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If you are a coffee lover, you may be worried about your post-op bariatric diet. That’s because many bariatric surgery plans say to avoid coffee after surgery. But there’s another option! With Alex’s Low Acid Coffee, you have an option for a low-acid coffee that may be fine for you and acceptable to your doctor. You can count on having your energizing, comforting cup of coffee as you go on your weight loss surgery journey!
What’s Wrong with Coffee After Bariatric Surgery?
If you have looked into a post-op bariatric surgery diet, you may have seen that coffee is not allowed. The problem with most coffee is that it is high in acid, and you may need to be on a low-acid diet after bariatric surgery. Your surgeon or nutritionist may recommend avoiding acidic foods because of the potential for them to cause gastrointestinal problems.
How Do We Do It?
Most types of coffee are high in acid. The most acid comes from a type of acid called chlorogenic acid. Other acids in coffee include caffeine and tannic acid. Alex’s Low Acid Coffee is especially low in chlorogenic acid due to a special process.
We use hot air for processing so that our coffee never touches hot steel drums. That keeps chlorogenic acid levels lower than levels in other brands of coffee. Other methods of processing can lead to activation of other acids, such as tannic acid.
Alex’s vs. the Competition
An independent lab tested Alex’s Low Acid Coffee for acid content and overall pH, or acidity. The results showed that our coffee is lower in acid content and overall acidity. That is:
- Average chlorogenic acid level was lower in Alex’s Low Acid Coffee.
- pH was higher in Alex’s Low Acid Coffee (a higher pH means less acidity).
Starbucks, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Trader Joe’s were among the brands tested in the same lab at the same time.
What About Caffeine?
Alex’s Low Acid Coffee is already low in acid because of the lower chlorogenic acid content. But there may be times when your doctor says to avoid caffeine. If you need to avoid caffeine after bariatric surgery, you can opt for a decaffeinated version of Alex’s Low Acid Coffee. It is available in Fresh Ground Organic and Whole Bean Decaf. They’re both available in a French roast.
If you will be avoiding caffeine after weight loss surgery, you might want to plan ahead. That’s especially true if you are used to having caffeine every day or at certain times of the day. Caffeine use can turn into a dependency, and stopping caffeine can lead to withdrawal symptoms, such as headaches or feeling tired. Withdrawal symptoms are not normally a big deal (though they’re not super pleasant), but it’s harder after bariatric surgery when you may already be dealing with pain or fatigue from the procedure.
A week or two before surgery, you might want to eliminate caffeine. You might stop using it cold-turkey, or you could cut back gradually. Either way, it’s a good time to switch to a decaf version of Alex’s Low Acid Coffee. Then, just check with your surgeon to make sure that this low-acid coffee will work for you!