Nutritional Interventions Before & After Surgery

Our Specialist Bariatric Dietitians will assess your health, diet and readiness for change during your pre-surgery dietetic assessment. Your dietetic assessment will include the following:

• Discussion of your medical history and medications with the inclusion of any current reflux symptoms
• Analysis of existing digestive issues, including coeliac disease, IBS and IBD as this may affect the type of surgery which would be best for you
• Assessment of the presence of type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure as the type of surgery may have to be tailored accordingly
• Discussion on your weight history throughout your life, especially your highest and lowest weight and what your behaviours were like at these times
• Assess your current weight and desired goal weight, as well as, your readiness to change your behaviours
• Explore the dieting approaches you have tried in the past and which of these, if any, have been successful.
• Dietary intake assessment to explore your current eating patterns and behaviours, including any possible emotion-driven eating or any possible eating disorder symptoms.
• Explore the reasons why you are considering bariatric surgery and what you hope to achieve from it.
• Discussion on the different types of surgery and how they work to support your weight loss
• Identify the lifestyle changes you will need to start making ahead of bariatric surgery in order to help its success rate.
• Exploration of the pre and post operative bariatric diet in detail

Specialist Bariatric Dietitian, Jess Upton, explains how nutritional support is an important part of weight loss surgery, essential for the best outcomes.

Bariatric surgery is stressful for your body, and as a result some people may experience changes within their body systems such as:

• The way your body absorbs nutrients from food
• Digestive issues
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Hormonal irregularities

We offer a range of functional testing options at Surgical WeightMatters. Functional testing provides valuable information about the way nutrition, environment and lifestyle factors impact your body, and your ability to manage your weight and your health.
Testing finds imbalances in your physiology before it reaches a stage of pathology or disease, and so is considered part of a preventative medicine approach.
We recommend functional testing investigations between three and six months post-surgery, to support you in achieving the best weight loss surgery outcomes, and optimal health and wellness.

Nutritional Therapists and the functional medicine approach can support you through any struggles you have after bariatric surgery.

The focus will be on helping you regain a balance in your diet and lifestyle in a way that meets the changing requirements of your shrinking body and weight.

Understanding your activity levels and changes in body mass will enable us to continually update your nutritional needs, which means your weight loss will be steady and safe.