BARIMEP: A TOOL FOR TRAINING BARIATRIC SURGERY PATIENTS

BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery patients have symptoms such as “plugging.” Therefore, a possible good way to avoid these eating discomforts, typical of the early period after bariatric surgery, is to educate the patient. The Mindful Eating (ME) consists of paying attention to physical signs of hunger and satiety and developing awareness of emotional triggers related to food. In addition, conscious food choices reflect positively on the speed of chewing at mealtime. AIMS: Due to the difficulties that patients reported during consultations to controlling their bad eating habits and the lack of tools to help the bariatric patient change eating habits, we elaborated “BariMEP: A Mindful Eating Placemat for bariatric surgery patients.” METHODS: The BariMEP was written by the multidisciplinary bariatric team based on a study by Russell et al. and ME principles in order to help bariatric patients pay attention to what and how they eat at each meal. RESULTS: The BariMEP has some instructions based on Mindful Eating principles: get your seat at the table; do not distract yourself; before starting to eat, try breathing sometimes; recognize the internal hunger and satiety cues; let the fork rest at each bite and chew a lot; pay attention to the smell and taste; and be as present as possible at this time with nonjudgment. CONCLUSIONS: For the first time, a tool has been developed with the aim of preparing the patient for bariatric surgery. Since the BariMEP is easy to teach and cheap, we suggest that the BariMEP be included in the bariatric surgery protocol.