What foods/drinks do you/will you miss the most?

I have heard that after surgery we shouldn't (won't be able to) eat carbs? I love potatoes. I don't care that much for sweets. I know I will miss potatoes so much. I used to love PEPSI, but I have stopped drinking it all together. I replaced it with diet drinks. What can I replace potatoes with? : -$ I know that I should give it up with no problem, but it is just a question. Share with me something that you miss or will miss.

You could always try like a creamed cauliflower. Ruby Tuesdays has it as a side and it's soooooooooooooooo good!

Thank you! I will try it. Good luck to you!

I totally cut out Carbs such as sugar, bread, pasta, rice and potatos. You would not believe how much I use calliflower and how many diff ways. I use it in place of potatos and even shread it up and use it as rice in stir fry. It's great and I don't miss potatos at all and I could have lived on them before.

Thank you! It is good to know that it taste almost the same. I am surprised I have never heard of this before. Stacy

You most certantly will eat carbs after surgery... there are carbs in dairy, fruits and veggies... depending on what your post-op plan in you will eat anywhere from around 30-140g carbs a day. Starting at 6 months out I am to eat 60-80g carbs a day... most comming from fruits/veggies/dairy and the rest from 2 servings of bread/starch a day. You can still eat potatoes... sweet potatoes are a great nutritious choice or those red potatoes... they are good to bake and put chili on - good source of protein (w/the chili). The key is moderation and balance... if you are working them into your daily carbs its not an issue. Of course eating potatoes every day isnt a good decision but they are fine to include as part of a balanced diet.

Thank you for the info. I hope you will always be around. I read your post alot and you seem to know alot about this. It really is nice to have people that you can ask this stuff to. Stacy

Thanks I have become very interested in nutrition post-op and do a lot of reading and research on my own... Im also very much a person who believes in balance post-op and not having "good" and "bad" foods so I tend to give a different opinion then some of those who become the food police post-op Ive found the farther out Ive gotten the more healthy I want to eat.. its almost like the first 6 months I had to get out of those bad habits and get over eating all that junky food that really truely tastes horrible!!!

We make sweet potatoes like they were regular potatoes - nuke them, split 'em open and eat 'em with a little seasoning. This Easter my wife mashed them up with Splenda and some cinnamon and I swear they tasted like pumpkin pie filling! Almost too sweet for me but there was nothing else on them. No butter, oil, sugar or anything "bad". Plenty of fiber there gives them a relatively low glycemic index. If you haven't found out about glycemic index yet, get familiar with it. Basically, it's a measure of how muich a certain food affects your blood sugar. It is used a lot by atheletes and diabetics but it's a great tool for anyone who is diet conscious. The higher GI a food is, the faster it is absorbed and has a greater impact on insulin, leptin and other hormones that control apetite, weight and so on. I'm guessing there is also a correlation between hi GI and dumping. Sweet potatoes have a much lower GI than whitepotatoes. The GI of whole grain bread is much lower than that of white bread. Note that the stuff you are not supposed to eat generally has a high GI and the stuff you are supposed to substitute generally has a lower GI. When my kids were diagnosed with diabetes we found out about glycemic index and discovered some very interesting things. For example, you can buy some vegetables like beans canned, frozen or fresh. The same vegetable with roughly the same calorie content has the highest GI canned, much lower GI frozen and lowest GI fresh. Switching from canned veggies to frozen actually made a big difference in my kids' blood sugars when they were younger so we generally don't use canned stuff. Back on topic, I'm going to miss sweets the most. I always craved carbs and the richer, the better. My favorite is pecan pie but I bought a Mrs. Smith's single serving piece, brought it home and said goodbye to it over candle light and soft music. Then I ate it. I suppose my last serving should have been homemade, or at least the one from the Cheesecake Factory, but that would be like cheating on Mrs. Smith. She's the one I've been having the affair with all these years and she deserves at least that much respect from me. We made a clean break and went our separate ways. Sure, I see here in the grocery store from time to time but I just give her a knowing wink and move along.

Wow! Thanks. I will have to learn more about that. I am diabetic, but my drs never talk about that. They just talk about excercise and cutting out the sweets. Stacy