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

Wow, there are some serious over-reactions on here. Use common sense. Think about it. He is referring to habits in the US, as this is where his medical practice is based. For those of you living in the US or that have spent any time here, how many restaurants in the US do you go to that bring you out a plate of iceburg lettuce with croutons, a couple of small wedges of tomato and dressing, perhaps some cheese if you're lucky? That's it. The salad comes before the main meal, not with it. It happens to be almost all the restaurants I've been to. Please explain the benefit of filling up on this to me? I was instructed that I should only eat 1/2-1 cup of food at a time. Well, there I've met that restriction alone with my iceberg lettuce. Seriously, that's all he is saying. Don't fill up on the lettuce! Yes, I do agree with some of you that the presentation of the article painted salad in a bad light, but step back and read it again. He's just saying, don't eat a plain non-protein salad lathered with dressing. I love salads and eat them quite often. I add fresh veggies and lean protein to them and often don't use any dressing at all. If I do use dressing, I dip my fork in it and it never gets poured onto my salad. That said, I didn't take what Dr. Vuong said as gospel and freak out thinking he was telling me to never put a bite of lettuce into my mouth again. Do what works, lose your weight and try to pass on the wisdom you've gained to others. After all, that's what we're all in this together for, right?

Finally a voice of reason! kdlee you hit the nail on the head!

all of Dr. Vuong's patients are very happy and highly successful and healthy with their weight loss and will be successful in keeping the weight off - I know because I am his patient - hope your eating habits work for you.

I had a feeling...

“To disbelieve is easy; to scoff is simple; to have faith is harder.”

Lonestar, I totally agree with you.

I don't get it.

It's common sense with our smaller pouches to not fill up on salad (icebeg lettuce expecially) and have no room for our Protein or carbs.

Why is that so hard to understand????

He's not saying eat ALL protein, just don't fill up on iceberg lettuce that has not value...jeeze!

Edited May 14, 200917 yr by maryrose

Like Fanny said, I've found that grilled chicken salad tends to stay with me for a long time and I feel satisfied throughout the afternoon. I got a lap band to eat like a normal healthy person, not cut out entire food groups. I suppose it would be better to eat a lean cuisine full of preservatives and crap as long as it had 20 g of protein???

My biggest issue with this article is the way it was presented. Dr. Vuong does make some valid points about avoiding filling up with iceburg lettuce and high-fat toppings, then he points out how to make better salad choices. But the title of the article and the first paragraph - especially the all-caps "SALAD IS NOT A BAND-FRIENDLY CHOICE" - were poor choices. They brought to mind the media's hysteria-producing reports about swine flu. It is possible to educate people without making statements that appear to be absolutes.

I think most of the controversy over this article could have been avoided with a better-thought-out title and introduction.

I wonder how successful and healthy you will be with justifying eating anything you want.

I've lost over 100% of my excess weight and I'm a triathlete training for the half-ironman distance.

I understand you think your surgeon walks on Water, but I find most of his nutrition advice (over several articles) to be mediocre. I have done a lot of research on nutrition because -- unlike some people -- I don't just assume my doctor knows everything. Maybe you should do some independent research yourself.

Hmmm, I lost 120% of my excess. By eating SOME lettuce and SOME Protein.

Oh, and the odd tim tam now and again. Which are a carb and sugar orgy.

My doc completely supports my view that this is a lifestyle not a diet. And the founder of HIS practice has a book too - The Lapband Solution by Prof. Paul O'Brien. Wow, whodathunk it? More than one way to skin a cat?

I just object to THOU SHALT... tone of these little Dr Vuong snippets. There's no "thou shalt" about it, its all about balance, lifestyle and the long term, not some diet full of rigid rules. What if you WANT to eat the lettuce one time instead of all your protein? Is it going to kill you?

Edited May 15, 200917 yr by Jachut

I am not going to get into a snippet exchange with someone like you. Bully for you that you are a "triathlete training for the half-ironman distance." That still doesnt make you a DOCTOR or an EXPERT. Maybe you shouldn't ASSume so much about others. So let's just say we agree to disagree and end it at that. Go eat some salad and run a few miles.

I agree, Misty. As I tried to say in my first response to Dr Vuong, it was the bald statement in caps that I objected to. It does give the impression that "salad is bad" and the way he "grudgingly" seems to allow that some salad vegetables might not be that bad...

Just the fact that he says it's not band friendly got me. And just because a salad is served first in a restaurant does not mean it must be eaten first. My mom always eats her salad with her dinner, and she's not banded.

Besides, how many of us eat out every meal, every day? Even if we did go out on a Friday and ate that salad first, are we gonna die? Not lose any more weight? Turn into toads?

Yikes, I love salads, and it's one thing I can eat without a problem, yes I choose very dark leafy green, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms and some low fat feta cheese, dried cranberries and for a full dinner I have diced small pieces of white meat chicken (4 oz.) I use Walden-Farms no fat/no calorie dressings also. I vary the veggies and greens sometimes and it's filling and healthy sorry I suppose if you eat just iceburg lettuce and a tomato it's not that healthy. I also sometimes use fat free whole wheat croutons on my salads also.

I love salads! I will get grilled chicken salads, but I eat the chicken first. So I am still following the band rules. If I go to a restaurant and they serve salad first, I will save it until the rest of my meal comes and eat it last. I agree that we don't need to fill up on lettuce, but there are still ways to enjoy salads and still follow the rules.

...there are still ways to enjoy salads and still follow the rules.

I believe that's what Dr. Vuong was originally saying. Everyone just went a little overboard on their assassination of his article. Can we move on now?