Okay, so I was talking about the pre-surgery diet. I can tell you from listening to other lap band patients that every surgeon's approach to diet is different. Generally speaking, the pre-surgery diet lasts for 2 weeks and then you have the surgery. Some patients relate that they have had full-liquid diets pre-surgery, some have protein-supplement-only liquid diets. As previously noted, I was expecting the latter, and was pleasantly surprised, considering the situation, to find that my nutritionist's idea of a pre-surgery diet goes like this:

Breakfast - protein shake*
Lunch - 4-5oz lean protein, 1/2 cup green veg + 2 cups salad greens
Snack - protein shake
Dinner - repeat lunch
Snack - protein shake

Also allowed are jello, popsicles, and water-based veggies like cucumber and celery, as well as calorie-free beverages.

So I've had 2 weeks of that, then surgery, where I had NOTHING to eat but water from midnight Sunday until mid-morning Tuesday, and then only about 2oz of Atkins Advantage. Post surgery, I'm on full liquids for 2 weeks. I'm a week post surgery - can you say BORED with protein supplements? OMG. And I love me some egg drop soup, but I'm afraid all the cornstarch required to make it thick is loading me up on the carbs (to say nothing of the fat content), so I din't wanna go there, or at least, not very often, so I set out on a quest to find some decent, meaning flavorful and satisfying, full-liquid soups. "Liquid" meaning "can be consumed by use of a straw".

As usual, I started out at FoodTV where I found this recipe by Emeril Lagasse for Roasted Red and Yellow Pepper Soups. Here are some changes I made:

1. In the yellow pepper soup, I used light cream to cut the fat.
2. In the red pepper soup, I used beef stock, 'cuz that's what I had.
3. In the red pepper soup, I added about 10 dashes of Marie Sharpe's gold label.
4. I used the Cuisinart to do all the chopping, so the pieces were small to start with. By the time I used the hand blender, I didn't feel it needed to be sieved, so I din't do it.

The Verdict: Good Stuff!!! The only downside is, red and yellow peppers, do they come from Mars? Because they're freakin' THREE DOLLARS EACH!!! If the idea of green soup wasn't just horrifying, I'd have gone with the green peppers - the flavor isn't that different to justify the price difference. I'll definitely make this again, because I'll have to be on liquids for one or two days after a fill.

I've decided that this is Soup Week, and I'm starting with the very first recipe in the Eating Well After Weight Loss Surgery book. More on that later - it's on the cooktop now, and it smells FABOO...


*protein shake = any approved liquid protein supplement, not necessarily a "shake", per se.