Post Gastric Bypass Surgery Diet

Post Gastric Bypass Surgery Diet

Gastric bypass surgery is the last resort physicians recommend to dangerously obese people in solving their issue. The surgery involves a procedure of making the stomach smaller and bypassing most parts of the stomach and small intestine by connecting the smaller stomach directly to the middle part of the small intestine.

Having gastric bypass help speed up weight loss by making the person feel full quickly even with just a small amount of food intake. Right after the surgery, the new stomach can only hold just up to 2 tablespoons of food. After a few weeks, the stomach will stretch out a little to accommodate about 1/2 to 1 cup at a time.

Because of the new stomach capacity, individuals who have undergone gastric bypass surgery need to follow a certain diet recommended by their physicians or nutritionists to be able to still meet the daily nutrients needed by the body. Also, since weight loss is the main reason why the surgery was done in the first place, a good, planned, healthy diet is indeed necessary for continuous weight loss.

First of all, with the little intake of food, it might not be possible for the person to meet the daily required values of certain vitamins and minerals. Thus, these individuals who took the surgery are required to take multivitamins daily and extra iron, calcium and vitamin B12 supplements to prevent any complications.

A gastric bypass diet includes foods rich in protein, and low in fat, sugar, carbohydrates and calories. It is also important to have enough water to prevent dehydration. How does one drink right after a gastric bypass? Here are some tips:

- drink one cup of water or any low-calorie beverage in between meals
- a total of 6 cups of fluids should be taken everyday
- make water or other beverages last for at least 30 minutes by sipping slowly
- make sure to finish drinking any fluid 45-60 minutes before a meal

The gastric bypass diet has different stages starting from liquids only, then soft meals, and finally, the regular diet. The liquids only diet includes just clear liquids from water to broth to sugar-free juices. This stage usually lasts for 1 to 2 days.

Once the clear liquid intake went fine, the patient can now move on to higher-protein beverages like Ensure and the likes. Patients usually get to this stage before getting out of the hospital and lasts for 1 to 2 weeks. After which, the patient will be advised to advance to soft, pureed meals like scrambled eggs, low-fat cheeses and blenderized lean meats.

Having a regular diet can be started about 8 weeks from hospital discharge. However, it still depends on the recommendation of the physician. Each meal should always be just in small amounts. And make sure to drink liquids in between meals.

Having a normal life after the surgery is possible. The person just needs to strictly follow the recommendations of the physician; else, complications might occur. It may just take too long before life gets normal again, but the long-term results can be worth the wait.