The Lap Band: A Ticket to First-Class Dining by Dr. Paul O'Brien
The Lap Band enables you to eat very well. There is a real limit on quantity but there is no limit on quality. You can eat the finest food and drink the best drink. You just have to learn to enjoy small amounts.
You are allowed a maximum of three meals a day. Whatever meals you have, make them quality meals, not quantity meals. You don’t have to eat three times a day. We don’t mind if you eat just twice a day or even once a day. If you are not hungry, don’t eat. There is no danger of you becoming malnourished by the band. Many people don’t feel hungry in the morning. Fine. Skip breakfast. It is not the most important meal of the day. It is not important at all. Maybe you have breakfast and then don’t feel hungry until late afternoon. Fine. Skip lunch. But if you do eat a meal, aim for quality food.
You are only allowed to eat a small amount, the amount of food you could fit into half a glass at each meal. And that is a normal, average, typical glass. It appears to be a small amount of food. It is a small amount of food compared to what you used to eat. It is a small amount of food when compared with what everyone else at the table is eating. But that is their problem, not yours. They are eating too much. You are finally eating correctly, possibly for the first time in your life. And you will be amazed how little you need to eat.
By eating that small amount, three or less times a day, you will lose weight. But you will not fade away to nothing. Your weight will stabilize at a new level. We hope you will have lost about two thirds of your excess weight. You have not become skinny. You are now healthier with your new weight but you are still probably overweight. So you are eating this very small amount and yet your weight is stable at the new level. You are eating correctly. You are eating exactly what your body needs, no more, no less. You are in balance. And that small amount therefore is the right amount.
So, if you are only taking that small amount of food, make it good food. Don’t waste it on junk. Forget quantity; go for quality. Eat the very best. You can afford it. You only need a small amount so the total costs of your food are low no matter how far up the food price chain you move. The perfect piece of Ahi tuna, fresh fillet of whiting, quail eggs, free range chicken thigh, freshly shucked oysters with lemon juice. Search for the best and enjoy it.
Focus on the flavors and the textures of the food. Think about the food you are eating as you eat it. So often we eat food and have no awareness of the flavors and the textures. Remember that big bowl of pasta, that hamburger, the pizza from the past? Did you really taste it? No. It was a bulk filler, passing from the plate to the stomach with barely a moment’s thought. Your tongue and its millions of taste buds missed out. Now I want you to think about it. Concentrate on it. Enjoy it. Become renewed in your appreciation of the fine art of enjoying foods for their qualities, never for the quantity.
And feel free to have a glass of wine with your meal if you wish. I will discuss liquids versus solid food another day, but be assured, a glass of wine with a meal improves your weight-loss, improves your health and adds another dimension to your enjoyment of fine eating. As with the food, a single glass of very fine wine is much better than a bottle of vin ordinaire.
Bon appétit!
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