I have tried everything. Diet, supplements, herbs, accupuncture etc. I feel nauseated when I eat unless it is an apple and nutbutter. I have a very difficult time with carbs and avoid them (and all grains) to keep my blood sugars stable. 

My question is: If I were to just find a meal replacement shake or bar, what would be a nutritionally sound choice? I quit protein shakes years ago because they were so highly processed that my blood sugar would go bananas. I have recently tried Jay Rob's egg white protein and seem to do OK with that. 

Anyone else find that over the years they just can't seem to tolerate food?

Thanks everyone,

Karen

Oh man.  I was only on clear liquids for three days, including the remainder of surgery day.  I can see how 6 days would be really hard.  In that case, I don't think your cravings for real food are abnormal at all whatsoever. At the end of day three of the clear liquids, I was ready to get something real in my stomach, even if it was just a protein shake.  I wasn't physically hungry, so I think it might just be a psychological thing, maybe partly physical?  Who knows?

All of the paperwork I was given said each stage is a week, so I'm 6 days into the clear liquids and as of tomorrow I can start the puree stage. I'm tempted to try my sugar free pudding today to see how it goes down. I need something other than water and popsicles.. Lol..

Hey, surgery buddy!  I had the same thing.  I didn't want ANYTHING at first, and it was a struggle to just ge****er and my protein shakes down.  On Saturday, I HAD to have something more substantial.  The next phase in my meal planner from the hospital says "pureed foods / liquid", so for breakfast I made myself 2tbsp baby cereal with about 4tbsp milk and mixed that with 1/2 scoop of plain protein powder.  For lunch, I just had a shake.  Then for dinner, I made cream of mushroom soup with skim milk, added a can of chickpeas for protein, pureed that, then poured myself a little less than 1/2 cup and mixed in 1/2 scoop of plain protein powder.  It was SO good.  

I found that the soup didn't sit well, so I went back to liquids for Sunday breakfast and lunch.  Then for dinner I had 2oz of pureed chicken breast mixed with some vegetable broth.  That went down well.

This morning I ate two scrambled eggs for breakfast!  It went down rather well.  

So I think if you just try a little bit of pureed food and see how it goes, go from there.  The hospital told me you just try one food at a time to see how it goes down and progress to the different food stages as you feel you can handle them.  So for me, it was clear liquid for two days, then protein shakes and water for a week.  I started the pureed stage a bit early.  Then the next stage is soft food, then the last stage is solid food.  I think I will be experimenting with the soft food stage now.

I found that when I haven't eaten in awhile, I start to get little cravings for food.  Then I eat what I have planned to eat and the craving goes away.  

So that's my experience so far.

Did your surgeon/dietician clear you to try moving onto a new food stage or give you any estimates as to how long until you can try out pureed/soft food?

I had my surgery on 3/1/16 and I haven't wanted a bite of food. It's been water, Ginger Tea and sugar free popsicles the entire time. Today, I woke up and all I want is something real to eat. I don't care if it's mashed potatoes, yogurt, apple sauce or pudding. I need SOMETHING! 

Did anyone else go thru this?