Bariatric surgery helps thousands of patients lose large amounts of excess weight, even in patients who have never been able to lose weight successfully with diet and exercise alone. Despite this, bariatric surgery is NOT a “quick fix” and it requires active participation from the patient in order to work as intended.
One of the most important elements to seeing success with before bariatric surgery is diet. By eating the right foods, bariatric patients can lose more weight and live a healthier lifestyle. Here are some ideas to help make it easy to go grocery shopping for post bariatric surgery patients.
Grocery Shopping After Bariatric Surgery
Grocery shopping after bariatric surgery can seem daunting, particularly if you’ve never been keen on cooking your own meals. Here are some tips that will help make grocery shopping a lot easier:
Tip 1: Shop The Perimeter
You may have heard this before, but it begs repeating. Grocery stores are laid out so that shoppers can buy as much product as possible, as quickly as possible, while also preventing crowding and making it easier to restock shelves. As a result, refrigerated sections and produce tend to be on the outer perimeter whereas shelf-stable foods tend to be in the middle. By sticking to the perimeter, you can focus your dollars on vegetables, fruits, and fresh meats instead of snacks and processed foods made to be shelf stable.
Tip 2: Shop With Your Next Grocery Trip In Mind
This is not a common piece of advice but it’s one that you should keep in mind. Grocery trips will become routine for you as you get used to cooking your own meals and taking control of what you put in your diet.
You don’t need to stock up on foods to last you a month if you plan on shopping every week. Instead, focus on fresh and frozen unprocessed whole foods that will feed you for that week. It’s recommended that you keep your shopping trips to once a week in order to make sure you have fresh food always available (and not rotting in your fridge!)
Tip 3: Go In With A List (And Stick To It)
Avoid impulse buying by going to the grocery store with an exact tally of what you want to buy. This requires planning out your meals in advance. It may seem daunting, but meal planning takes less time than the number of hours you’d spend working to pay for meals out. (Do the math yourself!)
The next section will give you a sample list of foods that make up a typical grocery list.
Bariatric Grocery List Ideas
This sample list was created for a week of eating where the patient is primarily eating small meals, protein shakes and no snacks. Their main meals are mashed potatoes with beef, spaghetti with meat sauce, oatmeal with fruit, roasted potatoes with chicken, tomato and lettuce salad with chicken, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and beef stew. The patient has recovered completely from surgery and is no longer on the post-op diet.
- Fruits
- Apples, 4
- Bananas, bunch
- Vegetables
- Tomatoes, 4
- Romaine lettuce, 1 head
- Onions, 2lb bag
- Garlic, 3 heads
- Carrots, 1lb bag
- Carbohydrates
- Quick oats
- Whole grain pasta, 2lb
- Whole grain bread, 1 loaf
- Potatoes, 2lb bag
- Meat & Dairy
- Eye of round, 1lb
- Ground beef, 1lb
- Chicken breast, 1lb
- Shelf Stable Foods (replenish as needed)
- Whey protein isolate
- Smooth peanut butter
- Tomato paste
- Herbs (parsley, cilantro, rosemary)
- Spice mix
- PAM cooking spray
