Eating with a DS, PART 2: Another Day in the Life (pics!)
Back in June, I did a project to illustrate how DS malabsorption works. Here's a link to that thread, for anyone interested: www.obesityhelp.com/forums/amos/4193573/Eating-with-a-DS-A-D ay-in-the-Life-pics/.
I posted a day's worth of eating in photos, calculated the nutritional details, then estimated the impact of the DS malabsorption on those totals.
I received positive feedback from lots of pre-ops, newbies (and even further-outs) that the thread was helpful, so I thought it'd be fun to do it again. This time around, I made an open invite to other DSers to photograph their daily eats and share here too. Hopefully, this will provide a better sense of the range of different appetites, tastes and capacities between various DSers.
I do want to kick this off with a disclaimer, so please read:
What this is: An attempt to provide a concrete example of how the DS works. There seems to be a lot of confusion about this, particularly around fat and calorie absorption. The confusion is understandable; it took me a while to wrap my brain around it too. I'm a visual learner, and I'm hoping this will be useful for other visual learners.
Intended audience: Pre-ops, those researching surgery, foodies, other DSers and anyone else interested in learning more about the DS. However, if you find discussions or images of food (aka "food porn") triggering, you may want to stop here.
What this is not: I sincerely don't want to this to come across as "bragging", an attempt to make anyone feel badly, or a put down of other surgery types. I do not claim to speak for any other DSers about what they eat, nor am I trying to suggest that other DSers must eat the way I do. We all have different tastes, tolerances and capacities. That's part of why others have been invited to share this time around!
Okie dokie. Without further ado, here is the photo breakdown of everything I ate yesterday. For reference, I am 15 months post-op. Pardon the cell phone pics, the memory card on my phone had a SNAFU. Nutritional fun is at the bottom.
Breakfast: 9 slices of crisp thin-cut bacon, whole grain french toast, topped with cinnamon, butter, SF maple syrup and sliced strawberries. Diet white peach iced tea to drink.
Second breakfast: Protein iced caramel mocha **** coffee, heavy cream, SF caramel syrup and 1.5 scoops of Syntrax Matrix "Perfect Chocolate")
Mid-morning snack: 4 mini-babybel cheeses with 5 strawberry slices.
Pre-lunch snackette: a mini Reese's peanut butter cup (hey, I did say "everything"
)
Lunch: Panera's "You Pick Two", broccoli cheddar soup and a chopped cobb salad with extra Greek dressing. Unsweetened iced tea to drink. (Ate the whole cup of soup and 3/4 of the salad.)
Mid-afternoon snack: 3 Milano cookies and a glass of ice-cold coconut milk for dunking.
Dinner: 5 ounces grilled lamb rib chops with a chianti glaze, roasted parsnips in horseradish herbed butter, and spinach sauteed with garlic, olive oil and lemon. Diet white raspberry iced tea to drink.
Evening Snack: 3 cups homemade popcorn popped in coconut oil, topped with ground sea salt and a very generous amount of melted butter. Diet root beer to drink.
Bedtime Snack: Decaf iced caramel mocha (same as the morning recipe, but with decaf).
So, that was my Saturday. Now, let's take a look at the nutritional impact of my meals.
For a person with an unaltered anatomy, the food I ate yesterday would total:
Calories: 3,322
Fat: 238 grams
Carbs: 102 grams
Fiber: 22 grams
Protein: 193 grams
Thanks to my DS, I do not absorb an estimated 80% of the calories from fat, 50% of the calories from protein, and 40% of the calories from complex carbs. Those calories travel right on through, they do not pass go, they do not collect $200.
For the purposes of these calculations, and because simple vs. complex carbs can be difficult to separate out, I am going to be conservative and estimate that all my carbs (minus fiber) were absorbed.
Based on that, with my DS anatomy, the food I ate yesterday totaled approximately:
Calories: 1140
Fat: 48 grams
Carbs (net): 80 grams
Protein: 97 grams
Part of what I want to convey here is how joyful I am that I was able to enjoy a day filled with tasty food, never feeling deprived or guilty, and managed to stay under 1200 absorbed calories without even trying. I have lost 166 lbs and all my comorbid conditions like this. It amazes me daily.
I hope this thread is helpful to someone, particularly those still researching. I'd be happy to answer any questions, so feel to ask away.
Other DSers who want to participate, please chime in here! I am really looking forward to seeing your eats.
I posted a day's worth of eating in photos, calculated the nutritional details, then estimated the impact of the DS malabsorption on those totals.
I received positive feedback from lots of pre-ops, newbies (and even further-outs) that the thread was helpful, so I thought it'd be fun to do it again. This time around, I made an open invite to other DSers to photograph their daily eats and share here too. Hopefully, this will provide a better sense of the range of different appetites, tastes and capacities between various DSers.
