Let’s go backwards — first, our story.

As the Türkçapar Bariatrics KITCHEN team, we set out with the passion of turning the small amounts of food that gastric sleeve patients can consume into a unique mealtime experience, and that’s how we created this site.

Personally, I always imagined that small yet exquisite-looking and delicious dish placed right in the center of a large white plate at a gourmet restaurant. In that context, you never expect to feel stuffed. The presentation of the dish, the intricate details, the effort put into it — they all draw you in. That satisfaction alone might even be enough to keep you feeling full, or at least, not hungry.
I once read in a study that only very intoxicated individuals might lose awareness of what they’re eating — that even someone who sticks to their diet might suddenly find themselves overeating carbohydrates, and that nearly 20% of vegetarians might end up eating meat.
In other words, when you’re drunk, you lose touch with the aura and context of the meal.

In reality, people today know a lot more about healthy eating than they did in the past. They are much more conscious now. They try to avoid using flour, sugar, and salt; they pay attention to minimizing their carbohydrate intake.
Many food websites now even have sections titled “Healthy Recipes.”

But there are two crucial things that are often missing:
1. The importance of the protein content in meals,
2. The portion sizes.
People often gain weight simply because they either don’t think about these two aspects enough or they aren’t fully aware of them.
They pay close attention to making sure their ingredients are fresh and natural, but they don’t give the same importance to how much food they put on their plates or how much protein they are actually consuming.
Just because something is fresh and natural, they assume they can eat as much of it as they want — but that’s not the case.

Even though we initially called it bariatric, I can confidently say that the importance of portion sizes and protein content is just as relevant — and should be a priority — for anyone who wants to maintain a healthy diet.

That’s why our dietitians, İpek and Dilara, meticulously calculate the portion sizes and protein amounts for every recipe, and we include this information right at the very beginning of each one.
You don’t need to have undergone bariatric surgery to benefit from this approach.
If you’re aiming for a healthy diet and lifestyle, you should stick to the portion sizes we recommend and make your choices based on the listed protein values.

So, How Do We Create These Recipes?

Our dietitians start by designing everything on paper. Sometimes they take an ordinary recipe and ask themselves, “How can we make this higher in protein?” (For example, they might add a generous amount of yogurt to a soup — it thickens the texture and boosts the protein content.)
Then, we try the recipe at home, photograph it before we even take a bite, and then we taste it. If we like it, it gets added to our official list. If the entire team — and sometimes friends we invite over — also experience that special feeling I described earlier, the recipe gets its final approval.

But it didn’t quite go that way with the Chia Pudding!
The photo turned out beautifully, but no one liked the taste or the texture.
Later that evening, during a team conversation on WhatsApp, people slowly started to open up:
“Does anyone even like chia?”, “Is it necessary to use it?”, “Why do dietitians even recommend it?”
Just like the poet Khalil Gibran said, “Exaggeration is truth that has lost its temper,” — we realized that chia has been excessively hyped and that the food industry might be pulling people away from genuine truths.
That’s when we decided to write a blog post about it.

Have you heard of the film Lost in La Mancha?
The director tries to shoot a movie about Don Quixote but faces countless setbacks. In the end, he runs out of money and the film remains unfinished. From the remaining footage, they create a documentary called Lost in La Mancha — it’s quite a humorous and lovely film (if you’re curious, you can check out the trailer here).

Inspired by Lost in La Mancha, we decided to write a story about how we “failed” to make Chia Pudding: we took a beautiful photo, but it didn’t really turn out as we had hoped!
Our dietitian İpek also wrote a piece about chia seeds below.
Keep reading — and if you’re still curious enough to try it yourself, you’ll find the recipe at the very end.

With love,
Berk Özler (Creative Director)

About Chia Seeds, by İpek Saroğlu (Lead Dietitian)

Actually, chia seeds aren’t a new discovery — they have been used by the Aztecs and Mayans since around 1500 BC.
They’ve only recently entered our modern diets.
Today, many healthy eating websites and dietitians’ social media accounts are filled with chia seed recipes.

We tend to place a lot of faith in trendy, so-called “superfoods.”
When it comes to weight loss, many of us become willing to try anything — especially things we’ve never heard of before or that sound “fancy.”
To be fair, we as dietitians also often recommend these products, particularly in sweets and puddings.

But let’s be honest:
Can you genuinely say that you find chia seeds delicious, and that you love their texture?

Have you ever wondered if your palate is being sacrificed for popularity when you try recipes featuring trendy ingredients?
Must healthy recipes always use exotic and relatively expensive products?
Could all of these trendy foods simply be brilliant marketing successes?

Remember:
The food industry and marketers always prioritize their own interests first.
It’s up to consumers to question what’s right and wrong — and it’s our responsibility as health professionals to inform the public correctly.

Long story short:
You are not obligated to use chia seeds to make a healthy dessert — especially if you don’t like the taste!
Moreover, since chia has a bland flavor, the additional ingredients needed to make it palatable often significantly increase the total calorie count.

Instead, you might enjoy something like İncir Uyutması (Stewed Fig Dessert — the recipe is available on our site [here]) much more — a dessert deeply rooted in our culture and traditions.

Don’t search for health and healthy foods halfway across the world.
Don’t feel forced to eat trendy desserts you don’t even like.
Health and flavor might be closer than you think — there’s no need to travel all the way to South America.

Stay healthy, and stay loving,
İpek Saroğlu (Lead Dietitian)