Sugar Free w/ Sugar Alcohols?

Some sugar alcohols can cause stomach distress, even though I have the vsg, anything with a tol in it, malitol, etc gives me the runs. You'll have to experiment to see which ones agree with you & which ones don't, just be close to a bathroom! 

I do not recommend ricotta pancakes as pureed food. Anything bread like caused me a lot of discomfort in the beginning, and I can only tolerate a small amount still. Early out, you should stick to things that have more protein anyway.

Thanks everybody for helping me figure this out!  The sugar alcohols don't seem to bother me at all right now, but after surgery - who knows?  I'll def keep an eye out for it.  

Maria, thanks for the thoughts on the ricotta pancakes.  I was hoping to save them for a treat when I got bored, but you're probably right, ~18 g of carbs is probably too much at just the pureed phase.  But, I think at 20 g of protein it is enough for 1 meal.  Now that's for the entire recipe, I was figuring I could probably get in about 1/2 the recipe, if I'm lucky.   There's so much to figure out!

The way that I was thinking is how many grams of protein per calorie. When you eat so little, you will find that the total protein in something doesn't mean much to you because you'll never fini**** all. Switching to grams of protein per calorie is a more effective way to evaluate food choices after surgery. A good place to start is one gram of protein per every ten calories. My recipe for ricotta pancakes shows 44 calories, 3 carbs, and 3 protein per pancake. Your numbers may not match mine exactly because you may use different ingredients. But early out it is so hard to get in enough protein. I recommend sticking to the 1 gram of protein for every 10 calories at least until you can meet your protein goal. Most people cannot meet their protein goal for the first few weeks, and even after that it is still difficult. I'm sure you will figure it out. It just takes time and trial and error.

I have found two brands of pancake syrup that do not have sugar alcohols -- Walden Farms and Green Valley. Both use only splenda/sucralose. Don't get too excited, they don't taste like the real stuff but for me they do the trick. I put it on oatmeal and eggface's pancakes. Also, I should mention they are also more expensive, but I use them in moderation (a new concept post-op).

I stay away from sugar alcohols because they are not fun ;)

Some are sneaky though -- I accidentally ate some at my grandmothers house last week even though I read the label. It was one I had never heard of -- a brand name of maltitol.

Meg~

Glad you like the ricotta pancakes... I'd save them for soft food... they are very soft but not quite pureed.  

I think you'd be fine unless you are super sensitive post-op... recipe makes 8... early out... you'll be lucky to eat 1 at a sitting... I eat 2 now 9 years and some out... 1 Tablespoon of SF Torani in the recipe... so divided by 8. Now that being said... everyone is different... post surgery always try anything new at home. 

P.S. I don't dump on SA's YMMV 

If you add your SF Maple you have... add that sparingly... I'd imagine you'd need less than a teaspoon for 1 pancake. 

Thanks everybody, this is great info!  I'm so glad for all the help I get here!  I hadn't heard the ratio of counting proteins before - I'll have to work on that one.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around the tiny portions, I've been using the pancake recipe now and have been feeling pretty good eating the whole thing for breakfast knowing I was getting ~20 grams of protein in for just about 300 calories (with the Mrs. B.)  The thought of being able to just eat 1/8th of that seems so weird.  Shelly I will wait till the soft food stage to add them back in.  

I have not made the ricotta pancakes, but I will check them out.

Many years ago, a swanky restaurant served orange yogurt instead of syrup with pancakes - somewhere in Connecticut, but I don't exactly remember.

Ever since then, I put yogurt (now Trip Zero) on my (hi-protein) pancakes.  My pancakes come in a package from DietDirect.  I'm sure EggFace's Ricotta are better - thanks for the tip.

Sugar Alcohols = sweet, deceptively innocent laxatives. I'm not a maple syrup girl, but shat my brains out after eating a few sugar free candies and Ive sworn off of sugar alcohols. Those little *******s cleaned me out better than the awful magnesium drink I had the night before surgery!