Many of our patients report no issues with having a small salad about eight weeks post-surgery. However, the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery recommends that you stay away from hard, crunchy raw fruits and vegetables for about 10 to 12 weeks post-surgery. You can have them cooked, steamed, grilled, boiled, baked, or roasted instead.
Guidelines
To avoid any difficulties, avoid raw fruits and vegetables the first three months after bariatric surgery. You should eat them cooked until that point.
After three months, you can try adding salads (iceberg is not tolerated as well as romaine and spinach) and raw vegetables to compliment your protein. Lettuce wraps are a great way to change up your protein and add a little low-carb crunch!
Fruit should be eaten sparingly for maximum weight loss, or you can wait until you reach your goal weight to add the extra carbohydrates that come with eating fruit. The average serving of fruit has about 15 grams of carbs, which can add up quickly throughout the day. Limit yourself to two servings of fruit per day.
In the meantime, get your fruit flavor fix by adding sugar-free jelly/preserves to a high-protein plain Greek yogurt to get all the fruit flavor without the added carbs.
If you are at your goal weight and can add more carbs into your diet, choose from lower carbohydrate fruits, such as watermelon, grapefruit, and cantaloupe.
Higher carbohydrate fruits include bananas, apples, cherries, and pineapple.
