Terrified of Carbs

I'm five weeks out from surgery on the 27th.  The nutritionist said to keep my calories around 700-900 which has been easy to do.  I've been on a very low carb diet thus far (20g or less a day) which I was also on prior to surgery.  The nutritionist is okay with low carb, but does not want me to eat under 45-50g of carbs a day, though.  

I am just terrified about this because I've always gained weight from them.  I know I'm eating way less than in the past.  I also don't seem to get triggered by old eating stuff.  I can't stand bread now, and everything tastes too sweet.  They will be mostly in the form of veggies even.  It's just I can't seem to get my head around that carbs are not necessarily evil.

If your carbs come from small servings (measured in teaspoons at your stage) of low-starch vegetables and fruits, raw or cooked, you will be doing yourself a great favor health-wise. You get minimal amounts of carbs from fresh fruits and vegs, but tons of fiber and micronutrients.

Highly processed starches and sugars (bread, pasta, rice, all dessert-like foods, etc., you know what they are) are absolutely evil carbs. Staying away from them is essential to successful weight loss and maintenance. If you never eat bread again, your body won't miss those empty carbs.

psychoticparrot

I only eat a very small amount of fruit as you said (mostly whatever comes in yogurt and is blended).  I actually can eat about 5-6 ounces total in general per meal 3x a day.

I already don't miss bread to be honest.  I have Celiac anyway so I'm not worried about that stuff since I can't eat it.  I have irrational fruit fear, though, heh.  She mentioned trying 1/4 or 1/2 a banana sometime, and I know it's really nothing like a donut.  It's still weirdly terrifying, though.

Not all carbs are created equal and not all carbs are bad!  Your brain needs them to function properly and your body uses them for fuel.

You just need to make good chocies about where your carbs come from.  (You almost certainly did NOT gain weight in the past from carbs from vegetables, for instance!)  Stick to carbs from veggies and protein sources (dairy, beans) and stop playing around with eating bread at only 5 weeks out!  

You might not get "triggered" by eating "old foods" right now, but that might not be true next week or the week after! The old eating habits did not just disappear with surgery.  Why would you be trying the old foods that made you fat at only 5 weeks post op? Your statements that you have already tried bread and other "old foods" at only 5 weeks out but that you are having trouble believing that carbs aren't necessarily evil seem incongruous to me. If you are really having such trouble with forcing yoruself to eat carbs, why was it so easy to eat bread so early out?

I'm not trying to be snarky... I am trying to get you to look at the inconsistency in what you are saying and trying to get you to take changing your eating habits more seriously.mso you will be successful.  Changing your eating habits and the way you think about food and make food choices is the only thing that will make you successful long term.

Lora

I never said I ate bread or old weight-gain foods; I said I can't stand them.  The smell has made me nauseous since surgery.  I actually can't eat wheat at all since I have Celiac disease.  It's interesting, because I was expecting to miss it since even with Celiac I craved it long after I quit eating it, but now whenever I smell bread or something baked I avoid even the places where the smell is because of the nausea. I track everything meticulously before I even eat it... I do it so neurotically the counselor said it was almost excessive, heh.  

The sweetest things I've had are Dannon Light Greek Yogurt and crystal light, both of which I have to dilute since they are obnoxiously sweet.  I actually haven't had any old foods yet other than what the dietician tells me to eat.  I've eaten out only once and showed the nutritionist the menu in advance so I could make a correct choice: it was pureed spinach and cheese (paneer) which I measured (by volume) into a 4 ounce rammekin/bowl I brought to the restauraunt because it was the proper serving, and didn't eat the rest. 

The dietician is concerned I eat too few carbs because super low carb long-term might be unsustainable with my schedule, which is very busy.  Currently, I have not been over 40g a day since I started eating more solid food, and she wants me to start eating more soft vegetabels and fruits.  Even though it would not be more than a few tablespoons a day, fruit and some of the sweeter vegetables have been horrible trigger foods in the past, so I am nervous.  I've started having anxiety about eating them again, and so I've been avoiding eating them.  It is this anxiety to which I am referring.  I am eating textbook perfectly according to my twice weekly counseling appointments and nutritionist... so it is likely irrational to continue being anxious.

