What foods can you eat??

I was just wondering what kind of foods can you eat when you are back on a regular diet after surgery?  Can you have salad, tuna or chicken salad, or any rice?  I have my appointment with psyche & Nutritionist on March 10 then they will submit to insurance.  My insurance requires me to be on a six month doctor monitored diet within 2 years it has been 2 1/2 but my doctor took excellent notes so we are going to try to submit it since this has been a problem I have had all my life.  It did say that if you have had this problem all of your life that they would go back 5 years so everyone say a big prayer?  I am so ready to join the losers bench.   Heather

Hi, Heather, my name's Misty. I'm new to the forum and just had surgery about 3 weeks ago. Depending on your dr, you'll advance your diet pretty slowly after surgery. For the first 2 weeks I was on full liquids; jell-o, broth, yogurt; and now I'm up to pureed foods;pudding, thin oatmeal, cottage cheese, etc. Next week I can start foods with more texture.  But I didn't think about it as foods I couldn't have, I was just thankful for the things I could eat. And truthfully, if you're like I was, you're not going to really have "cravings" if you eat all your favorite foods before you go in. I don't look at food the same way anymore, it's wild. I eat because I know I have to, but it doesn't mean to me now what it used to.  I don't regret a thing I did, I would do it all over again in a second.  Good luck on your journey! Misty

Thank you so much Misty for all of the information.  I am also new to the forum.  I am glad to hear that thinking about food changes.  Because most of the time food is all I think of what are we going to have of breakfast or lunch or supper.   I just want to be free of it.  Good luck in your new journey also. Heather

I'm having lap band surgery this coming Monday at Weight Wise in Edmond.  My dr has his patients follow stages of adding food back into their diet after surgery.  The first two weeks it is liquids such as sugar free popsicles, protein shakes, broth etc.  Starting the 3rd week  you move to mushy food such as yougurt, cottage cheese, puddings, light/low fat cheese, milk, eggs or egg substitute, refried beans (fat-free), tuna and chicken salad with only light mayo.  The fourth week all of the above plus canned meats such as chicken, tuna, deli meats such as chicken, turkey, roast beef, ham, broiled or baked fish such as cod, tilapia, salmon, halibut without breading.  Starting the fifth week after surgery you have the above plus you can start adding in other foods one at a time so you know which ones you can tolerate.   Most importantly is that you must drink your 64 ounces of water each day and exercise daily. I don't know which procedure you are planning for or where you are having your procedure done, but most dr's follow something like this for any of the procedures. I wish you success in your weight loss journey and welcome to the Oklahoma forum.

I'm pre-op, so I can't really help you with the eating questions, but I wanted to welcome both of you to our wonderful OH family here on the OK board! Dot

I eat pretty much anything.  I cannot eat bread-it just doesn't work for me (I have a lap band).  I pretty much follow the bandster rules-protein first, then veggies, then staches, but I rarely have room for any starch.

I don't eat white sugar/white carbs in general because I don't care to have them.  With the band, there is no "dumping syndrome" but that stuff (white sugar) is awful for you, addictive, and I don't want it anywhere near me.

I've eaten a bit of rice, but I don't like white rice so it was never hard to pass up.  Salad is kind of iffy, but I can eat coleslaw (the cabbage goes down easily, lettuce not so much).

I eat a lot of eggs, chicken, tuna, catfish and turkey and some pork.  I'm allergic to beef, so I don't eat it.  I don't care for oatmeal and I can't eat bread, so carbs for me tends to be grits or polenta or just corn.

Heather, Welcome to OH. What you will get to eat depends on your Dr. My diet is the same as Wynotha's. Dr. Walton says no bread, rice or pasta ever ever ever! Best of luck to you on your new journey, Rita

Hey Heather, What doctor are you going to?  Just wanted to let you know our Oklahoma support meeting is this Saturday at Integris at 10 am, there is a psychotherapist coming to talk, I am going to be there, and would love you to come see our group.  As far as your question - we have to concentrate on protein, and making sure we get in enough protein, my nutritionist wants me to get 50-60 grams of protein a  day and no more than 130 carbs a day.  No need to count calories when your focused on the protein and carbs.  I can eat salad, tuna and chicken salad,  haven't tried rice yet by itself but I did have it in a casserole.  No problems on any of it, however some people aren't so lucky. Good luck.  Let me know if you want to go, you can call me at  833-1199 and I will save you a seat.   Brenda

And we have a support group Thursday at Weight Wise in Edmond at 6pm. www.weightwise.com . Would love to see ya.

Oddly enough, Mexican food still tastes better than anything besides 15 bean soup. Pace picante sauce has been going on everything. Pickles oddly enough were helpful during my nausea. Funny thing is, I lived on Crystal Light (Wal-mart brand) peach tea before surgery. Since surgery, about the only one I like is the Morning Sunrise orange. I drink mostly water and decaf tea. I eat pretty much what I want to, except I'm still following my nutritionist's list of what to avoid the first 6 months. I miss grapes, grapefruit and mandarin oranges, but will get those in April.  I have had Mexican rice with Pace about 2 times just to see if I got sick. Pasta doesn't rock my world anymore either. I'm getting ready to try using zucchini baked in the oven as my layers for lasagna. I eat all meat except bacon and pork chops. However, I have problems with hamburger patties even 97% lean. Ground beef in recipes is fine (97 % lean). Sometimes, what tastes good one time isn't the next. I have a lot of problems with some fats, and anything cooked on a flat grill at a restaurant guarantees sickness (learned that the hard way). I thought ok, it's grilled. I'm good to go. Huh-uh. Open flame for me. We go to Golden Corral, Western Sizzlin', Ihop, Mackie's, and any place that has salads. Fast food joints and pizza places miss me I'm sure. My sister-in-law who hopes to have this surgery with Dr. Walton soon asked me what food I missed the most. I told her I really didn't miss anything and don't get hungry for specific foods..well, except for slathering Pace on everything! I check every food label for the sugar grams and avoid what the max limit is because no way do I want to experience dumping syndrome. My kids took me to Cheesecake Factory last week. There is a 6 carb sweetened with Splenda type. I made one piece last 4 days because I couldn't eat a lot at a time. It was good, but I won't do it anytime soon. My throat was sore at work on yesterday (still is today..kids all coughing on me) and my son had a jolly rancher. I went online to the website and checked sugar grams.It was within allowable ranges so as not to make me dump, so I popped one in to help my throat. OMG! My jaws still hurt thinking about it. I know they're sour, but my whole jawline actually ached. Not bad pain, but it was like a taste explosion. I told him, I think my tastebuds just woke up and went into overdrive! It didnt' make me sick, but I haven't had anything sweet (except that cheesecake) since June. Sooooo, I'm going to get something else to help my throat..and keep drinking. Wow..excuse the long post!