By now, you’ve probably read all about how I decided to pursue bariatric surgery, and WHY I chose it. Today, I am continuing to walk everyone through the checklist of things I have to complete prior to booking my surgery. It’s a very long process (typically 3 – 6 months) with many, many medical visits between the time you start the process and the actual surgery. I’ve completed all of the items you see checked off below, which you can read about here, and will talking about the bolded item today: the nutrition seminar!
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Nutrition Seminar
I was back at the bariatrics department of the hospital on February 10 for my Nutrition Seminar. This was my second time at the office, and they actually booked this for me at the same time they booked my very first physical on the phone when I first spoke to them.
This seminar is done in a class-style setting. I, along with 8 or 9 other people, met in a conference room with one of the dietitians, Sandra. She will be my dietitian throughout the whole journey and I felt I lucked out with her. I asked about her in my local bariatric Facebook group and everyone who described her was dead on: not very warm, kind of prickly, sometimes harsh, but extremely helpful. I’ve messaged her several times with questions already since the seminar, and she’s always been quick to respond.
Anyway, back to the seminar. We were all seated around a large conference table while Sandra gave us a Powerpoint style presentation. It was about 2 hours long, but luckily, we had a pretty funny lady in our group who was just AGHAST at how we’re supposed to be eating and saying “this gonna be HARD! No wonder I can’t lose any weight.” She kept us pretty entertained throughout, and even got a couple of smiles out of Sandra.
In the seminar, she went over food and diet basics. She showed us portion sizes and gave us a packet detailing all the various food groups we should be eating and how many servings of each… lots of protein and veggies! The packet included sample shopping lists and meal plan ideas. She also talked about what we should be cutting back on: sugar, unhealthy fats, caffeine, carbonation, alcohol, and fast food (to name just a few). She said we will have to eat out less, and when we do go out to eat, choose the healthier options like chicken… makes sense. Carbonation and alcohol are bad for bariatric patients because the bubbles can irritate your new stomach and prevent healing, and alcohol because your body absorbs things differently after this surgery. Some patients actually become alcoholics because the body handles it differently and you get intoxicated very quickly. Luckily, I already don’t drink alcohol or coffee, but do need to cut out the Diet Coke. We are fine to use sugar replacements, artificial sweeteners, and sugar free foods, so I’ve been really digging Swerve, sugar free pudding, Crystal light, and sugar free chocolate chips lately. It’s helping me ease off of my sugar addiction, as opposed to just going cold turkey.
In addition to the diet portion of the seminar, she also discussed the need for vitamins (bariatric patients have to take a TON to avoid malnutrition), dumping syndrome, and exercise. We also learned about HOW we have to eat after surgery. Our bites should be dime sized. We need to thoroughly chew everything to an applesauce consistency. We need to eat slowly, and our meal time should last about 30 minutes. We have to stop drinking fluids 30 minutes before, during, and 30 minutes after we eat. We need to eat several small portions throughout the day, and need to stay very hydrated. Another big thing she focused on was planning. She said that yes, this new way of eating will take time. We’ll need to plan ahead for our meals and snacks, maybe pack food the day before, and that yup, we will be making sacrifices in that we might have to give up 20 minutes of something else to plan our food for the day or week. This really got me thinking, because I am always in a rush in the morning. Today, for example, I threw a cheese stick and yogurt in my purse on the way out the door to work. This will have to change in the near future!
Lastly, we went over a checklist that contained about 30 different things that we need to change about our diets before we are ready for surgery. Some examples of things that were on the checklist:
- I don’t drink alcohol
- I eat 3-6 servings of vegetables daily
- I take calcium citrate with Vitamin D
- I take a multivitamin
- I don’t drink caffeine
- I eat 1-3 servings of fruit a day
- I work out for 30 minutes a day
- I don’t drink carbonated beverages
…. and so on.
She had us check off the things we’re already doing, then on the remaining items, she had us each select 3 as our goals for the next month, until our first one-on-one nutrition appointment with her (mine is in mid-March). I chose fruit, calcium citrate, and carbonated beverages as the 3 that I am working on right now. She is also having us keep a food diary that she will go over at that appointment as well. We could do it on the Baritastic app if we wanted, so that’s what I’m doing. We will also be selecting 3 new goals to work on at that appointment. I can’t wait to be able to check it all off!
All in all, a lot of what we covered was common sense, but definitely stuff that I needed to hear and have reinforced. I was a bit intimidated because I eat JUNK (how do you think I got fat in the first place?), but immediately starting thinking of how I would change my diet because I’m addicted to sugar and generally don’t like veggies. I made a huge order at Walmart that week with vitamins, sugar free goods, Jell-O, and other things she suggested. I’m nowhere near perfect with my diet, but I’m definitely improving, and that’s what matters, I think. I went 5 days straight without Diet Coke that week, just to make sure I could and to prove it to myself, so that was a biggie for me! Yay! Now onward with my goals until I reach them all.
So that pretty much covers the seminar. All in all, it was helpful, if kind of basic. If anyone is interested in seeing a copy of the checklist or the diet packet, let me know and I’m happy to send it over! Next week, I’ll be going over the sleep study with you all, and I’m also thinking of sharing soon some of the new food discoveries I’ve made and what I’ve been eating.
Until next time!
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