Do you use an Instant Pot for making bariatric recipes? If you haven’t tried it, you should.
The Instant Pot is an electric cooking device that utilizes pressure to cook foods quickly. It comes with a host of benefits:
- Safe to use
- Cooks quickly (30-40 minutes compared to 4-8 in a crock pot, and some take just 5 minutes)
- Many uses (saute, pressure cook, slow cooker, food warmer, yogurt maker, and more)
- Consistently produces tender meat
- Can cook straight from frozen
You can make meats, stews, soups, yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, steam vegetables, and probably a hundred other things. But for gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and lap band patients, it’s two main benefits and that it’s fast and the meats come out tender. Well, OK, the third benefit is the hard boiled eggs consistently have easy to peel shells. This is major for weight loss surgery patients who struggle to peel hard boiled eggs and lose half the protein by picking away the egg with the shell until it looks like a crater on the moon (or is that just me?).
For anyone worried about the horror stories about pressure cookers from a while back, don’t worry this is not the same device as the one your parents or grandparents used to use. This one has built-in safety measures.
If you don’t want to buy one without knowing if you like it, consider asking a friend or family member to borrow theirs for a day (if they’ll let it go for that long). Or go on the internet and search for bariatric friendly Instant Pot recipes. It may open you up to a wide variety of high protein recipes that can help you stay on your post-op surgery diet and maximize your weight loss success.
The above suggestion is from Dr. Shillingford’s office, which does not receive any benefit from encouraging you to try an Instant Pot. Dr. Shillingford, MD, PA is a bariatric surgeon specializing in gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, lap band, and revisional surgery. Dr. Shillingford encourages his weight loss surgery patients to eat their protein first, then vegetables and fruits. Consuming adequate protein is important for bariatric patients to lose weight while maintaining their lean muscle mass. For more information on gastric sleeve, gastric bypass, and lap band surgery or to schedule your free informational session, call Dr. Shillingford’s Boca Raton office today (561) 483-8840.
