Puree Stage

Hi everyone - I just had my sleeve on April 6 - I start pureed on Friday and am really nervous about it because I do not like weird/different textures and they tend to make me sick to my stomach.
How did you get thru the pureed stage? Did anyone just mash things up really well/chew chew chew?

I personally skipped most of the pureed stage. I did use ricotta cheese, split pea soup, and applesauce. Anything else pureed was not appealing to me. I felt like it was nursing home food. I drank lots of protein shakes and added protein powder to pudding and soup.

I had greek yogurt, the infamous ricotta bake, refried beans - all of which don't require any additional pureeing. and I still had 2 shakes a day in order to meet my protein goals.

for stuff I actually pureed, I used a mini food processor - black and decker makes a cheap one that was the perfect size - I think they run around $10-$15. In that I would throw either hard boiled eggs, a pouch of tuna/salmon or a small can of chicken along with some plain greek yogurt (could use low fat mayo), sometimes a teaspoon of mustard and blend it until smooth. Somehow the idea of pureed tuna salad (or chicken or egg salad) was more appealing than throwing a chicken breast and some broth in a blender. And with the different flavored pouches of tuna or salmon, it gave some variety.

Remember your sleeve is still healing and you are trying to slowly adjust it back to having regular texture food. I wouldn't want to just stick to shakes/yogurt for a month and then jump right into a chicken breast. And the puree stage is short in the scheme of the rest of your life. Not a fun enjoyable stage but manageable.

You can stick to things that are naturally "pureed" in texture, like yogurt! Some fish works well too - like sardines.

I didn't rely on my teeth to puree things well enough, but I don't have texture problems so that wasn't a problem for me.

HI Meli,

I read it was super important not to skip phases and I've had to restart my phases because of a complication so I'm in the middle of redoing my pureed phase but someone posted a list of pureed food she used and I've been using that as a resource to try some new things. One of my favorites is avocado blended with eggs.

HTH!

Hope a few of these help: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2007/08/puree d-foods.html

The Ricotta Bake recipe is there (basically lasagna filling without noodles) and I didn't feel the need to puree it I just sort of mashed it.

Meats I did puree... crab salad, tuna, etc. it was actually a pleasure to have savory things after so much sweet in the liquid phase that I didn't really mind the mush too much.

that pureed phase list on your blog is what got me through that phase! plus seeing a lot of your early posts kept me inspired and motivated.

Aww thank you for this... writing the blog has always helped me keep my head in the game so to speak so I am glad if my LOL rambling helps a bit ;)

I literally studied your blog during my 6 month preop phase. Seeing your "day in my pouch" posts really helped me see that post op life eating could be fun and tasty and still helps me plan. And your girl on the pier post still hits me in all the feels because I can so relate to that one. BTW, hoping I get a chance to meet you at the YWM conference in August - although I'll probably be an embarrassingly gushing fan girl if I do!

Yay!! So glad you are coming. I can't wait to meet you!! You are going to LOVE the YWM Conference! We'll have a blast.