Hi Guys

I recently committed myself to change my lifestyle and take upon myself a vegetarian lifestyle. But now I'm having surgery, my dietician is recommended I up my protein with chicken and meat.

Anyone here able to maintain being vegetarian without getting protein deficient?

Thanks

My doctor prefers a vegetarian diet for his patients but he didn't push it until 6 months after surgery. But the nutritionist was always recommending that lifestyle so I'm guessing it can be done. I can't do it myself yet.

Yep, been vegan for 13 years with no issues. Protein deficiency is virtually impossible in non-impoverished countries, so you'll be fine. In fact, my surgeon says being vegan is the #1 thing you can do the extend your life, WLS is #2.

Join us over on the vegan/vegetarian forum! https://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/1101-vegetarian-or-vegan-eating/

Thank you so much everyone. Will check the forum out!

I've been a vegetarian for 18 years and a part-time vegan for about 2 years. I highly recommend Dr Garth Davis' new book called Protein-aholic. He's also on FB and actually responded to a question I asked. He's a bariatric surgeon who recommends vegan. I will still do dairy for a while, but once I can eat real food I will phase it out slowly. I've noticed a lot of people on here are keto, basically Atkins. It's expensive, and not easy to maintain long term. I've read numerous peer-reviewed studies and meta-studies that say we're eating way too much protein. I'm nowhere near any kind of expertise on diet and nutrition, but I know how I feel when I eat mostly plant-based vs. a heavy animal protein diet. And I flat out refuse to believe that fruits are bad for us. Juice is debatable. But I will never cut out whole fruit and starchy veggies like potatoes. Just my 2 cents.

4 hours ago, smooshycheeks said:

But I will never cut out whole fruit and starchy veggies like potatoes. Just my 2 cents.

There is no reason to do so as long as these foods don't make you feel queasy in some way. I'm glad I found a little crowd on BP who's not into the low carb and lots of lean animal protein thing.

I've been a vegetarian most of my life. I'm scheduled to have bypass surgery Aug 21st, my nutritionist just said I may have to supplement with protien shakes and Greek yogurt for longer than meat eaters. She thinks it's perfectly healthy to be a vegetarian and have wls.

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