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I am not a vegetarian, but I can appreciate how annoying that must be to be asked such a question.... I hope you hear from your insurance company soon...that would be great...I was denied by insurance company, but went ahead and did the self-pay...I am so glad that I did....I couldn't be happier...been banded one month tomorrow...

Alex has reorganized the food and Nutrition forum to make it easier than ever to find information and recipes for whatever stage of your journey you are on, no matter what surgery you are having or had! Also make sure to check out the special sections for vegetarians, gluten free, and other special diets. We ask for your patience as we manually categorise existing recipes into the new categories. Please jump in and share new ones and use the Search function to find old favorites!

So sorry I've been out for a bit. My husband and I do travel-related stuff, and we took a group of students from my university on a post-graduation cruise. It was a blast--the kids were fantastic, very nice, very mature, and the trip was wonderful start to finish. BEST NEWS: Despite drinking more than I usually do (I probably had 2 fruity rum drinks a day plus a glass of wine with dinner) and eating dessert every evening (chocolate melting cake--yes, with ice cream), I got back on the scale this morning and celebrated that I am exactly the same weight as before we left. Yep. No gain. No loss, either, which I didn't really expect--I think everything balanced out, since we did a LOT of walking and running around, swimming, snorkeling, sailing, and I actually did use the ship's gym and walking track a couple of times. I had no trouble finding food that was appropriate for me and my still-picky sleeve. I discovered that I still could not tolerate prime rib or pork roast (had bites off my husband's plate to check), but sleevie LOVED most of the seafood options. Also really, really loved the wok-cooked vegetables available at every lunch--you select your own veggies and they add meat (I just did veggies) and sauce and cook quickly in a wok--fresh and delicious and very good for me! I ate fruit and hard-boiled egg whites for Breakfast, frozen yogurt or soft-serve ice cream as a snack, some peanuts, veggies for lunch with a couple of thin slices of cheese, and the dining room dinner (appetizer, usually Soup for me; entree, usually seafood or vegetarian; and dessert, always chocolate melting cake for me!). It was easy, delicious, and I felt GREAT during the trip--not stuffed or uncomfortable. I will say that the plate/bowl size was incredibly large, even by American standards--they held a ridiculous amount of food. And the serving utensils were designed to give out big glops of food--even things like sour cream were self-serve with these HUGE serving spoons. salad dressings were provided in squeeze bottles that had really wide-spout tops--designed for fast service, but the end result is that people poured on HUGE amounts of these things really easily. And I noticed that in fact, you could correlate the food choices to the body type of people eating them--thin people of every age ate fruit, veggies, and a modest amount of heavier Protein food; heavier people ate really big portions, fattier foods, and several different Desserts at a single meal (it's an all-you-can-eat buffet at every meal on board). It was really kind of eye-opening, having so recently been in the "other camp," as it were. My sleeve has made it possible for me to see/smell/be around food and NOT WANT IT. This would never have been the case before. I would definitely have overindulged, and if I didn't, I would have felt like I was missing out on something. We went to a "midnight Mexican buffet," and I had--NOTHING. Nothing looked good enough to eat just because it was there. It was kind of strange--I noticed into the second or third day that I wasn't even thinking about food--I was just enjoying the activities and the company. :-) Normal relationship with food, maybe?? is it possible?

So exciting!@lmichelle310, where is your family from? I ask because I'm Brazilian and we also use smoked meats to season our beans. My mom (who is awesome and has been cooking for me during the VSG process) adapted her recipes and I found that her vegetarian beans still tasted delicious (I'm still in liquids for another week but she makes a mean bean soup with it). One thing I struggle with being from a different culture is not knowing which of the foods I eat will be allowed going forward since my dr's team has no idea what they are. Do you have that problem?

Lacto/ovo vegetarian. Still love my greek yogurt and a good soft boiled omega 3 egg now and then.

Im not a vegan, just a vegetarian.... I guess that mens a vegan at some meals... I eat eggs and dairy. They REALLY help me get in the protein. You can get in quite a bit with soy and gluten... which is where I get most of my pro in... then there is whey next on the list...followed by milk, nuts ,seeds ,Beans... I did read about one guy that is a vegatarian paleo... bless his heart! It must be so hard! greens and beans! Sounds like NO COMFORT. http://www.nomeatathlete.com/vegetarian-paleo-diet/

I WAS SO DUMB Tonight I went to dinner with a friend. We went to a vegetarian restaurant. Before I left, I studied the whole menu and made some decisions. Then, when we go there I forgot everything and ordered a salad. Lots of raw veggies. I got really sick, had to leave early. Ultimately, I threw up on the way home, foamie stuff. Not a good night. My body continues to teach me.

