To whom it may concern,
I have had long standing issues with my digestive system and I’m also scheduled to undergo gastric sleeve surgery. I’ve been gathering pureed food recipes for gastric sleeve, and I’m wondering if sticking with soft foods after gastric sleeve may help in aiding my digestion?
I know there is a required time frame for eating gastric sleeve soft foods after the surgery, but what about eating soft foods long term?
Do bariatric pureed recipes offer any additional benefits I should know about going into this surgery?
-Sarah James
Surgeon Response To: Pureed Food Recipes For Gastric Sleeve
by: John M. Rabkin, M.D.
Dear Sarah James,
After recovering from the Sleeve Gastrectomy (VG), patients can routinely return to eating a regular diet. The duration of recovery differs from patient to patient, but shouldn't be more than six to twelve weeks.
While recovering from gastric sleeve surgery, a period of soft/pureed food consumption is appropriate and will allow you to more quickly achieve your post VG protein intake goal (generally estimated as between 80 -120 grams of protein/day) to allow for healing and minimization of post surgical muscle mass loss.
However, the advantage of returning to a routine (non pureed / non soft) diet is that you will likely have a longer duration of satiation after eating your meals as your gastric sleeve will probably be slower to empty when eating a solid diet versus a soft or pureed diet. This will result in you consuming fewer overall calories and enhancing your post VG weight loss.
If you are intolerant of specific foods before undergoing the VG, these, of course, should be avoided. Furthermore, as many patients develop an intolerance to milk sugar (lactose intolerance) after the VG (or any abdominal/gastric surgery) it may be to your advantage to avoid lactose containing products (milk, ice cream, cheese, etc.) for a period of time (six to twelve weeks) until completely recovered from the operative procedure.
John M. Rabkin, M.D.
Pacific Laparoscopy
(click here for Dr. Rabkin's full bio & contact info)
DISCLAIMER: This educational advice is based on the depth of your question and the details provided. The above should never replace the advice of your local physicians as they have the ability to evaluate you in person.
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