Hellow

I'm getting my surgery on monday. I'm nervous but also excited. I'm looking for some recipes ideas for all the next phases coming up post-op.... i will be at home for a month but I will continue to attend my university classes... So I'll have lots of time to try to cook new things (I'm a nurse, so i never have this much time to myself)...

I really like the recipes in the Bariatric Diet Guide and Cookbook by Dr. Matthew Weiner, and Bariatric Meal Prep Made Easy by Kristin Willard.

This ricotta bake is great during the pureed stage. Definitely gives pizza ish vibes.

https://bariatricbits.com/single-serve-baked-ricotta/

Here's to a smooth surgery and recovery!!

There are some soft food recipes on the Baritastic app (if you use it). Check with your nutritionist as well. My nutritionist gave me some recipes compiled by my bariatric program- I didn't use any. I must admit that I was not adventurous with food in the first few phases. I stuck to the basics - shakes, yogurt, soup, etc. During the pureed stages, I added tuna and other soft fish.

Don't over think this stage. My taste buds were telling me that lots of my go to food was blahhh. I had an awful taste in my mouth which didn't help. I just ate protein yogurt, ice pops, strained soups and the tiniest morsels of hard cheese left to dissolve on my tongue. I was allowed coffee so had latte's and home made milk shakes, milk, banana and peanut butter blitzed. My doc was against protein shakes

Good luck with your surgery!! I was on liquids for 2 weeks post op and didn't tolerate protein shakes, so I drank mostly water with sugar free flavoring packets in them (plain water made me gag), broths, strained soups, Fairlife milk, and after about 2 weeks I could finally get in a protein water. My surgeon cleared me to eat fish and soft eggs at 2 weeks (much to the annoyance of their dietician), which interestingly was easier for me to digest than the protein shakes. I couldn't tolerate jello either.

In the pureed phase I tried pudding and yogurt but they sat too heavy, so I mostly ate fish and soft eggs and all the liquid things. Plus I was able to tolerate cream soups.

In the soft stage I ate anything that could be cut easily with a plastic fork, mostly fish, yogurt, and cheese. By a month out I was finally able to handle the feeling of a protein shake... My tummy was just really sensitive. Be aware you may have issues with lactose early on, so I recommend a lactose free milk like Fairlife if you are in the US.

I spent a lot of money on protein stuff it turned out my stomach didn't like or my tastebuds found offensive. I HIGHLY recommend sticking with sample packets of things. Those will easily get you through a few weeks. BariatricPal has a good number of them, I liked Syntrax Nectars best. Seeq has a sample pack available and I really loved their watermelon flavor of protein water. You can get samples from Unjury too, they have some protein broth flavors some people like.

I also spent a lot of time pinning recipes on Pinterest for the stages, but I never used any of them because my tastebuds preferred really simple things. I couldn't tolerate anything with cooked tomatoes/tomato sauce for at least 2 months and I wasn't allowed to add raw fruits or veggies to shakes or smoothies, but every surgeon's guidelines are different.