The diet you follow after the gastric bypass surgery is a four-phase diet that gradually introduces solid foods back into the stomach. As you follow the diet, you learn healthy eating habits that you will use for the rest of your life. These eating habits help you to lose weight and keep the weight off.
Time Frame
The fourth phase of the gastric bypass diet starts approximately eight weeks after you have surgery. This time frame may be longer or shorter depending on how your stomach heals and how your body adjusts to the surgery. In the eight weeks prior to the fourth phase, you will move gradually through a liquid diet to a pureed food diet and a soft food diet. You will lose weight rapidly during the first 3 to 6 months following the gastric bypass diet.
Components
Once you reach the fourth stage of the gastric bypass diet, you will be able to eat low-calorie and low-fat foods from all the major food groups. You will eat fruits, vegetables, lean protein, low-fat milk and whole grains. It is important to choose healthy foods so that you can get as many nutrients as possible from your allowed calories. While on the gastric bypass diet, you eat three meals a day. In most cases, no snacking is allowed because you need to drink fluids between meals and aren't allowed to drink within 30 minutes before or after eating.
Foods to Avoid
Although you will be able to eat a mostly normal diet, there are some foods that you shouldn't eat during the fourth phase of the gastric bypass diet. Sugary foods, high fat foods and high calorie foods must be avoided. You should also avoid tough meat or meat with gristle, granola, processed foods including processed grains like white bread, nuts, popcorn, seeds and fibrous vegetables like broccoli. You should also limit the amount of alcohol you drink and you shouldn't drink any carbonated beverages.
Considerations
Your stomach pouch gets a little larger over time, but will still only hold up to about 1 cup of chewed food. Because this is approximately one-fourth the size of a normal stomach, you may not get enough nutrition from your diet. It is likely that your doctor will advise that you take vitamin supplements and mineral supplements. You should follow these directions or you risk becoming malnourished.
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