Summer in Florida can get hot. Sometimes so hot you might think it’s on the Sun. It’s hard to want to prep a hot meal and heat up your house. Salads can be a great option for hot summer night dinners.
While salads can be a great choice for dinners (or even lunches), bariatric patients need to prioritize protein in their diet in order to maximize their weight loss. High protein salads can bring the best of both worlds for gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and lap band patients: protein and vegetables. Meals such as chicken salad, tuna salad, taco salad, and shrimp salad can make great high protein, low carbohydrate options for weight loss surgery patients.
Chicken and tuna salad can easily be adapted to be well tolerated by gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and lap band patients who are still in the early stages of their post-op bariatric diet. For bariatric patients who have advanced in their post-op diet to tolerate regular consistency protein and raw vegetables (Stage 6 in Dr. Shillingford’s post-op bariatric diet), shrimp salad can be welcomed addition to your bariatric menu. Each ounce of cooked shrimp contains 28 calories and 7 oz of protein, making it a good source of protein to fit into a low calorie, high protein bariatric diet.
Shrimp Salad (adapted from this recipe from Delish)
- 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
- ½ - 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ red onion, finely diced
- 1 stalk celery (peeled to eliminate ‘strings’), finely diced
- 2 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
- Romaine or butter lettuce, if desired
- ½ cup mayo (or a combination of mayo and nonfat plain greek yogurt)
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tsp dijon mustang
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a large baking sheet, toss shrimp with oil, salt, and pepper.
- Bake 5-7 minutes until opaque.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together mayonnaise (and yogurt if using), lemon juice and zest, mustard, and salt and pepper. Add onions, celery, dill, and cooked and cooled shrimp. Toss to combine evenly.
- Serve as is or wrap shrimp in a lettuce leaf for an easy finger food meal.
Celery can be a tricky vegetable for gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and lap band patients to eat raw. If your new stomach can not handle celery, feel free to leave it out. If you’d like to add a little crunch back into the salad, you could try diced red pepper instead. But if you’d like to add celery, you could try one of these options. Some bariatric patients have shared that they use a vegetable peeler and peel the darker side of the celery stalk until the strings or veins are gone. Some notch the strings out with a knife and pull them out. For some gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and lap band patients eliminating this fibrous part of the stalk makes celery easier to tolerate. Use your best judgment of your body if you think you would be able to tolerate celery with or without the strings. If your new stomach tends to be on the sensitive side, err on the side of caution and leave the celery out of the salad.
Dr. Shillingford, MD, PA is a board-certified surgeon specializing in advanced laparoscopic and weight loss surgery. As Medical Director of Northwest Medical Center’s Center of Excellence in Bariatric Surgery, Dr. Shillingford offers a highly trained and supportive team for a positive surgical experience for his gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and lap band patients. His Boca Raton office is conveniently located for many patients in the Miami, Palm Beach, Delray Beach, and Parkland areas. For those traveling from the Treasure Coast for their weight loss surgery, Dr. Shillingford will soon be opening an office in the Vero Beach area. If you are considering weight loss surgery, call Dr. Shillingford’s office today at (561) 483-8840.
