Hi All, I thought a thread where we can exchange food stage ideas and recipes, that use ingredients readily available at our various supermarkets here, would help one and all.

Liquids, mushies, solids, anything band friendly would be great.

I am starting mushies on saturday and am in need of some good ideas. I am a bit challenged in the cooking department!

Susannah

Good idea, I think we're very blessed here with the range of fresh and healthy food we have and we dont seem to eat as many packaged foods.

Liquids - I was told anything that goes through a straw. I started off with what I'd read on here, Protein shakes, V8, Water, juice. I was disoriented and passing out within 3 days, so I ditched those and I was just blending real food - I even had my Christmas dinner in liquid form! If it was a roast, I just added plenty of stock until it was liquidy, spag bol went with a can of tomatoes to soupy consistency, I made the vegetable and lentil Soup out of one of John Tickell's books and mooshed that up, and kept up with the juice and water, generally had a fruit/Optifast smoothie with some Allbran or a Weetbix in it for Breakfast.

Over the 3 weeks I was on liquids, I transitioned from very soupy to thicker.

But boy, mushies were soooooooooooooo good! A few things I ate a fair bit of were salads of chick peas or 3 bean mix, chopped skinned cucumber & tomato, avocado and a can of flavoured tuna, no need for dressing with the flavoured tuna. Had thicker Soups and anything that the family was having for dinner blended up with extra liquid to mushy consistency. Did a batch of mashed veges with pumpkin, potato, carrot, broccoli and whatever else, mashed with a tiny bit of cheese, and gravy, yuuuuum, um what else - oh lentil dahl but the bucketful, delicious! Scrambled eggs too.

After that I found the transition to solids pretty good and I've been very lucky that I dont have any problems with any foods so I can eat anything.

Hi, Thanks Jacqui for the suggestions. I was told I only have to be on liquids for two weeks post op now. I start mushies on Saturday and I am looking forward to having tuna and cottage cheese etc. How much should you eat?

I have not had my first fill yet, and I don't want to overeat. Will I feel fuller more quickly? Susannah

Susannah, you will *probably* feel fuller. Although some people claim to have no restriction at all until after a few fills. I personally was only able to eat maybe 3-4 tablespoons in one sitting when I went onto mushies. Lite philly is also an option for mushies too. And mashed baked beans/tinned spagetti if thats your thing .Any of the chunky soups blended are also ok. Think about weetbix with plenty of milk (have less and less milk as you aproach the start of solids) for breakfast if you can handle something like that. Some people can't have anything resembling solid til mid morning (I am not one of them, I have a teensy bowl of museli every morning!).

One of things I would have found useful is information about availablity of protein shakes. I know that we are usually told not to rely on them in the long term, which is great as there seems to be very limited choice here in terms of flavor and variety- it does not take long to get sick and tired of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry! We do not seem to have the same variety as our US collegues

I very much like how the Australian Dr's are more about encouraging a balanced diet than this atkins/the zone/south beach-esque way of eating and not having any carbs. When we are eating so little, sure we need protien and veggies, but darn it, I can't go to the gym for an hour 6 days a week with out any carbs!!

Hi, Meredith I am with you and Jacqui on this. We need to follow a sensible balanced diet where you can have everything in moderation. I am hanging out for a handroll, but I won't dare try sushi as my first solid food, as people say they have trouble with it.

Karen, I heard that the Tony Ferguson shakes come in 10 flavours apparently.

Susannah

Oh, yeah, Protein shmotein, lol. Of course we need it, but I think when you eat it first as a hard and fast rule, you miss out on a lot of other things you need. I'm glad we're not told that here.

I used to eat everything on my plate individually, now I try to get a little bit of everything on each forkful to make sure I eat equal quantities of everything. But I often dont serve myself rice or potato these days becuase I know I wont fit it in.

I cant start the day without carbs!

I've not had problems with sushi at all. In fact it goes down a treat for me, I had some just this last saturday. The trick is small bites and lots of chewing. I think the smallest bite of anything will go down as long as you are taking the time to chew it (I'm talking half to a full a teaspoon small). However whe we go we have the sushi train cos I can usually only eat maybe 3 pieces of sushi and I am satisfied. I doubt you will be able to even have half of a hand roll Susannah!!

I'm not into the the low carb thing, or atkins ( all that fat!), I cannot swallow solid stuff in the morning and have a prescribed low calories input of 600-800 calories, so I have been advised to use the protien shakes such as Optifast as my breakfast.

I also asked the question perhaps for the benefit of people in the early stages post op where at least one a day of these shakes are suggested for most people- not everyone likes choc or vanilla particularly if they have had to do 2 to 4 weeks of optifast pre op. The US bandsters seem tohave a lot more variety eg fruit flavors rather than milkshake style.

IF you can achieve your needs through balanced natural diet I certainly agree that is the best long term choice- lots cheaper too

GNC has quite a range of protein shakes - many flavours. You can even buy it in containers almost as big as a barrel!

do we have GNC her in Oz? or is it mail order from the states??

Another great Aussie thread! Thanks for setting this up!

Karen - There is a GNC store at Southland. If you googled their home page, you'd no doubt find a store closer to you.

