What To Eat on a Clear Liquid Diet for Bariatric Surgery

What To Eat on a Clear Liquid Diet for Bariatric Surgery

Immediately after bariatric surgery, you must be on a clear liquid diet. Since the surgery, no matter which version you opted for, changed the size of your stomach and altered where it connects to your intestines, you have to start slowly.

Anything more than clear liquids can lead to stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, reflux, and worse, so your doctor will have you start there and work your way up. The real questions are: which clear liquids should you choose? What are your options?

Our experts will break all of this down for you here!

Why Follow a Clear Liquid Diet?

Your doctor will have you on a clear full-liquid diet for the first day or two after surgery. This diet is designed to keep you properly hydrated while preparing your stomach for the additional liquid foods that will soon follow.

It’s kind of a prep period, getting your digestive system used to its new configuration a little at a time. It also prevents your stomach from getting irritated post-surgery, which, if it happens, can lead to additional complications.

While you’re on the clear liquid diet, you’ll need to:

Drink a Little at a Time

Since bariatric surgery is designed to help you lose weight by shrinking the size of your stomach, once your surgery is done and you’ve regained consciousness, you won’t be able to drink the same amounts of liquids that you could in the past — and definitely won’t be able to handle solid foods.

If you try to drink too much at once, you could end up vomiting or injuring your newly shrunken stomach and altered gastrointestinal tract. Instead, take small sips, allowing your system to get used to them a little at a time.

Avoid Hot and Cold Foods

Your body isn’t quite used to the extremes immediately after your medical procedure. As a result, you’ll have to avoid foods (or, in this case, clear liquids) that are very hot or very cold. In fact, lukewarm is the best temperature, as it won’t cause any pain or nausea.

As a rule, you’ll have to avoid very hot and very cold foods until your stomach heals completely, which can take up to six weeks. So, you might as well start getting used to merely warm foods once you come out of surgery.

Constantly Sip on Something

You aim to get in 48 ounces of liquid each day while on the clear liquid diet. This means that you’ll have to constantly take those small sips of broth, juice, or whatever else the doctor will allow you to drink. (We’ll go into more specifics shortly).

To prevent dehydration and get in some much-needed nutrients, you’ll find yourself slowly sipping on your clear liquids throughout the day until you meet or surpass your goal. Just remember that if you drink everything too fast, your stomach won’t like it and will hurt or worse.

You will also have to pay attention to your vitamin and mineral intake, so ask your healthcare provider when you can begin taking supplements.

What Does a Clear Liquid Diet Consist of?

If you’re familiar with the treatment for conditions like pancreatitis, you already know which clear liquids the hospital will allow you to order for your breakfast, lunch, and dinner. If not, then you’ll want to check out this list closely.

As you’ll notice, not all clear liquids are exactly “clear,” but they are plain, which matters the most.

Broth

Broth isn’t exactly clear, but it is a plain liquid since these broths lack some of the tasty things that soups tend to have, such as vegetables or noodles. The most common broth options after bariatric surgery are chicken and beef bouillon, but you might see some more “exotic” options on the list, like fish broth or turkey broth.

What matters here is that the liquid is easy to digest and room temperature, contains plenty of nutrients, and even has some flavor.

Fruit Juice

Yes, you can drink fruit juices while you’re on a clear liquid diet. However, there are some caveats. These fruit juices are sugar-free, pulp-free, and watered down a bit to make them less concentrated. (Juices that aren’t watered down might make you sick since they bring in a lot of nutrients all at once.)

You can have general fruit punches, specialized juices made of one or two different types of fruit, and various other options, as long as they’re sugar-free. Not only do these juices introduce a different type of vitamin and mineral content to your digestive tract than the broths, but they also taste good as well.

Clear Liquids

Now, here come the parts of the clear liquid diet that are actually clear. They consist of things like water and ice chips, even though neither should be extremely cold.

Yes, this can be a bit hard when you have ice chips, so the idea is to suck on them, make them melt, and warm up a little before you swallow them. Although water and ice chips don’t have any flavor or nutrients, they will keep you hydrated.

This is very important post-surgery because it’s very easy to get dehydrated, which will slow the recovery process.

Treats

On top of healthy things like broth and fruit juice, you’re allowed to have some treats as part of a clear liquid diet. Keep in mind that, like fruit juice, these treats are also sugar-free. Thankfully, they’ll still taste good, making only drinking liquids a bit more enjoyable.

What are these treats? They consist of things like popsicles, ice pops made with juice, Jell-O, and even frozen bars made of fruit. All are sugar-free but have plenty of vitamins and minerals in them (okay, only the fruit bars have these things). No matter what, these things are a little treat following a day of drinking broth and juice.

Other Options

In addition to broth, juice like white grape juice, water, and a few treats, you have some additional options during your clear liquid diet. They include decaffeinated and unsweetened black coffee and tea and exercise drinks that are free of sugar. Your exercise sports drink might have to be watered down a bit, but it will give you valuable electrolytes.

As a bonus, if your doctor allows, you might be able to have a little bit of dairy or milk during this stage of your recovery. You can add it to your coffee or drink it plain, but it will be either skim or one percent milk. Your body simply isn’t ready for anything more concentrated yet.

Slowly Working in Other Foods

Thankfully, your full liquid bariatric diet won’t last forever. You’ll be on clear liquids for only a few days before moving onto a standard liquid diet where juices won’t have to be watered down, and you’ll be able to have smoothies and other things. It will feel nice to have foods with a little more texture, won’t it?

Once you’ve reached the soft foods stage, which can last several weeks and takes place after the liquid foods stage, you’ll be able to eat small meals of foods that are (you guessed it) soft. Soft food bariatric recipes consist of things like Jell-O, full soups complete with noodles, more smoothies, and a number of other options.

In general, after the soft foods stage ends, you’ll be able to eat regular, albeit small, meals again. You can choose from specialized meals designed for those who’ve had bariatric surgery to those you create yourself from your preferences.

Just remember that you can’t eat foods that are very hot or cold until your stomach completely heals, and you’ll still need to avoid certain things to keep from getting sick. Thankfully, at this point, you’ll be well on your road to recovery.

What To Eat Immediately After Bariatric Surgery

Now that you know how to survive a clear liquid diet after bariatric surgery and why you need to be on one, you know what to expect during this stage of your recovery. Thankfully, you can have various clear broths, watered-down fruit juices like cranberry juice or apple juice, plain water or ice chips, specific sugar-free treats like flavored gelatin, and even a little decaffeinated coffee or tea alongside skim or skim or one-percent milk.

Even energy drinks are allowed, as long as they are watered down and don’t contain sugar. Since this stage only lasts a few days, it won’t be long before you’re incorporating other foods into your diet.

If you have any questions on this, please contact us!

Sources:

What Do You Eat After Bariatric Surgery? | Penn Medicine

Gastric Bypass Diet: What to Eat After the Surgery | Mayo Clinic

Phase 1: Clear Liquid Diet for Post-Bariatric and Weight Loss Surgery Patients | UPMC