28 MID MEALS Soft fruit Some fresh soft-textured fruits. Banana, paw paw, rockmelon, strawberry, mango, kiwi fruit Fresh hard fruits (apple/ pear/ persimmon) & dried fruits. Citrus fruits (orange/ mandarin/ grapefruit). Dairy products are high in protein and calcium. They complement your protein intake for the day. Choose mostly sugar and fat -reduced dairy products. Make sure they do not have added sugar. Natural yoghurts are the best. Use natural low-fat yoghurts. Chobani, YoPRO Ricotta or cottage cheese Frozen yoghurt & ice cream, as they are less filling, so they won’t keep you full therefore you can eat a larger quantity. Thickened cream, whipped cream, sour cream & other regular-fat dairy desserts are very high in calories At this stage we still focus on the protein section of the healthy balanced diet. However over the next month you can slowly add some Week 8 And Onwards – Full Solid Diet By 8 weeks after surgery, your stomach should be healed well and you should be able to eat foods with their normal consistency, however for some patients it may take a little longer. At this stage it is still important to eat slowly and chew your food well. Continue to have small meals and consume your protein sources first. Slowly progressing to ‘more solid consistency’ foods Slowly start experimenting and try foods with different textures. Choose good quality foods Your new stomach pouch is much smaller and it gets full much more quickly, therefore, everything you eat needs to be chewed small enough to a soft consistency. Try one food at a time. Then you can learn how much each food needs to be chewed before swallowing. Start with easy-chew foods (e.g. soft moist foods) - see recipe ideas. Some foods cannot be chewed finely, and are more likely to get ‘stuck’. These include dry meats, stringy vegetables, bread/rice and pasta. So err on the side of caution to start with. Be patient. You may need some time to work out what foods you can manage and which foods are more difficult to manage. Over the next few months you should be able to eat most foods without problems. However at this stage more careful attention to your food selection, preparation and eating style is needed to prevent symptoms such as food getting stuck. Food getting stuck? It is not unusual to get food stuck sometimes. Please avoid problem foods initially, reintroduce them later with caution, chew well and eat and drink slowly! You should not have problems with food getting stuck on a regular basis. If you do, review your new eating patterns. Make sure you take small mouthfuls, and chew slowly and thoroughly before swallowing. Relax at meal times – don’t rush your meals! Generally hard meats and chicken (e.g BBQ meat and breast of chicken) as well as bread, rice, noodles and pasta are not tolerated well at this stage so best to continue avoiding them. However in a few months time you may be able to tolerate them. What about hunger? There is an initial profound loss of appetite initially following your surgery, however it is still important to have regular meals which are protein rich. If you skip meals and don’t eat well, you may feel empty and unwell. Furthermore you lose muscle mass, your metabolic rate will reduce. This long term will affect the overall nutritional status and long term weight loss.
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