Eat your vegetables...

Yeh, mom was right.  For you new post WLS people, don't forget your vegetables.  Yes, protein first and if that is all you can get down the first few weeks, so be it.  But once you move on to puree, consider getting some cooked leafy dark green vegetables in too.  Cooked spinach, broccoli, cauliflower may help with any minor nutrients or amino acids that may be lacking in your vitamins.  Also a very small amount of cooked carrots can give you a lift.  When I went to solids one of the first things I had was a piece of luncheon meat wrapped in a piece of leafy green lettuce and a piece of string cheese.  I put on a small amount of mayo and mustard.  Just wondering early on, how did you get your vegetables in?  Brian

One of the things I did was add spinach to my scrambled eggs. 

I'm 3 months out and I like to saute/steam fish and spinach together. I've taken a turkey leg and put it in the pressure cooker with some collard greens (yes this YANKEE loves his collards ). I've found the pressure cooker makes things very soft and keeps things nice and moist. When I planted my vegtable garden this year I made sure to plant plenty of greens. For lunch today I took a swiss chard leaf wrapped around some tuna salad. I eat that alot. Swiss chard is easy to grow and is always there in the garden.

The fiber in those is important, but also the antioxidants in fruits and veggies. I make sure I get a large spoon of cocoa per day (in hot liquid), something made from beans (soy Okara is my favorite), a salad with a lot of different veggies. Chicken salad with food processed veggies is a staple. I also get cherries, raisins, steel cut oats, blueberries and raspberries. So lots of minerals and antioxidants.

 

I didn't much care for fruits and vegatables before wls and I still don't care much for them. It's an act of deliberate self-discipline when I eat them. But post-op, keeping the brown lane open has been a huge factor in me being more disciplined about my vegatable consumption. If I'll eat some lettuce and tomato every day and snack on some prunes in the evening, I can usually make caca w/o bursting a blood vessel in my forehead. If I go a couple of days w/o these items then "**** a brick" is the operative terminology. My college aged daughter is working in a Japanese steakhouse for the summer and she brings home some grilled grilled squash, onions, mushrooms, and carrots all mixed together. It's probably got some unhealthy **** mixed in with it though, cause it tastes damned good.

I am looking forward to my doc approving me to eat uncooked veggies, I really would love a salad.  Hopefully in a few weeks.  

Jim