re: Mourn food NOT

I hate being so optimistic for all you guys that have had such a rough time. But I am so energized I can't help sharing. One of the nurses told Tina & I a secret. Use a baby's spoon. It will force you to take small bites. I also made up my mind my 2nd night home I was not going to let this get me down. I cooked chicken roasted in the oven, buttered parsleyed potatoes, broccoli with cheese sauce and a salad for my hubby. I wanted the vinegar off the salad. It was good and stayed down and satisfied the crave for taste. I had been sitting there a tad angry with my chicken broth and made up my mind I am gonna beat this and I am not going to eat broth & baby food for a month. The next day I took a small piece of the chicken, a 1 inch piece of celery, small piece of onion, lite mayo and chicken broth, ran the hell out of it in my chopper. UMMMMM. Chicken salad pate'. Not bad. Next meal I took hubbies left over potatoes, boiled off the butter , put in chopper with cheese, piece of broccoli and soy milk and chopped away. UMMMM Gormet mashed potatoes. Both had the consistency of yogurt & were yummie. Took me about 1/2 hour + to get down 2 oz. It was tasty & didn't make me sick. Using the baby spoon helps. Forces you to take baby sips. After all I was just re-born on 1/26. I sit with my hubby at the dinner table. He has to plate his food at the stove. None sitting on the table. Life is good. I hope this helps. ((HUGS)) Elissa ps..... If I can chop /puree it I'm gonna eat it. You don't have to mourn food if the taste still satisfies you . My new motto.

Hi Elissa, What a great post. I'm gonna make a file in my computer and save things like this when I come across it to refer back to. I like your attitude. I know there will be some roughish days ahead for me but I keep in mind that they will pass and life is good. I had to giggle at your chicken pate', lol I'm sitting here eating that very thing right now but made with turkey! I also dug out one of the kids old baby spoons and experimented with that awhile back, I can see where that will be really helpful. People talk about mourning food, I guess I can relate to the feeling because I did mourn cigarettes for awhile when I quit smoking. With the food part tho it may sound weird but I am actually looking forward to not having as much. I feel like it will finally be that elusive sense of control I have been searching for. I am excited about being in the eat to live mindset rather than the live to eat. I guess there will be things that I miss for awhile but some of them will come back again when I'm ready for them. To some foods I say good riddance! I am going into this assuming I will dump and am not planning to test the theory. I figure it's best to get myself ready and jump in with both feet. I sure don't want to go through all this and blow it over something stupid. This is my shot at normal and I want to take it for all it's worth. Thanks for the informative, positive post Elissa, you are leaving some great foot steps to follow in for us pre-ops. Linda

Linda, Before I cook & ate because it tasted good. I ate more because I loved food. It was my life then. You are soooooooo right honey, now I think I have to eat. If I have to eat it better taste good. POOOOY to eggs. They don't taste good yet. I can keep them down, they just don't have quit the right umph yet. Maybe when I can fry one with a little butter, but microwaved & poached didn't do a thing for me. Oh well, win some loose some. ((HUGS)). Elissa

Yes the baby spoon is a great idea..I know I used it when i first started off...I also hated the taste of Gerber baby food..it was like torture..so what i did was cook a chicken breast marinated in some type of marinade..(i changed it up all the time) added chicken broth and threw it in the blender..it was great...i also went to the farmers market and got fresh veggies...steamed them threw them in the blender with veg broth..it was so much better than stinking baby food..and trust me 4 weeks goes by really fast..and dont forget cottage cheese and yogurt are really good and high in protein...

OMG, Clint baby food sucks. I have a few jars for an emergency to take traveling in case. I tried eggs, poohy. They didn't do a thing for me. Microwaved and poached were blah. Maybe if I could fry one in butter, but the old days are gone. They stay down just have no taste. Awesome idea about the marinaded chicken and veggies in broth. That will work. Did you ever try to chop a hoagie? UMMMM I wonder if I could????? A little early for the roughage. I'll wait. My non-WLS friend told me she'd like pureed beer. EWWWWW. Way too much foam don't ya think?? I'd like to try some Olive Garden Artichoke Dip. (without the bread) I also would like to try to create my version of sauce for Deer Head hotdogs. Any ideas? OMG so many ideas so little time. I hope I fit in all these things before the month runs out. ((HUGS)) Elissa

UH OH... I stove cooked a scrambled egg, 2 oz skim milk, 1/2 oz shredded mozz ch, only ate 2 oz of the final product.. but boy it was good. did I do a boo boo? PS.. It went down fine...

Good pic Clint. I didn't know you before June, but I told my hubby that you'd lost 177 lbs. WOW ((HUGS)) Elissa

Elissa, you are amazing! I hope I have your energy after my surgery. I'll be using lots of you energy and motivation to get me to 4/13/04!!!! Thank You, and all my other WLS buddies!! See you Saturday. Ken

Thanks for all those tips. I'll have to write that one down. Oh, put it on the tips in MSN someone.

Hey, Elissa! Never apologize for being optimistic!!!! lol I think it's WONDERFUL and we totally enjoy your enthusiasm, humor and recipies. Keep it up!! (((hugs))) -Karen