Baby Food?

[CosmicVagabond 2]

Hi folks, this is my first post, am pre surgery, and am looking to get sleeved in the first quarter of next year.

I wanted to know if, during the phase after surgery where you need to eat soft foods, would baby foods be appropriate? It seems like it might be a good choice with decent variety, and fairly nutritional, with the right consistency.

Also, why do you need to watch your diet so closely (calories, fat. carbs) when your stomach is one tenth the size as before?

Thanks for any replies, and I am sure you will be seeing me around alot!

Cos

[Thomas CPA 496]

yes they would but good luck finding flavors you may like. Instead, use applesauce, you can cream a banana, peas etc. If you can mush it with a fork.

You can steam vegetables and then mush them - good for squash etc. Avoid things with seeds to not get things lodged in surgery line, needs time to heal and close internally of the stomach.

[Lissa 2,631]

I didn't eat any of the baby food I bought (6 jars). Instead I used my magic bullet, but my blender would have worked just as well, IMO.

Lissa

[longer-life 139]

Gerber First Foods banana flavor was great!

[UXgrrl 29]

The manufacturers of the Magic Bullet have started selling a version designed specifically for making baby food, called the Baby Bullet. As far as I can tell it's the same thing with a cute little smiley face painted on it, and the inclusion of a set of baby-portion-sized resealable containers.

So it would follow that you could just use the adult-sized Magic Bullet for baby and sleever food.< /p>

I've tried baby food. When my kiddos were small I made a point to taste everything I fed them, and baby food is kind of gross. Baby food is purely a convenience item, but it's useful when traveling, staying over at a relative's house, or if the family eats a diet of food unsuitable for a baby (ie. no vegetables, fruits or unfried meats). We made all our kids' baby foods and it's not hard.

In fact, I was just looking through my collection of cookbooks for babies and toddlers and discovered that a lot of the food in there is perfect for sleevers. My favorite is "Love in Spoonfuls" by Parenting Magazine; we've done a lot recipes out of that one, and the kids love them, and they taste great to adults too. These kinds of cookbooks are fantastic because they make small portions, are easily doubled, and are usually designed to freeze well.

If you want to try commercial baby food yourself, look at the labels. Babies have very different dietary requirements than adult sleevers do, and it is hard to find anything with low enough carbs and high enough Protein that is palatable.

That being said, the crunchy Gerber's Graduates "baby cheetoes" aren't half bad, and you can have 19 of them for 35 calories. I'm partial to the Mild Cheddar ones myself. They are good with a high-protein dip when you HAVE to have something crunchy. They dissolve in your mouth so they work for the pureed diet.

[longer-life 139]

I think the poster was referring to the diet we had right after surgery. The salty canned Soup & broth, baby food, Crystal light, yogurt, applesauce stage. Not a long term thing. According to my NUT commercially bought baby food was fine at that stage. I ate a total of 4. Follow your doctors orders.

[CosmicVagabond 2]

I think the poster was referring to the diet we had right after surgery. The salty canned Soup & broth, baby food, Crystal light, yogurt, applesauce stage. Not a long term thing. According to my NUT commercially bought baby food was fine at that stage. I ate a total of 4. Follow your doctors orders.

Right, just short term. But it sounds like going the magic bullet route and making your own might be more palatable.

[omamilam 11]

I'm getting sleeved about the same time. My doc has a specific diet he wants me to follow post op. He says...if its not on the list, you don't eat it.

So with that said, I'd wait and see what your doctor recommends for a post op diet.

I have a magic bullet also and make smoothies with it. I love it more than my blender because you mix and drink from the same small cup. All you have is the cup you drank from to clean. LOVE IT !!!

[Indymom 132]

Post-op I bought a bullet-type blender and an immersion blender. I honestly used the bullet-type blender exactly once (I use the immersion blender all the time, it kicks ass at emulsifying my salad dressing!!).

My food stages, though, though, weren't as limited as many I've seen on here. I was allowed to have things like soft cheeses (cheese sticks) and refried Beans during my full-liquid phase; and during my purees phase I didn't have to necessarily "puree" things unless they weren't soft enough (my nutritionist said I didn't have to actually puree things like canned tuna and chicken as long as I chewed thoroughly - only denser meats would need to be pureed.

I didn't ever consider baby food - YUCK! I hated feeding it to my daughter so I couldn't have even attempted to eat it myself.

Also, to answer your question about why you have to watch your diet closely with such a small sleeve . . . there are many, many foods that your sleeve will not restrict. You could certainly sit down and eat a half-gallon of ice cream without giving it a second thought and it would just slide right through the ol' stomach. You have to be sure that you're getting enough Protein, because Protein WILL be restricted in your stomach and you'll only be able to take in a limited quantity. While you'll experience rapid weight loss early on with your sleeve (since you're likely only going to be able to take in a few oz per meal for the first few months), once your capacity increases, you'll be eating more "normal" meals and it's very easy to make poor decisions (I can speak from experience). I use a food tracker to make sure I'm hitting appropriate calorie, carb, fat and protein targets daily. I'd love to eat bacon and eggs for Breakfast every day, but unfortunately while high in protein, that Breakfast choice cranks my calorie and fat numbers up too high for me - so I choose to have canadian bacon and egg beater omelettes instead. Still very satisfying and filling from a protein standpoint, but MUCH less high in calories/fat.

[CosmicVagabond 2]

Thank you all for the replies. I have identified a surgeon that I would like to do my surgery and will be calling tomorrow to schedule a consultation. I am very excited about the very real possibility of a major weight loss. I know that I will have to deal with head hunger, but I am so sick of being fat that I will do what it takes!

[BunnyLove 28]

I recommend stage 1 baby food meats for one reason during the early stage: they provide real food Protein and are pureed more smoothly than is practical/possible with most home appliances without waste. I used Bragg's liquid Aminos to flavor them, because it's just like a more nutritious soy sauce, but you can use soy sauce or any other seasoning that your NUT approves. They also come in exactly the right portion size, and you get a nifty, little container for dishing up other things later.

Baby food pears and mangoes are delicious, too, without added sugars. Again, my NUT approved them, and I still add them to my Greek-style yogurt. There was a great sale right before my surgery so I stocked up on the things I tried and liked, and was fortunate that my taste didn't change afterwards.