First foods?

I did a lot of canned chicken, flavored tuna packets (they have a "saucier" texture than plain tuna), tilapia and other white flakey fish, soft scrambled eggs, baked ricotta (that's from The World According to Eggface), and cottage cheese. I was able to tolerate ground chicken and turkey, so I ate a lot of that with taco seasoning and cheese. I could tolerate deli turkey, and ate a lot of slices rolled together with a piece of cheese.

In the beginning, most dense proteins I ate (chicken breast, pork, beef) had to be slow cooked in the crock pot with sauce and shredded. Otherwise they were too dry and dense in those early weeks.

We are on a similar schedule. My place gave us a week-by-week for going back to regular foods and this week is fish and deli meat. Chicken isn't for at least 2-3 weeks yet. The Baked Ricotta has been helpful to me this past week, as have refried beans. Nothing really sounds good to me either. I am trying to be grateful, but it is hard because I would rather just not mess with food at all right now.

I said before I wish there was more consistency in the post op diets. I did have deli meat for lunch last week and had no problems. I got thick slices of turkey this week, swiss cheese and avocado, going to try and do some meal prep this week and weigh and measure into containers so I have them ready to go.

Did you get the baked ricotta off the eggface site? That could be a great pre prep too. I totally understand the "just not mess with food at all." Some days it doesn't seem worth it at all!

Like you I feel grateful, and I am proud of where I have gotten to. Trying to stay focused on re learning how to eat. Thanks for the reminder that gratitude should be my focus every day, every meal!

A little advice on the deli meat. Get it sliced thin, for some reason when sliced thin it is moister and will be easier on your stomach. To this day I still do thin sliced ham, swiss wrapped around a dill pickle. Easy go to meal.

This is such a good tip! And if you can find the Boar's Head Ever Roast Chicken and get it shaved, it's divine!

Some of my choices when I hit that stage:

• Rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, since it's really moist! I ran mine through the meat grinder attachment on the kitchenaid and mixed it with a little bit of broth as well
• Baked white fish, I got the Gorton's frozen filets and nuked them in the microwave
• Eggface's ricotta bake
• Scrambled eggs, kept a touch on the runny side
• Pre-made pulled BBQ pork from the grocery store

Make sure you're taking TINY bites in order to keep things from getting stuck. Each bite should be no bigger than a single grain of rice! That will help things get moving and you'll probably feel much better.

You are awesome, I had read a nickle, that could have been a big part of my issue. Y'all have convinced me I have to try this ricotta bake! Which is so exciting, I miss cooking, yesterday I made lunch for my son and it was the best part of my day. He was so happy, it was one of his favs that his dad doesn't make, Egg Roll in a Bowl.

One of my favorites, which I still eat 15 months post-op, is egg salad made with one hard boiled egg with 1/2 container of Good Culture plain cottage cheese. Mix it all up and season with salt and pepper. It is soft, creamy and good protein for only about 130 calories. Makes two servings for early eaters.

A to try for sure! I hadn't been an egg eater in my life but suddenly they sound good, really good.

Thanks for taking your time to provide input.

I am supposed to get 100 grams of protein a day. It's still difficult to get that amount with what I am able to eat so I started supplementing with Genepro protein. You can get 30 grams of protein per scoop or tablespoonful. I add half a scoop to my coffee, yogurt or protein drinks. I am just 10 weeks out.