Help me out here please. I can't do sandwich meat (cold cuts). They get stuck every single time. I've tried taking smaller bites, and nothing seems to work. I used to make enough food the night before to just have warm ups the next day. That dries out the food to much, so I only make enough for supper now. Tuna fish and canned chicken are also things that get easily stuck.

Today I broke down and toasted a piece of bread and put some Peanut Butter on it. Then drank a glass of milk about 30 minutes later.

I don't like Soup. I never have. I feel like I'm being difficult, but I really am out of ideas. I stay at home with my 2 and 3 year old, and I don't want to make a big meal every time lunch comes around.

Fat-free refried Beans with salsa and cheese?

Can you do eggs?

What about putting the chicken/tuna in your food processor-- would that help?

One thing that I've done to help with the "dried out" feature of left-overs is used my chicken or beef broth to re-wet my food. So if I made shredded chicken with onions the night before, I add a splash or two of chicken broth and nuke it the next day and it stays moist. Adding broth or Water to just about any leftover (just a bit) can help it perk back up after a night in the refrigerator.

I don't have much to say-- I'm always looking for lunch ideas too.

I like hormell chili. If you are doing extremely low carb it won't work. I added it back in once I reached goal. 1C has 20 gms of carb.

Here's a few of my favorites:

refried Beans -( pintos & cheese from taco bell)

chili - wendys

ground beef seasoned with taco seasoning

cheese grits

Zone Perfect- chocolate almond raisin Protein bar

vanilla yogurt with 2 strawberries cut up and a lil granola on top

mashed cauliflower w/cheese

edemame

red beans and rice (VERY LIL RICE!)

tuna salad

baked potato -not good source of protein though

I have even bought frozen diet dinners and have eaten only the protein out of it. (salsbury steak, sweedish meatballs)

Hope that helps!!

I noticed you said tuna gets stuck. I was wondering if you eat it dry.... I eat tuna packed in olive oil (drained) and then mixed with low fat mayo. This is so "wet" that I haven't had trouble with it getting stuck.

Another thing I have at lunch is ranch dip mix made with plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. It's super delicious, and I enjoy cherry tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, fresh spinach and sliced turkey dipped in it. (Some people do have a problem with broccoli florets, so be careful.)

Also: hummus with veggies and one or two whole week crackers.

Or a garden burger patty with sliced tomato and avocado. Bread is a big issue for me, so I don't even bother with a bun.

Good luck to you and happy lunching!

For lunch... eat 2-3 oat crackers, ww english muffin or half of toasted whole wheat bagel with either humous, pate, melted camerbert cheese, cream cheese, fried (use Pam) or scrambled egg & Peanut Butter (sometimes combine 2 / 3 accompliments). Egg salads.

Buy all low fat of course.

Go here and find some recipes u may like:

theworldaccordingtoeggface

smoked salmon (forget if it's chicken of the sea or starkist) in a pouch. Mix with reduced fat philadelphia cream cheese (in the mini tubs). Spread on crisp & light wasa crackers. top with thinly sliced veggies of your choice.. suggestions, onions, cucumbers or tomatoes. Salmon is 120 cal, cream cheese, 80, wasa, 20 each. I usually eat 3.. so whole meal (NOT counting veggies) is 260 calories. The wasa contributes some carb, but also Fiber.

John Soules fajita chicken slices, with 1/4 cup gebhardt fat free refried Beans. heat for a little bit, then lay a slice of 2% cheese over the beans (I like pepperjack.. ) and heat another 5 seconds to melt it. Add green veggie of your choice. eat the chicken and beans together.. the refried beans helps the chicken go down.

I agree with the poster who suggests moistening things before heating. That helps enormously.

You could also try drinking a cup of hot Water with lemon, hot tea or hot coffee before your meal. That should loosen the band just enough to let you eat without problem.

The last thing to consider is that you might need a tiny unfill. I had one of .2cc back in May when everything hurt to eat. Solved the problem for me. I got the .2cc put back in early September.

Good luck!

Don't knock it till ya try it but I mix my tuna drained in cottage cheese instead of dry or with mayo. The mayo bothered my stomach. For a real treat pineapple cottage cheese.. I know I know it sounds nasty but it's not.. I have it probebly 2-3 days a week for lunch.

It sounds like your band is too tight. I'm with the other bandster who recommended ff refried Beans and cheese. I also do really well with Amy's Organic frozen Entrees. . the Cheese Enchilada being the best of the bunch (the mac & cheese is also good).

I posted a bunch of soup recipes on my blog at different times. . the chicken and chile soup with cheese is super yummy, and so is the butternut squash. They really got me through my first 6-8 months of being banded b/c I froze them in individual containers and had one for lunch most days. Now, I eat sashimi, chicken breast (with plenty of sauce), or salmon for lunch most days.

I hope that helps! Please consider that you may need a very slight un-fill to make it more comfortable to eat healthy foods. I find that when I've been over-filled, I made less healthy food choices, and I lost slower as a result.

Best wishes for your success,

Catherine

Turkey chili doesn't dry out.

Humus with flat crackers.

egg salad

greek vanilla yourget with peanut flour