After a successful bariatric surgery, adhering to healthy nutrition guidelines is essential for long-term success and healthy weight maintenance. A little negligence or lack of control in your food habits can adversely affect your speedy recovery, digestion, nutrition, and the expected outcomes from the surgery.
Weight loss surgery is done for a purpose; the purpose to reduce weight by shedding off the extra fat. What you eat matters a lot after the surgery, as it will help you heal faster, reduce the weight gradually, and feed your body nutritiously without re-accumulating the fat.
The doctor who performed the surgery or a registered nutritionist can help you with the right choice of food and a crafted meal plan for your condition.
More about diet
The diet recommendation varies from person to person. It is also designed in a phase-wise manner to slowly get you back to the process of eating solid foods. How your body reacts to this food and how quickly you heal, will decide how fast you move from one stage to another. Usually, a person starts eating regular food after three months of the surgery. A few instructions that remain common while recovering from the surgery are listed below:
Drink a minimum of 2 L of water daily to avoid dehydration.
Do not drink water while having food. Prefer water 30 minutes before or after your meals.
Avoid sugary and fatty food.
Eat very small amount of food at a time.
Do not consume alcohol till you are completely back to normal food consumption. Keep a check on the amount to be taken at once.
Avoid caffeine initially for a few days. Coffee and tea can be started gradually afterwards.
When started with solid food, chew them properly for easy digestion.
Eat and drink very slowly to avoid “dumping syndrome”, which is a common condition post the surgery. It is characterized with nausea, vomiting, sweating, diarrhoea, and dizziness due to sudden fall of foods and liquids in the small intestine when someone eats larger quantity of food in a haste.
Report any unusual body symptom to your doctor immediately.
If prescribed with vitamins and supplements, take as directed by your healthcare provider.
Phase 1: Only Liquids
Next day of the surgery or so, you would be given only clear liquids: veg clear soup, coconut water, mineral water and the like. Once you are able to digest the clear liquids, other form of liquids would be administered like: broth, fruit juice, decaffeinated tea or coffee, skimmed milk, or very dilute butter milk.
Phase 2: Pureed Foods
The next phase of food introduction to your diet might start after a week of tolerating the liquid food well. It includes only mashed up foods and pureed or strained food items. The consistency of the food should always remain like smooth paste without any solid food particles at all.
You can have small portions of pureed food, typically 4 to 6 spoons at a time, for three to six times a day. Make sure that you are eating very slowly spoon-by -spoon extending the food time to 30 minutes for each meal.
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