Hi. My preop diet only allows yogurt, popsicles, protein shakes, milk and jello. I start in two days and am really gonna miss chewing!! I read about liver shrinking diets online and it seems meat and cooked veggies are fine. We’re you allowed veggies and meat? Why can’t I eat anything that requires chewing?????

Hi. My preop diet only allows yogurt, popsicles, Protein Shakes, milk and Jello. I start in two days and am really gonna miss chewing!! I read about liver shrinking diets online and it seems meat and cooked veggies are fine. We’re you allowed veggies and meat? Why can’t I eat anything that requires chewing?????

You can't eat anything that requires chewing because it's not on your plan. We won't know why you were given your specific plan because it takes in to consideration. Your hospital. Your surgeon. Your history . Weight and health.

But to answer your question. Yes I was allowed to eat three times a day. But I opted to go for a liquid diet.

That consisted of milk and jello which was an option for bigger people at this hospital.

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Hi. My preop diet only allows yogurt, popsicles, Protein Shakes, milk and Jello. I start in two days and am really gonna miss chewing!! I read about liver shrinking diets online and it seems meat and cooked veggies are fine. We’re you allowed veggies and meat? Why can’t I eat anything that requires chewing?????

You will also miss chewing for two weeks post op . So best to start getting used to it now. Plus 2 weeks on puree if that's on your plan

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I wondered the same thing.....because when you start that two week liquid diet it's a big ole slap upside the head of reality....THIS IS HARD!

My personal theory? Eliminating meat is not physically necessary to shrink your liver pre-surg.....but it IS psychologically necessary to make sure you're gonna survive the restrictive diet after surgery and not do something stupid that could HURT you.

Yep, that two week diet feels like torture. Guess what? So does the post-surgical diet. Except with the post surgical diet, you don't get to change your mind. If you cheat you can end up needing emergency surgery. My doc recently had a case of someone eating on Thanksgiving 5 days post op and getting their sleeve impacted. They tried to shift the clog with an endoscope and couldn't....needed to do surgery to unstick a wad of turkey.

Maybe that is why we have to prove our metal with the liquid diet. Just to know what we're getting ourselves into and making sure we have the courage and tenacity to make it through. Doctors really don't like their surgical complication rate to tick up....and they have to trust you not to sabotage yourself.

Do your pre-surgical diet as written. Don't cheat. They do it that way for a reason. It's hard. Yes. Yes, it is. Very hard. (says a woman who has eaten nothing but clear liquids and protien shakes for three miserable weeks...two pre-surg, and one post surg) But guess what? I had a terrifically easy time in surgery, no nausea, little pain. Tomorrow, I should be cleared to eat yogurt, oatmeal, soup and pudding. Looking very forward to that. Around Christmas, I'll get mashed potatoes and soft meats....which sounds like heaven.

You're hitting the hard part. Buck up and do what you're told. DONT CHEAT! The success of your sleeve depends on it.

It's a shame there are no actual hardcore standards on this. We can all pontificate as to the reasons our particular surgeon requires all liquids, or a combo diet pre-op but I don't believe there is hard evidence on it. My friend could eat up to 3 days prior, then only clear liquids and she had no complications. And her post-op food stages advanced faster than mine as well.

People with higher BMI's may have fattier livers and may benefit greatly from the liver reduction diet thus making surgery safer for them to follow it strictly. It does help with carb cravings to go low or no carb during the pre-op and make you less hungry for the next couple weeks. The reason it teally sucks the first few days is because of depleting glycogen stores in the liver and carb withdrawal. It still sucks no matter what.

I had 8 days of shakes and 2 no cal clear liquids. But I cheated, I ate tuna 3 or 4 times during that 8 days because the shakes were not filling to me and I nearly passed out several times, and post-op, I had the same problem but did NOT risk compromising the sleeve sutures by cheating then, no way. And it sucked of course, but you will survive. What helps is that even liquids are difficult right after surgery and for me, I wasn't and still am not hungry. I need to eat and can tell my stomach is empty and I need food but the desire to eat is just gone. I can tolerate most foods on my plan - chocolate sf pudding or hot chocolate - NO...lol which might be a good thing, in fact sweet stuff seems unappealing pretty much right now.

We are adults and need to decide what the risk is, how important is the goal.

Good luck to those waiting for surgery.

1 hour ago, Creekimp13 said:

My personal theory? Eliminating meat is not physically necessary to shrink your liver pre-surg.....but it IS psychologically necessary to make sure you're gonna survive the restrictive diet after surgery and not do something stupid that could HURT you.

