Grocery Shopping!

 Well, I had my first post-op shopping trip today.  Let me tell you, it really wore me out!  But something else happened that I didn't expect.  

Many of you know that I have been trolling these boards for many months now; I did a ton of research, and I truly tried to enter this surgery as prepared as I could be.  But when I got to the store, I was like a deer in headlights!  I was SO AFRAID of buying the "wrong" thing.  For example, I finally found Greek yogurt - yay!  But, I forgot what KIND to get, why it's so much better than regular, etc etc.  In the end I didn't buy any because I was afraid I'd get the wrong kind.  

I did buy some sugar free DaVinci syrup, because I remember seeing so many people talk about it.  But I can't remember HOW people use it!  I'm glad I bought it though, because the protein shakes have just been so nasty lately.   No food tastes good, the protein shakes have become horrid, and I just don't want anything.  I have been forcing down the shakes, and I'm actually doing ok with the water.  But MAN, while I read about people struggling with these kinds of things, it's completely different to actually LIVE through it.  My hope is that this, too, shall pass!  And the vanilla syrup added to the Unjury chocolate isn't too bad.

As far as healing goes, I am feeling better each day.  My "stab wounds" are starting to itch miserably, and I'm using the vitamin E oil in an effort to keep that to a minimum.

So, what worked best for YOU when you were immediately post-op?

Darlene,  the greek yogurt has much more protein per serving than regular yogurts.  I foung a source of Fage brand, a 6 oz container of plain (0%fat) has 15 grams protein and 90 calories.  I buy the unflavored and flavor with crystal light, sugar free pudding powder and a packet of splenda - sugarfree cheesecake pudding powder is scrumptious - adjust the amount of flavor for your taste.  the sugar free coffee syrups work good for flavoring it, even a small amound of sugarfree jelly.  Use the plain greek yogurt (looks and tastes like sour cream) as a sour cream substitute.  Early out from surgery I would put it on refried beans with a little chredded cheese, nummmmm

As far as the grocery store, as you progress cruise the outside edge, yogurt, cheese, lean meats,  the middle isles I avoid much of the time.  Become a great label reader.  I know you will make it.  Initially, with label reading, the shopping can take longer, you will get used to products you use all the time.  I skip the pasta, cookie/sweets isle or take Dennis along ahe he picks out his choice of snacks while I get the healthy stuff.  He is finding that some of the healthy things I have been choosing are tasty too.

 Kathy, I actually had the Fage 0% in my hand, but I wasn't sure how I'd use it so I put it back.  I've asked my daughter to take me back to the store today, but now we're being hit with a nasty mix of rain / sleet / snow, so I'm not sure I'll make it today.  

I think that part of my problem Saturday was that it was just a LOT of activity for me, much more than I had tried to do at once previously.  I was pooped and just couldn't think straight.  I've never been one to make a list for the store unless there's an event or something coming and I'd need something out of the ordinary.  Looks like it would be worth my time to make a list!

Thanks for the help!

Hi Darlene,

I'm just a little ahead of you and still experimenting. What has worked well for me food-wise has been eggs (soft-boiled, of course), and little low-calorie Vache Qui Rit triangle cheeses. I don't know if you have them there, but they are the equivalent of a low-calorie cheese spread. I eat them alone or spread them on crackers (not too often on crackers, watching the carbos, although I have a green light from my surgeon). Chicken soup (Greek-style with the egg-lemon sauce) has been a life-saver. I eat the soup and maybe some ground up chicken and make chicken salad for the family with the rest of the chicken! I don't like yoghurt very much, so I make low-cal puddings to get my milk in as ordered. I HATE the protein drinks, but I do force one per day down most days.
I've kept a very simple and repetetive diet this past month. I figure I can go for variety later, when my stomach has healed better.
I know it's tough, we are re-learning to eat and we need to figure out what works for each one of us, but we'll get there!

 Hi Amalia!

Would you have a recipe for your chicken soup?  I'm not very good at figuring things out on my own - I'm not much of a cook, but rather a recipe-reader!

