At one of my visits with my doctor we were discussing protein and the nutritionist handed me this hand out. I think it contains some information we all could learn from. This is aimed at post-op patients, but the pre-op patients who want to get started adjusting to the new lifestyle required for post-op patients can gain some great insight and information too.

Protein is necessary for proper wound healing and fighting infections after surgery. It also helps your body to repair and strengthen cells, and it helps you to build new cells as well. Taking your protein as directed will also help to prevent or lessen hair loss (provided you are also taking your vitamin/mineral supplements as instructed).

So how much protein do you need after surgery?
You need about 60 grams of high biological value (good) protein per day following gastric bypass surgery. Forty-five of the 60 grams should come from your diet and the other 15 grams should come from your protein supplement (Promod or Advanced Health System). You may have a little trouble meeting this goal your first five weeks following surgery because your body is still adjusting to it's new stomach. However, if you focus on eating your good protein foods first, you will find this task much easier. In other words, don't fill up on starches, fruits or vegetables, before eating your good protein foods.

Let's look first at the 45 grams good quality protein from your diet. Good quality protein foods include all meats, poultry, fish, and dairy products (eggs, cheeses, milk, and yogurt). Each one ounce serving of meat, poultry, fish, cheese, one egg, or eight ounces of skim milk or nonfat yogurt has about seven grams of good quality protein. If you take in two ounces of good quality protein at breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a one ounce for an evening snack you will meet your protein requirements from your diet every day. This may seem like a lot of food right after surgery and it may be difficult to reach this goal of seven ounces of good quality protein per day at first. The key to success here is to focus on the good quality protein foods first at meal time. Don't eat anything on your plate until you have first finished your good protein. Also, remember to separate solids and liquids. You should stop drinking liquids one-half hour before meals, no fluids with meals, and no fluids up to one-half hour after eating.

Caution:
Remember that you may not tolerate red meats, cheeses, milk or yogurt right after surgery and should probably not start these foods for a while but do try fish, white meat, and eggs. You could even try Vitamite (a soy based milk substitute), Lactaid milk, milk treated with Lactaid drops, or chew Lactaid tablets with cheeses or yogurt but red meat is definitely out. Also don't forget that for the first five weeks following surgery you must use only pureed consistency foods (this includes your good quality protein selections).

In regards to the 15 grams of good quality protein you need from your protein supplement, Promod has 5 grams of protein per scoop. If you use Promod as your protein supplement, you will need to take three scoops per day, every day. Advanced Health System has 12 grams of good quality protein per packet. Therefore, one packet per day will meet your protein requirements from your supplement. Again it is very important that you not skip taking your supplement. It must be taken every day otherwise you may develop a protein deficiency which could lead to some of the problems mentioned earlier.