Starting a friendly discussion of Carbs because I read a lot of stuff on the board where people seem fearful of taking in carbs and I question Why?

First, I hear many people talking about taking in 6 grams of carbohydrates in Vitamins. Looking at all my vitamins there are no carbs listed because the numbers are in Miligrams not Grams. In other words, unless people are taking some sort of gummy Vitamin, you really shouldn't be getting carbs. The worst I saw was people saying they are getting 6 grams which is still insignificant.

Second, based on what I see at various university health websites:

Carbohydrates are necessary to

Provide fuel for muscles

Support the central nervous system

Enable fat metabolism (burning off fat)

Prevent Protein from being used

The minimum recommended requirement I see is 130 grams/day and for athletes 250-1,000 grams/day depending on the activity. In fact you should take carbohydrates in before exercise as it is burned first and prevents protein from being taken from muscles.

Carbs by themselves are not going to make us fat, it will be lack of exercise and calories.

So my part of the debate to start off with is easy, eat carbs, our bodies need them for good health. Our bigger concern should be hollow calories (calories with low protein or calories with high trans fats) not carbohydrates.

I am extremely carb-sensitive. I have had PCOS for 25 years, and full-blown type 2 diabetes for 10 years. In MY world, there is no difference between a "good" carb and a "bad" carb. All carbs cause me to gain weight and spike my blood sugar. I eat an extremely low-carb diet, with my PCP's blessing. My endocrinologist loves my diabetes numbers when I am eating "vlc" (very low carb). I have successfully lost HUNDREDS of pounds over my lifetime by eliminating carbs. Weakness has caused me to allow carbs back into my life every single time and that leads to weight gain.

There were other issues at play prior to my getting sleeved, including the shape of my pre-surgery stomach . . . my surgeon said that he was pretty surprised when he got in there and saw what it looked like . . . that made it so easy for me to gain weight . . . and the sleeve has done exactly what I wanted it to do. I am down 43.5 pounds in 7 weeks. But no matter what my sleeve makes possible, I will ALWAYS have to be aware of my carb intake. That is something I accepted a long time ago.

However, I know that there are plenty of people who can eat carbs and lose weight quite well. I used to be jealous of people who could eat carbs and still lose weight, but I got over it! Every one of us is different, with different tolerances for different things. No one can say, "you HAVE to eat carbs to live," anymore than anyone can say, "you can't lose weight while you are still eating carbs." I KNOW my body . . . and I KNOW that I can't eat carbs.

That being said . . . I still LIKE carbs! And I love apples. This time of year has always been hard for me because it's freaking apple season! I allow myself an occasional piece of apple. It's definitely easier to only eat a "little piece of apple" with my sleeve!

I so hear you on the jealousy of those who can eat carbs! I too know I can never really eat carbs the way others can. It is what it is!

Wow, so many different perspectives! I think the whole carb discussion has to be framed in very personal terms; what works beautifully for one or a hundred people might not work comfortably for others.

I think I'm a strange case, since I have what is still a really particular sleeve and I physically cannot tolerate a lot of "bad-for-me" foods. I don't track or count anything, and I don't really follow a lot of "rules." Like one of the posters above, I get what seems to be "dumping" syndrome with too much sugar, so I don't eat foods with added sugar except for a shot of chocolate syrup in my iced coffee daily. I also avoid baked goods (no white flour), except for occasional saltine crackers, also because my sleeve has rejected such foods emphatically in the past, and I hate getting sick.

Most of the Protein sources I eat also contain carbs--dairy, legumes, nuts--as I can't tolerate chicken (!), eggs, or beef except for hamburger. I eat probably a cup of fruit (melon or citrus) every day. Raw or steamed veggies are still pretty hard on my sleeve, even at this point, so I really have to limit those or blend them up in Soups.

I guess the bottom line is, each individual has to find the combination of things that works. For a large and successful number, that's low-carb. For a perhaps smaller but also successful number, that's including carbs in moderation (or including "healthy" carbs). The actual amounts and patterns are things that have to be discovered through trial and error and through watching results and physical response.

Thanks for this post. I'm a little over a week out from surgery and I had the low carb strategy in mind, but its interesting to see people say they just blend regular food. I know myself and I know what led me to this point. I don't want to fight the same battles that I did pre-sleeve. It's sort of like an alcoholic playing around with one or two drinks here and there. In the beginning, it's fine, until that binge day comes. No thanks! Will I slip up and try things here and there? I'm almost certain of it, but I will always strive to get in all my Protein first before I eat anything else!

Also, I want to add that modified low carb that includes 1.5 servings of fruit per day works quite well for me (think Scarsdale's plan).

How in the world can we binge with the sleeve? Does it really stretch that much to accommodate a binge?

How in the world can we binge with the sleeve? Does it really stretch that much to accommodate a binge?

It's more a matter of how quickly different things go thru it. Steak and most meats or otherwise dense Proteins can sit in there for quite some time while the stomach works on breaking it down to be passed on to the intestines, while other foods can just slide on through (the so-called "sliders") because they need minimal processing from the stomach. 3 oz of meat, give or take a bit depending on the type, is my comfortable capacity, but if I cut the meat back to 2 oz and throw it into a salad with some chopped spinach and a bunch of other salad veggies and a bit of dressing, that meal can be 6-7 oz. Some have reported that they can down an whole sleeve of saltine crackers in a sitting, and certainly things like ice cream or milkshakes can slip right through. If you choose your binges right, you can torpedo any of these procedures. Then there are individual variations - my wife could barely down her nominal stomach capacity in liquids for quite a while after her DS (same sleeved stomach, though a little larger, with intestial rerouting added) while I have had virtually no liquid restriction - I had a 6-8oz bowl of broth and a half cup of juice as a meal in the hospital with no particular distress (other than my own thoughts as to where is this restriction!)

It is unfortunate, but it's quite easy to binge with the sleeve.

The sleeve makes it impossible to eat big meals with any kind of meat, but you can't even imagine how well bad things like Cookies and candy go right through like there is no sleeve there.

MICHELLE what kind of shakes are you using?

It is unfortunate, but it's quite easy to binge with the sleeve.

The sleeve makes it impossible to eat big meals with any kind of meat, but you can't even imagine how well bad things like Cookies and candy go right through like there is no sleeve there.

OK, you have sufficiently freaked me out!!! I am praying this will work for me but all I can think about is how I sabotage every diet I've been on. Oh dear.

Yes it does take a certain amount of willpower. Sweet things used to make me sick when I was first sleeved but unfortunately that went away.

The sleeve is still the greatest thing though. If I eat a nice dinner and get full, I am less likely to want to snack later.