Weight Loss Surgery Cookbook

276 Part III: Simple Recipes to Enjoy Anytime

Enjoying Sweet Fruits without

Added Calories

Sweet and good for you, fruit makes a fantastic dessert. Fruits provide

vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients (healthy compounds found in fruits and

vegetables), and fiber; plus they’re naturally low in fat and sodium. Some

people have problems with fruit skins getting stuck, so if you’re in doubt

about a certain fruit or your own pouch, peel the fruit to be safe.

If you had GBP, your surgeon probably gave you recommendations about how

much sugar you can safely eat at one time. These recommendations, typically

ranging from 8 to 15 grams of sugar, are for added sugars, not the naturally

occurring sugars found in fruits and dairy foods. It’s the added sugars that will

cause you problems. Unfortunately, the nutrition facts on food labels don’t

tell you if the sugars are natural or added. When shopping for packaged fruit

or dairy foods, check the list of ingredients for added sugars, keeping in mind

that sugar travels under a lot of names.

Several different kinds of sugar substitutes are available on the market and

the choice is yours. If you use a sugar substitute in a recipe that requires

baking or cooking, be sure to use one that is heat-stable, like Splenda.

T Grilled Bananas

You may not think of using your grill to make a dessert, but this recipe is a perfect

ending to your cookout. Grilled bananas are so naturally sweet that they’ll please

any sweet tooth. Port wine is a sweet dessert wine. You can substitute it with

no-sugar-added grape jelly, but it doesn’t give you the same taste. Grape jelly will make

the bananas taste like candy, whereas the port wine adds a little sweetness.

Stage: Regular foods

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 5 minutes

Yield: 4 servings (^1 ⁄ 2 banana each)

2 bananas, peeled and cut in half

1 teaspoon honey

(^1) ⁄ 4 cup orange juice
2 tablespoons port wine