Vegetables??

Tomorrow makes my month out of surgery and according to my surgeon's plan I will be on phase 4. I've followed the plan 100 percent so far and haven't had anything except protein for every meal but I'm craving vegetables, salad, anything! I saw a picture someone had posted of cucumbers in light Italian dressing and it looked like the best thing I've ever seen. It looked like how I would've felt about a brownie with ice cream pre-op, lol.

Anyway, I'm wondering if it's ok to have some vegetables ...and what is and isn't ok. I'd drink an extra protein drink or something if I could just have an ounce of those cucumbers for one of my meals!

I had a hard time with veggies for quite a while just go slow

As a vegan boy did I miss veggies.  I'm six weeks out today and haven't been brave enough to have a salad yet but I'm having cooked veggies.  They do fill up my sleeve so I have to go with a protein first, then the veg.  I did mix a little bit of cut up raw purslane with my hummus yesterday and it sat ok in my stomach.  

I'd be cautious about any kind of dressing.  I used nothing but vinegar prior to surgery because there can be so much fat and so many calories in dressing and it surely doesn't fill you up but I have to say that your marinated cucumbers does sound very appealing.  I would just take it slow as I would with any other food until I know it agrees with my sleeve.

Does your surgeon's plan call for incorporating veggies at this point?

When I started veggies they were supposed to be well cooked.

I'll have to review my plan today but I believe at a month out we're allowed to try anything that is within guidelines, but it's the 'protein first, and a bite of anything else if you have room for it'. At this point I wouldn't have room for anything else, but I'm just wondering if it would be ok once a month or something. 

I had been a vegetarian for over 17 years before this surgery, but I didn't do it the healthy way- I ate mostly carbs which is what got me needing the surgery in the first place. I didn't want to tempt going back down that same route so I gave it all up and starting eating chicken and turkey so I can have a variety of protein. Veggies were my favorite thing before though so I'm missing them dearly. :)

I'm almost 8 months out and I still have difficulty with most raw veggies, but the good news is that cucumbers are the raw veggies I tolerate the best. I think I first had cucumbers at 2-3 months out. I get the little Persian or English cucumbers and have them either with Italian dressing or in yogurt. I cut them up into small pieces which helps. That way I'm able to eat them without peeling them. For me, most other veggies and fruits have to be peeled.

I was allowed to start with soft cooked vegetables.  There was nothing on my plan that specified when I could start raw veggies so I've been carefully adding them in.  Especially now that it's market season.  YUM.  

Find out what your plan allows, if you're not sure.  I can never have as many veggies as I'd like these days, but I do eat them.  I'm just now at the point where I can eat 4 ounces (which was my personal goal) so I measure out 3 ounces of protein and then have a few bites of veg.  Or, if it's something that's all mixed up like the greek chicken salad I've been eating this last week, I just measure out 4 ounces total.  

(I'm 4 months out, though.)

You need to follow your plan but this is what I was told by my surgeon.  People tend to want to eat a more balanced diet so take two bites of protein and one bite of vegetable, two bites of protein one bite of vegetable.  This allows you to have a healthy thing that you are craving but lets you keep getting your protein in.  The important thing to remember is that you need to get your protein in and if you are eating other foods, that is taking up room where protein would have fit.  You will need to find what works for you but with the sleeve there are no foods you can't eat there are just better choices than others.  Dense protein is going to stay with you longer than eating vegetables or starches.  Once it truly sunk in with me, I pretty much only eat protein and my labs are good.  I find that if I eat soft foods, I get hungrier a lot quicker so I in turn eating more food/calories than I really need.