The best proteins to eat after a sleeve

Eating adequate protein after a sleeve is extremely important. Protein helps to maintain muscle mass, heal surgical wounds and keep you feeling full after a meal. The type and texture of protein you choose after surgery can impact your long term success so let’s take a look so you can make the best choice.

If you’d like to watch me talk about this in video format, head here.

What are the different textures of protein?

Protein foods can be broken down by their texture starting with fluids/liquid protein, soft proteins and hard or solid proteins.

Liquid proteins are those you need to eat initially after surgery while you are still healing. Liquid protein options include products like protein powders, meal replacement shakes and protein water as well as real food options such as milk and drinking yoghurt.

Soft proteins are those that can easily be squished with a fork! Soft proteins are the next stage after surgery as healing continues and swelling decreases. Options for this stage include greek yogurt, ‘wet’ scrambled eggs, refried beans, dahl and other lentil options, soft tofu, flaky fish and slow cooked meats where they fall off the bone. 

Hard or solid proteins are things that you need to do more work to chew or might feel a bit ‘sticky’ or dry as you swallow. Think foods like steak, chicken, pork, a hamburger patty, and mince if it is a bit dry.

If you want to learn more about the foods that contain protein and how much is in each, read this post.

What’s the best protein to eat long term?

Long term after surgery the focus should be on eating solid proteins. Why? Solid proteins take longer to eat and digest, meaning you’ll be fuller for longer too. If you rely on protein that is really easy to chew (or drink!), your meal will be digested more quickly, your stomach will empty more quickly and hunger will return more quickly after your meal – thus you’ll eat more over the day.

Solid proteins take a lot more work to eat from cutting, to chewing to swalling and digesting! My dad used to say McDonalds is called a fast food because you drive there fast, you order it fast, get it fast, eat it fast and then feel hungry really fast after you’ve eaten it! I love this analogy as it reminds me that the more processed a food, the more often you’ll need to eat and the more calories you’ll eat over the day, sabotaging your long term weight loss!

But I struggle to eat solid proteins! 

Solid proteins can be more difficult to eat, particularly in the first 6-12 months after surgery. If you struggle to eat solids protein such as steak or chicken, try this:

• Cut really small bits so you take really small bites/mouthfuls (think thumbnail-sized)
• Rest in between mouthfuls
• Alternate bites of protein and vegetables so you’re giving your oesophagus and stomach a rest between the harder to eat protein.
• Keep practising – over time it will get easier to eat a wider variety of protein foods.

If you suffer from ‘foamies’ watch this video – it explains why you need to slow down and how to eat to minimise these uncomfortable events!