overwhelmed by food planning

Happy Friday, everyone.

I'm in need of some assistance.  I managed to jump on a cancellation for my dietitian appointment, making it over a month earlier than I had expected, and now I'm scrambling to figure out the kind of meal planning I'm supposed to be doing.  I emailed Katie (TWH) after my nutrition class because I was confused about the food log—I've already handed in a 3 day log for how I was eating before the class, but I was under the impression they want to see changes in how I'm eating now that I'm post-class, and so Katie said it would be a good idea to bring 3 more days of logs to see how things have changed for my eating.

I've been through the nutrition guide and the forums here, and so far what I've gathered is that I need to space my meals 4-6 hours apart with a snack in between each, that I need a protein, a starch, and a vegetable or fruit at every meal, that snacks should be under 150 calories, and that my sugars need to be under 10g each time and fat under 3g (or 5g? I saw conflicting comments on this).  

So I've been trying to plan out my daily food intake with all this in mind, but it seems really restrictive for pre-surgery.  Half a cup of grapes is 12g of sugar.  A medium banana is 12g of sugar.  Two hardboiled eggs is over on the fat.  It seems like I can't eat anything I thought was actually good for me.  

Help?

Hi there!

Congrats on getting the earlier appointment!  I totally get your confusion - it can be overwhelming at times.

The stats and amounts you're quoting, I believe, are post-surgery levels.  I know here (Ottawa), the dietician wanted to see that we were making an effort to lower portion sizes, eliminate the bad stuff (pop, caffeine, junk food, etc), and reduce caloric intakes.  I don't *think* you're expected to dive right into post-surgery eating.

I could be wrong - but I know that's how it worked for me.

TES

Thanks so much!  This makes me feel a lot better.

Hi adaptation.  TES is absolutely right, those are post-op stats.  They just want to see a change in your eating habits to ensure you're able to make even more changes after surgery.  So just eat "normally" and log that.  It is so overwhelming though, isn't it?

It is!  I think I'm probably just panicking more than normal because I've had an emotional week, but knowing that these stats are post-op does help calm me down.

Just be honest and try to eat better. My dietician appt was bumped up as well and I had crazy stuff on my food diary because I had gone to a work dinner and had booze, diet coke, fries and CAKE and wasn't planning for any of that to go on my food diary. They didn't bat an eye, just used it as a jumping off point for discussion of changes that will have to be made. They don't need you to be eating a post-op diet now, just making some changes.

Thanks!  I'm glad to know that I'm not expected to be perfect pre-surgery.

Some changes they will like to see are small things such as cutting down on caffeine if you drink a lot of coffee (like I did lol), switching to sweetener, milk instead of cream, making sure you're getting enough protein, small healthy snacks between meals (preferably a fruit or veggie) Avoid pop or high sugar/calorie drinks, switching to lean meats... not eating at night. 

Good luck with your appointment :) 

So should I avoid eating after dinner?  I usually try to not eat anything within 2 hours of bedtime, but I eat dinner around 6 and don't go to bed until 11, so I usually have a snack around 8 or 9.  Thoughts?

Hmmm... that seems reasonable enough.  I'd say anything later than that probably wouldn't be good though.   I'd try to avoid anything too greasy or heavy that close to bed time though... one word... heartburn