I start Pureed tomorrow.......

.....can anyone give me suggestions as to what they started their diet's with? I've got my pureed chicken soup (extra chicken & scoop of soy protein to boost it with). I didn't want to cook up a bunch of stuff ahead of time cause I was afraid I wouldn't like it when it came time to eat. I know what I can eat, I just want suggestions as to what I should Start with. I don't want to make myself sick the first day. What could you all tolerate in the very beginning? I'm doing really well. Got up in the middle of the night and walked thru the house. I seem to do better at getting rid of the gas in the middle of the night (tooooooooot!). I roamed around for about an hour (even walked the dog around the yard in my jammies. Heck it was 2:30am so if anyone saw me I could just tell them I'm on drugs! I think they got me used to early morning roamings in the hospital. I just unloaded & reloaded the dishwasher (which requires slight bending at the waist) and that got the gas moving out too (toooooooooooot!). And I slept this afternoon for like 3-1/2 hours. I walked down the street to my parent's house yesterday evening after it cooled down some (made the whole family go with me). That went really well. Knock on wood, I'm doing so much better than I originally expected. Had a little bit of nausea this morning so I opened up one of my prevacids and poured it into my shot-glass of water and took it that way. It worked really well and didn't make me sick. My daughter made some chili for dinner last night. It smelled really good. There's some extra that I'm going to puree for later in my diet (it's not too spicy). I'm really appreciating the smell of things now. Hubby boiled me up a bunch of chicken breasts yesterday (the broth was really good). I individually bagged them so I can just grab one whenever I need it. The smells didn't make me ill and I was perfectly satisfied to dip my pinkie in the chili to taste it. It hadn't cooked down yet so it was still pretty juicy and vary tasty. I'll wait a few weeks to eat anything with spices. Got to baby my new pouch now! Well the gas is moving again so I'm gonna walk up & down the steps now. Talk to you all later! Dee

Congratulations Dee, Welcome to the loosing side. The thing I lived on was mashed potatoes. They were great. At this point whatever tastes good and goes down easy give it a whirl. Some people on the boards say that they pureed anything they could. Everyone's tastes are different. Your protein will be coming from the liquid at this point. I drank those terrible Isopures, but they were the easiest way to get in the protein. Then began to try about 20 different types of protein. But the best is old faithful: Unjury. I can't do the chocolate. Another good try is the Hot Chocolate at the Doc's office. That worked well for me. But remember it is only going to be portions as big as an ice cube for a little while. So forget about Chicken breastS. It will take you days to get one down. I also made chicken salad alot with my chicken breasts. Had to have FF mayo to make the meat moist along with some of the chicken broth that they were cooked in. Moist meat is an absolute. And pureed real good. After the puree stage I couldn't eat chicken for about 6 months. It hurt the pouch unless it was pureed. Soft scrambled eggs with cheese also worked well for me. But that was a little later. The small cups they give you in the hospital were great to measure. I also bought a shot glass which I measured everything. Best wishes and it sounds like you are doing a great job with the walking. Keep it up and you'll be dropping pounds and sizes in no time. Stay healthy, Mama

Thanks Mama, I have some eggbeaters that I'll try Monday morning and some instant mashed potatoes too. At least I can put some protein powder in the potatoes. I'm not too worried about protein for the first couple of days. Trying to get in my liquids. I have a bunch of the 20 oz fruit20's in the frige. I'm working on getting in 3 of them each day. I actually don't start pureed till Monday. I have my days & nights mixed up right now. I feel like today is Sunday. I'm going to pick up a couple of Isopure's tomorrow.

Dee, I started with the oatmeal from PRMI. I could only eat 1/2 serving at a time, but it worked well for me. Mashed potatoes were great and so was the creamed spinach from Boston Market. Yogurt and SF pudding with unjury was another easy thing. Good luck. Ellen

Hi-- I had my surgery last Monday and started with orange Crystal Light with a scoop of unjury. It was ok but I still am only managing small portions. I agree with the mashed potatoes--it was like gold in my mouth the first time! I find right now (only 6 days post-op) I can handle about 1/4 cup of whatever I am eating. I am doing much better with liquids than I thought I would. I used to hate water, but now I love sipping ice water as for some reason it feels refreshing to me. The chicken soup from the doctor's office was good to me too--very light. Some things make me feel heavier. No vomiting, but just feel bloated. I am not going to stress over things for now--I don't think we should push things. They will move along as they go and things progress. I got a kick out of your night walking! I thought I was the only one! Every night since I have been home I have gotten up and walked a bit to get things moving, and also to sip a little water during the night. My mouth was dry, so I listened to my body and did something about it. Hope things are going well-let me know if you find anything else that goes well as I am also looking for suggestions! Sue

Dee, A few things I did were...cream of wheat (I suggest not to put peanut butter in it....I did that for protein and it was yucky), cottage cheese with a touch of splenda mango applesauce, light and fit yogurt (creamy), cream of mushroom soup, cream of tomato, and protein shakes.

Hi Dee, What I tried at the beginning was sf popcycles, I got a can a choclate protien powder from curves and added 1 tsp peanut butter,ice and 2% milk and boy that was good, couldn't drink too much but it was something different and got 2 kinds of protien. I also look for the lowest sugar kind of yogurt, I can't remember the name of them, they come in 4 oz size,I did the cream of chicken soup also. I also went and got a couple jars of strain baby meats and spiced them up myself. I know it sounds yucky but I was worried about my protien and my hair falling out. Im thin as it is on top.Really to be honest, you will have to experiment with different things. We all have different tastes and no one alike can tollerate the same things when it somes to sugar. Some thing I can and other, na. Just be carefull when you can eat solids, watch out for rice and noddles, for me they swelled too much but maybe a bite or to will be ok. sorry, I keep rattling on here. Good luck !!! Betty

Campbells has a chunky chili called Tantilizin' Turkey, it's high in protein, low in fat, and it's really good pureed, and not too spicy. You can really puree up almost anything, just make sure there's enough liquid in it. I even pureed ham and cheese egg white omlettes, just added a little chicken broth for liquid. I also started in with hot sauce right away...I craved everything with it!!! I love spicy foods, but couldn't eat them before surgery because of horrible reflux...now I can eat foods as spicy as I want with no pain or discomfort...well, at least not from my pouch and esophogas!!!

Hi Dineen: I don't have any suggestions YET. I purchased a little bit of everything at PMRI oatmeal, hot chocolate, shakes, soups, etc. I started my liquids this morning. It is 11:20 and I am starving. Only two more days and I'll be on your side! Can't wait!!!! I hope all is well. Keep up the good work. Your in my thoughts and prayers. Kim

Hey, Dineen. I started with the hot chocolate protein drink from the class and then tomato soup later. I was drinking a lot of crystal light but learned it has sodium in it so I bought the Walmart brand of the same thing which is cheaper and has no sodium. I stopped that yesterday and the fluid is already gone. I wish you the best of success in the journey. I am grateful to the wonderful people I met in class and also those that I have met at PMRI meetings. This is like having a whole other family to rely on and get support from and occasionally give some support. I am sure I will be talking to you again soon. Janice wants you, Kim and me to get together later for a reunion. Sounds good to me. Mary