Hi everyone! I'm new to this forum and this is my first post. I'm pre op and just had my last nutritionist visit. I've been making changes with my diet and exercising more. I'm totally ready! Well...I just watch a documentary on Netflix called What the Health and it's made me nervous about the meat based protein diet my nutritionist is promoting. I've always been a carnivore so have never thought about cutting it out. But I have also never really cared about my diet before. So my question is: is there anyone out there that has adopted a vegan diet post surgery? Or even somebody who has extremely cut down on animal products? Are you able to lose weight, maintain weight loss and have energy? Please let me know your experiences.

Ps I'm not usually one to let a movie or random internet article or whatever change my opinions on things but something about this documentary just struck hard.

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"What the health" is controversial - even in the hard core vegan community.

There are several threads about veg/vegan eating on this board. You might want to check these out.

I saw that movie and fo believe plant based diet is the way to go. Plant based is even recommended for reversing diabetes. I favor vegetarian over vegan because I have seen people who are vegan eat cereal and other sugar based crap foods in the name of bring vegan. One if my favorite sayings is " too many people counting calories and not enough counting chemicals "
Fruits and veggies do not contain artificial chemicals and chemicals are a big part of why our society is so sick
The documentary "forks over knives " is about a surgeon who reversed heart disease with a vegetarian diet. It is an excellent movie. So is "Hungry for change".
These are all on Netflix or hulu.
My husband and I drink green juice and have for 4 years. We both have seen the positive effects on our health from green juice.
I had surgery on 7/21 and we both are going vegetarian but with fish or shrimp only.




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I am "pescatarian"--no poultry or meat, but I eat fish, eggs, some dairy products. I've been eating like this for close to 40 years and plan to continue after surgery. All my pre-surgery testing has shown that I have normal blood pressure, heart, kidneys, blood sugar, liver... all those things. With the exception of "borderline high" cholesterol and the issue of heel problems, I'm as healthy as a middle-aged woman over 300 lbs can be. I attribute this, in part, to the fact that I haven't eaten meat in so long, and I stay away from artificial sweeteners and foods. My surgeon also told me that meat is one of the things people struggle with digesting after bypass. In my experience so far, I've been able to meet all my pre-surgery protein requirements. I hope it will be the same after surgery on Friday.

I have watched that documentary as well as many others in favor of plant based. I am following a plant based diet and I'm still losing weight, etc. My husband, who is trying to gain, is following as well and is gaining muscle much easier than he was doing all that protein. We both feel better, more alert. I don't have any digestive issues anymore. I'm quite regular as well. It's nice. In fact, he decided to eat a meal that was high in fat and had some animal protein in it today for lunch. He's currently sleeping, told me he felt really sick and gross. I told him his body doesn't want that stuff anymore. He won't be eating like that again. Lol

I started a thread in the Vegan/Vegetarian forum; Proteinaholic. Check it out. We're talking about what bariatric surgeon, Dr Garth Davis, has researched and found by science and evidence regarding animal protein and our diets. It's VERY interesting and just confirms to me I'm on the right path. His book is called Proteinaholic. You should check it out.

Following this. I was a pescatarian for years. When I was diagnosed with PCOS I convinced myself to eat meat again and more " ketogenic like ." I really feel terrible physically and morally. I saw what the health too and I was not really convinced that all the information was correct. Even as someone who morally believes in limiting meat and animal products it seemed like they were pushing an agenda hardcore. That is just my opinion though. I would love to be able to eat pescatarian after surgery and am really curious to learn how you guys who eat this way hit your protein goals !

Anyone ever watch Dr Duc Voing on youtuube? He is a Bariatric surgeon and says " skinny dont stay skinny by drinking protein drinks".
He says we eat lots of fruits and veggies. That is so true.
I am doing the eggs and cheese to. Pectararian? Sounds cool.

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His quote was skinny Asians dont stay skinny be drinking protein drinks.

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I tried the Plant Based diet after cancer surgery. I do not like vegetables but I learned to like cauliflowerand broccoli. I lost about 5 pounds on this diet. I found the diet to be difficult because I do not like tofu and leafy greens. One positive thing that came out of the diet is I like vegetables more. I am looking forward to my surgery in September.

2 hours ago, nursejackie said:

Protein goals !

Following Dr Davis' way, I get my proteins through the plants I eat. I also don't believe that we need as much protein as what is pushed either (my thoughts on this has changed after reading the science of how and what our bodies need). I still feel great. I don't feel sluggish at all. I'm still gaining muscle (so is my husband who is doing body building and eating plant based). I'm impressed to hear that bloodwork of plant based eaters tend to be healthier than those who do eat meat. I do love meat, but it's not a requirement for me anymore. I've also come to realize that I don't want to pick apart my food by macro and micro nutrients anymore. If I have fish, it's fish. Not protein. That's just me...a new look at how I view food now.

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and opinions. I did some further research and it looks like a lot of the studies and numbers used in that movie were inflated or manipulated. So I do feel a bit better. However, I think once I get healed up from surgery I might try to limit my animal based protein. I think I could do well with seafood and veggies. Maybe keep the eggs...i can't imagine breakfast without eggs!!

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Dr. Weiner wrote a book called A Pound of Cure. You can buy it on Amazon as a hard copy or for a kindle. It basically explains how you should eat 2 lbs of veggies and fruit a day, with some of those veggies being beans to help with protein intake, but not cut out meat all together. I find this has been easier than cutting out meat all together.

Following Dr Davis' way, I get my proteins through the plants I eat. I also don't believe that we need as much protein as what is pushed either (my thoughts on this has changed after reading the science of how and what our bodies need). I still feel great. I don't feel sluggish at all. I'm still gaining muscle (so is my husband who is doing body building and eating plant based). I'm impressed to hear that bloodwork of plant based eaters tend to be healthier than those who do eat meat. I do love meat, but it's not a requirement for me anymore. I've also come to realize that I don't want to pick apart my food by macro and micro nutrients anymore. If I have fish, it's fish. Not protein. That's just me...a new look at how I view food now.

My doc also doesn't promote massive amounts of protein. They say 45grams is all you need. I also don't like analyzing the macros either. I do write,what I eat so I can see each exactly what goes in. But i,am like you, fish is fish, yogurt is yogurt. If I had to track everything like that I would get very frustrated and find eating to be too much of a chore. I write what I eat because I don't want to find myself eating something I shouldn't and no record of it.


HW 274 SW 263 GW 125 GASTRIC SLEEVE 7/21/17