RPLND Fat Free Foods

[sldl1106]

Anyone have any favorites?? Rob is starting his diet tomorrow. Besides fresh fruits and veggies, fat free chicken broth, fat free pudding and cool whip, I am rather clueless. No meats, chicken, etc. - anyone ever buy fat free bread or pasta? Is there such a thing?

And a lot of the recipes online proclaiming to be fat-free recipes, in fact, are not completely fat-free.

I'm off to Stop and Shop, but I think I'm going to need a bigger, broader market, like Wegmans (for those of you who know what I'm talking about). I don't have a Whole Foods near me. Well, its in NYC but I don't drive there much.

[Margaret]

Make a fat free no meat version of chicken noodle soup. Cook onions, celery, mushrooms carrots and garlic until tender. Then add about 4-5 cups of fat free chicken broth. Then add fat free no yolk noodles. YUMMY!

Bake potatoes, stuff with grilled veggies, fat free sour cream and fat free cheddar cheese.

Egg Beaters filled with veggies and fat free cheese is good, or wrap it in a fat free tortilla for and egg burrito.

Fat free noodles and fat free marinara with grilled mushrooms on top.

Fat free Italian Ice

Strawberries and Splenda

Fat free chocolate pudding with a scoop of fat free Cool Whip

Boyce was very happy....and skinny on this plan. I kept his taste buds busy while I kept him fat free. Just read the label and avoid things like Fat Free Ham in the deli case. NOT fat free and hard to digest.

Please avoid pop corn and nuts....all nuts for 6 months post surgery. Very tough on the system.

Hope this helps

lovestrong,

M

[dbo]

No meats, chicken, etc. - anyone ever buy fat free bread or pasta? Is there such a thing?

And a lot of the recipes online proclaiming to be fat-free recipes, in fact, are not completely fat-free.

I'm off to Stop and Shop, but I think I'm going to need a bigger, broader market, like Wegmans (for those of you who know what I'm talking about). I don't have a Whole Foods near me. Well, its in NYC but I don't drive there much.

Personally, (but thats just my opinion), I feel following such an extreme low fat diet is exaggerating a bit..
Don't take fat-free to literally, rather read it as low-fat.
My suggestion: Ask the surgeon how strict he feels you should be.

That said, a good suggestion that I have, is to buy a bottle of MCT oil (medium chain triglycerides).
Use that as a replacement for the cooking oil/butter you currently use.
Doing some searches on M.C.T. diets etc, will probably show you some recipes on completely fat-free dishes.

[Margaret]

Personally, (but thats just my opinion), I feel following such an extreme low fat diet is exaggerating a bit..
Don't take fat-free to literally, rather read it as low-fat.
My suggestion: Ask the surgeon how strict he feels you should be.

That said, a good suggestion that I have, is to buy a bottle of MCT oil (medium chain triglycerides).
Use that as a replacement for the cooking oil/butter you currently use.
Doing some searches on M.C.T. diets etc, will probably show you some recipes on completely fat-free dishes.

I must respectfully disagree. I have seen with my own eyes men as sick as dogs, from "low fat" foods. It is fat free for a reason, with out the lymph nodes the abdomen can swell and cause major problems if a fat free diet is not followed. It is only fat free for 7-10 days...is it worth the risk?? I think not.

[sldl1106]

The diet guidelines that Sloan gave us are strict. NO more than 5 grams of fat per day. To put that in perspective: I was going to buy Snackwell cookies, but they are .5 grams of fat per cookie. Five cookies would be half of his daily fat intake. I can't risk that Rob would only eat one or two per day!

Where can I find MTC oil - it was mentioned in the dietary guide, but I couldn't find it! Health food store, I assume.

[dadmo]

dbo:
I think if you asked Dr. Sheinfeld if he really wants you at 5 grams of fat per day his answer might be "I would perfer 0". This guy is tough, when he snaps his fingers at Sloan everyone jumps. My son had a problem with his cathater and a team of doctors wouldn't remove it until Sheinfeld gave the ok. I don't mean interns but full fledged doctors with years of experiance.

[dadmo]

Stacy:
Hunts in the can has fat free pasta sauce. Pringles come fat free and there are several salad dressings that are fat free.

[Fed]

I think if you asked Dr. Sheinfeld if he really wants you at 5 grams of fat per day his answer might be "I would perfer 0". This guy is tough, when he snaps his fingers at Sloan everyone jumps.

There's good reason that Joel Sheinfeld is the best at what he does. He's a purist in the strictest sense, and you really can't mess with that. He commands a lot of respect, and like dadmo said, if he says jump, you just ask how high.

[Scott]

Where can I find MTC oil - it was mentioned in the dietary guide, but I couldn't find it! Health food store, I assume.

I got mine from the nutritionist at the hospital. Amazon.com has this listing for medium-chain triglycerides oil from AmericaRx.

[MRMRSU]

Sweet Stacy: I've been thinking about you and Rob...I know that the 10th is the big day, so I'm building up my happy thoughts for you on the happy thoughts meter ready to fire out your way...not to give away too much of what I used to watch as a kid, but I think Rainbow Brite had such a meter Or was it the Care Bears??? Anyway, you can tell I'm bubbling over with happy thoughts already.

Okay, so to chime in here...

As my fellow "Witty Wives" club member Margaret said, I must respectfully disagree with dbo on the extreme low fat diet being an exaggeration. dbo, if only you knew how much we would have wanted someone like Dr. Sheinfeld in our corner of the U.S. telling my husband no fat post-RPLND for 7-10 days!

