VSG - What Am I Eating?

[In catching up on my blog posts from last Fall]
WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I EATING?!

Well, in a word: ANYTHING

For me, I have been extremely lucky in that I can eat anything I could eat before surgery. I am truly grateful because while I had surgery knowing there was a possibility that I'd never eat things such as rice, grits, sunflower seeds, flax, or random other imaginations, I CAN and I DO eat all those items! WHEW!

For some people, especially a local friend of mine, certain foods cause stomach upset or cannot be tolerated at all. Sometimes, it's a texture issue and sometimes just comes right back up for no reason. One of my friends told me that she threw up almost every day for two months and I remember that she definitely could not tolerate many foods. In spite of all that, she said that she would do it all over again!

As for me, I have not thrown up once and I can eat anything. I suppose it depends on the individual. I have had a vitamin B deficiency in my January vitamin panel, but I take that daily now and am fine.

Things I eat for breakfast:
- Vanilla Greek yoghurt with Torani sugar free raspberry flavoring
- Club crackers with cheddar cheese
- apple slices
- granola bar
- leftover Hibachi or whatever I made that's lasting four days, LOL

Things I eat for lunch:
- the same list as above
- a protein shake occasionally
- the inside of a sandwich (I sometimes eat some of the bread)
- my favorite spinach and greens salad w/ carrots, sunflower seeds, cheese
- leftovers

Things I eat for dinner:
- I've started making casseroles for convenience and eating them for a few days at a time
- Hibachi (I am officially addicted
- salad
- fish....I love cooking salmon
- beef and rice
- fruit is often a dessert now

For me, nothing has changed THAT drastically except some of the following:
- portions are much, MUCH smaller
- I feel ok about grazing
- I tend not to drink and eat at the same time as much, but I still do it carefully
- I still have soda, but I buy the mini-cans and one pack may last a month or more now
- I eat a TON of popsicles sometimes (so I mostly get the sugar free kind)
- Hibachi, a new addiction :-)

Staying On Track - Life 10-11 Weeks After VSG

Update for 10-11 Weeks Out from Surgery
It only took me four weeks of being in Innsbruck, but yesterday I happened upon a store here that is similar to GNC stores back home! I was overjoyed to see it even though they didn't have all the same products. I brought my own supplements to Innsbruck: a multi-vitamin (gummies), fiber (gummies), B-12 zipmelts, Biotin, Thiamine (B1), and Calcium/D melts. (Hmm, can you tell I like gummy vitamins? HAHA!)  By the way, B-12 zipmelts are AWESOME and I highly recommend them. Any weight loss program, but especially weight loss surgery, risks B deficiency and this is an easy way to keep your vital energy levels up.

Still, I have not been getting all my protein in every day so I have been keeping a lazy eye out for protein shakes and haven't found any until I saw this store yesterday. Our free cafeteria lunches often have breading around whatever meat they prepare and while it is tasty, I cannot eat very much of it at one time so finding protein without breading is a goal of mine. Also, I love salads, BUT the majority of them have been pre-packaged, often with peppers which I cannot handle at all, and/or they are not included in our complimentary lunches. So, I have had to avoid them thus far. I am able to select fresh cucumbers and shredded carrots -  if not already vinegared and salted up. It seems to alternate every other day...

   

I suppose my preferences could be considered a bit unusual in that I like raw, uncooked, un-messed-around-with vegetables and fruits. In MY opinion, it is unusual to want to doctor up foods to the point that they either become mushy, tart, overly salty, or pepper-infused. Blech!
Anyway, this store had protein shakes and I bought some and was extremely disappointed. They taste HORRIBLE to me and are too thick. Upon opening the bottle, it even had a skin to break through which made me question the freshness and sealant and worry about food poisoning. So, foiled again on that front, but I will keep trying for the protein while I am here another 13 days.

I did buy a scale, finally, to see how well I have been keeping on track with losing. Since being in Austria, I have continued to lose slowly and have lost about 9 lbs. This makes my total 51 lbs !!!!! I've been walking everywhere and I am positive that helps. At home, my exercise consists of walking in City Parks at least twice a week. Cooler weather seems to make me want to walk the French Quarter more and hotter weather only City Park in the mornings. I used to have a treadmill and it was one of my dreams to own one, but I had troubles with motion sickness on its moving belt - in spite of the fact it was a high end Nordic Track treadmill. I had to take Bonine every single time I used it and so it fell out of use for the most part. I used to ride my bike frequently, but stopped while in Milledgeville due to the lack of sidewalks and pathways for riding in combination with being heavy and feeling awkward about it. I do plan on getting a new bike in New Orleans this Fall, but feel like I will only ride it around the park or on levees b/c of the traffic and scary neighborhoods I have to traverse. Nevertheless, I'm excited about getting back into riding and I hope to continue my journey toward a better shape! Notice that I wrote SHAPE and not HEALTH. This is because I was already in good health before I elected to have VSG surgery to aid with weight loss! :-) I like to point that out every so often because a great assumption regarding those who are overweight is that they may be very unhealthy. It is not always true!

VSG Experimental Eating and Eating While Abroad

Hello Everybody! :-)
I am writing from Innsbruck, Austria where I've just had a nice weekend after having finished teaching one week in the University of New Orleans Innsbruck program! I'll be here another five weeks!
I will write more about Innsbruck soon and add lots of pictures, but I wanted to give an update concerning my living with VSG while abroad! I must say here that I've been on solid foods now for a little over three weeks. I consider myself one of the VERY LUCKY VSGers because I really have not had any huge problems with any foods! I have also NOT thrown up anything!

