some tests to see what's causing the problem. I'm hopeful. Thanks for the advice and support!
 
Sometimes, talking to the nurse is the best workaround. Doctors don't see patients as clearly as nurses do. So I'm really glad that you made that call and I hope you get in very quickly and get this taken care of. In the meantime I would be taking something over the counter for diarrhea because, as I mentioned, you cannot afford to get dehydrated at this point in your post-op recovery.
 
dianeseattle said:
If you are on thicker or non clear liquids, there is sugar-free fat-free pudding made with magic milk, or any smooth grain cereal like Malt-O-Meal cream of wheat or Farina. You can also have cream soups as long as I don't have any big hunks of something in them. I would ask my doctor for sure but I think that any thing that you can liquify can be used during the liquid phase.

Magic milk is simply one quart of nonfat milk mixed with 1 cup of Milkman dried milk powder. That gives you 16 grams of protein per serving instead of eight. Use the milk instead of water to cook cereal and pudding and cream soup.
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I'm quoting myself here to underscore how important it is to use Magic Milk if you make milk-based things, and to stress that you do not add water to this mix.

You just put a quart of nonfat milk in your blender, then mix in 1 cup of Milkman dry powder--no water. People aren't used to using powdered milk unless they mix it up in its own container with water. Just adding the powerful, protein-rich powder to nonfat milk doubles the protein gram content, and that is REALLY important during the liquid and soft foods phases.

I also mentioned that you don't cook cereal in water, but in Magic Milk. I'd never done this before I had surgery but now, that's the only way I eat malt o meal or cream of wheat. It's a brilliant solution and so comforting when you are hungry and feeling a bit weird after surgery.

and if you want to use Milkman instead of another brand of powdered milk, you may find it hard to locate in grocery stores. Go to the baking aisle and look all the way up to the top. They keep it over your head because it's not a hot selling item, so they don't want to waste eye-level shelf space on it.
 
I have tried literally every protein shake under the sun. And there are only 2 I like. The coffee ensure max, and the chocolate unjury. I drink at least 2 ensure max coffees a day on weekdays. I have not found a single powder or broth I like. But I get enough from vegetables and the shakes.
 
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