Pasta Rehab: 4 Pasta Types To Get You In Those Skinny Jeans Post Surgery

Bariatric peeps, we know you love your pasta, and we want you to love your life and not give up your fave foods now that you’ve had bariatric surgery. Remember at Weight Zen we don’t believe in diets, we believe in eating – do’s so you can think of all the post-surgery food options available to you.

WHITE = WAIT
First, why you love pasta? Pasta is broken down quickly in your body, which means it spikes your blood sugar giving you a mental high right after you eat it. Think of it as a food that makes your brain laugh. The problem is that after the high, comes a low. Blood sugar spikes, then crashes. Your brain gets that high, and to avoid the crash, you do what? You eat more pasta. Pasta impacts your blood sugar because it is a carbohydrate. Carbohydrates are turned into sugar in our body. In fact if you thought of white spaghetti like a bowl full of sugar strands, our guess is you wouldn’t eat so much of it so fast!

Why Brown Turns that Frown Upside Down
OK So WHY are nutritionists and doctors always saying to eat whole wheat pasta? There is fiber in whole wheat pasta. Whole wheat, means the whole entire part of the grain is used, it’s not stripped and processed. White bread, is stripped and processed, which is why it is white. There is “WHITE” whole wheat on the market, but it’s really just fiber enhanced white pasta. Listen, if you like your pasta white, try it. At Weight Zen we’re fiber fans, because the more roughage the more time take it takes to digest. Plus, fiber helps fill your tummy so you feel fuller longer.

PASTA DO’s

1. WHOLE WHEAT – c’mon you know it’s good for you. It stays in your stomach longer(this helps you feel fuller longer), it stabilizes your blood sugar, and helps you “go” more smoothly. Not potty humor jokes at Weight Zen.

2. BEAN BASED PASTA – They are rich in PROTEIN and FIBER. Double hello, thank you very much our lovely bariatric nutrition Megan swears by them. We asked her if they tasted funny and she said “They don’t, but their texture is a little bit different. They are a little chewier than regular pasta.” What do we LIKE about chewing longer? After surgery your stomach is smaller, which means you have reduced absorptive capacity. Chewing more helps your body starts the digestion process IN YOUR MOUTH, and that has been scientifically proven to help your body absorb more nutrients. We want you to have a nutrient, vitamin rich life!

3. BROWN RICE PASTA – First the taste: tastes like brown rice. No fix for that, but you can try our brown rice/white rice mix trick. If you aren’t super accustomed to the flavor, rather than even bothering to make the leap mix the brown rice pasta with regular white pasta. There is nothing wrong in the world with baby stepping your tastebuds to a healthier future. Benefits of brown rice pasta is again it helps regulate spikes in blood sugar, and it’s GREAT for people with gluten issues.

4. QUINOA – Let’s teach the world how to say the word. It’s pronounced keen-wa. Now you can sound fancy when you cook or order it. No one can spell quinoa without spellcheck, but it’s just as easy to cook as regular pasta. There’s no processing issues with quinoa, even though there are different colors, all quinoa is packing a major nutritious punch. Like sushi, it’s an acquired taste. For you sweet tooth lovers, here’s an interesting fact, this pasta-like goodness you can prepare either sweet or savory. To sweeten it up you can use some cinnamon and honey. To keep it savory use regular pasta sauce.

Finally, if you are totally saying to us, but WAIT white pasta is my favorite food ever, we don’t want you to give it up. Really. Just eat it with protein, load up on veggies, and Keep that white pasta portion small. Petite jeans on the way!

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Portion Control Tool: Try The Meal Measure Plate

The meal measure portion control plate is an AMAZING post-surgery tool for any weight loss patient. Portion control is key to keeping your body in slamming shape! We were on the hunt to find you some amazing tools to make your portion perfect servings easier to create and simple to maintain and here’s one of our favorites. Why spend time measuring and obsessing. We took the guesswork out of measuring.

Why we LOVE the Portion Control Plate meal measure pack! You can buy it direct from the Meal Measure company or on Amazon.

    • This comes with 4 distinct compartments pre-labeled protein, starch, vegetable and fruit.
    • It’s DISHWASHER safe. No more mess!
    • It measures for you, there are half cup and one cup measures right on the product. With this meal measure, you’re in control. Awesome!

COST– only 8 Bucks. Save money, time and lose the guesswork.

Weight Zen Nutritionist Megan’s Thinking Thin Bonus Points: This comes with a protein, fruit, veggie and starch, but our slim tip is to replace the starch with a second portion of vegetables.

Megan’s tip for the pasta lovers: Let’s say you have chicken breast, asparagus and whole wheat pasta (fingers crossed it’s whole wheat, but if not, that’s ok we’ll give you tips to get your palate more accustomed to whole grain goodies), because you opted for pasta, serve two portions of asparagus or add in another veggie INSTEAD of the fruit. Why? It’s easier to overeat your starches (and trust us we know you weren’t thinking brown rice). Also after the surgery you want to MAKE SURE YOU MAXIMIZE your vitamins and minerals and vegetables are super packed with awesome nutrients.

Megan’s tip for the sweet tooth dessert lovers: Let’s say you have chicken breast and blueberries topped with sugar free whipped cream, either double the asparagus or choose another vegetable. Why? A sugar high is more likely to stick to your thigh, because let’s be honest if you eat some pasta (even if it’s whole wheat) with the blueberry dessert, it’s a lot of carbs and less of the vitamins we need you to get. Have a question, or want us to help? Fill out the below form:

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Welcome Bariatric Nutritionist Megan Wolf

Bariatric surgery does not mean a bariatric diet. In fact, we don’t even like the word diet at Weight Zen. Diet = Failure. Whatever surgery you have had or will have, be it the sleeve, the band, a bypass or more, we’re going to help you succeed by hooking you up with one of New York Cities premier bariatric weight loss nutritionists.

At Weight Zen, Dr. Rosen is committed to lasting lifelong change in each and every single one of our patients. This is why we have added a new team member to the Weight Zen family, Megan Wolf. Megan is our in-house nutritionist who sees patients primarily for weight loss and weight management counseling and medical nutrition therapy. She will work with you directly to help meet your nutritional needs!  

She’ll give you the best tips and tricks on how to enjoy food. For Bariatric patients food is part friend part frenimy, but what if we flip the script with Megan and help guide you to seeing food as your new BFF.

She offers in-home pantry makeovers, supermarket tours, group nutrition classes and cooking classes. And the good news is, you do not have to be a bariatric patient in order to see her, anyone can sign up to work with Megan!

We are so excited for you to meet her in person and we think you’ll love her video tips coming soon!

 

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