How to eat natural foods?

Hey everyone!

I'm about a month and a half out till my surgery, and I've done extensive research.

My question is after your stomach has healed, and everything is said and done and your okay to eat normal foods does anybody just eat natural foods in small amounts?

I'm more so talking no artificial sweeteners pprocessed foods, low fat/fat free things?

Ever since I was pregnant I took all over processed foods and artificial sweeteners out of my diet. I understand after surgery ill need the protein shakes that contain these, but im more so talking about after its healed.

Thank you for your input!

Once you're all healed up, you can eat anything you can tolerate. Processed, unprocessed, whatever. Make sure that you adhere to your surgeon's plan as far as the stages go so you heal well and you'll be fine.

Jen

There are some more natural protein shakes that use Stevia as a sweetener. Stevia is more natural than the artificial sweeteners.

I had problem tolerating some sweeteners, but I could use the shakes make with Stevia.

You can also find organic products - protein shakes or powders.

Some people hate Stevia, while others have no problem with that.

To this day I use stevia as my preferred sweetener.

Another one, erythritol, is a sugar alcohol, with zero calories, that most people tolerate very well. Check those out.

Absolutely it's a reasonable, even desirable thing to do. One of the surgeons I work with has the mantra "eat close to dirt" - that which grows in the dirt and which eats what grows in the dirt, with a minimum of handling between dirt and table.

Some of the artificial sweeteners have been found to have similar insulin responses, trigger cravings and have addictive properties similar to real sugar, so they are in effect "zero carb" carbs, which makes a bit of a mockery of the idea of counting carbs and keeping them below some arbitrary level - why bother if one is just going to cook the books, accountingwise. It's arguably better to stick to the real thing and keep them to a minimum.

On Youtube, look up some of Dr. Matthew Weiner. He promotes a "vegetable first" approach to bariatrics that has a lot of merit, and is along the lines of what you are seeking.

I also came to plug Dr Weiner?s eating plan. You can watch his videos on his site or YouTube. He also offers an inexpensive book on Amazon called Pound of Cure (I think it?s around $10, less for the Kindle version).

Obviously you should follow your surgeons plan, especially until you are fully healed.

But even the processed protein shakes can be replaced very quickly. Within a few weeks I was making homemade protein shakes with banana, cocoa powder, unsweetened almond milk and peanut powder (a variety with peanuts as the only ingredient).

Sure - that's pretty much how I eat aside from my morning shake for breakfast. If you know how to/like cooking, it's easy to stick to "real" ingredients.

Once in a blue moon, if I'm making a recipe that has a sweet component, I use real sugar or real maple syrup. It's always a small amount, so I don't fret the calories/carbs. I'd rather use those than sugar substitutes - natural or not.

The best post-op diet is lean, dense protein first and foremost. Plain old meat sounds like it'll be right up your alley.

yep, you can do this. Start with eggs and plain yogurt and soft meats. cooked veggies go down easier than raw. There are protein drinks that are soy or plant based. Low carb is more important than low fat according to my doctor. It will work. diane s

Thank you all for your responses! I am very excited for whats to come!