Very LIMITED on foods...HELP!!!!

I am now 5 weeks out and on stage 4. I am very limited as to what I can and can't eat right now. Mainly seafoos as you all know, but I am not one for sea food, so that is out. I can have chicken, tuna and turkey. No breads, rices or any kind of pastas, salads or fruits. ****il I reach my goal weight) I am not even suppossed to have pork rinds or almonds but I do have them sometimes. I am sick of chicken and tuna. I plan on making ground turkey and adding some cheese and a little tomato sauce to it... but I am at a loss as to other meals that I can make that I am allowed to have...HELP!!!

First off Kim, slow down. As you said you are only 5 weeks out. Basically you are still on soft foods. Try a scrambled egg, add some lowfat cottage cheese for an omlet. I'm over 7 months out, but being single, I still eat soft foods, I am allowed anything now to eat, yet one bit of a chicken hotdog with a bun and I'm stuffed. I use a lot of ground chicken as I don't like ground turkey. Make a chicken meatloaf, whatever you would use beef for, you can use ground chicken, tastes the same, but has more protein and no fat. Turkey tastes gamey to me. I haven't had any peanut butter since my surgery and I have 6 jars of it. I had one slice of bacon and was sick for 4 days of lose bowels and that was just 2 weeks ago. My system has gotten used to not having the fat, and breads that when I do eat them, I don't feel great. Remember your pouch is still healing so don't push yourself to trying new foods too fast. Think of this like an infant. First he/she is on liquids, then we gradually give them pureed foods and soft foods. As they start growing and getting teeth although they are still on soft foods, they are adapting more and more. That is us. We are babies learning to eat all over again. I always have lowfat cottage cheese in my fridge. It's full of protein, and tastes great to me. I don't eat breakfast in the mornings because of the chemo pills. I wait until lunch and have some cottage cheese with sf jello. Dinner would consist of a chicken wing, it's white meat and more then I can eat. Later I will have something lite even a waffle with sf syrup. Pancakes and sf syrup has a lot of protein in it. I don't use margarine much any more and a loaf of bread turns green before I can eat it. I would rather have a chicken burger without the bun and enjoy it more then stop and have a hamburger or hot dog. I buy chicken franks and eat them in small bites without the bun. Just as filling but without the extra carbs of the bun. Just take stock in what you can eat and work other things into it gradually. Remember this is for life. The weight will come off faster by keeping to what you can eat. Next month you might find what you were able to eat today will make you hate it even in a week or two. If that happens as your taste buds change, wait a while and try it again. If you still have problems then you know your body is rejecting it. Mine have changed so much that I don't buy a lot of food at one time. I have stewing beef thawed and I'm going to make some veggie soup with it, what I don't eat, I will freeze for another time. I wish you the best in finding foods that you can enjoy and get nourishment from without over doing it. Love ya, Kathy

Hi Kathy thank you for everything, but like I had told my mother I am not wanting different types of foods just different ways of being able to prepare the foods that I can eat. I.E. tuna, instead of just making up tuna I will try my own tuna casserole.(w/o the noodles of course, but DEFINATELY w/peas; YUMMM) So I am just looking for different ways to actually make the chicken and ground turkey. I am also going to make a "meat loaf" out of the ground turkey, and some sort of chilli since I can use tomato sauce and chilli seasoning. But like I said as far as chicken goes, I have NO clue as to other ways to make it so it doesn't get "old".

I agree with Susan. I like taking a spoon of ff refried beans, add shredded chicken that is mixed with the taco seasoning (I buy it in a bowl at Wal-marts in the meat section) add a spoon of that, a little cheese and eat it without the tortias or nachoes. Very filling, and a lot of protein. I can't handle the tuna right now. Makes me a little queasy. Here's an idea with tuna, diced tomatoes, onions, add Cilranto and lemon juice. My daughter-n-love and my son makes their tuna this way all the time. They never buy mayo, anything that mayo can be used in, they use light ranch salad dressing. I have always like a ham sandwich with mustard. Last Christmas before my surgery she made me a ham sandwich on 12 grains of bread with the ranch dressing. It was the best ham sandwich I ever ate. I have a cook book of 101 ways to cook chicken, but it's somewhere in storage. When I buy the skinless, boneless chicken breast, I usually cut some in smaller sections and put them in the freezer. When I want them, I soak them in Lite Italian dressing and also put my on a george forman grill, very tasty and very juicy. Some of Susan's recipes sound yummy. Will have to try them. Best of joy in finding new ways to eat. Besure to write them down for us losers. Love Kathy

At 5 weeks my doctor still had me on pureed so I'm not sure how you will tolerate some of what I've found works for me now. These are also meals that I can fix for my husband and I just eliminate from mine the parts of the meal that I can't eat. I hear you on the chicken getting old and I can't tolerate tuna now, my pouch just refuses to accept it. And the only way I can eat beef is ground and in soup or chili. Ground chicken or turkey meatloaf is an excellent suggestion. You can also make it into meatballs and add to spaghetti sauce. You won't even miss the pasta with a couple of the meatballs. I also use ground chicken to make taco filling and mix some with FF refried beans, cheese & a little taco sauce. Who needs a tortilla? For chicken that is not ground, try marinading it in light Italian dressing for 30 minutes and then grilling (I use a Foreman) or cooking in a pan sprayed with Pam. Be very careful not to overcook or it will be too dry for your new pouch to tolerate. I make a lot of chili & soups (or stewp as we call it - thinner than stew, thicker than soup). Try shredded or cubed, cooked chicken in a chicken broth with veggies of your choice. Season with onion, garlic, tarragon, salt & pepper. Or, cooked chicken with crushed tomatoes, cannellini (white kidney beans), chicken broth, minced onion, minced celery, minced carrot, garlic, salt, pepper & thyme. This is also great with ground beef & beef broth instead of the chicken. Sprinkle with a bit of parmesan to serve. or for more of a white chili type soup, change the seasoning in the above soup to chili powder and cumin or cilantro and mash half of the beans before adding them to the pot. I keep individual servings of precooked rice in the freezer so my husband can add it to any of the soups as he wishes. You can also just cube raw chicken or turkey and begin by precooking that in broth for the meat base of any soup or stew. Like Kathy, I keep low fat cottage cheese in my frig along with yogurt, string cheese & cheddar cheese & enchilada sauce for mixing with FF refried beans. These are my comfort foods for those times when I'm in a hurry or just to tired to cook. Part of this journey is relearning how to eat. Have fun with it and experiment to find what works for you. Good luck! Susan

I know how you feel Kim..... I'm on the same eating plan as you. Don't tell, but I've had refried beans, salad, and fruit, a couple bites of potato, and couple of fork fuls of rice, and bites of stuff I know I definitely should not have...LOL but not as early out as you. At that stage I was pretty much living off of babybel light cheese, fat free cottage cheese, Boca Burgers w/cheese, and protein drinks. I was really sick of eggs, chicken, and turkey. I even used different marinades. I'm still sick of chicken and turkey. I've discovered these delicious cappucino protein drinks and Nectar Fuzzy Navel. So I have these as my breakfast and lunch meals and then have whatever protein rich food I can find for dinner. I don't understand why Centennial is so strict w/their eating plans. But I'm 4 and 1/2 months out and down almost 100lbs. I exercise 5 times a week, burning a little over 600 calories per session. So its not like I'm sitting around eating crap and not exercising. I don't feel guilty over my food decisions and I feel really great after I exercise. I know there isn't much advice in this response, but just to let you know that you are not alone. April