Four To Six Weeks After Surgery

At this time, you may start having slightly thicker, creamier soups. This will help your subsequent transition to more solid foods. Some products, such as bread, red meat and rice, may still cause problems, so it is better to eat softer food, which is easier to digest, such as white meat (chicken or pork) and fish.

Chew all your food thoroughly. If you use dentures, cut food into small pieces and chew them well. If you do not follow these indications, you may experience vomiting, stomach irritation and swelling. You may also experience obstruction of the stoma or the gastrointestinal anastomosis, whichever the case.

If solid food causes nausea and vomiting, return to your previous liquid diet. Later on, you can add soft food little by little and finally go on to solid food. Always ask your surgeon or dietitian for specific advice regarding your condition. In the case of Adjustable Gastric Band surgery, vomiting may increase the incidence of band displacement, displacement of the stomach or narrowing of the small stomach bag over the band.

Your New Nutrition Plan

Once you can eat solid food without any problem, you will need to pay a lot of attention to your diet. Liquids will pass quickly through the reduced stomach bag, leaving no feeling of satiety. From then on you will have to avoid high calorie drinks. Drink water, clear soup, tea and coffee (without milk or sugar).
Excessive amounts or large pieces of food may obstruct the exit of the stomach bag. This is avoided by chewing well and taking small bites at all time. Eat only three meals a day and make sure they contain sufficient nutrients. A healthy meal contains vegetables, fruit, meat and/or dairy products.

The following general guide can help you to prepare good and healthy meals that contain nutritional agents, but little sugar and fat. Ask your surgeon and/or dietitian about other food options.

Good Food Chooices

Use this section to plan your meals. You can choose what you like from each one of these food groups daily:
1.	Fruit and vegetables 1 to 2 servings of fresh fruit every day 2 to 3 servings of fresh vegetables every day
2.	Bread and cereal 1 small serving of corn flakes for breakfast 1 to 2 servings of whole grain or rye bread every day (if you wish, you may spread a small amount of margarine or butter on the bread). Depending on the surgical procedure, some patients may experience difficulty when eating large pieces of bread.
3.	Meat, fish, poultry, eggs Between 450 and 900 grams of meat, fish or poultry or one egg daily. (Remove all visible fat from the meat. Remove the skin on poultry. Cook the meat using low fat alternatives: grilled, steamed, micro waved or boiled are all good options). Depending on the surgical procedure, some patients may experience difficulty when eating large pieces of meat.
4.	Dairy products Milk and yogurt are liquid calories. However, these types of food have calcium, which makes them important for a healthy daily diet, so choose a maximum of 2 cups of skimmed milk or low fat yogurt and 1 ounce of cheese a day.
5.	Fat Restrict fat to 3 or 4 teaspoons of margarine, butter or oil a day. You can use low fat dressings and mayonnaise on salads, in moderation.
6.	Beverages Drink as many no-calorie beverages a day as you want (but avoid drinking during meals). Good choices are: Tea or coffee (black) with low calorie sweetener Water Non-carbonated beverages with few or no calories Clear soup

Foods You Should Avoid

Some foods have a concentrated amount of calories with little nutritional value and should be avoided as far as possible. These include sugar, and foods containing large amounts of sugar, such as:

High calorie soft drinks
Syrup
Cakes
Cookies
Sweets
Jelly
Jam
Honey

High fat foods, such as:

Chocolates
Pies
French fries
Muffins

Alcoholic beverages must be consumed in moderation, for example one glass of wine a day.