Day 5. Struggling. I want real food

Hey all,

I'm only 5 days out but struggling with wanting real food. I mean, I won't risk anything. I definitely won't eat. But, it's harder than I thought. See, I'm actually kind of a health nut. I really enjoy fresh organic veggies, raw nuts, lentils, etc. I've always tried to eat real food with as few ingredients as possible. I am not a fan of packaged and processed junk. 

So, here I am. Drinking these cr@p protein drinks with a mile long list of artificial ingredients. And, that's it. Ugh! I have some Aloha protein powder that is more natural but it only has 18 grams of protein and the premier protein has 30 so I've been choking the latter down. They're not good though. I'd love to "chew" something but am only allowed jello and sf Popsicles. They taste SO artificial. I reeeeeaally don't like them. On Friday, I can start full liquids but that's not much of a consolation as the only new things I may introduce at that time are ff yogurt and milk. I am not a fan of either. I do like cottage cheese which I believe I can have in another 2 weeks. 

I knew this would be difficult but I didn't think my tastebuds would so reject all the artificial flavors. I didn't expect to be CRAVING grilled chicken and veggies. I also didn't expect for the smell of my family's dinner cooking to be so tortuous. My hubby is grilling carne asada, the smell fresh chopped cilantro is filling the house, and I hear the blender making his famous homemade salsa. Gah!

Other than chicken broth (which I do think is ok, but I just prefer water), is there anything else that is more natural? Did anyone else have this issue?? I don't mean to sound ridiculous. I KNEW this wouldn't be easy. I just really want some real food and am struggling. 

Thanks for any responses

I hear you loud and clear! I am 2 weeks post op and I didn't expect to be this hungry. I can also have Ff  pudding and low fat yogurt, they satisfy for a minute, but the favors are awful. 

I started mixing my whey protein powder with decaf coffee and it is much better than with milk. 

I'm really craving grilled chicken too and cheese. I don't want to stretch my pouch, I've a long way to go, but I've had (on my approved stage 3 list) some ff cottage cheese with scrambled egg beaters with salt and pepper and that was like a steak. Jus****ch the portion. 

Best wishes and know you're not alone! 

Diane

Thank you Diane. It is nice to know I'm not alone. I never thought of mixing protein with coffee. Is it an unflavored protein? 

I think the hungriest I got was when I was a week or so out. But it passed after that, and I went quite a while without really being hungry at all.

I don't know you, but a couple of things you said raise a red flag. I'm sure you consider yourself a "health nut," and "really enjoy fresh organic veggies, raw nuts, lentils, etc." But the fact is, not one of us became morbidly obese by being health nuts and eating those kinds of things. We got morbidly obese and needed surgery by eating a lot of unhealthy crap. A LOT. I'm just saying it would benefit you greatly to think about your above statement, and examine closely what led you to this spot. Believe me, this is something we all had to spend a lot of time on.

I dunno - I've been a pretty healthy eater for years (at least choice-wise - not volume-wise).  I think that's part of the reason I didn't have any co-morbidities besides arthritis, even though I'm in my late 50's and was almost 200 lbs overweight.  It's just that I was inhaling about 3000 kcal a day (before surgery....).

I used to a very healthy fat person.  I got there eating mostly organic foods, as natural as they could be, using herbal stuff for almost any issues.  The natural way of eating was making me hungry and made me overeat.  

Hunger and blood sugar fluctuation is one of the reason why now I try to follow more Keto style diet. Still as natural as I can get and afford, but I do limit foods that can cause blood sugar fluctuation including grains, sugars, fruits, starches... Unfortunately my body got very very efficient to convert any carbs into fat... So one way to avoid that is to limit foods like that.

I can totally relate to the fluctuating blood sugar issue.  My usual breakfast back in pre-surgery days was a protein/fruit smoothie:  half a banana, an entire peach or cup of melon, half cup of berries, half a cup of Greek yogurt, a scoop of protein powder, and enough fruit juice to get it going in the blender.  A vitamin bomb for sure - but can you imagine the sugar in that?  And the calories?

Cat woman-Yes. I can relate. I didn't mean to imply that I was a perfect eater, obviously. Volume was a problem for me, not what I ate. For example, I could eat a whole tub of hummus in one sitting if I allowed myself. My salads, while filled with healthy ingredients, were always huge.

oh yes - I knew what you meant.  My comment was in response to the other comment that morbidly obese people get that way via eating lots of unhealthy food.  Not necessarily so - I ate way too much healthy food!  And yes - a entire tub of hummus at one sitting would have been no problem for me.  Or 2 cups of vegetarian chili.  Or the equivalent of three servings of spaghetti - complete with a couple of cups of whole wheat pasta.  Tons and tons of calories.

Actually not. I ate only organic, clean food. I am highly allergic to soy and my children were both diagnosed (via biopsy) with celiac. I cooked everything from scratch and it was all considered the best of all foods available. Because of the kid's issues, we also ate very low carb. We even purchased our meat on the hoof from a local organic farm. Raised our own chickens for a while to avoid having soy added to their feed. Kept a huge garden until I couldn't do the work anymore due to my weight. What got me was HOW MUCH I ate. I'm crazy healthy other than my weight with low blood pressure, excellent cholesterol levels, perfect on sugar reading, etc. But being 120 pounds over my ideal weight made it impossible to do the physical work I need to do to keep up the house and farm and it was destroying my knees and ankles and feet.