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Why are diets so different?



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I just got back from my 10 weeks post op appointment with my Nutritionist, and some things shocked me, like the fact she allows me to eat Pasta (with no cheese and veggies but it's still pasta) and RICE. The rice part is the one that confuses me the most because I read a lot of you talking about how we shouldn't eat rice anymore after the by-pass. Of course I follow my nut's diet and so far it's been working great (I lost 31 kg between my pre-op and post-op diet in less than 6 months) so I trust her but why isn't there like a universal RNY diet? Why is everyone's so different?

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I have been allowed to eat everything since week 6. As long as I stick to my Protein requirement, the rest is up to me.

Also, no liquid diet for me. Not pre op and only 2 days post op. By day 4 I was eating solid food with restrictions. There are so many guidelines out there. Looks to me that the US is the strictest about the liquid diet.

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Day 4 on solids? I couldn't have begun to swallow that. On day 8 I had whole milk (before that it was Water, tea, broth).. and that milk was SO THICK. Took a couple days to get used to it.

Perhaps its the difference between pouch and sleeve...

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@Berry78 yeah, we transitioned through the stages in 4 days. Of course everything had to be chewed to puree, and we had several restrictions, I was eating cheese, yogurt, and a few other things. Just because I was allowed, didn't mean I did. I eat mostly cheese, yogurt and Protein Shakes. But also some fish and chicken.

I have heard that sleeve feel a lot more restriction than bypass

Edited by Meryline

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Wow day 4? I'm jealous and scared of that lol. I'm pre-op, on my last day of my 14-day liver shrinking liquid diet, and tomorrow it's Clear Liquids all day (day before surgery). I'll share the progression chart my surgeon and NUT advise for the RNY I'm having (attached). It definitely seems every surgeon and NUT is different, not sure why that is. *if you can't see the attachment or open it, make sure you're logged in*

Diet Progression Chart.docx

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I couldn’t eat solids until week 5 first two weeks were liquids then puréed food for two weeks and the i incorporated solids very slowly.
This is what i mean with different diets. How can every profesional have such different opinions on this?


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Because there is no empirical research based evidence as to best diet. You can't randomly assign people to different plans and test to see what works best.

So every professional makes a judgement call based on their education and experience.

You select your surgical team based on their education and experience and trust them to cut you open. So you either need to trust their plan for the same reason or educate yourself and make your own judgement based on your education and experience.


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My surgical team has to follow a national standard, and have a great success. Also, I might have been able to eat solids, but everything has to be chewed down to puree, and it's still like that. And I know I have to, or things get stuck

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Because there is no empirical research based evidence as to best diet. You can't randomly assign people to different plans and test to see what works best.

So every professional makes a judgement call based on their education and experience.

You select your surgical team based on their education and experience and trust them to cut you open. So you either need to trust their plan for the same reason or educate yourself and make your own judgement based on your education and experience.





Of course i trust my doctors and im following their instructions i was just wondering why there are so many opinions on what we can and can’t eat and when.
But anyways, yeah what you said makes total sense, i hadn’t thought of the fact that its very difficult to find one universal diet.

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My Dr has everyone on liquids 2 weeks before, clear liquids 2 weeks after,2 weeks full liquid,2 weeks blended, and then solid. Like omg I feel like I'm going to die I'm so hungry. I have been living off basicly Water since Oct.1st.

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Of course i trust my doctors and im following their instructions i was just wondering why there are so many opinions on what we can and can’t eat and when.
But anyways, yeah what you said makes total sense, i hadn’t thought of the fact that its very difficult to find one universal diet.


I get what ur asking tho. Not so much a question about a universal diet, but some sort of uniform plan on when an RNY patient is to start incorporating the different kinds of foods and testing their new internal setups. Of course theres no 'one size fits all' kind of diet, but medically speaking, why isn't there a standard between all of our docs of when to start incorporating these foods into our newly formed anatomy? We're all the same species (humans[emoji6]), and with some exceptions, we all have with the same anatomies, and roughly the same healing rates, so why are some docs allowing their RNY patients have solid foods after 2 weeks and others make their patients wait 4-6 weeks? THAT'S the part i don't get. I'm sure there's been studies about, on average, how long it takes for an RNY to heal, how much content and how long after surgery our new tummys can take, etc...right? So why the big timing differences?

I think this is basically what the OP was asking. And I'm curious too. We could all speculate, but i don't think any of us really knows the answer. It's just an interesting observation to wonder, i think.

