High Protein Jello Mousse Full Liquids Stage

 

I’ve been craving sweets lately which is a very slippery slope for me. But it’s also time to put together some healthy treats so I thought I’d try this very simple recipe. Not bad for 20 gms of protein! Much better than a protein bar in that sense and a lot fewer calories. It would also make a great snack or meal during the soft food and full liquids.

Ingredients

• 1 small box sugar free Black Cherry Jello
• 1/2 c of water
• 2 contains Dannon light and fit Cherry Greek yogurt
• 2 scoops NOW unflavored whey (or any other unflavored protein powder)

Method

1. Heat water until it’s warm but not boiling.
2. In a mixing bowl, empty sugar-free jello mix and pour the water over it and let it sit while you get the other ingredients organized.
3. Now my usual sophisticated cooking technique–which is to say, dump everything into that mixing bowl. Blend until smooth.
4. Pour into 4 ramekins and let it set.

You can of course, vary the flavors as long as you match the jello flavor to the yogurt flavor. This was actually a bit too sweet for me. I’m going to try using plain greek yogurt with a flavored jello, to see if that sweetness is sufficient. The little dollops you see on top were raspberry preserve and a little whipped cream. Really you don’t need the preserve I was just trying to make it pretty.

 

 

 

Who says you can’t have ice cream? High Protein ice cream full liquids

Well, I mean, apart from your surgeon, your nutritionist, and anyone who knows that most sleevers should stay away from that fat and sugar bomb?

Well I tell you what. This tastes as close to ice cream as you will get, while still giving you protein. Yes, you  heard that right. High-protein ice-cream.

The recipe is simplicity itself. Make the high-protein pudding recipe I’ve shared before, and put it into your ice-cream maker. We’ve tried just freezing it, and it doesn’t really have the right texture. It’s yummy, but it tastes like…well, frozen pudding. Once you let the ice cream maker beat some air into it and get it all light and fluffy, the results are exactly like ice-cream.  We used our Kitchen-aid ice cream attachment, you can use whatever you typically use to make ice cream at home.

Enjoy and do let me know if you try it. Here’s my picture. 

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Post-Op Full Liquids Yummy Lobster Bisque 14 gms protein

I just made the best lobster “bisque”. I made it up as I went, hence the note below.

Half an onion sliced thin
3 cloves garlic smashed
1in ginger sliced thin and julienned
5 Campari tomatoes
1/2 head cauliflower
3 c chicken stock
2 tablespoons pesto
1 lb frozen langoustine or lobster (see note below)
Salt
Pepper

Sauté onions, garlic and ginger until browned (I used ghee, you can use fat of choice or spray w Pam). Pour in chicken broth and dump everything except frozen langoustine. Season with salt and pepper.  Cook until veggies are tender. Put in langoustines and cook over slow heat until cooked through.

Purée soup until smooth and voila!

Note: We took out two cups of soup and puréed 6 oz of langoustines. That gives us 3 oz each or 14 gms of protein! I’m saving the rest to purée with shrimp tomorrow.  If I had a recipe, I might not have so much soup left over but it’s very good.

Rich, creamy, flavorful and maybe I won’t have to do another protein shake tonight. I’ve had worse in pricey restaurants.

VSG Post-Op Full Liquids Chicken & Mushroom Soup 11 gms protein

Made up this recipe tonight by simplifying a cookbook one. Very rich mushroom flavor. Enjoy!

• 1 onion sliced thin
• 3 gloves garlic crushed
• 4 c mixed fresh mushrooms
• 1 sweet potato peeled and diced
• 1 yellow squash
• 1lb boneless skinless chicken breast
• 3 c Chicken Stock
• Salt
• pepper
• Dried Oregano & thyme or Poultry Seasoning
• 2 c water or broth for pureeing

Simple Recipe: put all ingredients In a pot and boil until chicken is tender (medium low). Purée adding 2 additional c of broth or more.

Slightly more fidgety recipe: Sauté onions and garlic until soft and lightly caramelized. Caramelize sweet potato at the edges. Add remaining ingredients.  Pressure cook for 7 mins (high) or cook on stove until chicken is tender (low-medium heat). Purée adding stock to thin as necessary. This is how I made it to get the sweetness and a richer depth of flavor from the veg, but it will taste good either way.

Makes 10 cups. Each c has 1.5 oz of chicken for 11 gms of protein.

Post-Op Full liquids Best Tortilla Soup Ever 16 gms protein

Massively simplified from Cook’s Illustrated’s Best Light recipes (The fav cooking magazines of geeks all over). Spicy, flavorful and high protein.

