So I keep getting asked questions about what I’m going to be able to eat after surgery.  Thought I would share my menu with you all here!  I know it’s crazy but everyone I have talked to that has had this surgery says it’s no problem.  So here it is, also important to note, I have strict instructions, if it’s not on this list, I CANNOT have it!!

Week 1 :  Clear liquid diet, no carbonated drinks, no caffeine, only calorie free liquids. 

Options:  Water, Crystal lite, her tea, sugar-free jell-o, sf popsicle, chicken, beef or veggie broth, propel, iced botanicals, sobe lean, diet Snapple, vitamin water, cystal lite protein water.

Goal: sip 2-3 oz per hour, slowly increaset to 4 oz per hour, goal by end of week” 48 oz fluids daily.

Week 2:  Continue with liquids.  Begin Creamy Food Phase

Options: Week 1 choices, plus:  Creamy soups, no chunks (blend or process through a strainer), cream of wheat or rice cereal, no- sugar added smooth yougurt, no fruit pieces or seeds, sugar free instant pudding.

Goal:  Fluids--continue at 48oz daily max unil MD instructs you to increase, creamy foods--2 tbsp to ¼ c, 3 times per day. STOP EATING WHEN FULL

WEEK 3: for fluids, same rules apply as previous weeks, begin Mushy Food Phase, No more creamy food except for low fat or Carbmaster yogurt

Options: do not drink any liquid with meals, stop drinking 30 min before meal and no drink for 60 minute after meals, can rinse and spit.  Mushy foods can be scambled or poached eggs, or egg substitute, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, laughing cow cheese, high-protien yogurt, smooth pureed meat, baby meat sticks, NOT Vienna sausages, smooth meat spreads/pates.  Chew all foods thoroughly, take 20-30 minutes to eat a meal and take small bites.

Goals: increase fluids to 64oz day minimum, no gulping!!  2 tblsp to ¼ cup mushy foods three times a day.  Start bariatric vitamin supplements, 6 per day, 2 with each meal.

Week 4-6 :  same liquids, transistion to soft moist protein foods

Options:  same mushy foods as above, no longer need the meat pastes though,.  Can also add, poultry,(dark meat is moister, shellfish, fish very tender red meats, natural cheeses, tofu, tempeh, moist ground meats and thin sliced meats.

Goals: 64 oz's of fluids a day, ¼ cup protein meals three times a day

So that’s up through week 6.  If it’s not listed I can’t eat it.  Also just because it’s listed doesn’t mean I may get to eat it!  A lot of people I have talked to have said that for some reason they just can’t do red meat after surgery,   doesn’t sit well.  So really I have to see what works best for me.  I am looking forward to the shellfish though.  Crab is so soft and moist and my favorite thing in the world.  Just think I can go to dinner with hubby, he gets a steak and adds on crab legs.  Cheap dinner for me!!  Plus I figure as long as it takes to crack those legs open it will make me eat slower.  Just one of the things I have planned for my future!

Pretty much week 6 continues on for awhile, around the 4^th-5^th month they will start to add cooked vegetables back in my diet, but only about 1-2Tbsp per meal and only after eating my protein first. 

At 6 months I can add in 1-2 Tbsp of raw veggies and then fruit, but again, only after having my protein first.  They really want you to get protien in before filling up on ANYTHING else!

6-9 months I will be having 3 meals daily, ¼-1/2 cup per meal total.  At least ¼ of that meal must be protein.  Carbs are avoided until weight goal is met.  When that happens, you can progress to non-bread type of carbs by gradually adding small amounts at each meal, appropriate carbs can be potatoes, corn, peas, winter squash, brown rice, whole grain pasta, 2Tbsp is the portion size. 

9 months and beyond, avoid all bread products, including crackers for the first year after surgery.  Another side effect of this surgery is bypass patients just can’t stomach bread anymore, it’s just too hard to digest.

So that’s it.  Notice there is no milk and no sugar.  There’s a reason for that, and I will get to that one,…..NEXT!!  :o)