It's cutting out the carbs that helps shrink your liver, so yes you technically could eat meat and still have your liver size reduced. That being said I agree that most of this is pyschological and getting used to not eating prior to the surgery helped deal with it afterwards. Granted afterwards was a bit easier because I had no desire to eat at all for the first week.

Sosewsue61 hit the nail on the head. There is no standard! I was eating lean/green up until 2 days before surgery and started purees on day 3. There are 2 Dr's in my practice, and they have their own advice, some that differs from the manual. Then the nurse has her own experience and offers her different advice on Facebook. One way my plan differed from others is we could have regular texture meats at day 15, but not red meat.


SMH.....

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We might all be adults, but we're not all doctors. Part of the reason we're in this mess, is because we make notable BAD food choices and write our own rules about food....that don't work.

In all other areas of medical treatment most of us would say....follow your doctor's instructions exactly for the best outcome.

Why would this be different?

Yes, we're all adults. Most of us are adults with food addiction. Addicts love to bargain and justify themselves and make their own special rules that are often counterproductive and unwise.

Just sayin...lets not be in denial about that.

To each their own. But to me? I've worked too hard and this is too important to go off script and make guesses against my doctor's instructions.

18 minutes ago, Creekimp13 said:

We might all be adults, but we're not all doctors. Part of the reason we're in this mess, is because we make notable BAD food choices and write our own rules about food....that don't work.

In all other areas of medical treatment most of us would say....follow your doctor's instructions exactly for the best outcome.

Why would this be different?

Yes, we're all adults. Most of us are adults with food addiction. Addicts love to bargain and justify themselves and make their own special rules that are often counterproductive and unwise.

Just sayin...lets not be in denial about that.

To each their own. But to me? I've worked too hard and this is too important to go off script and make guesses against my doctor's instructions.

Amen!

This is a rant..Not to the original poster but to anyone giving medical advice on here.....Who in the hell on this board is a medical professional ? Can they show their credentials to prove it?

trust the process and instructions given to you by your surgeon's office.

Yes, we are adults...Make your own choices....The only one that has to be happy with your outcome is you.

Anyone that says bariatrics is the easy way out can bite me! This takes work.

Thank you all for your thoughts. I have no intention of breaking my preop diet. I’m just very curious why there is no standard. Seems like there should be one diet proven to shrink livers most effectively. Oh well! It’s off to liquids I go!

Thank you all for your thoughts. I have no intention of breaking my preop diet. I’m just very curious why there is no standard. Seems like there should be one diet proven to shrink livers most effectively. Oh well! It’s off to liquids I go!

It's not about shrinking livers most effectively. How can one size fit all when all vary in shape size. Health risk and so on?

Agreed. But my clinic assigns all patients the same diet.

Agreed. But my clinic assigns all patients the same diet.

I understand that. But many depend on how big the paitent is.. for example my hospital has a milk and jello diet for super obese people to also lose weight pre op aswell as the low carb diet which I was given because I didn't need to lose weight he said just don't gain. But I wanted to lose weight and test my strength lol so I opted for the milk and jello diet without the jello as I don't like jello lol

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21 hours ago, dreamingsmall said:

You can't eat anything that requires chewing because it's not on your plan. We won't know why you were given your specific plan because it takes in to consideration. Your hospital. Your surgeon. Your history . Weight and health.

But to answer your question. Yes I was allowed to eat three times a day. But I opted to go for a liquid diet.

That consisted of milk and Jello which was an option for bigger people at this hospital.

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So is this before surgery?? I got told to replace breakfast and lunch with protein shakes,and then eat dinner,low fat,very low sugar. I'm trying to lose 17 pounds so I can get insurance to cover my surgery but I'm having hard time,need to do this by January 3rd,I'm so stressed.

23 minutes ago, dreamingsmall said:

I understand that. But many depend on how big the paitent is.. for example my hospital has a milk and Jello diet for super obese people to also lose weight pre op aswell as the low carb diet which I was given because I didn't need to lose weight he said just don't gain. But I wanted to lose weight and test my strength lol so I opted for the milk and jello diet without the jello as I don't like jello lol

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Just drink milk,and no food or shakes,and you lose??

So is this before surgery?? I got told to replace breakfast and lunch with protein shakes,and then eat dinner,low fat,very low sugar. I'm trying to lose 17 pounds so I can get insurance to cover my surgery but I'm having hard time,need to do this by January 3rd,I'm so stressed.

That was pre op yes. That sounds like it would work. Stress can make it harder to lose weight so try to relax

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