WHAT ARE YOU HAVING FOR DINNER TONIGHT? Tell us! And how long is it since your sleeve?

First topic message reminder :

I thought this would be a good thread to give early sleevers some hope that eventually life will be normal again!

I am seven months and 3 weeks out, and tonight I am munching on melted cheese and ham on toast with relish (one piece is all I can manage). I might have a bowl (small) of ice cream in an hour if I get peckish later!

+1 for CeeCee - you need to be working with your dietician and surgeon during the eating stages that they prescribe for you. Everything that I'm eating has been guided closely by my discussions with my clinical team, and may not necessarily be appropriate for anyone else at 1 month post op.

There are no really hard lines between the different stages of the diet plans that you will be given, it's a gradual progression from sipping on thin liquids through to solid food that needs to be chewed before it can be swallowed.

The things I've eaten to this point really don't need to be chewed, they could be broken down to an acceptable texture with minimal effort....think of something like a mousse..it looks solid, but once it is in your mouth it effectively dissolves into almost nothing.

"Purees" cover a range of textures that range from a thick liquid through to stuff that you can eat with a fork - the key thing is to avoid stuff that can form a lump that would cause trouble if you failed to grind it out with your teeth and not to progress to anything thicker than you are ready for. If you push the limits then you won't enjoy the meal, run the risk of hurting yourself and potentially doing serious damage.

The consistency of the texture of the food becomes very important - you can achieve this by blending your food up after it is cooked, or by taking care in the manual preparation of the food before it is cooked. The way that the food is sliced, trimmed and prepared for cooking makes a huge difference to the texture and consistency of the food, and to how well you will tolerate it during your recovery.

All that being said, I'm enjoying the challenges of having to rethink what I cook and eat to fit these new constraints....at no point in any of the eating stages does food have to be tasteless, boring or unsatisfying - with a little creative thought it is possible to eat well and stay entirely within your diet plan.

Glenice, your post slightly concerns me. We go through the eating stages for a reason - to let our new tummies heal and not spring a leak or any other complication.

Now whilst it seems like common sense that we "chew to a puree anyway", I can pretty much guarantee that sometimes you'll forget. I know I still do it now nearly 3 years post op. Unless you are focusing on every single mouthful you have and chewing it to any absolute pulp, there is a possibility that you're going to swallow something that isn't puree, that then has the ability to damage your stomach.

Please stick to your surgeons rules, and not just "nod and smile" and think we're all stupid for doing so.

What a very sensible approach.  I had, myself, wondered at the 'puree' concept, thinking....well...one usually CHEWS one's food into something approaching a puree consistency before swallowing anyway - why does it really need to be pureed before it gets to your mouth, we dont swallow things whole......but had kept my mouth shut (quite an achievement for me I can tell you) and smiled sweetly and said...yes I can do that lol
Anything to ensure I am a good candidate - roll on the 22nd March is all I can say.

Love your foodie posts - keep it up - its an inspiration to us all knowing we CAN eat nice food after the sleeve, it doesnt have to be the meat and 3 veg concept.

You rock Geoff

One of my reasons for going down this path was to still permit a varied diet, I like interesting food that tastes good...it's just the volume that needs to change.

I had my 1 month followup this week, so I'm being encouraged to eat progressively more solid food, in the meantime I'm very careful with my choices and try to pick things that will be a soft puree when they leave my mouth even if they appear solid before I chew them.
 - Things like haggis and bratwurst are very finely ground, and contain no bread filler so they are much smoother than normal sausages or mince meat
 - Anything that has long fibres in it like the leeks, kale, chicken, beef, etc is deliberately sliced across the grain to ensure that there are no long fibers that could create a lump in my throat
 - I have a water bath cooking gadget http://www.sousvides.com/ that is very useful for changing the textures of food, for example:-
      - I will cook a small piece of steak in it for dinner this evening, but I'll cook it a low temperature for an hour or more to break down all the collagen and connective tissue
      - This should leave me with a piece of medium rare steak that can be sliced into strips across the grain and will be meltingly soft, but with tons of flavour.


So, tonight will be 1 month to the day post op, and I will be having:-
 - 160g of sirloin steak cooked in the water bath, then seared in a pan to finish it off
 - a little splash of green peppercorn sauce made with pan juices from the steak
 - wilted spinach
 - sliced garlic mushrooms

Wow GeoffN - your posts make my mouth water. G ood food just less of it.

