Meal ideas for all stages after surgery?

[Erin18 143]

Hey everyone!

I havent had surgery yet, but I was thinking maybe it'd be good idea to get some recipes for liquid, pureed and solid stages of food. I want to do this the right way this time and follow it to a T. Also, do you all drink just Water? I have a hard time getting 64 ounces in. I'm addicted to soda. Well I only have 1 to 2 cans a day or 3. How do you avoid it? Lastly, I have a sweet tooth, what are your favorite "healthy" versions of sweets if you have any that won't really make sick. Probably best to stay away all together, huh?

[liveaboard15 1,293]

Avoid soda by not buying it anymore... The amount of sugar in them is insane and the carbonation in them wont be your friend after surgery. As for just water... Water is great. But i also have a Gatorade zero almost everyday as well to switch it up. I was addicted to pepsi before surgery. I drank lots. as for sweets. on bariatric pal website they have a store section where they have sweets that are ok in moderation. including chocolate. Its actually pretty good.

[Arabesque 7,245]

You may find you can’t stand anything sweet after surgery as your taste buds temporarily change. This a good thing as it can help reduce your desire for sweet foods. I never really craved sugar but I enjoyed dessert & having something sweet after dinner every night & a sweet treat morning or afternoon snack on the weekend (I have 6 high end patisseries & bakeries in a 2km radius around my house 😱). Now, I rarely have Desserts, cakes, biscuits, pastries, etc. (couple of times a year) & don’t eat chocolate or lollies at all. Don’t miss it either.

Watch artificial sweeteners as they continue to feed your desire for sugar & they have lots of side effects including weight gain (makes your body hold on to calories), allergies, etc.

About 1/2 my Fluid intake comes from plain Water. I was allowed green tea from surgery & I have a large mug (400ml) every day. I also let sparkling water go flat & I have 400-500mls a day. The mineral taste was a nice change to plain water. I was also allowed rolled oats from purée (instant to begin) & I used a lot of milk so I get extra fluid that way. I also found a good low calorie high Protein yoghurt drink. (You can make your own by mixing yoghurt with milk.) Keep a glass of water beside you all the time even by your bed. It actually just becomes a habit.

Edited June 15, 2022 by Arabesque

[catwoman7 11,212]

for recipes, check the blog "The World According to Eggface". She's a long-time bariatric patient and is very active in the bariatric community. She also loves cooking and has recipes posted for every stage.

[summerseeker 2,142]

I detest Water on its own, so I drink sugar free squash with lots of cold water. Bouillon cubes well diluted with hot water, especially in winter. Glasses of ice cold milk and as much coffee as possible in between. If I have any in the house, I will drink Tomato juice too. In the UK our rules seem more liberal than in the States

I loved soda before my op but can not drink it now it blows me up

As @catwoman7 said - The world according to Eggface is so useful

[FutureSylph 377]

8 hours ago, Erin18 said:

I want to do this the right way this time and follow it to a T.

Spoken like a true pre-op. ;-D

[lizonaplane 1,612]

There's a recipe section on this website; it lists recipes and ideas for each stage.

I liked refried Beans with fat free Greek yogurt and shredded cheese at the beginning a lot. Then I started making a lot of recipes with ground turkey - I still do that, as it's easy to eat. Fish is good too. I eat a ton of cheese and Greek yogurt too.

For drinks, I drink a lot of iced coffee and hot tea with milk and splenda, diet juice, starburst drink packets and other things like Crystal light (I find that these don't make me crave more sugar at all, and in fact help satisfy my cravings for sugar). My surgery center said we could have carbonation starting one month after surgery, so I drink diet soda now, but I let it go slightly flat as it doesn't feel good when it's really bubbly.

I never lost my taste for sweets, unfortunately. I spent the first few months avoiding sweets completely, then starting eating small amounts. Then I went on vacation to Greece and went hog wild with desserts and had to rein it back in. Now I'm trying to eat things like fruit - much easier in the summer when fruit is in season!

[Erin18 143]

On 6/15/2022 at 6:29 AM, FutureSylph said:

Spoken like a true pre-op. ;-D

I had lapband before, and I was doing it all wrong

[Erin18 143]

On 6/15/2022 at 9:32 AM, lizonaplane said:

There's a recipe section on this website; it lists recipes and ideas for each stage.

I liked refried Beans with fat free Greek yogurt and shredded cheese at the beginning a lot. Then I started making a lot of recipes with ground turkey - I still do that, as it's easy to eat. Fish is good too. I eat a ton of cheese and Greek yogurt too.

