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Gastric Bypass Long-Term Diet

Gastric bypass surgery allows you to start your life over, literally. Once you have had the surgery, you are a new, smaller and potentially healthier you. However, surgery is not the cure for obesity. If you are not careful, you could be right back where you started. You also could develop new health problems. You can improve your life greatly if you maintain a healthy weight and eat healthfully after surgery and for the rest of your life.

  1. Vitamins

    • Vitamins are an important part of a healthy diet. The diet recommended for patients who have had gastric bypass surgery does not include all the necessary vitamins. So, you should take one adult or two chewable children's multivitamins daily. You also may need to take iron, calcium, vitamin B-12 supplements if your doctor recommends it.

    Food to Eat

    • In order to maintain a healthy diet, you should know about what is nutritious for your new body. Eating a lot of protein is essential after surgery. Protein is the largest component of a gastric bypass diet. Protein will help reconstruct your new stomach. In the long term, protein will aid in muscle tissue preservation so weight can be lost as fat. So you should eat a lot of lean meat, milk, cheese and fish.

    Foods to Consume in Very Small Quantities

    • While on the gastric bypass long-term diet, there are a lot of foods--both healthy and unhealthy--that you should avoid. Fiber is an important part of a healthy diet, but after surgery, the stomach will struggle to digest the complexity of most fibrous foods. You should not eat a lot of vegetables, bran or popcorn. Do not eat many fatty foods either. Too many fatty foods can linger in the stomach and cause a backup of stomach acid which causes heartburn.

    Food to Avoid

    • There are some foods you should just not eat while on the long-term gastric bypass diet. You should not consume any food high in sugar. Cookies, candy or milkshakes are high in sugar and fat. Even in small quantities, these foods make weight loss very difficult. They also can cause dumping syndrome after surgery which causes diarrhea, nausea and feeling weak. Fried foods, caffeine and alcohol should all be avoided. These foods and drinks are very heavy on the stomach and could damage your new, sensitive stomach.

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