You seem to be onto the solid food quickly, I thought it would be much longer before eating normal food instead of pureeeed stuff.

Haggis and cauliflower purée

4 weeks tomorrow
 - 1/2 a bratwurst sausage
 - Finely sliced mushrooms, sauteed in olive oil and finished with a little greek yoghurt
 - Shredded Kale cooked with olive oil, anchovies, chilli and garlic

2 & half years post op.

Half a small piece of pork (roast), a small bite of sweet potato and a few beans.

11 months post op

1 baked chicken drum stick and 1/2 cup caesar salad, desert 1 small square of brownie my neighbour made. yummo!

9 weeks post sleeve

Tender chicken breast cooked on the BBQ ( about 60'grams)
Sautéed English spinach in a pan with garlic and fresh lemon
Steamed broccoli with salt and pepper.

- Cauliflower and Walnut Cream
 - Home made yoghurt and pureed peaches

I used to have this dish as a pasta sauce, but it works well without the pasta - and it's a one pot wonder, probably quicker than cooking the Lean Cuisine - cheaper too.

- Take a piece of leek weighing around 150-200g after it has been trimmed
- trim the roots and top off, then split it down the middle
- shred the leek finely using a knife (or food processor if you lack knife skills - worst case you can buy bags of shredded leeks in the supermarket)
- heat a good squirt of olive oil in saucepan, or butter if you like
- add the leeks and keep stirring them around until they start to break down
- add salt, pepper, a good glug of white wine
- put the lid on and turn the heat right down so the leeks steam with the wine
- wait for 5 mins whilst the leeks soften (check that they haven't dried out every now and again - just add a splash more wine and give it a stir if need be)
- turn the heat off and stir through 30-40g of grated fontina
- serve it up

PS - Tara - your tastebuds are in with a chance, but moving to Brissy and getting married is unlikely  :-)

Sound so much better than my Lean Cuisine but it also sounds so much better than anything I can cook. I don't "do" meals. I just hate cooking meals. Love baking though....bread, biscuits, pastries, cakes. Meals are just work to me. I grew up meat and three vege.....didn't even have pasta until I was in my thirties.

I wish there was such a thing as home delivered gourmet meals for people on a budget!

Oh... my .... goodness.

That's it, I can sit silent no longer.

Geoff all your recipes sound amazing !!!! 

I think you should move to Brissy, marry me and MOST importantly COOK for me !!!!!

Are my taste buds in with a chance ?? lol

Tara

Just short of 4 weeks post op...

 - Finely shredded leeks, softened in olive oil, a little white wine and finished with a few small pieces of melted fontina cheese

One day off 9 weeks post op.

I had a quarter of a Lean Cuisine Lamb Kofta with mildly spiced couscous. Went down well but very filling. Around 80 something calories. Tasty, but the "mildly spiced" was spiced well enough. Wouldn't like too much more heat for my tum.

Almost 7 weeks post op.

1/4 of a lean cuisine beef stroganoff.

6wks post op, I had 2 tablespoons of honey Greek you hurt and 3 peach segments 

2 and a half years post sleeve, last night I went to a BBQ & had hmmm maybe 3 or 4 bites of a piece of steak, a forkful of coleslaw and 3 ciders.

Hi 12 1/2 months out, tonight I small piece lean steak and half cup of diced salad  with two slices boiled egg and one slice beetroot.

11 months out and I had a small piece of steak, 6 sweet potato gems and a little bowl of salad with naughty creamy caesar salad dressing. A few little scoops of mango sorbet for dessert :)

6 months out on Friday and tonight for dinner I'm having burritos (well, I'll have one) made with beef mince, and a corn salsa.  Yummy yummy yum.

Is it too early at 3 weeks post op to put a little spring onion in my mash?

3 weeks and 5 days. tonight will be 1/2 - 3/4 a cup of home made bolognaise with some mushed baked pumpkin and peas.

6 months since sleeve, tonight we will be having roast beef and veg.
love Btgirl

Three weeks one day post op and just had a small piece of baked fish with lots of sauce. Having small pieces of cheese for snacks.