Post-Bariatric Surgery Diet: What To Eat After Surgery

Posted on June 3, 2022 by Deb Hart

Bariatric surgery is a game-changer. It disrupts the body’s powerful mechanisms that have kept you from a healthy weight in the past. The metabolic changes that occur with weight loss surgery allow your body to work with your diet and exercise efforts rather than against them. The immediate results will motivate you to build positive habits – including eating a well-balanced bariatric diet.

What to Include in Your Post-Bariatric Surgery Diet

Ample Fluids

Sip on at least 64 ounces of calorie-free, non-carbonated beverages between meals each day. Water is always a good choice. However, add in packets like True Lemon, Mio, or Crystal Light if you like flavor. Bottled drinks like Gatorade Zero, Powerade Zero, Vitamin Water Zero, and Bai Water are also popular options. Consuming high-calorie fluids throughout the day can limit weight loss, so keep fluids very low in calories or calorie-free.

Lean Protein

Your body needs the right amount of protein for a healthy weight loss. You’ll get an individual protein goal from your Barix Clinics Nutritionist. Eat protein-rich foods like low-fat meat, fish, poultry, and dairy products to reach your daily protein goal. Use protein supplements if you’re not able to meet it with food alone. Proper protein will promote a healthy weight loss and safeguard lean muscle tissue.

Colorful Vegetables

Raw or cooked, include a variety of fresh vegetables in your bariatric surgery diet. Vegetables are packed full of vitamins, minerals, and fiber to help your body thrive. Include at least two servings daily.

Fresh Fruits

Fresh fruits are a naturally sweet treat. Fiber slows the digestion of fruit’s naturally occurring sweetness, so it doesn’t impact blood sugar to the same degree as added sugar. Be sure to include 1-2 small servings each day.

Whole Grains

Bread, pasta, and crackers made from whole grain are part of a healthy post-bariatric surgery diet. Include 1-2 small servings a day.

Heart-Healthy Fats

Include two small servings of heart-healthy fat:

monounsaturated fat (from olives, olive oil, canola oil, peanut oil, almonds, peanuts, and avocados)
polyunsaturated fat (from corn, soybean, safflower, cottonseed, and fish)

What to Avoid or Limit in Your Post-Bariatric Surgery Diet

Alcohol

Avoid alcohol for the first six months following surgery and then limit it. The calories in alcohol can slow or stall weight loss. It’s important to note that you may feel the effects of alcohol very quickly after surgery. If you choose to drink, educate yourself on the alcohol and calorie content of the beverage and have a non-drinking designated driver for safety.

Highly Processed Foods

Highly processed foods have been significantly changed from their natural state. Detrimental changes, like adding, sugar, fat, additives, preservatives, and artificial colors, have been made. Highly processed foods are often devoid of naturally occurring fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

Over the years, food manufacturers fine-tuned processed foods, making them more desirable than ever. So much so that most of the food the average person eats is highly processed – 60% or more. It’s understandable – ready-to-eat meals and snacks fit our lifestyles and budget.

So, what’s the problem? Unfortunately, there are a lot of consequences to eating a diet of mainly highly processed foods. They are often calorie-dense, decrease feelings of fullness, encourage faster eating, cause inflammation, raise cholesterol, and slow weight loss.

Examples of highly processed foods to limit include snack crackers, granola bars, soft drinks, chips, chocolate, candy, ice cream, most breakfast cereals, packaged soups, chicken nuggets, hotdogs, fries, and more.

Must-Have: A Bariatric Meal Plan

A bariatric meal plan will pull together all of the foods into an easy-to-use, balanced diet. It will also help you avoid the trap of highly processed convenience foods. After all, we all tend to eat what is most accessible at the moment. Armed with a plan and some prep-work, healthy meals and snacks will be readily available – making them the easy choice.

The Bottom Line

Build your bariatric diet plan on minimally processed foods. Start with lean protein; add fresh vegetables, fruits, and a little whole grain. A well-balanced bariatric surgery diet will keep you well-nourished as you reach and maintain a healthy weight.

5 Best Tips When Preparing for Bariatric Surgery

Posted on May 23, 2022 by Deb Hart

After meeting your surgeon and learning more about bariatric surgery, you are likely excited and maybe a little nervous. It is exciting! Surgery is a powerful tool that will help improve your health and quality of life as you gain control over your weight. When you use the time between consultation and surgery to prepare, you’ll feel more confident and ease those pre-surgery jitters.

What to Do Before Bariatric Surgery?

Taking 5 simple steps as you prepare for bariatric surgery will help you implement a lifestyle that enables you to reach and maintain a healthy weight after bariatric surgery.

Tip 1 ) Take Vitamin Supplements

Preparing for bariatric surgery should include vitamin supplementation. After all, even the healthiest eaters rarely choose a daily diet with all of the vitamin and minerals they need. You will want to include multi-vitamin, calcium citrate, and vitamin D3 supplements.

