For the Benefit of Pre-Ops: DSers, what are YOU eating today??

I seriously did not know pidgeon peas were edible. I've grown them as ornamentals, but I never thought about eating them. I'm not big on legumes, other than peanuts and cashews.

I guess I just get a little annoyed when someone starts a thread such as this.  Noobs already think they will never be able to eat real food again and then to infer DSers can eat anything and lose and the rest of us will eat lettuce and water and even then we will gain is manipulative, misleading, and dishonest.

You are welcome at my home anytime, holiday or not but I live in MX now. ;o)  I didn't cook, I don't even know what I was eating but it was good.

Probably the best stuff was the salmon stuff.  It was a cold dish, bite size pieces of salmon in a sauce that included onions, cilantro, and I honestly don't know what else.

There was this deep fried thing that was about the size of a marshmellow with stuff on top.  You were supposed to dip it in the creamy pea stuff.  I can't stand peas but THAT stuff was good.

Last weekend I went to a fiesta, probably 100 people were there.  Fresh flour tortilla chips with hot melted cheese and jalopenios, then this stuff I honestly don't know what it was.  Hard, big, crunchy noodles with onions, cilantro, etc. in a thinned tomoto juice.  You eat it in a cup with a spoon.  Then pizza and spaghetti, then tamales and refried beans, then more chips and cheese sauce, then cake and then everyone is sent home with a large bag of candy, chips, etc.

MX is FUN!  Not gaining yet and not worried that I will and (gasp!)  I don't have DS and I can eat anyway.  Who would'a known~

I don't quite get it, either. From DSers, I read "bacon, bacon, bacon" all the time, as if that is what defines their whole post-op raison d'etre. Big deal. DH and I go out for breakfast every weekend and I have - guess what? BACON. Not a half-pound of it but, again, enough to satisfy me.

And toast with REAL BUTTER.

And when I have mashed potatoes, I have REAL GRAVY on them (and sometimes butter, too.)

I'm just not eating the enormous portions I USED TO eat. And that's - for me, anyway - the reason I wanted to have WLS and to have the one I chose.

I can also have desserts with REAL sugar, and cakes made with plain old flour, and regular old pasta and not have to worry about "intestinal distress". I never have to say "never trust a fart." MIne always come out alone.

I have to say that I had no idea you live in Mexico! On a cold New England night like tonight, Mexico sounds pretty damned bueno!

I agree with your post.  I hate that noobs believe they will never eat real food again unless they get DS.  Now, I believe DS is a good surgery type but not because of food choices.  I eat the same stuff as a DSer  and maintain quite well.

Yep, i made the plunge and moved to MX recently.  I love it here.  I just wanted the experience and i'm getting it.  Do you know we do not have real mail?  They hand delivery junk mail!!!!!!!!!!!!  I had no idea!

WTH needs a 1/2 - 1,0 lb of bacon?  Gross.

I'm not a sugar person, I'm a flour person.  i do avoid flour foods because they are my triggers.

Come to visit, you are most welcome here ANYtime!  Ever!  Always, forever.

Ok here is the rundown so far: (I went hog wild!!!)

Breakfast:
Cinnamon Roll with cream cheese frosting
5 Sausage links
Tall Glass of OJ

Snacks:
5 More Sausage Links
Another Cinnamon roll (they were amazing)
Skin stolen from the turkey

2 Diet Mt Dew Zeros

Dinner:
Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Sausage Stuffing with protein bread all smothered in gravy

Dessert:
Key Lime Cheesecake
Cup of Ben & Jerry's Cookie Dough Ice Cream

I may make a plate of leftovers this evening before hitting the sack.

I LOVE MY DS!!! Seriously, this is the best Thanksgiving EVER!

 Late to the party as I've been out shopping for Black Friday since we got in from dinner last night.  Shew!  BUT- thanks to my DS, my back, legs & feet aren't killing me.  I'm sleepy, but I'm not completely worn out like I would have been preop.  Oh, and I never broke a sweat in all the shopping madness either.  It was enjoyable to be out shopping all night.  And now, on to the food....


Breakfast- protein coffee with half&half
S- a sugar free vanilla breve latte from Starbucks
L- 5 Townhouse crackers w/cream cheese, ****tail sauce & lump crab piled on, a cheese stick, a chocolate covered pretzel
D- turkey w/skin, honey citrus glazed ham, corn pudding, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, cornbread stuffing, tons o gravy, mashed potatoes w/butter, cranberry sauce, sauteed apples & sweet potatoes (made with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and Craisins), roll w/lots and lots of butter
S- 1/2 piece pumpkin pie, 1/2 piece french silk pie- both slathered in cool whip and a cup of coffee w/pumpkin pie creamer
S- chicken salad w/walnuts and Craisins
S- candy corn

And my "breakfast" this morning at 4am before hitting the last store of the day- another sugar free vanilla breve latte and a pumpkin scone from Starbucks.

