To Snack or Not to Snack After Weight Loss Surgery

Have you been told not to snack, or eat between meals, following weight loss surgery?

Does needing a snack between your meals fill you with guilt?

Is snacking really a problem?

It may be, but it also may not be. Confusing isn’t it!

Eating when you are not hungry (‘non hungry eating’) and grazing can mean you take in excess calories that you do not need, which can slow and even limit your weight loss.

If however you are tuned in to your hunger signals and making smart snack choices, snacking is likely to be be fine.

It is not a good idea to snack because:

• You are bored, tired, happy, angry, sad, etc.
• The clock suggests is morning or afternoon tea time
• Other people are eating
• You are finishing snacks the children haven’t eaten
• Your partner likes to snack
• You are in a particular situation eg. you always have to get an ice cream at the beach, popcorn at the movies, lollies on long car trips, chips watching the TV.

It is fine to have a small snack between meals if you are genuinely, physically hungry. It may be that your body needs more food than the basic three meals per day. Or it may be that you can only eat very small meals and need some small snacks to meet your nutritional needs. However, in some cases it may be that your food choices at meals are not satisfying you.

If you find you need to snack, ask yourself the following:

• Are you eating regular meals?
• Are your meals made up of solid foods or are they sloppy food or liquids that may not be satisfying you?
• Are you actually thirsty, rather than hungry?
• Are you eating enough protein containing food at each meal?
• Do you include a source of healthy fats with your meal?
• Are you choosing low GI foods (low glycemic index foods)?

If you can tick off all these thing and find you are physically hungry, a small, healthy snack is acceptable.

We have a whole list of weight loss surgery friendly snack ideas here. Be sure to check them out.