Eating Oot and Aboot after WLS...

Before we start, I want to let you all know that this post is link heavy. There are a lot of hyperlinks to external sources of information. Think of it this way; when you do a research paper, you have to have footnotes and a page of works cited. Instead of making you scroll all the way to the end for a huge list of links, I simply included them in the text. I'm letting you know this ahead of time so that if you're a text scanner like me, you'll know to keep an eye out for these links if you require additional information on something. There will also be a list of links that didn't pertain directly to the text listed at the end of the post.

 

Examples of both the old and the new nutritional information labels. The FDA recently decided that certain things on nutrition labels needed to be more complete, such as the added sugars.

We all know the struggle, surgery patient or not: it's time to celebrate, so what do you do? Go out for food, of course! It's a tasty treat, means you don't have to cook or clean up, and allows you a break from the everyday doldrums. This is part of our world, part of our culture. For many of us, it's how we grew up. Got all A's on a report card; pizza time! Won an award for your art project; ice cream! Family comes to town; dinner at your favorite local restaurant. It's how we bond, how we share with those around us. Food means good things. Even when the occasion to have food isn't necessary good (such as the tradition of bringing loved ones food after someone in their life has passed), the food itself denotes goodness, calm, love, care, community.

So how do you change something so integral to how you function when it can no longer play such a large role? Well, there's multiple answers to that question. The first one I want to address is that while you may initially feel the need to withdraw from all celebrations centering around food, it doesn't have to be that way for the rest of your life. Now, I'm not saying that you can go back to grazing the buffet line at the office Christmas party. If you want your results to last, you can't fall back on old habits. What this does mean is that the further out you get, the easier it will be for you to be in such situations without feeling pressured or like an outcast. Bringing something for yourself to snack on becomes almost second nature, and those around you come to accept that it's part of your life. In all honesty, you could do this right out from surgery (and some do) by just being up front about why you have to abstain from Bob's Famous Chocolate Cake, but that's a discussion for another time*.  

*Later on, I intend on writing a different entry addressing this sort of thing (how to reintegrate after surgery, both if you're open about what's going on or if you prefer to not tell people.)

 

Just look how many pictures of people with food come up when you search "celebration gathering" on google's image search. Add a holiday to the search terms and the number of food pictures multiplies exponentially!

But I'm getting off track here. The point of this post is that you DON'T have to just stay home while everyone else goes out to dinner. There are definitely restaurants that are damn near impossible to find bari-friendly foods at (such as most Italian restaurants) and if you have any other dietary restrictions (vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy free, etc.) it's even harder. BUT... it's totally doable. I have a very restricted diet due to not only having had the sleeve done approximately three years ago, but also because of preference and other medical conditions. My no-no list looks like this: no beef, pork, seafood, veal, lamb, turkey, or really any poultry other than super overcooked chicken breast. Very little soy products, no sugar, no grain flour, no oats, little to no corn products, no real eggs, no mushrooms, very little fruit, nothing greasy or fatty, nothing breaded... I'm sure there's more, but you get the general idea. My point being, I know it can seem damn near impossible, but with some planning, some compassion from your fellow diners and some creativity, it's completely doable. After awhile, you'll even be able to go out for food on a whim since you've already done all the research before and know where and what you can and can't eat!

With all of this said, I wanted to help all of my fellow "restricted diet" peoples out there. Whether you have had WLS of some sort, are planning on having WLS, have dietary issues you have to accommodate, or are just trying to find some healthy dining options in general, this post is for you!

 (Photo of Nutrix restaurant homepage)

Many states have mandated for some time that restaurants make nutritional available, but it wasn’t until last year that the FDA made it a national requirement. Nutritional data is generally posted online, and some restaurants offer either full or partial nutritional data onsite. The difficulty comes in when you makes additions, substitutions or any other changes to a menu item. Some places that specialize in customization have already gone ahead and shared their individual ingredient list and info along with regular menu items. Luckily, there are many apps and websites that can help you there. Most of these depend on user updates for their databases, so keep in mind that some are more accurate than others. My Net Diary claims "The best commercial food database" and while I obviously can't substantiate this, it's a great start. I will list some other resources at the end of the post.

