Hi! So I'm a pre surgery person but I am a couple months out but I had a question that I forgot to ask during my nutrition appointment. They taught us about sugar intake and trying to keep it below 20 grams a day but my question was regarding the type of sugars. I understand you can't and shouldn't down a Twinkie but does sugars from fruit effect you guys?

I am addicted to presliced apples from Sam's Club but 12 slices have 13 grams of sugar. Although eating 12 slices will not be possible, is this type of sugar better or worse?

I have also been looking for good recipes for green smoothies to get my vitamins but these have higher sugar levels due to the fruit. Just a question that's been floating around in my head for a while.

Sugar affects each person differently. For example, today makes 5 weeks post op for me and I have a really hard time with sugar, artificial and natural. I have not eaten many fruits at this point because I am still only eating about 2 ounces of food per meal and my focus is on getting my protein. However, any time I eat something that contains even a little sugar I find myself running to the bathroom within two hours of eating. Tonight I wanted a little BBQ sauce on my chicken, it tasted great, but I soon found myself in the bathroom. I used to love eating fruit and making my protein shakes with milk and fruit. Now, I cannot tolerate milk, Imhave to get lactate free milk and don't even bother with the fruit. Other people do not have any reaction to sugar, so it will totally depend on you.

There are some sugars that don't count. I don't remember about fruits, but I remember being told that sugar in milk doesn't count.

For now, I would say to eat healthy. Eat fruits, vegetables, and lean protein. In the pre op phase, they'll only let you have some protein shakes (that have a little sugar), and 2 cups of non starch veggies like tomatoes, carrots, squash, cucumbers, mushrooms but not potatoes or corn or beans. And then no other sugar. Splenda, equal, truvia sweeteners are ok. A little skim milk in coffee and crystal light and seltzer are ok.

I can use honey and agave nectar. I can have no processed sugar or artificial sweeteners like sweet and low. I am only in my third week post-op so I am not allowed any fruits yet.

It was several months after surgery before I tried any fruits, and I have tolerated them well. But just because it's a banana and not a Twinkie doesn't mean it won't make you sick or won't make you dump, so tread lightly here.

I don't have a goal for grams-of-sugar-per-day, but I do have a limit of 10g per serving of anything. And that's a regular serving, not a bariatric serving, because it's mostly about the proportion of sugar-to-other-macros that I care about. So bananas are mostly out (except for occasional post-run recovery) and strawberries and other berries are in.

There are simple and complex sugars and different kinds of sugar (e.g., lactose, fructose, glucose, maltose, sucrose, galactose), and so there's a continuum of badness that has lactose on one end and Twinkies on the other. My nutrition said that lactose was so far on the side of goodness that I shouldn't worry about limiting it, which seems to be common advice. But basically everything else is still a potential danger spot for your RNY-shortened digestive tract, so please be careful with the fruits and sweeteners until you know how they affect you.

Thank you for your response! This was something that I had been wondering about as I get closer to my date. I am trying to buy small things ahead of time and have my pre surgery grocery list together.

I live in a rural area so getting my hand on fruits and veggies is easy and cheap so green smoothies seemed like a good avenue to attempt for nutrition when the time comes for it but I kept noticing the high amounts of sugar they create.

I would obviously like to avoid dumping but I'm guessing it is part of the game to learn your own limits.

They told me no fruit at all with a peel... So I just leave it off altogether except water melon cuz that's like taking in fluid and is very low calorie...