normal eating advice

[nicoleco 11]

I am 5 weeks out from surgery and can eat pretty much anything now. I haven't tried certain things (like lettuce or fruit) but so far everything has been OK. the thing is, i'm running out of things to eat. this was my problem before surgery and its my problem now - i'm a picky eater! and i get sick of things easily. i can only get down 2-3oz of food comfortably and that is great, except that obviously will not give me enough Protein and it takes me an hour (sometimes more!) to eat.

i've been having a Protein shake in the AM, a Protein Bar for lunch (it was cheese last week), and then meat for dinner. usually i have to throw in some Protein hot chocolate as well. i know i should be eating regular foods but i don't have the damn time and i am out of foods to eat. would i like a hard boiled egg? yes, i would but i would only be able to eat 1 and that is like 6g of protein - big whoop. i'd rather just suffer through a Protein Shake and get 20g in the AM. i am sick of tuna fish and chicken salad. i bought store brand deli chicken and low fat low sodium cheese and tried to do roll ups. well they just tasted disgusting. i tried making tilapia but it didn't taste great (i think it was frozen too long). i have been living off of meatballs for the past week. i'm going to try chicken tonight. next week i'll make chicken burgers. i do love dairy (hate greek yogurt though) but its got so much fat.

how do you find a balance between eating and getting enough protein and using supplements? i just feel overwhelmed and never know what to eat. what am i supposed to bring for lunch? if i don't bring lunch, what the hell am i supposed to eat out? how am i supposed to get all of my protein in?

I should add that it is just me - i don't cook for a husband or family. I'm also 23 so my cooking isn't that great. LOL

HELP!

[Pinky Green 260]

I see you love dairy but it has so much fat, but there is fat free milk and 1% or 2%. You can get fat free cottage cheese, fat free yogurt and even fat free cheese. I never had a problem eating low fat dairy because I was raised on 2% milk. My mother never bought whole milk.

I'm not sure if Kroger's is in your area - or if they have a sister store in your area - but they have really good fat free yogurt made with Splenda instead of sugar. And they have a line that has less carbs and is still low fat called Carbmaster and it is also good, it also uses Splenda instead of sugar and only has a few carbs instead of about 12 for the regular sugar free, fat free yogurt.

[Escape_Pod 358]

You might try looking at theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com - she has lots of super simple recipes, and also "a day in my pouch" posts showing what she's eating, even if it's not really a "recipe" - lots of great ideas there.

[JerseyGirl68 1,172]

I'll echo Escape_Pod above. theworldaccordingtoeggface and Emilybites.com are chock full with great recipe ideas. With the exception of pasta/bread items. I am still enjoying my favorites, just much healthier versions of my favs.

I'm 8 weeks out, and today I had a fat free greek yogurt for Breakfast, a snack of a Protein bar (1-20 grms of protein). For lunch is was 3oz. of grilled flank steak sliced really thin in a carb balance tortilla with a little cheese. I grilled it up last night and re-heated it. So today I've had 700 calories and 64 grams of Protein. For dinner I will have some grilled fish.

If you're good with Protein Bars, try and make sure they are low fat/carbs and high protein. chicken salad made with fat free mayo is another big fav of mine for lunch, 3 oz is about 20grams of protein. Deli turkey is is a great source of protein too.

My Fitness Pal is a great resource, a lot of us here are on it and we log our food diary. They can be very helpful.

If you really have a hard time getting in your protein with meals try a protein additive in your Water like Special K20 or Protein 2GO mixes-- another 5-10gm of protein and you're getting your fluids in.

I try and cook on the weekends and somewhat plan out my week. I'll make a batch of bread-free crabcakes and freeze them individually for meals. I invested in 4oz plastic containers to freeze other meals in portions too.

Good luck!