LAP-BAND Diet Pre-Surgery

LAP-BAND Diet Pre-Surgery

If you are a candidate for LAP-BAND surgery, your doctor will expect you to start making some changes to your lifestyle right away. Some of those changes will include a LAP-BAND pre-surgery diet and if you haven't already started one, a moderate exercise program. You will want to begin making these changes slowly over the next few weeks and months -- gaining results that will show your doctor you are ready to change your life, long before your LAP-BAND surgery is even scheduled.

One of the first things you should do is discuss with your doctor what dietary changes are appropriate for you. You will likely be encouraged to reduce the amount of high-sugar foods you eat, as well as the amount of high-carbohydrate foods. While the pre-surgery diet is somewhat limited, you still can enjoy foods like yogurt, fruit, cereal, eggs or oatmeal for breakfast. Dinner might consist of lean meat or fish and green vegetables.

Most LAP-BAND candidates will also take protein supplements to ensure that they get the 70-120 grams of protein their bodies need daily. Protein powder, such as Myocel, can be mixed with skim milk, water or even fat-free yogurt. Increasing your pre-surgery intake of protein will help to lower the liver's fat content and will promote weight loss now and later on. Consumption of high levels of protein will also help your body heal as quickly as possible after your LAP-BAND surgery, while protecting your muscle tissues as the body begins to burn your excess fat.

Foods you will be encouraged to avoid, or reduce, when you're following the pre-surgery diet are high-sugar and high-carbohydrate fare, including breads and pastas, fats like butter and oils, fatty meals, fried food, whole milk based products and high-calorie beverages, such as soda and alcohol.

About two weeks before your surgery, your LAP-BAND diet pre-surgery will consist of only high-protein liquids that are designed to get your body as healthy as possible prior to your LAP-BAND surgery. Obesity itself can cause an enlarged liver, and if your liver is too large, there is a possibility that your lap-band surgery will have to be postponed to avoid complications. Reducing the liver’s size will lower the risk of these complications. In addition, the LAP-BAND diet pre-surgery liquids will reduce the amount of body fat surrounding your stomach and reduce fatty triglycerides that reside around the liver and spleen, reducing the risk of serious bleeding during, and after, surgery.

Since you will be receiving only liquid nutrition initially after surgery, allowing your body to acclimate to a pre-surgery liquid diet only makes sense. It will be easier on your body and will give your stomach time to rest and heal. Liquid nutrition will also aid you in losing weight in the weeks following surgery, as your body adjusts to the lower calories and a completely different way of eating.

If you begin making healthy choices now, it will be easier for you to continue making them after your surgery. While you might be tempted to enjoy all the unhealthy favorites you're used to, now is not the time to gorge. Having LAP-BAND surgery will help you lose weight, but the responsibility for how much you lose and how fast you lose lies with you -- and how well you follow your LAP-BAND pre-surgery diet.

To learn more about pre-surgery LAP-BAND diet, please call 800-561-9000.