Ingredients

8 c low sodium chicken broth
1.5 lbs chicken with bone but no skin
1 large onion peeled & quartered
4 garlic cloves peeled and crushes
10 springs cilantro
Salt
2 medium tomatoes cored and quarteredl
1/2 jalapeno
1 canned chipotle chile in adobo sauce + 1 tsp adobo sauce (must have. It comes in a can, ask the grocery store folks for it.)
1 tsp veg oil
1 fresh lime or some lime juice

Method

1. Combine broth, chicken, half the onion (quartered). half the garlic, cilantro and salt. Cook on medium-low for 20 mins or until the chicken is tender. Debone, put the whole thing into a blender and puree well.

2. Put the remaining onion, garlic, tomatoes, japaneno, chipotle chile and sauce and mix in food processor until smooth. Heat pan, put in oil, and start browning this mixture. Stir often, and in 10 minutes, you will have a luscious, smoky mixture to die for.

3. Pour in your blended broth with all the chicken goodness and cook the two together for 15 minutes until it’s all blended together and the flavors mix.

4. Squeeze fresh lime juice right before you serve.

5. if this isn’t the best, easiest tortilla soup you’ve ever had, send me the competing recipe!

Serves 6 regular people, probably 10 sleeved people.

Protein: 16 grams in each of the 10 cups (2.4 oz of chicken baby!)

Post-Op Full liquids Creamy Shrimp Bisque

 

I got this from the “Eating well after weight loss surgery” book. I’ve modified for my usual shortcuts 

http://www.amazon.co…t loss surgery

Ingredients
1 cup cauliflower steamed in microwave for 5 minutes until very soft
Cooking Spray
1/4 c onion chopped
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 oz low fat ham (I used a little bacon)
1/4 tsp lemon pepper
1 bottle clam juice
1 c evaporated fat free milk
1/2 Lb shrimp shelled, cleaned deveined
salt
Pepper
( I added paprika)

Directions
1. Spray large saucepan with cooking spray and cook onions, garlic & ham/bacon until soft and brown
2. Add lemon pepper, clam juice, evaporated milk, cauliflower and shrimp and let it come to a boil, stirring often. Cook until shrimp are pink.
3. Add salt, pepper, paprika.
4. Puree in vitamix or blender.

SOOO yummy! Tastes like a creamy bisque with potatoes, thanks to the cauliflower.

Serves 4

Calories: 130
Protein: 22 gms (!!)
Fat:    1.3 gms
Carbs:   11 gms

Tired of protein shakes? Nauseated by them? Try this.

 

At first I drank my protein shakes like a good girl. Then I struggled through them. Then they made me sick. By the time I was post op, I was so sick of them, I’d rather have starved. Three things saved me.

1. If you find yourself getting nauseated with them, chances are quite good that you are lactose intolerant, especially after the surgery. I take lactaid pills with my first sip and it really helps with nausea, diarrhea, gas, gurgling, cramping hell.

2. I found two shakes I liked. Yours will be different but for me it was Chike Coffee protein, Syntrax mint chocolate chip, and I can also tolerate Syntrax Double Stuffed cookie. It helps to make only 4 oz, with 1 scoop of powder, half a cup of liquid, and the rest ice to make a 6 oz cup to slurp on, so keep the quantities small.

3. HIgh protein soups. These saved me. You can’t do these unless you are on full liquids, but once you’re on them, and if you are sick of sweet protein shakes, please do try these.

I am posting links to my blog where I have posted them. Full disclosure, I do not make money off this blog, so this is not for self-promotion. I like creating different recipes and sharing so I hope they help someone.

Sorry I don’t have pictures yet for these, but I will get them up there soon. Once you are through your liquids stage, also search for soft foods, or look up the ground chicken and ground beef recipes, and you may find something you like that is sleeve friendly.

Here’s the list of foods but I’ve also recently created a new category right here so click on this as well to keep up with the new recipes as they get added. You can also follow my pinterest board at: http://www.pinterest.com/statgamer/food-vsg-full-liquids-or-soft-foods/

Full Liquids Stage

1. 1. Egg drop soup ( I haven’t posted a proper recipe because it’s so simple. Boil chicken broth, stir in two beaten eggs when it boils, stir with a pair of chopsticks. Take it off the flame immediately, cover, and let it sit for 5 minutes to let the egg cook. Add salt, pepper, and my fav, some sesame oil for a fresh flavor).
2. Hot & sour soup
3.  Shrimp “bisque”
4. Lobster bisque
5. Tortilla soup
6. Chicken and mushroom soup
7. Protein pudding
8. Chocolate Mousse

Soft Foods Stage

1. Cheese Souffle
2. Pumpkin Cheesecake Vanilla pudding
3. Pumpkin Caramel Bake
4. Banana Egg Protein Pancake
5. Home-made refried beans
6. 5-minute Hummus

High Protein Low Carb Chocolate mousse

Great for soft foods, full liquids stage.

Ingredients

• 1  cup low fat milk.
• 1 pkg. Jello sugar free cheesecake pudding.
• 2 scoops Proti-Diet protein hot chocolate mix
• Sugar-free Cool Whip of spray whipped toppig

Method

1. Pour milk, pudding mix, and protein powder into a mixing bowl.
2. Use hand blender to blend ingredients for 2 minutes.
3.  Spoon mixture into 4 small cups.
4. Cover and refrigerate until set.  (it will almost be set when it is put into cups)
5. Put 1 table spoon of spray whipped topping on each cup.

