After Surgery The Diet

After the surgery on December 27 the work began. Starting on December 28th I was only aloud 3 - 4 ounces of clear liquid every hour and a minimum 48 ounces per day. Clear liquid includes water, sugar free jello, bullion or clear broth, decaf coffee, decaf tea, diet Snapple, Crystal Light, other no calorie sugar free beverage and no calorie sugar free Popsicles. The clear liquid diet is for one week.

The second week was a high protein liquid pureed diet. Minimum 48 ounces of liquid per day and a minimum of 60 grams of protein per day. I could add protein powder to all low protein liquids. I had to sip all liquids slowly. This week included same as the first week plus fat free or 1% milk, sugar free pudding, protein shakes, sugar free yogurt and mashed cottage cheese. I also could have non-creamed pureed soups, thinned hot cereal, thinned baby food vegetables/fruits and vegetable juice. A couple points to be made here are I thinned my cereal with water and my vegetables with fat free chicken broth. Also what I did was buy a small blender called a Magic Bullet to really chop and puree my vegetables. It work really great.

Week three is a soft solid diet. All food should be pureed to the consistency of pudding. 3 to 4 tablespoons of food per meal and include protein at every meal. There is a few things to be aware of first eat protein first, the second is no fluid 30 minutes before a meal and 30 to 60 minutes after eating. The liquid will make you full faster and will not keep your stomach pouch full for a long time. The liquid will breakdown the food faster and make you hungry faster. The third thing to remember is meals should last for 30-35 minutes and lastly if you feel full stopping eating. If you don't you may get sick. You will throw up. The diet consist of 48 ounces of fluids minimum per day and 70 grams of protein per day. I had egg beater but I used the egg beaters egg whites. I also had tuna, canned salmon, not-fast cottage cheese, low-fat soft cheeses, tofu, flaky fish, no sugar added yogurt, pureed bean soup, protein shakes and soft pureed vegetables. You are allowed to eat canned fruit in its own juice, unsweetened applesauce, mashed bananas, pureed/soft peaches, pears but no fruit juices. What I like to do is mix canned tomato soup with tofu, feta cheese and salmon, it is very good. The tofu take the flavor of whatever you are making with it. I also took non-creamed mushroom soup with a canned vegetable, tofu and use my Magic Bullet and blend them and put it into the microwave. Remember you are only eating 3-4 tablespoons of food so whatever you make you can freeze or keep in the refrigerator to another meal.

Week 4 is when I started introducing solid food. I added one new food per day to determine tolerability. There are certain food that a banding patient will not be able to tolerate. For example i can not tolerate steak, chicken, rice, pasta, raw vegetables, raw fruits and bread. As I continued on I enentually included 2 - 3 ounces of protein at every meal. Each protein should be cut or grounded into extremely small pieces and the protein is eated first. Remember to have a minimum 48 ounces of fluid per day and 70 -85 grams of protein per day.