Bariatric Cookbook is a cookbook for the whole road of weight-loss surgery: the weeks before, the liquid and puréed stages just after, and the years of eating small that follow. It first explains the operations, then walks you through the diet stages and only then gives you the recipes, portioned for a pouch.
Above all, this is the book for anyone still deciding on surgery, or just home from it, who wants to know what daily life will taste like. In particular, you want to understand what changes in your stomach and why the way you eat changes for good. Megan Rush answers both questions before she hands you a single recipe.
What is inside the Bariatric Cookbook
- The surgeries explained. The main types of bariatric surgery, their pros and cons, what each one changes in the stomach and why the diet changes for life.
- Your relationship with food. Strategies for cravings and for a balanced relationship with food that lasts after the weight is off.
- An 8-week meal plan. Menus for the stages before and after the operation, so the transition from one stage to the next is not left to guesswork.
- The 5-day pouch reset. A short technique for when weight stalls or starts to creep back.
- The recipes, stage by stage. Dishes for each phase after surgery, from single portions to meals the whole family can share.
- Three bonuses. A QR code inside the book unlocks Bariatric Success Stories, Bariatric Shopping Lists and a Mindful Eating Guide.
Between them, these parts follow one thread: first understand the surgery, then eat for it. As a result, the book works before the operation as much as after it.
How the recipes in the Bariatric Cookbook are presented
First of all, the recipes come in stages, so you open the chapter that matches where you are and skip the rest. Most of them add a short note on what an ingredient brings to the dish or what a cooking method does for the food, which helps when you start adapting recipes of your own.
Moreover, the portions are drawn for a bariatric plate, whether you cook for one or for the table. The medical chapters come first and stay short, and the recipes take the rest of the book. Finally, the book works for any type of bariatric surgery, not just one.
What readers say
Three Amazon reviewers in the United States:
I love the way the book is written in stages for after surgery. The medical part is just an added bonus and the recipes. Sound delicious with a large variety of ingridents there is something for everyone. Highly recommended
Michelle Tuttle, Amazon, March 2025
I absolutely love how informative this cookbook is, and the ease of use for recipes makes it a cinch to eat after surgery (or even for those that haven’t had surgery). I (a bariatric patient) and my husband (not a bariatric patient) recommend this book highly!
Dain, Amazon, July 2024
I loved the easy to understand and prepare recipes. Meal planning can be difficult after surgery and this can definitely take one stress off the table!
Kenya, Amazon, August 2024
In short: the surgery explained, the stages mapped and the recipes to match, in one book that works before and after the operation. Available on Amazon.
Also by Megan Rush
If you already know which operation you are having, Megan has a cookbook for it. Her other titles: Diverticulitis Cookbook, Diabetic Air Fryer Cookbook, Bariatric Air Fryer Cookbook, Gastric Sleeve Cookbook and Gastric Bypass Cookbook.