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Diet instruction
You
have been fitted with an adjustable gastric band, which
is going to have a major impact on your life. The Gastric
Banding procedure
principle is based on "tightening with a belt"
the uppermost part of the stomach by fitting the band
around it.
The band narrows and divides the stomach into two sections
in a shape of an hourglass. Gastric banding induces
an early feeling of satiety. Following the gastric banding
operation you will quickly feel full after eating a
small amount of food just
to fill up the newly created small upper part (pouch)
of the stomach. This experience could last for several
hours before you will feel like eating another small
portion. The band will help you to avoid over-eating
and decrease your overall daily food (calorie) intake.
By nature of the Band functioning you should eat less,
feel less hungry and gradually lose your excess weight.
This will lead to a healthier life style with less risk
of obesity-related secondary diseases. However, you
will have to change your eating habits as well. Although
the Band is helping you to induce sustainable weight
loss it is not a self-acting slimming device and your
postoperative dietary and behavioural compliance is
of essential importance for successful weight loss as
well as in avoiding complications.
In other words, with the Lap Band, you will be able to live a normal life, eating normal food but in small amounts.
The only exception is for the first four weeks of your operation, where you are advised to have a liquid diet:
the gastric band has not
yet bonded with the stomach wall and is still loosely
fitted around your stomach. It is then particularly important during this period of time to take only liquid or blended food.
If you were to eat, say, a whole slice of bread during
this period, it would stick above the gastric band,
stretch the pouch, as we call the part of your stomach
above the band, and pull the stomach wall from the lower
part up through the band.
This is called "slipping" and you could require
another operation, so you should do your utmost to avoid
it. It is particulary important to take only liquid
nourishment in the first week and pureed foods in the
second week.
You will lose only a small amount of weight during the
first 4 to 8 weeks after the operation, because the
gastric band has to be adjusted step by step. Consider
this phase as the first phase to your real weight loss
and plan the reduction over a longer period (1- 2 years).
Enclosed you will find suggestions of meals to help you during the first four weeks.
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