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.

Exercise after gastric banding surgery

Any calories that we absorb and are unable to burn will turn into fat, the principle of losing weight is that we need to burn my calories than we intake, we need to diet as well as look at exercise after Gastric Banding Surgery to increase the calories we burn.

We need not join a gym straight after we finish our gastric banding surgery, we only need to start exercising very gently as not to damage your joints and muscles. However, as your excess weight comes off, physical exercise will become easier and you will also have a lot more energy and natural desire to be more active. You ultimate goal should be to take 30 minutes’ exercise per day. Start with small steps and short term goals and build on it from there.

When considering your exercise after you completed your gastric banding, it will be important to choose activities you like and which you will enjoy doing (swimming, walking, cycling etc.). Start slowly and gradually increase the pace of the exercise and the duration you are doing it.

For those who have had gastric banding and are not used to taking much exercise, walking is the best exercise of all and you may find it useful to purchase a pedometer or stepometer, which measures the distance you walk each day. The aim is to walk at least 10,000 steps per day, Sounds alt right? but this is the average person will be approximate five miles distance. The reason for using the pedometer for exercise is it will feedback if your under your required distance throughout the day, so you be able to adjust as the day goes by.

Here’s a list of simple activities that you can take in your normal routine:

• When you only have a short distance to go, try walking or cycling rather than using the car.
• Get off the bus one stop before your destination and walk the rest.
• Do not use remote control for your TV, music system, etc. (take the batteries out if needs be!) — get up out of your chair to do it instead.
• Get yourself a dog or offer to take a neighbours dog for a walk each day
• Use the stairs rather than using the lift or escalator.
• Walk to the shop for you newspaper or milk rather than having it delivered.
• Don’t stockpile things at the bottom of the stairs to take up with you in the evening, gup and down the stairs in your home as often as possible during the day
• Get a Swiss ball (also called a ‘Fitball’) and sit on it when you use the telephone — keeping your balance will help to tone your bottom, tummy and thigh muscles!

Exercise whether its after gastric banding surgery or not is good for both body and soul. Your joints will become firmer and more flexible, your muscles become stronger, your lungs are better able to take in oxygen, your circulation is stimulated and your digestive system works better. Exercise will also stimulates a feeling of well-being, you will feel less tired and weak, less stressed, more alert and you will have a sense of being in control of things.

You will realise that exercise after Gastric Banding Surgery will change your life for ever

.

If your obese and are looking to lose weight and have tried diet and excerise then Restrictive surgery could be the answer. In a restrictive surgery e.g. gastric banding, the surgeon uses one of a variety of techniques to reduce the size of the stomach. After restrictive surgery, a person feels full faster, eats less, and hence will lose weight.

The full names for the two types of restrictive surgery for weight loss are:

• Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding which id the most common form of restrictive surgery, and
• Vertical banded gastroplasty

Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding

Laparoscopic gastric banding is often called gastric banding or lap banding and is the second most common weight loss surgery, after gastric bypass.

Gastric Lap band surgery will involves the following:

• Using laparoscopic tools, the procedure will place an adjustable silicone band around the upper part of the stomach.
• Squeezed by this silicone gastric band, the stomach becomes a pouch with about an inch-wide outlet. After banding, the stomach can only hold about an ounce of food, so you will feel full alot faster.
• A plastic tube runs from the silicone gastric band to a circluar device just under the skin. Saline (sterile salt water) can be injected or removed through the skin, flowing into or out of the silicone band.
• By adding the saline the band can be tightened or loosened as needed.

Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding can help to reduce your weight by about 40%  on average. So someone who is 200 pounds overweight could expect to lose an average of 80 pounds after gastric banding. However, these results vary widely depending on the person.

Gastric banding is considered the least invasive form of weight loss surgery and is also the safest too. The procedure can be reversed if necessary and the stomach generally returns to its normal size.

Gastric Lap banding surgery has a low complication rate. The most common problems after lap banding surgery include:

• Nausea and vomiting. Can by reduced by adjustment of the banding.
• Minor surgical complications occur less than 10% of the time. These include problems with the adjustment device, wound infections, or minor bleeding.
• The risk of death due to lap banding surgery is about 1 in 2,000.

Unlike gastric bypass surgery, gastric banding does not interfere with food absorption but just the quanitiy of food thats taken.So vitamin deficenceny for people who had Gastric banding is rare.

Vertical Banded Gastroplasty (VBG)

Vertical banded gastroplasty also involves a similar plastic band placed around the stomach. In addition to the band the surgeon will staple the stomach above the band into a small pouch.

