According to studies, gastric bypass surgery can help get rid of excess body weight by as much as 90 percent. Sounds too good to be true, right? But thats possible if a patient follows a strict diet plan to avoid regaining weight and to enjoy the full benefits of the surgery. The aftermath of the surgery requires certain lifestyle changes, and that include eating habits. Make sure you get the proper nourishment you need by following these guidelines.

1. Follow your physicians or dieticians recommendations on vitamin and mineral supplements after the surgery.

The surgery causes most of the stomach and part of the small intestines to be bypassed. This, in turn, causes your body to have difficulty taking in some nutrients, which leads to vitamin and mineral deficiency. To keep your body from losing its much-needed vitamins and minerals, make sure that you take proper supplements regularly. Usually, the supplements include multivitamins, vitamin B-12, vitamin D, iron, calcium, among others.

2. Dont take huge meals.

That would defeat the very purpose of your surgery. Just because you have achieved weight loss, that does not mean you can go back to binging or other unhealthy eating habits. Rememberfollowing the surgery, your stomachs volume has been reduced. Your tummy can hold only 1 ounce of food. Overeating wont do your tummy any good. Aside from adding unnecessary calories, eating too much can cause body pains, vomiting, and dizziness.

Be sure that you eat only small amounts of food. Follow your doctors recommended food amounts. Soon after the surgery, you can eat about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of food in every meal. And before you feel full, resist the urge of taking another bite.

Over time, your stomach stretches and can contain more food. Thus, you can adjust your food intake as time progresses.

3. Chew up thoroughly.

Make your digestive systems job easier by chewing your food thoroughly. Why do you need to do so? After the surgery, the small opening between your stomach and your small intestine may be blocked by large pieces of food. When that opening is blocked, food will remain in the stomach and will not be able to pass through the small intestine. This will definitely cause nausea, pain in the abdomen, and vomiting.

Dont swallow food that you cannot chew well. To make eating easier and more comfortable, take smaller bites and chew them until their texture becomes pureed before swallowing.

4. Dont eat and drink like theres no tomorrow.

Avoid eating too fastthis will only lead to sweating, diarrhea, nausea, dizziness, and vomiting. These are the symptoms of dumping syndrome, a condition wherein foods enter the small intestine quickly and in abnormally large amounts.

You must eat and drink slowly. Eating a meal should take at least half an hour, while drinking 1 cup of liquid should take half an hour to one hour. Also, avoid foods that have high sugar and fat content.

5. Dont drink liquids while eating.

Drink only before or after your meals. Otherwise, you will feel the symptoms of dumping syndrome. In addition, drinking liquids with meals make you feel full immediately, and this stops you from eating more nutrient-rich foods.

6. Try one new food at a time.

After your gastric bypass surgery, avoid eating just any food. Certain foods and beverages like milk, soda, meat, rice, and pasta may cause pain, nausea, vomiting. Try just one food at a timeand if it causes discomfort, do not eat it.

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To develop a healthy eating program to maintain a healthy weight, its a good idea to do some research on health and nutrition. If youre not trying to lose weight but just want to eat well for good health, then its important to understand how your body uses food. This makes it easier for you to choose healthy food and not be tricked when less-than healthy foods call themselves natural and healthy.

A healthy eating program should offer you much more than just a good balance of protein, fat and carbohydrates. But if that balance isnt in place to start with, the plan probably isnt all that healthy. Any plan that keeps fat at about 30% or less of the diet and stresses good fats over saturated fats probably has a healthy fat balance. There should be plenty of sources of protein other than meat, like lots of fish, healthy dairy sources like yogurt, and beans.

And carbohydrates should be mostly whole grain sources like whole grain bread and oatmeal. Whole grain pastas are better than regular pastas, and basmati rice is better than regular white rice. A healthy eating program that stresses these smart choices over things like instant white rice and instant pre-packaged sweetened and flavored oatmeal is better than one that includes too many convenience items.

A healthy eating program should follow the government food pyramid pretty closely. Whole grain carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, beans, fish, lean meat and dairy products can all be part of a very healthy diet. But there are other things to look at, no matter what kind of diet you choose to follow.

You want to make sure your healthy eating program has enough diversity so that you dont get bored, and you get all the vitamins and minerals your body needs. Baked chicken breasts, broccoli and a whole grain roll might be a healthy lunch, but no one wants to eat that several times a week. Your plan needs to include a variety of vegetables, not just one or two. There are more lean meats than chicken breasts, and many different ways to prepare these and other dishes.

Youll also want to make sure that unhealthy things arent creeping into your meals. Some diets stress that you use margarine instead of butter, for instance, because its lower fat and not full of saturated fat like butter. But margarine is mostly trans fat, a fat that even the government now agrees is worse for you than saturated fat. Its a fat that should be eliminated, or at the very least severely restricted, from our diets. A healthy eating program that allows certain commercially packaged low-fat cookies and treats might not take into account the amount of trans fats and sugar in those foods, either.

