I just read that statement in one of the Low BMI'ers thread and thought, "wha?". I am a vegetarian, and for 90% of the time I stick only to whole grains, plain veggies, unaldulterated, sauce free, unprocessed foods. (The other ten percent is for when I eat out, or travel ----- amazing how hard it is to find real food sometimes!)

From my consult and my talks with SWLC, I believed that I could continue to eat the way I do now, but that I would be limited in the amount of food I eat.

Is this not so?

_{My surgeon says that fibrous veggies are hard to process unless they are literally cooked to death, which pretty much renders them useless to me. So, broccoli stalks, asparagus stalks, celery, etc. are hard to get down apparently. (I have only been banded 2 weeks, so I haven't tried any of this yet) However, he says that just about everything else is probably going to be no problem, although every individual is different. He has mentioned that white things; white rice, white pastas, white breads, generally don't go down well, while whole grain products seem to do ok. It has to do with gluten content. As I say, I am not at the stage of eating whole foods yet, but I will be introducing my mainly vegetarian diet back slowly, to see what I can and cannot tolerate. I think you will be fine to go back to your normal diet for most things.}

Oh --- asparagus being on that list makes me sad Thats my favorite summer food! I just read back through my pre-op literature and still can't find anything on specific veggies. I really need to get some more information on this! What about salads?

The white stuff is not a problem, I gave up white rice and white breads already, and prefer whole grain Pasta to the mushy tasteless stuff.

I am a vegetarian and I was banded on September 11th. I haven't had many issues with eating. I just have to remember to chew really well.

Don't go by what others have problems with. You may find you have no problems at all. I know many people have issues with things like breads and raw veggies, but I eat both regularly with no problems whatsoever. I eat stuff like pickles, cucumbers, raw carrots and cauliflower, all the time with no issues.

I have no issues with any veggies raw or cooked.

Salads are easy for me. Asparagus is tricky (but I haven't eaten the stuff in the can...that's gross). This summer, when my dad brought me sooo many delicious home grown tomatoes, I found I had to remove the skins in order to eat them. Of course, I've had major issues and am getting this thing out in 3 days. Good luck.

I am a vegetarian and have not had any problems with veggie's but I have stayed away from asparagus and celery since being banded in June. Also I have no problem with rice or pasta's I just have to make sure I take very small bites and chew chew chew.

I have no problems with any foods. If I take small bites, chew until mush and eat slow I can eat any veggie. Some days my band is tight and therefore I choice not to eat some foods. Like today I woke with a head cold and my band is tight. I know not to try and eat steak & asparagus for dinner, it wouldn't be pretty. lol

Learning what you can eat is a trial and error thing, I suggest try wisely (take small bites, etc...). If you don't try then you will never know if you can eat something.

Oh that is good to hear. I will find a way to eat my asparagus though....celery and broc stalk I can totally live without. I would think new asparagus cut up tiny would be okay?

And salads --- whew. Could not survive without my salads.

There really is no way of knowing, its a leap of faith.

So true.

I think it may have been me that made the comment over in the other thread. A lot of people think that the band will help them to eat healthily and unfortunately it won't. They have their bands really tight to try to stop them eating "bad" foods.

but

chocolate, crackers, milkshakes, crisps etc will still go down easily.

I meant to clarify that asparagus tops are fine, just not the stalks. I forgot to add that to my original post. Hubs and I have decided we will still steam all those things and I will eat what I can and he will eat what I can't; he likes the stalks on everything and of course has no problem eating them.