Sorry, when you said you couldn't "stand" bread now, I took that to mean that you had eaten it since surgery.

Very low carb diets aren't sustainable for most people, and some people who try to do it end up with mood disturbances, short term memory issues, and headaches.

There is no reason that you HAVE to start eating fruits!  Some surgeons have plans that suggest eating almost no fruits until patients are many months out, in fact.  If you fear that eating fruit may lead you astray, then don't eat it and avoid the anxiety. Focus on getting your carbs from veggies instead.  No one EVER gained weight fom eating too many vegetables!

What do you mean when you say that the only "old foods" you have had or what your dietitian has told you to eat? What are "old foods"?  (People usually use terminology like that to indicate less than healthy foods that they used to eat regularly before surgery.) If they are things that were problematic for you before, then I would ignore your dietician's instructions to eat them. The psychological/behavioral part of this journey is so much more important than the physical one.  If a nutritionist/dietician is instructing you to eat foods that have been problematic for you in the past in terms of self-control, or that are foods that you fear will lead you back into old habits, do NOT eat them. 

As someone in "the field", I think that continuing to see a counselor is a good idea.  It sounds like you need to do some work in order to have a healthy relationship with food (which is the only way you will be successful long term).

Lora

Apples and bananas are the "old foods."  I used to eat 12 apples in one sitting... sweet is a huge trigger.  The nutritionist is just being nutritionist-y, but I also think it's important to try under supervision.

I'll definitely keep seeing my counselor for several years, or however long it takes.  I work as a counselor and I'm an intern in my clinical rotation now, so I would for that reason even if I wasn't in weight loss.  I don't intend to stop at all, as I feel that's helped tremendously and what has gotten me to this point.  I'd never have lost almost 350lbs without counseling.

I definitely will just worry about the veggies for now!  Fruit may not make an appearance again... it definitely won't like it was before, that's for sure.

I'm almost 3 months out and I dont eat fruit either! I'm scared to. I do eat yogurt. But all the things you said I also do. I want to eat a banana or a pear but I'm too chicken sh*t

I get most of my carbs these days from vegetables, beans in particular.  I eat those and enjoy them.  The processed carbs, the evil sobs, and they know who they are, make me a crazy person.  Potato chips are my nemesis!  I went on a fishing trip yesterday with customers and they had every potato chip known to man, lays plain, lays salt and vinegar, Doritos, you get the drift.  I was able to resist the bread for sandwiches, no donuts for breakfast, but I ate potato chips all day.  The reward fro this effort is I'm up 6.2 pounds today.  Now I know its just sodium, and it will be gone in a couple of days.  I never understood when people said cards make you want more carbs.  But it is true.  My goal is 37 grams per day and now that I'm close to maintenance I'm eating closer to 60 grams.  But the type makes all of the difference.  I do not eat bread, pasta, rice, or baked goods.  And normally I can say potato chips too.  It has worked well for me.  At one point yesterday I contemplated jumping over board to get away from the chips, but I couldn't swim 5 miles back to shore.  I then thought of dumping the chips over, but as any reasonable person would react, the others would have made me walk the  plank for depriving them of those salty little treats!  Good luck!

Meep wrote: " I have irrational fruit fear, though..."

You don't have to eat fruit if you're already eating lots of low-starch vegetables, but why miss out on the great flavor and nutrition of fresh fruit?

Maybe you can try the desensitization method. Start with small portions of the healthiest, lower-carb fruits like berries and cantaloupe (all in season right now). Then add peaches, apples, plums and other fruits with slightly higher carb counts. Then, in very small portions, the sweetest but still very healthy fruits like mangoes, pineapples, and bananas.

Enjoy your carbs, whether they come from vegs or fruit. They are essential to your good health.

psychoticparrot