Search the Community

I eat everything. I seem to have a cast Iron belly that tolerates everything I've tried. I eat salads, but they always include Protein. You don't have to put meat on a salad for protein. I'm vegetarian so I typically add egg, cheese and Beans to my salads. I make my own dressings so I sometimes emulsify a bit of unflavored Protein powder into the them for an extra protein punch. I can go out to eat and get an appetizer for my main. I still log on MFP daily. I work out 5 - 6 days a week and make sure to have protein pre and post workout.

I'm deathly allergic to all seafood and have been known to have reactions to strong airborne smells. I'm also vegetarian so I'm probably not one to ask for recipes, but I would think anything that could be made in a crockpot could be made in this. I've had my eye on it for a while but haven't bought it yet. You could try Eggface or even pinterest for healthy crockpot meals.

Since surgery, I like plain old split pea Soup. I sometimes add a little black pepper and/or liquid smoke for more flavor. Have you tried the vegetarian meat substitute? It's really processed soybeans that are dried and flavored like beef or chicken. When you add hot Water and a lot of imagination it almost tastes like ground beef. It likes to take on the flavor of whatever it's cooked with. It's sometimes called textured vegetable Protein, or TVP. You'll have to watch the salt content, if that's a problem. I've found it branded by Augason Farms at our local Wal-mart stores in their food storage or large food quantity/container aisle.

A few months after being banded, and after my 2nd fill, it became difficult to eat Red meat of any kind...since my Dr.'s have always been after me to cut back on Red Meat for health reasons, I decided to stop altogether....no red meat for over 2 years now.... I had already stopped dairy products, again because of health reasons, long before being banded....a little cheese here and there but that's it. I do eat chicken and fish, but I am cutting back on chicken more and more....eventually I may go all vegetarian.... I can definitely tell the difference physically....and I am sure it had a lot to do with my now "Normal" lab tests (blood work) along with loosing all my excess weight from the band. I do it for health reasons....not for moral issues....I still wear leather shoes, etc...

Everyone raves about MyFitnessPal. I've been using Lose It! for a few years now, so I won't be switching. But the main thing is to really take a look at your input (calories, Protein, Vitamins, and minerals) and output (exercise, other activity) to see where there is room for improvement -- or a complete overhaul! For me, nutrition was a huge obstacle. I was a very unhealthy sort of vegetarian -- a pastatarian. Trading some simple carbohydrates for greens and adding more fruits, veggies, and legumes to my Pasta when I do have it made a huge difference for me. After dinner walks are nice, too! Evaluate, make some changes, and then go from there. One step at a time.

Thanks all.... Plannergirl. I did order some of the unjury but it hasn't arrived yet. I hope I like it. My son and I are almost full blown vegetarians (him more than me, I eat fish). I can't stand the smell of chicken so I may not be able to handle it. I had my gall bladder out in May and all the hospital had was either beef or chicken broth and I just couldn't get it down. Now if they could just make a protein drink that tastes like sushi....

Hi Everyone, My name is Barbara and I live in NJ. My sirgery date will be next week, Sept 7th. After struggling many years, especially due to health isseus and several years on high dose Prednisone to stay alive due to autoimmune diseases, my weight soared, and I am now taking my life back. I have lost weight prior to surgery and continue to lose but am really looking forward to stable weight loss with the lapband. . Now is my time. I have 7 autoimmune diseases and founded a non profit organization to help people like me about 2 1/2 years ago. My whole life revolves around helping others and now is the time to take care of myself. I look forward to hearing everyone's stories. If I can ever help just yell. Barb PS..... Any Vegetarians have the surgery? I ask because eating as a vegetarian after surgery will be different than it is now. Home

That's awesome! When I became a vegetarian several years ago, my eye sight got better too! Let us know what your eye doc says!

Dang.....I had a whole list of things but they are not vegetarian! My favorite snack is something I really never cared much about before surgery. Bacon! I love bacon now. There is nothing better than a piece of baked crisp salty bacon. Mmmmmm......