Just in case anyone is having similar issues.... I'm 8 weeks out and have had debilitating nausea and gas that stumped my doctors. I decided to go slightly against their NUT and have found relief. Early I found out I'm now lactose intolerant so I invested in whey isolates I could never get down. I made the correct assumption that I was indeed allergic to whey with an aversion to meat. I'm happy to report I'm nausea free and feeling great. I found a vegan shake that works and eat vegetarian while still getting everything required. I do enjoy fish when I can handle it as well. Meat isn't necessary and in my case was causing a lot of pain. We can succeed without it if you have similar problems like me. Starting to see that light ????

@ dc0520 It's a relief to know I'm not crazy lol. I have been soooo nauseous lately, and I've been noticing that it is after I eat meat. Even the leanest of meats and I'm just miserable for the next hour or so. The same thing with the whey protein shakes. I spent $100 on powders that my tummy can't take. I'm curious to know what the vegan shake is that you are using? I went to gnc the other day to just look around and come home and do my research, and the guy in there actually recommended a vegetarian protein powder as well. It was a mixed berry flavor, has all the vitamins in a multivitamin, as well as the omega 3....so I'm considering that. I find that my pouch responds well to fresh fruits, canned fruits in water, wheat crackers and hummus, a slice of toast (against my NUT rules, but I don't do it every day). It's a long learning process!

Well Rick made it home, we got aome more work done in the laundry/pantry/garage....it is able to be walked through, and that in itself is an improvement! Got my ribs cooked, brisket is cooking away. Got the back porch cleaned.....then Kinsey come over and we dyed 18 eggs, and had a blast!! We made special designs, and just had fun! She helped me make a macaroni salad, and make some wild rice to fix in mushrooms for her Mommy and Auntie ( DD's are vegetarians). Then we spent the afternoon taking turns hiding and hunting eggs in the yard! We forwent any "organized" Easter Egg hunts! We went last year, and in her age group they just had eggs dumped on the ground, and thousands of kids, and parents were horrid. So we just did not even mention them. She giggled and hid them as hard as she could for Papa, then did the hot....warm....cold thing to help him find them. She had fun. Tomorrow they will have an egg hunt at church, and people will be nice about it! Rick and I are going to dinner as soon as he finishes putting a fuel filter on Gary's bike. Our work list seems to have no end this weekend!!! Then just between paragraphs now....my phone rings, it is my DIL, asking what she should bring tomorrow, and what time......WTH? We figured they would go to her families, and ignore us the way things are. But he is going to try to pull the old "pretend it never happen" routine. Gary is here now so we will wait to discuss how to handle it when we are alone. Y'all are part of my 'alone' LOL.....you know what I mean!! Well I am off to get dressed to go, and maybe make a cheesecake. Lots to do still......and now ponder the son and DIL thing......

Soy and whey are both excellent sources of Protein. Both are complete Proteins (meaning they have all nine essential amino acids which the body cannot produce on its own) and both have a perfect 1.0 score on the PDCAAS (Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score) which ranks proteins based on their digestibility and has been adopted by the Institute of Medicine, the FDA and the World Health Organization. Soy is a plant based protein which makes it ideal for vegetarians or folks who are lactose intolerant. Whey protein is made from cow's milk and may or may not be tolerated by those who are lactose intolerant depending on the how highly the whey is filtered. If you're not vegetarian or lactose intolerant, you really can't go wrong with either soy or whey protein. There is a difference in taste so a good starting point might be to buy one of each and see what you think. I always caution folks to stay away from most (not all) products marketed as protein "shots" or "bullets". With one exception that I am aware of, all the rest are made with collagen protein which has a PDCAAS score of 0.08. These products are attractive to bypass patients because they are low volume - usually around 3 oz, and high protein - usually 30 to 50g. But any amount of protein, high or low, is useless if the body can't absorb it. The one exception which I learned from another forum member is "Yes Whey" which does not contain collagen protein. Hope that helps!!