I'm still on full liquids, hoping to get the green light Wednesday at my 2-week check to move on to phase III (soft / pureed).  That should make things a little easier, but right now it's just a struggle to choke things down.  I find that some days are better than others, so it's not a total loss.  But yech, some things just aren't setting well at all!

Good luck to you!

Sure, Darlene, I just wrote it down this morning for another friend who asked for it, so here it is:

My chicken soup recipe.
It’s not that hard. Boil the chicken (about 1 chicken and/or parts) until it’s very tender, add about ½ cup of rice and boil some more until rice is done. Add salt and pepper to taste. When everything looks done, break 1 egg in a bowl and beat lightly. Add the juice of 1 lemon or more to taste and stir into the egg.   NOW THIS IS THE HARD PART: Add a couple of ladlefuls of the soup into the egg-lemon mixture S=L=O=W=L=Y while stirring:you don’t want the eggto cook. When the temperature of the egg mixture has risen somewhat, pour the egg mixture into the soup S=L=O=W=L=Y stirring the soup constantly. And you are done! If you’ve managed not to have cooked the egg, you can pat yourself in the back! LOL

Good luck making it!

My tastes also changed a great deal post op and I had to find a new protein drink.  I have 3 different kinds of the DaVinci syrups but I think they make about 20 or 30 different SF flavors.

Kathy is right about the greek yogurt; it has a lot of protein in it and you can experiment with different flavorings.  But make sure that you get the plain because the greek yogurt that is already flavored has quite a bit of sugar in it.  It takes some trial and error but you will begin to know what does and doesn't work for you.

The first two things I look at is protein and sugars.  Good luck and let us know of any successful things you can pass along to the rest of us.

Colleen

Good for you! I had to stop and just get some more milk and panicked outside the store. 6 days out and on an emotional roller coaster. Thanks everyone for all the great ideas for a bit later!!
Linda

Darleen, it can be pretty intimidating can't it, even after months of research like you said. I'm just a few days ahead of you and know what you mean. One day during my liquid only phase I just could not stomach the thought of drinking another protein shake. So for that day I skipped it and concentrated on getting in lots of fluids. It just so happened that we got 8 inches of snow that day (VERY unusual here) and I made "snowcream" with vanilla boost, splenda, and vanilla. I could eat it with a spoon and it felt like something new and different.  Hot chicken broth was a really good change from all the sweetness of the shakes. My choc. protein could be heated (not over 130 degrees) and tasted like hot cocoa. Once I could start on the pureed foods I bought yogurt, soups, cottage  and ricotta cheese, SF pudding mixes and more SF popsicles because they help when I'm low on fluids and trying to get more in. I also got some unflavored unjury to add to anything I could think of to help up my prtein intake.

For my firtst real breakfast I had a small scrambled egg with  a little cheese. It was great and did not cause any of the problems I had feared. I make the protein pudding I had read so much about by mixing a protein shake and using that for the milk in the pudding mix. Each serving has 13 grams of protein or more if I make the shake with soy milk. It's easy to eat, tastes good and feels like a treat while giving a pretty good protein count! I also tried another "recipe" I had seen here that used the cottage or riccota with a little spaghetti sauce spread on top, parmesan sprinkled on top and a little mozzarella on top of that. I baked that in a dish for me while cooking homemade pizza for my family. It made 2 meals and tasted like pizza topping, so I was very satisfied and didn't feel deprived. One night I made beef stew for family, pureed a cup of it for myself (lasted 3 meals) and it was great. It gets a little easier day by day, although I find somedays I get in less and stick to the basics of prt. shakes cause I don't feel like the effort of thinking of something else. Those are the days when my energy feels low and I am not resting enough maybe.

My stab wounds are itchy too but I guess that just means we are healing. Just keep doing the best you can, switch things up a little when you feel you just can't stomach what you've been doing, and try to keep the protein and fluids as high as you can. All we can do is all we can do, and we'll get better and better at it as we go along! hang in there -

Rhonda

 A LOT of great input there - thanks Rhonda!!  I've copied your post into a Word document to save!