What can I expect on the puree stage of the diet?

While the pureed diet may seem daunting and unappetizing, it’s what allows food to pass through your new stomach easily while it heals, so it’s very important to follow. When you are on the pureed stage of the post-op diet, which you may be on for up to one month following surgery, food needs to be blended or pureed until it is totally smooth and uniform in consistency, like the texture you would feed to a six month old baby.

What can I eat?

In addition to being pureed consistency, make sure that food also helps you reach your nutrition goals: lean proteins paired with non-starchy vegetables or fruit, for a total of 60 grams or protein and 25 grams of fiber per day.

Pureed protein foods include plain non-fat Greek yogurt, or any any flavored yogurt with more than 12 g protein and less than 6-7 g sugar. You can also have fat free or low fat cottage or ricotta cheese, super soft scrambled eggs, pureed beans and lentils such as pureed bean or lentil soup, fat free refried beans, hummus, and silken tofu. Non-vegetarian options include pureed fish, chicken and turkey. Pro tip!: When you’re pureeing meat, blend it with bone broth, which has about 10 grams of protein per serving, to help with consistency, add additional protein and enhance flavor.

Pick your pureed protein, then pair it with a pureed non-starchy vegetable or a fruit. Non-starchy vegetables that you can puree include asparagus, beets, bell pepper, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, collard greens, eggplant, green beans, kale, leeks, mushrooms, okra, radish, snap peas, snow peas, spinach, swiss chard, tomatoes, zucchini.

No mashed potatoes! Even though they are the right texture, they are too high in fat and starch to be a good choice for weight loss.

The same is true of oatmeal - even though it is the correct texture, it’s not the best choice for weight loss after bariatric surgery. If you must have oatmeal, choose plain instead of flavored, stir in protein shake or powder, and top it with a pureed fruit. Any pureed fruit is fine! - blackberries, blueberries, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, mashed banana, melon,

peaches, plums, unsweetened applesauce and so on. Try to have oatmeal less than twice per week to optimize your weight loss.

Putting it all together

What does a day of eating look like on the puree diet?

First, listen to your body’s hunger and fullness cues – they will likely be different than they were before and it will take some time to adjust! You may be eating 4-6 smaller meals throughout the day. When you’re making meal choices, always pair a pureed protein food with a pureed non-starchy vegetable or fruit. For example, breakfast may be plain nonfat greek yogurt with pureed blueberries, lunch could be super soft scrambled eggs with pureed spinach, and for dinner try pureed black bean soup with pureed carrots and celery (in the soup!).

All of these meals are the correct puree texture, and they help you reach your post-op nutrition goals. With a little creativity and an open mind, the pureed diet is one of the first stops on your journey to weight loss success!