@@Terry Lincoln - I'm not a veteran so take this with a grain of salt. I am a long time MFP user. (Milaxx) MFP is not set up for baritraic diets and probably will never have that type of setting. However I don't worry about % as much as I look at types of foods and when those food are eaten. I am a vegetarian and since most of my protein is plant based my carbs tend to be a lot higher than a lot of people would be comfortable with. I also vary my calories consumed based on how active of a day I have. Complex carbs don't slow my weight loss and neither does natural sugar. Too much sodium and processed foods do. So what I did was manual set thing for how my body works. As long as I meet my protein goal, keep my calories low and manage to stay under the other macro nutrients I am fine.

I’ve heard of people developing intolerances to meat after weight loss surgery. It’s a challenge because it makes it harder to get in your protein, but you can probably work it in with cottage cheese, tuna, eggs, and vegetarian sources. As for forcing it, I don’t think that’s a good idea…if it’s making you vomit, you probably shouldn’t push it. That’s a good one to ask your surgeon, though!

I think one of the other problems is the lack of support from the bariatric community in terms of medical help. For some reason, I can't figure out why they are so against vegan/vegetarians without a shred of medical evidence (that is not biased or paid for by meat companies) that shows veg people can't get protein from non meat sources.

Perhaps a lower BMI would be an indicator of a smaller liver, I am not sure. I was lower than many on my BMI (a smidge under 40 on day of surgery), and also my surgeon required a very easy pre-op diet for me: low fat (<15g/day)/low calorie/vegetarian. I accidentally had a little too much fat a few days, by assuming a few things. I didn't get a full two week pre-op prep time, due to trying to get in before the end of the year. Mine was scheduled less than two weeks out. I just think it is a good idea to be up front with our surgeons so that there are no surprises on the table. I can only imagine going through all these emotions and all the prep to just be closed back up without completing the procedure. Good luck to you! Are you excited? One more day!

And a vegetarian thread would be amazing!!!!

I was thinking the same thing last night. Once you have been introduced to the research and start learning the truth it is hard to read all the posts about the excessive amounts of protein people are eating. So many doc/nuts really push the high protein low carb diets. I am so grateful you posted this information and that I was open to looking into it for myself. I think to each his own though. If the diet you are eating is working for you and you are happy then that is all that matters. But if you are searching for a diet that will give you optimal health you need to look into the research because the science is clear. Why would our bodies be designed to process and use sugar for energy as its first choice if we weren't supposed to eat a diet heavy on carbs? Fat burning for energy is the alternate process. The light bulb went off for me when the science showed that vegans and vegetarians have the lowest percentage of type 2 diabetes.

Buffie - I read that rice can sometimes be hard to pass through the band. Also, if there is seaweed around your sushi it might be hard to actually chew into small pieces. I'm a vegetarian, so I don't know about the raw fish...but I assume it would be quite easy to break down and would be good protein.

might be B12, which is found in animal protein, helps with clotting, etc. Lack of B12 can also cause crazy itching and sensitivity to spicy and acidic food. This is common in vegetarians, and they often need a supplement. Or could be from aspirin or ibuprofen, which can affect your platelets and cause bruising.

Some people can eat bread and rice. For me, I eat vegetarian sushi a lot, and often at Breakfast will have a slice of very grainy toast with Peanut Butter. Although I should point out that I didn't even try to eat rice or bread in my first year of banding.

I didn't totally go back in and reboot the stages, I just added things back in from previous stages like adding protein powder or shake to hit chocolate or oatmeal. I'm still doing shakes every day and this may remain forever in my routine (I'm only three months out btw) I was able to commit to creamer or half and half forever so it's a nice trade And by using it in coffee I easily reach Protein goals by lunch where as before I was struggling at 9pm trying to get more in. And now I maybe able to return to my previous vegetarian lifestyle (ovo lacto) in about 2 months when see my surgeon again which is my first goal now Sent from my N817 using BariatricPal mobile app

