To Michelle M.

Michelle, I was afraid my answer to your question about what I'm eating now would get "buried" in that other post so will answer on a new thread. I'm on "soft" also and mainly eating string cheese (I can eat two of them for a meal..that is 2 oz.), refried beans with a little melted cheese on top (I didn't like them before, but do now), canned peas (they have pretty good protein), some cheese based soups.....even put some low-fat cheese in soups to boost the protein. I have some sf, ff yogurt too but am tired of it so not too often. That is actually about it for now. I'm not really ever hungry but I do have head hunger some....not too much really tastes all that good to me but I am enjoying the things mentioned above. I did have some salmon mixed with a little dab of low-fat mayo (to make it moist) and some dill weed. The first time I had it, no problem...I had it again for lunch yesterday but it didn't stay with me. That was the first time anything has come up....so I won't be having that again anytime soon. I would say the string cheese is my staple because I can take it with me if I'm going somewhere....like this weekend, we're going to my grandson's 3rd b-day party in Wichita.....I will take String Cheese because it is so easy to transport. Sorry I don't have more ideas...my diet isn't too exciting right now. Oh, for the water....I have a little trouble too. I've been buying the Dannon 25 oz. bottles of water (I don't care for tap water) and drinking two of those a day. Then I will also have decaf tea in the evening....and maybe a sf popsicle....to get the rest of the liquid in. It is a challenge, esp. since we aren't supposed to drink for 1 hr.+ after eating. Jenni

Jenni, Thanks for the suggestions they are very helpful. I need to start trying some new things. I have been very scared of food and could really care less about eating these days but I guess I must move on and start eating. How is your energy level?? I seem to not have much energy and I hate this because I am a very active person. I think once I find out why I have this on-going pain in my side I will feel much better. Take care and thanks again, Michelle Mejia

Michelle, My energy level is actually quite high....eating more might be part of that but I think the exercise is a big key too. I started out about 9-10 days post op walking 10 minutes. I upped it every day by 5 minutes (at least, sometimes a little more). Before I knew it, I was up to 25 minutes and then after a few days of that, I started walking (pretty good pace, too) 25 minutes 2 times a day, once by myself during the day and again with a friend in the evening. I have steadily had more energy since I've been doing that. I went to our church pot-blessing (we call them that instead of pot-luck) today and was really afraid to try to eat there but I did....I had some beans (tried to not get too much of the sauce on them as I didn't know how much sugar was in it), a piece of a yam (that I brought), a very small helping of diced potato and a small but very lean piece of beef (which I chewed very well)....it all went fine. I think I could have even eaten a little more as my helpings were very tiny but I didn't want to chance it since I didn't know about sugar/ fat contents in the dishes. I was sitting next to one of my friends who had a normal plate of food and it took me as long to eat what I had as it took her to eat what she had. Try some food....little bits and chew well. I was scared at first too but being able to eat a little is also helping me feel more "normal" too. Jenni