Following the prescribed food guidelines after having bariatric surgery is critical. Your healthcare experts carefully created these guidelines to lower the calories you consume while delivering balanced meals that help prevent nutrient shortages and preserve muscular tissue.
Proteins should always come first in every meal. In this manner, you don’t risk acquiring a full stomach before receiving the required amount. The importance of getting enough protein after bariatric surgery cannot be emphasized. It aids your recovery from surgery, boosts your metabolism so you shed fat rather than muscle, protects your immune system, and keeps your hair, nails, and bones strong.
Protein Is Essential After Gastric Sleeve Surgery
Healthy bariatric recipes high protein will help you heal during your post-operative weight loss journey. Diet and lifestyle changes aim to decrease calories while eating balanced, nutritious meals. Protein-rich diets are essential for those undergoing gastric bypass surgery or other weight loss procedures—and this is a great place to start!
Protein is essential to your healing process and helps you maintain strong bones. It’s also a great energy source, so eating high-protein foods will keep your energy levels up while you lose weight. Aim for 20 grams of protein per day, which can be found in foods like lean meats, poultry, fish, and seafood.
Why Do Patients With Gastric Sleeve Require Protein?
Protein-rich meal regimens are recommended for gastric sleeve patients. A nutritious and balanced diet strong in protein is the best approach to repairing and maintaining weight loss goals. Protein aids in the development and preservation of muscle mass, the support of metabolism, the suppression of appetite, and the promotion of healing.
Protein First
Begin your meal or snack with protein. While fruits, vegetables, and other carbs are still important components of a healthy diet, protein is always the emphasis.
Shakes will provide most of your protein for the first several weeks following surgery. However, when you reintroduce more solid foods into your diet, you’ll need to ensure you get protein at every meal and snack.
Meat, poultry, fish, tofu, milk, yogurt, eggs, cheese, beans, almonds, quinoa, and soy products are high-protein foods. Purchasing low-fat or nonfat milk, cheeses, and yogurts will help you to lower the number of calories and fat in your diet. It is also crucial to search for additional sugars in yogurt; choose Greek yogurt to optimize protein while limiting sugar. Choosing leaner cuts of meat free of fat and skin is another easy method to minimize calories.
Adding protein powder to foods that do not normally contain large amounts of protein might be a simple way to change your daily diet.
High-protein foods that can be consumed in modest amounts include
- Eggs. To add more richness to your breakfast, scramble eggs with different ingredients or add cooked eggs to a chicken salad.
- Poultry and meat. Steamed chicken, chicken soup, or red meats cooked with little to no oil and served with steamed vegetables are all excellent options.
- Fish. Fish that have been breaded or fried should be avoided. Steamed fish with vegetables is a delicious dish.
- Tuna and seafood. Tuna salad or ceviche are both good options. Avoid dishes with a lot of rice when eating raw seafood because it will make you hungry.
- Tofu and soy milk. This can be served with salads, soups, or a glass of chilled milk.
- Yogurt, cottage cheese, and other milk products are excellent for breakfast with fruits.
- Chickpeas, lentils, and beans. Soups made with lentils or chickpeas, beans as a side dish, and even hummus are excellent ways to increase your protein consumption after bariatric surgery.
Avoid exceeding the prescribed protein dose since this will increase your caloric energy. It’s all about balance, remember? Take into account that men require more protein than women. Some men may require up to 90 g of protein per day after bariatric surgery.
Despite your great effort, you may find it challenging to fulfill your protein goal after bariatric surgery. Don’t give up hope. There are numerous alternative ways to supplement your diets, such as taking daily multivitamins, protein milkshakes, or dietary fiber supplements. You can also explore thickening powders and gels to support nutritional adequacy, promote satiety, and enhance the overall eating experience. Your surgeon or medical professional can advise you on which of these options is best for you.
Remember to avoid carbohydrate-rich foods such as spaghetti, white bread, and rice; fried or breaded dishes; sugary sweets, drinks such as soda, juice, or alcohol; chips, cookies, and general junk food. These foods and beverages will take you further away from your objectives, yet you’ve already gone so far.
Summary
Having bariatric surgery results in changes to your body and, more importantly, your lifestyle, particularly your eating habits. If you’ve had a gastric sleeve or a gastric bypass, you may have less hunger, and your digestive system may absorb fewer calories. Good nutrition, on the other hand, is critical for your health and should not be overlooked. Less food in your body does not necessarily indicate less nourishment. When it comes to eating, you should be especially cautious about gaining more nutrients from tiny servings.
Eating protein after bariatric surgery is critical to maintaining health and energy. Protein consumption after bariatric surgery should range between 60 and 80 g per day. Although it may not appear to be much, having a tiny stomach may make it tough. You might keep a record of your meals in a nutrition tracker app if you find it handy. Monitoring your protein consumption following bariatric surgery is a wise decision, especially in the first few months. Knowing what to eat becomes easier once you’ve established a good eating routine.
