Salads....
So, I'm on my 4th week out from having RNY surgery. I'm sticking to my meals and everything the Dr has told me. I was given a binder with all the foods at every stage and how I can eat them but no where on there does it talk about salads.
I was curious when you can start to introduce salads? Or not even a full salad, just baby spinach or Boston Lettuce with a little bit of dressing? Just curious is all.....
Thanks
I was curious when you can start to introduce salads? Or not even a full salad, just baby spinach or Boston Lettuce with a little bit of dressing? Just curious is all.....
Thanks
~ Amy Bradford ~
~ Never trade what you want most for what you want at the moment! ~
~ Never trade what you want most for what you want at the moment! ~
salads are hard on the pouch so they are out there a ways. I'd say after you are getting all of your proteins from "solid" sources - meaning meats etc. Then you can have some salad. I hardly had any veggies at all for the first few months, then introduced full cooked mush vegetables (broccoli and cauliflower mostly). Lettuce is very hard to digest.
Hang in there!
Liz
Hang in there!
Liz
Hi Amy,
Congrats on yoru surgery and your progress so far.
Some people have a real problem with salads, post-surg. Here's why - you have this little teeny opening that your food has to pass through (the size of an m&m). Now think of a lettuce leaf - envision it like a bed sheet floating down and covering the hole. Soft bits of lettuce are really hard to chew up into pieces small enough - and if one blocks the hole, everything that comes after will be "stuck" until the blockage dislodges. I've heard several people complain about this happening to them, so I would wait quite a while before trying it, and then stick to either shredded lettuce or very crunchy lettuces like romaine.
From a nutritional point of view, for months as you progress through your plan you're going to be working pretty hard to get all of your protein in before adding anything else to it. When you do add something to the protein, again you're going to want to maximize nutrition by looking for options in vegetables that are nutrient rich (think beans or broccoli or peppers vs lettuces, in other words). The last things you'll add in to the mix are fats (dressings) and starchy carbs (grain products).
That's not to say that you can't have salads (far from it) but they won't likely be a "staple" of your diet by themselves because they're a lot of bulk with very little nutrition (exactly what made them attractive to our pre-surg selves who were perpetually trying to lose weight and feel "full"). And you'll always have to be super-careful about chewing the lettuce or shredding it.
Make sense?
Karen
Congrats on yoru surgery and your progress so far.
Some people have a real problem with salads, post-surg. Here's why - you have this little teeny opening that your food has to pass through (the size of an m&m). Now think of a lettuce leaf - envision it like a bed sheet floating down and covering the hole. Soft bits of lettuce are really hard to chew up into pieces small enough - and if one blocks the hole, everything that comes after will be "stuck" until the blockage dislodges. I've heard several people complain about this happening to them, so I would wait quite a while before trying it, and then stick to either shredded lettuce or very crunchy lettuces like romaine.
From a nutritional point of view, for months as you progress through your plan you're going to be working pretty hard to get all of your protein in before adding anything else to it. When you do add something to the protein, again you're going to want to maximize nutrition by looking for options in vegetables that are nutrient rich (think beans or broccoli or peppers vs lettuces, in other words). The last things you'll add in to the mix are fats (dressings) and starchy carbs (grain products).
That's not to say that you can't have salads (far from it) but they won't likely be a "staple" of your diet by themselves because they're a lot of bulk with very little nutrition (exactly what made them attractive to our pre-surg selves who were perpetually trying to lose weight and feel "full"). And you'll always have to be super-careful about chewing the lettuce or shredding it.
Make sense?
Karen
I was eating salads at 6 or 8 weeks out....no problems at all with the salad part, but really watch the dressing. If you are chew chew chewing they it should be fine going through the hole of the pouch. One of the worse episodes of dumping I ever had was from not paying attention to the fat in the dressing. I was so concerned about the grams of sugar that I forgot all about the fat.
I still have to be really careful with broccoli and I am 3.5 years out. Some people have no problems at all with it. You will find that you can tolerate some things that cause others big problems and soem things will cause you problems that others can eat just fine. Just start slow and always try new things at home just in case.
One other thing...call the NUT at your surgeons office and ask...different surgeons, different rules. Even surgeons have been known to change their own rules from time to time, so what was ok for a post op maybe 2 years ago, could be different from what he/she is telling you to do now.
Heather
I still have to be really careful with broccoli and I am 3.5 years out. Some people have no problems at all with it. You will find that you can tolerate some things that cause others big problems and soem things will cause you problems that others can eat just fine. Just start slow and always try new things at home just in case.
One other thing...call the NUT at your surgeons office and ask...different surgeons, different rules. Even surgeons have been known to change their own rules from time to time, so what was ok for a post op maybe 2 years ago, could be different from what he/she is telling you to do now.
Heather
I was told to start eating salads and/or veggies at 6 weeks out - but not before hand. I have never had a problem with any type of veggie, raw or otherwise, but the advice of chewing and watching fat in dressings is a BIG tip that you should pay attention too!
Also...make sure you are getting your protein in first! Even if I make a "chef salad" or add some protein to my salad, I make sure I eat the majority of that first, even 2+ years out
Also...make sure you are getting your protein in first! Even if I make a "chef salad" or add some protein to my salad, I make sure I eat the majority of that first, even 2+ years out
Instead of complaining that the rosebush has thorns, be happy that the thorn bush has roses. 
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