What foods do you find the most helpful?

I'm cross posting this to a couple of my favorite message boards to get more ideas... I did this a few months ago and got a lot of new ideas from kind folks who were willing to share. What are your top 5-10 foods that have helped you stay on track and stay motivated? Below are my top 10, but feel free to share as many as you have. I looked through my Fitday list to find my favorites: Chicken meatballs from Sam's Club;---- Fat-free Feta Cheese from Sam's Club;---- Flat-bread wraps - (high protein) from WalMart;---- Edamame - I like the frozen;---- Edamame - roasted fom the health food store;---- Turkey pepperoni - WalMart;---- Wendy's Chili;---- Snowpeas from Sam's Club;---- Yogurt (Blue Bunny) light;--- Tuna (any kind - I hated tuna preop...now I love it with lowfat mayo and relish); ------------ Also, are there 1-2 things that you found helpful that are not food items? My number one would have to be my digital scale. I still use that daily and it was a very good investment (at the time $30 seemed like a lot of money to invest). My other good investment has been the purchasing of FitDay.com food tracking program. I would never mess around with the online version since you will lose interest and this tool is just too important. I know that there are other good food tracking programs like sparkpeople that others like. I've learned a lot from this post in the past, so please be generous. John

My #1 podnah in this journey is scrambled eggs. I liked them pre-op also, but I'd eat whatever was available for breakfast back then. Now that donuts and cinnimon rolls and toast and cerial are off the menu, scrambled eggs are my go to food. I make damned sure to have them available at all times. I scramble up 18 - 24 eggs at once and save them in tupperware. Mixed with a little refried beans, lofat or fat free cheese and some green chiles, every day gets off to a good start. My #2 podnah has become boneless, skinless chicken thighs. I grill up a mess of them and keep the extras in a tupperware dish. I eat one or two almost daily. My #3 is the good ol' tomato. I really struggle to eat vegetables, but cutting off a couple of three slices of tomato to throw on a plate with some meat is pretty easily done, and always seems to compliment whatever meat I'm eating.

Through the support meetings I attend, I found an excellent snack food. Dried peas. Inexpensive ($1.35 a pound), 6 grams protein per 1/4 cup, no refrigeration, slightly salty, and crunchy texture. Place them in a small ziplock bag, and take them anywhere.  There are few healthy foods with a crunch texture-only other ones that come to mind are carrots, which are dense an hard to digest for some people. But the peas are great. Dave.

 I will be trying out some of your guys' favorites. I can never have too many options in my food arsenal. A constant in my fridge is egg whites. I eat them almost everyday and vary the ingredients. But I usually go with some low fat cheese and either spinach or mushrooms. I also keep Jeanie-O ground turkey readily stocked in my freezer. My favortie go to snack lately has been beef jerky. At Costco they have a Kobe Beef jerky that is really tender and has a good flavor to it IMO.

Great question John, Early on (first few months) my most helpful FOOD ITEMS were- 1. Sugar-Free-Popsicles!  (easy to keep getting in water) 2. Low-Carb Yogurt 3. Deli-Sliced Turkey 4. Re-Fried Beans 5. Eggs Further out my most helpful FOOD ITEMS were- 1. SouthBeach High Protein Cereal Bars (on the road good snack) 2. Ostrim Meat Sticks (on the road god snack) 3. Apples (great fiber and energy) 4. Skinless/Boneless Chicken Breasts 5. Slimfast LowCarb Shakes (I add to my coffee, extra protein, got used to the taste) 6. Flat-out wraps (flat bread-low carb) 7. Eggs Early on (first few months) my most helpful NON-FOOD ITEMS were- 1. Heating Pad 2. Sports Water-Bottle (never left my side) Further out my most helpful NON-FOOD ITEMS were- 1. Ankle-Weights (increased impact of walking with no extra effort) 2. Digital Scale 3. Suspenders (while slipping down through sizes to keep ‘Rodeo-Clown Pants’ up) Best Wishes- Dx

I'm pre-op, so this may be of no use.... Every Sunday, I prep most of my food for the upcoming week.  If I'm organized, it'll keep me focused. The stuff I regularly pack are Mixed Nuts, Kashi Cinnamon Harvest, Fruit (usually oranges), breakfast sandwiches and dinner leftovers.  If no leftovers, then I fix a lunch sandwich. I know that when I go post-op, a lot of this stuff will have to be subbed out for friendlier fare - but this is working for me right now...

Cottage cheese
deli sliced meats
pickled things
Premier Nutrition Protein bars from Costco. (other bars, as well)
unflavored Unjury w/ a million single serve crystal lights


Best post-op techniques are:
1.Planning six meals a day, a week in advance.
2.Prepping everything I can for lunch / dinner in the morning or the night before
3. Klean Kanteen (stanless steel water bottle)
4. Making a sign next to my bed that says: "Mind over matress."

I'll second the Crystal Light single serve packets. I buy 8 - 10 boxes of those every time I go to the big city. I'd be bored as **** with trying to get enough water down my throat w/o them. I also discovered that they sell Benefiber in those same kind of sinlge serve packets. I mix one of those into my water bottle with the Crystal Light three or four times per day. I'm doing a lot of experimenting with ways to make the caca flow these days. Prunes have recently become a stable for me.

Great post John    While I'm sill new from WLS, I've found a couple of foods that I use. 1.     Eggs - I like to scramble them with fresh tomatoes and add cheese (fantastic) 2.     Refried Beans - I liked them early on, and now I eat "burrito innards" (that's a beef & bean burrito without the tortilla).  It's low carb and filling (don't worry about the stares if you go to a mexican restaurant and ask for a burrito without the tortillia 3.     Chicken & Tuna Salad - My wife makes chicken & tuna salad with low fat mayo & sugar free pickle relish.  You can't tell it from the real thing! 4.     Beef  - I'm now to where I can tollerate about any type of meat (as long as it's low fat).  I still like to knaw on a nice piece of meat every now and then (even though it's a much smaller piece). 5.     No Sugar added Ice Cream & sugar free Popcicles -   That's always a great standby (expecially during the summer when you're burning up! 6.     Last but not least - Lite Yogert.  I discovered them right after surgery at Kroger.  I wasn't a fan of yogert before surgery, but now I Love them.  They're only about 100 cals. and are a good source of protien & vitamins.   Well, That's all from my side.  I'm really enjoying what you other guys put up there.  I can relate to what you guys post here without all the estrogen floating around on the other boards.

These lists are great but I want to add one item:

Greek yougurt. 

It's creamy and lacks the tang of some yogurt that some people don't like.  It's fairly well available at regular grocery stores in our area and can be found at most health food stores as well.  Slightly thicker than regular yougurt and available in non-fat (0%), low-fat (2%) and regular.  The beauty is that is carries almost twice the protein as regular yougurt.

They sell a single serve (5.3 oz) of the non-fat it's around 80 cal and 13g of protein.  Add some pumpkin seeds, almonds or walnuts and you can boost the single serving to almost 22g.

I use it in the morning for breakfast and it mixes well with sugar free preserves for a fruity yogurt.  Add fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries) and it tastes like heaven.  I also add to chili or eggs as a sour cream substitute.  I even use it to make a dipping sauce for grilled chicken, sort of like a ranch or taziki sauce and it helps moisten the meat.