Food Isn't Fun Anymore...

Sep 09, 2012

I have always been a girl who enjoyed her food...like, I don't mind driving an hour or more to get to my favorite restaurant for Mexican food. Same goes for my favorite French restaurant which is roughly 2 hours from my house. WELL worth the drive. I can't even really say which food is my all time favorite. My food likes are very similar to my music likes...all over the place. I love trying new foods and the various flavors and textures...and I love HEAT in my food too (which makes Indian food yet another fave). In any case, my point is that I am someone who enjoys variety and I feel very trapped when I can't have it.  

My surgiversary is hitting the two week mark this coming Tuesday and these early days of post op and the restrictions that come with it have been KILLING me. I've been told that I don't HAVE to have variety and that I will soon  learn that. Yeah, well, so far, no luck. It doesn't help to get on here and see the vast differences in folks' diets. Some are on a clear liquid diet for the first week, others for two weeks. The same is true of when they can have pureed foods, soft foods, etc. My first response is always, "that's not fair!" and then I have to ask myself why. No one is monitoring me and what I eat. No food police are gonna jump out of my cabinets and arrest me for eating pudding before it's "allowed" on my diet! What I have to go by is what my body will tolerate and as of today, my tummy is an ornery old man (which is why I now refer to my tummy as "Walter" after the puppet in Jeff Dunham's show). Walter is quick to let me know if I've consumed something he isn't ready to tolerate yet. He does this by causing me great discomfort in the form of cramping, racing to the restroom or foamies. As long as I'm gentle with Walter, we seem to get along just fine. 

That being said, Walter is still quite cranky from having more than half of him excised. We fought like hell the first few days post op, but we seem to get along better and better as the days pass. Over this first 12 days of being post op, eating has become a chore of sorts. It starts with determining exactly WHAT I'm allowed to have and then how I can make it tolerable and DIFFERENT. I don't think I can swallow another ounce of chicken broth. It was pure heaven when I got that first taste after surgery, but that crap got old quickly. You can only drink so much of it before you feel the urge to grow feathers and cluck. No thank you. Before VSG WLS, eating was not only a means to fuel my body, it was fun. I enjoyed my food and even enjoyed the selection process of what I would have for each meal. I didn't realize how much it would hurt and how much I would mourn that process until it was no longer an option. Food just isn't fun anymore. Yeah, yeah...I know, it isn't forever. But it feels like it when you're in the midst of it, now doesn't it? And that's where I am. And admittedly, I keep testing Walter and he keeps kicking my butt. As stubborn as I am, I know I have to bow down to Walter for the time being. Back to liquids only...

My only saving grace at this point is I'm pretty sure I'm ready to swap over to a full liquid diet rather than a clear liquid diet and that should open up a whole new world of flavors for me in a SAFE way. I was feeling optimistic about this and started looking for what others were doing for this phase in their diet and stumbled across a post from a veteran of VSG.  Gadzooks!!! It's an absolutely amazing list of recipes for both shakes and snacks to get that protein in!!!  And let me tell you, the list is looooooong, but some of these recipes look downright delicious. You can find a link to her posting HERE. For me, I'm printing it out and plan to try as many as I can to get me through this next phase.

If you're like me, you've had your up and down moments in your journey. I have gone from zero to "why did I have this surgery" in 2.5 minutes and I'm sure I'll do it again before it's all over. Finding the OH site has been a life saver for me and helped me through those times. Finding the list was SO helpful to me and that's why I wanted to pass it on. I truly hope it helps you too, regardless of which phase you're currently in. 

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