Vegetarian Lapbanders

[lainer]

Am having my surgery next week, but in the back of my head, I have been tempted to go vegetarian for a long time. Am wondering how a vegetarian diet would work for banders? Any one on here trying that?

[Kathy]

Carnivore here...but if you are careful to get your protien in with shakes and beans/legumes and other high protien foods, I'm sure you will do just fine. Beans are a great bandster food. I make some northern bean soup the other night and it's yummy, and band-friendly!

[DebbieChoos]

Carnivore here...

Too funny! I could eat steak everyday (but as I piggyback that is easy for me to say!) Your post surgery diet will consist of liquids, mushies and soft foods for 4 weeks. You will almost be on a modified vegetarian diet during this time. As Kathy said, maintain your protein through shakes and beans/legumes - these puree well. As I am the cook of the house, I prepare all meals, so I had to go to "Bandster Cooking Class 101" to prepare for these post surgical meals - best advise from my experience....invest in a magic bullet!

Since you and your partner are being banded on the same day, it will be much easier if you both agree on a post surgical diet together. Good luck!

Debbie

[Maryb]

I eat very little meat since banding. Shakes, cottage cheese, beans, cheese, etc. goes down much easier then meat.

[503-250]

It's my understanding that Vegetarians taste great, I like mine with a little salt.

Sorry, bad joke...but one of my favorites.


I wish I could go pure veggies, it would help with the gout and RA, but I love meat...I haven't had steak in a long time (ten months or so) and I literally would jump a fence and stab a cow to death with a fork and eat it if I wasn't so sure I would PB.

[Leenerbups]

I'm a vegetarian!

When we crave meat it means we aren't getting certain things out of our diet. It's not enough to just stop eating meat, we have to eat balanced.

Great cookbooks are Robin Robertsons cookbooks. There are also Low carb vegetarian advice you can google. The Zone also can be vegetarian.
There are so many good meat alternatives out there packed with protien. For example tonight I have "fake" italian sausgae I'm cooking up with a dish. Each link contains 12 grams of great, healthy protien with no cholestral.

I saw video of slaughterhouses and never ate meat again. i can't be a cog in this wheel knowing what I know now. Buying it makes me part of the abuse.
http://www.petatv.com/veg.html

[PhotoNut]

Here are some important facts to keep in mind when considering a vegetarian diet, especially a bandster diet:

Proteins are made up of various amino acids. There are 20 amino acids that our bodies require to be healthy. Some of these are produced by our bodies while others can only be obtained thru diet.

Animal proteins are complete proteins, while vegetable proteins are incomplete proteins. This means you must know which vegetables to combine in order to produce a complete protein, such as rice and red beans.

Proteins are not absorbed by the body, the amino acids are absorbed and vegetable proteins are harder for the body to break down into amino acids. Absorption occurs in the proximal section (duodenum) of the small intestine. The human body has approximately one foot of duodenum. Once past the proximal bowel, there is essentially no further protein absorption. Undigested protein passes into the colon where it is a known health hazard. Typically an unaltered body (no weight loss surgery) can absorb approximately 95% of the ingested animal protein and only 85% of the vegetable proteins.

Keep in mind that stomach acids are essential for breaking proteins into amino acids. Any altering of the stomach can reduce the efficiency of the breakdown process. This is why it is very common for people who have had weight loss surgery of any kind to be deficient in vitamin b12 (red meat being the best source for b12). Factor in the difficulty for the body to breakdown and absorb vegetable proteins and you begin to see the importance of proper combination of vegetables as well as a larger intake of vegetable proteins in order to meet the daily recommendation of 60g per day.

Also, the body can only absorb about 23 grams of protein at one time. So divide up your servings throughout the day.

And finally, be aware that any unused proteins will be stored as fat. Some people take that information and use it as a reason to eat less than 60g per day. But remember to factor in the reduction of absorption due to WLS and a vegetarian diet.

If you don't mind whey products, derived from milk, then I would strongly suggest supplementing a vegetarian diet with a good quality whey protein supplement.

I hope this helps.

[Leenerbups]

Photonut is right, it's so important to really read up on or hire someone to help you eat balanced. So many people have good intentions and go vegetarian only to find that they crave or feel lousy. It's because they really have no idea how to do it right.
There are nutrionists out there, books and websites with the info you need.

Having said that, I must say that as a former carnivore and Atkins devotee, going veggie helped my health so very much. My digestive system is SO MUCH better. Atkins actually gave me diverticulitis and made my system so acidic I got terrible reflux.

Now my system has healed, I hardly ever have gas anymore, my cholestral is so much better and I hardly get sick like I used too.

