HI, Everyone! Well I have tried to think of where to begin :confused:, with my quest for learning. I guess right now I would benafit from learning some tips for my band :sad_smile:. Roming the site I have picked up a few, but dont understand them:unsure:, so I am asking if you would sharing your tips with me please, my Dr. told me nothing. :shades_smile:

Thanks:biggrin:

Are you banded?

And what specifically are you wanting to know?

Are you banded?

And what specifically are you wanting to know?

Yes I am banded.

Well I have heard people say not to drink while eating? Huh...things like that ..tips. My Dr. was like here you now have the band, if food get's stuck lift you hands and breath, it should pass. Come back for 1 fill, then in a month #2 fill. thats was it. nothing more. From looking around there is alot more I should know. So I though tips is a good place to start.

My doctor handed me samples menus and was like yours, have at it attitude to me. I never heard of the things here like only eat 1 cup or 1/2 cup or 1 1/2 cups and dont drink while you eat stuff. He just said what he wants me to eat and when I asked him about a low gi diet, he said stick with my diet, I have a great success rate. Very odd the differences I read here.

Wow! I had to attend orientation meetings, meet with the doctor several times, and nutritionist for 6-months all of which told me what I could and could not do with the band. And that was before I was banded.

Every doctor is different. So you will see many variations of what is or is not allowed. The majority of doctors do not want their patients to drink with a meal or after a meal. No drinking after a meal for at least an hour.

If there is a specific topic you are interested in, you can use the tool bar at the top of this web site and click on the research link. Let's say you want to know about post op diets. Key in the words post op diet and it will provide you all the threads with those key words in it. Very cool tool!

I hope that helps. Good luck. And get your doctor to give you more specific information.

My doctor handed me samples menus and was like yours, have at it attitude to me. I never heard of the things here like only eat 1 cup or 1/2 cup or 1 1/2 cups and dont drink while you eat stuff. He just said what he wants me to eat and when I asked him about a low gi diet, he said stick with my diet, I have a great success rate. Very odd the differences I read here.

thanks for sharing...

What is a gi diet? I dont know all the terms yet. I lost most of my weight in about 1 and 1/2 yrs. I didnt know how to maintain my band and re-gained it all and then so.

Wow! I had to attend orientation meetings, meet with the doctor several times, and nutritionist for 6-months all of which told me what I could and could not do with the band. And that was before I was banded.

Every doctor is different. So you will see many variations of what is or is not allowed. The majority of doctors do not want their patients to drink with a meal or after a meal. No drinking after a meal for at least an hour.

If there is a specific topic you are interested in, you can use the tool bar at the top of this web site and click on the research link. Let's say you want to know about post op diets. Key in the words post op diet and it will provide you all the threads with those key words in it. Very cool tool!

I hope that helps. Good luck. And get your doctor to give you more specific information.

lol thats way diff from me. I called one night just to get prices & ect.. and they said you are 1 pound shy of the qualifing weight so your good. I only met them the day before.

Thanks for sharing that tool that will be a life saver on here for me!!! I am off to explore now. :shades_smile:

A low gi diet is foods that are basically labeled, red, yellow and green. Red foods, dont eat, yellow watch it, moderation once in a while and green means you can have them. 100 = sugar, its a measure of how fast you can digest foods I believe. berries, stonefruits, good, figs are high gi. whole grains are better than instant rice. Instant rice is the worst rice, like 87, but it also depends on how its cooked and how long. If you boil whole grain rice 20 minutes its lower gi, most of the starch is removed. the only potatoes semi ok, are new potatoes, very small, boiled, no baked potatoes which have much more starch.

the lowest gi food is yogurt, that is artifically sweetened or unsweetened believe it or not, high Protein, about 57 value gi, the lower the better for you.

I got the books on how to eat low gi free from my library. It works better for me than low calorie or low fat.

GI stands for glycemic index, which ranks food based on its impact on blood glucose levels. In theory, a low GI diet will keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day.

It helped me a lot to understand how the band works. The band acts like a gatekeeper for your stomach. solid food sits in the small pouch above the band. The band lets the food through into the stomach very slowly.

If you eat too much or eat too quickly, the band can't keep up. This will probably cause pain and may cause you to vomit. When this happens to me, I get a pain right under my breastbone. It feels like I can't quite take a deep breath.

That's why band patients are told to eat slowly. You want to give your body time to tell you it's full. There are soft stop signals (burping, feeling like you need to sit up and take a deep breath, hiccups, etc.) and hard stop signals (throwing up, sliming, etc.). Obviously, you want to learn what your soft stop signals are because the hard ones are no fun.

The opening in the band is called the stoma. When foods get stuck, your body compensates by producing lots of extra saliva - sliming. Of course, if the food is simply too big to fit through your stoma, you'll throw up.