Vertical banded gastroplasty results in less weight loss, compared with other surgeries and also has a higher complication rate. Therefore due to this vertical banded gastroplasty is less common today as approx. only 5% of bariatric surgeons still perform this surgery.

Mixed Surgeries (Restrictive and Malabsorptive)

Restrictive surgery is an important part of nearly all weight loss surgeries. In the most common weight loss surgery, gastric bypass surgery, restrictive surgery is first done on the stomach. This “stomach stapling” creates a small stomach pouch.

The new stomach pouch is reconnected to a part of the small intestine further down. This leads to less food eaten (restrictive) and less food absorbed (malabsorptive).

If your looking for Gastric Banding Surgery in the UK click here.

Gastric banding is considered a safe form of Surgery and fro most people the benefits of weight loss out way the advantages related to the surgery, however all surgeries do carry some form of risk. Therefore for you to be able to make a well informed decision to have about Gastric Banding, you must be made aware of the possible side effects and what complications that may occur as a result of Gastric Banding Surgery.

Side-effects are an unwanted by product of the Gastric Banding Surgery but are generally temporary effects of the Surgery, afterwards you are likely to have bruising, pain and swelling around the wounds left behind from the surgery.

You may feel or be sick after eating, especially if you try to eat too much. Your restricted diet may cause some shortage of nutrients so you may consider taking multivitamin tablet as a supplement.

Complications caused from Gastric Banding occur during or after the surgery, but most people are not affected. Some possible complications of Gastric Banding Surgery include a reaction to the anaesthesia or excessive bleeding during or soon after surgery for this case a  blood transfusion may be required.

Some of the specific gastric banding complications:

* Wound infection. Antibiotics are given during surgery to help prevent this.
* For up to six weeks after the operation, it is possible to develop a blood clot (DVT) in the veins in the leg. This clot can break off and cause a blockage in the lungs. In most cases this is treatable, but it can be a life-threatening condition. Compression stockings, intermittent compression pumps and blood-thinning injections are used to help prevent DVT.
* There is a risk that during the operation other organs in the abdomen may be accidentally damaged.
* There is a risk that the gastric band may slip out of place, break or erode through the stomach wall. This may require further surgery or removal of the gastric band.
* It is possible you may fail to lose sufficient weight or regain weight, and some patients have further weight loss surgery.
* If you lose weight rapidly, there is a risk of developing gallstones in your gallbladder. These can be painful. Your surgeon may remove your gallbladder during surgery.

Before any surgery you should ask your surgeon to explain how these risks apply to you. The exact risks will differ for every person.

In the UK Gastric banding is only usually only available though the National Health Service (NHS) if you meet the requirements set out below:

• You are aged 18 or over.
• You have tried all conventional methods of weight loss, like exercise and diet, but have failed to lose any significant amount of weight.
• You don’t have any medical or psychological reasons for not carrying out the procedure.
• You understand the long-term commitment to having a gastric band fitted, for example you continue to reduce your food intake and maintain a regular exercise regime.

Funding for the cost of the operation for gastric banding will vary across the UK and will depend on your local PCT. PCTs can only set aside an amount of money for this type of gastric banding surgery. If you are recommended for surgery, as a treatment for obesity. Typically gastric banding usually costs around £7,000 if you do it privately.

If you feel you qualify for gastric banding in the UK and would like to have the operation on the NHS, as all your attempts you have used to lose weight have failed you will need to discuss all possible options with your GP or surgeon.

What is Gastric Banding?

Gastric banding is a surgical procedure that involves fitting a band around the upper part of your stomach, which will only be recommended as a fnal resort for people who are morbidly obese i.e. people with a BMI of over 40.

Gastric Banding can also be given if others that have a serious health risk, such as diabetes, high blood pressure (hypertension), or heart disease and a BMI of between 30 to 40.

If you are very obese, gastric banding Surgery can be used as a way of helping you to lose weight by controlling the amount of food that you eat.

How does gastric banding work?

Once you have completed the surgery, the gastric band can be adjusted outside the body at any time by a surgeon. This means the gastric band can be adjusted tighter or looser, depending on the amount of food your surgeon wants to restrict you from eating.

Your surgeon can adjust the gastric band tighter by simply adding salt water (saline) into the band. This will slow down the amount of food that can pass through your stomach – meaning your will feel full longer. The opposite direction is to loosen the band, some of the salt water fluid is removed and allows food to pass through quicker to your digestive system. Generally, a gastric band is loose to start and then tightened when you are used to eating less food.

A gastric banding is designed to remain permanently within your stomach, but it can be removed, and in the majority of cases leaves you with no permanent changes to your stomach once removed. The Gastric Banding procedure involves a certain degree of complication, for example there is a risk of infection, and in rare cases, leaking into your stomach may occur.