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My surgeon's diet guide says no more citrus fruit ever after gastric sleeve surgery. Does anyone know why? I know the juice isn't great because of the sugar, but is there a problem digesting the pulp or pith or something? I'll be sad to lose clementines.

VSG 1/20/17 HW: 325 CW: 305

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I'd ask your surgeon or nutritionist for the reasoning - I'm guessing it has more to do with the seeds, which may get lodged in the crease of your new stomach, or the acidity of the fruit itself. I've not heard of citrus being banned for life.

Personally, I had fresh-squeezed OJ about 5 days after my surgery; it was about an ounce and it was my Christmas dinner, haha!

My surgeon has no such restriction on citrus after healing (3 months or so).

Just an aside, fresh OJ has less sugar than store-bought.

These are just speculations, ask the person with the PhD :) - good luck!

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I would guess it is the acidity. But definitely ask to be sure.

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I'm sure it varies like everything seems to do with approved diets. My nut said it is OK but remove the membrane around the individual sections.

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I'm almost 2.5 years out, and I have citrus fruits and have no issues.

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I am a year post op and have small portions of citrus. I don't drink juice anymore but that is because of the "don't drink your calories" rule. It wouldn't make me sick. It is always odd how opinions of NUTs and Doctors differ so much. My guess it that fruit in general is full of fructose which is sugar and citrus is very acidic. I like clementines these days because they are the perfect portion for me.

Edited by ocgirl15

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I am in the solid food stage (3), and I'm restricted to cooked/canned fruit only. Yuck. We got a huge shipment of citrus fruit for Christmas from family in Florida and I am not letting it go to waste. I've been eating grapefruit segments about twice a week with no problems. Definitely talk to your doctor.

Sent from my iPad using the BariatricPal App

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Ask your doctor about the reason behind his "rule". I eat oranges, tangelos, grapefruit and limes and drink OJ all the time with no issues. If it's the calories, that's something you can monitor and consume in moderation. If it's an acid thing, then unless you have GERD, you should still be able to do citrus at some point after your sleeve is completely healed. No different than coffee, Tomato juice or other acidic foods. If it's anything else, I'd be interested to hear.

I have found that there are not any bariatric rules that can't be broken. You find what works for YOU and make those your own rules. This isn't a one size fits all and to universally restrict something forever for every case is not realistic or responsible medicine.

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Ask your doctor about the reason behind his "rule". I eat oranges, tangelos, grapefruit and limes and drink OJ all the time with no issues. If it's the calories, that's something you can monitor and consume in moderation. If it's an acid thing, then unless you have GERD, you should still be able to do citrus at some point after your sleeve is completely healed. No different than coffee, Tomato juice or other acidic foods. If it's anything else, I'd be interested to hear.

I have found that there are not any bariatric rules that can't be broken. You find what works for YOU and make those your own rules. This isn't a one size fits all and to universally restrict something forever for every case is not realistic or responsible medicine.

This! ^^^^^^

Newer post ops, you'll get this as time goes on. I abhor the 'absolutes' we hear all the time from surgeons and other post ops. This is supposed to be for the rest of our lives, not the restricted diets so many of us have grown to dispise. Just thinking about something being a 'never' makes me want to do it our of spite ;)

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Ever or just in the beginning phases, post surgery?

You probably don't want to drink your calories instead of eating them (OJ vs an orange).

Some fruit is more fattening than others; but in moderation it should be part of a normal diet.

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Just thinking about something being a 'never' makes me want to do it our of spite ;)

Oooo, me too! Tell me not to do something and I'll be the first in line! My daughter and now my oldest grandson have definitely inherited that characteristic.

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I usually don't drink OJ because it's so surgery, but will eat oranges or the occasional piece of pineapple. Small Mandarin oranges/Clementine's are my best friend. They are perfect in size. Regular oranges I share with my kids as one slice is all I can have.

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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