Collecting Info. To Satisfy My Curiosity. What were your guidelines?

1. Where did you have surgery? - Ottawa Civic May 2012

2.  What eating stages did your center advise to get you back to solid foods? (Eg. weeks 1-2 clear fluids, weeks 3-4 full fluids,.......Week 9 solid foods) - four stages - liquids, pureed, soft foods, diet for life (book gave guidelines how long each stage but also said to move on if no complications)

3.  Are you allowed caffeine? - book said not recommended but NP said as long as no discomfort/side effects it's fine

4. Are you allowed carbonated beverages? - book said not recommended but NP said as long as no discomfort/side effects it's fine

5.  Are you required to separate eating from drinking by 1/2 hour before and after a meal? - yep

6.  What vitamins were you told are mandatory (general to everyone at your center, not specific to you)? - 2 multivitamins with at least 18 mg of iron each, 1200 mg min calcium split out over 2-3 does 2-3 hours apart.

1. Where did you have surgery? HRRH but orientation was through Kingston

2.  What eating stages did your center advise to get you back to solid foods? (Eg. weeks 1-2 clear fluids, weeks 3-4 full fluids,.......Week 9 solid foods) Not sure, I dont think I was really advised, I just kinda tried stuff...I ate soft foods 2 weeks out then at 3-4 weeks tried more solid foods

3.  Are you allowed caffeine? Kingston said no..before and after. HRRH never said. 

4. Are you allowed carbonated beverages? nope, never both sites said no way, dont want them anyways

5.  Are you required to separate eating from drinking by 1/2 hour before and after a meal? YES, for sure, only room for food or drink

6.  What vitamins were you told are mandatory (general to everyone at your center, not specific to you)? B12, 2 multis, calcium with vit d 3 times a day. prevacid for 6 months

Wow how we remember all this stuff? LOL 

Thanks to all for the information :)

Hi Marny,

1.  Guelph General Hospital

2.  Week 1 clear fluids, weeks 2-4 full fluids, Week 5 - goal weight (soft/regular diet)

3.  No caffeine and only 1 cup de-caf per day

4. NO CARBONATED BEVERAGES EVER AGAIN!

5.  Avoid drinking with meals.  either 30 min. before or 30 min. after.

6.  Vitamin D, B12, Pre-natal, Calcium, Iron (if required)

The dietician at Toronto Western told me that caffeine was fine to have.  I noticed that someone else from TWH posted above that they were told no to caffeine.  Go figure, maybe different staff say different things?

1. Where did you have surgery?

Toronto East General Hospital (TWH program)

2.  What eating stages did your center advise to get you back to solid foods? (Eg. weeks 1-2 clear fluids, weeks 3-4 full fluids,.......Week 9 solid foods)

Day 1 and 2, clear fluids.  Day 3 to the end of the 2nd week, full fluids.  3rd and 4th week - purees.  Weeks 5-8 - soft foods, starting with softer and leaving chewier things to the end.  After that, regular food, but always protein first, veggies next, grains last if room.  1/2 the plate protein, 1/4 of the plate veggies/fruit, 1/4 of the plate grains. 

Just had a dietitian appointment today for 6 months and she told me at this point 40% of calories from protein, 30% from fat, and 30% from carbs.  She said my calorie range of 800-1000 calories per day (with the usual range somewhere between 850 and 950) is right on target.

3.  Are you allowed caffeine?

I don't drink coffee, so honestly I'm not sure.  I don't remember them telling me not to, but it hasn't really been an issue since I'm no longer drinking pop and I don't drink coffee.  Not much of a tea drinker either.  I don't remember them ever forbidding it though, so I'm assuming I can have it if I want it.

4. Are you allowed carbonated beverages?

I haven't asked recently because I've cut them out completely and I don't want them anymore (I was never a beer drinker, for instance).  But before surgery, I was told that I wouldn't be able to have carbonated beverages again.

5.  Are you required to separate eating from drinking by 1/2 hour before and after a meal?

TWH literature advises us to do so.  However, the TWH literature I was given also said that eventually, after the soft food stage, we may be able to tolerate drinking up to a 1/4 cup of liquid with our meals and if we can, then that's fine.  This is one of those things I fall down on - I have a tough time not drinking with food.  It's a lesson I keep having to relearn, because I can tolerate a little bit of water with food, but if I have too much, I feel queasy.  And yet, it's such a hard habit for me to break, especially in restaurants where there is always a glass of water nearby. (And I love water.)  One of those things I need to work on as I get further out - I want to watch and make sure bad habits don't start creeping back...

6.  What vitamins were you told are mandatory (general to everyone at your center, not specific to you)?

TWH changed their recommendations between my pre-op nutrition class long before surgery and the nutrition class one month after surgery - they upped the amounts on some of the vitamins.  The guidelines I remember from the first month, which I think applied to everyone, were as follows:

Multivitamins - 2 per day (I think the minimum iron required in the multi went up, but they said my two Centrum 50+ chewable vitamins per day were fine.)

Calcium (Citrate, NOT carbonate) - 1,500 mg per day (went up from their original 1,200 recommendation)

B12 - 1 shot per month, or 3 pills/sublingual strips per week with 1,000 mcg each

Vitamin D - This I have a hard time remembering. She wants me to take 4,000 per day, but that's because I was a bit low at the 1 month check-up, so I believe that's individual to me.  I think the original recommended amount was 800 IU per day before I had my surgery, but I don't know if they changed that when they upped the calcium amount, since they're taken together.

I feel like I'm forgetting something, but I can't remember what.

This is interesting thanks for starting this thread Marny! I often wondered if different centers try different things for success rate comparisions. Here's mine to add to your collection!

1.  Surgery was in Guelph

2. 6 weeks of optifast before surgery, then 2 weeks of clear fluids, followed by 2 weeks of full fluids, then soft foods until solid foods could be tolerated.

3. No caffeine

4. Not sure about carbonated beverages, this has never been an issue for me, so l didn't really ask about it.

5. Yes, to separating drinking time by 1/2 an hour before and after meals, sometimes longer depending on how I'm feeling that day.

6.  Vitamin D, Vitamin B12, Prenatal vitamins and Calcium

Yes.  Interesting indeed.  Seems like there is a general consensus for most things.  I was always under the impression that there were vast differences, but perhaps not.  I pulled out my book from my center which has been untouched in my night table for probably a year at least.  It was good to refresh and read all the little details again.  I had to think long and hard about my early post-op guidelines to remember what they were. 

Some people have commented that their book said one thing, but then the dietician said another.  Personally, I'd stick with the guidelines in the book, since it's likely, the bariatric staff were the ones to sit down, consider everything carefully, and develop the program anyways.