Fruit stew vs smoothies, was Raw & Gastric Bypass

[Guest guest]

Hi Becca,

Though I don't have a bypass like you do, my digestive tract is fragile, and it

took a while to find a compromise solution that was nutritious and gentle enough

for me.

 

Not all blenders can take the tough stuff and turn it into a creamy smooth

smoothie. My digestive tract is very happy with my Braun jug blender, and not

happy at all with several other blenders I tried. I sent a blender review, with

a link to the Braun blender, to this list on Jan 31 of this year, and sent email

to this list on Feb 11 of this year about hearing protection for people who run

blenders a lot. So you could look for these in the archives.

 

Nora is right about sticking to the gentle greens. For my vegetables and greens

I mostly put lettuce in the smoothie and occasionally a bit of parsley.

 

To get balanced nutrition, enough chewing so a reasonable amount of saliva ends

up in my stomach, and enough chewing so I have the satiation of having eaten a

meal, I peel soft fruit and dice it, put everything else (peelings, soaked nuts,

soaked dried fruit, lettuce, etc) into a smoothie, and then pour the smoothie

over the diced fruit and eat it with a spoon.

 

Even soaked and then puréed, the dried fruit is harder on me than fresh fruit,

so I only use small amounts of it. The nuts are much smoother if they are soaked

first, and the soaking removes some of the tannic acid from the nut skins which

is also hard on my stomach.

 

A 100% smoothie diet just didn't work for me. I'd drink it as slow as I could

and in a couple minutes it was gone. My stomach would be full or too full, and

I'd still feel hungry and have food cravings and cravings for crunchy food. Then

eventually I'd give in to the cravings and the crunchy food would be like a

cheese grater going down my digestive tract.

 

I love my raw fruit stew. It helps that I always liked big bowls of juicy hearty

food. Depending on how relaxed I am at the start of the meal, and how much I

focus on savoring it, it takes me 10-20 minutes to eat what I'd drink in 1-2

minutes if it was all in a smoothie.

 

I also got a dessert spoon/tea spoon to eat the stew with because the bowl of

the spoon is smaller than a standard dinner spoon so I'd have to eat more bites

to eat the same amount of food. Also the handle was longer so the spoon wouldn't

keep slipping down into the stew. A soup spoon also has a longer handle, but its

bowl is so big I would end up eating way too fast. Dicing the fruit smaller and

eating only 1 piece of fruit per spoonful also helps slow the meal down, and

this works better with a smaller spoon.

 

The raw fruit stew meals have gone a long ways to stabilize my diet, restore my

enjoyment of meals, and provide enough satiation that its easy to put thoughts

of food aside after a meal like this.

 

Depending on how my digestive tract is doing influences how tough or soft the

chunks of fruit need to be.

 

Coconut oil can be irritating so I can only use small amounts of coconut nut

butter on rare occasions. I have to avoid the highly acidic fruit. I'm also

suspicious of the fruit with high levels of digestive enzymes like pineapple and

kiwi fruit. These seem to bother me worse than fruit that is just highly acidic

(I take 2 different enzyme capsules with my meals and these don't seem to bother

me). Food high in oxalic acid seems to be a problem and I avoid that.

 

And unfortunately eating anything in the Brassica genus is like eating gravel,

even if its in a smoothie. The Brassica genus includes most of the winter

vegetables: cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, rutabaga, turnip,

collards, kale, Chinese cabbage and mustard, and pok-choi. So if I skip these,

and skip beet greens, Swiss chard, and spinach to avoid the oxalic acid, this

leaves lettuce and parsley.

 

There are few other greens, but I can't stand eating them, so its really good I

like a lettuce tasting smoothie in the morning on my diced fruit.

 

Having stronger heavier richer flavors helps increase the satiation for a given

amount of food, and throwing in a couple of dates into the smoothie helps with

this. Even a little bit of olive oil in the smoothie gives it a stronger heavier

flavor, and the oil emulsifies and gives the smoothie a thicker creamier

texture. I use a lot of dried mango because the fresh mango doesn't work for me,

and the mango has a strong flavor and is a good thickener for the smoothies.

 

Traditionally, light delicate desserts were served at the end of many course

meals because people could still eat them after they were over stuffed. We are

going for more satiation, not less in our recipes.

 

I've found a few raw fruit stew recipes that are a culinary work of art, but

they have such a light delicate texture and flavor that I could eat them until

they are coming out of my ears, and I would still feel hungry. I have a problem

keeping weight on so this isn't as bad for me as it is for you. However, if my

meal doesn't create satiation, then I'm a sitting duck for food cravings for

food that will make me sick, so I've found that adjusting the recipes for a high

satiation factor is essential for avoiding the unhealthy food and for avoiding

over eating.

 

Apparently it was a big mistake to write this just before dinner because now I'm

ready to take bites out of my keyboard.

 

May your day be filled with clarity, grace, progress, and warm laughter,

Roger

 

-

" Rebecca Ford " <rebeccaford

 

Wednesday, April 02, 2008 8:09 PM

Raw & Gastric Bypass

 

 

Hello! My name is Becca and I've been exploring the raw food lifestyle. I

was doing awesome for 2 weeks (no cooked foods, no soda, no coffee, no

sugar) and lost about 6 lbs. I loved all the fruit especially-except the

peels. Back in the day I followed the Fit for Life program and it was my

only really successful weight loss program.

 

I’m 36 and had gastric bypass surgery in 2003. I lost 130lbs approx and

gained back about 60 lbs with not an end in sight...at least it seems like.

Is there anyone out there following a raw food lifestyle that has had the

bypass? I have a very small stoma-the entrance from my esophagus to my

stomach is the size of a birth control pill. So whatever I eat I have to

chew chew chew and sometimes that isn't enough and I throw it up.

Cruciferous (sp?) veggies are the WORST-broccoli is my mortal enemy. Unless

I really puree the veggies, I can't swallow them. I feel because I’m not

chewing I don't get that satisfaction and I don't know if I can eat what

seems like baby food. I've been in therapy for my food " issues " I am on my

way to a much better relationship with food.

 

I don't reach out for help like I should, but I thought I'd take a stab in

the dark here and see if this is a lifestyle is something that is " doable "

with someone whose digestive system has been rearranged.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

Becca

 

 

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