I do want to kick this off with a disclaimer, so please read:
What this is: An attempt to provide a concrete example of how the DS works. There seems to be a lot of confusion about this, particularly around fat and calorie absorption. The confusion is understandable; it took me a while to wrap my brain around it too. I'm a visual learner, and I'm hoping this will be useful for other visual learners.
Intended audience: Pre-ops, those researching surgery, foodies, other DSers and anyone else interested in learning more about the DS. However, if you find discussions or images of food (aka "food porn") triggering, you may want to stop here.
What this is not: I sincerely don't want to this to come across as "bragging", an attempt to make anyone feel badly, or a put down of other surgery types. I do not claim to speak for any other DSers about what they eat, nor am I trying to suggest that other DSers must eat the way I do. We all have different tastes, tolerances and capacities. That's part of why others have been invited to share this time around!
Okie dokie. Without further ado, here is the photo breakdown of everything I ate yesterday. For reference, I am 15 months post-op. Pardon the cell phone pics, the memory card on my phone had a SNAFU. Nutritional fun is at the bottom.
Breakfast: 9 slices of crisp thin-cut bacon, whole grain french toast, topped with cinnamon, butter, SF maple syrup and sliced strawberries. Diet white peach iced tea to drink.
Second breakfast: Protein iced caramel mocha **** coffee, heavy cream, SF caramel syrup and 1.5 scoops of Syntrax Matrix "Perfect Chocolate")
Mid-morning snack: 4 mini-babybel cheeses with 5 strawberry slices.
Pre-lunch snackette: a mini Reese's peanut butter cup (hey, I did say "everything"
) Lunch: Panera's "You Pick Two", broccoli cheddar soup and a chopped cobb salad with extra Greek dressing. Unsweetened iced tea to drink. (Ate the whole cup of soup and 3/4 of the salad.)
Mid-afternoon snack: 3 Milano cookies and a glass of ice-cold coconut milk for dunking.
Dinner: 5 ounces grilled lamb rib chops with a chianti glaze, roasted parsnips in horseradish herbed butter, and spinach sauteed with garlic, olive oil and lemon. Diet white raspberry iced tea to drink.
Evening Snack: 3 cups homemade popcorn popped in coconut oil, topped with ground sea salt and a very generous amount of melted butter. Diet root beer to drink.
Bedtime Snack: Decaf iced caramel mocha (same as the morning recipe, but with decaf).
So, that was my Saturday. Now, let's take a look at the nutritional impact of my meals.
For a person with an unaltered anatomy, the food I ate yesterday would total:
Calories: 3,322
Fat: 238 grams
Carbs: 102 grams
Fiber: 22 grams
Protein: 193 grams
Thanks to my DS, I do not absorb an estimated 80% of the calories from fat, 50% of the calories from protein, and 40% of the calories from complex carbs. Those calories travel right on through, they do not pass go, they do not collect $200.
For the purposes of these calculations, and because simple vs. complex carbs can be difficult to separate out, I am going to be conservative and estimate that all my carbs (minus fiber) were absorbed.
Based on that, with my DS anatomy, the food I ate yesterday totaled approximately:
Calories: 1140
Fat: 48 grams
Carbs (net): 80 grams
Protein: 97 grams
Part of what I want to convey here is how joyful I am that I was able to enjoy a day filled with tasty food, never feeling deprived or guilty, and managed to stay under 1200 absorbed calories without even trying. I have lost 166 lbs and all my comorbid conditions like this. It amazes me daily.
I hope this thread is helpful to someone, particularly those still researching. I'd be happy to answer any questions, so feel to ask away.
Other DSers who want to participate, please chime in here! I am really looking forward to seeing your eats.
mmmm.... bacon!
I purchased some thick cut pepper , apple smoked bacon yesterday ... It was so good!
I purchased some thick cut pepper , apple smoked bacon yesterday ... It was so good!
Vida Cambio
(Weight loss in progress)
I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.
Highest Weight: 302 Started Researching WLS Weight : 275 Surgery Weight : 240
Current Weight : 175
GW : 164 Long term GW : 140
They were a big hit! Here's the recipe I used: simplyrecipes.com/recipes/roasted_parsnips/.
They are very similar in texture to carrots (although quite different in taste). I absolutely cannot stand them mushy, but if they are too firm they can also be slightly bitter and unpleasant.
My trick is this: I roast them until they are ever-so-slightly tender, then toss them in the horseradish herb butter and cover with foil while I'm dishing up the rest of my meal. That cooks them just the tiniest bit more and makes them perfect. Better to err on the side of having them slightly firm, as you can always nuke them for a bit to get more tender, but you can't un-mushy them.
My trick is this: I roast them until they are ever-so-slightly tender, then toss them in the horseradish herb butter and cover with foil while I'm dishing up the rest of my meal. That cooks them just the tiniest bit more and makes them perfect. Better to err on the side of having them slightly firm, as you can always nuke them for a bit to get more tender, but you can't un-mushy them.
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