What's on the menu today, RNY-ers?

Hi OH Friends and Family!

My life was changed yesterday, thanks to this post…ok, that’s rather dramatic, but it’s a constant struggle to find crunchy food when on a high protein, low carb diet.  My go-tos have been kale chips, pickles, and cheese crisps.  Well thanks to momjan, here is a new recipe:    

Try tofu.  I buy the med-firm, put it on paper towels, then a couple of plates on top to squeeze the moisture out.  Do this rather than buy the firm as the texture is different.  Slice the tofu into about 1/2 thick slices, dredge in beaten egg (I sometimes add a bit of Thai sweet chili sauce to is), then dredge in parmesan cheese that has been mixed with some italian spices.  Spray a pan with oil and fry the tofu in it until crispy.  If you will do a bit of bread, mix some panko crumbs with the parmesan mixture.  

Also new and exciting in my life, SYNTRAX MATRIX MINT COOKIE PROTEIN SHAKE!  Ok, I know tastes vary, and most shakes I can choke down at best, but I had seen these in this post before so I bought a sample pack off of Bariatric Pantry and OH. MY. GOD.  I am seriously going to buy a 5 lb tub of this stuff.  1. I mixed it with a cup of unsweetened almond milk, and the nutrition for the shake powder is 23 g of protein, 140 calories, 6 g of carbs.  2. It has little bits in it.  Like, pieces of cookie.  3. It mixes like a charm.  I put it in a shaker bottle with a little shaker ball and gave it a shake…all mixed and ready to go.  No blender required.  4. Have I mentioned the taste?  Freaking phenomenal!   

Speaking of life-changing things, download the app AnyList (it’s on iPhone, not sure about Android) and it’s the best app for a grocery list.  When you add items, it organizes them by aisle/area!  So when I added tofu, it knew to add it to produce!!!  I love it, and it keeps me on track :)   Ok, on to today's menu:  

Time Since Surgery: 14.5 weeks  

B: Chicken salad leftover from lunch two days ago, and a pickle :)  Savory!  (after my daily 10 oz coffee of course)  

L: I ended up making ground turkey last night and flavored it a few different ways.  Today I brought 3.5 oz of ground turkey with taco seasoning, Cholula hot sauce, and 1/8 cup light Mexican shredded cheese.    

S: Brought almond milk in a shaker bottle - gonna try the Syntrax nectar cookies and cream packet today :)  

D: Meeting friends for dinner at a noodle place.  I know, nice.  I tried to argue against it but one of my friends was like "They can make you something special!".  I didn't argue because it's next to a new Trader Joe's!  So I will have the chicken satay appetizer and then do some grocery shopping after :)  

Totals: 683 calories, 90 g of protein (!!!), 23 g fat, 23 g carbs (slightly higher than I like).    

What's on your menu today?

Good morning DC-type person!   How's the snow, all melted away at this point? You know, I'm not a big tofu eater, but that recipe sounds delicious. I'm craving crunchy myself, and that sounds like it just might be the ticket. There's only so many pickles I can eat!

So, here's today's plan at 14 weeks out:

B: 1 slice toasted Ezekiel sesame bread w/ 1 tbsp peanut butter

L: 1 poached egg atop 4 steamed asparagus spears with freshly shaved Parmesan cheese

D: 3-4 ounces baked halibut (not sure exactly how I'm going to bake it yet, probably plain with a lemon gremolata topping afterward) and more asparagus

S: 1 Jay Robb protein shake with unsweetened almond milk and 1/2 Phormula 1 fruit punch shake

Totals: 601 calories, 25 carbs, 21 fat and 78 protein

W and V - all good.

E is still problematic, I'm just having a hard time getting motivated to move when it's so cold.

Notes: The carbs are a bit higher than I like, mostly because of the bread. I've gone back and forth on the bread issue, mostly coming down on the side of abstaining for good. Let's face it, most bread is pretty empty of nutrition and high in "white". However, I remembered the Ezekiel bread from my time working at Whole Foods and took a look at the nutrition information yesterday. For bread, it's...not bad. 14 grams of carbs, 80 calories and 4 grams of protein per slice. So I decided to try it as an occasional thing and watch for cravings. If the loaf I bought disappears in less than a month (they come frozen), then I'll know it's a problem and not buy it again.

Also, because of the choice for breakfast I'll add two shakes today to bring up the protein number. At the moment I'll say it was worth it, though; while I generally do my best to try to avoid having to use shakes at this point, my breakfast tasted like ambrosia! 

Do you eat regular peanut butter or some kind of low sugar natural kind?

Hi Kimberly. I used just plain old Jif creamy. I do have some fresh ground almond butter, but just wanted the peanut flavor today. I did compare the nutritional information first, and decided that they were close enough nutritionally that I could deal with the 2 grams of sugar from the Jif without much worry. Since I've started worshiping at the altar of portion control, one tablespoon of peanut butter is sensible. Now, if you could have seen one of my pre-op peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, with about a cup of peanut butter and three slices of bread (to keep the jelly and peanut butter separate, you know!) it might make more sense that I wasn't worried about what I had today! 

Hi Pam!  Snow is gone, thankfully!  Your menu sounds great.  And I hear ya on the "moderation vs. abstinence" question.  You can find many people in both camps here :)  I have decided to go the route of absolute abstaining because I don't trust myself...if I have a piece of bread...well is a piece of pizza all that bad?  LOL - I can see it being a slippery slope FOR ME.  I know many others can do things in moderation.  Apparently I either eat carbs in large volume (pre surgery) or none at all (post surgery).  

Re: Shakes - try the Matrix Syntrax Mint Cookie.  Holy crap.  I would drink it every single day all day if I could!

Oh god no...thanks for the recommendation, but mint makes me barf! Always has, I hate it almost as much as I hate cilantro! 

Mint cookie is one of my favorites, that and my root beer float (vanilla protein and diet root beer)  I also like syntrax lemon tea (for a not milky drink) I add some crystal lite as it is very mild in flavor.  I also add Up cal D.   I wasn't a big fan of the cookies and cream.  But as they say YMMV lol.  I guess to sum it up I rely on 4 primary protein drinks - mint cookie syntrax matrix, syntrax nectar lemon tea, premier protein RTD chocolate (for grab and go I keep a few in the fridge)  and GNC vanilla

Tofu is not an option for me- it is a texture thing.  I'll eat meat  lol

1 1/2 yrs post op

2 cups coffee w sf creamer and Splenda 

b. 1/2 slice of zucchini bread my sister made (I couldn't or didn't resist :( )   Protein lemon tea with crystal lite to settle pouch after the bread ( I will never learn)

l spinach salad

s turkey jerky 

s Greek yogurt

d. cauliflower cheese soup (just a modified, (more milk, no bacon) version of my cauliflower casserole

s ?

v none yet, will take 1st batch NOW

e. Wii zumba, you tube yoga

fluids- never a problem. Coffee, tea, water, protein shake

have a great day everyone !

Candy!  I saw your other post - 120 lbs down and your pic!  Amazing!  What a transformation :)

I wouldn't normally just chow down on tofu, but crispy dredged in parmesan tofu...well THAT is another story :)

I just tried a bite of someone's mashed cauliflower here at work - she is on Weigh****chers and made it with fat free sour cream, parmesan cheese, and garlic.  I bet with greek yogurt it would be as good and high in protein.  It was AWESOME.  I am gonna have to try that!

Ooh, I made a cauliflower puree to go under our steaks last week and never thought to sub greek yogurt for the cream. I'm going to try that! Also, with the texture, I bet it would be easy enough to hide some unflavored protein powder in there as well.