authorwriter's Journal, 29 June 2014

Have you tried berries or mint tea? 

Plenty of cereals out there loaded with fiber. You could also try eating prunes or drinking prune juice.  

coffee usually works so does eating grapefruit with the coffee. Never fail for me is McDonald  

Oatmeal/just plain hot cereal has a pretty good bit of fiber in it as do some of the crisp, flat crackers like Ryvita(?); you also need to make sure you're drinking plenty of water every day.  

Unfortunately, I can't eat any grains for a while yet. Coffee is likewise out of the question. And McDonald's is PERMANENTLY out of the question. I do eat berries as much as possible. I'll give mint tea a try. I do get the water in. Thank you! 

Why can you not eat grains/coffee? Is this under a physician's advice or is there some other reason? 

I had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy on May 14 of this year. Coffee is hard on the stomach lining and the surgeon advises not introducing grains back into my diet until the six month mark. I'm supposed to eat protein first and get 60-80 grams of protein in a day. That doesn't leave room for a lot of fruits and vegetables, a sadness for me because I am a big veggie/fruit eater. When grains are introduced, they will probably be no more than 5 to 10 percent of my plate, and I will stick to whole grains like oat groats or quinoa or rye grain, that kind of thing. I'll be able to eat far more calories in a day by the time I reach my goal, something on the order of 1000 to 1500/day depending on my activity level. Right now, I'm adding fiber to my day and I've discovered a mung bean pasta that provides a hefty 5 gms fiber per 1 ounce dry serving of the pasta, along with 13 g of protein. But i'm always on the lookout for those kinds of options. I'll probably stay off the coffee. I feel better since detoxing from it, though I really enjoy the taste. I do think it tends to stimulate my appetite and I don't want to set myself up for cravings. 

cottage cheese, peanut butter, almonds, beans are all chock full of protein as is tuna. Im thinking of getting off of coffee as well; seems theres a tea of sorts thats made from dandelion that id like to try. Just have to visit the adjacent town to buy some.  

can you use Metamucil? Or is that on the no-go list until the 6 month mark? If you can use it, you can stir it into any liquid or wet food (like yogurt), although cold liquids work better than warm. 

@Author, one thing that helps me a great deal is edamame. I get both protein and fiber in one snack.  

Another member suggested manesium citrate for constipation, I picked some pills up from the drug store and have been using them when needed...they work great, gentle and natural but effective. Much better results than fiber pills. 

There's nothing I've found better than Black Beans for fiber. I'd never make it without adding them to my daily foods. 16 grams of fiber in one cup. I buy unseasoned plain black beans in the can and rinse them thoroughly before cooking. You'll see the gas bubble up when you rinse them. This way I can eat them without the gas problem.  

Thank you for the suggestions. I purchased Metamucil and I plan to start in on it once my Bariatric fiber is finished. What I have is pills, an they looked really enormous and I worried they'd obstruct my pylorus. I may try the stuff you mix into liquid first and see how that works. I have edamame and have found it an amazing meal (yes, the normal snack amount is a meal for me) for when I'm craving salty stuff. Thanks for the reminder. Mag citrate does works wonders for constipation, but works so well, I have to plan my day. Thanks for the reminder. I'll have my husband pick some up. Speaking of Black Beans, my daughter went to Smashburger and picked me up one of their black bean avocado ranch burgers. I really enjoyed it, but it was enough for 3 meals for me. These are great sugestions. And my protein of choice these days is fish of some sort. Tuna is a little dry for me to eat on its own still, so I've been eating poached salmon and poached tilapia. Weirdly, I no longer like chicken, nor beef. I'm told the taste buds change and that is true from what I've seen so far. I also found PB2 and use it to make protein 'ice cream' with my protein powder and almond milk in an ice cream freezer. It's amazing and a real treat even though it's exactly what I'm supposed to be eating for a meal. 

I understand about the edamame. I find it really filling too. For your ice cream could you put some berries in for extra fiber? I'Ve recently tried pb2 and really like it too! 

Sounds like you are in a good place and listening to your dr! 

Chia seeds work for me. Just sprinkle them on anything, or mix in with sauces, mix into smoothies, etc. They have no flavor so they are easy to add to anything. I find a tbsp a day keeps things moving right along... :-) You can google recipes for chia seed puddings and other neat things too. 

Oops...forgot to mention, start slowly and do your research, since your response may vary. Good luck. 

YES! I do use Chia seeds sometimes. I'll have to remember that also! I like them because they thicken things up, so will make a liquid feel more substantial. I made Chia seed pudding a couple of weeks ago with yogurt and almond milk. It was kind of like tapioca, except it had that nice bit of crunch. Again, thanks for the reminder! I'm not really supposed to be calorie counting because my portion sizes are so small, but I do log everything, so I can keep track. Otherwise, I'm nervous I'll 'graze' my way through the day and I'd eat a whole lot more calories if I did that. This time period is all about establishing new habits and a new relationship with food. Some days are better than others. 

Mmmm...I must try the chia seed pudding myself someday, thanks for the recommendation. I hear you about establishing new habits and relationships to food. If I even think the word "diet" I will start to eat twice as much. I am just trying to increase my exercise level, cut out some of the non-nutritious calories, like fruit punch, and track the calories to be a bit more aware. 

I think making every calorie eaten be a worthwhile calorie is half the battle. I eat so few calories that I'm very aware there's no room for anything not on plan. And also, logging everything I eat keeps me honest. I look at something not on plan and think I'd like to eat it, then I picture myself putting it in my log and know I'll feel bad later and that's enough to keep me from eating it. Exercise is my next hurdle. I have a very bad back and am almost homebound, so it's been difficult. I start in-home physical therapy tomorrow and look forward to strengthening my back. I feel way better with my weight loss, but I'm still on restrictions with my abdomen and I want to do more, but don't dare risk causing myself a hernia, or sending my back into spasm.