Weight Loss Alabama

After about a month after your lap band procedure, you will begin to incorporate solid food back into your diet. This transition brings with it certain guidelines and dietary requirements so protect your health, further your results, and help keep you motivated in achieving your goals.

The paramount guideline in eating solid foods is to eat slowly and chew foods until they reach a soft feel. Swallowing food in too large of pieces may block the lap band/stomach opening and prevent the passage of food. The following are hints to help you eat more effectively and safely after your surgery.

• Learn to cherish the taste, texture, feel of those small bites of food.

• Remind yourself when eating to Eat Slowly. Make a sign that you can set in front of you for reminding.

• Family members need to be aware of why you are eating slowly, as to provide moral support and general understanding.

• Cut food into small bites, no larger than a teaspoon.

• Make sure you allot 30 minutes to an hour to eat each meal.
  

• When eating, chew all food a count of 30 times or more before swallowing.

The overwhelming theme here is to chew your food. This will help control bite size, intake problems, and the speed you consume, helping to tell you when your new appetite has been fulfilled.

Once you’ve made the decision to undergo the Lap Band procedure, there is a wide array of information you must absorb to further your results and maintain health both before and after the surgery. An issue that arises quite often before the procedure is, what can I eat in the days after the surgery? Here are the dietary guidelines you should follow after undergoing Lap Band surgery.

Diet During Hospitalization

In addition to water, your post surgery will consist of clear liquids, including gelatin, clear juice, and broth. In time, you will progress to blended and pureed foods. These foods are recommended so that the opening, now limited in width, does not get blocked, which could cause vomiting.

Diet At Home

After your hospital stay, the first and second weeks after surgery you will continue to eat pureed foods in small amounts. During the third week, slowly, you may add soft fruits, vegetables, baked potatoes (no skin), rice, macaroni, noodles, crackers, ready-to-eat corn or rice cereals, and crisp toast. When adding solid foods, CHEW SLOWLY, as not to block the opening to your stomach, possibly causing vomiting.

You can add cheese - sliced, cottage cheese, hard boiled or scrambled eggs, and fish in addition to the pureed foods such as blended meat, yogurt (excluding raspberry or other types containing seeds) in addition to pureed foods and liquids. Once you reach the fourth to sixth weeks after surgery, you may begin to include meats that are ground after cooking, such as chicken, veal, beef, turkey, and pork, to your diet.

Foods To Avoid During The Diet

These foods and your effects with them change from person to person, however these seem to pose the most consistent problems with post lap band surgery patients. These foods include: a) tough meats, hamburger more than any, b) fibrous vegetables such as corn and celery, c) oranges or grapefruit, d) fried foods, e) skins, seeds, or cores of fruits and vegetables, f) bread, g) milk – should be consumed in the form of pudding, yogurt, etc., and h) spicy foods.