Texas Lap Band Surgeons Talk With You

There are some days in clinic when I feel a little like a cookbook.  Everybody wants to know exactly what foods they should be eating, exactly how to prepare them and exactly what not to eat (’cause if you don’t forbid it specifically, then they’re gonna take it as a license to eat it).

While I don’t mind doing this a lot of the time, I would much rather teach everyone how to fish instead of just giving them a fish (as it were).  My favorite method of diet education is not, “make this smoothie in the morning, eat this salad at lunch, then finish the day with….” but more, “these kinds of food are good for you, these methods of preparation are calorie dense and therefore poor choices….” etc.  I write these blog posts to help guide people’s eating choices by using solid, healthy nuritional tips.  But I can’t account for differences in taste or particular challenges faced with eating some foods like amount of restriction, lack of access to a variety at the grocery store or lack of cooking skills.

Here’s one example: porcini mushrooms (you know those big, umbrella sized mushrooms?) make great substitutions for steak – you can grill’em, you can lightly brown them in a pan – and they have a  lot fewer calories and shouldn’t present as much of a challenge as steak would to a bandster.  But you know what? I hate, HATE mushrooms.  Can’t stand’em, don’t like the look/smell/texture/taste of them.  So a diet where you had to eat lots of mushrooms all the time would be a terrible fit for me.

All of you have specific likes and dis-likes, foods that go down easily and things that cause a PB as soon as you swallow them.  So I want to help you learn to navigate the supermarket, the restaurant menu and your own pantry, not dictate precisely what you can and can’t eat.  My bandsters that navigate by general principles lose weight without trying too hard.  They just make good choices (sometimes without even counting the calories) and by following the general rules, the pounds melt away.

So what are some of the biggest rules?

Don’t drink your calories (they run right through the band, won’t fill you up and will cause an insulin spike leaving you hungry an hour later)

Avoid anything and everything fried

Eat protein at every meal

Avoid empty carbohydrate-dense calories like white breads, chips, crackers, white rice and stuffing.  Substitute nutrient dense carbs like fruits and veggies

Don’t graze! Eat three meals per day and a protein snack if needed in the afternoon.

Don’t skip breakfast!

NO SWEET TEA!!!!!!

Learn to read nutrition labels so you can start to figure out where some diet saboteurs reside in your food choices

Peanut butter is not a good protein source (but is a great treat)

Avoid dessert in the form of cookies/cakes/candies.  Do start making a piece of super-ripe fruit your go-to dessert choice.

And biggest of all for banded patients: don’t drink with your meals or for at least 30 minutes after your meals. You’ll defeat the whole purpose of the band and it won’t help you with staying satisfied with small portions.

Write a comment and tell me some of YOUR basic rules.  I’m always looking to pass on good suggestions