By the time people come to us for bariatric surgery nutrition advice, they have usually tried many diets. This affects how they think and feel.
This is the two most common patterns:
- Some people give up because nothing has worked, so they eat whatever.
- Others spend huge amounts of energy thinking about food. They read every label, count every carb or calorie, and feel they must have the perfect diet.
Our job is to support your body with the right food after surgery and to help you trust yourself to make good choices without feeling overwhelmed.
Whether you have given up or are still trying to be perfect, we start with what you know, what you like and what you can do already. Here are some examples of what we do.
Do We Give Diet Plans?
No, we do not give bariatric surgery nutrition plans for two reasons:
- We don’t know enough about your food likes, skills, or time to cook.
- We believe that working with you to your own plan with the skills we teach builds your confidence with food.
Do We Give Recipes?
Below are some recipe resources for bariatric surgery nutrition plans, but we keep bringing you back to your familiar foods and family meals—and how to adapt them.
https://www.bnhealthy.co.nz/pages/bariatric-recipes
https://barilife.com/blogs/recipes
https://mynewtum.co.nz/blogs/wls-friendly-recipes
What About Products?
It can be overwhelming trying to work out which products to buy as you start your weight loss surgery journey. Here is our advice.
Meal Replacements
The most common meal replacement in a bariatric nutrition plan is Optifast, but if your surgery prep is 3 weeks or fewer, you can use other products—what matters is meeting protein needs and being in ketosis.
- Before surgery, you can use shakes, soups, bars, or puddings that fit a very low-calorie diet (VLCD).
- After surgery, you will use shakes and soups for at least 2 weeks.
- Some people have additional dietary needs – ask us and we can find you appropriate products.
Bariatric Supplements
There are many supplements, some of which are essential for bariatric nutrition plans, others are optional.
Key messages
- Right after surgery, use chewable bariatric supplements (e.g. BN Chews).
- Later: you may switch to tablets or capsules. Any of the multivitamin and mineral supplements from the companies listed below are appropriate, and it is a matter of personal choice.
- We do not recommend taking 2 Centrum tablets in place of bariatric supplements as a long-term option as there is a risk of too much vitamin B6.
- Avoid gummies and incomplete supplements. Please ask us if a supplement is suitable if you are uncertain.
- We will either prescribe or advise if you need additional supplements based on your blood tests.
Everyday Multivitamin – New Zealand | BariLife-Lite
BN Multi NZ – Multivitamin Supplements for Insufficient Diet |
BNHBariatric Multivitamin for Women & Men |
Weight Loss Surgery | New Zealand – MY NEW TUM
TRIC Multi Vitamin+ Iron 24mg – 90 days | Tric Nutrition
Specific Nutrients
- Calcium: We may prescribe calcium carbonate or guide you on purchasing supplements (500–1500 mg depending on surgery and blood tests).
- Iron: Only take with advice. If you are low in iron, you will need higher doses than many shop products.
- B12: Over-the-counter 50 mcg is not enough if you don’t absorb B12—you may need injections.
- Vitamin D: We can prescribe monthly doses if needed.
Extra Bariatric Products
- Protein supplements: helpful during weight loss. Choose unflavoured so you can mix with sweet or savoury foods. Avoid relying on collagen-only powders (not complete).
Whey Protein Concentrate Unflavoured – McLeod Nutrition
- Fibre supplements: We recommend you use one of these during the first few months after surgery. They are very useful if you get constipated, both before and after surgery.
Prebiolax™ – Kiwifruit & Corn Prebiotic Soluble Fibre 500g – McLeod Nutrition
Plant-Based Prebiotic Dietary Fiber Supplement | Benefiber
What is Psyllium Fiber? Benefits, Usage, and More │ Metamucil (you need to have good fluid intake with this one) – we can prescribe Konsyl-D which is a psyllium based fibre.
- Probiotics: Not enough research to recommend particular supplements.
- Hair loss: The most common reason for hair loss is when protein targets are missed for longer than 5 days post-surgery. We don’t recommend other hair-retaining products as there is no strong evidence for them.
- Plates, bowls, scales: helpful teaching tools, but everyday ramekins and normal scales work too.
Puree food suppliers
Recently, Pure Food has teamed up with Eat.co.nz to make individual meal portions of puree foods. These can be convenient but are not necessary. We do not expect you to need puree foods for more than 7 days.
