This issue is very important for anyone who is interested in undergoing gastric sleeve surgery...

Because no matter where or who will perform your surgery, it is important to know that in most cases you will be asked to perform a preoperative diet.

Pre-op gastric sleeve diet as any other bariatric procedure has a reason to be as we explain below, however there are exceptions where such requirement is not necessary, these exceptions occur when the body mass index of the patient is not very high.

Any patient with a body mass index above 35, must undergo a preoperative preparation of their diet for two main reasons:

• Prepare your organism for the surgery.
• Contribute to help the patient become psychologically prepared for the postoperative phase

Prepare your organism for the surgery

Many patients might question themselves: what is the point of making a person that is about to be operated for weight loss to suffer before with a preoperative diet? Although it would appear that this diet is something unnecessary, it is very important for a single reason, which is to reduce the size of the liver before surgery.

Any person with a body mass index above 35 starts to develop a medical condition known as "fatty liver", this condition in simple terms is merely the accumulation of adipose tissue (fat) between the hepatic tissue, which makes that organ to grow gradually but considerably and closely related to the person’s weight increments .

This liver enlargement is a major constraint to the surgeon at the time of the surgical procedure since all or almost all bariatric procedures involve working in the upper gastrointestinal tract, which is behind the liver, so if the liver has an exaggerated size it will hinder the access to this region, thus increasing the risk of intraoperative complications because of the reduced space the surgeon has to work with.

The consequences that a fatty liver could represent in the long-term will be discussed in another article in the future.

A properly sized liver represents less manipulation of the internal organs which will be reflected in a faster recovery in the first hours after surgery.

There are cases in which the liver is so large that the procedure must be canceled and deferred for another time once the organ has reduced in size to a sufficient degree to allow the surgery to be performed.

In the preoperative phase, a diet consisting mainly  of clear liquids has many functions such as reducing the size of the liver and bowel cleansing help while decreasing stress on the digestive system.

There is really no need for more good reasons than this one to be able to appreciate the importance this diet has before gastric sleeve surgery, nevertheless, we share with you other beneficial aspect to be considered.

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Post Op Gastric Sleeve Diet

Contribute to help the patient be psychologically prepared for the postoperative phase

As the title says, another objective of the preoperative gastric sleeve diet is to help the patient to become mentally and emotionally prepared for what comes after surgery. This does not mean that it is a very difficult time, but simply it represents a sudden change in the eating habits of a patient that is usually accustomed to eating food and calories in very high amounts.

There are patients who ingest on a daily basis more than 10,000 calories and in order to avoid complications and if you intend to start a new life and change your relationship with food, the postoperative diet that you need to follow goes from 800 to 1000 calories a day, which represents a drastic decrease that the body will resent if there is no relatively gradual prior preparation.

There is no reason to feel discouraged by having to follow a pre-op diet, if done under the supervision of an expert, it will be absolutely safe and will be the first step in your journey to a better health and quality of life.

The gastric sleeve procedure in México is totally safe, we invite you to get a free evaluation with us and share your questions about the gastric sleeve cost in México, side effects, etc. to our email: info@obesityfree.com

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Written by: Gabriel Rosales

Dr. Gabriel Rosales is a highly skilled, board certified surgeon in constant pursuit of learning the latest innovations in the weight loss surgery field to give his patients the best care possible.

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