Diet details

Diet recommendations after gastric bypass surgery vary depending on your individual situation.

A gastric bypass diet typically follows a staged approach to help you ease back into eating solid foods. How quickly you move from one step to the next depends on how fast your body heals and adjusts to the change in eating patterns. You can usually start eating regular foods about three months after surgery.

At each stage of the gastric bypass diet, you must be careful to:

• Drink 64 ounces of fluid a day, to avoid dehydration.
• Sip liquids between meals, not with meals. Wait about 30 minutes after a meal to drink anything and avoid drinking 30 minutes before a meal.
• Eat and drink slowly, to avoid dumping syndrome — which occurs when foods and liquids enter your small intestine rapidly and in larger amounts than normal, causing nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sweating and diarrhea.
• Eat lean, protein-rich foods daily.
• Choose foods and drinks that are low in fats and sugar.
• Avoid alcohol.
• Limit caffeine, which can cause dehydration.
• Take vitamin and mineral supplements daily as directed by your health provider.
• Chew foods thoroughly to a pureed consistency before swallowing, once you progress beyond liquids only.

Liquids

For the first day or so after surgery, you'll only be allowed to drink clear liquids. Once you're handling clear liquids, you can start having other liquids, such as:

Liquids you can have during stage 1:

• Broth
• Unsweetened juice
• Decaffeinated tea or coffee
• Milk (skim or 1 percent)
• Sugar-free gelatin or popsicles

Pureed foods

After about a week of tolerating liquids, you can begin to eat strained and pureed (mashed up) foods. The foods should have the consistency of a smooth paste or a thick liquid, without any solid pieces of food in the mixture.

You can eat three to six small meals a day. Each meal should consist of 4 to 6 tablespoons of food. Eat slowly — about 30 minutes for each meal.

Choose foods that will puree well, such as:

• Lean ground meat, poultry or fish
• Cottage cheese
• Soft scrambled eggs
• Cooked cereal
• Soft fruits and cooked vegetables
• Strained cream soups

Blend solid foods with a liquid, such as:

• Water
• Skim milk
• Juice with no sugar added
• Broth

Soft foods

After a few weeks of pureed foods, and with your doctor's OK, you can add soft foods to your diet. They should be small, tender and easily chewed pieces of food.

You can eat three to five small meals a day. Each meal should consist of one-third to one-half cup of food. Chew each bite until the food is pureed consistency before swallowing.

Soft foods include:

• Ground lean meat or poultry
• Flaked fish
• Eggs
• Cottage cheese
• Cooked or dried cereal
• Rice
• Canned or soft fresh fruit, without seeds or skin
• Cooked vegetables, without skin

Solid foods

After about eight weeks on the gastric bypass diet, you can gradually return to eating firmer foods. Start with eating three meals a day, with each meal consisting of 1 to 1-1/2 cups of food. It's important to stop eating before you feel completely full.

Depending on how you tolerate solid food, you may be able to vary the number of meals and amount of food at each meal. Talk to your dietitian about what's best for you.

Try new foods one at a time. Certain foods may cause pain, nausea or vomiting after gastric bypass surgery.

Foods that can cause problems at this stage include:

• Breads
• Carbonated drinks
• Raw vegetables
• Cooked fibrous vegetables, such as celery, broccoli, corn or cabbage
• Tough meats or meats with gristle
• Red meat
• Fried foods
• Highly seasoned or spicy foods
• Nuts and seeds
• Popcorn

Over time, you might be able to try some of these foods again, with the guidance of your doctor.

A new healthy diet

Gastric bypass surgery reduces the size of your stomach and changes the way food enters your intestines. After surgery, it's important to get adequate nourishment while keeping your weight-loss goals on track. Your doctor is likely to recommend that you:

• Eat and drink slowly. To avoid dumping syndrome, take at least 30 minutes to eat your meals and 30 to 60 minutes to drink 1 cup of liquid. Wait 30 minutes before or after each meal to drink liquids.
• Keep meals small. Eat several small meals a day. You might start with six small meals a day, then move to four meals and finally, when following a regular diet, three meals a day. Each meal should include about a half-cup to 1 cup of food.
• Drink liquids between meals. To avoid dehydration, you'll need to drink at least 8 cups (1.9 liters) of fluids a day. But drinking too much liquid at or around mealtime can leave you feeling overly full and prevent you from eating enough nutrient-rich food.
• Chew food thoroughly. The new opening that leads from your stomach into your small intestine is very narrow and can be blocked by larger pieces of food. Blockages prevent food from leaving your stomach and can cause vomiting, nausea and abdominal pain. Take small bites of food and chew them to a pureed consistency before swallowing.
• Focus on high-protein foods. Eat these foods before you eat other foods in your meal.
• Avoid foods that are high in fat and sugar. These foods travel quickly through your digestive system and cause dumping syndrome.
• Take recommended vitamin and mineral supplements. After surgery your body won't be able to absorb enough nutrients from your food. You'll likely need to take a multivitamin supplement every day for the rest of your life.