Are you a Grazer?

Grazing is where you don’t necessarily eat “proper” meals but just snack or graze on food throughout the day. This isn’t a good way of eating after weight loss surgery.

Grazing can:

Mean your overall calorie intake is much higher especially if you graze on junk food and goodies

It’s easy to kid yourself into thinking, because you haven’t had lunch for example that it’s ok to have snacks instead, but the calories will often be higher

With a gastric band grazing doesn’t work because your portion sizes need to be assessed at mealtimes and what you can manage within a 20-minute period to see if you need a band adjustment.

Hunger levels cannot be assessed properly if you graze throughout the day as you never get to this point.  It will also encourage, eating when you are not hungry which can become habit forming and sabotage your weight loss journey

With any of the weight loss surgeries having regular meals is the best way to ensure you are getting all the nutrients you need – that can be difficult if you are just relying on snack foods

So, try to stop grazing all day by having 3 regular meals daily – make sure these are balanced. Use your portion plate to help with this - Half veg/salad, 1/4 protein and 1/4 carbohydrates

Snacks can then be used for occasional treats, to combat real hunger, if your gastric band is not optionally adjusted or when you aren’t managing enough food at mealtimes and you need extra nutrition

So getting into the habit of eating 3 small balanced meals a day really is the way forward for many reasons