Sunday, 25 February 2018

After the op

(Darn it, I meant to post the following in here and mistakenly posted in in my other blog instead.  It just shows I shouldn't do these things in a rush!  I'll leave it there because I've already had a response, but copy and paste it here as well.  Really sorry if you've opened it twice.)

Sooze asked:

" Do you still need to follow any kind of eating guidelines after the op?"


Good question.

Assuming the op goes well and achieves what it is supposed to achieve, I won't need to go so low fat and I won't need to stick with the liver shrinking diet which is purely a pre-op thing.

However, since November I have lost masses of weight but there's still more to go, plenty more. I'd be daft to go back to my old ways, wouldn't I? Despite the regular pain, I'm feeling so much better in myself, fitter, more comfortable, both mentally and physically.

However, the regime I am currently following won't wing it. For a start, it is designed to be a short term, pre-op thing with specific, medical outcomes which is why I am a bit worried when I have to change anything. The info I have specifically states that it is not a diet that provides all the essential vitamins and minerals that my body needs so I'm taking a multivitamin and mineral tablet every day. I'd like to stop that.

It's too restrictive and rigid.  There's enough food to stop me feeling hungry but the way it is organised doesn't work that well.

I can't have protein or fruit for breakfast so no boiled egg and no fruit with my porridge as the two portions of fruit are for snacks.
I can have two protein portions for lunch but no carb. so I could have boiled eggs (two per portion) but to toasty soldiers to dunk. And it is not fun to try and force down two portions of tuna without the addition of some mayo! (fats are strictly limited)
Dinner is better but only one small portion of veg isn't great.

It isn't as frugal as I would like either with a lot of lean meat and fish.  As I have most stuff already in the freezer, I'm not spending more but I would be if things were different.

And don't start me off again on the limited veg!  :-)

I have a backlog of recipes to try and, while I don't want to go the WW2 rations route that some of my bloggy friends are taking, I really want to try some of their recipes.  It's frustrating!

However . . . I've had precious little gallbladder pain since I started on it and it's keeping on the straight and narrow.  And the weight is still coming off.

So - after the op, I think I might continue with a much less restrictive form of this diet which is what I was doing after I had the first attack until recently.  Less protein, more veg, less rigidity as to what to have and when.  I'll stick with low fat but with flexibility.  And if the weight stops falling off, I can always go back on it as a short term thing.  It's not, hopefully, a need but it certainly is a sensible thing to do.

Of course, there is always the chance that the op doesn't sort out the pain in which case I'm stuck with low fat and bouts of ouching for ever.
But I'm not thinking of that!  :-)

4 comments:

  1. Hi Joy, I didn't actually realise you wrote another blog (how observant am I lol). Have now found and followed it. Good idea to adjust the liver shrinking diet afterwards to suit yourself. We have a relative who had her gall bladder out, it sorted out most of her really painful episodes, but she still gets the odd twinge, depending on what she's eaten. That's not to say you'll be the same, everyone's different I guess.

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    1. It's very nice of you to follow my other blog, thank you. I've heard from others that it doesn't always completely sort things out but my dad hasn't had a moment's problem since he had his out so - well, we will see.
      J x

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  2. Fingers crossed that you will feel a lot better. My brother recently had this op too and has been able to eat small amounts of things that he couldn't eat before. I guess it's all about moderation. I find that done properly The Slimming World diet is a good balanced way of eating so long as one realises that syns are there to supplement a healthy diet, not to eat rubbish!

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  3. It's sounds like you are doing brilliantly and I'm sure you'll continue your success after the op. Healthy eating plans are for life.

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