Gastric Bypass Diet Plan

Eating After Gastric Bypass Surgery

Gastric bypass surgeries have a major impact on the diet and eating habits of all patients. If you are considering having weight loss surgery, here are some brief guidelines about the dietary and food consequences you may expect.

Gastric Bypass Diet Plan for New Digestive System After Gastric Bypass Surgery

Obese patients who have a gastric bypass operation will have a new digestive system. Instead of being able to eat as much food as they like, and have it pass through a normal-sized stomach then into their small intestine for digestion, patients are told to change completely both the amount and type of diet foods they eat.

1. Stomach Reduction Means Eating Less on a Gastric Bypass Diet Plan - The gastric bypass operation reduces the size of the stomach from melon-size to egg-size. This means the volume of digested food that the new stomach pouch can hold is reduced from about 1 quart to about 1 ounce, or 2 tablespoons. For this reason, gastric bypass patients must learn new diet habits - in particular they must learn to eat less and avoid drinking liquids at mealtimes.

2. Avoiding High Sugar/Fat on a Gastric Bypass Diet Plan - Gastric bypass surgery has bypassed a large portion of the stomach and a sizeable length of the small intestine. Normal eating will cause undigested food to pass too quickly into the remaining small intestine and will not be digested well enough for proper nutrient absorption. For this reason, stomach bypass patients must learn how to eat more slowly and chew food more thoroughly. In addition, sugary, high-carb or high-fat foods must be avoided on a gastric bypass diet plan.

Post-Operative Healing and Gastric Bypass Diet Plan

Post-surgery, patients need to follow a special restrictive diet, or liquid diet, that is designed to be gentle both on the new stomach pouch and intestinal bypass limb that carries their food from the stomach pouch to the remaining part of their small intestine. As healing progresses, the diet plan becomes less restrictive and gradually includes a wider range of food options. The gastric bypass deit plan starts with clear liquids only, and progresses in stages to low-fat solid foods. How quickly patients can progress through these stages is dependent upon their individual post-operative health condition and the advice of their doctor and dietitian.

Gastric Bypass Diet Plan is for Life

Gastric bypass patients must follow a restricted eating plan FOR LIFE. Their new stomach and digestive system will never be able to cope with normal adult dietary habits. Although some gastric bypass surgeries can be "reversed", such a reversal carries additional health risks and weight regain is a major consequence.

Can You Cope With a Restricted Diet After Gastric Bypass?

If you are suffering from morbid class 3 obesity, you may be tempted to seek gastric bypass surgery (like roux-en-y, or biliopancreatic diversion bypass) as the solution to your weight-related health problems. If so, be aware that gastrointestinal surgery does NOT cure obesity. This surgical process forces you to reduce your food and calorie intake, causing short-term weight reduction. In the long term however, successful permanent weight loss depends on your ability to follow the gastric bypass diet plan.

Gastrointestinal weight loss surgery, whether bypass or stomach banding, to reduce severe clinical obesity is a serious undertaking requiring detailed consultation with your doctor and bariatric physician. In particular, it necessitates significant lifelong changes to a patient's diet and eating habits.