After your stomach has healed, you may eat most foods that don’t cause you discomfort. However, because you can only eat a little it is important to include foods rich in protein. In general, although a balanced diet is the best diet for most individuals, for patients who are trying to lose weight, avoiding carbohydrates [...]
Alcohol has a high number of calories and breaks down vitamins. An occasional glass of wine or other alcoholic beverage, though, is not considered harmful to weight loss.
Order only a small amount of food, such as an appetizer. Don’t feel obligated to finish the entire meal and stop as soon as you feel full. Get in the habit of sharing meals with others or bringing home left-overs.
You should be able to take prescribed medication though you may need to adjust their dosage. As a general rule, antihypertensives (medications for high blood pressure), hypoglycemics (medications for diabetes), diuretics (water pills), and blood thinners (Warfarin/Coumadin) will need special attention. Please let both your surgeon and your primary care physician know about your medications, [...]
Since it is possible to not get enough vitamins from three small meals a day, all of our patients are encouraged to take daily vitamin supplements during the period in which they are aggressively losing weight.
Given the overall lower volume of food and beverages, you might find your stools harder after gastric banding. It is important for you to consume an adequate amount of non-caloric beverages (water, unsweetened iced tea, sugar-free/diet beverages, etc.) during the day. But in an effort to avoid helping your pouch empty the food that has [...]
Becoming pregnant can be easier as you lose weight. Your menstrual cycles may become more regular. Many patients who have failed to become pregnant before losing weight find themselves becoming pregnant after unprotected intercourse. As a general rule, it is neither good for a patient to gain a whole lot of weight nor is it [...]
Throwing up might become necessary such as when you have eaten “bad” food. Although the band creates a substantial resistance against “passive” movement of stomach acid up into the esophagus, the “active” process of throwing up is often accomplished without much difficulty. Having said that, it might become necessary for us to empty the band [...]
One of the major advantages of the gastric band is that it can be adjusted. If your illness requires you to eat or drink more, the band can be loosened by removing saline from it. When you have recovered from your illness and want to lose weight again, the band can be tightened by increasing [...]
The gastric band works through a combination of portion control and elimination of hunger. As a result, despite eating very small amounts, a person should not battle hunger throughout the day. One of the components of “healthy eating with a band” is to never “deprive” yourself. Accordingly, when you feel hungry, you should enjoy a [...]