Dr. Matthew Weiner - Bariatric Diet Guide and Cookbook

Our Poppy Dave lived with our family during the time that I wrote this book, and he served as a frequent taster for many of these recipes. Poppy Dave has a glioblastoma, and he has faced this diagnosis with grace and bravery and has never failed to remain optimistic. Im so grateful for our mutual love of cooking and for being able to witness, firsthand, the healing power of food.

CONTENTS

STAGE 1
Protein Shakes and Clear Liquids

STAGE 2
Soft Dairy and Blended Foods

STAGE 3
Cooked Vegetables and Blended Soups

STAGE 4
Beans, Eggs, and Hearty Soups

STAGE 5
Fish and Nuts

STAGE 6
Chicken

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Seven years ago, I created a video to counsel my patients on how to advance their diet after surgery. I wanted to put the video online in order to give my patients easy access to it. My website developer told me to upload it to YouTube so that he could embed it on the website for my practice. A few months later, one of my patients told me she had just subscribed to my YouTube channel and asked if I could make more videos. I said, I have a YouTube channel? She pulled out her phone and told me there were over 100 comments and almost 50,000 views. I had no idea!

Since that first video, Ive made it my mission to encourage as many bariatric surgery patients as possible to eat whole, unprocessed foods and to disabuse them of the notion that megadoses of protein are necessary for long-term success. Theres a lot of salesmanship in the weight-loss surgery community around heavily processed diet foods. Some bariatric surgeons even build stores into their offices and offer dozens of protein shakes, powders, and low-carb meals that are nearly as lucrative as their surgery practice. But most of these low-fat, low-carb, low-sugar, low-calorie foods are not healthy and dont actually help you lose weight over the long run. When it comes to nutrition, the best way to lose weight is to focus on producevegetables, fruits, beans, nuts, and seeds. Once I started making more educational videos for bariatric surgery patients, I realized I was not the only one who thought this way.

Over the years, Ive created many more videos and written lots of articles about what you should eat after weight-loss surgery. Most of these focus on the pound of cure plan I developed, which centers on the idea of eating a pound of vegetables per day. However, information about how to implement this plan has admittedly been lacking. When I was approached to write a cookbook specifically for bariatric patients, I jumped at the chance. Ive always been frustrated by most of the bariatric cookbooks out therethey all seem to be 100 different uses for protein powder, and very few acknowledge the importance of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and beans in the postoperative patients diet.

Im hopeful that this cookbook empowers bariatric surgery patients to embrace a produce first approach to eating after surgery without concern that theyre somehow breaking the rules. Having bariatric surgery doesnt change your nutritional needs as dramatically as most people think, and the whole food, plant-based diet that is often championed as the healthiest way for people to eat works just as effectively for bariatric surgery patients as it does for everyone else. I hope that you have as much fun reading this book and trying the recipes as I had writing them.

The Bariatric Diet Guide and Cookbook | INTRODUCTION

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Part 1 Guiding Philosophy of Food After Surgery | CONTENTS

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In weight-loss surgery circles, there are few things discussed more frequently than what you should or shouldnt be eating after surgery. There are the calorie counters, the low-carb zealots, and the intermittent fasters, all insisting that theres only one right way to eat after surgery, and its their way. In truth, there is no magic nutritional formula that ensures success after surgery. Weight-loss success and long-term weight maintenance are dependent on dozens of things, many of which have nothing to do with what you eat.

Your mission after surgery is not to follow a specific diet as perfectly as possible because life is too unpredictable, and a perfect diet is not realistic. Instead of focusing on the details of your diet, you should focus on your relationship with food and your bodyand this should start from your very first postoperative day. Remember, everyone who is currently alive needs to eat, and, it turns out, it takes a decent amount of food to keep your body running optimally, even after having weight-loss surgery.

Food is necessary for good health, and it is critical that you nourish your body with lots of healthy food. This emphasis on eating lots of healthy food and very little unhealthy food is a departure from most diets, which often focus on what you shouldnt eat and gloss over what you should eat. As a result, we start to believe that sugar-free cookies and fat-free ice cream are good for us. If you focus your attention on eating lots of nutritious food, you will recognize that sugar-free and fat-free diet foods contain absolutely no nutrition and therefore have no role in your nutritional plan.

This shift toward focusing on eating lots of really healthy food is the most important nutritional change you must make after surgery. Without fully embracing this idea, it is impossible to change your relationship with food. Your body is the most amazing machine on the planet, and this machine needs high-quality fuel to run optimally. High-quality fuel does not mean calories; it means vitamins, minerals, fiber, and, most importantly, thousands of different phytonutrientsthe magical compounds found only in plants that help our bodies run at peak performance and prevent disease. If you deny yourself the fuel that your body needs, you become fatigued, you wont heal as well after surgery, youll be more susceptible to bacteria and viral infections, and you can even become depressed.

There is no magic nutritional formula that ensures success after surgery.

The road to a successful postoperative eating plan begins on your first postoperative day and must be continued for decades to fully maximize the beneficial effects of weight-loss surgery. Weight-loss surgery is a true medical miracle that has transformed the lives of millions of people. But, just as there are so many success stories surrounding the changes that people have made after surgery, there are also lots of stories of people who did not fully recognize the benefits of these surgeries. There are many reasons for the variable success rates of weight-loss surgerygenetics, socioeconomic status, psychological well-being, and preexisting medical conditionsbut these are largely unmodifiable. The factors you can change after weight-loss surgery are the foods you choose to eat and the way you exercise and move.