Chewing really well ensures foods will fit through your stoma. I find it's easier to chew thoroughly when I take really small bites.

Drink as much Water as you can. Staying hydrated is good for you in so many ways. I've noticed that my band feels tighter when I'm dehydrated.

My doctor doesn't have a lot of rules about food and the lap band. I didn't have to see a nutritionist and there aren't any forbidden foods. He said soda would cause gas and could be painful, but didn't outright forbid it. I've been encouraged to try Pasta, rice, and bread in very small quantities. Some people can't tolerate certain foods...but many people have no such problems.

Anyhow...that's what I've found helpful. :shades_smile:

A low gi diet is foods that are basically labeled, red, yellow and green. Red foods, dont eat, yellow watch it, moderation once in a while and green means you can have them. 100 = sugar, its a measure of how fast you can digest foods I believe. berries, stonefruits, good, figs are high gi. whole grains are better than instant rice. Instant rice is the worst rice, like 87, but it also depends on how its cooked and how long. If you boil whole grain rice 20 minutes its lower gi, most of the starch is removed. the only potatoes semi ok, are new potatoes, very small, boiled, no baked potatoes which have much more starch.

the lowest gi food is yogurt, that is artifically sweetened or unsweetened believe it or not, high Protein, about 57 value gi, the lower the better for you.

I got the books on how to eat low gi free from my library. It works better for me than low calorie or low fat.

OK I will look into it. I have never heard of it. Maybe it will work for me as well. Thanks!!

GI stands for glycemic index, which ranks food based on its impact on blood glucose levels. In theory, a low GI diet will keep your blood sugar stable throughout the day.

It helped me a lot to understand how the band works. The band acts like a gatekeeper for your stomach. solid food sits in the small pouch above the band. The band lets the food through into the stomach very slowly.

If you eat too much or eat too quickly, the band can't keep up. This will probably cause pain and may cause you to vomit. When this happens to me, I get a pain right under my breastbone. It feels like I can't quite take a deep breath.

That's why band patients are told to eat slowly. You want to give your body time to tell you it's full. There are soft stop signals (burping, feeling like you need to sit up and take a deep breath, hiccups, etc.) and hard stop signals (throwing up, sliming, etc.). Obviously, you want to learn what your soft stop signals are because the hard ones are no fun.

The opening in the band is called the stoma. When foods get stuck, your body compensates by producing lots of extra saliva - sliming. Of course, if the food is simply too big to fit through your stoma, you'll throw up.

Chewing really well ensures foods will fit through your stoma. I find it's easier to chew thoroughly when I take really small bites.

Drink as much Water as you can. Staying hydrated is good for you in so many ways. I've noticed that my band feels tighter when I'm dehydrated.

My doctor doesn't have a lot of rules about food and the lap band. I didn't have to see a nutritionist and there aren't any forbidden foods. He said soda would cause gas and could be painful, but didn't outright forbid it. I've been encouraged to try Pasta, rice, and bread in very small quantities. Some people can't tolerate certain foods...but many people have no such problems.

Anyhow...that's what I've found helpful. :shades_smile:

Wow thanks that was ALOT of helpfull info! I do have no no foods. Rice is the main one!! I do know when my band is clogging up and can slow down. Thanks again!

A low GI diet can be condensed into a fairly simple rule - stay away from white carbs!

It is basically a diet that lets you have your carbs and eat them too! It separates the science from the quackery in the high Protein game and directs you to choose foods which will not send your insulin levels through the roof. You dont need to cut out carbs, you just need to choose ones that are good for you and your blood sugar and at the same time, you're not exposing yourself to the risks believed to be associated with low carb high protein diets - too much saturated fat, not enough fibre etc.

But you dont have to know it inside out to do it, stear clear of sugar, white bread, white rice, cakes, pastries, Cookies etc.

The other thing that people forget with a low GI diet too is that that white bread for example may send your blood sugar levels soaring if you eat it ON ITS OWN. If you combine a slice of white toast with 2 scrambled eggs then its an entirely different matter. Its the overall GI load of a meal that's really important, not the individual foods its made up of. But of course, if you pick low gi foods, the overall load will be lower too.

They've done quite a bit of research on this in Australia and its quite popular here, it is supposed to have all the benefits of the low carb high protein diet without the risks. But who knows really?

Moderation in all things, probably the safest way to go.

Just for your reference too - we dont get presented with so many "rules" for banded life here in Australia either. No you MUST stick to half a cup, no you MUST NOT drink with meals, no protein first, none of it. So dont think your doc is completely negligent for not giving you a list of Iron clad rules, they are just one way of approaching the band, not the only way.

ok thanks. Your pic looks great BTW. :ohmy: Thanks for being so helpfull!!!