What am I eating now?

I’m continuing with broths and LOTS of water, between 64 and 80 ounces a day. (That will continue forever.) I’m also continuing with plain yogurt (with flavorings), ricotta cheese (often with marinara sauce), and blended up beans.

I’ve graduated to some meats. Specifically I’ve ground up canned salmon, and Rio made a chicken stew (just chicken and vegetables) that I put in the Cuisinart and have been eating. Yum! There are actually pieces I can chew, which is something I’ve missed a bit. The big difference I’m noticing is how much I can eat before I feel full. For example, this is the food I had yesterday morning:

That’s a small plastic container with some flavored yogurt, and a small bowl with the chicken stew. The stew was my breakfast, about 1/2 cup of food. The yogurt was my snack, probably 1/3 of a cup.

The hardest part with the small portions is that when I really like a food, I want to keep eating it, but I get full so quickly! So I try to take really small bites and savor, and pause between bites, to stretch it out. Better for my stomach to process that way too.

I was also really adventurous yesterday: there was some cooked ground beef in the refrigerator, so I blended it with some refried beans and a little beef bone broth. Yum!! Many people can’t tolerate beef for a while, but this worked out OK. A very small amount, and I definitely felt my stomach gurgling to process it, but it went down fine. So glad, because I really love beef. I also tried a few of our tiny plums (just the flesh – no skin) and that seemed to work well.

I hope to graduate soon to cottage cheese, and perhaps some other soft cheeses. And slowly increase to bigger bites, less grinding up. The eventual goal is to eat regular food, just small quantities of it. And to pretty much avoid bread, pasta, and rice because they take up a lot of space and don’t contribute enough nutrients, especially protein. Because I can’t eat much at a time, I eat protein first (need 25-30gm of protein at each meal), then vegetables (for fiber and nutrients), and by then I don’t really have room for anything else. That’s kind of the point of the surgery: restrict intake to eat less, but be able to feel full. And change eating habits enough to maintain good nutrition.

Note that I can’t eat raw veggies yet; can’t digest well enough. Hopefully within a month or so. Some people can tolerate them well, others not so much. Hoping I’ll be one of the lucky ones; so far I’ve been very luck!

Oh, and I started taking vitamins. One chewable bariatric vitamin, and 2 500-mg calcium chews every day. The calcium is like my candy!

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