But best of all for me, I eat guilt free. :-)

[lainer]

thanks so much for all the advice. My partner and I had our bands put in on Friday. We stayed overnight and are now home doing our shakes and water. What you have all written makes sense -- though 23 grams being the max protein you can absorb is surprising. The protein drink we have been using is 50 grams of protein a drink. Can one overdose on protein?

[PhotoNut]

Too much protein can result in weght gain (what's not burned is stored as fat) and can place stress on the kidneys.

I was given this formula for determining how much protein to eat:
desired sustained weight x .35

Example: I wish to sustain 140 pounds. So, I would multiply 140 x .35, which equals 49.

Keep in mind that most of us started at 100+ pounds of excess weight. To base our protein intake on a weight that is 160 pounds below our current weight could result in a shortage of protien. So, it is recommended that we slowly work our way down to that desired sustained weight. For example, a woman who weighs 300 pounds might want to be 140 pounds, but she should begin by setting the desired sustain weight at say 200 pounds, then work her way down.

It's important to remember that we might not be absorbing the protein as effeciently as we were prior to WLS (weight loss surgery). And, since we eat only small amounts of carbs or bodies will be looking for protein for energy. If we do not provide enough through our diets, the body will begin to use our own muscles. Which is why people lose muscle mass when they lose weight quickly while neglecting the bodies need for protein. People who are more physically active, have had WLS, and / or are eating a very low carb diet should eat more protein than is indicated by the formula.
Also, protein is very important for prevention of infections and tissue repair after surgery. I sustained a second degree burn during my WLS surgery (thats another story) and the wound care specialists insisted that I have no less than 100g of protein per day while I was recovering. Even though I was not very active during those days of recovery, my body was using the protein for healing purposes so it was not stored as excess in the form of fat.

The only sure way to know if you are eating the correct amount of protien in your diet is to have your doctor test your blood. I believe the best test for this is an albumin test? Hm.. I'll check on that.

Um.. hehe.. can you tell this is one of my favorite subjects to write about? I can really go on and on about it because I find it so interesting and so vital to healthy weight loss after WLS.

I'll hush now. *chuckles* :o

[Telly]

I eat very little meat since banding. Shakes, cottage cheese, beans, cheese, etc. goes down much easier then meat.

MaryB, I am the same way, since my fill I have not been able to eat meats, I am able to eat tuna and now cottage cheese as my solid protein sources. I really do try to get differnt meats down like ham and turkey but to no avail. I stick to the protein shakes, yogurts, soups, veggies and fruits.

Chicken, steak and pork are no longer on my menu till I get a slight unfill.

[503-250]

I'm baffled by all this nutritional information.

If I follow the .35 rule, my desired weight is 250, that gives me 250 x .35 which is 87.5g of protein a day. Being more reasonable to lower the amount slowly would only increase the amount of protein needed. For example...i'm 455 now, lowering it to 400 would be 140g of protein a day.

Thankfully I will be harassing our nutritionist this week for her recommendations on my specific diet. I can't spend the brain power on all this figuring.

[PhotoNut]

Please do ask your nutritionist! :)

And I would suggest using 350 as a median, rather than only 50 pounds lower than where you are now. However, 87.5g per day is a pretty good amount so I wouldn't think that insufficient. I was thinking more along the lines of a woman who weighs 350 and wants to weight 130. That would be a huge drop, see?

Let me know what your nutritionist says, I'll be curious to see if she/he agrees with the .35 forumla. :)

[PhotoNut]

OMG. Did I kill this thread? Really??!!

I'm so.. honored! *wipes a tear*

[shackdog]

give me a good ol steak anytime/ rabbit food does not do well for me

[503-250]

I finally got an answer, the dietician recommended using 250 as the number, and informed me as long as I am above 70g protein a day I will be doing ok, it's to make sure that you don't start breaking down lean muscle mass and storing fat.

[Leenerbups]

Did they suggest what you can eat/drink to get that much in? It's always a challenge.

[503-250]

Lean protein is the key, I haven't had a problem getting 70g a day, but I eat tuna almost every day for lunch, and a breakfast bar every day as well. That pretty much sums up a good part of my protein.

[willybe]

I Love my veggies, but to totally give up all meat products would be hard.:grill: Ill have fries with that, and super size it.:heh:

NO, Thats a BAD willy:angel:

[Kathy]

http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/nutrition_articles.asp?id=379

Here's a link to a SparkPeople article about getting in non-meat protien. There are some links to other vegetarian diet articles in there, too. Happy reading! :)