Granted, this was a major carb fest, and I certainly don't eat this way everyday.  But, for the Holidays, I am SO glad I am still able to sit and eat with my family and enjoy everything.  Now, it's just back to the protein first track :)

My PCP originally suggested I consider the band. I did my ow extensive research and knew it would be the DS or nothing for me. My PCP had never heard of the DS, so thank goodness I did my OWN research!

We have a tradition of going into Washington, DC, on Thanksgiving day and then having our big family dinner on Black Friday. So today, we walked around who knows how many miles visiting the National Air and Space Museum, the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial. Then we went out for dinner, where I had:

- half a dinner roll with lots of butter
- a bowl of southwestern chicken soup
- 2 thick potato skins topped with chicken, bacon, cheese, bbq sauce, and sour cream

Tomorrow's dinner at my house includes the following on the menu:

- deviled eggs
- sliced cheese, turkey pepperoni, and summer sausage
- crackers and sliced French bread with crab dip
- Turkey
- gravy
- stuffing
- homemade cranberry sauce
- crescent rolls
- mashed cauliflower with bacon, cheese, butter, and sour cream for toppings
- broccoli and cheese casserole
- assorted pickles
- pumpkin pie
- apple pie
  - vanilla ice cream and extra heavy whipped topping
- 4 varieties of flourless cookies

I love to see all the different menus. We had

Roast Turkey w/gravy (homemade)
Dressing (w/golden raisins and sausage) w/gravy
Homemade mashed red potatoes w/skin, butter and milk and gravy
Candied yams w/coconut, pecans and butter (forgot to put the brown sugar in and just realized it now - go figure it was still good)
Green bean casserole
Creamed Onions
Cranberry sauce
Cranberry Juice
Eggnog

Cranberry bread w/cream cheese
Date nut bread w/cream cheese
fresh fruit
Brownie sundae pie
Peanut butter pie
Apple Pie
Assorted nuts
Pilgrim hats (didn't try these - its a fudge strip cookie with a marshmallow on top dipped in chocolate to look like a hat - kids loved them).

I had a bit of just about all of it - and today - turkey/dressing/cranberry sauce and mayo on some really good bread (half a sandwich for me, a whole one for hubby)- IMO the best part of turkey day is the left overs!!

Since this is for Pre-Ops, I had RNY, and here is what I had on Thanksgiving:

1/2 Grilled ham & cheese sandwich;
Some French Fries;
1.5 liters of Mountain Dew.

It was just my wife and I, and we both have a cold going, so not a lot of appetite, and we played Everquest II almost all day.

On previous Thanksgivings, I ate a wide variety of the feast in moderate quantities.  Looking at everyone at the table, you would not have been able to see much difference between me and many of the Non-Ops at the table.

Food is just not the center of my Universe any longer.  This is one reason I chose the RNY over the DS... I was not only unhappy with my size, I was unhappy with my relationship to food.  As we can see from the replies in this thread, I would have been able to (and perhaps been forced to) continue the very bad food habits that were making me unhappy.  Again, now food is fuel, and on occasion a culinary joy.

I am thrilled for all the DS folks that can eat with abandon and still have normalish dimensions, and be OK, even happy with it.  I wouldn't have been.  We each have different needs.

"I am thrilled for all the DS folks that can eat with abandon and still have normalish dimensions, and be OK, even happy with it.  I wouldn't have been.  We each have different needs."

Indeed we do! Now, I *know* that you can eat more than you did yesterday, and honestly, there are days when I have no desire for food. (Rare, I admit.) But *I* would suffer emotionally if I had to give up certain foods---and yes, to some degree, eating in volume. I'm still sometimes amazed at how satisfied I am with eating the much smaller amounts I eat now as compared with the amounts I ate pre-op---but even immediately after surgery, *I* would have suffered had I been unable to eat but a couple of teaspoons of food.

And that was a big reason that I was so RELIEVED to learn about the DS and it's eating plan. I was TERRIFIED of the RNY because I truly believed if I went through with it, I would never again enjoy food the way I did pre-op, and that was a real hang-up for me. It delayed my getting WLS for about five years, in fact.