Vitamin Help From Those Who've Been Switched!

 I'm learning that it's important to educate myself on vitamins with the DS since advice we get from our NUTS may be inadequate. Ive seen VitaLady's regime and researched others. I'm also seeing that opinions vary greatly on what people believe needs to be taken, and I know when you get lab info 3-6 months post surgery, everyone gas to tweak theirs but ..A few questions for you all, since you've been so helpful already!:

1) what is your daily regime of vitamins, and where do you get them from?

        Ie. breakfast: a,b,c from cvs
             Lunch: d,e,f from Vitamin shoppe and Vitalady, etc

2) When is it important to really push them? Immediately? 1 month post surgery?

3) what are your favorite go-to protein shakes/supplements, early out? I like fruit flavors but not banana, chocolate, French vanilla, and coffee. And, where do you buy them? And, how much do you need?

Thanks again!!!!

I follow Vitalady's plan with a few tweaks in the plan and the schedule. I tried my surgeon's 12 Vita4Life program for the first few months until we both accepted it wasn't going to work for me. When you're first getting started work them in slowly. I was taking the Vita4Life, calcium, D3, zinc, selenium and Urso for gall bladder almost immediately post-op...along with protein shakes. My favorite shakes are the Syntrax Nectar chocolate and strawberry and IDS MultiPro vanilla-cinnamon for coffee. 

--gina

 Thank you so much. Just trying to prepare...Where do you buy the shakes? How many does a container make even? I just don't know how much to buy...I've never had them before and feel clueless. 

So maybe I'll just plan on going with vitaladys plan at first and going from there...I wanted to be frugal too and get what I needed at the best rate. I don't live near vitamin shoppes or GNC's so shopping online is certainly easier. When I tried to compare Vitaladys plan with online vitamin stores, I quickly felt overwhelmed and out of my element! Such a new world...

I buy most everything from Vitalady. When you spend $300 the shipping is free. One stop shopping is the only way for me--I can't stand shopping around to save a few pennies over my free time.

The shakes are very individual to people's taste. You'll have to experiment with samples at first to see what you like. Just look for the lowest carb count you can find and whey protein isolate as the first ingredient. Vitalady's samples are something like $2.50 each and you can get free samples from some of the protein powder websites like Syntrax. I'm not sure how many shakes per container any more. lol  My husband and son do shakes too so we go through a lot. If you only do 1 shake a day a 2 pound tub can last you 30 days. I do 4 shakes a day and my husband and son do 1 each but my son's is a double scoop. I have been eying JayRobb whey protein and they have a automatic delivery program. Just tried JayRobb chocolate yesterday and it was good. The vanilla is pretty good too and I can use it with my protein coffee.

Protein Coffee:
1 - 20 oz shaker cup with wire ball
4 to 6 oz of 1/2 & 1/2, Lactaid milk, or water
1 to 1 1/2 scoops of IDS Vanilla-Cinnamon protein powder
{shake} until blended
Pour into large (huge) mug
Add 9 to 10 oz of hot brewed coffee (decaf or reduced caffeine)
{stir}

Add hot liquid to cold liquid to avoid lumps. Keep the protein slurry below 160 degrees.


Vitalady Links:
www.gblcreations.com/Resources/Gina/ProgramDRNY_ERNY_BPDDS3-2010.pdf http://www.gblcreations.com/Resources/Gina/ProgramChewable2-2010.pdf
www.gblcreations.com/Resources/Gina/VitaladysPre-op_ideas_11-2009.doc http://www.gblcreations.com/Resources/Gina/VitaLadysLabsandTargets_11-2009.doc

I take a multi, B12 and zinc, twice in the morning (found over the counter - generic form) with copper (vitalady)

After lunch, I take my Calcium Citrate (over the counter), D, A, K, E dry capsules (vitalady). For protein, I get most from food, but if I supplement, i prefer bars over drinks, crunchy ones over chewy ones. I like the zone bars from target - chocolate mint, fudge graham and chocolate/almond/raisin flavors. They make a much better snack at work than a candy bar.

 Thank you! So if I'm reading your vitamin regime correctly, you take a multi, B12, and zinc (all purchased OTC) with copper (Vitalady) two separate times in the AM. Then you take a calcium citrate (OTC) with 4 separate A, D, E, K capsules (Vitalady). No dinner or bedtime pills?

Would this be a suitable regime for an early post-op person or only a DS veteran? It seems much less cheaper and manageable than other plans I've seen. Obviously my goal is to stay healthy and I'll do anything to do that but don't want overkill to either unnecessarily take pills. 

