Vegetables and fruits that contain stringy fibres are particularly problematic.

• Asparagus – cut up very small or blend into soup
• Broccoli – the stalks may be problematic
• Dried fruits – will swell inside you and should be avoided
• Pineapple – juice is ok, fruit may be difficult to digest
• Rhubarb – cut up very small or puree
• Oranges – juice ok, flesh may be problematic
• Meat – needs to chopped very small and chewed thoroughly

Some food are sticky and difficult to digest such as coconut, crisps and soft white bread. Nuts (such as peanuts, almonds, walnuts) and popcorn may also cause obstruction unless they are well chewed to a paste, and are probably best avoided for this reason.

For the best diet results after your Gastric Banding Surgery you should limit the following foods where possible:

• High calorie drinks (full milk, milkshakes, alcohol, fruit squashes, juice
• Fats and fatty foods – butter, oils, snacks foods (crisps, peanuts), chips
• Creamy soups
• Cakes, biscuits and desserts
• Cereals with added sugar

From time to time you will get food stuck in your stomach which can be quite uncomfortable especially if you have not followed your eating plan. Firstly don’t panic as it should dislodge again on its own. To help the food on , try taking tiny sips of hot drink over an hour and some people recommend coke as the gas and bubble encourage you stomach to digest.

If 24hrs has gone by and you still have something stuck and nothing else is going down (or its coming straight back up) you need to attend your hospital for a temporary de-fill of your gastric band to ease the problem.

Healthy Eating after Gastric Banding Surgery

We have now successfully got to the end of week four of our diet after gastric banding surgery, so we can continue eating much about the same sort of food you were for the last four weeks, but this time the food does not need to be pureed, instead mashing it to the consistency of “toddler food”. It should be still fairly soft though and keep to the same small quantities and eating 4–5 times per day. Make sure you chew each small mouthful well.

Now its been six weeks since we had our Gastric Banding Surgery and we are now ready to continue on your long term eating plan. By this time our gastric band is usually done and you will start to feel the restriction your gastric band is making around the top of your stomach. You are now eating small amounts of food and have reduced your calorie intake and losing weight, but we are aiming for a healthy nutritious eating plan as well. We all have different in the foods we can eat, but we need to follow the eating plan to gain maximum benefit from your gastric banding:

• Eat three meals per day – your new pouch at the top of your stomach empties slowly throughout the day and you should be satisfied eating three meals a day without getting hungry in between meals.
• Eat healthy, solid food – soft food slips down easily and while this is good as it wont bock our stomach, you will tend to eat moe though the day. Choose solid foods without lots of sauce (e.g. small meal of chicken and vegetables) and you will eat less overall and stay full for longer.
• Eat slowly and stop as soon as you feel full – Most obese people are used to rushing their meals and as there is a time lag from stretching the wall of your stomach and telling your brain you are full, you need to be careful with this one or risk blockage, pain or vomiting. Take tiny bites and chew each piece 10–25 times.
• Do not eat between meals – you should not need to eat between meals if you are eating three sensible meals per day.
• Do not drink at meal times – Liquids will speed up the passage of food through the stomach and ruin the beneficial effect of slow emptying of food from your new stomach pouch. If you have a drink immediately before your meal you may also find that your stomach is still full and you can’t eat your meal. So avoid fluids half an hour before your meals, and for one hour afterwards.
• All drinks should be zero calories – As liquids do pass through your stomach so easily, calorie laden drinks, including alcohol, will simply add calories to your daily intake. Women need calcium, and this can be obtained from skimmed milk, but avoid juice, fizzy drinks (the gas can also cause considerable pain), squashes and milkshakes.

For maximum weight loss after gastric banding surgery we suggest limiting the food mentioned below:

• High calorie drinks like full milk, milkshakes, alcohol, fruit squashes, juice
• Cakes, biscuits and desserts
• Cereals with added sugar
• Fats and fatty foods – butter, oils, snacks foods (crisps, peanuts), chips
• Creamy soups

You may be wondering if healthy eating after gastric banding surgery means that you will be required to take multivitamins, generally speaking you do not need to as your healthy diet should be adequate. If you still feel you want too then choose one that can be broken up into smaller pieces to swallow so that it does not become stuck in your gastric band.

Diet after Gastric Banding Surgery

Immediately after your Gastric Banding operation has been completed, it is important to let it sit and rest so that scar tissue can form around it which is crucial to helping it fix in the correct position. If you were to eat a normal solid diet immediately after the operation your stomach muscles squeeze and churn to break down the food and put stress and pressure on the band and any stitches holding it in position.

The Gastric banding idea is to limit how much food your stomach pouch can contain, so you need to get to grips with your diet after Gastric Banding Surgery if you are going to get the best results. Whilst individual surgery centres do vary in their specific eating plan advice, here is general information and guidance for Gastric banding patients.

Your food will alter as time goes by and can be broken into two different time frames, the first being within the first four weeks and the other being beyond four weeks.

The first four weeks

You will start taking sips of water the day after the gastric band surgery and following day you will probably be able to take free fluids. Once you are taking fluids easily the next step is moving to puree.

The key point to your eating plan for the four weeks after gastric banding is to make sure all your food is pureed and that you eat small quantities (4–5 small meals per day).Here’s the key points to take note when preparing your diet:

• The texture should be something like smooth baby food and this can be achieved by using a food processor or hand–held blender, or push though a sieve to remove any lumps and remember to add a little water to make a smoother consistency.
• The size of your meals should be about 100g, or 5–6 tablespoons is the correct amount. Ensure you eat this slowly and eat in small mouthfuls.
• Stop eating as soon as you start to feel full as your pouch is at the top of your stomach, the feeling of fullness you will get is different from the feeling before and has been explained as a tightness in your chest not your stomach.
• Drink 1.5 litres of water (2 1/2 pints) every day in 100-200ml portions which is too be taken between meals and not with the meal as it could fill you up fast.

Example meals during this stage:

By controlling your diet after Gastric Banding Surgery you will gain the maximum comfort and results, combine this with a exercise after gastric banding surgery routine and your gastric surgery recovery process will be improved.

The secret to losing weight after adjustable gastric band surgery is in the hands of the surgeon, in placing the gastric band in the correct location then in the adjusting of the gastric band afterward by filling it with silicone.

During the adjustable lap band surgery the surgeon will not fill the gastric band or if he does only slightly filled to allow the swelling of the stomach after surgery. Therefore during the first few weeks after surgery you will be able to eat quite large portions of food, until the doctor adjusts the band.

The idea of the filling of the adjustable gastric band is to allow the doctor to graduatly fill the band until there is a point that your food intake decreases to allow weight loss yet enough to maintain a healthy balance.

After the surgery the doctor will need to check if the gastric band is positioned correctly, for this he will ask you to drink a small amount of water and then he will take a series of x-rays to see the liquid flow into the newly created pouch and then though the restriction and into the normal stomach pouch.

For a small percentage of patients the initial setting or fill for the adjustable gastric band surgerywill be enough, but for most they will need to adjust the setting with additional fills. The first fill will be normally 6 to 8 weeks after the surgery for the adjustable gastric band to ensure proper healing and then subsequent fills 2 to 4 weeks apart.

Different surgeons will have different speeds of filling the adjustable gastric band, in terms of both the amount of ill and time between fills. There is no true and hard fast speed but comes down to their experience and if they are aggressive or not.

Before you have your operation it is good for you to discuss with your doctor on post operation gastric banding diets and care. Selecting a good post operation team will ensure that you get maximum benefit out of your surgery and you should see better results.