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I get what ur asking tho. Not so much a question about a universal diet, but some sort of uniform plan on when an RNY patient is to start incorporating the different kinds of foods and testing their new internal setups. Of course theres no 'one size fits all' kind of diet, but medically speaking, why isn't there a standard between all of our docs of when to start incorporating these foods into our newly formed anatomy? We're all the same species (humans[emoji6]), and with some exceptions, we all have with the same anatomies, and roughly the same healing rates, so why are some docs allowing their RNY patients have solid foods after 2 weeks and others make their patients wait 4-6 weeks? THAT'S the part i don't get. I'm sure there's been studies about, on average, how long it takes for an RNY to heal, how much content and how long after surgery our new tummys can take, etc...right? So why the big timing differences?

I think this is basically what the OP was asking. And I'm curious too. We could all speculate, but i don't think any of us really knows the answer. It's just an interesting observation to wonder, i think.


Yeah exactly! Also why some say you will NEVER be allowed to eat certain foods and then you find people that are allowed to eat it, in my case i’ve see a lot of people saying rice is banned, and yet two days ago my nutritionist added it to my diet.
It’s a bit confusing, although as I said before I will follow her instructions and eventually will try it. Maybe the diet depends on the country i don’t know many people that got the surgery where I live so I can’t compare my diet with others.


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I get what ur asking tho. Not so much a question about a universal diet, but some sort of uniform plan on when an RNY patient is to start incorporating the different kinds of foods and testing their new internal setups. Of course theres no 'one size fits all' kind of diet, but medically speaking, why isn't there a standard between all of our docs of when to start incorporating these foods into our newly formed anatomy? We're all the same species (humans[emoji6]), and with some exceptions, we all have with the same anatomies, and roughly the same healing rates, so why are some docs allowing their RNY patients have solid foods after 2 weeks and others make their patients wait 4-6 weeks? THAT'S the part i don't get. I'm sure there's been studies about, on average, how long it takes for an RNY to heal, how much content and how long after surgery our new tummys can take, etc...right? So why the big timing differences?

I think this is basically what the OP was asking. And I'm curious too. We could all speculate, but i don't think any of us really knows the answer. It's just an interesting observation to wonder, i think.


There is an answer!

It's because there is no evidence based research.... there are no studies that have been done that show which diet produces the best results... the safest and the most weight loss. There is no PROOF basically. So each doctor bases their diet on their own education and experience. No one KNOWS so each doctor makes their own educated guess. That's why no standard diet because each doctor has a different guess.


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There is an answer!

It's because there is no evidence based research.... there are no studies that have been done that show which diet produces the best results... the safest and the most weight loss. There is no PROOF basically. So each doctor bases their diet on their own education and experience. No one KNOWS so each doctor makes their own educated guess. That's why no standard diet because each doctor has a different guess.



I dont think ur understanding the question. Im not asking about what doctors feel about what foods are ok to eat based on whats best in a diet plan in the long run. I get the whole "its anyones best guess on what diet works". Im talking about a standard of when doctors allow the RNY patient to begin incorporating different foods into their new anatomy. As i gave in my example preciously, some plans allow pork and beef as soon as chicken and fish, while others can have it but not for 3 or 6 months post op. Or nuts. Same delay their patients while others allow it fairly soon postop. And not because the doc cares how it fares within a diet plan, but because they want the new anatomy to wait a bit before eating courser, sharper, denser foods. Things like that.
Im positive there are studies that show averages, averages of how long the body takes to heal after RNY surgery. So again, why would doc A say not to eat this food until 6 weeks out, while doc B says its ok to eat it after 3 weeks out. Not a question of fact based diets.

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I dont think ur understanding the question. Im not asking about what doctors feel about what foods are ok to eat based on whats best in a diet plan in the long run. I get the whole "its anyones best guess on what diet works". Im talking about a standard of when doctors allow the RNY patient to begin incorporating different foods into their new anatomy. As i gave in my example preciously, some plans allow pork and beef as soon as chicken and fish, while others can have it but not for 3 or 6 months post op. Or nuts. Same delay their patients while others allow it fairly soon postop. And not because the doc cares how it fares within a diet plan, but because they want the new anatomy to wait a bit before eating courser, sharper, denser foods. Things like that.
Im positive there are studies that show averages, averages of how long the body takes to heal after RNY surgery. So again, why would doc A say not to eat this food until 6 weeks out, while doc B says its ok to eat it after 3 weeks out. Not a question of fact based diets.


No I do understand and there are no studies that show that, say, clear liquids are best until this point of healing or purées are best until this amount of swelling goes down. So yeah, same answer! We may know the average stage that healing is at but doctors disagree about what foods are best suited to what stage of healing. No studies to show that.


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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      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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      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.

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

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