I'm having a tough time figuring out how I'm supposed to get enough vegetables when I can only eat a cup of food at a time. I would really appreciate any advice about how to get a balanced meal out of one cup of food.

Try taking 2 cups of spinach, 1 cup of almond milk, and 1 yogurt (I use greek to get my protein) and blend away. It keeps me full and you get in some veggies. The v8 spicy juice is pretty good too.

I'm having a tough time figuring out how I'm supposed to get enough vegetables when I can only eat a cup of food at a time. I would really appreciate any advice about how to get a balanced meal out of one cup of food.

To keep balance you should weigh 3-4 oz of lean meat, 2 oz of veggie, 2 oz of carb.. or you eliminate the carb and do 4/4 that = 8 oz = 1 cup

Example I eat: 4 oz ground turkey pattie/ 1/4 cup cooked spinach/ 1/4 cup mashed sweet potatoes = 1 cup ( I always eat my turkey pattie first, then the veggies, and if I am still hungry I then eat my carb (if I can get to it, lol).

I guess a light V8 wouldn't hurt occassionally, just keep in mind of the sodium when drinking them.

For the bandster diet, you have to make your meal choices carefully. I'm allowed 3oz of lean Protein and 2 oz of Fiber carbs per meal, measured by volume after any cooking. It's important to eat your protein first, as that's more essential for proper post op nutrition.

I'm allowed one serving of a complex carb per day, such as sweet potatoes, but mostly I prefer steamed broccoli and cauliflower.

For lunch I usually fix a small salad using compressed romaine lettuce. I miss having so many veggies, but now that I have the degree of restriction I have, often I'm unable to finish all of my carbs.

My surgeon would not approve of drinking V8 or any other type of juice. Post op all of your nutrition should be coming from solid foods.

I talked to my nutritionist about this at my 6 month follow up and she said fruits/veggies are the hardest things to get in. She recommended to eat meats on beds of lettuce and add chopped up veggies, peppers etc to most anything I'm cooking. I also found single serve dried apple chips at Walmart (40 calories and apparently 2 fruit servings).

I guess we have to learn to be creative in getting our veggies/fruits in.

Unfortunately I cannot stomach V8 juice. To me it tastes like cold vomit.... I've thought about the fruit blended ones (I can't remember what they are called right off) but I was worried about the sugar. I'll check into them and see what the nutrition label says. But I'll try the 4-2-2 type thing. I'm losing pretty steadily but I just had a fill last week, and I've noticed that my food intake has dropped a great deal. Where previously I was getting probably a cup to a cup and a half to eat I felt like I was getting a good amount of veggies, but now I get so full with just the protein that I barely get a bite of the vegetables. I know it's a learning process, and I really like knowing I can ask advice from other bandsters. Thanks for the help ya'll!!

Does anybody else use a juicer? I throw some kale and broccoli in with a couple of apples and call it good. :-)

Juicing is a great idea, I looooove fruits! I have no problem with eating fresh fruits. I eat strawberries, blueberries, bananas, peaches, and apples ( i do remove the skin from the apple and peach). I don't eat it with my meal , but instead eat my fruit a few hours after I eat a meal. You can put fruit in your salad, I have eaten strawberries in my salad.

I found a drink in the juice isle at my grocery store in little juice boxes called "Fruitables" its a serving of fruit/veggies when drinking one small box. Calories are 40 and the sugar content is 7. Can't beat that, I drink them every day! They come in lots of yummy flavors! Peach & Pear, Apple & Carrot, Harvest Apple, berry Berry. Made by Apple & Eve.

Juicing is a great idea, I looooove fruits! I have no problem with eating fresh fruits. I eat strawberries, blueberries, bananas, peaches, and apples ( i do remove the skin from the apple and peach). I don't eat it with my meal , but instead eat my fruit a few hours after I eat a meal. You can put fruit in your salad, I have eaten strawberries in my salad.

I found a drink in the juice isle at my grocery store in little juice boxes called "Fruitables" its a serving of fruit/veggies when drinking one small box. Calories are 40 and the sugar content is 7. Can't beat that, I drink them every day! They come in lots of yummy flavors! Peach & Pear, Apple & Carrot, Harvest Apple, Berry Berry. Made by Apple & Eve.

Wow!! That's cool... I'll check that out next time I'm at the store!! Thanks.