Blended Spinach in Protein Shake

Hi Sleevers,

I got sleeved on 01/10/2017. Everything is going pretty well except I am missing my greens soooo much and the constipation is a struggle. Has anyone tried blending some spinach into their protein shake early in the process for fiber? I plan on asking my surgeon when it is okay to introduce some well blended spinach into my protein shake but I wanted to see if anyone here has done it and what your experience was.

FYI- I am using the smooth move tea and colace as suggested by my doctor but it's not working very well.

Thanks,

At this point spinach isn't going to have enough fibte in it to move anything.  For me the only thing that got me on track was regular use of something over the counter like Milk of Magnesia. You do have to get your bowels moving soon.

Miralax is the only thing that really works for me.  Daily dose. Not when things get "hard" ...And fat..Adding fat to protein shakes can help more than fiber at this point. Not a lot but 5gr per every 20gr of proteins...(I.e a cup of unsweetened coconut or almond milk has that much fat) 

I can identify with the constipation issue, Sukilana!  I had a terrible time with it when I first started eating solid proteins, but was fine before.  Remember, you are eating a LOT less than before, so you will not have BMs with the regularity you did before.  If you were daily, it might be every 2 or 3 days now.  But during the liquid and soft foods stage, I didn't have problems.

Once I started with the solid proteins, holy moly did I have issues!  I tried stool softeners, etc, to no avail--the only thing that finally worked was making sure I got enough actual fiber in every day (we need 20g daily).  I accomplish this by having 1/2 cup of Fiber One cereal with Blue Diamond Unsweetened Vanilla Almond milk every morning. Only 75 calories, but it has 14g of fiber and 2 grams protein.  Since I started this I have no issues with constipation at all.

Hang in there, it gets easier!

I will have to try the fiber one.  2 capsules a day of colase is not working well for me.  It is very hard to get vegetables in while you are trying to get protein in also.  At least for me.

Same here, I can only manage 1/2 cup/4 oz at a time so I have to focus on getting my protein in.  If I eat high protein foods and get in my protein, then I treat myself to veggies later, but only after protein.  The Fiber One has been such a great help.  If I could eat more at once I'd have 3/4 cup and get in all my daily fiber, but it's just too much lol.

I use magnesium and probiotic daily.

Smooth Move Tea in the AM was the trick for me early out. Miralax or Metamucil added to what you can. Be sure you are drinking enough water though... that was usually the issue with me... I slack and pay for it.

I do on occasion add spinach to my protein shake: http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2014/06/jlo-j ennifer-lopezs-spinach-protein_22.html  (ala Jennifer Lopez JLO she drinks one every day allegedly and well LOL she looks great for her age so why not) 

Ask your Dr for the OK though first... I'm RNY but wasn't allowed greens for a few weeks in the regular form (never asked about them whizzed up though)

Everyone reading this blog - please take note of eggface's website. It truly got me through my first few months. Thanks for all the good recipes and advice.

Thank you all for the input. I will definitely incorporate the smooth move tea in the morning and the other fibers aka miralax, metamucil etc to my daily meals to see if things change for the better.