Answer this question before you read my response!

1) Why is salad not a good choice for banded patients?

Answer:

Everyone thinks that salad is a healthy choice, but as a bandster, it is very important that you unlearn this. SALAD IS NOT A BAND-FRIENDLY CHOICE. In the first place, it violates the number one rule of Lap-Band eating: Protein First, since salad is served first. But here are a few other reasons to avoid it on a regular basis and tips for doing so.

• Most salad is VERY LOW in nutrition. The plain iceberg lettuce that is the foundation of many salads is mostly Water and some Fiber, which can be tough on a band.
  
• If you choose a salad, the greener and darker the better. Choose the mixed field greens or spinach salad.
  
• Eat the tomatoes. They are high in a nutrient called lycopene that may help lower certain cancer risks.
  
• The salad dressing can pack a big caloric punch! Choose the vinaigrette if possible. Avoid the creamy and cheesy ones, like ranch, buttermilk, or peppercorn, that are very high in fat. Even their low-fat versions still have a lot of calories.
  
• If you just can’t give up ranch dressing, then ask for the dressing on the side and use just a little bit.
  
• Ask them to bring the salad with the main meal and eat your protein first. Chances are, you won’t feel like eating the salad afterwards.
  
• Ask if you can substitute the iceberg salad for something else with protein in it, like bean salad.
  

The preceeding was an excerpt from my new book, Ultimate Lap-Band Success: the Support Surgeon's Guide to Getting the Most From Your Gastric Band. If you found it helpful, you can order the book directly from my website at www.morefrommyband.com/resources. I will also autograph it for free! Or you can email me at morefrommyband@gmail.com to get a 15% savings!

Best of Luck,

Dr. Vuong

I'm sorry, I know you are a doctor and all, but I have to vehemently disagree with your comments. I find salad to be the most band-friendly option I have and my doctor agrees with me entirely and recommends this to all of his patients. These are the reasons we find this to be true:

* When well-chewed, salad sits in the pouch for longer than almost any other food type, maintaining the sensation of fullness and working WITH the band to help stop you overeating. Foods high in fibre should be the first choice of someone with a band. The fibre is the main reason why the band works!

* Lettuce does not "define" a salad. A good, healthy garden salad includes such things as celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers (all colours), carrots and onions, all of which provide essential Vitamins and minerals and are part of a healthy balanced diet. If you substitute fresh baby spinach for the lettuce (as I do), you get even more nutrients per serve.

* It is much easier to know when you have chewed salad thoroughly, as any oversized lumps are easily detectable in the mouth before swallowing, and you can be sure you have gotten it to "liquid" before it goes down. This results in far fewer "getting stuck" episodes. I have never gotten stuck on salad, yet I have managed to swallow other foods such as chicken without proper chewing, as big lumps still slip down easily and then get stuck.

* High fat/oily salad dressings are NOT part of a good band diet but they are also NOT a required part of a salad. Salad vegetables can be easily served without using high fat/oily dressings. There are low fat/low sugar alternatives. My personal favourite is to use sliced tinned mangos - they mush up enough as you toss the salad to provide a sweet liquid coating for all the veges.

* "Protein first" is an American affectation that is not part of the diet regime recommended by doctors in other countries. Australian doctors have many more years of experience of working with the Lapband and the large majority of our doctors recommend a balanced diet, not a high protein diet. Besides, salad doesn't HAVE to be served first. Again, that is a US habit. In other countries such as my own, salad is usually served WITH the main meal and is eaten at the same time (ie a bite of salad, a bite of meat, a bite of carb, etc).

You have a point if your definition of a "salad" is lettuce covered in oily dressing but to make the bald statement (in capitals, no less) that SALAD IS NOT A BAND-FRIENDLY CHOICE" is just wrong. Even your own words go on to recommend more healthy alternatives to lettuce and ranch dressing. Perhaps instead of dismissing such a healthy and vital part of any balanced diet, you should consider stating "LETTUCE WITH RANCH DRESSING IS NOT A BAND-FRIENDLY CHOICE".

