More obese people jet out of their countries to undergo mini gastric bypass surgery abroad but many bariatric surgery patients fail to consider the aftermath of the procedure. Aside from exercises, diets play a vital role to recover after the procedure. Many overweight individuals prefer mini gastric bypass because of the procedure’s speed and lower risks. While this is an effective weight loss program, it should be viewed as a mini solution. Dieting is the main tool to live a healthy lifestyle after the procedure.
Individuals that underwent the procedure are certain to have changes in their eating habits. The bypassed stomach can only contain a limited amount of diet. Hence, strict compliance with post-op diet guideline is the tool to lifelong sustainability of the surgery. You can consult your doctor on diets to be taken after the surgery. There are certain meals you can make after going under the knife to shed off an extra kilo of flesh. By following these dieting schedules, you will be doing a world of difference to your health after undergoing mini gastric bypass surgery abroad.
1. Maintain Liquid Diets
After your surgery, you’re not allowed to take meals. It is worth noting that the stomach was made smaller after mini gastric bypass. For this reason, meal intake in the early days of the procedure can stretch the stomach. Remember the purpose of going under the knife was to shed off extra kilos of flesh. If you don’t want all those flesh crawling back to you immediately, take leave of meals.
Generally, meal intake after mini gastric bypass surgery abroad is divided into four (4) distinct stages. Out of these, liquid meals are the first on the list. The diet is geared towards faster recovery and keeping the stomach from stretching. Patients that went under the knife are allowed to take few ounces of water or any other approved liquid.
During the time of taking this meal, you are likely to be in the hospital. The stage lasts for few days after which you graduate to the next meal plan. The belief is that the ability to take clear liquids without food helps the patient weather the storm of limited meals.
While making your recipe, make sure the diet can be taken down without hassles. Patients are to exercise and perspire after bariatric surgery. As water is lost during exercises, you need extra cups of water to keep you going. Make sure you take non-carbonated drinks. Also, your regular diet intake should be taken with sips (possibly with a straw). For a clear liquid diet, here are some recipes you can put together to make the best of your liquid diet schedule.
- You can combine 3 tablespoons of chicken broth, 3 tablespoons of diet gelatin and 2 tablespoons of grape juice for your breakfast.
- During lunch, 2 tablespoons of cranberry juice, 3 tablespoons of gelatin and 3 tablespoons of beef broth can help you reach the goal of 64 ounces of water per day.
- For your dinner, a combination of 2 tablespoons of apple juice, 3 tablespoons of diet gelatin and 3 tablespoons of chicken broth can suffice.
Liquids to Keep Away From After Mini Gastric Bypass Surgery Abroad
Even though liquid diet is the first you are to take in after mini gastric bypass surgery abroad, take precaution not to overdo it. Avoid carbonated drinks as they can exert pressure on the small pouch in your stomach. Also, avoid caffeine because it dehydrates the body. You should also avoid alcohol, whole milk, and soda.
Hydrating Fluids you can take
All liquid intakes should be smooth and free from lumps. You can start taking them with a straw and when comfortable, take small sips from the glass. Low-fat milk, broth, sugar-free drinks, water, decaffeinated tea, sugar-free popsicles, protein drinks, and decaffeinated coffee are some hydrating fluids you can take as recipes in making fluid diets.
2. Purred Foods
After tolerating liquid diet made from hydrating fluid recipes, your doctor can give the nod for pureed food. This stage comes about a week after keeping tabs on clear liquids. To make pureed meals, you have to gather food items that can be mashed into a puree. At this stage, you can take five (5) smaller meals per day but each has to be pureed and clear of much liquid. Also, avoid solid pieces of food when picking the recipes. Regular intake of purred meals should last for a week. Protein should be available in each of the meals and should be about 70 grams. The recipes for the meal can be turned into pudding-like consistency with a blender or food processor.
Here’s what to Eat After Mini Gastric Bypass Surgery Abroad
As you move from liquid diets to purred meals, it is important to make sure foods are well blended. Lumps should not be tolerated and the meal has to be soft. Meals should be taken in small proportions throughout the day. You can start with 2 tablespoons for each meal but it should not exceed 4 tablespoons.
When looking for foods that can be pureed, the focus should be on ones that can be well-blended without lumps. Oatmeal, well-cooked vegetables, low-fat cottage cheese, mashed potato, low-fat rice pudding, cooked cereal, and soft scrambled eggs are some of the foods you can put together to make pureed foods. Green beans, apricots, melons, carrots, and lean ground meat are some other recipes you can put together to make pureed meals.
Golden Rules for Purred Meals
- Liquid intake should not suffice during meals. Alternatively, you can take a pint of milk a day to blend the meals.
- Make sure protein is present in every meal. You can source this from beans, chicken, and meat.
- Chew your food slowly and stop when full.
- When blending the recipes, aim for yogurt-wise consistency.
3. Soft Diets
It is important to note that the early stages after mini gastric bypass surgery abroad are to help your “new stomach” adapt to meals. From clear liquids to pureed meals, patients are not to take meals with lumps. For soft diets, you can start taking those meals you had before the procedure. Once your doctor gives the “go ahead”, you can start reintroducing soft foods into your diet. These easy-to-chew foods are the direct route to successful consumption of regular diets in the future.
