Tips for new post-ops!

I posted this in a topic below- but thought I could break it out so others could add to it! Tips for the new Post-Op **************** don't bother with the baby food. i didn't open ANY of it and it's kind of expensive for the little time that we may/may not actually eat it. For the first week or so I lived on cream of mushroom/chicken soup. The easiest way I found to handle this was: buy ***1*** can of each kind (cambell's 98% fat free, healthy request - i think) buy 2 seperate ice cube trays. (seperate from the ones you make your ice in!!!) Make the can of soup with the required SKIM MILK. Pour each soup into the ice cube trays - this will give you appx 1oz cubes of soups. Right out of the hospital, you can eat 1-2oz of this soup. Shake frozen soup into ziplock bags and mark which one is which. When reheating, put 2 cubes in a tiny bowl or mug, nuke for 30 seconds and voila! soup is on. ***I bought about 6 cans of each soup - not thinking that I was only going to eat maybe 2 oz at a time. Derrr. I still have cream of mushroom soup from that shopping trip. I went on a stocking the shelves rampage, and I still have the food sitting in a box. I never liked jello - so i don't know why I bought so much of it. I didn't like it before surgery, and never wanted to eat it after surgery. LOL Everytime I did, it just made me feel gross. Same with applesauce. However - SF popsicles became my best friend! The one thing that I did eat quite a bit of was refried beans. Dr. Roye gave me a hard time when I told him I ate these during the pureed phase - I had to explain to him that they were mush - not actual beans, nor really fried! i don't know if he was just pulling my arm, or what.. but i loved the things - mixed with some low-fat cheddar cheese and a little sour cream! yum. i still eat it. I think the best thing to stock up on is water (if you don't do tap or don't have a filter/cooler) and crystal light. You'll never be in excess of either - and the CL will become your best friend when you just can't chug down another sip of water. I guess the best advice I can give - is to really THINK before you go nuts in the shopping department. One can of refried beans will last you a week - no joke. So don't go buying 5 cans of them!! Plus, towards the end of your recovery you are going to want to get out and do something - going to the grocery store was one of my favorite things to do. It was an empowering experience for me. I loved going in there and realizing that I wasn't hungry, that I didn't have to buy that bag of Smartfood [my weakness], and that I could leave the store with exactly what I was supposed to buy. I ate all sorts of things for breakfast. It didn't matter if it was refried beans or the crab dip I made. I hated breakfast time - it was HARD to figure out what to eat. I'm usually a bagel/cereal kind of girl. I don't really like yogurt that much, but will eat it when forced. So I forced myself. Eventually I started eating cheese sticks and chewed to a pulp before swallowing - and this is what I have for breakfast every morning - to this day! As far as protein shakes - it's all in how you can handle them. So far, my favorite water-based shakes have been the Nectar brand ones - I'm all about the Fuzzy Navel mixed with 3 ice cubes, CL Orange (something Sunrise?) or the CL Lemonade (some post-ops have trouble with the acidity of lemonade, so be ware). As for milk-based protein shakes - I liked the Sci-Fit, Cool chocolate mint when I mixed it with milk, some FF/SF choc. pudding powder (like a tablespoon) and some ice. Do NOT go buying the 2 pound tubs of the protein shake WITHOUT trying it first. They're a great buy IF you know you're going to like it. I think that www.wlssupplies.com does the best job at packaging protein shake samples. They come in little plastic bottles, and you can buy a mix and match "case"of them, so you can try 6 different ones.

Favorite pureed recipes: Refried beans: 1/4c refried beans, handful of FF cheddar cheese - nuke for 30-45 seconds. Add a dollop of sour cream to thin out the consistency a bit. Stuffed Shells, minus the Shell: 1/8 c ricotta cheese 1/4 c cottage cheese spaghetti sauce and italian seasoning to taste handful of FF mozzarella (or cheddar, whatever you have) nuke for 30-45 seconds! Crab dip (this is kind of expensive - but worth it when you jsut can't eat any more beans/soup/cottage cheese) 1 can lump crab meat 1/2 c red.fat mayo 1 T dijon mustard 1/4 c cheddar cheese 1 t horseradish Mix in blender until pureed. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until bubbly. Serve on a couple saltine crackers (allowed around 2-3 weeks out). To reheat - nuke for 30 seconds. Also - check out the Recipes Forum - they ALWAYS have great pureed recipes. Hope this helps!

Kristin: Thanks for all the great tips and recipes. Kelli

i messed up the crab dip recipe. tried to do it from my head.. here's the right way 2 oz cream cheese 1/4 c cottage cheese 6 oz crab meat 1/4c mayo 1/4 c shredded cheddar 2 T dijon 2 T horseradish sorry bout that. lol

Kristen I went to BJS and stocked up and I have so much freaken baby food in my WLS cabinet it is silly!! Kristin

it's time to find a pregnant friend!! LOL

Your so right about the baby food Kris, and the bottled water too. I've found my taste buds are soooo different then before also. Like now I can't stand crystal light at all. Or any kind of juice with spenda, nutra sweet or anything like that. Other then water I have been drinking half cranberry juice and half water, they gave me this in the hospital so I knew right away I was ok with it. And the cream soups are awesome. I myself did cream of chicken and that too was given to me in the hospital. I strained out the chicken pieces but the soup was soo good. With all this mushy foods I did struggle with the need to "crunch" something. I was going nuts. So to solve this I too**** cube trays and filled them a little less then half way. I did it with water and with the cranberry mixture too. let em freeze and taaa-daaah something to crunch!!! I also did really really mushed up egg salad, sometimes I'd add a shot of mustard to give it that deviled egg flavor. I didn't blend it but I did mu**** with a fork. Cottage cheese was a good friend too! I found at Shaw's sugar free cheese cake pudding and white chocolate pudding for a treat on them hot days. Carnation Instant Breakfast is one of my main staples. I mix it with 8 oz. of 1% milk, a scoop of Ultra Whey 100% Protein From Reeves Nutrition and three ice cubes ran through the blender. YUM!!! This Protein powder has 0 sugars, 1.5 grams of carbs, 1.5 grams of fat, 115 calories and 24 grams of Protein per scoop!! And best of all, it taste good!!!!! It's founder Steve Reeves is a native Rhode Islander and competes in national body building competitions so he knows what he's doing with this stuff.. It's not some Joe Shmoe just looking to make a buck off the next big thing... Go into World Gym in Providence or Seekonk and chances you'll find Steve there. My hubby has known Steve and his family personally for years. Nice people.... Good luck, and nix the baby foods, there is so much we can have, we just have to be creative! Hugs ~Na-Dene~ Stats on Ultra Whey 100% Protein From Reeves Nutrition : http://www.reevesnutrition.com/pdfs/61981%20Whey%20low%20res.pdf Reeves Nutrition Site: http://www.reevesnutrition.com/index.html# The man on tha main page is Steve and he's in his freakin late 40'S!!!

nadene i just have to say you look fan-******g-tastic in that new picture!! everytime i see it - i'm like WOW!!!! that's all. kristen

Thanks Kris, you just made me laugh out loud for real. You need to get your new pictures up girly girl cuze with all you've lots I know you're gonna be shooing them sailors men off left and right out there in Jamestown! Woohoo Look out world cuze there's a new batch of hottie's in Rhode Island!!!!! Hugs ~Na-Dene~

sailors???? where??? where???? count me in!! hahaha