Things You'll Need:
- Dietitian
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Step 1
Understand that your eating habits will change drastically and forever.
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Step 2
Devote time to your meals. Try to eat without distractions so that you can savor your food. Take smaller bites and chew well.
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Step 3
Abstain totally from alcohol.
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Step 4
Be prepared to eliminate the majority of sugar from your diet. Sugar can trigger dumping syndrome. Dumping syndrome includes a wide array of unpleasant abdominal and bowel symptoms, such as diarrhea.
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Step 5
Supplement your intake of iron and vitamin B12, both of which will be less easily absorbed after your surgery.
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Step 6
Eat much smaller, more nutritious meals at much more frequent intervals. The most severe forms of gastric bypass surgery reduce the size of the stomach by as much as 90 percent. Failure to eat often enough or properly can lead to malnutrition.
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Step 7
Eat protein at the beginning of your meal. Your stomach will fill up much more quickly after gastric bypass surgery, making it imperative that you get the most out of each meal.
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Step 8
Avoid fatty meats, fats of all kinds and fried foods.
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Step 9
Cut down on processed foods. Your stomach will hold significantly less food. Don't waste space on manufactured foods that offer little nutritional value.
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Step 10
Drink liquids between meals not with meals. Beverages can give you a full sensation which leads to eating fewer solid foods during meal time. Fewer solids eaten with your meals can result in poor nutrition.
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Step 11
Stop drinking carbonated beverages. They cause bloating and rob your bones of calcium and your body of potassium.
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Step 12
Consume fewer fruit juices which are sweetened with high fructose syrup (HFS) and high calorie beverages like milkshakes and heavy coffee drinks.
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Step 13
Carry a bottle of water with you at all times between meals.
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Step 14
Consult a dietitian. As the name implies, this surgery actually bypasses parts of the intestines, which take important nutrients into the body. A dietitian will help you formulate dietary plans that will take the loss of intestinal function into account.