A sampling of Andy's FAT-FREE favorites (once he was allowed to eat):
For his starter course, Wolfgang Puck's organic vegetable broth...good enough on it's own...or with some steamed carrots.
For his entree, Mashed Potatoes (seasoned with fresh minced garlic).
And for dessert, his choice of Italian ice, a Popsicle or Jello. He hated the jello, so I usually got stuck with it for my dessert!

Mind you, he wasn't all that picky after 10 weeks of only the IV. We avoided meats until the doc said OK...but Andy rarely eats red meat anyway, mostly just chicken and fish. I rarely fry things, but when I have to use a cooking oil, I use PAM "Organic Canola Oil Cooking Spray" - no fat!

[Margaret]

dbo:
I think if you asked Dr. Sheinfeld if he really wants you at 5 grams of fat per day his answer might be "I would perfer 0". This guy is tough, when he snaps his fingers at Sloan everyone jumps. My son had a problem with his cathater and a team of doctors wouldn't remove it until Sheinfeld gave the ok. I don't mean interns but full fledged doctors with years of experiance.

I have a funny story about Dr. Sheinfeld to tell you guys, although Boyce could do better at telling it than I can.

Boyce was on day 2 of his RPLND and they sat him in the chair beside his bed. Dr. Sheinfeld came in to talk to him and all of a sudden the room starting spinning and Boyce was about to pass out (from how the nurses describe, 'eyes rolling back in head'). He was asking Dr. Sheinfeld to "push the button" to call and nurse and poor Dr. S had NO idea how to push the button, where to find the button or what to do. He was in a panic. Finally he called the nurses...who of course came running down the hall like the building was on fire because when Dr. S calls...EVERYONE comes running!

They pushed Dr. S out of the way to help Boyce and he stood there, really shook up. Dr. Sheinfeld told Boyce 'not to do that again, it scared me' and they got a laugh out of it. So here is the God of all things RPLND and he can't find the call button.



p.s. If it were up to Dr. S, I agree with Dadmo, zero fat would be what he would want.

[drom]

So true about Dr. Schiendfeld. When we would ask the nurses if Alex could do this or that they would at first say I think so, then look at his chart and see the name Scheinfeld and the panic would show in their eyes. It was almost like in Young Frankenstein when they mentioned Frau Blucher and the horses would whine. They always asked him first but they also told us in confidence that he was the best at what he did, and boy is he.

As far as the 5g fat we went to Whole Food and looked through everything and found many things that Alex could eat, none that he liked of course. They had many of the same products at Stop and Shop in the Health Aisle, frozen foods like Turkey Burgers. Read all the labels.

Pasta is always great and Italian Ices were big in our house. He couldn't wait until he could eat real food again but even then take it slow, the body has been through hell and back.

Domenic

[dbo]

It is only fat free for 7-10 days...is it worth the risk?? I think not.

Maybe someone needs to enlighten me.

I was responding with the knowledge that these diets are generally given the first 6-10 weeks after surgery when there is a proven lymphatic leakage.

When do these 7-10 days take place?
....The typical RPLND hospital stay is 10 days, so I would expect that your nutrition 'needs' would be handled by the hospital?

8 years ago with my RPLND they put me on IV-nutrition the first 7 days.
They listened to my bowels daily, when they were 'working' again, I could start with some liquid foods.

Regards,

[Margaret]

Maybe someone needs to enlighten me.

I was responding with the knowledge that these diets are generally given the first 6-10 weeks after surgery when there is a proven lymphatic leakage.

When do these 7-10 days take place?
....The typical RPLND hospital stay is 10 days, so I would expect that your nutrition 'needs' would be handled by the hospital?

8 years ago with my RPLND they put me on IV-nutrition the first 7 days.
They listened to my bowels daily, when they were 'working' again, I could start with some liquid foods.

Regards,

What we were told is this: During his 6-8 days hospital stay, nothing to eat or drink for 5 days following the surgery. The 5th night he was given some apple juice and the next morning he was given jello and broth. Once we got home, 7-10 days Fat Free. The next 4-6 weeks, a low fat diet...not fat free, but low fat. No nuts or pop corn for 4-6 months.

Hope this helps.

[sldl1106]

Boyce was on day 2 of his RPLND and they sat him in the chair beside his bed. Dr. Sheinfeld came in to talk to him and all of a sudden the room starting spinning and Boyce was about to pass out (from how the nurses describe, 'eyes rolling back in head'). He was asking Dr. Sheinfeld to "push the button" to call and nurse and poor Dr. S had NO idea how to push the button, where to find the button or what to do. He was in a panic. Finally he called the nurses...who of course came running down the hall like the building was on fire because when Dr. S calls...EVERYONE comes running!

They pushed Dr. S out of the way to help Boyce and he stood there, really shook up. Dr. Sheinfeld told Boyce 'not to do that again, it scared me' and they got a laugh out of it. So here is the God of all things RPLND and he can't find the call button.

Oh Margaret, you had me cracking up reading that!!

Well today is the first day of the pre-op diet for Rob, I found him fat-free Yoplait yogurt, he had two of those with fruit, and I bought a fat-free vinagarette dressing that he brought to work to eat with a salad. I ended up not going to Stop and Shop, but I'll go check the Health/Organic aisle when Rob gets home from surgery. We're really only home for two more days... I can't believe how nervous I am. And I don't know why... I wasn't this nervous during the I/O and chemo!

Thanks to everyone for the tips. I'm sure the time on the "no fat" part will go by much faster than I am imagining it will. Depending, of course, on how cranky the patient is!