My patients will often come into my office very excited to tell me about their newest appliance that they just purchased. Countless Ninja's, Nutribullet's, and Vitamix's have made there way into the kitchen's of weight loss surgery patients. These are great machines to help patients prepare food immediately post op when food needs to be pureed, blended, or chopped.
One use recently has been to make fruit and vegetable smoothies that are popular in our culture right now. The machines I mentioned are considered whole food juicers. They liquefy fruit and vegetables. You consume the entire fruit and vegetable. Other juicers, such as cold-press juicers separats the juice from the fibrous material. You consume the juice and the plant material is discarded. I worry that consuming fruit and vegetables in either form of juicing will do my patients more harm than good.
How can fruits and vegetables be harmful? Consuming fruit and vegetables are of course not harmful, but beneficial. I want my patients to consume fruit and vegetables. What is harmful though is how fruits and vegetables are consumed when liquefied. The tool that weight loss surgery gives you is the ability to feel fuller quicker and stay full longer on small quantities of food. Liquids empty quicker from the stomach, so do not provide the same level of satiety as solid food. You should eat your calories not drink them!
Tips for safe juicing after weight loss surgery:
- Include more vegetables that fruit, ¾ vegetables and ¼ fruit ( the higher the veggies content, the lower the calories and sugar).
- Only consume smoothies after you have consumed protein or include protein in the smoothie or juice. (don't sacrifice protein!).
- Don't replace a meal with a juice or smoothie. Most mixtures will not give you the same nutrition make-up of a meal.
- Keep an eye on your scale. Liquid calories can add extra calories.
Brent says
Great tips! I think the most common mistakes people make is not adding a protein source to their smoothie and using them to replace all of their meals. Great information that I will pass along.
Esther says
Surgery is this Tuesday however I need a guideline of mixtures to use and I should stay away from acidic products.
Jennifer Lynn-Pullman says
I don't really recommend juicing. As far as making whole fruit/vegetable smoothies you may not be able to use these until several weeks after surgery. In the program I work in we don't allow any fruits or vegetables until 4 weeks after surgery. As always you want to talk to your doctor and team to make sure you are following their recommendations. When you are permitted to used fruit/veggie smoothies https://simplegreensmoothies.com
Angela Pitts says
I am not a smoothie girl but I happen to love tomato juice. When can I consume tomato juice both before and after the surgery during the puree or liquid stage of the diet?
Jennifer Pullman says
Tomato juice is considered a full liquid.
Michelle says
Is it ok to juice during your pre-op diet?
Jennifer Pullman says
The answer should come from your surgery team. They can tell you whether they are ok with juicing prior to surgery or not. The average 2-week pre-operative diet eliminates fruit, so juicing would have to be veggies only, and honestly, I would rather eat the vegetables than drink them!