You have to be the detective and examine all the parts of the diet you want to follow. Yes, the balance of foods and nutrition is important, but dont forget to look at all the other parts of your healthy eating program.

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More and more people are now going back to basicsin terms of food and health practicesbecause they would want to achieve prime health and fitness. With the fast-paced, technologically-driven world people are now living, who would not want to veer away from certain medical conditions and illnesses.

Experts say that because of the busy courses of peoples lives, many of them tend to forget some of the vital fragments in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, which is diet and nutrition.

Identifying the thin line

Although the terms diet and nutrition have different definitions, they are greatly connected to each other. When defined, diet refers to the food and liquid intake of a person while nutrition pertains to the science of dealing with food and nourishment. Sometimes, many people get confused with the meanings of the two because they automatically assume that lessthrough dietwill not affect their healths overall condition.

Experts say that more than the issues of food and liquid intake and the science of food and nourishment, diet and nutrition can revolve around nutritional information on various dietary supplements and the benefits vitamins and minerals to a persons body. By making yourself familiar with latest diet and nutrition topics, trends, and tips can lead you to the renewal of your health and well being commitment inside your home.

You must remember that its never too late to redirect your eating habits, but before you take that drastic change, learn what are the common diet and nutrition mistakes so you can avoid them. Here are some realizations that can help you get by:

1. Dont make careless assumption that the food choices you have are better than they actually are. Many experts believe that people who are very particular about diet and nutrition have larger tendencies of thinking and believing that their food choices are healthier than they really are. It is always advisable to eat whole, fresh, and unprocessed foods whenever possible to stay health and fit.

2. Dont confuse yourself over carbohydrates. In some people that low carbohydrates diets are effective. But there are also those that say that there are excellent carbs that make people eat less. If you are confused, assess yourself first before cutting down on carbs totally. A consultation with a licensed dietician can help you determine how much carbohydrates does your body need and can also help you come up with a diet pattern will be good for you and can have long term effects.

3. Dont think youre eating too much when youre actually not. Doctors say that one of the most common mistakes people make is that they overestimate and underestimate the amount of food their body needs. People are advised to monitor the portion sizes of your food to ensure that they are getting the key nutrients that their body needs.

4. Know when to eat and when not to eat. Experts believe that overeating and under eating may put an individuals health at risk because it disrupts blood sugar and insulin levels. Knowing when to eat and when not can ensure that the person will get the nutrition the body type needs. Always make sure that you eat something every three hours and dont starve before eating the next meal.

5. Dont neglect the importance of regular exercise. There is now denying the wonderful benefits that regular exercise can do to people especially to those who want to achieve optimum health and fitness. To ensure that you stay healthy despite being on a diet, make exercise a regular part of your life can definitely contribute to your overall wellness.

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Living a life of health and fitness may seem a huge sacrifice but the rewards are truly immeasurable. Not only will you be able to enjoy your life a little bit longer, you can also live it while looking good and looking young.

You dont believe us? Here is a rundown of the benefits that healthy living can give. Read on and you may be tempted to leave the dark unhealthy side.

1. Active body Eating the right kinds of food and keeping your body in shape will result to having more energy and that will spill over to your work and your play time. You will be more active and will have more chance to shine in your line of work. People who are active also come across as more capable and more independent. They are also perceived as more approachable, confident and charming.

2. Younger looking People who live healthy are younger looking than those who smoke and drink in excess. This is because chemicals in alcoholic drinks and cigarettes dry up the skin and create a more older appearance. Chemicals in the body also reduce the nutrients that go into the body, thus depriving the body of vitamins and minerals that keep the skin and other organs healthy and functioning.

Being young looking of course gives you a whole set of benefits, from a remarkable love life to success with career and in your social life. After all, whether we admit it or not, appearance do count in a lot of ways and being young looking and attractive can take you in places. As shallow as it seems, you will have more friends and more romantic involvements. Everybody loves beautiful people.

3. Clear thinking It is not true that chemicals in alcoholic drinks and cigarettes and drugs can amp up creativity levels. These are actually just short-lived and as studies have shown, only in the mind. People who eat and live healthy are more able to think clearly. They are more able to focus on the jobs at hand and therefore are able to accomplish much with their work than other people. They are also more dependable when given instructions and their memories are often clear and good.

4. No illness People who live a healthy lifestyle are well, healthy. They are not prone to sickness that can slow down a persons achievement levels. Thus, these people accomplish much of what they set out to do. They are not hampered by problems with their health or appointments with doctors that they have to go to. These people rarely take a leave of absence and when they do, they will often take a vacation and just relax. They dont take a leave because they are sick.

5. Emotionally-secure Although there really is no direct relationship, people who live a life of health and fitness are happier. They are able to enjoy their life more and are not distracted by odd habits and health problems. They also have less worries and are able to cope better with stressors. This is perhaps because they do not need to rely on chemicals for coping with the hardships that they encounter. Early on, they have developed natural coping strategies that can help them get through the daily grind.

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