Multi-Vitamin

Start with a multi-vitamin. After surgery, this will be in chewable form – at least for several weeks. The most popular supplements are Flintstones Complete or Centrum Chewable. Multi-vitamins made explicitly for bariatric surgery are also available. Look online for companies such as Celebrate Vitamins, Bariatric Advantage, Bariatric Fusion, and others. Before weight loss surgery, you can try out a chewable supplement or take a multi-vitamin in pill form.

Please note that gummy multi-vitamins are NOT recommended. They are missing essential B vitamins that your body needs.

Calcium Citrate

Many people do not meet their body’s need for bone-building calcium. If you consume 3 cups of low-fat milk or yogurt daily, you’re getting enough. If not, you may want to start a calcium citrate supplement (1500 mg). Tip: calcium citrate pills are large, you may prefer a chewable supplement, and in this case, gummies are okay. Look for the citrate form of calcium (it’s better absorbed after surgery) and keep added sugar to 2 grams or less per serving.

Vitamin D3

Many calcium citrate supplements also contain vitamin D3. Check the label. If not, you can get a separate vitamin D3 supplement. Look for 1000-2000 IU or International Units and take daily.

To prepare for bariatric surgery, take a complete multi-vitamin/mineral supplement (pill or chewable, but not gummy), calcium citrate (1500 mg), and vitamin D3 (1000-2000 IU).

Tip 2) Increase Your Activity

Regular exercise is crucial for good health before and after surgery. Even if you have physical limitations, there are safe ways to increase activity. Check with your primary care physician before starting an exercise program. Your doctor may even be able to refer you to a physical therapist if you have particular concerns, such as a bad back or injured knee. It is tempting to wait until after surgery to increase your activity, but starting an exercise routine before surgery has many benefits.

Exercise raises the “feel good” hormones – dopamine and serotonin. It also lowers stress hormones. Feeling better and less stressed can decrease food cravings and help you make better food choices.
Increasing activity will get your heart and lungs in the best shape for surgery.
Exercise can help you shed a few pounds prior to surgery.
You will establish a healthy routine that will help you reach and maintain your weight goal.

Work time into your daily schedule for exercise – a consistent time works best for most. Start slowly from a comfortable exertion level and build from there. Increase time or exertion in small increments. Avoid strenuous exercises that may cause injury.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Walk to better health. Track steps to get a baseline of your current step count, then work to build in more steps throughout your day. Tailor your step goal to your fitness level. You aren’t competing with anyone else, just getting in your best shape.
Hop in the water. The buoyancy of water cushions your body and adds resistance for a dynamite workout. Check with your local school district, YMCA, or health club for a water aerobics class or swimming opportunities near you.
Search for chair exercise videos online.
Dance, clean, mow the lawn, walk to the store -just get moving.

Tip 3) Eat Six Small Meals

Eating small frequent meals throughout the day has many benefits.

If healthy food choices are made, this eating pattern can promote pre-surgery weight loss – getting you that much closer to a healthy weight.
This eating pattern helps blood sugar levels stay even throughout the day—keeping your energy high and preventing mood swings.
Appetite is kept in check—allowing for satisfaction with smaller portions.
Metabolism is enhanced.
Having healthy snacks available minimizes trips to the vending machine and stops at the convenience store.
A healthy habit is developed that will be beneficial post-surgery—one more thing you already have in place.

How Do I Eat Six Small Meals?

The easiest way to eat six small meals is to take meals and snacks with you. You will save money and studies show that you will eat better.

Start with the Barix Clinics Meal Planning Guidelines. It’s balanced to includes all food groups. Increase portions before surgery to prevent hunger. Use the planning guide to develop your own personal meal plan like this sample. Don’t expect perfection – you can tweak your meal plan as you go along.

Tip 4) Avoid Added Sugars

After surgery, it is recommended that you limit added sugars to prevent dumping syndrome (flu-like symptoms) with gastric bypass surgery. Limiting added sugars also helps maximize weight loss with any bariatric surgery. Learning to recognize foods and beverages with more than 2 grams of added sugar and finding alternatives is a healthy lifestyle habit that you can start now.

What Are Added Sugars?

Added sugars don’t occur naturally in a food or beverage but are added for sweetness. Look for these added sugars on the ingredient list:

sugar
corn syrup
high fructose corn syrup
sucrose
brown sugar
dextrose
maple syrup
honey
cane juice
rice syrup
brown rice syrup
invert sugar
molasses
sorghum molasses or syrup
turbinado sugar
raw sugar

New food labels make it even easier. Now there is a separate line for added sugars. Choose foods and drinks with 2 grams of added sugar or less.

Naturally Occurring Sugars are Different

The sugars naturally occurring in fruits, vegetables, and dairy products are generally well tolerated after all kinds of bariatric surgery. They typically do not impact blood sugar levels to the same degree as added sugars.

