Craving Macaroni and Cheese

I guess I am the odd duck, I like stuff in my mac and cheese, so I would add things like cooked broccoli and cauliflower and bacon, or even ham and grilled onions, use reduced fat cheese and low fat milk and reduced carb pasta and panko with garlic flakes for a crunch on top.  The more you add the less pasta you eat, it makes me sick either way so I don't eat it often but when I do its very good.

I also love mac and cheese and pasta in general i have found spaghetti squash can be used in place of noddles to make things that fill my pasta cravings and make them pouch friendly and tasty just last week i made a spaghetti squash mac and cheese i cut my squash in half put in a microwave safe dish with about a half inch of water covered with plastic wrap and cooked in the microwave for about 15 min (it was a large one) then you scrap the meat of the squash out with a fork. then i made a simple cheese sauce with 2tbls. butter and 2tbls. flour added 2 cups of milk salt and pepper to taste and a little mustard once the sauce thickened i added 2 cups of reduced fat Cheddar cheese an stirred till it was all melted then mixed the squash in with the cheese sauce it was yummy but next time i will add more salt and a little hot sauce for some zip. i hope this works for you

Why is pasta a no-no?

Pasta can cause some RNYers to dump, if I recall correctly.

Most pasta is made of totally refined flour, which aggravates our blood sugar by increasing insulin-dumping into our system.  That's why most of us avoid "white foods" such as pasta, rice, potatoes & bread.

I recently found a whole-grain pasta at Safeway which has 9 grams of protein and use it to make mac & cheese;  I also add ham, etc., for flavoring.  I just don't eat the mega amounts that I used in inhale on a daily basis.  One potful makes about 6 meals, so I wind up freezing servings.  I get tired of eating the same thing 6 meals in a row!!

Good luck!

I made a mac & cheese for Thanksgiving that turned out decently.  The key, I think, is to overload it with protein and use surgery-friendly pasta.  I used Dreamfields spiral pasta for my macaroni, made a cheese sauce out of heavy whipping cream, butter and parmesean (if you need to know how to do this, lemme know), and then added in another 4-5 cheeses (cheddar, colby, mozarella, gouda and something else that escapes me right now).  I folded that into the cooked pasta, topped it with shredded cheese, and baked.  I had intended to throw in 2-4 eggs as well (extra protein, of course, and it also adds to the richness and thickness of the dish).  It was excellent (I didn't eat a lot of it - I was 2 months out and was concentrating on my turkey), and I would recommend it to anyone who wants pasta but needs to mind their protein.

Pasta is full of simple carbs and that turn into sugars. This causes us to dump; some atleast.  If I choose to have pasta, I can only tolerate small portions but I have it with some sort of protein, because that is our main objective. Protein first. I try to use that same philosophy with whatever I eat because we can only eat a little, we need to make all our meals count. Cut out the empty calorie foods and high carb foods, sugars (as much as you possibly can)