Hey everyone,

Working out isn't new to me but dieting is. Due to RPLND surgery that I just had a week ago I have been placed on a 0/ low as possible fat diet. I'm planning to make this a life change and stay with it after i am released. I was wondering if anyone else is on a similar diet or knows of any good 0 fat meals and/or food to try out that could make the whole process easier.

Thanks,

Andrew
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The most successful diet I know of is weight watchers and you can get a lot of recipes on their site by joining. It's a very good site for tracking your meals/activities as well. As far as low as fat possible, you should find a lot of options there.
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+1 for WW. I cancelled my online membership last year, but they are the best diet info on the planet. Been around for a long time and haven't gone away. If you're smart, you can gain access to their plan and menus without paying anything. They're not 100% low-fat, but they have many 0%fat dinners.

Also check out a free site, Dottie's Weight Loss Zone. DWLZ.com.
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The doctor's putting you on a 0 fat diet, or at least as low as you can get? Surprising since the body does need some fat in order to function normally.

Sorry I can't help with any advice as I'm in another boat myself, restricting carbs. So take that away and you can have to increase the other two macro nutrients (protein/fat).
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If you cut out meat and dairy, you'll get pretty close to 0 fat. Try some vegan cookbooks. I am not vegetarian at all, but love vegan restaurants. They sure know how to pick and prepare vegetables that even a meat lover would enjoy.

Braggs liquid is a good condiment like soy sauce, but little sodium. Great on veggies and gives a meaty taste. Only thing with vegan food is that ain't cheap!
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WW does have some great low fat options. True, you can do some digging and get recipes and what not for free, but I suggest joining, especially if you need accountability. (I hate that word...how about a kick in the butt?)

Do a little research about good fats vs. bad fats. The bad thing about low fat things is that sometimes they're loaded with sugar to offset.

Also, if you really need (or just want to) monitor your fat intake, go to http://www.myfitnesspal.com I have the app on my desktop, iPod, and BB. So I have no excuse to not track. Has just about every food you can think of. If they don't, you can add it. Same with the WW app.
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For years we were told to cut back on fats. If you do this, you have to make up the flavor somewhere, and like you said, sugar is the name of the game. It's cheap and gives our bodies what it craves. Surprising (or not so) that obesity and related illnesses (diabetes) rose during this time. Not saying there's a direct correlation, but it played a part.

Best advice anyone can heed when starting a new lifestyle diet. If you start using it before adopting the new way of eating, it can show you where you're problem areas are. You just have to be honest and log everything. But once you start seeing how simple changes can have big effects, you'll wonder why you didn't do this all along.
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Due to the surgery, all my lymph nodes were removed in my abdomen. Im not sure if those or the tissues they are in is helps processes the fat. I guess it takes some times for the lymph nodes in my legs to step up and start processing the fat. It should not be forever, just while the rest of my body is adjusting to the change.
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I have found it very strange some of the items that dont have fat in them that you think would. Candy is one and being that it taste normal it is hard to eat. I dont plan to do a 0 fat diet but WW might be something i pick up.

Thanks for all the tips everyone.
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Yea, that's something I've noticed as well since I started paying attention to product labels a few years ago.

Good luck with your endeavors. We'll be here if you need advice or support.
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So, Andrew, how's it going after a month or so?
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Well, it was interesting. I ate a lot of chicken, pork, spray butter, salad, noodles and white rice. I did get release last week to eat fats again so i have fallen off the horse and need to get back at it. I am still not able to work out yet so that isn't helping my motivation any. But after 1 week of liquid diet and and 3.5 weeks on a no fat diet with no working out i was able to drop 22lbs. I'm sure it will all be back with weeks. I will try to put up some no fat meals that I did enjoy.
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My diabetes nutritionist told me I would be better off with using light products versus fat free products for this exact reason. Now being diabetic, it's not so much the fat, as it is the carbs that I need to watch. If I use, for instance, light salad dressing, I don't count the carbs, because of the fat. If I use fat free salad dressing, I count the carbs because of the sugars. It seemed counter-intuitive until I started reading labels.
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Awhile back my father (a doctor) told me about a study he read that said 0%, and close to it, diets put people at higher risk for cancer. Even vegans eat a fair amount of fat. It's eaten as nuts, olives, etc.
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I"m in the same boat as you, having to watch the carbs. What a lot of people didn't realize was that when the companies took the fat out of the products, they pumped up the sugar/carbs to make up the flavor lost. Not surprising the correlation between the rise in obesity/diabetes and the push for low fat diets. Now after all these years the studies/doctors are changing their tune and suggesting people incorporate fats back into their diets (good fats mind you) and cut back on the carbs.

Honestly, not every one person fits the same mold. We just need to find out what works best for us, be it low carb, low fat, high carbs, whole grains, etc. Whatever does work though should include some form of exercise. You have to be able to burn off what you put in.
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Not to totally derail the thread here, or sound like a quack, but I'm currently reading Good Calories, Bad Calories, and in it Author Gary Taubes goes on to show that that a lot of the medical reasoning that fats, and especially unsaturated animal fat, is bad for us is speculation at best. The scientific proof to support the theory is only standing on a few cherry picked studies, most of which barely show any correlation between a reduction in fats from animals, and and any reduction in heart disease and obesity, but instead rely on a few prominent scientists, who ignored the scientific method, and bureaucrats who were pushing an agenda. It's kind of a dry read but I recommend it for anyone that is interested in the other side of the story that we know so well, ie. grains, and unsaturated vegetable fasts are healthy and good for us, and that meat and animal fats are giving us heart disease and making us fat.
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Thanks for the recommendation Derrick. I'd actually seen Taubes in a documentary and have been meaning to pick up some of his writings.
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It's actually about the time that I was told that I should go on a low fat diet that I ended up packing on about 30-40 pounds. My Dr. suggested that I do it to help with some trygliceride issues that I was having. Since last January, I have added regular exercise to my routine I have lost 60 pounds. In the last month or so, I plateaued. I within the last few weeks, have switched from non-fat to lowfat, except skim milk, and my weight has dropped 5 pounds, but more importantly I have lost a few inches and even had to go one belt hole smaller! Having said that, I did also start lifting weights again, so there is some benefit there. So was it the low fat vs non-fat? Or the weight training? Not sure, but the combo is working.
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I cant believe that you were not sent to a Registered Dietician after this surgery. They would be able to work with your doctor and be able to give you a good idea of what to eat and what not to eat and help you do so. I would highly recommend if your doctors havent recommended going to one I highly recommend you do.
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Sorry for any confusion, I did not stat it but I did meet with a dietician. I was give some information and foods that they suggest. I knew of a lo foods I could have, i just didn't know of any good meals to make up with them.

Now that this is over, I don't plan to stay on a no/ low fat diet but I do plan to incorprate some of the things learn from it into other diets.
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