I could never tolerate artificial sweeteners in my coffee, no matter which one I tried.  Then I stumbled upon Erythritol, and it turned out to be the best thing ever!  It is a sugar alcohol, but I had no issues with it, either before or after surgery.  I'm sitting here right now with a nice cup of hazelnut coffee, FF cream, and erythritol.  Tastes just great.  I highly recommend giving it a try, it's a totally different animal than the other artificial sweeteners (Equal, Splenda, etc.).

Sometimes I crave bacon. I will cook off an entire package in the oven (lay the strips out on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake at 350 until almost crisp about 20 minutes). Then I pack up the bacon strips in individual serving sizes (2 strips per package) and freeze them. On those evenings when I don't feel like cooking, I can nuke the bacon for a minute or so, and crumble it over a green salad with shredded cheese, or make my own version of a BLT by wrapping it in a large lettuce leaf or a carb-free pancake. I also make up the "pancakes" on a day when I have a little time and freeze them individually.

I'm also loving cauliflower rice. You can make your own and freeze it or buy it already prepped in the freezer section. It's pretty easy to top it with a few steamed shrimp, or a bit of chicken. Like a writer above, a crockpot is wonderful. You can also cook a hunk of beef in a slow cooker with sugar free BBQ sauce (or Carolina BBQ sauce) and then shred it and again freeze in individual portion sizes. I use those little 1/4 cup plastic ware containers for stuff like this for freezing. I just pop it out on a plate when it's time to eat and nuke it.

For snacks I eat cheese sticks, measured portions of nuts (too easy to get lost in the can/bag), pork rinds.

Our mouth and brains get used to sweet, sweet, sweet. With RNY you will likely find that regular sugar is not a good option. Just smelling it makes me nauseous.

The Premeir Protein has Splenda in it as does the Torani Syrups both of which I use. I'm allergic to soy so have to avoid most of the other products out there. I also use the Quest Protein bars from time to time...

I'm finding that my tongue can be retrained and sometimes I can just have a few blueberries or a couple of strawberries in my plain yogurt (I make my own to avoid soy additives) is often enough sweetener. I've figured out that fresh yogurt is much sweeter than "old" yogurt (even one day makes a difference). So, I make up my yogurt and have one serving and then divide the rest into single servings and freeze them. I let them thaw out in the frig as I need them. It requires planning ahead, but tart yogurt just doesn't make me happy.

Since Polenta is basically cornmeal porridge, it's not recommended. Sort of like eating liquid cornbread. In any case, try riced cauliflower as a side dish.

Just take a head of raw cauliflower and break it up and wa**** Pat dry and then put the chunks in your food processor and pulse until it's rice size. THEN steam it. Don't steam before pulsing it or it turns to mush. I've done that in different ways: microwave with a tablespoon of water in a covered bowl until warm (don't overcook it or it gets mushy). In the oven on about 350 in a covered dish with about two tablespoons of water or broth.

I'm a butter eater as I'm allergic to soy and cannot eat margarine (it ALL has soy oil or soy latticing in it), so I will melt a little butter and salt and pepper over it. I've put tomato sauce on it. I've put cheese in it. I've drizzled a little olive oil and steamed veggies over it. I've even served it with beef gravy. Use it as you would rice or polenta.

Just remember to watch your portion sizes. Get your protein in first. For me this is 2 oz of meat followed by about 1/4 cup of my cauliflower rice with it's topping.

Thanks for the words. I am gonna try and keep it out of my mind and not stress. I believe I can do this I have come this far. Good luck to you.