Postoperative diet: nutrition that gets you back on your feet.

The post-surgery diet involves a new eating plan after you have undergone surgery. You need to develop this plan together with your surgeon or nutritionist; they will be the ones who can help you get used to changes in lifestyle and new dietary rules.

Postoperative diet: from broths to light foods

There are a number of surgical operations that require a special postoperative diet. Usually these are operations that in one way or another affect the digestive system: intestinal surgery, surgery to remove appendicitis, surgery to remove the gallbladder and some others. Postoperative diets in such cases are based on similar principles.

It is very important to follow the post-operative diet instructions provided by your doctor immediately after surgery to ensure that your digestive system, or part of it, is fully restored. This may take a month or more. It is also important, especially in the first weeks, not to stretch the stomach too much. It is very important to prevent conditions in which you will vomit - vomiting stretches the stomach. You should not drink a lot of water immediately after surgery. It is better to put pieces of ice in your mouth and suck on them. The day after surgery, you can start drinking water, but in small quantities.

Postoperative diet: first of all we protect the stomach

The purpose of the diet in the early postoperative period is to protect the stomach. During this period, light liquids can be digested. It is important to maintain the water content in the body at the proper level. Liquids that can be consumed during this period include: clear broth or soup (no vegetables or meat), skim milk, fruit juice.

Within a week, you can start eating light foods. The consistency should be puree, like baby food. This will make the transition to tougher foods easier. Because protein is an important part of your post-surgery diet—it will help maintain muscle tone while you lose weight—you should eat protein-rich foods and then switch to fruits and vegetables.

Foods at this stage of the post-op diet may include:

• chicken (without skin) or fish, ground or minced in a meat grinder,

• mashed potatoes,

• pea porridge,
  

• low-fat yogurt or pudding.

3-4 weeks after surgery, you can include cooked foods, such as fish or chicken, in your diet. Chew your food thoroughly and make it a habit. You can pre-cut the food into smaller pieces. If these seemingly unnecessary precautions are not followed, vomiting, irritation and swelling of the stomach may occur. It's always better to be safe than sorry!

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