What to eat?

[billyboystl]

Thank you all for welcoming me and for your valuable information.

Now, I have another question. As I said, I'm 69 years old and live alone. (My daughter lives nearby and will help but with two little ones of her own I don't want to bother her too much.) One of my biggest concerns right now is what to eat post-surgery. I am far from a whiz in the kitchen. I've existed mostly on frozen dinners and sandwiches (which is part of my problem.) All this talk about shakes and protein and small servings is daunting. Is there any on-line company that provides easy meals for those with a new gastric sleeve? My surgery will probably be the last week in September. I appreciate it.

 

[3momchaos]

My advice would be to find out what protein drinks you like now and have a variety at home so you’re prepared. Soups can be blended in the soft food phase. Refried beans are another option. I don’t know of bariatric meal delivery, but I’m sure there are meal deliver kits with high protein options that you can use farther down the line. The portions might be too much for one sitting, but that just means the meals go a longer ways. Also, since you’re local to me, Schnucks cooks fish (maybe other seafood too) at the deli counter, so that’s an option. I used to go in and order fish, they’d cook it, I’d do a little shopping, and when I was finished the fish was ready too! They also have meal bags where everything is in one bag, has the cooking directions on it, and it’s really easy and healthy.

 

[Aface]

Evolve is a great company that has Bariatric meals sent to your home

 

[missyinacage]

Well, for a few weeks, you'll mostly be on liquids, so ready made protein shakes are super easy. And eggs are a great protein source and pretty much everyone knows how to scramble an egg. Low sodium lunch meats are also an option, although you'll probably have to skip the bread for a while. Canned tuna and chicken are also high protein options.

 

[KarenWV]

Hey Billy I had my RnY surgery on July 12th. I keep a notebook to track daily my water intake & times (helps me remember to wait 30 min. after I finish or start a bottle before and after eating), & write down my meds & vitamin times to allow 15-20 min between each, and my meal contents plus start & stop eating times.

I looked back over my meals for the 1st several weeks. I'll confess I did very little cooking. I had several packages of ready made protein shakes, sugar-free popsicles & jello, and beef & chicken stock/broth, and some vanilla yogurt that I stocked up on before surgery so I never had to grocery shop for the 1st few weeks afterwards.

I had no appetite so I used my notebook to help me remember when to eat. I don't know if the sleeve allows you to feel hunger more, but hopefully the above list will get you through the full liquid stage with no cooking, other than heating up the broth in tthe microwave for a snack. The 2 daily protein shakes gave me 30 gms of protein each.

When I went to the pureed stage, I had no sugar added applesauce, lowfat cream soups that I strained 1st, lowfat cottage; eggs, cheddar cheese, taco sauce, and skim milk that I used for scrambled eggs super that I stirred together & cooked in the microwave, plus some canned meat (salmon, white meat chicken) that I mixed with cottage cheese, creamed soup or broth in my mini chopper. Plus I still had the protein shakes, nonfat smooth yogurt, and sf jello & popsicles.

Very little cooking involved other than heating up the soups/broth, and making the microwave scrambled eggs (mixed with milk, s&p, and optionally adding a little cheese & taco sauce, stirring about every 45 seconds, cooking a few minutes until it thickens & solidifies - super easy!)

Good luck with this. You can get through at least the 1st month or so with very minimal kitchen skills. Maybe practice making cream soups, scrambled eggs, etc before surgery just to feel more comfortable.

Sorry for such a long post. I'm just trying to reinforce the excellent advice from the previous replies. Please take care. ❤

 

[Fosgate]

When you get on solid foods I found seafood by far what settled the easiest and was high on protein. Raw large deveined shrimp, leave the shells on as to not crisp up the skin and keep it moist. 1/4 stick of butter with some minced garlic and voila. Simple, tasty and goes down and settles in the stomach nicely. Cream of wheat has a variety of flavors in the morning. Sugar Free Pudding, Jello, or fudge pop if you crave a guilty snack. Avoid sugar and corn syrup. My freezer is stocked with shrimp, mussels, clams variety of fish and pork primarily. Chicken and beef are out for me for awhile. Mussels seem to be in good supply since right now and while I live in Ranch Country, fresh is not so easy to come by. But 2 for $7 on these makes a quick lunch in my busy schedule possible. I've also loaded up on some canned mussels to take with in the car when I have to drive a distance rather than hitting gas stations. A lot of the enjoyment is rediscovering food and trying new things.

For cooking basics I would suggest a good set of cutlery like Henkel or Wustof, get yourself some decent cookware like Cuisinart, All Clad (Staying away from all non-stick but maybe a single skillet) also pickup a cast Iron like, lodge, Field or Stargazer. Look at the forums or Facebook groups for owners of those products and you can find some good ideas. Look at the food forum here for recipes you can try. I post some trying simple ingredients to get new foods one may not ever think of trying otherwise. I personally looked at cooking as a hobby after investing in good kitchen tools. In a way it's like a gym membership that you pay for so you have to get up and use it because of the cost to you. Learn how to take care of those tools ( How to properly sharpen cutlery, clean stuck on gunk on pans, treat cast iron...) The more you learn about those tools the better and faster cook you become. I've gotten good enough now that most restaurants turn me off (too sweet, too salty, too buttery, overcooked, undercooked etc)

You can find a passion for food and cooking great tasting dishes I find there are many SE Asian dishes utilize fish and pork and are very tasty. Pho soup for example is a Vietnamese beef bone broth soup typically with shrimp, beef, pork, fish balls or squid as optional proteins to add. The broth is crazy high on protein and would encourage anyone to try it in a restaurant as it is usually not very expensive, great quality ingredients and they serve a lot of it to last several meals. My wife being a Filipina, we cook a lot of Philippine dishes which have a lot of Asian and Spanish flair. Cut the rice out to start and you have a nice dish of proteins, veggies and flavor.

I like to choose a different ethnicity and explore dishes from different nations. IE: Africa, Mediterranean, Russian, German, Greece, Norwegian, Mexico, Chile etc. You can quickly find dishes online that may be easy to make and within your diet (I always pay attention to how high the reviews are and how many reviews there are) If your fortunate you might even find a restaurant nearby that you can go try the dish first.


Here are the mussels I mentioned previously. I prefer to make everything myself so I know what exactly goes into my food, but in a pinch, it's better than alternatives.