WTG girls! I'm hoping this vegetarian diet kickstarts my weight loss again, so we'll see!

You're right. To give you some examples of what's available: fried pork cutlet on a bowl of rice. Ramen and gyoza. Udon with any number of fried (tempura) vegetables on the side. Japanese curry rice. The curry is sweet and has meat and maybe some vegetables. Sushi - more rice than fish. Omurice - about a cup of rice wrapped in a very thin egg omelet. It might have some cabbage on the side. Even the little rolled omelets that you get here have sugar (as does sushi rice) - despite not liking overly sweet things Japanese actually put sugar in a lot of things you wouldn't expect. I'm not saying that all of these things are unhealthy, but if you are looking for protein + low carb and maybe some real nutrients (veggies) on the side, it's hard to find anything. At least near my university. Go to the touristy areas or downtown there are a lot more options - tofu restaurants, vegetarian ones, etc.

Disclaimer: not a vegan. But I ate mostly vegan before surgery (even though I'm actually a pescatarian). I'm 3 months post-op. Make sure to tell your hospital that you're vegan. And make sure they understand. The hospital gave me broth and jello for every meal. They found me some vegetarian broth, but kept bringing the jello, insisting that I could eat it (even after I told them how its made). As for my diet post-op. I've never eaten any kind of jello post-op. I did have some sugar free popcicles, but I really didn't need them. I did a lot of broth with protein powder in the liquid phase. I highly recommend Millie's sipping broth - its vegan broth in tea bags. Really good. Pureed stage, I made a bunch of pureed beans and lentils and froze them in 1/4c servings. And veg - mostly spinach and sweet potatoes. I will say that I've had to eat a lot more dairy than I'd like post-op to get my protein in. I haven't thought through how I'd do it without dairy, but I bet it could be done. I do a lot of morningstar farms stuff. Check the protein content before you buy, some of their stuff has very little protein, while others are better. I still eat beans and lentils, but it takes a lot of those to get significant protein.

For when you get to the food stage.. my son is a vegetarian, I know it is a little different than a vegan, but if you have an Aldi near you, they have a brand called earth grown.. that has a lot of vegan items.. meatless meat.. I buy a lot of it for him and i have even tried it.. very tasty.

There are vegan/vegetarian versions of both. On this site there is an entire section dedicated to vegan/vegetarian lifestyle as well ,you'll be ablse to find some suggestions there too. CONGRATS 💜

The WLS Cookbook for Dummies lists the following vegetarian recipes: fresh spinach salad with roasted corn, garlic and herb tofu salad, tabbouleh with avocado, smoked gouda stuffed peppers, tofu mexi-corn quiche, easy cheesy navy bean bake, hearty moussaka with beans, portobello burger, and black bean veggie burger. There is also a vegetable side dish section. I assume that you can not eat some of these due to the food phase that you're in but let me know if you want any of the full recipes. I'll copy and send them to you.

It seems to be a common occurrence. I agree with laura-ven, maybe a change up in your foods would help. I have not gone through surgery but about 4 years ago I went vegetarian cold-turkey. It was rough, I literally went from having a normal breakfast and lunch with meat to BAM! dinner, no meat. I went nearly 9 months before I cheated and had a meat product. Let me tell you though, that first 30-60 days was the worst. It seemed like my neighbor decided to BBQ everyday, every time I went to a friends house they were cooking my favorite meat dish, and fast food smelled so amazing every time I drove by. I promise you, it gets easier, the food loss gets easier, the smells quit bothering you, and when you do end up cheating the taste and texture is completely different. The first thing I had non vegetarian was a fast food cheeseburger, my first thought was.... gross soggy cardboard. It will give you a new appreciation for the foods as you bring them back in to your diet, in a newer, healthier way in smaller portions. Hang in there.

