Diet after WLS

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As you might expect, the diet that immediately follows a Gastric

Bypass or Adjustable Gastric Banding is somewhat specialized, to be

gentle on the new stomach pouch and Roux intestinal limb as they

heal. Details of the diet progression are outlined on the links to

the right, beginning with the Gastric Bypass Diet and then the

Adjustable Gastric Band Diet. However, for the purpose of teaching a

prospective patient about the expected diet changes after the

procedure it is useful to describe the long-term diet in simple and

practical terms.

One way to get a handle on the long-term diet after gastric bypass

is to look at what is eaten by a five or six year old child.

Small children eat small amounts of food - this is obviously

consistent with the tiny stomach pouch that we create. Have you

actually looked at the amount that a five year old eats?

Five year olds eat " people food " - in other words, they eat the same

food as the adults in the family, for the most part. They no longer

eat baby food, and food for kids does not require exotic shopping or

exotic preparation. We intend for the same to be true for our Weight

Loss Surgery patients.

Parents work constantly to be sure the child eats " healthy " - anyone

who has taken care of a small child knows that there's only a small

amount of stomach space to work with, so a lot of work is required

to make sure the child doesn't waste that precious space on " junk "

food. This ties in one of the main concepts of success after Weight

Loss Surgery- you must still be on a diet. That means that the

patient must continue to take primary responsibility for controlling

how much he takes in - work with the surgery instead of viewing the

gastric bypass as a sort of magic machine that will create weight

loss without the patient's involvement.

The appetite of a toddler grows into that of a ravenous teenager -

this highlights a difference between a gastric bypass patient and a

small child, and the difference is a big one. A toddler will grow

out of this diet restriction, but for a gastric bypass patient the

diet restriction is for life. Past experience has shown that when

patients have their surgery " reversed " they all regain their weight -

this is a terrible outcome because it involves two major surgical

procedures and leaves the patient with no benefit. The bottom line

is that there is no emergency about deciding to have a gastric

bypass - take your time, be sure it's the last resort, and also be

sure you can handle the expected diet restrictions.