I am getting ready to have the lap band surgery. On all my other diets, I was always making something for me to eat, and something for my husband.

How do you who do most of the cooking handle post-band food prep? Does your spouse cook for him/herself? Do you still cook, even when you are on post-surgery diet?

Any tips for helping make this process smoother for the skinny spouse, without making him/her cook all the time?

Hello there

I am 8 days post op and have cooked some of the meals for my family. I just keep it simple roast chicken and salad or fish and salad as I find it unbearable, as I am just wanting to eat which I made the mistake of doing the other night. I thought I could have a piece of roast chicken with bread and it got dislodged in my throat, it took a while for me to throw it all up, all the time thinking I was gonna choke to death. NEVER again just better stick to the liquid diet like I'm suppose too. Its not that bad I tried beef and vege normal soup which I hand blended, went down ok. I also love liquid yoghurt drinks all flavours, and I found that you can eat crisps with dip which I know is not good for ur waist but what the hell, whatever works I reckon.:Dancing_wub::Dancing_sorry:

DH and I both love to cook. When I was post-op, we had lots of Soups (just varying degrees of thickness through the different stages). We both made the soups the way we normally would and either I added Water and blended them more, or they were clear broths. That wasn't a problem for either of us. He would have the soup as an appetizer, for me it would be the meal.

9 months post-op we still both love to cook and do so. We do not run a separate kitchen or meal plan; it is normal living - what one cooks the other eats.

I cooked most days for my family while on the post op diet. I just didn't taste anything. I told them before hand that I couldn't eat, so I would NOT be tasting for too much or too little seasoning. It all went well. I am almost 2 months out now. I try to make sure that whatever I cook as something that I can eat. I try one bite to see if it is uncomfortable (I can't eat regular rice anymore) and go from there. It seems to work for now. We will see how it goes when I have more restriction and have fewer things that I can eat. All of that to say this, if you think that you can't follow your surgeon's post op rules to the letter if you cook for your family, then have them cook/order take out or whatever until you are on regular foods. You don't want to risk hurting your band.

Good luck on your journey!

Well, I always cooked pretty healthy meals for my family, it was all the extras that caused the problems,not our meals. DH has never been one to complain about what's served up and I wouldnt tolerate it anyway, we dont have crap in the house, because we dont want the kids eating much of that sort of thing, we never buy coke or other sweet drinks, we dont even buy orange juice. So there was never any problem to overcome - especially since I never looked at this at a diet and have therefore never eaten special foods. At most, I leave the potatoes or rice off my plate because I cant fit them in. But we eat the same food we always do.

during the liquids and mushies phase, I cooked for them the same as normal and I'd precooked a lot of soups and stuff for myself and once I was on mushies, more often than not I just blended the meal down for me.

The things that made DH and I fat were the amount of food we consumed and what we would buy respectively during the day for lunch or Snacks or whatever. I had too many lattes, too many glasses of wine, too much on my dinner plate etc.

Long term, we eat the same stuff. Usually, I can't eat breakfast, but love to cook, so today I had the waffle maker out and bacon for DH and the kids and it didn't bother me. There was a little cinnamon-infused maple syrup that dripped down the side of the bottle, that I was happy to test, but otherwise didn't miss a thing. The rest of the day, we all eat the same. I am not interested in running 2 kitchens. Whatever I make that is a lot of bread, like potatoes, rice, pastas, anything like that, I just don't put much of that on my plate... I make a fabulous THICK spaghetti sauce that I don't need the pasta for... or I use spaghetti squash, for the WHOLE family. Your family's eating habits may change a bit... we eat more proteins and veggies... and less Hamburger Helper... and that is good for everyone.

During my preop and postop phase, my wonderful husband ate pretty much like I did...at least when at home. Honestly, per my doctor (and he just reiterated this to me at my 2nd Fill on Thursday)...the goal is for me to be able to eat essentially any food, but WAY less of it, and no snacks. Period. I'll eat whatever protein first, then veggies, then fruits, then pastas/grains/breads etc. But I don't anticipate a "diet" mentality in my house; no separate me/them foods etc. I've been there, done that. It doesn't work for me. Eating "normally", but less, and being satisfied with less, and not being hungry every 2-3 hours; that's what I'm aiming for. So no, my husband won't suffer at all. Frankly, though, if it would mean that I would lose weight and be more physically fit so we could travel etc like we want, he'd gladly drink nothing but protein shakes at home for years to come...LOL

It is only really different the first month . . . and my hubby did do some of his cooking. However, afterwards we eat the same things. Sometimes I will make side dishes of pasta or potatoes that I dont eat, but it has not made cooking or food preparation any more difficult by being banded.

I agree with Heather, once you get through the pre-op and post-op diets there really is no reason why you would need to prepare separate meals.

During pre-op DH had to fend for himself, I was hungry and it was just too difficult for me to be around food. Post-op liquid I was not hungry so I was able to cook for him and drink my broth and shakes. During mushies, I ate what he ate for most part, I just cooked foods that blended well. And now we eat the same foods. He is watching his triglycerides so my cutting back on starches and sugars is good for him as well but I do occasionally make these foods for him.

Edited November 17, 200817 yr by Jodi_620

Personally after the post op diet my family and i eat the same thing. I have three small children so before my surgery i made meals up and froze them just to bake and not truly have to cook. I could not have done that on the post op diet I was hungry i think mentally more than anything but would grab out of the freezer heat and they would eat without me blowing the whole diet. Now i just eat what they do but smaller portions

good luck

After post op diet was over, there was no more problem. I eat the same healthy things that I prepare for my family. No "diet" per se. However, we do eat out a lot less often. I think he kind of misses that, but I don't rule it out entirely. We also don't have pizza delivered like we used to. DH can't eat a whole one, and I have a problem with the dense bread. Other than that, I cook the same way I always did, I just eat less of it and don't snack.