Week 1 - spicy soup?

I'm waiting to hear back from my dietician, but thought I'd ask here too. 

I can onl tolerate the protein powder in chicken broth, which I really can't stomach more than once or twice at the most a day.

I love Tom Yum soup, which is the clear, slightly spicy lemongrass Thai soup. Normally you have chicken or tofu or shrimp in it. I'm not on solids yet so I can do it without, but is slightly spicy okay?

 Oh honey no!

Don't forget what you just did to your stomach.  You had 90% of it cut and removed.  It was cut by being simultaneously stapled and burned in two by an electrocautery.  It is wollen and angry.

You want to dump spicy food in that right now?

Just do the chicken broth and protein and take it easy on yourself.

If you do the spicy soup and it doesn't agree with you, you may vomit.  If you vomit you can very easily tear yourself at the staple line in your stomach.  That could cause a leak and land you back in the hospital being fed through a tube - if you dont die from an infection.

Your stomach will not be fully healed until and the risk of a leak eliminated until the three month mark.

Based on this and your other posts, I would really go back and review the documentation you got from your surgeon.  Information like this should really have been in your pre-op education materials.  If he didn't give you any go out and get a copy of Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies or Weight Loss Surgery cookbook for Dummies.  Both are excellent resources and will give you some food and beverage ideas for each diet stage.

I did get a handout. Crystal Lite, Diet V8 Splash, chicken or vegetable broth, and protein powder in all of that.

*sigh*

I guess I just feel better than I actually am inside. I get that. I really do.

Let me just say for the record that I cannot WAIT to eat spicy food again. I'm a huge fan of Thai and Indian and Ethiopian, etc. The flavors - more than the content.

 You may find that your tastes change over the course of getting back to solid foods.  You are basically going through the process of learning to eat all over again.  Everyine told me it would happen and I didn't really believe them.

Now I love tons of food I never would have tried before - asian, green veggies, etc.  Try not to be in such a rush to get back to normal.  This stage won't last forever but its important to do it and do it well.  The risk if it doesn't go well is you may not be back to solid foods for MONTHS and still have to do all of this again.

Thanks for the excellent feedback. I had major surgery several years ago but it was on the outside so it was easier to see the "damage" as it were.

 That WLS cookbook for dummies, really is a great resource too.  I bought and read it before surgery - got lots of ideas on recipes and how to tweak recipes I love to make them better for weight loss.

I will definitely go check that out on Amazon.

I am here to tell you that your spicy food days will come back! I LOVE SPICY, HOT foods. Actually, can't do quite as hot as I used to, but......super spicy during the first months probably not such a good idea! No sense risking it, you know!?

I eat thai, indian, mexican, chinese, etc... now regularly even during weight loss. You just have to find the super high protein-low carb foods/dishes to order and stay really low fat.

During my liquid phase I steeped lemon grass (I have it growing in the yard) in chicken stock and added just a tiny bit of Sriracha sauce for added flavor. Maybe I shouldn't have, but.... I suffered no ill effects. In hindsight, I'd leave off the Sriracha sauce, but adding the lemon grass isn't a problem at all.

Give it a try. Nothing wrong with adding flavor.

Bless you!

And we have a fantastic international farmer's market where I'm sure I can get some fresh lemongrass. Good plan! Maybe with a little fish sauce?

*shrug* I dumped hot sauce in everything early out. My NUT said it was fine and wouldn't cause any issues. As long as it didn't cause me any discomfort, to go for it - your stomach acids are WAY more potent than a little wimpy hot sauce.