Reintroducing Foods After Stoma Surgery

Due to the impact of stoma surgery, you might not be able to eat what you have been eating before surgery. In fact, your doctor will instruct you to stick to a restricted diet plan for eight to six weeks after surgery. It is the minimum time that your bowel needs to recover from surgery. After this recovery duration, you may start reintroducing foods. However, this reintroduction has to be gradual.

When your doctor allows you to take solid foods, you may need to consider having food items that are not too spicy, fatty, or highly fibrous. You will have to be particularly careful if you have had problems with some foods before surgery. Introducing such foods back into the diet may result in some discomfort. If you have lost weight after surgery, you may need to follow a healthy diet plan to regain a healthy weight.

Here are some tips on how to reintroduce foods after surgery.

• You may need to eat smaller and several meals throughout the day. If your appetite is poor, you may want to snack a bit between meals.
• Protein prompts healing, so eating protein-rich foods may help you recover from the impact of surgery pretty quickly. Foods that you can add to your diet may include meat, fish, cheese, milk, and eggs.
• While eating your foods, make sure to be in a comfortable sitting posture. Eat your foods slowly and chew well to ease digestion.
• You may need to avoid any foods that can stimulate your bowels for the time being. Such foods include fruits, vegetables, wholegrain bread and cereals, and coffee.
• Because you will have a shortened length of the bowel, you may need to drink more water than usual. Aim for drinking at least 6-8 cups of water a day. You may even have to drink more water if you have an ileostomy.
• Fizzy drinks and alcohol can severe and painful problems in the GI tract, so you may want to avoid such foods.

Eating a healthy diet

After your bowel recovers, you will have increased appetite and your stomal output will also tend to be a bit more firm. That’s when you can start reintroducing more foods back into your diet. Here, you have to make sure to have a balanced and healthy diet plan to follow.

• You can add foods such as fish, meat, nuts, eggs, beans, and lentils. These are protein-rich foods.
• Milk, cheese, and yogurt are rich in proteins and calcium. Make sure to add some of those foods to your diet plan as well.
• You may also need to eat some starchy foods, such as rice, bread, pasta, and potatoes.
• You can add fruits and vegetables to your diet after recovering from surgery.
• Fat is a source of energy, so you will want to have it in your diet, especially when you are underweight. The best way is to use olive oil while cooking; and butter and full cream milk in drinks and puddings. Eat oily fish at least twice a week. You will need to limit the intake of fatty foods if you are overweight.

What’s more crucial is to watch your diet. It is going to be counterproductive if your diet routine is not well-settled. Make sure to discuss your diet plan with a health physician or nutritionist.