Another question about pureed food

Hello everyone, Everyone that was doing pureed food stages, did you all definately stay on the 1 month of it. I am almost 2 weeks and I am tired of it not to mention I am not even getting in half of my protien. Do you think this is something I can talk to the doctor over or are they strict with the one month pureed stage? Christie

Christie, Please stick with the pureed foods for a month. Your stomach and intestines have had major work on them. The sutures and staples need time to heal. Non pureed foods can put too much weight and pressure on the pouch. Have you tried the Isopure drinks? (Already made in the refrig at Vitamin Shoppe) They have a lot of protein, and are like juice, not milky. You really need that protein. Protein helps the body to heal. Even non WLS surgery patients should up their protein levels pre and post surgery. As far as foods go, do you like soup? I ate every kind, even clam chowder, just put it in the blender. You can add some unflavored unjury to that too (when it's not too hot). Hang in there Christie. T

Hi Christie, Agreeing with everything that Tina said. it is very important right now that you allow your body time to heal and not stress the limits of your pouch. As far as being able to get in enough protein all it takes is a little bit of planning during the puree stage, same goes for boredom, mix it up a little and don't let yourself fall into a rut. Here is an example of what you can do: Try some pureed shrimp, it comes out like shrimp salad if you mix it with a little mayo and some Old Bay, or like shrimp ****tail if you mix it with a bit of ****tail sauce. You can find frozen bags of read cooked, peeled, tail on shrimp in the Acme this week on sale for 10$ I think. A bag will last you a long time. They are individually frozen so you just pull out what you want. A mere 3 oz of it has 18 - 22 grams of protein depending on brand and 15% iron. A real nutritional punch for a little bit of food. How about canend chicken? You can get it in 3 packs of small 3 oz cans. Mix it with a little mayo, onion, celery etc. and buzz it up in your processor. 15-20 grams of protein per serving depending on brand. Cottage cheese. 1/4 cup = aprox 2 oz. Right there is 8 grams of protein. Try egg salad too. Easy to puree and eat with a spoon. How about some refried beans? Good source of protein as well as much needed fiber to help keep your bowels working properly. Bean soup is another good one. Get some small microwave containers of chili ( I usually get Hormel brand ) puree that and add some extra Unjury in it. Same with any kind of soup, or even small microwave containers of Dinty Moore beef stew. Get creative with your meals and shake things up a bit. Puree doesn't have to be a horrible thing as long as you give yourself some variety and good tastes. Mix some unflavored Unjury into your Crystal Light. Elissa came up with that one and it's delish. 3 servings of any one of those ideas in a day along with adding unjury to your drinks, or whatever supplement you decide on can give you a protein intake of 60 - 80 grams a day without even trying hard! it's not hard, it just takes a bit of thought and practice. My best advice to you would be to stay focused on the positive aspects of EVERY stage you go through and get the most out of it. Puree will be over very soon and the time you spend there really helps you to start to learn the new way of eating that will eventually ( hopefully ) become your new lifestyle. Linda

Have to say, I agree with Tina and Linda. For what it is worth, I can tell you that during my first post-op appointment, Brett checked out my food log and and asked me if I had pureed my bean soup. I told him no, but I cooked it very soft and chewed it to death. He told me that I needed to puree EVERYTHING. He said that it was too important to mess up on that particular rule.