sugar, omg

Hard lesson to learn. Hope you feel better

I strongly suggest to those that are early out to remember how sugar affects you at this stage and retrain yourself to avoid it so that later when your system can handle more sugar, you have hopefully lost the cravings and have made it a habit to eat protein first and few good carbs.  Although we alll share certain commons early out, our digestive systems and taste buds  will still be unique to each of us after our bodies heal and the villa regrowth.   My system was extremely sensitive the first 18 months.  I was 2 yrs post op in February.  I started craving carbs soon after and ate some things that I had cut out of my diet and found that I could eat more sugar and carbs and actually felt better.  Now I am carefully balancing good carbs with protein.  I still can't eat much at a sitting so I constantly remind myself to eat protein first.  I do crave carbs again so I have a piece of fruit between meals.  I found myself reverting to some bad food choices for about a month and gained 8 pounds quickly so went back to protein first.  I will feel ill if I eat a whole serving of a dessert, rice or pasta but I can consume more sugar than I want to.  Sweet tea is my addiction and I can't use artificial sweeteners so I don't make the tea as sweet or order half and half when we dine out.  Otherwise, I drink water.   I love bread and have no problems when eating bread so I have to place limits on how much I allow myself to eat.   We eat out frequently due to travel and I find myself looking at the dessert menu thinking what I might have a bite of after the meal.  However, the only way I can eat 4 to 6 ounces of protein is to skip the breads, appetizers and salads.  Once I have eaten the protein then I might have room for a bite or two of vegetables.  Then there is no craving or room for dessert.   I had no hunger the first few months post op and then slowly was able to eat twice a day barely getting in the recommended protein and relying on a protein drink.  I am thankful that I still  can only eat a few ounces at a meal but I do find myself needing to eat something about every 3 hrs and have to be more careful what I choose to eat.  I have friends two years post op that are eating far more than I and they have gained more weight than they wanted to.  They are eating way to many trash carbs.  You are early out so this post is just a reminder to use these early months as a time to train yourself to make better food choices and develop new lifelong habits.  I did smile reading your post remembering how awful I felt the first time I digested to much sugar and ended up in bed for two hours.  It didn't take much early out to send me over the edge into a sick sugar coma.  Wishing you all the best on your journey.

I have not had any sugar but I think about  would it really bother me or wouldn't it.  Thank you for testing that out for me Katie :) think I'm gonna take your word for it and continue to stay away from it.  But on the positive side it was a good reminder that you really did have surgery 8 months ago.  I know Friday I broke a couple cardinal rules. 1 I ate too fast and 2 I had 2 brand new things to me  one of them messed me up bad or the eating to fast but none the less I suffered with pains for 2 hours at wor****il I could get home and lay down.  Was a good reminder for me to keep following the rules.

Glad you are feeling better!

And glad sugar will do that, I hope the same for me.  I have the band currently and one taste of sugar after being away from it for so long and I was addicted again!  Trying to get off again before band is removed so when the next surgery comes, I won't have that demon to fight.

Thank you for this!  I have a month until my surgery, so right now I keep thinking of things that I might never have again.  Of course I feel fine about it now, but I know at some point I will be tempted. The idea that I will feel sick from sugar will definitely be a great deterrent for me if I'm tempted to experiment down the line.  Sorry you had to suffer for the rest of us to learn a lesson!