I’m 5 weeks out from my sleeve surgery. I had major tooth extraction surgery yesterday & I'm miserable today. I wish I could order in some iHop pancakes so bad! What do y’all recommend for comfort food? I know I can make mashed potatoes or cream of wheat but I was looking for some different ideas. Thank you!!

A time will come when you can easily eat all your old comfort foods, like pancakes, if that is the choice you want to make. Though, this is how a lot of post-ops gain their weight back.

The period you are in now is often called the Honeymoon period because your intake is so restricted you almost can't not lose weight (3 negatives there, be careful).

It is also the perfect time to change your habits and preferences. This is the time to change what you think of food, particularly what your 'comfort' foods will be. What you learn in this early period will stick with you your whole life if you work at it now.

Making pancakes with substitute materials (which someone will be along to tell you about) helps many folks. For me, not so much because, for me, it would be too easy to return to the original version.

I had RNY, so sugar and fat are right out for me. For VSG it's a choice.

But again, for me, proteins were most of my comfort foods, cheese being the rest. So, I could still do what I liked only in vastly smaller quantities. I hated veggies, but I learned to like some in the honeymoon period and still now choose them as part of meals.

You will figure out what works for you, but be careful you're not figuring out how to repeat your pre-op issues.

Good luck.

Tek

Tek nailed it. I would just like to add one thing.. is there anything else you can turn to to make today a little easier to handle? Relying on comfort foods when things aren’t going well is a slippery slope... to give an analogy I once quit smoking for five years, cold turkey no issues or cravings.. but one day something really stressful happened and I bummed a smoke off someone to help calm myself.... a week later something a little less stressful happened and I had another, and another and suddenly my old unhealthy habit was back. For many of us (I’m not speaking for you specifically) turning to comfort foods on bad days is a dangerous thing, and if there’s something better we can turn to it’s a good idea to find it before the old habits that got us to where we are come back.

+1 on trying to find something else to "comfort" you other than food.

+100000000000000000 on the slippery slope of "having just one cigarette". I had been smoke free for 8 years until one day on vacation last September, I thought I would "just have one". Then I thought well i can "just smoke while on this vacation". Fast forward 1 year and despite "quitting" 3 times for about a month at a time, I am back to smoking like I never stopped all those years ago. Le Sigh.

Sooooo...be careful when putting your toes back into old habits that got you to where you don't want to be.

....but obviously, YOU know yourself the best, and can endeavour to recognize your limits, and try not to toe the line if you don't need to. Personally, it's not worth it.

Good Luck!

Edited October 15, 20205 yr by ms.sss

There are pancake mixes out there with high protein. Flap Jacked brand is one of them I have tried it and they are pretty good. Another high protein offering is Kodiak Cakes brand. They have a mix you can make yourself or I have seen premade pancakes and waffles in my local grocery store. You need to make sure you are following your plan and can have these in you diet at 5 weeks out. At 5 weeks on was on soft food, but you should clear it with your doctor or dietician.

Flap Jacked Pancake Mix

Kodiak Cakes

Thanks for the advice everyone! I guess I was more looking for soft things I can eat for the next few days that have become a new food you turn to when you’re sick that’s still a healthy alternative to your old comfort foods. Although I’d love those iHop pancakes right now & I could get some down if I really wanted to, I won’t because that would certainly be a slippery slope for me. Mashed potatoes & cream of wheat in my allotted amounts will suffice, I just thought something different might cheer me up a bit. Thanks again!!

Also, I’m definitely breaking out my coloring books & rock painting kit today! ?

4 minutes ago, RainbowBrite57 said:

Also, I’m definitely breaking out my coloring books & rock painting kit today! ?

Be sure to take the rock's feelings into account.

Tek

Because you just had tooth extraction surgery, I would recommend something very soft, such as refried beans with melted cheese, one of my favorite comfort foods post surgery and easy to make! Also, any soup with higher protein values or scrambled eggs with cheese. These would be comfort foods that are still on plan!

Feel better!!

There are some decent low carb pancake recipes out there using almond flour. They aren't just like the real thing, but they aren't terrible either. I got in the habit of making them during a 7 month run of doing keto and I still make them now because my kids seem to like them. But yes to echo some of the others trying to avoid food for comfort is a great way to keep yourself out of trouble. I struggle with that plenty myself. I've actually taken to carrying a "challenge" coin around with me that I grab when I'm thinking of going for something to eat and not really hungry as a reminder of what I'm trying to accomplish. It doesn't always work, but I think it works more often than not at getting me to refocus and direct myself towards a healthier activity.

This may sound strange, but I just LOVED refried beans. I would thin them with some broth and sometimes add a little bit of liquid from the salsa jar. I could slowly suck down those beans and just feel like I was in heaven! For me, it was a great food to feel good about - all healthy, high protein, filling, smooth and tasty, and you really are not going to overeat beans, for goodness sake, like you might pancakes or anything sweet.