The mainstay of my now preband diet are salads -I love being creative with salads and bring them to work; baby greens, spinich and every veggie in between I can find in the fridge along with cheese, bacon, salmon, tuna, walnuts, etc....the reason I'm so overweight is I love them too much and eat way too much of them.

MY QUESTION: Will I still be able to eat salads... in smaller doses of course?? How many of you eat salads now and now that we are on the topic would anyone mind sharing what is the mainstay of your diet now that you are banded??

:hungry:

I eat salads every day for lunch. I love salads. I put all kinds of different stuff in my salads. As far as eating the rest of the stuff, I pretty much eat anything only in smaller amounts. I go easy with potatoes, bread, rice though because of the extra calories. I do eat them once in a while though.

This is what I want to hear Harleygirl! I love that you can eat what every you want just less of it~especially healthy stuff like a good salad! Good for you...I bet you had a somewhat "iron stomach" to being with? I know I did up until about a year or so ago. I could eat ANYTHING at anytime. I just don't want to get this and be stuck only eating foods that go down easily ...like puried meat...ehh gads...

I've always liked salads but since being banded I love them. I can eat almost any veggie although sometimes broccoli gives me a problem. I tend not to put it in my salad anyway! The lettuce is super easy to break down when you're chewing and all those textures make it a party in your mouth!

Just an FYI, while most of us can eat salad without any incident, I know a lot of people cannot tolerate it. I've got a few friends with the 4cc band that absolutely can't touch salad... those with the larger VG band don't have a problem. Although, salad is the one food I can eat the most of without feeling full. I would definitely try to add some solid Protein to it - 2 oz of grilled chicken breast is about what I add to my 1/2-3/4 cup of salad and it's fine... if there's no protein in there, i could eat significantly more.

I heard some people had problems with lettuce but I have had no problem getting salads down at all.

I have the small band, and I don't have any problems with salad at all.

I think the main thing we all need to remember is that if something don't work for you the first time, don't eliminate it completely, because sometimes if you can't eat it today, you can three weeks from now. You just need to try things more than once.

I am really glad to hear this. I really hope I can eat salads. Have any of you heard of Pockets, it is a healthy food joint that makes great salads that are put through a processor I think because the pieces are very small and cut up fine. I wonder if that type of salad would be better? Let me know plz.

just make sure you chew! chew! chew! and lettuce shouldn't be a big deal. but chew! chew! chew! trust me on that one!

Noone can say for sure what you will be able to eat and what you wont be able to. Every one is different.

I just had my first fill and the only thing i can eat is Soup. Almost everything else I have tried has come up. I have spent a lot of time over the toilet. I'm not complaining though, since this is what its all about.

you will just have to use trial and error to see what is going to work for you. nothing on these boards prepared me for how things are now. Nothing. Even though I read a lot, noone tells you that you will be PB'ing almost everything solid you eat. And you do. Especially if you dont eat slow, God forbid. AHHHHH!! Even if you chew chew chew, as everyone states over and over again..it still comes up.

So good luck with your experimenting!!

Hi Dani:

I see you've had your proceedure done with Dr. Fielding. Your weight loss is impressive...way to go! I am hoping to have my surgery performed by Dr. Ren at NYU. Were you happy with your treatment there? I have heard only good things but was just checking. I used to live in the city but I am now commuting from Long Island. I was wondering where one would go in an immergency if you lived far from your surgeon's office?

Maybe a local doctor who does lapband surgery would be able to help. I don;t know how we would find out that info though. Thats a good question. Does anyone know what we would need to do if we had a band related emergency? I wouldn't feel comfortable just going to the regular emergency room if my doctor wasn't available.

Hi Sass: I live not too far from Dr. Geiss' office but want to go to NYU because it is covered 100% there with CIGNA. I was hoping to get my fills at Dr. Geiss' office and also emmergency service, but I put in a request for info about this with my Dr. in NY...it is something to think about! thanks

Hey Sooverit,

I eat salads all of the time. I had part of a grilled chicken ceasar salad for lunch today and will have the rest tomorrow. I was told that I would not be able to eat ribs, pulled pork etc. I don't know if the power of suggestion has anything to do with this but I am always craving these meats. Yes, I eat them. I eat anything I want with much smaller portions and I try to avoid corn, potatoes, rice etc as a personal choice. I have arthritis and a chemist told me to cut corn and potatoes out of my diet as these can actually cause the joints to swell. I gave up carbonated beverages prior to pre-op surgery because of the affects it can have on the joints. The only thing that you have to remember is to CHEW, CHEW, CHEW and you should be able to enjoy many of the foods that you are now eating.

harleq_47 :hungry:

I have a small band ( 4cc) and I am filled 2.2 cc and I eat salads!! I just had a great chop salad (with yummy grilled chicken) at Grand Luxe in Dallas--so good to my tummy! He He

But as a previous post stated...everyone is different--you have to try with caution many different foods and see what works for you

Take Care!!!

Denise

I have the small, 9.75cm lowprofile, mini port that only holds 4cc's and I have 2.9cc's in there and it's perfect and I ate salad last night. I still chew chew chew no matter what I'm eating so as long as you do that you'll be fine and just don't drink with your meal. Good luck.