Question:
I'm eating sugar, what do I do?
I am 2 weeks post op and I am tolerating sugar. sugar free stuff taste so awful to me please help because I am tolerating sugar and have not dumped yet. I always have the regular jell o and have actually tasted ice cream. please help???????? thank you — [Anonymous] (posted on August 27, 2001)
August 27, 2001
Yes. It's simple--stop eating sugar.
— [Anonymous]
August 27, 2001
Some of us unfortunately tolerate some sugar. I also can't stand the taste
of sugar-free anything. I'm 4 months postop and have discovered that a
LITTLE sugar is Ok. If I eat too much sugar or too often, I'll get sick,
but it takes a lot. I guess that leaves it all up to us. We have to be
our own 'traffic cop'. My strong feeling is ... a little of anything is
all right. I know several postops who when craving something, take a
little and it's satifying. Stop beating yourself up. You can eat a little
sugar and still lose - or you can make yourself nuts worrying about it.
— Maureen O.
August 27, 2001
STOP IT! Sugar is the enemy. You didn't put your body through all this,
only to fail, did you? The surgery is just a TOOL - you still have to
change your eating habits and exercise every day, or you will be one of the
one-third of WLS patients who fail. Get serious - when you hear that demon
sugar calling to you, say, "Get thee behind me, sugar
(i.e. Satan)! Try other sweeteners. If you don't like Sweet-n-Low or
Nutra-Sweet, try Splenda. You have to overcome this, and the sooner the
better. Good luck.
— [Anonymous]
August 27, 2001
When I was a new post-op and still on the clear liquid diet I used jello,
iced tea and popsicles all with sugar. My surgeon gave me the choice. I
agree with Maureen. It's all about moderation and limits. Some people say
NEVER to sugar and that's fine... for them, but I am 4 months post-op and
have small amounts of sugar every day. I'm losing weight right on schedule.
The small amounts of sugar you say you are consuming are not enough to make
you dump. I'm not saying you should go all out and eat as much sugar as you
wish for then you surely will experience dumping. Also it's not healthy and
will slow down your weight loss. BUT for some of us small amounts of sugar
is fine. I think it can be compared to drinking alcohol. Some people can
drink socially and know to stop after a drink or two, alcoholics can't.
Some people can have sugar in small amounts and know when to stop, some
people can't. You have to figure out which category you fall into.
— [Anonymous]
August 27, 2001
I am one of those anti-sugar bigots. When I had my surgery in 94, I could
not tolerate any s/f stuff at all., Migraine trigger. My choice was water,
broth or REALLY dilute juice. Joy. I pretty much stuck with water & my
protein supp. Pretty miserable time. I didn't revert to sugared items,
though, because they had me convinced I'd wreck my wt loss. I still avoid
sugar and have been at goal wt for years now. Except one silly period in
which I took a few g of sugar ever few hours. Cost me 6# added in nothing
flat. I had to go cold turkey to get 'em off. It was NOT worth it. Extra
protein supplement that is not made with sugar or milk will help cut the
sugar cravings down by providing real nourishement.
— vitalady
August 27, 2001
My but some of the anonymous people sure are high and mighty. Since they
had sooo much control it's a wonder they were ever over-weight.
I couldn't stand sugar-free either so I just stuck with broths and such. I
did finally try Splenda and it really is good. Don't worry. If I can give
up Pepsi and popcicles anyone can.
— Meredith A.
August 28, 2001
It is not simple...anonymous sounds like the doctor that told me it was
easy to lose weight. I am a member of Mensa and I could not figure out the
"simple" way of losing. Sugar is part of life just like air. If
you have it, try not to have much. But my philosophy is that better to have
the real thing in moderation and learn to survive in a real world, than to
live on fake food and never be satisfied. I'm doing okay so far and for
"dr. its easy....." I tried the eating less things and low and
behold, it does work! Good thing for this miraculous tool. Too bad you gave
such crappy advice.....
— S S.
August 28, 2001
For me, at 2 weeks post-op, I was searching for ANYTHING I could
"eat" that tasted decent. Protein drinks are just nasty. I would
assume that you are still on a liquid diet. I hope you find, as I did, that
when you can eat solid, or semi-solid, food again that you gravitate more
to protein foods and away from the sweet stuff. After being on a liquid
diet you will find the most joy in eating an egg or a quarter of a chicken
sandwich! Always eat your protein first and if you need a little sweet
taste every now and then, don't worry about it! If you tend to
"overindulge," fruit is great for you. I really go crazy over
melon. One caution, though. If you find yourself stuffing sugar
consistently, you might consider whether you are listening to your
"head hunger" rather than your body. Most of us have some kind of
emotional association with food in addition to whatever other problems we
have. Don't ignore it if that is the case! Talk to a counselor or find a
support group that will help you deal with these issues before you sabotage
your own efforts. Don't worry yet, though. Wait until you get on solids and
see if you can train yourself to eat your "good foods" first.
