Keep It Real

It is very easy to get off course or side tracked during our WLS journey. But if I can share just one thing that I have learned that would be to “KEEP IT REAL".

What I mean by that is our food choices should come from real and natural food sources. This is incredibly difficult for most of us for many reasons. Most of us were raised on fast food and many of us simply do not have the time to go to the market every other day and then spend an extra amount of time planning our meals and snacks for the day. Who has that kind of time? However, this is where the rubber meets the road…. In order for us to succeed we HAVE to make the time.

It is imperative to make our daily food selections in advance as routine for our day as it is for lets say taking a daily shower. Protein should be supplied liberally from plant sources, such as beans, nuts and soy, poultry, eggs, fish and meat a few times a week. Try to consume cheese and yogurt on a daily basis, but in small amounts.

In the early stages of WLS your nutritionist will guide you through meeting your daily protein goals. This is a critical time, you have just had major surgery. As you progress and heal you will be moved on to different food phases and this is where they will pull you back from protein shakes, (if any had to be added) they want you to get your protein from real food sources. There’s a couple of reasons for that, one being that synthetic man made proteins are inferior and not a good choice. All protein sources do not have equal value. Two would be that it is not recommended for you to ingest anything over 20 - 25 grams of protein at one time because it is very hard on the kidney’s. Have you ever read a post where someone stated that they just had a protein drink that had 30 grams of protein and added 2 scoops of protein mix to it to make it add up to about 50 or 60 grams of protein so that they had their requirement met for the day? YIKES….. Probably be the same poster that you read about in the hospital with kidney stones…. Not always, but you have to say probable.

Have you ever seen the nutritional value of a real natural food touting 30, 40, or even 50 grams per serving? No, and there is a reason.

Now here is another not so popular topic, PROTEIN BARS. Did you know that Protein supplements have turned into a multi billion dollar enterprise, and with the increased popularity of WLS over the recent years this number has sky rocketed. Unfortunately, due to increasing popularity there are many companies on the market that have sprouted up, driven purely by sales and marketing out to make a quick dollar. I think I will start another topic thread dedicated solely to Protein Bars because it is a topic solely within itself and understandably so.

Acknowledge the choices set before you and choose a new direction that creates a strong desire and dedication to your weight loss goals.. Try to KEEP IT REAL, it is so worth it.