The foods that have been the hardest include:
- Chicken (nuggets were fine...I assume because they're processed and softer?)
- Salad with sunflower seeds and chicken and broccoli. That's a lot of hard stuff to digest.

What?! Only two items?
Yep. That's about it.......so far!

I'm feeling pretty awesome about that because having read that some people could not ever have rice, pasta, or beef again or that it was a hard experience for them made me a little worried. I admit, I have been somewhat conservative about amounts that I am eating and also I chew it until I can chew no more. I'm sure that helps some.

Experiments

Ok, I admit this too.....while driving 10 hours to Columbia, SC one week and while driving 12 to Charleston the next week, I decided that I wanted to experiment with some foods just to see what would happen and what they would taste like.......

So, my first week on solid foods, I tried the following:

- a BK burger with bacon, no bun
- a soft serve ice cream cone
- bread with butter
- orange juice
- spinach
- baked fish with rice and broccoli
- grilled chicken nuggets from Chick-fil-A

Conclusions: The burger was AWFUL. I could only eat half of it anyway. I'd found the amounts of protein online. The initial taste of the bacony burger goodness was all but destroyed by my having to chew it so dang much. I had a wonderful realization that I DIDN'T WANT IT anymore, woohoo! That was accompanied by the "what the hell do we put in our mouths?!" gasp. I tried one spoon full of rice, no issues. Same for everything else. I THINK the ice cream might have given me an upset stomach and I couldn't finish the cone anyway.

The following week, I tried:

- pizza from Andonlini's (*hey, no judging....it's the BEST)
- grits
- yoghurt with actual fruit pieces in it
- whoppers
- iced tea
- a Taco Bell taco

Now, I can hear some of you saying "OH, I get it, THIS is how she got fat in the first place....by eating crap like this" and you would be WRONG-O (that's more than just wrong).
Think what you like....as I said, these were experiments. I was going through a phase that included the following feelings, however jumbled up:

- YAY!  I can eat again! (+ I want everything)
- Oh gosh, will I ever be able to eat __________ again?
- Can I still have some things that are "bad" for me in moderation?

So, the pizza was AWESOME and I ate exactly half a slice, mostly toppings, before I was stuffed. Grits were fine and I ate about four spoonfuls. The whoppers were cool and I had five of them. Iced tea - I'm from the south so OF COURSE THAT WAS GOOD.
The taco was THE most wonderful thing I had tried so far. Why? Well, I pulled off a tiny bit of the shell and pulled out a couple of lettuce pieces, but other than that - I ATE THE WHOLE THING and that alone made me feel awesome. The rest was that it was super terrific to CRUNCH and the shell was good for that :-)

DRINKS

Ok, here is where some of us differ - not only in opinion, but in attitude. These drinks listed here are not always on VSGers' lists after surgery and for good reason: calories! Part of me just wanted to test it out to see what would happen because you read and hear so much about what people go through.

I have tried the following drinks and had NO PROBLEMS

- orange juice......If I drink too much of this, I burp the juice and that's when I know to STOP
- iced tea.....with and without sugar. I definitely like sugarfree better, as usual
- Coke on the transatlantic flight with lots of ice.....was ok, but I only took a few sips the size of which was the equivalent of sticking my tongue in (I was fearful it would go badly)
- apple juice......fine
- Wine
-Coke here in Innsbruck, no ice, just chilled. Absolutely fine

EATING WHILE IN AUSTRIA

This has been way more difficult that I previously thought so I am extra glad that I brought some items with me such as protein bars, Crystal Lite mixes, tea, Equal, granola bars, and some mini cans of soup. Yes, it made my suitcase heavy, but I am on a rather severe budget here at the moment and the food is rather expensive.
The Innsbruck program gives us a marvelous lunch every day and after the first faculty lunch together, I asked for a container to bring home leftovers and the restaurant was happy to oblige. I have since used that container several times! The first cafeteria lunch was Wiener schnitzel made of chicken (and breaded) plus French fries. So, I took a few chicken bites, tearing off the breading and then had two fries (that makes me laugh!) Since then, I've been getting goulash or spaghetti sauce over a minute amount of noodles and avoiding the other foods. They have fruits and I always get the watermelon! I also get a bottle of water with each meal.

What's the problem? Well, I know I'm not getting all my protein in and I've been too tired to think about it. I've also been too sleepy and almost running late every morning so I've been forgetting my vitamins. Ok, let me pause and actually take them NOW at 8:47 p.m. because I'm guilty again...

Ok. Whew!

So, I have only bought two meals out and I've been here nine days. That will change, but so far the food has either been free or I've been just finishing my leftovers :-)

That's about it! I will do some Innsbruck and travel posts pretty soon. Good luck to everyone out there and for those of you who have emailed, please continue to ask me questions! I'm here if you need me :-)

***** UPDATE***** I completely forgot to mention that I did not bring my scale to Austria and the Nurse's office for the Innsbruck Program does not have a scale. They recommended that I buy one, but I'm too cheap.......and so I have no idea whether or not I'm still losing, if I'm maintaining....or the unthinkable!