Five Tips for Following a Gastric Bypass Diet

A gastric bypass diet is something you will be using if you choose to have gastric bypass surgery. If you are considering gastric bypass surgery you have to realize that the way you eat is going to change drastically especially for the first several months. If you do not follow this diet carefully, you are going to find yourself in a lot of pain and if you overeat you stand the chance of seeing you lunch again.

Basically, the bariatric diet will require you to be on liquids, thoroughly pureed food or baby food for the first two weeks following your surgery. After two weeks you will begin to introduce soft foods back into your diet. It is best to wait at least eight weeks before you begin eating meats and you may have to add them to broth to make them softer and easier to digest.

Here are five tip that will make being on a gastric bypass diet a little bit easier and will help you get through the first eight weeks.

1. Include 50-60 grams of protein in your diet daily. Bariatric shakes contain anywhere from 10-20 grams per eight ounces. Protein is going to help you heal and it will help keep your energy up. This is very important in the early recovery from your surgery. Just make sure that there is no more than 10 grams of sugar. With sugar, lower is better.

2. Don't be in hurry to eat solid foods. If you start eating solid foods to soon you will find yourself in a lot of pain, especially if you had a Roux-en-Y. Your stomach needs time to heal before you begin eating normal foods. In the grand scheme of things two weeks is a short period of time.

3. Make sure you take a chewable multivitamin. This is going to help you get all the necessary nutrients that you need each day, since you are not going to be able to get them through foods. Many doctors will prescribe prenatal vitamins after you able to them.

4. Drink 32 ounces of water daily. This will take time and effort in the early days, but you want to avoid becoming dehydrated. At the beginning a few sips of water will fill you up. You will be drink small quantities, often.