Mushies Boring? No Way!

When you’re on a liquid diet, there’s nothing more exciting than the thought of progressing to “mushies,” or pureed foods. And those first tastes of real food can be heaven after a liquid diet. But within days, you might get bored, and feel that your solid foods stage just can’t come fast enough.

At The BariatricPal Store, we have plenty of solutions for your pureed foods diet. They’re not only varied and great-tasting, but ready within minutes so you can continue on with your day. Plus, they help you meet your protein goals, so you can keep your lean muscle and metabolism up and feel stronger and healthier as you lose weight.

Why Eat Pureed Foods?

Pureed foods, or “mushies,” are a great bridge between a liquid diet and a soft foods or solid foods diet. You might be on a liquid diet if you’re trying to jumpstart weight loss or kick some cravings as you start a weight loss diet. You might also be on a liquid diet for days or weeks before weight loss surgery, and for days or weeks as you recover from procedures such as the lap-band, gastric sleeve, or gastric bypass. After so long on liquids, your gut may do better with pureed foods.

Standard Pureed Food Choices

Your surgeon or nutritionist should give you a list of allowed foods if you’re being supervised on your diet or if you are a weight loss surgery patient. Otherwise, you can have many nutritious foods that are of a pureed, baby food-like consistency. They should require a spoon to eat, and should be smooth – no bumps and chunks! If you’re not sure if they’re smooth enough, just run them through a blender before eating them.

Examples of foods on most pureed foods diets include the following.

• Cottage cheese, yogurt, and ricotta cheese.
• Scrambled eggs, pureed canned tuna and chicken, and pureed ground turkey.
• Cooked non-fibrous vegetables, such as canned carrots and green beans.
• Applesauce, ripe mashed banana and pureed cantaloupe.
• Watery mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, and cream of wheat or rice.

Foods that you need to chew or you can eat with a fork are probably not allowed. Also, don’t cheat with high-calorie, low-nutrient foods like ice cream and butter. They are easy to swallow, but they won’t help you lose weight, get over your sugar and fat cravings, or hit your protein and other nutrient goals.

Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Yogurt, cottage cheese, and tuna may be delicious and nutritious, but they can get kind of boring when that’s all you eat for days on end. BariatricPal Protein Breakfasts and Protein Entrees may be the answer to vary your diet while you stick to the rules and hit your protein goals – all without spending more than a minute or two in the kitchen.

Start the day off with 100 well-spent calories and 14 to 15 filling grams of protein when you opt for Protein Omelets in Southwestern, Veggie, or Bacon and Cheese flavors, or for Protein Oatmeal in Maple Brown Sugar, Apples and Cinnamon or Peaches and Cream. You can even stir in some ripe mashed banana or peanut butter powder to your oatmeal.

Use BariatricPal Protein Entrees for an easy lunch or dinner for work or home. They’re shelf stable and ready in minutes in the microwave or on the stove; all you need to add is water. Puree choices such as Sloppy Joe Mix, low-carb Protein Fettuccini Alfredo or Creamy Chicken Pasta to feel satisfied without going off your mushies meal plan.

Delicious Desserts and Snacks

The days when you can munch on an apple, chomp on some nuts, or down a handful of chips or pretzels may seem far away, but the alternatives are not so bad! All of our Protein Shakes, Protein Fruit Drinks, Protein Hot Drinks, and other Protein Drinks are perfect for the pureed foods diet to supplement your other choices.

We also have treats to get you through your day – within your diet restrictions.

• BariatricPal Protein Pudding in flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, and cheesecake.
• Protein Gelatin in raspberry and strawberry banana.
• Protein Soups in flavors to suit your mood, whether you want familar Chicken Pasta, comforting Cream of Tomato, or creamy Broccoli and Cheese.

They are not only high in protein, but they are ideal for the calorie-conscious and the carb-conscious. We’re rooting for you to lose weight!

The pureed foods diet can get boring faster than you expect, but don’t worry. The BariatricPal Store is here to help you out! We have shakes and easy-to-prepare instant meals and snacks that can keep you nourished, keep you interested in your meal plan, and bridge the gap to solid foods.