Hey everyone!

I havent had surgery yet, but I was thinking maybe it'd be good idea to get some recipes for liquid, pureed and solid stages of food. I want to do this the right way this time and follow it to a T. Also, do you all drink just water? I have a hard time getting 64 ounces in. I'm addicted to soda. Well I only have 1 to 2 cans a day or 3. How do you avoid it? Lastly, I have a sweet tooth, what are your favorite "healthy" versions of sweets if you have any that won't really make sick. Probably best to stay away all together, huh?

2 hours ago, Arabesque said:

I get how some water tastes awful. I grew up drinking rain water & a lot of water tastes awful to me. Plus after surgery water seemed to taste too ‘heavy’ to drink. Try boiling your water then put it in your water pitcher as sometimes that can help.

Watch carbonated water & drinks as for many it’s not permitted for a while. It can stir up stomach acid & the build up of gas can make you feel uncomfortable & ‘full’. Of course some are allowed it & can drink it without issues. I have to let my sparkling water go almost or totally flat before drinking cause too much gas causes me problems (hiccups, discomfort, etc.)

I would really like to not drink it when it's allowed after surgery. I would feel like im going back to bad habits. I could live off of sugar free iced tea over drinking soda or anything with bubbles. I know it'd be hard to stay away from it, but I know some people who hate soda, so I'm hopeful that I can stay away from it

Pre surgery I drank a 12 pack of Coke Zero a day. Now, 16 months out I have not had a single one. My team said I am medically cleared to have it but it is associated with weight gain. They still don’t know exactly why the zero calorie beverage causes it but study after study shows the association and that’s enough to have kept me off of it. I like the crystal light. I use two packets to mix it by the gallon at home and have a ziplock bag full of them at all times in my purse. I like that I can switch up the flavors. A newer option is cirkul. Its a drink bottle that they sell flavored cartridges for. My aunt swears the flavors are even better than crystal light. They have their own website or you can get the starter pack at bed bath and beyond. She likes that you can adjust the intensity of the flavor because she likes them with more water. I suppose you can play around with the amount of water you add to crystal light and achieve the same thing though. I also like to mix two flavors together when I mix a gallon to create new flavors.

07/04/2022 06:54 AM, Erin18 said:

You can use the bubly drops without using the soda stream device? I mean I have one and never used it same with some of the flavors. Never knew you could use the flavors

I use the bubly drops in my plain Water without issue. I’m sure that’s not how they intended it to be used but gives the water a nice subtle flavor when I want a little change from plain water.

I like that it’s zero carbs and zero calories, and I have a sensitivity (digestive) to some artificial sweeteners so crystal light and things like that aren’t an option for me - but this keeps me for reaching for juice or other calorie drinks when I want something different. 

On 7/5/2022 at 3:02 AM, ShoppGirl said:

My team said I am medically cleared to have it but it is associated with weight gain. They still don’t know exactly why the zero calorie beverage causes it but study after study shows the association and that’s enough to have kept me off of it.

An article I read explained that because the body tastes the sweet from the artificial sweeteners it expects there will be glucose which it can use for energy. But because there is none the body thinks something is wrong & then holds onto calories consumed as fat. They also believe sweeteners can increase your appetite. I got the impression it is related to a sort of starvation mode response. ??‍♀️

All artificial sweeteners do is continue to feed our desire for sweet.