The Complete Gastric Bypass Diet Guide

When you make the decision to take control of your life and weight and undergo a gastric bypass (also known as a stomach bypass) surgery, there are many factors that you will need to consider in the process. One of these many factors is the diet that you will need to maintain immediately after your surgery is complete as well as for the rest of your life as you make the commitment to getting and staying healthy with the help of your gastric bypass procedure. Get to know more about your gastric bypass diet and be sure that you are doing the best you can to get and stay healthy after your surgery right here in West Des Moines, Iowa.

Right After Surgery

Immediately after your gastric bypass surgery and into the first week of the recovery process, you will be on an extremely restrictive diet. This means that at first you will be on an all clear liquid diet. This means water, tea, broth, and clear juices will be the mainstay of your diet. The clear liquid diet allows your incisions and your stomach to heal without irritating them with solid food. You will also be able to incorporate nonfat milk and sugar-free Jell-o into your diet during this first week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKY2Zxt-jrA

Second and Third Weeks

The second week after surgery is when you can begin to add more variety to your diet. During these two weeks, you will be able to eat pureed food and protein shakes. The protein shakes are designed to help ensure that you get balanced nutrition in spite of the fact that you will not be able to consume meat or other traditional sources of protein during these two weeks. This is still a very restrictive diet and is mainly meant to introduce more protein into the diet in pureed forms like protein shakes and pureed egg whites.

Fourth and Fifth Weeks

Once a month has passed after your surgery, you can finally begin to incorporate soft foods back into your diets. You still want to avoid starchy foods, as wells as fats and sugars as much as possible. Lean proteins as well as soft fruits (low in sugar) and vegetables will be your mainstays. Low fat cottage cheese, egg whites, tofu, avocados, bananas, and cooked carrots are examples of foods that can be eaten during these two weeks after surgery.

Sixth Week and Beyond

Finally, after 6 weeks of liquids, purees, and soft foods, you can start to eat regular solid foods again. Of course, if you want to remain healthy, you will want to avoid foods that are difficult to digest like beef, and stay away from refined grains and sugars. Because your stomach volume is so much smaller than it once was, you will also want to be sure to eat very small meals more frequently to avoid stomach upset and negative results.

Now that you have a better idea of the gastric bypass diet, you can be prepared for after your surgery and be sure that you take the best care of your body and health going forward.