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Why Nutrition Matters After Surgery
Interviewer: After surgery, you know you need to rest, avoid heavy lifting, and give your body some time to heal. But what about eating? What foods should you eat or avoid to help your body recover? And when can you get back to your normal diet?
Today, we're joined by Dr. Motaz Selim, a transplant surgeon at 亚洲自慰视频 of Utah 亚洲自慰视频, to discuss how nutrition plays a crucial role in healing after surgery and what you need to know about eating for recovery.
Now, Dr. Selim, why does nutrition matter after surgery? I mean, the other things make sense to me, right? Don't lift heavy things, etc. But why would food matter?
Dr. Selim: So food matters to basically keep you alive all the time, right? But more importantly, after surgery, your body has gotten under a lot of stress, and it's going under a lot of healing. That healing needs a lot of building blocks, vitamins, and proteins.
So, without proper nutrition, your body basically starts dissipating its own self just to provide those building blocks for the new healing parts. We don't want that. It will affect your general well-being and will affect your healing, too.
So sometimes it's challenging to get the proper nutrition afterwards due to the nature of the surgery, due to the nature of anesthesia, or medication you might be getting after the surgery. So it's very important, obviously, to get ideas before the surgery from your surgeon about what their recommendations are for starting nutrition and what to avoid.
In some special cases, your team is going to actually connect you to a nutritionist in certain cases when nutrition can be really challenging, like major bowel surgery or stuff like that. But for the most part, for general regular surgeries, you're going to get some recommendations.
Basically, those recommendations are that we would like you to start getting enough nutrition as soon as possible after surgery. Depending on the type of surgery, it could be the next day or even the same night sometimes.
The recommendations are always to start slow, start with some clear liquids, something that's easy, and then slowly build up to your regular diet, high-value foods, proteins, vitamins, and lean meat. And above all, hydration is a very important thing.
The big thing to remember is not to force yourself into something your body is telling you not to do. If you're starting to have pain, nausea, or any signs of food intolerance, then just stop and contact your medical and surgical team as soon as possible.
Common Eating Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Interviewer: What are some of the difficulties patients can experience in trying to do that? I've had surgery before, and I felt really sick the next day because of the anesthesia. What are some of the common experiences, and how do we tackle those?
Dr. Selim: That's absolutely right. Surgery is a big stress on your body. Even the smallest surgery is a major insult to your body that your body is going to react to in feeling stressed, fatigued.
And the other thing to remember is also you're getting a lot of medication for anesthesia. You're getting a lot of pain medication afterward and some other medication specific to your surgery. All that stuff can actually affect your digestion, slow it down, or make you intolerant to a lot of different foods. It all gets better with time, but you really need to start getting some sort of nutrition and hydration as early as possible after the surgery.
One of the strategies to try to avoid the discomfort is to remember the basics. Again, stay away from heavy, greasy foods or carbonated drinks. Those can cause a lot of distension, bloating, and a lot more discomfort. Alcohol can interfere with healing and with some medications. A lot of fiber can also cause a lot of distention. So try to stay with just healthy basic food.
The other big advice we can give is to always start small. Small bites, frequent bites are better than having just three big meals a day. So it's not uncommon to see people snacking all day long after the surgery. Just every couple of hours, get a piece of cheese, an apple, some dairy products, something like that.
Again, I cannot stress enough how important it is to stay hydrated. So getting as much water and liquids as your body can tolerate is very important too.
Warning Signs to Watch For
Interviewer: And are there any particular warning signs that a patient or someone helping take care of the patient should be on the lookout for when it comes to eating, when it comes to their ability to, say, keep food down after surgery, that would be concerning enough for them to maybe call their medical professional?
Dr. Selim: Absolutely. Keep your eyes open on anything that is preventing you from eating or drinking. If you have too much nausea when you're eating or drinking that stops you from doing so, you should not wait until you get dehydrated and weak. You should contact your team as soon as possible.
Obviously, if you get to the point where you're in so much discomfort, your belly is very bloated and distended, and you're vomiting, again, that's a very alarming sign. Depending on the severity of your symptoms, even needing to go to the emergency room.
Tips for a 亚洲自慰视频y Recovery
Interviewer: Now, I think we have a pretty good understanding about how to start eating again after surgery. But I'm sure that there are either some patients or some people that'll be taking care of patients that are still a little concerned. Is there any advice that you would give them or the number one tip that they should remember when it comes to eating after surgery?
Dr. Selim: Sometimes you lose your appetite a little bit after surgery, again, because of all the stress and medication you're getting. But you have to remember, food and water are as important as your medications afterward. So sometimes you just have to remind yourself, set an alarm, make sure you're getting enough hydration and getting enough food. It takes sometimes, in the first few days, a little bit of effort to remind yourself to do that, but it's very important.
Remember, recovery after surgery is a journey. It doesn't happen overnight. There are going to be a few days where you have to do your part, get up, move around, get your nutrition, and just help your body get back to its baseline as soon as possible.