Not everyone is a candidate for lap-band surgery and if your surgeon opted to do the surgery on you, there is every reason to believe you can successfully lose weight if you follow your doctor’s orders. Although your doctor gave you directions on what you can eat and when, the implications may not have registered as yet. Yes, lap-band surgery at NYBG can help you lose weight but you need to do your part as well. Here are some must-know advice for maintaining a healthy diet after lap-band surgery.
What You Can Eat and When
Your doctor will certainly tell you that immediately following surgery you will not be allowed anything by mouth. After coming out of recovery you may be allowed to suck on crushed ice, but usually you will be given a wet sponge to moisten your lips. At some point you will be allowed a few sips of water and then you will progress to small glasses of fluids. For the first one to one-and-a-half months (4 to 6 weeks) you will most probably be on liquids or extremely soft foods. Once your doctor gives the go ahead for a ‘regular’ diet, you need to know what kinds of foods you can eat and which foods to avoid.
Obvious Foods to Avoid
Okay, so you’ve gone through all the trouble and expense to get lap bad surgery to help you lose weight. Obviously you know that you need to avoid high fat, high refined sugar foods. That’s a given. However, you would be surprised at how many people believe that their lap-band is a magic device that will take the weight off with no effort on their part. If you are looking for magic, take a vacation to Disneyworld. Lap-bands are good and lap-bands can help to decrease your appetite, but they are not magic. Work with them so they can work with you!
What about Those ‘Healthy’ Foods?
Perhaps of all the advice offered here, this is one you should pay the most attention to. Most of the others are commonsense advice that you just ‘choose’ to ignore. Did you know that some of those ‘healthy’ foods you thought you should be eating can cause a real problem for you? Here is one tip even your doctor may not emphasize enough, avoid high fibrous foods that don’t easily digest.
Foods such as celery, corn and asparagus are in this category. Corn everyone knows is fattening and most people on weight loss diets probably already avoid it, but asparagus and celery? Those may not have even crossed your mind as high fibrous foods that are hard to digest and not to eat!
Under normal circumstances, high fiber foods are wonderful as they help foods move quickly through your system. Unfortunately, some types of fiber don’t digest and if your system isn’t passing food optimally, those fibers can actually work in reverse, clogging your system instead of keeping it moving!
Remember, you need to rethink your eating habits. Although a lap-band isn’t magical, it can work magic if you work along with it. Follow this ‘must-know’ advice and you have made a great beginning.
