Ability to eat a lot of veggies and some fruit afterwards?

Hello All, I don't post here too often, but I lurk a lot, and I've learned a lot from reading the various posts.  My date approaches -- three weeks from tomorrow, December 20th, RNY.  I go for my PAT's on December 3rd.  I'm actually fairly confident that this will go through -- I haven't lost all of the 20 lbs they wanted me to loose before the surgery, I've lost about 10 of it, but I'm pretty confident I can do the last 10 in three weeks.  I've truthfully never had so much trouble losing weight -- when I went on my big diet efforts in the past, there were three or  four times in my life when I lost between 80 and 100 lbs in about 3 months.  The difference now is activity and age -- I am much less mobile now, having problems with my legs, especially with hip pain.  The walk into a store from the parking lot is enough to make me double over a shopping cart and stay still for a few moments until it eases off.  OTC pain killers don't really do all that much.  I suppose I could try something like Tylenol #3, but I am very oppossed to the idea of taking anything addicting -- my theory is, if I have a problem with food addiction, I believe I would be susceptible to other addictions -- I have NEVER had alcohol, a cigarette, or gambled in my life, not even once.  I have taken some Tylenol #3 for dental surgery a few times, but this was brief, for a couple of days only.  I know I'll be on morphine or something similar after the surgery, but this doesn't really bother me -- not enough time to really become addicted. SORRY ABOUT THE LENGTHY TANGENT -- this has nothing to do with my actual question. What I really want to know about is tolerance to different types of produce post-surgery -- not in the immediate three or four months afterwards, because I know everything will be difficult to handle for a while, but long-term.  I really use and enjoy a lot of different types of produce now, and wondered if anyone has any comments, good or bad, about their ability to eat such things as onion and garlic, cabbage and broccoli, dry beans, etc., as well as fruit like berries, citrus, apples, pineapple, etc.   I certainly envision the post-op diet being largely based on protein and non-starchy veggies, lots of salads and things like green beans, broccoli, mushrooms, etc.  Any thoughts on this?

You'll introduce new foods to your post-op diet one-at-a-time to see if you can tolerate them.  You may want to try them out again months later (i.e., some foods you can't tolerate at 6 months you may be able to tolerate at 1 year).  In my case, I became lactose intolerant following the surgery but became tolerant again about 9 months post-op.  If you do develop lactose intolerance, note that that's generally an intolerance to whey and whey products including whey based protein powders.  You would generally not be intolerant to curds from which cheese is made.  Also, if you have that problem, you can use soy based protein powders (if you use them at all).

I've been very fortunant. No problems with any food after about three months. Fresh fruits vegetables are great for your diet after protiens.Good Luck

Everyone is different of course but based on my experience any fruit or vegtable you can eat now should be tollerated post op. It may take a little time however. I have to be careful with carrots for instance, but I just need to remember to chew, chew, chew before swollowing. That's the biggest thing, I sometimes will eat and swollow way too fast (old habits die hard) and that is when I get myslelf in trouble. At first be careful eating those things that cause gas as you'll have enough of that as it is.

Dan, If you're like me and many others here, once the weight starts to come off, you will probably see an improvement in your leg and hip pain.  I know before surgery, I could hardly walk a block without really bad lower back pain, enough that I had to hunch over and rest. Now, I easily walk a mile or more without backpain.  It's great! That said, if you have underlying hip and structural problems that would make it painful for you to walk after surgery, then IMHO, the benefits of taking prescription painkillers for awhile might outweigh the risks of addiction.  The less pain you feel, the more you will want to exercise.  And the more you exercise, the less pain you will feel. The old saying "no pain, no gain" is NOT true here.  More accurate is "no pain, IS gain."  Pain is NOT your friend when it comes to healthful activity like walking. If I had to choose between avoiding any POSSIBLE risk of addiction, and taking enough medicine to allow me to walk and exercise my way back to health, I'd say, "Bring on the morphine, brother!" As always, YMMV.  

Dan, Everything on your list there is a staple of my diet now. Lots of Onions, Tomatoes, peppers, cabbage, squash, all sorts of beans, peas, carrots, mushrooms, lots of garlic, etc... As for fruit? Also not a problem. I eat a lot of berries, apples, pineapple, citrus, etc... Probably 2 servings of fruit a day and 7 to 8 veggies.... Early on just after surgery, most surgeons recommend slowly adding back in these foods over the course of several weeks... But by the 4th month, most can tolerate all of these with no problem.

Best Wishes- Dx

  I can't speak as to the RNY "diet", but only to our DSes ..   I do know that, whichever surgery you have, our tastes change sometimes post-op to something quite different than it was before   --  don't know if this idue to changes in hormones, enzymes, or what ..  I used to love to eat fruits and different kinds of veggies (esp. salads) as a pre-op ..  Now I find just romaine lettuce barely "tolerable" .   tomatoes and such just taste like cold cardboard to me now  ..   yuck ..    As post-ops we also have to avoid fruits and high-sugar veggies (or are supposed to as much as possible, at least) b/c of the carb and esp. the simple sugars content, which our modified systems will still easily digest and "put" on us ..   the priorty as a post-op is always PROTEIN first ..  !

Hey Dan,  Congrats on deciding to take the plunge! It's definitely a life-altering event...and one for the better.  I'm almost three years out and eat virtually anything, including nearly all the fruits and veggies on your list. My doctor characterizes it as a Mediterranean diet, with lots of green leafy vegetables, other veggies and fruits, fish and a reasonably good quantity of meat and even pasta. The key is moderation, of course.  Some things still cause problems occasionally. I had some lightly steamed broccoli (i.e., almost raw) a few weeks back and had to lie down, I was in so much intestinal pain. The thing is, I've eaten broccoli probably a hundred times and this was only the second or third time it happened. My thinking is 1) it should have been cooked a little softer and 2) I probably had too generous of a serving.  What's happened overall, though, is that I succeeded by getting reeducated about proper and necessary nutrition. I read food labels, try not to overdo the sugar and fat, and try to avoid overeating anything. Food is still a huge part of my social life...just not as much of it. Variety is no problem...I love sushi, Indian food, a good steak now and then...you get the picture.  Three years later, the RNY is in the back of my mind, but it's not all-consuming like it was in the first few months. I'm an occasional visitor on the boards here (unlike Dx), in part because the procedure was a great success and I've gotten on with other parts of living! It's a great thing you can do for yourself, Dan. Good luck with your journey! Joe