For drinks, I drink a lot of iced coffee and hot tea with milk and splenda, diet juice, starburst drink packets and other things like Crystal light (I find that these don't make me crave more sugar at all, and in fact help satisfy my cravings for sugar). My surgery center said we could have carbonation starting one month after surgery, so I drink diet soda now, but I let it go slightly flat as it doesn't feel good when it's really bubbly.

I never lost my taste for sweets, unfortunately. I spent the first few months avoiding sweets completely, then starting eating small amounts. Then I went on vacation to Greece and went hog wild with Desserts and had to rein it back in. Now I'm trying to eat things like fruit - much easier in the summer when fruit is in season!

When I had lapband before, I didn't drink soda for like 3 months. It was my cousins wedding and I had a Shirley temple. It did make me feel tight with the band. I obviously know that the only way to stop drinking soda is to not buy it. My brother drinks it and he's not really overweight. (I live with family) but we also have diet sprite. Only my mom, me, and my brother really drink soda. Since they're not in need of losing weight, then I don't want to take it away from them, eventhough, we should all stop drinking it. So, there's that, I want to avoid it if I can.

When I was on weight watchers, I didn't drink soda as much. I do have some crystal light packets and the strawberry lemonade ones are good. I know when I had the lapband, we could have diet iced tea and the diet gatorade.. if I can I really want to cut as much sugar as I can. I seriously want to do this right. It's annoying that people think ill still fail.

I like yogurts and I find those to ne sweet enough. I eat the chobani Greek yogurts or dannon Greek yogurt. Shockingly I do like a lot of sugar free stuff.

I will have to check those recipes out

[SleeverSk 635]

On 6/15/2022 at 11:56 AM, Erin18 said:

Hey everyone!

I havent had surgery yet, but I was thinking maybe it'd be good idea to get some recipes for liquid, pureed and solid stages of food. I want to do this the right way this time and follow it to a T. Also, do you all drink just Water? I have a hard time getting 64 ounces in. I'm addicted to soda. Well I only have 1 to 2 cans a day or 3. How do you avoid it? Lastly, I have a sweet tooth, what are your favorite "healthy" versions of sweets if you have any that won't really make sick. Probably best to stay away all together, huh?

lol I like how you say I only have 1 or 2 or 3 a day lol said like a true addict ,not knocking you cause I am the same.

so straight after surgery you are not really going to feel like having soda so that wont be an issue. the hard part will be when you get a few months down the track and you can try some soda to see how it goes and if it goes well then you really have to try and control that addiction again. which is where I am now . you have really answered your own question by saying its best to stay away all together for both soda and sweets. My boss has a lolly jar on his desk for staff to dip into and when I am at work I have about 200 unnecessary calories a day due to this darn lolly jar. I have asked him to get rid of it or at least hide it but he wont 😡. So yeah use the time leading up to and directly after to get these things under control and the longer you don't "try" them after surgery the better off you will be.

With your Water just put a dash of something in it be it juice or cordial I also used flavoured Protein powers straight after surgery, it just makes it a bit easier to get down I think around the 4/6 week mark I discovered Powerade as I was just so darn thirsty and water wasn't cutting it. it was much easier to drink and has electrolytes etc in it too.

I also used the flavoured Protein Powder in plain Greek yoghurt just gave my protein intake the boost it needed and it tasted yummy satisfied the old sweet tooth as wel

[Erin18 143]

On 6/19/2022 at 3:34 PM, SleeverSk said:

lol I like how you say I only have 1 or 2 or 3 a day lol said like a true addict ,not knocking you cause I am the same.

so straight after surgery you are not really going to feel like having soda so that wont be an issue. the hard part will be when you get a few months down the track and you can try some soda to see how it goes and if it goes well then you really have to try and control that addiction again. which is where I am now . you have really answered your own question by saying its best to stay away all together for both soda and sweets. My boss has a lolly jar on his desk for staff to dip into and when I am at work I have about 200 unnecessary calories a day due to this darn lolly jar. I have asked him to get rid of it or at least hide it but he wont 😡. So yeah use the time leading up to and directly after to get these things under control and the longer you don't "try" them after surgery the better off you will be.

With your Water just put a dash of something in it be it juice or cordial I also used flavoured Protein powers straight after surgery, it just makes it a bit easier to get down I think around the 4/6 week mark I discovered Powerade as I was just so darn thirsty and Water wasn't cutting it. it was much easier to drink and has electrolytes etc in it too.

