Hi, this is my first post. I am doing pre-op now, having surgery 8/11 (slight possibility 8/18, will know today). I am self-pay so it's moving quickly; my BMI is 31 so insurance won't cover.

I apologize if this post fits better somewhere else. It's a big forum! I have a lot of questions but right now am most concerned about one:

I get terrible headaches from aspartame/nutrasweet. I do fine with other artificial sweeteners including sucralose. Do any experienced liquid diet folk have recommendations for products without aspartame? I'm particularly concerned about the Clear liquids phase. I'm asking the nutritionist also, of course, but figured there's no better crowd to ask than this one!

Really happy to have this resource. I'm nervous but excited about the surgery.

if you can have Splenda, the Diet Ocean Spray cran grape was lovely over ice during that time. you can also make popsicles with it, and you can use it with plain Gelatin to make Jello with it. I think there are other diet ocean spray flavors.

You can make a homemade chocolate pudding with either splenda or stevia. plenty of recipes to google and it's easy.

I liked plain unsweetened applesauce with unflavored Protein powder during that time.

Homemade bone broth is much more satisfying than store bought and is also easy to make ahead of time and freeze in ice cube trays.

I love the Vitamin Water zero flavors and they are sweetened with stevia. Kroger, if you have on near you has a store brand of this product and the peach/blackberry tastes like fruit tea.

Aspartame is a migraine trigger for me. Most of the Protein shakes and drinks I've found do not have aspartame... Syntrax, powders?utm_source=BariatricPal&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=CommentLink" target="_ad" data-id="1" >unjury, Bariatric Pal, Bariatric fusion, Isopure. Just check the labels. Jello SF pudding and Gelatin are kinda hit and miss... I'm just always sure to check the label. However I've read that gelatin is actually pretty easy to make, you get the unflavored gelatin and add it to your favorite beverage. Haven't tried it yet, but I likely will this weekend. And the instructions say you can make pudding with the Protein shake mixes by using 1/2 of the milk. Again, haven't tried it but I will this weekend (first weekend on pre-op diet, lots of experimenting will be going on).

Luckily there's a lot of options for us out there now, we just have to be vigilant about the labels. I've also found that Splenda leaves a nasty aftertaste for me, so I'm trying lots of different sweeteners. I have laid off the coffee, but I used to use monk fruit in it, and it's awesome. I'm going to try some koolaid and other things with the monk fruit and see how it goes.

Thank you both so much! That's great to know about make-your-own-Jello and puddings, as the sugar free Jello packets I've seen all have aspartame (migraines for me too!); the Jello puddings I've been able to find without aspartame. I'll start trolling recipes and diet ocean spray.

Do you ladies have a preferred source (Amazon, etc) for ordering the various brands of Meal Replacement?

Thank you again! Congrats on your success Christinamo and good luck to you theantichick!!

I ordered sampler/variety packs from everyone... Bariatric Pal, Bariatric fusion, Syntrax, unjury, GoTein all had variety packs or samplers available (GoTein actually sent their three flavors for free). I went to Vitamin Shoppe and picked up several flavors of IsoPure to try. So far, I'm working my way through all of the samplers and rating the brands/flavors so I can figure out what to buy. However, I've read a lot of warnings that our tastes change after surgery, so I'm not stocking up on anything yet. I'm actually considering just getting another round of variety packs to taste-test after surgery again.

Ordering from Bariatric Pal (their brand, Fusion, and Syntrax) and Unjury were both painless, they were prompt with the delivery and I had no issues. I'd order directly from them for those brands. And the Syntrax tastes so good that unless the IsoPure is significantly better, I'll just go with Syntrax because the IsoPure comes in glass bottles and I don't like getting those shipped, and don't want to have to go to the store for them.

I have found that nonfat powdered milk is awesome for making the powdered shake mixes more portable, as some of the flavors don't taste right with just Water. That I'll probably just grab from Amazon.

Thank you! I ordered a sampler of Bariatric Advantage flavors and I'll take your advice and order the other brands too. I've also heard that tastes can change after surgery so it'll be two rounds of taste-testing I suppose!

Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

About Time Prohydrate was a great one for me. It's sweetened with Stevia and includes 20g of protein in each bottle so double-whammy! Also the vitamin water zero (I like the lemonade) is really good too, also sweetened with stevia and includes electrolytes as well so it helps hydrate you.

Thank you! I just found a Protein powder sweetened with stevia and was so happy...now to try it! And of course who knows if I will like it post-op.

This is all super helpful. Im scheduled for 6 days from now (8/11) and getting really nervous!!

Edited to add: I got a bunch of nonfat powdered milk today so thanks, too, for that rec!

Edited August 5, 201610 yr by hats123

Just popping in, a few days post-op, to thank you all for the recommendations. I love that lemonade flavor nectar, and I have samples of many flavors of Bariatric Advantage, fusion, and others.

In case anyone new stumbles on this thread: on Amazon I found little bottles of "stur" Water Enhancer...sort of a less powerful crystal light in several fruit flavors, all sweetened with Stevia, not sucralose or aspartame.

And GNC sells a store-brand shake mix called something like "lean Protein meal" (that isn't exactly it, but close) that comes in a few different types -- regular (sucralose); vegan (don't know how that's sweetened) and "natural", which is sweetened with stevia. They're not bad at all!

Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

www.bariatriceating.com has samples of a wide variety of Protein powders, I think they're $2.19 each. They carry brands sweetened primarily with sucralose, a few with stevia.

I avoid aspartame and sucralose both. Sucralose didn't bother me at all pre-surgery, now I can't stand the taste of it so I'm always looking for products sweetened with stevia. I've found that the SweetLeaf liquid has no aftertaste, but all of the powdered formulations that I've tried do.