And I'm not big on that Protein schmotein thing either. I'm an Aussie after all - I love my fresh and varied Aussie foods! (Can't you tell from the enourmous post! LOL!) I hope that you find some inspiration here.

I'm not big on processed or branded foods (I like to cook from scratch when I can), but there are a few that I'm enjoying right now. Anyone who knows me would vouch for how much I loved adding yoghurt to almost any of my thick liquids and mushies. I prefer the "pot-set" low-fat styles like Jalna or Tamar Valley. Or I make my own in an EasiYo. For a real treat I go to Coles where they have Chris' Greek Yoghurt (as in the brand of dips - just don't heat a heap of it at once, as it's not low fat!).

Light sour cream was great in liquids / mushy stage for me too, although I am avoiding it now as it's fairly high in fat and not as good nutritionally as yoghurt. The protein kick from the yoghurt / sour cream helped keep hunger pains away. I like the tip about lite philly for mushy stage - will remember that after my next fill.

A mushy stage favourite was fish patties - use any cooked mashed veggies, tinned or cooked flaked fish, a bit of grated cheese, an egg, some herbs (try the Gourmet Garden ones in the tubes - store them in the freezer, no need to defrost as they'll still squeeze out), and some breadcrubs if you need it to hold it all together. Yummy with a bit of lemon and fat-free mayonnaise. Treat it like fried rice and don't reheat the leftovers, or you'll get a belly ache!

Another one for late mushy stage - "Grandpa's Favourite". It's great for when you want a bacon and egg fix! Cube a potato and/or sweet potato and fry in a non-stick pan with a spray of oil. If you like add some cooked veggies and cook until they are heated through. Maybe add a sprinkle of a herb blend (eg. Masterfoods Tuscan seasoning), although I don't usually bother. Smash the veggies and spuds with a fork, then slowly fold in an egg or two, letting it fry a bit as you go. Once your diet rules allow, you can add minced or chopped bacon and onion as well or instead of the veggies, and stop fork smashing the veggies. Serve with tomato sauce and salt and pepper.

Since my second fill I am finding that fresh fruit and veg are going down the easiest. Also, I am eating almost no bread (Hard to believe when I think about how much I loooove bread, but who has the time to take all day to eat just one sandwich? LOL!). I have switched to wholemeal / wholegrain lavosh breads (Sorj brand are very good) for days when I want a "sandwich", and just take it very slowly. I am also loving dry biscuits, especially VitaWheat 9 Grains as a bread substitute - awesome with cheese slices, cream cheese, Vegemite or a bit of Peanut Butter (Sanitarium Natural).

I find Breakfast is easiest after a warm drink first thing. Museli is best for me if I let it soak in the milk for 10 mins or so to soften it up a bit. Porridge is good to - I buy instant or quick oats and microwave 1/4 cup oats with 1/2 cup low fat milk, served with a bit of extra cold milk and a teaspoon of honey. On work days I just grab a banana or apple and nibble on the hour plus drive to the office.

The crock pot is also getting a great workout - it's so great for bandster-friendly cooking that I reckon that all new bandsters should be issued with one as they leave the hosptial. LOL! It was great for liquid stages for Soups, then for mushy and later stages for really tender and tasty meals. I found an awesome recipe book for it at Angus&Roberston bookshop - "100 Great Ways to Use Slow Cookers and Crock Pots", Simon and Alison Holst, ISBN 1-877382-00-0. There are also heaps of recipes online for slow cookers, although many are in US measurements - devotees of living frugally and FlyLady websites are big on crock pot cooking.

The CSIRO diet books have a great range of recipes as well - almost no potato, rice, Pasta or bread products in their meals, which suits how many bandsters tend to eat. We made an asian salad with calamari last week out of the new book and it rocked!

Finally - a list of "stand-bys" that I keep on hand for quick meals: frozen mixed veggies (diced for adding to recipes, and winter cut (chunky) for side dishes), canned foods (beans, lentils, baked Beans, beetroot, corn, chick peas, plain & flavoured fish), frozen fish fillets (not crumbed), frozen chicken tenders (Ingham), ready meals (eg. lean cuisine etc, most are easy enough to eat).

...mmm! All this talk of food is making my head hungry! LOL!:heh:

Oh, Chris's Greek Yogurt, mmmmmmmm (makes obscene orgasmic noises, lol). That stuff is divine.

I've got a rather naughty habit of those gourmet yogurts, thick natural yogurt with the fruit in them that you mix up. You know, the ones that are like $4 a pop. God they're good.

Actually toast would be the hardest food for me to eat for some reason, it kills me. If I feel like a toast fix, I have some Ryvitas with a bit of philly and jam or just Peanut Butter. I love Ryvitas. I had rice cakes yesterday for lunch, they went down really well too.

Anna, Thank you so much for takilng the time to post those ideas. That will personally help me a lot. Susannah

Hi Girls and Mark, One of the nice ladies from the main board gave me this website address, www.bariatriceating.com for recipes and ideas for food stages. They are for bypass and band patients. I guess we could adapt some of the ingredients to suit ourselves.

Susannah