It Looks Like This

Normally, I make my own veggie patties so I can control the carb content; however, it's a little difficult to jump in feet first with both the eating of the veggies and the cooking of the veggie patties and tofu stuff, so I am going to give you a sample menu of when I first started. Now realize that I snack on cucumbers and other raw vegetables and I didn't put those on my intake because they are so low in calories that one entire cucumber is like five calories and a ton of fiber so they cancel each other out.  

Breakfast: 1/2 Cup cooked oatmeal: 205 calories, 24 gm carbs, 4 fiber, protein 6.06

 Snacks: walnuts ½ cup: 212 calories, 5.5 carbs, fiber 2.5, protein 6 gms

Lunch: veggie pattie 110 calories, 9 gms carbs, 3 gms fiber, protein 10 gms

Flat buns 100 calories, 22 gms carbs, 5 gms fiber, 5 gms protein

 Dinner 1 cup of pinto beans 44 calories, 8 carbs, 4 gms of protein, 15.4 gms fiber....

1 small piece of corn bread 94 calories, 15 gms carbs, 1.9 gms protein

Snack: endame 1 cup: 189 calories,15 gms carbs, 8 gms fiber, 17 gms protein

Total calories 1,164

98.5 carbs - 37.9 fiber  (you subtract your daily amount of fiber from your daily amount of carbs and that is your total carbs) 60.6 gms of carbs

Protein 61.36  

If you think of your food more as an energy source and not as a pleasure source, your ideologies of food changes. For instance, after I gave up meat, I began to realize that food wasn't an issue for me.  Now don't get me wrong, I still want a little crackers and cheese but meal time isn't about what taste good or what will fill me up but what I need...I need protein, I need fiber, I need carbs...I really need carbs because once I quit eating for pleasure, I started eating for fuel and protein isn't about fuel...it's about tissue repair and tissue growth; carbs are for energy. When I was filling my pouch with meat based protein first, I was not getting the carbs that I needed to provide myself with the energy I needed to get motivated, to engage in my environment, or to even care. Giving up the meat has provided me with pure energy...the amount I need and I am no longer craving food. Because when we are running low on energy, our bodies direct us to eat carbs...any kind of carbs and quickly...protein is good and we need it but we are not spring chickens...we have built our tissue for all these years and what we need protein for is maintenance and to build those tissues that are every 24 hour repair..hair, nails, some of our innards.  We also need calcium but we can get a lot of our requirements from cottage cheese or dark leafy veggies.  

When Vic said the other day that she has all this energy, I remember exactly the moment I realized that after having had WLS and having worked so hard to get used to my body size and the tired feeling that I was having...not like right after surgery, but that feeling of getting up from the table and wanting to take a nap...not because I just ate a ton of sugar, but because I filled my pouch with chicken or beef and a little veggies...I had one of those epiphanies...I realized that eating meat kept me from eating the good carbs that I needed to get energy and my body craved carbs so ate the bad ones...chips, crackers....those kinds of things and I craved them.  When I ate meat, I barely could get a green bean in on top of the meat.  

I guess my point is, not only am I eating foods that are keeping me healthy but I am eating foods the way they were meant to be eaten as fuel...

My husband just said to me, you know, I haven't been taking naps after dinner...I said, I know. You are not eating a bunch of fatty foods that put you into a deep sleep....Yeah...vegetable rule...

Jeannie, you are so right!  Our obsession with protein is killing us.  It's not how our bodies are engineered to work.  We do need protein--of course.  And fat.  But our bodies are made to process and run on carbs.  Carbs have gotten a terrible rap over the past twenty years or so.  People have them all confused with empty calories.  But virtually ALL plants--grains, veggies, fruits, fungi--are carbs, and they're GOOD for us.  They give our bodies exactly what we need to thrive.  

The trick is to eat real food.  Can you pick it from a tree or dig it from the earth?  Then that's a real food.  There is no Krispy Kreme bush.  No Oreo tree.  No candy bar farm.  

Dr. Garth is not militant about it.  If you still want to eat meat, eat it.  But turn your plate around.  Instead of making animal-based protein the main portion of your plate, make it the condiment.  Eat the green beans first!  But honestly, you can get all the protein your body needs from plants.  

I'm glad you and I are in this boat together.  It helps to have a pal!

If there was a Krispy Kreme plant, I'd have my yard full of them all summer.  LOL

LOL!  My backyard would have a Snickers tree and a Coca-Cola fountain!

I have not done it but I have always believed that the road to good health is balance.  Foods have protein, carbs, and fat for a reason.  We need them all.  Same with vitamins and minerals.  I am doing better with that philosophy but still have a ways to go.

I eat mostly fish as protein, cooked simply, seasoned many ways, and no butter.  If I need to oil the grill it is with olive oil.  Lo and behold I actually like it. Being a southerner that surprises me since fried is a food group for us.  When it comes to veggies I am a purist.  I actually like the flavor of the vegetable.  I could eat most right out of the can.  Baked sweet potatoes must be naked.  I like the potato, you can keep the butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar.  Crazily I am conditioned to eat salad with dressing but love cucumbers and tomatoes right out of the garden if I am so lucky or right out of the fridge if I get them from the store.  I also snack on carrots and bell pepper.  So why do I think I need dressing on my salad? I am 68 years old and maybe I am finally learning.

Jeannie, your menu looks delicious -- I have to admit I've been brainwashed about avoiding carbs - and the "net" carbs really scare me!  But reading your menu and Vickie's posts about how much better she feels, is encouraging me to make some significant changes.  I do find my former love of meat has changed - I used to eat all kinds of meat, and lots of it.  Funny that a bit of steak or half a pork chop is enough.  Chicken used to be a favorite, but now I can't stand the thought of it, except for an occasional chicken wing or two.  I love veggies, but I stay away from fruits because they are so high.  Using meat as a "condiment" sounds right to me -- I've got a lot of learning to do!

Mary,

I choose my vegetables according to how much fiber they have because I do want them to work for me. Think of the Irish potato versus the sweet potato...The sweet potato is full of fiber and vitamins and potassium and it does have carbs but nothing like the Irish potato...If you don't put anything other than a little olive oil or a little butter on your sweet potato, it will be one of those vegetables that works in your favor. We all know the value of eating cauliflower and broccoli: both are full of really good vitamins and both have carbs but both are very fiber filled so when you eat them, you absorb the needed vitamins and a little carb but the majority of it increases your metabolism because it makes your small and large intestine work to get it through. 

One of the reasons that I stopped eating cheese, other than a little bit here and there, was because it has no fiber and it is really hard on the digestive system...so you eat it and it sits and sits and sits in the intestine...other foods are often left in the gut longer than they need be, which means they are bloating you and adding weight and getting longer to sit around so the body can pull more and more of the carbs out of it....if let to its own devices, the small intestine will micro manage every single molecule of fat, carb, and sugar...because those are the molecules that the body has very specific enzymes to break down so it's like pouring a light acid on a piece of fat and leaving it out for hours...by the end of the day, that fat will be liquified....pour a little acid on it, rinse it with water and it stops breaking down...our goal is to eat, digest quickly, and get it out because the longer it stays in, the more it gets absorbed. Go with veggies first and pick really high fiber and then eat the fish...

That makes a lot of sense Jeannie.  I know some foods just sit in my gut ..... I'm going to do a lot of reading today.

Thanks for starting this thread - I'm finding it really helpful.

Mary