The Dr. Tanaka pre-op diet

Just thought you all might be interested in the rules Dr. Tanaka gave me...here it goes


Multi vitamin
B complex
Vitamin C
Calcium
Vitamin D

B12 weekly
D tablet weekly

Breakfast: protein shake

Lunch: 1/2 hour eating only
Plus a protein shake (first)

Dinner:  1/2 hour eating only
Plus protein shake  (first)
 
NO snacks (not even fruit between meals!)
NO bread
NO rice
NO pasta
NO sugar 

No Alcohol
No carbonation
Cut down on caffeine


Sounds easy right? WRONG! SO WRONG! I am a vegetarian so I can't just dive into a big piece o' meat...so it's lots of fruits and veggies and cheese. At first, my mouth was like a funnel straight to my stomach with as much food as I could possibly get in my body in a half an hour cuz it would be a long time between meals. Now, I get full off less. Although I still crave all the naughty things.

I decided with 4 weeks til surgery, I would continue to stick to this diet, but allow myself one "last meal" each weekend. So this is my "last meal bucket list"...

1. Alberto's - quesadilla w/ scour cream and guac and salsa fresca (DONE- and not that great)
2. 5 Guys Burgers - grilled cheese with the works, extra grilled onion, ketchup and jalapenos
3. Fillip's - eggplant Parmesan sandwich (DONE- could only eat half instead of all of it)
4. Agrusa' Deli - Mozzarella sandwich w/ the works and XXX lettuce...toasted
5: Philly Frank's - veggie hoagie, (Philly style) w/ cheeze whiz and hot and sweet peppers, and extra grilled veggies

So long my favorite foods, I will cross one of you off my list each weekend.

Yeah, I pretty much got the same thing, but Dr Rumsey didn't list it out exactly like that. So he wants you to drink a protein shake first and also follow up with a meal for lunch and dinner?

Yep, lunch and dinner, I am supposed to drink the shake first, then I can eat as much of any foods (excluding the things on the no-no list) as I want. But I have to prepare and eat in a half and hour. No more than that. I'm a natural food grazer, I eat all day. It was actually REALLY hard for me at first. I didn't realize that I didn't sit and eat food. I would eat some and go off and do other things, then come back eat a little more, then go do other things. It was a real wake up call the first day....I made my food (I eat at my desk at work everyday) and then got busy answering phones and stuff..and before I knew it I only had 10 minutes left!! It has really taught me to shut off the outside world and sit and focus on what I'm eating.

That is really interesting, as I do the same thing. I barely leave my desk unless it is to go pee.

I'm definitely going to give that a try. I'm back on my medifast for now thanks to Deanna's sister-in-law who sold me lots of her Medifast boxes for real cheap, and I'm sure that is why I saw a weight loss this week. So I'm pretty much down to liquids other than at dinner time.

So I'm use to drinking my food (which will probably help in the first few weeks after surgery), but I drink a shake every 2 hours, which doesn't quite fit in with what you are doing. Since I have a few more weeks to wait than you, I'll probably finish up my shakes, and then go onto a similar preparation that you are doing.

YAY, can't believe we are all so close now.