Enjoy!

Is it okay to cheat on your Pre-Op Diet?

This question comes up a lot on the various forums. You often see people seeking absolution or beating themselves up because they had a cheeseburger. People appear to view this from two extreme angles. On the one hand you have some saying “is it absolutely NOT okay to cheat on the pre-op” while others will give examples of how they cheated and nothing bad happened. So it is okay or is it not?

Pre-ops vary a lot from no pre-op diet to a full liquids diet, to some food allowed, to a clear liquids only diet.  Fair to say, anyone who has to do even a week of liquids does have a hard time. We’re given two reasons why we have to do the pre-op. Most commonly, it’s because it’s meant to shrink our livers so that they don’t interfere with the surgery on our stomachs. But even here, professionals do not agree. Some doctors believe it helps, others will tell you it takes longer than a couple of weeks to treat a fatty liver. We’ve all also heard stories about patients who did not follow their pre-op and woke up to find the doctor had not completed the surgery.

The second reason we’re given is to help us detox and learn new habits. If you stop for a moment and think of what you will be giving up during the pre-op, many of which you will not be picking up post-op for quite a well, here are just a few things:

1. No caffeine. Aaargh!
2. Carbs below 50 gms a day
3. Less than 1000 calories a day
4. Much more protein than we usually intake
5. Liquids only plus veg soup (in my case). Not easy.
6. No straws
7. No fat to speak of
8. No sugar
9. No fruit

10. No carbonated beverages

No wonder people struggle. But here’s the thing.

The pre-op is totally doable.

It’s tough, but doable. You sort of have to take it one day at a time. Here’s why I didn’t cheat.

First, I was facing a major change in my way of living, and I wanted to get ready for it. Second, I was facing major surgery. I am not a medical doctor, I have no idea whether it shrinks my liver or not, but if I trusted a doctor to take out 85% of my stomach, then I was going to trust his advice on the pre-op. Third, I needed to feel in control. My biggest problem with food was that I felt out of control with it. Not because I ate too much, but because no matter what I ate, I seemed to put on weight.

The liquid diet put ME back in control. I wasn’t being driven by food, I set a routine, and I drank my shake and ate my soup according to the clock .

The first four days were hellish. I needed a nap all the time, I was exhausted and I worried that I would never make it through and still be able to make a living.

On the fifth day, a switch flipped and all my old energy came rushing back. My experience is not unusual. Everyone tells you the first few days are no fun. Start your diet on a Friday and allow yourself to sleep through most of the weekend, and you will do better.

I went into the surgery feeling very confident that I could follow the rules set forth by my doctor, and I am glad I didn’t cheat myself out of that win. I felt in control, calm, and like I had a handle on what was about to come.

What if you did cheat though?

Again, people’s opinions vary. Some will tell you this means that you will fail post op, while others will tell you to get back on the horse and give it your best shot. No matter how you approach this, I do think you should let your surgeon know. Sometimes they can come up with slightly modified guidelines so your pre-op is easier, at other times they can give you tips on what to do.

We’ve all heard horror stories of people who ate before surgery and ended up with complications, leaks, etc. You don’t want to risk it. Let your surgeon know, and do what they tell you to. It’s all good. 🙂

Try not to throw out the Old just because we’re New now…

 

 

I feel like a different part of my brain has been activated over the last few weeks. Look at how much we all have to learn to prepare for this surgery. When was the last time you used the words “pyloric valve” in polite conversation, on a regular basis?

Eight weeks ago, I didn’t realize I would be a “sleever”, a “post-op” a “full liquids” stage. I was just me, loving life, my job, my husband, my kids, and reading Sci-Fi if I wanted to learn new words (China Mieville, anyone?)

Unfortunately, today I also know things like “sliders”, “pre-op cheating”, “slow loser”, “stall”, “head hunger”, “weight re-gain”, “falling off the wagon”. And now, these words I’ve never used before have become imbued with emotions, with meaning–and another way to judge myself and others. Now these words are emotion-laden, and I have to work to make them rational. Now, if I’m not careful, I will categorize myself by these words and find another way in which I could be seen to have failed. For someone who is as motivated as am I by the fear of failure, now these can be new weapons.

Unless I refuse to let that happen.

Unless I say to myself and those around me, that everyday that I stick to the plan is a successful day. That everyday I veer off the plan is an opportunity presented to me to triumph the next day. That this is my new life, and I intend to live it, enjoy it, succeed at it, and let the Universe unfold the way it should.

So I will try not to throw out the old, happy life I had, and live instead by one where I can succeed or fail daily based on an outcome I may not be able to control–like when I stall, or what I lose. I can only control what I do, and that part, I know how to live by that.