Nutrition/diet/dumping syndrome?

[ilikecake2much 65]

I just went to an oreintation this morning and I am just wondering for those of you who have had RNY what kind of things you can/cannot eat? I am terrified of dumping syndrome, so I think thaty would be a good way to stay on track. But what do you do on a rare lazy night when you don't have any food in the fridge and the family just wants take-out or to order a pizza? How do you handle those kinds of situations? Will I just have to man-up and make myself a chicken breast or something? That's totally do-able, but I'm just curious. I just want to go into this knowing exactly what I can expect for my post-op life.

[HappiTam 19]

Before surgery I stocked up on a variety of Soups, sugar-free Jello, sugar-free pudding, sugar-free popsicles, natural applesauce, and a ton of Protein shakes. Now that I'm up to mechanical soft food I am adding lean deli meat, cheese and some fruit. The only food that I've had any problem with was scrambled eggs, but I think I ate too fast (and too much).

I admit I have tried a few bites of the potential dumping foods, but have been lucky.

[SandyS 77]

For me post op life is nothing what I expected. I no longer crave anything and I'm never hungry. I set timers on my phone when it is time for me to eat. I still cook and get takeout for my family but I don't eat it. I have my own food either Protein Shakes, yogurt, or other high Protein food. To be completely honest when I see people eating junk food and a lot of it I get nauseous. Food is the last thing I think about. I'm four months post op and had RNY. I'm not sure if other people feel the same as me but sitting around eating pizza and junk is not appealing. Plus with my pouch the size of a golf ball I could not fit a ton of food in there. I also have not experienced dumping. Best of luck to you during your journey!

[catdaddy 232]

I can't say yet that I've been around the block on this journey but I can talk about my experience with dumping. I started in the hospital during recovery when they gave me two cups of Apple sauce. Me thinking it was ok since I was in the hospital ate it. After that time I worked on figuring out how much sugar I could have and it worked out to around 3 to 5 grams. Not much and it did catch me sometimes when I didn't read a label.

It wasn't long before it figured out that dumping was a great way to loss weight and stop the hard bowel movements. I progressed this way for around six months and then the dumping stopped. In its place came reactive hypoglycemia. It's a terrible sickening feeling and forces me to stay away from strong sweets.

I'm not saying this will happen to you because many of us don't get dumping I'm just telling you my experience. Best of luck to you.

[James Marusek 5,244]

Generally dumping syndrome takes care of itself. Once you overeat and experience the syndrome you learn very quickly to recognize when your body is full and as a result you learn to stop eating at that point of your meal (or face the consequences).

Immediately after surgery, there are three main focuses: Protein, fluids and Vitamins. food is secondary and very minimal. Many people who undergo RNY experience a loss of appetite. It is not difficult to lose weight when hunger is not constantly gnawing at your bones. Don't worry, you will not starve. Your body is converting stored fat into energy, thus you lose weight.

As your meal volume increases during the first year, I took the approach of fortifying the Protein in my meals so that I did not have to rely on Protein shakes for the rest of my life. At a volume of a cup per meal, I am consuming about 65 grams of protein in my meals alone at this point and completely off the Protein Shakes. A common form of protein is found in meats. But meats are difficult to eat after surgery. I use to like to eat lobster and crab legs, but they became tasteless to me after surgery. Most meats are too tough for your stomach. With chicken, I found it important to tenderize the meat. For example slow cook a chicken breast in Water for a couple hours after you add a chicken bullion cube. The meat will become so tender that it will fall apart in your fork. I also found that softer foods went down easier. So I rely on homemade high protein chili and Soups for most of my meals. If you want some recipes to look at see: http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery.pdf

[ilikecake2much 65]

@@James Marusek Thank you so much! That is really helpful and eases my fears a little. ((hug))