Day 53 - No Chew Diet... FOOD LIST

Okay, so today (since i can't think of anything better to ramble on about) i am just going to compile a huge list of everything that i discovered i could eat without chewing. This isnt necessarily a "liquid" diet... but i was able to mash all of these foods well enough with a fork to choke them down with little effort without chewing, which was/is my constraint! But, ill start with what i ate the first week when i was completely banded shut and had to use a syringe. because i battled a ton of nausea though... i didn't eat a ton. resulting in me losing 7 pounds the first week... which is quite a lot for how tiny i am already. but, i stopped losing weight after i discovered i could eat mashed cake after being unbanded :P anyway... here is a long list!

Liquids (stuff i ate through the syringe in the hospital..)

• apple and grape juice (my favorites to mix with the icky medicine)
• sprite/ginger ale and other sodas hurt a tiny bit on my throat, but helped my stomach settle
• gatorade/powerade is a major must
• smoothies - as long as they were melted enough! (no seeds)
• Boost Breeze - this was my main way of getting in calories, each 8 fl oz juice box had 250 calories and 9 grams of protein. they tasted like jello to me, i like orange the best! (i couldnt stand the taste of things like ensure... as i hate the taste of milk (probably from being lactose intolerant.))
• Tomato soup was awesome too. My only complaint was that it coated the back of my throat and teeth.. and as i couldn't brush my teeth it just made me feel gross. plus, it made it harder to breathe as my throat felt so clogged.
• Chicken broth, can't go wrong with this
• any other blended soup or food for that matter.. i never found one i liked very much.. and as i only needed to use syringes for a week, i never ventured too far with blended things.

No-Chew Foods (now... i kinda do a "half-chew" with my tongue and just used saliva to get most of these things down, some of them hurt my throat a tiny bit, but is was SO worth it... there was NO way i was going to eat blended foods for 2 months... that was too gross for me.) 

after every single one of these items, just add on in your head "mashed with a fork" my fork did all of the "chewing" for me!

Breakfast

• scrambled eggs 
• pancakes (cut them up SUPER tiny and then add a lot of syrup and peanut butter for protein-YUM)
• hashbrowns -mashed.. these were harder to get down, but you can always douse them in syrup
• yogurt of course! (just had to take my lactose intolerant medicine)
• fruit - i discovered that i could swallow raspberries and blackberries if they were overripe and squishy, if i mashed them up, also! i enjoyed almost rotten peaches mashed with a fork, and bananas (with peanut butter). other soft fruits work mashed up too!
• applesauce (this was my GO-TO thing to eat in the middle of the night when my medicine said to take "with food" so that my stomach wouldn't hurt)
• smoothies - i got really good at making these myself, i just pour in apple juice and cran-raspberry juice, then frozen mixed berries, and frozen bananas, and blended it up! then i would add in Miralax, which i have used to keep my stomach issues at bay... and if it was sour, i could always dump in a ton of sugar!)

Lunch/Dinner

• soups.. of course.. but i got sick of those... so i quit eating soup. i hate soup now actually.  
• spaghetti (and other noodles)- okay, everyone always makes so much fun of me... because i cut up the noodles SUPER tiny and relatively quickly! i am pretty darn good at it by now.. haha. but this was one of my main meals for the longest time. i also found these tiny "circle" noodles that i didnt even have to cut up! they slipped right down my throat, yay
• sloppy joes - just the inside of course :P
• ice cream
• baked beans
• black beans and rice and salsa all mixed together
• rice - with different sauces, mexican, chinese, etc
• refried beans
• chili
• cornbread casserole - best. thing. ever.
• mashed potatoes - definitely one of the main things i have eaten!
• CAKE - just put extra frosting on and mash with fork. SO amazing.
• peanut butter (just on a spoon. mix in honey too. yum.)
• melted chocolate
• mini lollipops
• the inside of tacos (ground beef, cheese, salsa, rice, all mixed together, yum)
• stuffing and mashed potatoes and gravy and turkey (shredded) and all mixed together

my mashed strawberries! these took forever to cut up... but were beyond delicious. so worth it.

A huge thanks to those of you still reading..! Hope all is well.

-Katie:)