Doing well on day 9. Gotta love those Protein shakes and Soup never tasted soooo good!

BUT ... one of my best friends owns a restaurant and I went by to visit with her. She was preparing for a catering job and had made one of my favorite dishs : COLD Pasta salad. I had to REALLY talk to myself and MOVE AWAY from the pasta salad!!!! I wasn't hungry because I'd just had a Protein shake. It was just a mental thing... my brain was saying..."you want it you want it you want it!!!" GO AWAY BRAIN!!!

Anyone else have this reaction to smelling food?

And by the way, is the NO PASTA rule a thing for life? Or are there just certain types of pasta that are on the NO list?

Thanks for you answers....

Hi,

I've never heard of the no pasta rule. I will allow myself a little on occasion. Take Care.

I ate pasta salad tonight & i'm quite tight, went dwn just fine!

My Doc says no bread, rice, pasta, and celery forever. Sigh. I smell my husband's raisin toast every morning as I drink my protein shake.

Mental hunger is the worst part of the band, for me! Good for you for staying strong.

As for Pasta... my doctor's rules are 4 oz. Protein, then up to a cup of veggies, THEN up to 12 cup of grains if you are still hungry. So I can still have pasta salad. Pretty much everything is ok in moderation, you know?

I hope that was supposed to be a 1/2 cup of grains!

Unless you are low-carb, you can have Pasta. For some of us, pasta is a food that gets stuck. For me, lasagna noodles will get stuck pretty easily. I do ok with regular noodles. My surgeon didn't have any foods that are off my table. My band has taken chicken/turkey breast away, however.

Mental hunger is the worst part of the band, for me! Good for you for staying strong.

As for pasta... my doctor's rules are 4 oz. Protein, then up to a cup of veggies, THEN up to 12 cup of grains if you are still hungry. So I can still have pasta salad. Pretty much everything is ok in moderation, you know?

Ha! 12 cups. Good luck with that everyone

Oh, and to respond to the OP, I forgot! Going into a restaurant on day 9? WOW! THAT was brave! I understand it was to see your friend, but I think i'd have made plans to meet somewhere else.

The mental thing is a constant battle. My head still argues with me when making a plate of food as to how much I'll be able to eat. It still tries to tell me I am hungry when I ate 30 minutes ago and feel fine, no stomach rumblings or other signs of physical hunger.

The band helps me to fight it because after 3 years of banded living my other brain says NO, you are NOT going to eat and entire steak and baked potato, don't even try. Cut off 3 oz of steak and put the rest away! Take your mushrooms and a third of the potato. You're unlikely to finish that. It also helps me in that when I get that feeling that I was to eat again 30 minutes after a meal, I consider, are you REALLY hungry? Uh no, no physical signs...ok, drop it then, you fool! Done. I go back to what I was doing and move on.

I'm the same way.....sometimes I mentally want something, but know I'm not actually hungry. I think this could be the worse part of my band. Other than that issue, I have been pleased.

As far as Pasta, I read over my 3 week post op diet that I started Thursday and both pasta and rice are on it. I actually had a couple bites of past on Friday and I tolerated it fine. I had rice on Thursday and it didn't pose a problem. These aren't foods that I will be eating on a regular basis,but it doesn't hurt to have a bite or two from time to time. I am trying to cut back on carbs.

Smelling the popcorn at the movies last night nearly killed me! The smell was so great!

I admit that head hunger has been a bad one for me, and my partner is always eating things like nachos, burgers, hot dogs... and my brain goes crazy (OMG, you want that yes you do, oh yes you do, OMG); BUT I've noticed that since being banded, it's a lot easier to just say no to those kinds of things. I used to have not a bit of will power; especially when it came to nachos and pretty much anything with cheese.

I think you're certainly not alone!!

I'm still on mushies, and you have no idea how much I want a steak.

Thanks for the encouraging words. 12 cups????

What was funny about going to see my friend is that she was cooking allll sorts of wonderful things and I was OK until I walked into the refirdgerator and saw the Pasta salad marination. OOOOOOOOOO

And STEAK is one of my favorite things, too. But once I can tolerate it, I plan to order a filet mignon, small baked potatoe and salad AND a TO GO BOX. When the meal arrives I will put 1/2 of EVERYTHING in the to go box, close it and put it by my purse. Then I'll proceed to eat Protein then some potatoe then some salad if I have enough room. This will probably be about 4 weeks before even trying this. BUT I HAVE A PLAN!!!!

OH, and for those of you who CAN have pasta here is my friends receipe....

Summer Pasta Salad

3 color cork screw Pasta

Grape or Cherry tomatoes cut in half

Cucumbers chopped

Italian Dressing

Add pasta to boiling Water and cook until just done. Don't over cook.

Rinse and set aside in bowl. Mix in all other ingredients together and chill at

least a few hours or over night..

Add the ingredients to make as much as you want. For about 4 cups of cooked pasta, add

about 1 cup tomatoes and 1 cup cucumbers and enough dressing to coat everything.

Enjoy when your Banded self is allowed. My grandbaby loves this too.