Living on Whole30 and protein shakes with gastric bypass

[Ana Rothen]

I had gastric bypass 4 years ago and did 90+ days of Whole30, time enough to find it helpful to deal with sugar cravings and notice an improving in many aspects. The downside is that without whey protein shake my globulin and albumin levels became really low and the doctor prescribed it daily.

It's a dilemma, Whole30 is a program I'd like to adopt as a permanent lifestyle, but the protein powder is a must. How bad is that coexistence?

[ShannonM816]

No one does Whole30 forever, and the authors never intended anyone to do it forever. The point is to find out how foods affect you, and then figure out how to use that information to come up with your own plan that leads to your optimal health. For you, that may need to include protein powder, and that is fine. I'd also point out that your doctor has prescribed this, so even if you decide to do another strict Whole30, you do not have to give this up, as doctor's orders always trump Whole30 rules.

Having said that, there are some things you can do. You can see if there is a protein powder that is Whole30 compliant -- it would probably be egg-based, as most protein powders are pea or soy or dairy based. There are things like collagen hydrolysate or collagen peptides (they're basically gelatin that doesn't gel) that might help, but they're not really the same as protein shakes which is what I'm assuming your doctor is telling you to take, so I don't know if those will work for you. If you can't find any that are compliant, or they're just too icky for you to stomach, you can look for powders that have the fewest non-compliant ingredients, and if you know that certain ingredients definitely bother you (for instance, if you react badly to soy), you can look for ways to avoid those ingredients. You can look for powders without added sweeteners so you're not having something that tastes like a milkshake every day, especially if you tend to crave sweets anyway. If you haven't already, find out from your doctor exactly what standards your protein powder will need to meet (like if it needs a certain amount of protein per serving or any other requirements), and then you can research more about what options you have.

If you really, really don't want to do the protein powder, you can try talking to your doctor and find out exactly how much protein and other nutrients you need to consume each day, and see if it is possible to add real foods to make up that amount. 

You can still follow the basic idea of the meal template, using whatever portion sizes work for you, but having that combo of protein, fat, and vegetables at each meal. You can still focus on having real, healthy foods, and the protein powder would be a supplement to that. It's not like you're going to say, well, I have to have this protein powder, so therefore I'll have Twinkies for lunch every day .  I think this is just your version of food freedom. 

[Ana Rothen]

Shannon, thank you so much for your answer, it was really helpful. I did try other protein powders, but they always taste really artificial. The one I use is dairy-based, and to drink it I blend the powder, half a frozen banana, water, ice and cocoa powder. It tastes like milkshake and I suspect it makes me crave sugar, but it is an effective way to make me compliant to the treatment.

After Whole30 I found out I cannot tolerate grains, specially wheat and corn. I need to go back to Whole30, if not strict, with the protein powder, and ser how the sugar cravings behave. Christmas is a bad time of the year to change habbits, but without discipline my eating goes hectic!