Soft Food Diet Tips Following Bariatric Surgery

Soft food diet ideas are super important after bariatric surgery. Here are some top tips.

Following Gastric Bypass surgery a patient will need to have a pureed food diet. The pureed food stage after bariatric surgery includes foods such as pureed meats, veg and bariatric friendly soups.

After five to six weeks a gastric sleeve or gastric bypass patient will move onto a bariatric soft food diet. This can be a tricky time as the stomach heals and the body learns to eat soft food once more.

Today I am sharing some top tips for the soft food diet following gastric bypass surgery.

Soft Food Diet Ideas and Tips

During the soft food diet stage after gastric bypass it is super important to make sure your food is really soft with no lumps. This not only helps protect the stomach and helps it to heal but will help you to not be sick or have stabbing pains from your food becoming stuck.

Here are the best bariatric tips to help you make the most of the soft food diet stage.

Keep the texture of the soft food mashed and soft. Whether your eating sweet potato, mashed veg or cottage cheese, you want your food to be as soft as it can be. Try adding some milk to make your food softer if necessary.

Use food you can eat with just a fork or spoon. If you need a knife to chop the food then it is not soft enough!

Lumps are now allowed! Lumpy food is no good and should not be included in the soft food diet menu.

It is important you chew all your food well and take your time. Chew repeatedly and take breaks between mouthfuls.

Following gastric sleeve and gastric bypass surgery you will need to reduce the frequency of meals from three meals a day to four or six times a day. You might want to have 3 meals and 2 snacks. Avoid eating in between meals and make sure all your snacks are super soft in texture.

Try to establish a routine for having three meals a day, even if you are not hungry initially at these times. This will help you to lose weight in the long term.

Continue to separate your drinks from meals. Drinking at the same time as food can fill your pouch after gastric bypass and cause pain. it may also wash food down and make space for more food defeating the purpose of a pouch.

Soft Food Diet List

Here are some soft diet food list ideas for you to try. Remember that every bariatric patient is different and you may not be able to tolerate the same foods as another gastric bypass or gastric sleeve patient. You will need to experiment and be patient to learn what soft food diet recipes work for you.

Cook soft meals such as scrambled eggs, baked beans, minced meat, cottage pie, shepherds pie, bolognese sauce, fish in sauce, fish pie or try soft ready meals.
Good snack ideas include Low fat/ diet yoghurts, fromage frais, stewed or soft tinned fruit, cottage cheese, sugar-free mousse/ custard and low fat rice pudding.
If you are unable to tolerate a certain food and are sick, take a day off and go back to puree to give your stomach a chance to recover.

Soft Food Diet Recipes

If you're looking for some soft food diet recipes, I'd recommend some of the following:

Sweet Potato Mash is a great food for the soft food diet stage. Here is a fantastic recipe you will love.
Single Serve Baked Ricotta is another fantastic soft diet food you have to try! It tastes so good.
Scrambled Eggs are high in protein and a great soft food idea after gastric bypass.
Strawberry Yoghurt With No Added Sugar is a great soft food option to try.

You might also want to try cooking lentils, beans and tomatoes to create your own soft food creations, which you can mash or blend in a NutriBullet.

I hope these tips are useful. Good look with the soft food diet stage. I hope it goes well for you.

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