Food after WLS...it's not just about eating less!

[return to slender 2]

Losing and keeping the pounds off after weight-loss surgery largely depends on not just eating less, but upon eating the right foods, with the right nutrition, in the optimum amounts. But finding the food you can, and moreover want, to eat, and making the transition from your 'old' life to a healthy new one, can be challenging.

Even if you know a great deal about nutrition, putting this into practice is hard. From the early post-op days on fluids and soft foods, moving onto what I call 'Food for Life', it is important to practice 'mindful eating', making sure that you eat right with just about very bite.

Ironically, this can often be easier in the early 'honeymoon' period after surgery when you might not have any real appetite or hunger for food, than the later stages, although there can be the danger of not eating or drinking enough. During this time you can maximise your weight-loss results by eating right and exercising regularly.

Protein will be your greatest priority during this time and it is fair to say will always be. Most patients are told to aim for 70g per day to facilitate good healing. Carbohydrates come next, and although these vary by surgical procedure as well as medical issues (like diabetes), 130 g per day is often what is quoted in bariatric surgery literature. The aim here is to ingest many of these as complex ones, found in plant-based foods, rather than as simple sugars. This figure may seem overwhelming and most likely won't happen in the first few months after surgery, but it is certainly something to aim for at least 6-9 months post-op.

Fats, often labelled the bad guys, also have a place but vary enormously according to procedure, and the mantra here is to steer clear of saturated fats (and most definitely trans-fats), keeping the level down to under 3g fat per 100g.

Add to that the advice about eating '5 a day in the UK'; keeping up the fibre; hydrating well with at least 2 litres/9cups Water every day; not forgetting the daily taking of Multi-Vitamin and calcium+ supplements, and you have a regime that is more than a little testing.

It has been my challenge as a food and cookery writer to develop recipes for all these stages of post-op eating, taking some of the guesswork out of cooking on a daily basis. The recipes on my website www.bariatriccookery.com and in my books 'Return to Slender' and 'Return 2 Slender...Second Helpings' have all been devised and tested to not only work (a minimum requirement) but also to adhere to these nutritional guidelines and to be deliciously tasty too.

Recipes are however one thing and general eating is another. I would still advocate that patients become avid, if not fanatical back-of-pack or label readers. Understand and be aware that food manufacturers add, sugar, fat and salt to foods to make them taste better (and become addictive?). Check out the best nutritional options -take a little extra time in the supermarket/farmer's market etc to find them; speak to other bariatrics for advice; and pass on anything you find that is good at support groups and forums for everyone to benefit.

However, the best advice has been left until last. LEARN TO COOK - that way you can control your food intake, know just what you are eating and still have a good, healthy relationship with food.

Remember it's not just about eating less, although you will undoubtedly have a smaller plateful than your non-weight-loss surgery counterpart, but about nourishing yourself with inspiring dishes to ensure sucess, long-term.