Let's face it, we can't eat much!
— ctyst
August 28, 2001
GRRRRRRRR!!!! Okay, let me get this straight. Anonymous poster #2 claims
that if you try sugar, you will "dump, vomit, and have horrible gas
pains". Hmmmm. And Anonymous poster #3 states that "you will
have to change your eating habits and exercise every day, or you will ....
fail". My goodness!!! From the tone of their posts, you are barely
above Axe Murderers and Used Car Salesmen in their eyes. Well relax, they
need to get a grip. If you are concerned about your "ability" to
tolerate sugar, that's understandable. It is something that if not kept in
moderation, it can have an impact on your weight loss. But by all means,
it is not a one-way ticket to "Failure-ville". What will happen
if you eat Jello a couple of times a week, a scoop of Ice Cream once a
month, and drink a Mountain Dew on Saturday nights? Well, maybe you will
reach your "Final Weight" in 16 months instead of in 14 months.
Maybe your final BMI will be 29.3 instead of 27.8. Who knows? Personally,
once I regained my health, none of the rest of this stuff mattered. Now
are people wrong to want to lose as much weight as possible? Of course
not. Even if it means developing some paranoid relationship with food?
That's right, there's nothing wrong with that either. We all have to
balance "what we hope to achieve" with "what compromises we
are willing to make to achieve it". I'm not saying people are wrong
(or petty) to want to look as good as they can. That's normal. But there
are many people who are not "driven" to thinness at any cost -
who were just looking to regain their health, their strength, and their
dignity. And, well, I'm just saying that those folks are "not
wrong" either. Kevin
— meilankev
August 28, 2001
All I have to say is... THANK YOU KEVIN HOLT!!!!!!!!, what is a little
sugar here and there gonna do,we're talking a few grams people not a
gallon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! just be careful moderation is the key.Sugar once
a week is fine.
— [Anonymous]
August 28, 2001
I second the thanks to Kevin. I was paranoid about dumping early on. I
wanted orange juice so bad but it has so much sugar. Have you noticed that
all the people on tv have orange juice for breakfast? It drove me nuts. I
have now had orange juice. Not 8 oz, but maybe 2. I dillute it some and
find I don't want that much. The other night I had a few drinks of my
boyfriend's strawberry shake. Oh, it was bad, but it was sooooo good. I
probably added about 50 calories tops to my intake for the day. Big deal.
I don't plan to make it a habit, but once in a while? We have to live. At
2 weeks post op, you don't need to start beating yourself up. As others
said, soon you'll be wanting FOOD and it won't be sugar. Oh, and I can't
stand the artificial sweetners either.
— kcanges
August 28, 2001
This is from a gummi-worm eater: ok? Early on, it isn't a good idea to be
tasting ice cream. Try to concentrate on your protein right now -- creamed
soups, s/f pudding, low sugar/low fat yogurt, refried beans, try putting
peanut butter on a sugar free fudgsicle -- it is really tasty. Later, when
your doc says it is ok, try some 100% fruit juices (and use this to make
your own popsicles). I've always drank coffee and added sugar to it and a
little creamer with no problem. Cheeses are good with fruit for sweet
snacks. If you have a dehydrator, make your own fruit snacks with pure
apple sauce but watch the amount you eat. I am tempted by sugar, so I try
to eat other foods first. Cracker barrel has a delicious sugar free apple
pie -- you'll find that some sugar free desserts don't use artificial sugar
but instead use fruit juices for sweetness (very yummy). I enjoy
watermelon and cantalope - grapes nectarines and such. You may need to
wait another month though, for raw fruits and veggies. Another helpful
hint is to realize that your stomach has been cut open and stapled or
stitched back together and IT NEEDS TIME TO HEAL this incision (internally)
so during the first 6 or 8 weeks it is very important to follow the
directions of your surgeon -- this is a life or death situation -- it
really is. After it has truly healed, you'll be able to eat the wrong
foods or maybe even too much (heaven help us!) without risking your life by
possibly breaking open the incision. I hope this helps ya.
— Cindy H.
August 28, 2001
— [Anonymous]
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