When did you start "real" food? What were you first foods to try?

I will be a month out on Thursday and am allowed to have "real" food.  I feel really nervous because I have had that "stuck" feeling 3 times-once on an egg, once on ricotta bake and another time on a pill. So I seriously cannot imagine having a bit of REAL chicken (not pureed).

So I will be starting week 5 of my eating plan. Do you think that's too soon for real food?

Here are my questions:

1. When did you start "real" food? (not soft or pureed)

2. What were some of the first foods that you tried?  Which ones went down easily? Which ones gave you problems?

Thank you so much!

Pam

That is when I started real food too. Start slowly and chew small bites more carefully than you even think you need to. When you try chicken, I recommend trying dark meat first as it is much more moist. And when you move to chicken breast, maybe make sure you cook it in sauce and keep it super moist. Don't worry - soon you too will be 9+ months out and barely remember what you started eating when! :)

As for trouble food - apple peel still is difficult for me so I have to peel my apples. I fit in well with my little kids! :)

Good luck!

Amy

Do you have trouble with things getting "stuck" ever (and then getting the foamies)? Does that get better with time? Do your bites have to still be super tiny?

Thank you!

Pam

Not anymore...well, hardly. Once in awhile it happens but very rare. It got much easier for me at the 8 week point - but I don't know if that's true for everyone. Maybe that's just when it "clicked" for me as to how I needed to be eating as far as bite size and chewing. I feel like I eat pretty normally now in respect to those things. But I encourage you to make slowing down a new habit, so you have time to listen to your body and avoid that "one bite too many" issue. That's the one that can still get me this far out.

Amy

I had a month of pureed, a month of soft, and today I start unrestricted food.  However, my soft food stage was pretty liberal and included chicken.  My first soft food meal was two scallops.

I would love to hear how it goes for you today with unrestricted food!

Thank you for sharing!

Pam

5 weeks before real food... yikes.  I know many surgeons do it that way, but my surgeon allowed us to start soft foods Day Three and solid food at 1 week. (Her experience has been that people have less trouble eating when they don't have an extended period of liquids and purées after surgery).

Some of my first solid foods were scrambled eggs, tuna, baked cod, cheeses, and moist baked chicken (but lots of people have trouble with chicken).  I still continued eating things like refried beans, yogurt, and cottage cheese though.  I didn't have trouble with anything I ate.  I didn't vomit until I was 18 months out (when I tried to eat some dry chicken too quickly), never got anything stuck (my surgeon was adamant about chewing everything to "mush" so it isn't possible to get anything stuck), and never had foamies.

Lora

Thanks Lora! That makes me feel better-like it's not too soon.  It seems like some surgeons' plans don't let them eat real food for even longer than mine. That does make sense about people having more trouble with eating after extended periods of liquids. I mean look at you-you haven't had any trouble. I, on the other hand, have been on liquids so long that I am scared of a scrambled egg!

Pam :)

Chew, chew, chew it is the thing to do.... (song from The Road to Wellville)

First meal was tuna fish with LF mayo - probably 2 tablespoons worth. It took me an hour - lol

Scrambled egg was a hit - w/a bit of ketchup (yes you can chew scrambled egg until it's liquid)

Cottage cheese...

I did feel like things stuck in the beginning - so like other posters have stated - tiny bites (like you would give an infant just starting cereal) and add some liquid. Broth is good to keep things moisty if you're afraid of trying anything heavy or that might be too fatty to start with.

I still (and just past a year) put some sort of gravy, ketchup, mustard, mayo on my meats.

And yes I still chew chew chew and take small bites.

Good luck -

I was one month today and started "real food" yesterday. I baked cod in a salsa with lots of liquid, almost poached, and was able to eat about 1 oz of it without difficulty and lots of chewing. I also ate about 2 oz bites of shaved deli turkey this morning, which was pretty exciting :).

I haven;t tried anything else; I'm planning on going slow and easy.