top of page
Writer's pictureShavon Lashley

The Road to a Healthy Gastric Diet




The gastric bypass diet is designed to allow your stomach to heal without being stretched by the food eating too much. The goal is to get you used to eating smaller amounts of food that your smaller stomach can comfortably and safely digest.A gastric bypass diet typically follows a staged approach to help you ease back into eating solid foods. How quickly you move from one step to the next depends on how fast your body heals and adjusts to the change in eating patterns. You can usually start eating regular foods about three months after surgery.


At each stage of the gastric bypass diet, you must be careful to:


  • Drink 64 ounces of fluid a day, to avoid dehydration.

  • Sip liquids between meals, not with meals.

  • Wait about 30 minutes after a meal to drink anything and avoid drinking 30 minutes before a meal.

  • Eat and drink slowly, to avoid dumping syndrome — which occurs when foods and liquids enter your small intestine rapidly and in larger amounts than normal, causing nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sweating and diarrhea.

  • Eat lean, protein-rich foods daily.

  • Choose foods and drinks that are low in fats and sugar.

  • Avoid alcohol.

  • Limit caffeine, which can cause dehydration.

  • Take vitamin and mineral supplements daily as directed by your health provider.

  • Chew foods thoroughly to a pureed consistency before swallowing, once you progress beyond liquids only.

Stage 1 : Liquid Diet

For the first day or so after surgery, you'll only be allowed to drink clear liquids. Once you're handling clear liquids, you can start having other liquids, such as:


  • Broth

  • Unsweetened juice

  • Decaffeinated tea or coffee

  • Milk (skim or 1 percent)

  • Sugar-free gelatin or popsicles

  • Pureed foods

After about a week of tolerating liquids, you can begin to eat strained and pureed (mashed up) foods. The foods should have the consistency of a smooth paste or a thick liquid, without any solid pieces of food in the mixture.


You can eat three to six small meals a day. Each meal should consist of 4 to 6 tablespoons of food. Eat slowly — about 30 minutes for each meal.


You can be successful. Just stay focused and determined

8 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page