Eggface has a LOT of recipes to choose from. I did a quick "vegetarian" search and came up with this post on her site. http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/2013/10/healthy-protein-packed-recipes-to.html

@@brianamarie What are some foods that hurt your pouch if you do not mind me asking? Try "Forks over Knives." They have a beautiful app with wonderful recipes that will help you achieve vegetarian goals. You can also look up "Dr. Joel Furhman recipies." "The Engine 2 Diet"

My name is Briana and I'm new here. I've been having some hard time coming up with vegetarian recipes that don't hurt my pouch. I had roux en y on March 16,2015

Endless , My husband is vegetarian also. He is having his sleeve done the end of July. What are you using for your main protein source? how did you handle it in the immediate post op phases? Thanks for any insight

Beans are good carbs because you also get Protein, Fiber and nutrients along with it. Entirely different than carbs that come from white refined flours that bring nothing else to the party. I'm vegetarian and have eaten loads of beans both pre and post op.

You know I used to hate meat before the sleeve too. Much happier as a vegetarian. It's part of why I create recipes that I post on the blog. What I'm finding is that if I spice the meat well so it doesn't taste like meat, I do better I have also learned that the longer I keep eating it, my taste buds are re-setting and now when I'm hungry, that's what I crave.

I want to try it before i go to a fish eating vegetarian i would like to try it once or twice. also how many of you eat organic or locally grown food? What have you done to better your lifestyle? How do you keep your will power?

I am a vegetarian and was probably eating about half as much Protein pre-op as I am now. I have a few bits of advice that helped me get down my protein during the first week or two (it gets easier): 1) Find a premade Protein shake that you really like. A lot of people recommend Premiere (available at costco and elsewhere) or Muscle Milk Light. Look for one that has around 150-180 calories with 20 g of protein or so and not super-high in carbs (maybe 10 g or fewer). If it seems too thick for you, put it in a shaker and add a little almond milk or skim milk--maybe just an ounce or two. Shake it gently (since you don't want a ton of extra air right now)--and put it in a pretty glass. Now is the time to break out those wine glasses you never use. :-) I have never thought of myself as a chocolate lover, but I seem to like the chocolate shakes the best bc they seem to hide the protein flavor the most. You can also go to GNC or Vitamin Shoppe and try individual ready-made shakes (or the dry shake packets that you add liquid to and blenderize--I use a Vitamix but there's also the Magic Bullet and an imitation Magic Bullet at WalMart that a lot of people like). 2) Get a good unflavored protein like unjury, which you can order online. Use about a scoop in a Soup. I found some Soups I really like called Imagine. They are organic and the carbs are decent (60 calories and 10 carbs in cream of brocc--and it's REAL food--not like the Campbell's stuff). Make a little slurry with some almond or skim milk with the unflavored protein and add to hot soup. It will cool it off a little but this way the Protein powder won't clump like it would if you put it in before heating. You can barely taste the protein powder. 3) Make a little slurry of almond or skim milk with the flavored protein powder of your choice. Add to Fage greek yogurt (thinned out if you are still on purees). My favorite combo is chocolate with some PB2 and one splenda (PB2 is a powdered Peanut Butter with the fat removed). 4) Make hot chocolate! This got me thru my first week. We bought diet Swiss Miss hot cocoa. I would make the hot cocoa with almond or soy milk (you can use skim if aren't lactose intolerant) and then make a slurry of chocolate, unflavored or vanilla protein powder--just 1/8 or 1/4 cup of additional milk for the slurry--and then add to the warm hot cocoa. My husband would make it for me by mixing everything at once and heating for 1 min 40 sec in our microwave (all vary in power--ours is pretty strong). Just be careful using that method b/c if you heat most protein powder too long it will be come a solidified spongy mess. But he figured out a good amount and it would be just warm enough. The warm drink was easier for me to get down than cold ones at first--opens up your esophagus from what I've heard. 5) For clear Protein drinks, I would try drinking them when they are more room temp and less ice cold. These aren't my thing but I was on full liquids right away. If I were on clear, I would try them. I have some in my fridge that I really need to drink...the other things are just so tasty, though. Good luck!!!!!!

Thank you Tes! I am not a vegetarian--but your "substitute" recipes sound gooood. Not sleeved yet- but starting a week of pre-op dieting tomorrow.