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PREVGetting ready to go to the hospital for weight loss surgery
Before you go to the hospital, go shopping. The last thing you will feel like doing when you get back from the hospital is stocking the refrigerator. If you insist on drinking petrified sawdust, try out the various protein drinks and shakes and find those least likely to ruin your taste buds. Many vitamin stores will let you sample a selection. Carnation® instant breakfast (sugar free) is a very good choice—sometimes it is not always in your grocery cases, so you might have to special order it from Mr. Whipple (just don’t squeeze the… never mind)—your store manager. Likewise, Sustagen® pudding or certain drinks might or might not be available.
Don’t overstock. Some people find their taste buds change after surgery and things you used to like may not taste good.
Stocking the Refrigerator
Some suggestions from my patients...
Sugar Free Carnation® Instant Breakfast Glucerna® Sustagen® pudding Ensure® pudding Resource® Diabetic Drinks Nutrimea®l Drink Isopure® Sugar Free Popsicles Sugar free instant Jell-O® | Decafe tea Bottled water Sugar free fudgesicles (see notes below) Clear broth - College Inn® comes highly recommended and has a good assortment Yogurt Cottage Cheese Whatever protein bar you can tolerate Whatever protein shake that is approved Ice – either fresh or from the ice maker |
Some of my patients tell me sugar-free fudgesicles, are great for those "PMS moments." A water bottle with a sports top teaches you to really sip, instead of gulp, your water. Gulping water will hurt, no matter which surgery you have had—so, learn to sip.
Several kitchen items will be quite helpful...
...so if you don’t have them you might want to pick up the following:
- A blender
- The George Foreman Grill (great for chicken breasts and other meats)
- Popsicles molds
- A shot glass
- Seal-a-meal
- Baby Fork and spoons
- Cup size bowls
I don’t expect you to be a chef, but some of these items will make your life after surgery quite easy. I am the last person to cook, honestly. My idea of preparing a meal is calling Daniel’s for reservations. Baby forks and spoons are a great tool for RNY, VBG, and lap-band patients as they help you learn to eat smaller bites. Smaller plates and smaller portions is a great way to "see" a meal and not feel cheated. A cup-size bowl (no refills) is a great way to measure food.
Un-stocking your refrigerator before weight loss surgery
—What is your Frankenstein?
You are thinking about stocking the refrigerator with items that you will need for the first few weeks after surgery, but what about all that stuff that is already in it, the stuff you used to eat? There are two ways to look at it. You don’t need some of these Frankenstein foods nor do your family members, and not having them around for a few weeks won’t hurt you or your recovery from surgery. However, if other family members purchase and consume these foods, you will have to live with these foods, so leaving them around won’t hurt. You will just have to develop will power. If you only purchased the candy for you and are the only one eating it—then you might consider getting rid of it. One of my patients drank lots of Pepsi, in fact, she would have somewhere between 12 and 20 cans of Pepsi in a day. After surgery, she didn’t drink it, she was able to lose 180 pounds, and reached her goal weight. Months after surgery she asked her son for a drink of his Pepsi, and discovered she didn’t like it at all. Sometimes your tastes change, and the foods you enjoy before surgery don’t appeal. That isn’t a bad thing, especially if the food has no nutritional value. So consider removing some of those foods from your house for a while.
