good food options for new post-ops

Hey, I'm only a month out and didnt want to eat because I am bored with my options, but I got the following from another board and it was a tremendous help. If you would like to read the thread...it can be found at: http://www.thinnertimesforum.com/gb-nutrition/15151-best-food-best-protein-etc-post-op.html

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Best food
--String cheese - Frigo Light String Cheese best brand (9 grams of protein and 60 calories per ounce)
--Cheese in general
--Cottage cheese, lowfat, 12-13 gr. protein in 4 oz. (1/2 cup)
--Beans! Any type--black beans, kidney beans, refried beans,etc. During the soft foods stage I ate lots of them. About 7 grams of protein and around 100 calories per 1/2 cup. I would sprinkle on some cheese and green sauce and microwave. Yum! A perfect lunch.
--Chili - Wendy's chili seems to be a crowd favorite
--Seafood (fish, squid, shrimp crab) most have 21 grams per 3 ounces, easy to digest, plus the added benefit of Omega-3 acids
------Tuna Sashimi
--Bean salad with splenda
--Tuna, Bean and Spinach Salad with Ginger Dressing (See Paige's post).
--Tortilla soup with chicken or burger
--Blue Bunny sweet freedom yogurt with kashi hi pro cereal (about 22 gr. of protein together)
--Fresh Fruits:
------pears (peeled if you're early post-op)
------pineapples
------mangos
------bananas - some people dump on these, so go carefully to begin with
--Canned Fruits
------mandarin oranges in light syrup, rinse carefully, goes great with LF cottage cheese
------any canned fruit packed in juice will be easier for early post-op than the fresh fruits, as they are softer when canned
Foods for after you've been cleared to eat most things by your doctor and/or nutritionist:
----Kashi Go Lean cereal - terrific source for protein and fiber after you've been cleared for whole grains and you're adding some judicious carbs back into your diet.
----Ka****LC bars - wonderful resource for fiber--but again, you must be able to deal with whole grains.



Best Drinks
--Propel - you can dilute to half strength if it tastes too sweet - you can also get Propel powders now in a couple of their flavors
--Crystal Light drink mixes - some people even mix them with the protein powders to change the taste
--Iced tea with Splenda
--Low-Acid coffees
--Sugar Free International Coffee mixes
--Sugar Free Hot Chocolate mix - you can add SF syrups for coffee for a special treat
--Sugar Free Apple Cider mix - great stirred with a cinnamon stick
--Nestea Diet Green Tea, Berry and Honey flavor
--Diet Orient Emporium White Tea with Mandarin Orange flavor - absolutely the right sweetness, no carbonation, very nice.

Best Snacks/Treats
--Venti Nonfat Sugarfree Vanilla Latte from Starbucks
--Stallone Chocolate Pudding at 20g's per small can.
--Schwans Trim Creations Fudge Bars
--Sugarfree Jell-O Cake, Jell-O Puddings
--Sugar-Free Fudgsicles
--Luigi's Real Italian Ice, No Sugar Added
--Sugar-Free Popsicles
--Sugar-Free hot chocolate
--Marty's hot chocolate recipe (paraphrasing: Get a big ole coffee cup, fill it about 1/3 of the way full of powdered milk. Get some powdered chocolete use between 1/2-1 teasp of cocoa powder and then 1 or 2 packets of splenda.....experiment, all depends on taste. Heat some water, not to boiling, milk doesn't like boiling, and mix..)
--Sugar-Free flavored syrups for coffee and hot chocolate. DaVinci is one brand.

Best protein drinks/powders (Don't overbuy before your surgery--get samples only. Almost everyone's tastes change post-op!)
--Isopure (the web site's annoying, by the way)--comes in powders and premixed drinks. Opinion seems to run about 50-50 on this one, too. Some people love it, some hate it.
--Enterex for diabetics. (11 grams of protein in a half-coke-can size, and NO LACTOSE, which is what keeps me out of most protein drinks)
--Profect Vials - Its only 3 oz and I can do it like a shot and get it over with and it has 25 grams of protein in it. (note from LisaBoston: quick shots of 27g of protein, wish I had these early out, not cheap, but they go nicely in the purse to carry with you. The container is great to keep nuts/bolts in (husband really likes them!) We pay about $2.99 for them, so not a daily thing, but great when travelling.)
--100% AnyWhey Protein Powder
--Nectar (by Syntrax) - assorted fruit flavors, 23g per serving, mix with water.
--EAS Premium Protein Powder. I don't have a problem with milk, so I mix it with milk and half a banana in the blender. Makes a great breakfast. 37 grams of protein mixed w/milk.
--Unjury - Unjury has a sample pack you can order online to see if you can tolerate it - seems about 50-50 for people who like it/dislike it.

Best other supplements
--Flaxseed oil. (helps keep you regular, very important later... )
--Centrum Performance Multivitamin
--Optisource Chewable Vitamins
--B12 Shots every 2 weeks
--B12 Sublingual - Trader Joes
--Liquid vitamins daily
--JuicePlus
--FiberChoice Sugar-Free Chewable tablets (fiber supplement)
--BeneFiber (fiber supplement)
--Citracal Chewable Calcium Citrate - this is the kind of calcium we're supposed to have, as opposed to calcium carbonate. Calcium Citrate is absorbed much more easily by the body. The chewables do have about 4 grams of sugar, so if you're super-sensitive, be careful!

Best Over-the-Counter Meds to Keep Around
--Senokot (stool softener)
--Milk of Magnesia (laxative)
--Gas-X chewables (gas)
--Docusate (stool softener)
--Zantac/Ranitidine (histamine-2 blocker, reduces the amount of acid your stomach produces)
--Liquid Tylenol (pain reliever)
 

so wait a minute....at a month out, i can have grilled shrimp and broiled crab cakes?

i'm prayin this is true 

Yes you can Skinny_Sam!  If it is OK with your Dr! See there is light at the end of long dark liquid tunnel.

Thanks for this information. I am going to save this!

Thank you for the heads up. But what I found the most helpful from your post is whats in your signature. Thanks and keep up the good work!

Friendly food warning the Kashi Go Lean foods literally taste like cardboard dont waste your money on their products unless you are into bland and tasteless lol