Gastric sleeve surgery (GSS), or bariatric surgery, is a routine procedure in which a large portion of the patient’s stomach is removed, leaving a short sleeve and reducing the patient’s overall stomach size. The goal is to reduce the amount of food a patient needs in one sitting to feel full, which promotes weight loss.
If you are someone who has undergone GSS, you need to continue with a long-term diet plan. Let’s determine the best course of action for you.
Before the surgery, patients follow a specific two-week dietary plan that includes lean protein intake, cooked vegetables, and low-calorie foods. Two days before, patients are instructed to stop eating and go on a liquid diet by drinking clear liquids only.
After the surgery, since the recovery period takes about five weeks, specific dietary recommendations are made for each week.
Let’s dive in.
● Week 1: Continue the clear-liquid diet, focusing on electrolyte intake. Staying hydrated is imperative.
● Week 2: Move onto the full-liquid diet. Your appetite will increase, but you should still avoid solid foods.
● Week 3: Now, you can add soft foods. Eat slowly and chew thoroughly. The goal is to increase your protein intake.
● Week 4: Say hello to solid food again, but avoid sugar and fat. Now, you can enjoy some healthy chicken and fish meals.
● Week 5 and beyond: You can eat anything, but since the goal of all this was losing weight, continue with a healthy diet.
Now that you know what the post-op diet will look like, let’s go over some recipes.
Besides your regular intake of vitamins and minerals that will promote recovery, you must follow the prescribed dietary plan and make the most of it. That’s why we have prepared five recipes, one for each week.
Put 2 pounds of chicken white meat into a quart of boiling water. Add vegetables of your choosing and two teaspoons of salt, and that’s it. Remove all solid food after 30–40 minutes, and enjoy your chicken broth.
Put 2 sweet potatoes, 1 pound of chicken white meat, 3 carrots, half a pound of peas, and a few other vegetables of your choosing into a quart of boiling water. Boil it for 30–40 minutes and put everything in a blender. You will get a creamy, healthy pottage.
For weeks one and two, we went with a lunch recipe. How about some breakfast? Peel two apples and boil them for 15 minutes. Put the boiled apples with 2 tablespoons of boiled water into a blender. Add that mixture to a bowl and add your desired amount of oats. You can also add some rice milk.
Mashed potatoes are easy. Boil two potatoes for 30–45 minutes and mash them up well. Add 4 tablespoons of low-calorie cow milk or rice milk to the mix, salt according to your taste, mix it up, and presto, the mashed potatoes are done.
As far as salmon goes, cover the piece with one tablespoon of olive oil and put it into the oven at 400–450 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. You can add some cottage cheese to your plate as well. Enjoy a proper meal!
For this week, go with your favorite healthy meal. Just keep your portions small and maintain your newly learned healthy eating habits. Don’t run to your favorite fast-food joint, as you will negate all the good work you have done thus far.
If you follow your doctor’s advice, you will find yourself enjoying healthy meals months after surgery, and you will see that your weight is continuously improving. You might need to take a supplement daily for the foreseeable future and introduce some new medications, but when all is said and done, you will be a master of high-protein meals.
You will know exactly how many grams of protein you need each day of the week, and you can plan your meals accordingly.
Just make sure not to eat too many meals a day, and you will be delighted with your post-bariatric self.
If you are exploring your options, consider having your weight loss surgery in Turkey. These operations cost a pretty penny in the US, but you can take a flight to Turkey, have surgery there, recover, and get back home for less.
Dr. Gökçe, an experienced surgeon with many satisfied customers, offers special post-op care. After the surgery, you will stay in the clinic for observation, and you can expect a detailed, step-by-step recovery plan.
If you want to get your gastric sleeve in Turkey, you can schedule an online consultation and explore your options.
