Gastric Bypass Surgery

Consumer Guide to Gastric Bypass Surgery Diet

Gastric Bypass Surgery Diet

After having gastric bypass surgery, you should expect to make big changes in your daily eating habits. Not only will gastric bypass surgery affect how much food you can eat, but it will also change what foods you can eat and how you eat that food. The surgery will require you to adopt a whole new attitude about eating. Overall, the success of gastric bypass surgery will depend on your effort and commitment to making these dietary changes.

It will be very important for you to follow the dietary advice that your doctor and dietician give you. Dietary guidelines can vary from surgeon to surgeon, procedure to procedure, and patient to patient. Your doctor will monitor your recovery and set up a personalized diet plan for you based on your individual health and progress. Although specific dietary guidelines may vary, there are some general guidelines that apply to most weight loss surgery patients.

Diet Progression

During the recovery period, your diet will progress from liquids, to purees, to soft foods, and finally to solid foods. You need to give your body time to heal and get used to the changes after surgery and not start solid foods until advised to do so by your doctor. As you work thru the diet progression, you will go from six meals a day to four meals a day, then settle at three meals a day once you start a regular solid food diet. The diet progression can take up to 3 months, but it can also occur sooner. It all depends on how your body adjusts to the changes.

Once you start to add solid foods to your diet, you will want to try new foods one at a time. Start with only one spoonful of the new food, chew thoroughly before swallowing, and make sure there is no discomfort, pain, or nausea before eating more. If the new food causes problems, don't eat any more. Food tolerance will vary between patients as to what foods can be eaten and as to when they can be added to the diet. It may be possible that if you wait until further into your recovery, you can try these foods again and not have a problem.

Eat Small Amounts

Your new smaller stomach will not be capable of holding any more than a very small amount of food. Immediately after surgery the stomach will only hold about one ounce of food. The stomach will stretch somewhat over time, however, and by three months you will be able to eat about one to one-and-a-half cups of food. Since you will only be eating a small amount, it will be especially important to choose nutritious foods so that your body gets the necessary protein and nutrients it needs to function. When eating, you should stop eating when you feel full to help prevent overeating.

Chew Food Thoroughly

You will need to take small bites of food and then chew the food into a pureed consistency before swallowing. If you don't, the pieces of food can get stuck in the opening between your new stomach and intestine. When the opening gets blocked and food cannot leave the stomach, it can cause vomiting, nausea, and abdominal pain. Some doctors will also advise against chewing gum for this reason - if you accidently swallow the gum it can block the opening.

Eat Meals Slowly

It is important to eat your food slowly so that it does not enter the intestines too quickly. If too much food enters the intestines too rapidly, it can cause dumping syndrome. It should take about 30 minutes to eat a meal if you are eating at the right pace.

Drinking Liquids

To keep yourself from becoming dehydrated, you will need to drink plenty of liquids. You should try to drink at least six to eight cups of liquids a day. Water is a good choice, but other options include sugar-free and calorie-free flavored drinks, tea, or some sports drinks. You will need to drink slowly (30 to 60 minutes for one cup of liquid) in order to prevent dumping syndrome. To help you get all the liquids you need each day, it's a good idea to keep a bottle of water with you at all times. Although you should be sipping liquids throughout the day, you should not drink with your meal or within 30 minutes of a meal (before or after) as your stomach does not have room for both liquids and food.

Gastric Bypass Surgery Diet

Foods to Eat

Since you will be able to eat only a small amount of food at any one time, it is important that the food you eat is healthy and nutritious. For the first 1-2 years, which is when most of the weight loss occurs, you will be eating about 800 calories per day. After that, you will we eating about 1000-1200 calories per day to maintain your weight loss. Meals will primarily consist of protein-rich foods, including lean meat, low-fat dairy products (yogurt, cottage cheese), eggs, and soy products. The body needs protein to recover after surgery and to maintain normal body functions. You will also want to eat nutrient-rich fruits and vegetables.

Foods to Avoid

After gastric bypass surgery, there are certain foods that should be avoided. Some foods will cause discomfort and are not well tolerated by the body. Some of the foods that can cause problems are foods that are dry, sticky, or fibrous such as tough meat, bread, pasta, rice, raw vegetables, and skins of fruits and vegetable. You should not drink carbonated beverages as they can cause bloating.

There are also foods should not be eaten because they are not nutritious, high in fat, high in sugar, and high in calories. You should not eat desserts and other foods with sugar listed as one of the first three ingredients. You should not have high-calorie liquids such as milk shakes, regular soda, fruit drinks, and meal replacement drinks. Alcohol should be avoided because of the high calories as well as the risk of addiction. High calories foods and beverages will not satisfy your hunger and will ruin your weight loss efforts.

Dumping Syndrome

Dumping syndrome can occur after gastric bypass surgery if you eat and drink too quickly or if you eat foods that are high in fat and sugar content, such as regular soda, candy, sweets, and ice-cream. The symptoms of dumping syndrome are nausea, vomiting, sweating, dizziness, abdominal pain, and eventually diarrhea. To prevent dumping syndrome, eat and drink slowly, choose foods with low amounts of fat and sugar, and don't drink liquids 30 minutes before or after eating your meal.

Snacking

Snacking between meals should be avoided. However, if snacks are planned into your diet, they should be a protein based snack.

Nutritional Supplements

One of the advantages of gastric bypass surgery is that it limits the amount of calories that can be absorbed by the body due to the rerouting of the intestines. This helps with weight loss, but it also makes it difficult for your body to absorb all the nutrients it needs to function. You will need to take vitamin and mineral supplements every day to give your body the nutrients it needs. The supplements you will be expected to take generally include a multi-vitamin, multi-mineral, calcium, vitamin B12, and iron.

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