Helen Bauzon 102 Posted February 17, 2014 Are you looking for ideas to make your diet more interesting with various flavours and textures? Most importantly variety!!!! Variety is crucial to help you move further and further away from feeling like you are on a diet, which will help you stay on track. I would like to change your thinking and open your mind up to migrate away from looking for cook books specifically tailored for the Lap Band. Instead learn how you can quickly and easily create your own Lap Band friendly meals yourself. This will enable you to eat in all social settings freely. To achieve this there are two key take home messages, to creating Lap Band friendly meals. Avoid biting into food Modify the food prior to cooking or food served to you, as though you were feeding a one year old to prevent them from choking Let me reassure you, this will make sense if you understand how the band works as a "funnel" concept rather than a small stomach. Professor Paul O'Brien who I also work with has produced a great 2min clip explaining this at http://lapbanddiet.com.au/lap-band-surgery-how-the-band-works/ (the second clip on the page) Lets extrapolate the above two points further. 1. Avoid biting into food As adults we have big teeth and big mouths. If we bite into food we are likely to exceed a teaspoon portion. This is likely to result in inadequate chewing and over filling the "holding bay" before the esophagus pushes the food through the Lap Band. Pick with your fingers and eat with a knife and fork to Portion Control instead. Try an oyster fork. 2. Modify the food prior to cooking or food served to you on a plate, as though you were feeding a one year old to prevent them from choking Removing tough skins, strings and food cut into small pieces, makes an amazing difference in being able to tolerate a big variety of foods. The third mouthful syndrome is less likely. For example, salads can be challenging because they are usually present in large chunks of vegetables which have leathery skin. An alternative example would be a cherry Tomato cut into half is much harder to eat compared to being cut into 4-8 segments. Diced salad is easier than an untouched chunky salad as an alternative. Another example would be at a food court,. The falafal wrap looks appealing but there is no way you would attempt to eat this because the chances of a food blockage is high. Well with the above two suggestions to creating Lap Band friendly meals, all you would need to do is place the wrap on a plate, unravel it and cut into small pieces before eating with a knife and fork rather than biting into it. Voila, the meal has become band friendly. With the above two key messages you can create meals and Snacks appropriate for you with only a 5% modification. So the best Lap Band Cook Book is the one YOU create. To help you, I have uploaded a large number of recipes and made comments in red how to modify them that tiny 5% to create Lap Band Friendly Meals. Take a look and enjoy increasing the variety in your diet. http://lapbanddiet.com.au/dietary-advice/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
☠carolinagirl☠ 18,721 Posted February 24, 2014 *****love this***** So the best Lap Band Cook Book is the one YOU create. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Helen Bauzon 102 Posted February 25, 2014 Hi CarolinaThanks so much. It is amazing how much easier it is to eat out with the Lap Band when the above principles are applied. Give it a go and let me know. 1 ☠carolinagirl☠ reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites