Gastric Sleeve: Eating for Success

Successful Weight loss after a Gastric Sleeve Operation

Remember, for those of you who have had a Gastric Sleeve Operation, you have asked your bariatric surgeon to reduce the size of your stomach to only about ¾ to one cup is size.  The outlet of the stomach is restricted by the Pylorus, (the circular muscle located at junction of the stomach and small intestine). The Pylorus opening is only about the size of the end of your ring finger. This is what gives you the resistance to eating too fast and too much at any one time.

Consistently applying the following principles will help.

1). Liquid calories are not your friend

            Your sleeve and narrowed outlet from the pylorus is like a funnel. The purpose is to hold solid food in your pouch for a time, allowing the solid food to slowly leave the pouch and therefore suppress your appetite by releasing a small amount of the food over the next couple of hours.

            I often hear, “but liquids go down so easily!” but that is exactly the point; too easily! The restriction caused by your pylorus is not made to hold back liquid food. All liquids will run straight through the narrow outlet. So take your calories as solid food not liquids.

Avoid milk, (even skim since it has too many sugar calories), ice cream, cream soup, soda and fruit juices. Fruit is just sugar water with some fiber. One serving of fruit a day is reasonable. More fruit may sabotage your goal of weight loss.

Get your protein in solid food and only use protein shakes if you cannot get enough protein in your solid foods.

Instead drink water, tea with sweetener, and Crystal lite or other non caloric beverages. This is an easy way to reduce your overall calorie intake and help you lose weight.

2). Minimize crunchy foods

            Crunchy foods like chips, crackers, pretzels and cookies, after saliva is added, go to mush and will go into the sleeve and pass through the narrowed outlet too quickly. One small Ziplock bag a day may be OK but more may sabotage your goal of weight loss. These types of foods can be your downfall. I am not saying you should never eat them but when you see them train your brain to flash “DANGER”. It is a question of portion size.

One of my patients did a video on my blog sharing how she deals with this problem. She swore off ever eating out of a bag or box again. Now when she brings home the groceries she breaks down the crunchy foods into small zip lock bags for portion sizes. She no longer takes the large bag to the TV for her snack but goes to the pantry to get a zip lock portion size for her snack.

3). Apply the “rule of 30s” consistently

            Chew 30 times before swallowing

            Wait 30 seconds before your next bite

            Wait 30 minutes before drinking

4). Avoid feeling chest pressure after eating

            Chest pressure after eating is a sign that you have eaten too much too fast for the time it take for your sleeve to empty through the pylorus into the small intestine and the food, drink or air is backing up into your esophagus. The esophagus is pressing the food downward but it has nowhere to go so the pressure just builds up in the esophagus causing the pressure sensation in your chest or even into your mid back.

            Instead use your eyes and brain to determine how much you can eat over what period of time so you do not cause the chest pressure. This frequently occurs in social situations when you are distracted and not paying attention.

5). Establish a “No Fly Zone”

            I want my patients to establish good boundaries for what comes on their property and tell their friends and family, “Certain foods just don’t fly here.” We all have what I would call trigger foods; that is foods that comfort us and when these are around we have difficulty staying away from them. For me it is cookies, so guess what? My wife only buys one type of cookies to bring home from the grocery; Fig Newtons. That is because I really don’t like Fig Newtons much and they will stay around along time. If she brought chocolate chip cookies they would be gone in a flash because I have difficulty staying away from most other cookies. Without fully realizing it my wife has established a “No Fly Zone” at our home. Cookies just don’t fly at our house.

            Maybe your food trigger is pizza or soda or ice cream. Whatever it is you should establish a no fly zone at your house. You don’t bring these things into your house and family or friends and not welcome to bring these things as well. Let them know they are welcome to go out for these things but these foods just don’t fly at your house.

Applying these principles consistently is the key to understanding what is going on with your body after having a gastric sleeve operation. If you are doing these things consistently you are more likely to understand what is going on if you are having difficulty.

I wish you the very best as you continue on your journey to better health!