 

Moe's old nutrition calculator

Moe's new nutrition calculator via the app

A great example of this is Moe's Southwest Grill. Since There aren't really any pre-made dishes available and all things are customizable, Moe's has gone ahead of just listed everything separately. They even have a calculator on their website where you can click on all the ingredients you want and it'll show you what the nutritional outcome is. This makes for easy planning before you go out. Now, keep in mind that ingredients are most definitely not carefully weighed out in this sort of establishment, so the nutrition provided is not an exact science, but as long as you play it smart and keep this fact in mind, it's a great guide for how to pick the best combination to get what you're looking for. Similarly, Subway also offers a fairly comprehensive list of nutrition for their items, both pre-made and singular ingredients. While it's not nearly as exhaustive at Moe's list, it is a great tool to have. And while not all locations measure all of their ingredients, a large majority of them have things like meat, cheese and other non-veggie add-ons per-preportioned for their own convenience and cost efficiency. The one big thing I'd suggest here is to ask for any and all sauces on the side. They generally provide the standard 2oz lidded plastic container for such things. Doing it this way makes it much easier to estimate the calories added, versus when they just squeeze it from the bottle straight onto your sandwich.

Believe it or not, even McDonald's website provides a nutrition calculator!

  As always, Google remains the best resource for finding things, in this case nutritional information for specific places. While researching for this post, I noticed that many large chain restaurants' nutrition menus popped up at the top of the search page when I searched "Restaurant Name nutrition", such as "Texas Roadhouse Nutrition" or "Olive Garden Nutrition".

With all that rambling, I want to sum this post up since I know I tend to ramble and things can easily get lost in the mix:

• Search for restaurant nutrition prior to going out. The more recent your surgery, the more important this is. Making sure there will be something you can eat goes a long way towards making you not feel ostracized.
• If you're comfortable, ask your hostess or server about nutrition information, if they know of any diet specific substitutions and any other substitutions you might be interested in. Most of the time, they will be accommodating.
• Know what you're looking for. While you don't have to have a complete plan, having an outline of what you need/want is best.
• Restaurant specific nutrition calculators DO exist, you just have to search for them.
• You CAN eat out with family and friends, and while you obviously shouldn't do it all the time, I highly recommend doing it semi-regularly. It helps with feeling "normal" again.
• Educate yourself. Knowing what you can and can't have, what options are available and where you can get things that fit your needs is KEY to long term success!
• Checkout local places. Nutrition is becoming a fad, which works in our favor! A lot of smaller places are jumping on various dietary bandwagons (Keto, LCHF, Diabetic-friendly, etc.). As stereotypical as it may sound, check out the "Hipster Crowd" restaurants. They tend to be the first ones following the newest trends.

Is there anything I didn't cover that you have questions about? Do you have suggestions for other posts you'd like to see? Please feel free to comment, contact me and follow the blog so you're always kept up to date on new posts!

Resource List:

https://www.nutrition.gov/

https://www.fda.gov/food/labelingnutrition/ucm274593.htm

https://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/rny/3861139/wls-friendly-restaurants-lets-make-a-list

https://wvde.state.wv.us/child-nutrition/tools/calculator.html

https://www.nutritionvalue.org/nutritioncalculator.php

https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/8/2/382/4558152

https://www.foodnetwork.com/healthyeats/restaurants/2015/05/5-top-restaurant-nutrition-calculators

https://www.healthydiningfinder.com/AlphabeticalSearch

https://www.restaurant.org/Manage-My-Restaurant/Food-Nutrition/Nutrition

https://www.nutrition.gov/subject/whats-in-food

Restaurant specific Nutrition Calculators

https://www.chipotle.com/nutrition-calculator

https://www.tacobell.com/nutrition/calculator

https://pitapitusa.com/build/

http://gipsee.com/rubytnutrition/Loc.aspx

https://www.texasroadhouse.com/docs/default-source/default-document-library/txrh-nutritional-guide.pdf

https://www.olivegarden.com/nutrition

https://popeyes.com/menu/nutrition-information/

Nutrition Calculation Websites and Apps

http://www.baritastic.com/

https://play.google.com/store/search?q=nutrition+apps&c=apps

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/healthyout-healthy-restaurant-nutrition-guide/id566409966?mt=8

https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/top-iphone-android-apps

https://fastfoodnutrition.org/fast-food-meal-calculator

https://www.calorieking.com/

Recipe Nutrition Calculators

https://happyforks.com/analyzer

https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076

https://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-calculator.asp