Eating Post Op In Hawaii!!!

IM basically on the soft food diet now...and can basically eat anything according to my guidlines...However how do my fellow islanders eat now....and how mu*****uantity....please share your meals and experience....here is the food list that i stick too...

- Yummy's tofu - about 1 ounce (i cut out the part that sits in the sauce)
- Ahi poke - about 2 ounces (I even use to puree the plain ahi with water and a lil salt during the   puree phase)

here are things i wanna try and see if its acceptable.....
- Raw crab - suggesting about 2 half of the crabs
- turkey meatballs - is it healthy ( the ones in the bag at foodland)
- charsiu chicken breast -  (doesnt sound to healthy.,...but maybe a drizzle of charsiu for taste)
- Tilapia - (how do you prepare it the best way)
- Kimchee shrimp - (can we tolerate the spices)

Can anyone provide insight of things that they eat....as far as me i was kind of thinking to eliminate all starch from my diet and get those from my vegetables...what are your take on that...

Aloha Sassy!

About the only advise I can offer you is to measure your foods.... always! If you don't have a little scale, get one. They are priceless. It's really difficult to estimate portions early on. Weigh it or measure it. It's really important to not eat until you feel stuffed. Eat to satisfy and often that feeling of satisfaction won't come while you're eating but will come 15-20 minutes afterward.

Your choices seem healthy and wise to me! But, I'm not a nutritionist. Protein first... that's the rule! Spices? I love them and did from Day 1!! I could hardly wait to get some spice in my mouth after all the bland and fruity drinks during the early phases. One of my favorites now is Tako Poke... and it's spicy! Some people have problems with spices, so I think this might be an individual thing. Only advise from me is: try it and see... small amounts at first, of course. Remember, no drinking while eating, so you will have to tolerate the spices for a while if you decide to indulge. That isn't always easy!

I stay away from starches, too. I have not had bread, rice, pasta, or potatoes since my surgery and I don't plan to. I used to love all of them, but it's the proverbial slippery slope. Carbs crave carbs and sugar craves sugar with me so I stay away from them. They are not my friends anymore. I worked too hard to get where I am and I have learned a lot about proper nutrition and how foods affect us. I can't eliminate all carbs all together, but I try to keep them below 30gm/day... 20gm/day when I am trying to lose.

Do I miss some of these foods? Not as much as I thought I would. Honestly! Especially the breads and rice. I loved them pre-op. And that is exactly why I needed to stop eating them, too!

Some people never crave sweets post-op. I mentally do and still fight that monster. I always loved sweets, but that too is something I need to stay away from. I found out that the fewer sweets I have,the less I craved them, so I make it easy on myself and simply say, "No!"

I enjoy being proud of my body again, wearing stylish clothes, being active,and,mostly, seeing my husband's smile. I won't ruin that for myself ever again! I have a tool now that will help me maintain myself for life.

Stay well and keep us posted on your progress! I wish you good health...

Malama pono
((hugs))

Wow... my post lost its formatting! I had that broken into paragraphs to read easier and not sure what happened! Sorry!!!

Ok... weird... after adding that, the formatting is back! ARGH!! Go figure!

Hi there!!

For me, I haven't had any problems with food and it seems my pouch can tolerate anything.

I am still trying to lose weight so my food intake is pretty minimal and I eat almost the same things daily.  I have made some bad choices but don't go to the extreme.

Morning~
protein shake 
If I eat anything it's an egg.
I have cheated a couple of times and had a toasted mini bagel with laughing cow cheese. (unfortunately, that didn't upset my pouch at all)
I've also tried the Special K protein plus cereal. 3/4 cup no milk. (100cal, 14g carbs & 10g protein) 
I wouldn't recommend the carbs either.  I'm just hard headed.

Lunch~  (1 of the following)
Spinach salad - 1/2-1cup
topped with tuna or egg, tomatoes, cucumbers and viniger dressing
Turkey Meatballs - I use the Jennie-O brand in the bag from Safeway. Italian style.
I'll have 2 meatballs w/Safeway mushroom & onion marinara sauce.
Grilled chicken slices with spinach or brocolli
Ahi Poke - 1/4 lb- I normally just get the plain with hawaiian salt and put some shoyu on it.
Kimchee shrimp - I had this during my soft phase too.  The spices didn't bother me at all.
I'll have about 4 medium pieces.

Dinner~
Another shake
I've had Tilapia just baked with Mrs. Dash and lemon.
I've also had the ready made one's from Gorton's Fisherman.

I don't really care to cook so can't help you too much there.  I've been trying to get better at that and this is a site that I find has really good recipe's that are WLS friendly.

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/

Best of Luck to you!!

I think Hawaii food is the best food there is so much. Here was my favorites early out:

Luau Stew
Beef Stew
lomi lomi salmon
poke
shrimp (any kine its all g)
edamame
cooked fish
chili
Portuguese Been soup!!!

I could go on and on and on!!! I never pureed my food i just took small bites and chewed chewed and chewed. I loved to cook in my slow cooker.  It was nice and soft and full of flavor.  Makes good Kalua Pig!!!!

Good luck and enjoy. 

Hi There!

If you are in the soft food phase, you basically want to aim for soft protein foods.  All the foods you listed are great sources of protein though they don't quite count as "soft".  You can always mush them up or puree them with a little chicken broth or vegetable broth to get them nice and soft.  You can always do light yogurt (Dannon Light & Fit or Activia yogurt is good), cottage cheese (non at or 1% would be best), tofu, scrambled eggs/soft boiled eggs, and try some blended soups!

Once you're on to solid foods, fish is a great place to start!  Turkey meatballs should be nice and soft foods. The key is go very slow, small bites, chew to MUSH, and stop once you feel that "full" sensation.  When you start eating, this is likely around only 2 ounces of food.

-Amy Ingols, RD

I am out two years now, but I remember and have allot of newbies as friends, and one thing that helped me out was egg drop soup.....lots of protein....and even now for breakfast every morning Ihave my coffee....decaf....with a scoop of van. max protein powder and a shot of s/f syrup, anyflavor, ususally kahlua or amaretto, or vanilla.............it ends up tasting like a capaccino....then I know I have at least the first twenty grams. of protein in for the day.....LOis