Sugar Substitutes

Enjoying an occasional sweet-tasting treat is easy. Look for no-added-sugar cookies, pies, and candy, or replace the sugar in your favorite recipes with a sugar substitute. Keep in mind that no-added-sugar or sugar-free doesn’t mean calorie-free. Favorite sweeteners include monk fruit sweetener, Stevia, Splenda, and erythritol.

Tip 5) Choose the Right Fluids

What to Drink

Most beverages should be calorie-free and non-carbonated. There are many options beyond simple water – Gatorade Zero, Powerade Zero, Mio, Crystal Light, Vitamin Water Zero, Bai Water, and iced tea (zero or unsweetened) – just to name a few.

You may also like to infuse water with fruit, vegetables, or spices. Protein drinks, milk, or fruit smoothies count as a meal/snack.

How to Drink

A smaller stomach means that beverages need to be sipped rather than gulped. Sipping throughout the day works best to ensure you get in enough fluid. Prepare for bariatric surgery by getting into the habit of carrying a drink bottle. Strive to drink 64 ounces of liquid each day.

When to Drink

To keep from overfilling the small stomach created with gastric bypass or gastric sleeve surgery, you’ll want to drink between meals rather than with meals.

Beverages to Avoid

Drinking carbonated beverages can be uncomfortable after surgery. Gas bubbles in a small pouch or sleeve can cause a lot of pressure. Let diet pop go flat or wait at least six months after surgery before trying it.

Limit caffeine for the first few weeks immediately after surgery. Caffeine can pull fluid out of your system, increasing the chance that you may become dehydrated. If you are drinking at least 64 ounces of fluid, you can add caffeinated products back into your diet after a few weeks.

As you prepare for bariatric surgery, start to enjoy calorie-free non-carbonated beverage options.

Other Things to Do Before Bariatric Surgery

Once you’ve attended a consultation at Barix Clinics, be sure to join our Facebook Support Group.
Tobacco use increases the risk of surgical complications. If you smoke, stop.
Take pictures and measurements. The scale won’t show progress every day. Having other measures of success will be very motivating.
Plan for time off from work to recover – discuss the time you’ll need with your surgeon. Arrange for childcare during and after surgery.

Use these 5 tips as you prepare for bariatric surgery. You’ll feel confident and ready with a lifestyle that, along with weight loss surgery, will help you reach and maintain a healthy weight.

5 Steps to Beat Stress and Reclaim Peace

Posted on April 20, 2022 by Deb Hart

It may seem that you just can’t catch a break, and stress is overpowering you. These five steps can help you learn to manage the stress in your life and come through feeling more peaceful and in control.

Download Healthful Tips: 5 Steps to Beat Stress and Reclaim Peace

Step 1: Identify

List all of the stressors in your life. Family, work, money, living conditions, and the state or direction of our country are typical stressors. Don’t forget to dig a little deeper and look for how your behaviors and thoughts contribute.

You may want to keep a log before making your list to identify stress patterns. You can track:

The cause of stress.
How it made you feel.
How you responded.
What you did do to feel better.

Step 2: Avoid

It is surprising how many stressors you can simply eliminate. You may be surprised how many stressors can simply be eliminated. A friend who always brings unnecessary drama – don’t answer the text and cut back on time spent with them. An awful work commute – plan to find a job closer to home or one that allows you to work from home. The news can be downright scary – turn it off. Too much on your plate – say no to things that don’t have to be done or increase stress.

Step 3: Alter

If avoiding a stressful situation isn’t possible, you may be able to alter it.

The drama-filled friend – answer the text with a positive message and refuse to get caught up. Alter your work commute – go in 30 minutes early to miss the rush. Do a quick scan of the news headlines – don’t delve into the specifics. To free up more time, set tighter boundaries – I only have 10 minutes; what can we get done in that time.

Be proactive about building a balanced life with time for the things that matter. Learn to express your needs in a clear, calm manner and allow others to do the same.

Step 4: Adapt

When it isn’t possible to avoid or adapt to a stressor, it may help to change your expectations and perspective.

Take a step back and look at your friend’s drama as her drama – not your drama. Use your work commute to listen to some uplifting tunes, an audiobook, or an inspiring podcast. Before scanning the news headlines, remind yourself that the media uses shock to raise ratings. And that busy life – be grateful you have a family, a job, and can contribute to society.

Step 5: Accept

When a stressor is out of your control, the best way to cope may be to just accept it for what it is. You cannot control the weather, the behavior of others, the death of loved ones, a diagnosis of severe disease, the economy, or war. Nothing is helped when we stress over things beyond our control, but our physical and mental health suffers.

As you work to maintain a peaceful outlook amid a stressful situation, it may help to talk to someone about your feelings, forgive and let go of anger and resentments, look for any potential upside, and keep your focus on those things in your control.

Category: Category: Barix Healthful Tips