Vitamins and Protein Shakes?

Hi all! Just met with my nutritionist for my final time. We went over my 2-week pre-op diet, which will consist of 3 protein shakes and one 500-calorie dinner (Lean Cuisine, Healthy Choice, etc). I was given many choices of protein shake brands as well as vitamin suppliers and am curious what you all have liked/not liked. Also, has anyone been successful in getting their insurance company to pay for some/all of the vitamins?

I really love Premier Protein pre-made shakes, and I love Quest protein powder. Overall though, Premier wins out.

I take a regular, store brand vitamins. Celebrate Vitamins is a good bariatric supplier.

I like Premier pre-mixed, but not the powder. I like all the quest powders I've tried so far, and I like GNC leanshake pre-mixed drinks.

As for vitamins, I've been purchasing pro-care bariatric pills. They're a once a day capsule and my labs look amazing. I also take the walgreens brand petite calcium, b12, and biotin. But no, my insurance won't cover any vitamins except for prescription vitamin d, and even then the co-pay is higher than the walmart cost off the shelf.

I don't like Premier's Powders either. I bought a big Sam's club size chocolate powder and had to throw it away. It just isn't good.

I like Syntrax and Unjury protein powders. If you're required to stick with whey protein isolate the first few months (which many of us are), Syntrax has a couple of lines - Syntrax Nectar is their whey protein isolate line (their Matrix line is a protein blend - which is OK when you're further out and are getting most/all of your protein from food). Unjury products are all whey protein isolate.

You can get Syntrax products in many places - from their Web site, on Amazon, through Vitamin Shoppe - I think I read someone even gets hers at Walmart or her grocery store or something. Unjury products are only available through Unjury's Web site.

I don't know about insurance companies covering vitamins. Mine doesn't. Although a couple of years ago I thought I was going to have some FSA (Flexible Spending Account) money left over at the end of the year, and asked the PA at my surgeon's office if he thought I could use it for vitamins if he wrote me a prescription for them. At that time, the FSA rules excluded vitamins unless "medically necessary", so he thought that might work, since WLS patients are required to take vitamins. However, I ended up using all the FSA money regardless, so I never pursued that. Not sure if FSA's still cover medically necessary vitamins or not - the rules can change on those from year to year.

P.S. for our multivitamins, a lot of us use Centrum or the generic equivalent. The latter go on sale at Walgreens and CVS at least once a month, it seems - BOGO or BO get second at 1/2 price. So they're pretty cheap...

I really like the GNC lean shakes. A case of 12 is 29.99. They pack 25 grams of protein and taste really good. I like their strawberry, banana, and cookie butter flavors so far. I plan on trying more. I buy the ready made, but they have powder form as well.

I also bought isopure unflavored protein powder to mix in my soups and other liquids when I was on liquids and purée stages. It mixes well and has no flavor.

For a clear drink, try isopure clear no carb drinks. 40 grams of protein in the whole bottle! But I usually do half a day because I get protein with other shakes and food.

Most insurances will not cover your vitamins.

Don't waste your money on bariatric formulas either. Regular OTC vitamins have what you need without the elevated cost.