Decaffeinated Coffee After Gastric Bypass

Gastric bypass, a type of weight loss surgery, helps morbidly obese patients lose weight, but long-term success depends on making dietary and lifestyle changes. Surgeons' guidelines vary to some extent, but most instruct their patients to drink sugar-free, caffeine-free and carbonation-free liquids after surgery. Some surgeons allow their patients to drink caffeinated beverages after six months, but follow your own doctor's instructions exactly.

Gastric Bypass

Morbidly obese patients carry more than 100 extra pounds on their bodies, increasing the risk of developing obesity-related diseases and conditions such as osteoarthritis, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke and certain types of cancer. Weight loss surgery procedures help morbidly obese individuals lose weight by reducing the size of the stomach, rerouting the digestive system to block calories, or both. Gastric bypass, a combination procedure, reduces the stomach to the size of an egg and creates a digestive system that bypasses part of the small intestine.

Postoperative Diet Restrictions

Gastric bypass patients must change the way they eat to lose weight and maintain the weight loss. Since you can only eat small amounts of food at one sitting, you must concentrate on high-quality protein, produce, whole grains and low-fat dairy products instead of filling your pouch with empty calories. You will also need to take vitamin and mineral supplements for the rest of your life and avoid foods high in sugar and fat to avoid developing dumping syndrome, a condition that causes nausea, diarrhea and abdominal cramping shortly after you eat an offending food. Between meals, you should drink plenty of water and other caffeine-free, sugar-free, carbonation-free liquids to avoid dehydration.

Caffeine

Caffeine occurs naturally in a variety of plants used to make coffee, tea and chocolate. The amount of caffeine per serving varies according to the type of product, the manufacturing process and the length of brewing time, if applicable. A 5-oz. serving of coffee contains 60 mg to 150 mg of caffeine and the same size serving of decaffeinated coffee contains 2 mg to 5 mg of caffeine, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Caffeine can cause jitteriness, rapid or irregular heartbeats, high blood pressure, dehydration, headache or dizziness, especially in large amounts.