Didnt think about protein bars...same amount of protein in them as the shakes? Can you also do them early? I might not mind the protein coffee and flavored water options but am not thinking I'm gonna love the milkshake type..

Oops, I need some refining.
The B12 is at one morning dose, and the copper is in the other morning dose.
I take my afternoon stuff (calcium, A,D,E,K) in two seperate identical doses.  No dinner or bedtime pills.  Its' all done during the work day.  I pretty much hate the taste of 99% of the protein shakes.   The whey flavor takes away all pleasure of anything milkshake related.

TMT-

Personally, I prefer unflavored whey protein isolate with whole milk, shaken, not stirred. That way, you can make it any flavor you want, using SF Jello (there's your fruit flavors right there!), extracts, etc. You can also increase the protein if you need to more easily, although my surgeon recommends 90-100g daily.  Check with your surgeon, if your NUT is useless.  I'm actually studying to become one, a decision I made after being given wrong advice one too many times!

My personal go-to's are Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder and decaf hazelnut coffee.

All protein bars do not have as much as a shake.  You have to learn to be a label reader for all foods that you buy when you become a DSer.  For me, in a protein bar, anything under 10g is a waste of nutrition.  There are some that have as much as 25-30g. 

For regular foods, like canned, anything under 7 grams doesn't get in my cart on a regular basis.  I do allow for the occasional splurge of low protein junk, but not regularly.

Most of my supplies I buy from luckyvitamin.com
You can get 10 pound bags of whey protein isolate from them as well as most of the dry fat solubles we take
I get my dry D from prohealth.com and some items I buy locally.  We have a couple great local health food stores that were invaluable to me early out!

TMT-

I've never posted my personal regimen, and let me say that you need to consult your own surgeon for *your* needs - This is just what works for me.  I'm three years and three months out.

Corrie’s Duodenal Switch LIFETIME Nutrition Requirements

64+ oz of hydration daily, preferably H2O  

90-100g protein daily
(Whey Protein Isolate shakes(25g each) with Daily Nutrition Plan)  I use whey protein isolate because I'm lactose intolerant (LI). 
Regular whey protein is OK if you can tolerate it.  It's less expensive, because it doesn't go through the process to remove the lactose, as whey protein isolate does. I went into surgery LI, and became more so immediately after, but as my DS aged, it improved. I use whole milk, yogurt and cottage cheese with no problem now.  Actually, whole milk and higher fat dairy is better tolerated by many people with LI, because the lower the fat content, the higher the lactose (milk sugar) content.

4 Centrum Complete-type Multivitamin/Mineral Tablets daily (supplemented with NOW Multivitamin/Mineral Liquid as needed per labs)    

2400 mg Calcium Citrate with Vitamin D Tablet daily(supplemented with NOW Cal-Mag with D Liquid as needed per labs) 8 separate pills taken throughout the day. They do have 1000mg tablets, but my doctor says the absorption maxes out at 600mg anyway, so I think the 1000mg might be a waste of money.  The extra calcium could be helpful early out if you have diarrhea.  It will definitely firm things up, trust me! 

1-2 1.0ml B12 injections monthly, Intramuscular injection (supplies 1000 mcg B12 per injection)   Injection vial & syringes prescribed by doctor.

100 mg Thiamin (Vitamin B1) Weekly  

Creon 24000 units (capsules) One capsule with meals or snacks (aids absorption of nutrients, also taken with vitamin, mineral and protein supplements per bariatric surgeon/prescriber)  This is a prescription given to me early out, and I used more then, to help with absorption.  I turned out to be hypermalabsorptive, and this worked fine, making revision unnecessary.  It doesn't happen to everyone.  It's just the way I was made!

650 mg Iron weekly taken with 500 mg Vitamin C  

B Complex 50 – 2 tabs daily 
Chelated Zinc - 50 mg daily
Dry Vitamin A – 25,000 IU weekly
Dry Vitamin D – 50,000 IU weekly
Dry Vitamin E – 400 IU weekly
Dry Vitamin K 1- 1,000 mcg weekly
Dry Vitamin K 2 – 5,000 mcg weekly
All fat solubles (ADEK) *MUST* be in dry form! Duodenal Switch fat absorption rate is 18-20%
- oil-based capsules *will not be absorbed*  

OTC Medications  
Devrom (Bismuth Subgallate) 2 capsules up to four times daily as needed - these also come in chewables, but I like the capsules better
(controls gas and BM odor, usually controlled by avoiding simple carbs & simple sugars, I use only for *special* occasions)