Ground Rules

I'm seven weeks out from surgery now and feeling more confident in the choices I'm making.  I'm even getting more comfortable being out and about and I know the few simple snacks I need to pack to ensure success for myself, no matter where I am.  Here are the basics, the core "rules" I need to follow in order to continue to see success in this journey:

• Hello hydration!  Liquids are critical to my overall well being.  Since my body can't absorb as many nutrients from food as it used to be able to, I can help by making sure I am well hydrated and my kidney and liver are functioning as they should.  I can feel it pretty quickly if I haven't had enough fluid.  My energy wanes and I start to feel nauseous.  
• Protein First!  Protein helps build lean muscle mass and gives my body sustaining energy to put it in optimal fat-burning mode.  My goal is to have a minimum of 60 grams of protein a day but ideally closer to 80 grams.  The quality of the protein counts too.  I still use daily whey isolate protein shakes and occasional protein bars but the majority of my protein comes from food.  Smart choices such as high quality, lean meats, beans, fish, cottage cheese, greek yogurt are all great sources of protein.  
• Small, SLOW meals!  Each 1/2 to 1 cup "meal" should take me about 20 minutes to eat.  Sometimes this is a stretch so I try to make sure I either have some good conversation happening during dinner time or if I'm by myself, I have a book to read / something else to distract me.  
• Portion Control! This could also be called "Listen to Your Body!"  My "tool" works quite effectively.  If I measure my food and eat ~ one cup or less at each meal, I feel quite happily satisfied.  This is a very new experience for me.  In the past, "portion control" always meant 'eat what you're supposed to like a good girl and then feel hungry.'  Sometimes it seems so strange that I really don't eat much and even so I really do feel full.  
• Carbs Cause Cravings!  Honestly I spent the first week post-surgery being mad that no one told me beforehand that I really shouldn't / couldn't eat certain types of carbs after surgery.  My big upset was over noodles because before surgery those were my big weakness, my love.  I lived for noodles!  Once I was able, I tried one small noodle out of some soup I made for my son.  Surprisingly, it didn't eve taste good.  It felt heavy and wet in my tummy.  That was an eye opener to me because up until that point (despite reading things telling me I shouldn't,) I had been telling myself I would just eat noodles occasionally and in moderation.  The problem with that thinking is that occasionally often leads to often and moderation often leads to more.  These are things I know for sure after having lived my whole life as a morbidly obese person.  Surgical tool or no, you can go down the wrong path with poor food choices and the wrong mindset.  

The simple truth about simple carbs is that they cause cravings and generally are not healthy options.  I do eat carbs but I limit them and I try to make sure the majority of my carbs are coming from the vegetables I choose and not from bread, pasta, rice, cereal, oatmeal, crackers, chips, etc.  For me the simple, honest truth is that those foods were NOT my friends before surgery and they most certainly are not my friends now.  It is best for me to draw a clear line in the sand and just let these foods go.  The truth is that I don't even miss them.  I actually enjoyed having my BLT in a lettuce wrap instead of between two slices of bread.

                                 

I've come to look for things like black bean burgers or grilled chicken served "green style" when we go out.  Although I will not do it often, I even found out that Wendy's will serve you a burger on a bed of lettuce--and it even comes served with a plastic knife and fork.    

• Mistakes = Mastery!  It's OK to make mistakes.  As a new post-op, that's the last thing you want to do.  You are inundated with information and medicine and vitamins and new sensations throughout your body.  It's pretty overwhelming and sometimes even a little scary, especially if you have any complications to deal with.  The bottom line is you have to take everything one day at a time.  If something isn't right one day, you learn from it and make adjustments the next.  You also have to cut yourself some slack and realize you are going to make mistakes sometimes.  As my mother-in-law, Mary used to say, "The only thing wrong with making a mistake is not learning from it."  If that's not wisdom I don't know what is!