Before I begin, PLEASE NOTE that it does vary from individual to individual. I'm simply sharing my own experiences with foods over a year after the operation. Things may change again for me, and they may be different for you... this is simply my experience.
KFC chicken - this makes me so ill. It's probably all the oil and fats involved, but every single time I attempt it (not often, but I have tried it a few times post-op, when others are eating it), I either spew, or really really want to spew. It's a no-go takeaway for me as a result.
Burgers - I can eat these, sort of, but I have to make sure they're quite a dry patty, not one full of grease and fats. Eating the meat portion on its own, or with a salad, would be great... but the actual bun-over-meat thing is something I can't manage. I don't find that bread and meat go together well for me, they make my stomach churn, but I've found that rolls in general are the issue.
Bread Rolls - Much too big for me, but even when I've attempted only a small portion, I find I feel a bit sickly. I have successfully eaten bread rolls (or portions of) before, but there's been more bad experiences with rolls than good.
Cream Sauces - I can have cream sauces, but I really have to limit the amount. Very creamy foods make me stomach churn and make me feel quite ill. I have still had, for example, caesar dressing or a little bit of cream sauce on something, but I really have to only have a very small amount or feel ill.
Hot Chips - Look, I can eat these just fine, but you fill up on about 3 of them. They're junky and not offering you any nutrition, so they're best avoided. Occasionally I'll steal a chip from someone else, but they're something I will never have much of again.
Pastry - I can maybe have a tiny nibble of pastry, but I can't handle much. If I'm faced with a pastry food, I try to eat the middle out of it (for example, the inside of a pie, or the inside of a quiche). Mostly, I just never order these foods (but sometimes, other people serve you up something with pastry... and I'd feel rude just saying "no," to it outright, so I work around the pastry).
McDonalds - I could have nuggets easily enough, but I'm not really a nuggets fan. Previously if the family had decided upon McDonalds for lunch, I would get a Grand Angus burger, take off the top of the bun, have no sauces on it, and eat about 1/2 of it that way. Now they've changed the patty and it's quite soft and oily, and there's no way I can manage it. I try to avoid McDonalds anyway, but at times when you're out and your choices are limited, I was glad I had a burger (the Angus patties used to be quite dry, rather than oily, and were a good hit of protein).
Soft Drink - I CAN have soft drink, but it's only a very recent development. I spent the first year after my surgery not having soft drink as the bloating it causes felt really uncomfortable. Now I can have it if I'm out, but I do drink it quite slowly, and it usually goes quite flat before I'm done with my glass.
Kangaroo Steaks - I can do kangaroo MINCE just fine, but the steaks sit very heavily in my belly and make me feel uncomfortable. They're so good for you, so lean and high in protein, so I'm quite disappointed in this one, but I can manage beef steaks so I just use those instead.
Now, as you can see, it's mostly unhealthy foods that I can't eat. Being told that I could never ever eat these foods again would have made me freak out pre-op. The thing is though, it's very easy to avoid unhealthy foods if they also make you sick each time you eat them.
I try to eat healthily anyway, so the loss of the above is not a big deal, though there are times when I'd like a nice salad roll or even just a hot pie while I'm spending the day at the markets or something... and it can be quite annoying when someone makes you a meal and you find that if you eat it, you're likely to throw up or feel quite sick in the tummy... but again, it's a sacrifice you have to make if you want to lose. I expect that if I had lost my weight without the sleeve, it'd be really important to avoid all of these foods anyway to maintain my loss... and the sleeve actually does make avoiding them a lot easier.
So what can I eat? Most things. The above is really only a very small list of foods I have to avoid. I do avoid other foods too, because they offer me little in the way of protein, but I can still eat them if I want without any discomfort.
I spend a few days a week out of the house for breakfast and lunch... so this is what I'll usually eat on those days (obviously can differ from day-to-day).
Now, I waste stomach space on no protein for morning tea... but it's mango, how can I not? Those things win you over with their smell alone. I try to get smaller mangoes so I can eat the entire thing and not waste any, but otherwise it's really easy to find people to help you finish it. lol.
For lunch, I love these Sirena tuna and rice combos. You can find them in Woolies near the tuna in boxes. I can usually manage the entire serve or close to it, so long as I take a full half hour to get through it. That's about 18g protein.
Afternoon tea means it's time for my beloved roasted broadbeans! About 6.5g protein in a 25g packet.
Dinner will often be a piece of steak, or piece of fish, and a maybe a tablespoon of veges or salad for me. Often, that'll give me about 30g protein in the 100g meat I eat. This takes me quite a while to finish... it's usually cool by the time I'm done.
If I'm still feeling hungry later, I will try and make sure it's protein-based. Nuts are good, but I'm not a massive fan. Lately I've been having 1 piece of Helgas quino and flaxseed bread toasted, with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter on it. That's a decent amount of peanut butter, but 1 tbsp of the Sanitarium one we're currently using is over 6g of protein. Add to about the 3g protein in the slice of bread, it's a decent protein hit for a snack.
I also take a range of vitamins... hair skin nails, multivitamin, Iron, Vit C and Magnesium. I mostly just take the multi, but the others are there if I feel I need them. The vitamin C is only taken to help absorb the iron. Generally I'll only add the extra in if I've been unwell, or I take the magnesium if my sleep is getting lousy (I occasionally suffer from restless legs which prevents sleep. Magnesium helps with this).
I have some benefibre on hand, but I've found that I've not really required it as I haven't suffered from constipation, but a lot of people do (especially in the early days). I've just been lucky.
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