Question:
Reading the post op diet has me really scared. Can anyone relate and reassure me?

Thanks!    — Susan N. (posted on October 20, 2000)

October 20, 2000
susan, are you speaking of the liquid diet? You can drink several times per day - anything that will fit thru straw. Beef broth tastes great (not chicken), clear soups, instant mash potatos that come in a cup are good, V8's are good too. I'm almost 3 months out and I'm finding it more difficult to eat solids that I can digest. So hang in there it will all be ok. Do not watch any cooking shows!!
   — LYNDA W.

October 20, 2000
Susan, I'm not sure which part of the post-op diet that frightens you, but I'm going to try my best to reassure you. The early diets last only 6-8 weeks, and if you look at this as a chance to heal your new tummy and not with a sense of deprivation, you will be very happy when the weight just melts off - and it will. Once you return to regular foods - guess what? Your habits will have changed, your cravings will have changed. My first craving after 6 weeks of liquids? Broccoli! Cauliflower...I'd kill for a cucumber! Sure, everyone told me, the emotional eating, compulsive, chocolate addict and sugar freak that my tastes would change after surgery and I didn't believe them...nothing ever worked for me before, you know. But this time, it did! That's not to say I don't desire chocolate anymore, but a bite is all it takes...it doesn't have it's power over me...the mysticism and control of food has been removed...it is my fuel, not my entertainment, not my friend, not my confidant...the emotion of food is gone. Please, please go into this with a positive attitude and you will succeed! Good Luck and God Bless!
   — Allie B.

October 21, 2000
You need to understand that you are using the pre-op brain to handle the post op diet. Believe me its totally different! Before...you can't imagine it..your mentality totally changes. You truley eat to live instead of living to eat. I never could before, but now even if something smells so good you think you'll eat the whole thing as soon as you hit a certain level of uncomfortableness you will stop eating. It may take a few times having a pain or getting sick but I guarantee you will learn. I still love food, I love to prepare it and watch it being done, I like the smell, I watch foodtv but then if I start to eat too much or the wrong thing I know it very quickly and I just don't want it again. You'll be fine. Don't try and guess how it will work, just know that it will. Your pre-op brain will not get it no matter how much you try. Just relax and enjoy the journey to thinness. Take care...
   — Bryytteyes