Mr. United States, United by Christ, is surging in the polls...and to think, the following is what he believes (he does not believe in evolution): The Bible teaches (in Genesis 1:29-30) that the original animals (and the first humans) were commanded to be vegetarian. There were no meat eaters in the original creation. Furthermore, there was no death. It was an unblemished world, with Adam and Eve and animals (including dinosaurs) living in perfect harmony, eating only plants. Sadly, it did not stay this way for very long. Adam rebelled against his Creator, bringing sin into the world (Genesis 3:1-7; Romans 5:12). Because of this rebellion, Adam, and thus all of his descendants (you and me), gave up the right to live with a Holy (sinless) and just God. God therefore judged sin with death. The Bible plainly teaches from Genesis to Revelation that there was no death of animals or humans before Adam sinned. (Consider just a few of the many passages, such as: Romans 5:12; Genesis 2:17; Genesis 1:29-30; Romans 8:20-22; Acts 3:21; Hebrews 9:22; I Corinthians 15; Revelation 21:1-4; Revelation 22:3.) This means there could not have been any animal fossils (and no dinosaur bones) before sin. After Adam’s sin, animals and people started to die. It was now a different world, one of death and strife. A world that was once beautiful now suffered under the curse placed upon it by the Creator (Genesis 3:14-19). But a promise was given (Genesis 3:15) that God would provide a way for the penalty of sin to be paid so there would be a way for man to come back to God. Why Do We Find Dinosaur Fossils? In Genesis 6, we read that all flesh (man and animals) had ‘corrupted his way upon the Earth’ (Genesis 6:12). Perhaps people and animals were killing each other; maybe dinosaurs had started killing other animals and humans. In any case, the Bible describes the world as ‘wicked.’ Because of this wickedness, God warned a godly man named Noah that He was going to destroy the world with a Flood (Genesis 6:13). God therefore commanded him to build a great ship (the Ark) so that all the kinds of land animals (which must have included dinosaurs) and Noah’s family could survive on board while the Flood destroyed the entire Earth (Genesis 6:14-20). Some people think that dinosaurs were too big, or there were too many of them, to go on this Ark. However, there were not very many different kinds of dinosaurs. There are certainly hundreds of dinosaur names, but many of these were given to just a bit of bone or skeletons of the same dinosaur found in other countries. It is also reasonable to assume that different sizes, varieties, and sexes of the same kind of dinosaur have ended up with different names. For example, look at the many different varieties and sizes of dogs, but they are all the same kind-the dog kind! In reality, there may have been fewer than 50 kinds of dinosaurs. God sent two of every (seven of some) land animal into the Ark (Genesis 7:2-3; 7:8-9)—there were no exceptions. Therefore, dinosaurs must have been on the Ark. Even though there was ample room in the huge ship for large animals, perhaps God sent young adults into the Ark that still had plenty of room for them to grow. Well, what happened to all the land animals that did not go on the Ark? Very simply, they drowned. Many would have been covered with tons of mud as the rampaging Water covered the land (Genesis 7:11-12,19). Because of this quick burial, many of the animals would have been preserved as fossils. If this happened, you would expect to find evidence of billions of dead things buried in rock layers (formed from this mud) all over the Earth. This is exactly what you do find. By the way, the Flood of Noah’s day probably occurred just over 4,500 years ago. Creationists believe that this event formed many of the fossil layers around the Earth. (Additional fossil layers were formed by other floods as the Earth settled down after the great Flood.) Thus, the dinosaur fossils which were formed as a result of this Flood were probably formed about 4,500 years ago, not millions of years ago. Somehow, believing the crap above makes me worried about his ability to be the President. Call me kooky.

I know many vegans and vegetarians. About half of my church are one or the other. Our monthly potlucks are always meatless. Some are the picture of health and some are whatI call junk food veggies. They consume way too much sugar, pizza, bread, ect...and are overweight. There is so much difference in how people eat. I hope to be a healthy WFPB example.

Hahahaha.....the word "flaccid" makes me laugh and laugh....that's why I try and use it often. Man, it sucks to try and download porn with a faulty sound/video card (and I know good and well that's what you've been doing.....all of us know that pregnant women love porn, right?) I thought you were a vegetarian?

Honestly, its just Protein first, write everything down, stay around 1200 cals and eat a lot of veggies and some fresh fruit. I keep my carbs under 100. Im a vegetarian, so its pretty hard to keep the carbs much lower day after day. When being more "strict" I try and keep the carbs below my protein numbers. I am also working on getting more Omega 3s (and less omega6s)in my diet by eating kale, flax, walnuts, canola oil, spinach, and other leafy veggies. "Spring fats" http://www.prevention.com/food/smart-shopping/vanishing-youth-nutrient?page=2 http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/138981.php