Edited May 11, 200917 yr by Fanny Adams

You're brave Fanny, I posted a reply this morning and deleted it.

I've never heard such irresponsible advice and i agree with your comments entirely.

In the rest of the world, salad is not served first and it consists of more than just iceberg lettuce. Furthermore, things like nuts seeds and avocados contain healthy fats and increase the Vitamin and antioxidant uptake.

Not eat salad, so that you can eat more meat? I cant really believe that's desirable.

My Dr. encourages a good salad following my protein or in conjunction with my protein. He encourages anything but iceberg lettuce coupled with other hearty veggies.

Thanks Jachut. I'm a little worried that I might have overstepped the mark here, but I was outraged by the advice and could not let it go by without a comment.

To Dr Vuong: Please reconsider the way you have worded your advice. It can very easily be interpreted as validation for avoiding ALL fresh vegetables, which cannot be healthy!

I agree with you Fanny. My Dr. recommends that we eat plenty of salad. I use Romain lettuce because I hate spinach. I use hard boiled eggs in my salad for added protein.

I love salad, and i have to admit tonight I had a salad with ranch dressing... concidering i can barely get my calories in each day, I don't feel at all bad about it. will I eat fatty dressing on a regular basis? no but as a treat... sure... i was craving salad over icecream lol.... how rare is that. I agree when I saw that salads are "not a good choice for the band"... it pissed me off a bit simply bc I got the lapband so I'd never have to "diet" again. If you start eliminating foods and food groups, sounds like a diet to me. As long as u are eating a well balenced diet, I see no reason to give anything up. This is a new life style, not another flippin diet.

good luck to all and eat a salad... hell throw on some dressing once in a while! :thumbup:

amy

uh oh... now I am worried about purchasing the book- if the advice is not legitimate...

Wow...salad has been my life saver as I have been unfilled through most of my weight loss. I eat it before I eat the rest of my meal so that I don't eat as much. I don't usually eat a lot of salad dressing but use salsa instead. It turns out that hair loss is not just attributed to lack of protein. Despite getting at least 100 grams of protein a day on average during my 95 pound weight loss, my hair was coming out in clumps. However after I reached goal and started adding fats back into my diet...my hair started growing back. I get less protein now and eat a way more balanced diet (including salad) and am healthier and fitter than ever. Not all fats are created equal. A balanced diet is a much better approach.

My doctor encouraged me to eat salad with lettuce as well as all other veggies. He did tell me that "stringy" veggies could get stuck. I have no problem with eating salad as long as I chew. Of course as you suggested I do eat dark green leaf items too. I think perhaps as with most foods everyone is different. By the way I have a problem with beans making my my stomach upset. So like I said everyone is different. By the way I dont understand your comment that lettuce is hard on the band? If it is mostly water how can that be?

Edited May 12, 200917 yr by di1138

Good points everyone! I agree with all of you in that the Doctor worded the post improperly. Anyhow, most of the time, like tonight, if I eat a salad, I get grilled chicken on top of it, And, add cucumbers, tomatoes, and carrots with a vinegar, lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil dressing! This should be a lesson to all of us that we need to do our own research on what works best for everyones individual bands.

My surgeon wants us to eat as many leafy green vegetables as possible and says we don't even have to count them in our carb count.

Since being banded the lettuce often doesn't agree with me. It sits in my pouch too long and gets all slimy and I belch up this disgusting old lettuce taste. I can handle the spinach and other salad fixings pretty well but I have to limit the lettuce.

I am a salad crazed person.................... Mostly veggies on the salad and Protein with spinach but I have been maintaining my weight loss for almost 3 years now. I have never had a problem.

Josephine

Thank you all for posting. I am on post op day one and no where even close to eating anything yet but I was also under the impression I could not have salads and I am a salad person. Thanks for all the posts and advice.

I actually CRAVE salad.......and it keeps me full for a long period of time. Its never hindered my weight loss in fact i would say eating salad has attributed to my success!