Question:
How do I read nutrition labels

My nutritionist during pre-op meetings said that we needed to learn to read nutrition labels. I thought okay thats not going to be hard to do so I didnt ask any further questions about it. Now that I am post-op I am reading the labels and still in the dark. How many carbs is too many carbs per serving, how many grams of sugar are too many per serving and so on? I am trying really hard to by what the meetings taught unfortunately they didnt go into much detail. What are the good veggies and starchy veggies. If someone could just point me to a website that has this info on it it would be great!!!!!    — gypsea47 (posted on August 24, 2008)

August 24, 2008
Hi Lisa.. Being a veteran to this surgery 7 yrs out* I have learned that the carb content should not be that high-It's the sugar content, try not to go over 7 grams of sugar if poss. at a serving, otherwise you'll get a belly-ache.. try and stay away from broccoli types of veggies and rice..Lots of starch and will bloat ya.. Hope this helps.. Irene R.
   — Racegirl1

August 24, 2008
The labels are hard but today world it is alot easier. I was told to stay under 5 sugars and carb food like corn, peas, potatoes, white bread, pasta try to stay away from they make my sugars go sky high, We can have small amounts of these items but get your protein in first 2-3 oz of protein or meat first. I am not forsure if your lap or RNY. I am a RNY. You can always get intouch with your NUT. from doctor they always help you.
   — carman

August 24, 2008
The best service to work with when you are new is one that charges by the month but you only need to do it one month or less to learn. Look at www.myfooddiary.com They charge $9.00 and it is a bargin as they read the majority of labels for you and you only have to input new items or items that you have created at home. They have the stock items you eat stored so you just recall them when you eat them again. If you amount is 1/2 a serving then you just enter ".5" Sugar in raw form, not from fruit should be less than 2 grams per serving, and carb's should be as little as possible. Starchy vegatables are Corn and Potatoes. Save them for 6 months out. Good carbs for 6 months out are complex, like whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, and brown rice. All white pasta, rice and bread are simple carbs and what you want to stay away from. Hope this helps
   — William (Bill) wmil

August 24, 2008
The best answer I can come up with is go and call your nut. We all have different intake levels. Like I was told not to count my carbs. I am almost 4 wk post op and I need to count sugar,calories and total fat. I will need to count my carbs after 6 months out. This info varies from patient to patient from surgeon to surgeon. Plus call your nut for correct info.
   — bridgadean

August 24, 2008
There are specific nutritional things to pay attention to based on the specific type of surgery you had which you didn't point out. I had LapBand, we watch carbs. We are to stay below 30gms of carbs/day which equals about 10 gms/carbs/meal. We watch sugar intake (usually has a lot of carbs), but we don't have dumping syndrome. We try to watch fat intake as it helps with weight loss, but it is not necessary. We avoid carbs which are like starchy things- potatoes, rice, breads, pastas, chips, crackers, etc. If you have had RNY, sugar and fat will cause very uncomfortable dumping syndrome. I hear it is best to not ingest more than 5-7 gms sugar in one sitting to prevent it. I don't know much more than that. Also be carefull with alcoholic beverages as there is usually a lot of sugar and calories in them and if you have had RNY, the alcohol is very rapidly absorbed and you will feel drunker, quicker. Green veggies are usually lower in carbs than orange ones. Carrots, even though a veggie have a lot of sugar and carbs as they are "nature's candy". Sweet peas too. You have to get used to looking at every label. As my surgeon says, "if you don't know how many carbs are in it, don't put it in your mouth". I get really concerned having a 3 ring binder full of information from my surgeon which clearly spells out every bit of info we need to know before, during and after surgery hearing these very basic type of questions. Makes me scared for people's successes in the future. I would recommend looking at Sparkpeople.com where you can track all of your intake. There are many pocket sized books with nutrition information as well as many web sites. I always look up the nutrition information of a restaurant on line before I go and pick something out within my limitations to help keep me on track. I will print them out and put it in my binder as well. I also like Steele's online catalog for sugar free products. Livinglavidalowcarb and bariatriceating.com as well. Please, please educate yourself as soon as possible, call your nutritionist and schedule a meeting to get everything straight. Don't be embarrassed in asking about everything. When I want to be very clear on something, I will say "teach it to me as if I were a first grader" - meaning very basically so that I'm sure to get it. I would also highly recommend a book called "Before and After" by Susan Maria Leach- she is a chef that had RNY. The first half of the book is her story, there is nutrition info of foods and the last half are recipes according to the different post op stages. I really found it helpfull. Good luck to you, Dawn Vickers, RN, BLC, CLC
   — DawnVic

August 25, 2008
I'm very new to all of this, I'm 2 weeks post-op RNY, and I am so grateful for how wonderful my dietician has been. I am not sure if there is a website, but here is the little that I can offer to you. I was told that post-op, meals should not contain more than 3 grams of sugar. As for good vs starchy veggies. I know that potatoes, squash, and corn are on the list for starches. I also know that celery and cabbage can be more difficult for some to digest. I look for beans, green beans, asparagus, and look out for the nutrition content. You can also utlized www.dailyplate.com, and you can enter in any item you are curious about, and see how many calories it is, the carb content, and basically everything that would be on a nutrition label. I would also suggest contacting the site where you went for everything pre-op, and see if you can check in with them again just to review some things, and ask these questions. Please let me (or any of us for that fact) know if you have any other questions!
   — Mandee B.