A patient will be targeting the same nutritional value he had with pureed meals. The protein should be 70 grams and the consistent liquid intake of 64 ounces should be retained. However, meal intake will be cut down. Three (3) meals a day is okay but can be complemented with a snack.
What Foods Should I take?
Soft diets are gotten from many sources and are one of the recipes you will come across after mini gastric bypass surgery abroad. The target foods are high-quality lean protein foods. Cooked cereal, eggs, ground lean meat, cottage cheese, and cooked vegetables are some foods that you can convert to soft diets. A tiny portion of fat and soft meat is also permitted. Cucumbers, non-fat cheese, bananas, potatoes, avocados, egg whites, and carrots are also good options to consider.
Before Making the Recipe; Note This
While coming up with foods that can be integrated into pureed meals are a good way to get back to the path of regular food consumption, you have to call to mind some factors that ought to be in place. Strict compliance with these will help you make the most out of your meals.
- Do not eat while drinking. It is better to keep drinks away until thirty (30) after the meal. This way, dumping syndrome and other likely complications will not surface.
- Establish the routine of eating three times a day. Each meal should be in small proportion. Be disciplined not to take in between meals.
- Your aim should be on the texture of mashed food. If a food can be mashed with a knife or fork, it is a good recipe for soft diets.
- Make sure meals are well chewed before swallowing.
- You can now integrate lumpy foods into your meals. They help you get back on track for regular meals.
4. Solid Foods
Your journey to eating normal meals is made a reality here. But you have to take precaution not to fall into the trap of taking any food. After two (2) months of taking other meals, you can start integrating solid foods into your meals. Your daily meal should not eat three (3) partitions and have to be within the ambient of 1 and a half cup of food. During this stage, you can find out the meals that work best for you and stick to them. Foods intake should be low in fat and sugar.
How to Pick Foods
Many patients fail to realize that the reintroduction of solid foods is tricky. While this is the consolidation period after mini gastric bypass surgery abroad, efforts should be made not to take it to the extreme. Introduce food slowly and watch how your body adapts to it. If you experience nausea or abdominal discomfort after taking a meal, it is a clear sign that the food is not good for you. This way, you can hand-pick meals you can work with after mini gastric bypass surgery abroad.
Apart from these selections, avoid foods like stringy vegetable and untoasted bread because they can cause blockage in the stomach pouch. Also, avoid foods which are high in sugar. You can also pick foods by varying amount of food intake at different times in the day.
5. Proteins all the Way
Surgeons will always recommend guidelines for food intake. However, protein is the major food class bariatric patients are to take after mini gastric bypass surgery abroad. It is common among patients that the above four (4) steps are the major recipes they can take while waiting for their wound to heal. In spite of this, there are other recipes (like protein) which they can explore for faster recovery.
Protein helps the body rebuild faster and also strengthens the muscles. A daily protein intake of 70 grams is recommended for better nutritional value. Patients can source protein from soy products, fish, and eggs. If your wound must heal faster and you want to complete the stages of food intake after mini gastric bypass surgery, it is important to take protein intake serious. You should take note that excess intake of protein can ruin all the efforts you put in for meal consumption.
However, protein makes you feel full faster. Sometimes, patients find it hard to take the right proportion of protein when eating. Protein helps you lose fat tissue and have faster healing. If you find it hard to take protein, you can prepare hot cereals or custard mixes with non-fat milk. You can also drink 18 ounces of non-fat milk in between meals.
6. Drink Yoghurts
Yogurts are the faster way to gain calcium in the body after going under the knife. You should consider taking unflavored yogurt to boost the calcium in your body and also to get faster healing after mini gastric bypass surgery abroad.
7. Vitamins and Minerals Supplementation
When making a list of tastiest recipes to take after a bariatric surgery, it is important to include vitamins and mineral supplements. After a bariatric surgery, patients often lack nutrients. For a malabsorptive procedure as mini gastric bypass surgery abroad, patients are at risk of nutrient deficiencies. Hence, vitamins and minerals supplements made the list of recipes you should take after the procedure because without their “backups”, bariatric patients will be on a wild goose chase – meal intake cannot be digested the way they should.
Generally, multivitamin, minerals and calcium supplements are what a patient needs to go through the healing. On the other hand, these supplements are taking for life. If you must not suffer nutrient deficiencies, these supplements must not be kept out of your daily meals.
You can take iron supplements at intervals of three days and increase to daily intake. Avoid taking iron and calcium supplements at the same time. Zinc is also another mineral that must be present in your daily food intake. While some of these supplements are taken separately, iron, multivitamins, and B12 can be taken with meals.
Biotin is a vitamin supplement that prevents hair loss; vitamin C prevents cancer and boost wound healing while vitamin A boosts the immune system. Another vitamin supplement you should consider getting is vitamin E which improves the immune system and the B vitamins which convert food to energy and prevents heart disease.
Final Words
Surgeons are of the view that diets play a significant role in the success of bariatric surgery. For patients that underwent mini gastric bypass surgery abroad, sticking to the above meal intake will improve their immune system, increases the workings of their digestive system and get them fit for their daily jobs. If you’re looking for ways to get a breakdown of diets to take after the procedure, contact with Weight Loss Riga and have a chat with Mim who will help you understand how you should eat after mini gastric bypass surgery abroad.
