Your Diet After Gastric Bypass Surgery: A New Way of Eating
18 / 09 / 13
Blog
As we saw in the last article, gastric bypass surgery changes the way your body handles food. You won’t be eating as much food; and your body won’t be absorbing all the calories from the food that you do eat.
Once you’ve moved past the liquid and pured food stage, you need to really think about how and what you eat. Just because you’re back to regular food doesn’t mean that you can eat the way that you did before your gastric bypass surgery!<!–more–>
The way you eat is as important as what you eat. You must eat slowly and chew every bite completely; you shouldn’t be swallowing food until it’s been broken down. The opening between the stomach pouch you got through gastric bypass surgery and your intestines is very small, and you don’t want to block it.
How will you know if you’re eating too quickly? Your body will tell you! If you have pain under your breastbone, or feel like throwing up, then you’re eating too fast. Slow it down!
There are certain foods that can be particularly difficult to eat and that you must chew completely. They include:
- Bread
- Pasta
- Rice
- Meat
- Nuts
- Some raw vegetables
Again, the best thing that you can do is chew everything completely and eat as slowly as you can.
While you’re eating, do not drink anything; the liquid can fill you up too quickly. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be drinking! You need to stay hydrated, so the standard rule of eight glasses of water every day applies. Take small sips of water, just as you take small bites of food.
Whether you’re eating or drinking, stop as soon as you’re full.