I also used the flavoured Protein Powder in plain Greek yoghurt just gave my Protein intake the boost it needed and it tasted yummy satisfied the old sweet tooth as wel

I'm going to be working on staying away from soda as much as possible. I'm going to try to get the zero sugar gatorades and diet lemon iced tea. This will hopefully make that part easier and if I got used to it now, it'll make it easier for the long run.

No way, after I get the surgery, I don't want to risk it lol. I know it'll be hard since I think it's the bubbles I like. For sweets, I wanna try and make healthier sweets like I did last year. (If you want to try it, it's 1/2 c plain non fat greek yogurt, 2 tbsp sugar free fat free pudding mix, 1 tbsp zero calorie sweetener (or 2 tbsp if you want it a little sweeter). Mix and top on strawberries. 2 tbsp reddi whip and 1tsp sprinkles of you want. It's really good and low in calories.

I know when there's parties and events where there are foods I love, it's going to be hard. I mean everything is okay in moderation. Right? I'd be worried if I'm at a party somewhere else instead of home, that I'd get sick. So, what I've seen with a youtuber, her and her husband bring their own portioned out foods.

What foods can you not tolerate?

What's a lolly bar?

I guess what you can do is avoid it or have something small to satisfy yourself.

Is the flavored Protein powder fruity?

[LookingForward22 320]

I used to drink a lot of (sweetened) green tea. While preparing for surgery approval I transitioned away from that by using Zero Water filter (I hate any chemical taste in tap water) and Bubly water drops. (zero calories or carbs).

After a while I enjoyed the plain water and used the bubly as a treat. Now I can’t drink the tea anymore (it’s too sweet). When we go out I usually default to water with lemon. Occasionally I have some soda - but find it’s too sweet so it needs a TON of ice and I usually don’t have more than a sip or two.

[Erin18 143]

On 6/22/2022 at 3:20 AM, LookingForward22 said:

I used to drink a lot of (sweetened) green tea. While preparing for surgery approval I transitioned away from that by using Zero Water filter (I hate any chemical taste in tap water) and Bubly Water drops. (zero calories or carbs).

After a while I enjoyed the plain water and used the bubly as a treat. Now I can’t drink the tea anymore (it’s too sweet). When we go out I usually default to water with lemon. Occasionally I have some soda - but find it’s too sweet so it needs a TON of ice and I usually don’t have more than a sip or two.

What is zero water? I can't stand our water pitcher, it doesn't taste as good as Poland spring water. But since I don't have Poland spring eater here all the time, I have to drink the filtered water. That sounds good tho. I hope my taste buds change to the point where I don't crave sweets anymore. Water with lemon is so good!. What are bubly drops?

[LookingForward22 320]

On 07/03/2022 at 15:33, Erin18 said:

What is zero Water? I can't stand our water pitcher, it doesn't taste as good as Poland spring water. But since I don't have Poland spring eater here all the time, I have to drink the filtered water. That sounds good tho. I hope my taste buds change to the point where I don't crave sweets anymore. Water with lemon is so good!. What are bubly drops?

Zero Water filter is a 5 stage water filter…
https://zerowater.com/collections/all-water-filter-products?page=2

(I have the 40 cup ready pour dispenser, but their pitchers are good too).

Soda stream bubly drops are great (I don’t carbonate my water but just add a little sometimes if I want a splash of flavor)

https://sodastream.com/collections/bubly

I think I got my zero water filter dispenser on Amazon and the bubly drops I usually grab at target… but you can get the drops anywhere that sells soda stream.

[Arabesque 7,245]

8 hours ago, Erin18 said:

What is zero Water? I can't stand our water pitcher, it doesn't taste as good as Poland spring water. But since I don't have Poland spring eater here all the time, I have to drink the filtered water. That sounds good tho. I hope my taste buds change to the point where I don't crave sweets anymore. Water with lemon is so good!. What are bubly drops?

I get how some water tastes awful. I grew up drinking rain water & a lot of water tastes awful to me. Plus after surgery water seemed to taste too ‘heavy’ to drink. Try boiling your water then put it in your water pitcher as sometimes that can help.

Watch carbonated water & drinks as for many it’s not permitted for a while. It can stir up stomach acid & the build up of gas can make you feel uncomfortable & ‘full’. Of course some are allowed it & can drink it without issues. I have to let my sparkling water go almost or totally flat before drinking cause too much gas causes me problems (hiccups, discomfort, etc.)