Diet after surgery: basic rules of nutrition after surgery

What diet after surgery will be recommended to a specific patient depends on what disease the surgery was performed for and on what organ. It is quite obvious that the diet after spine surgery should be different from the diet after thyroid surgery.

Both the diet after spinal surgery and the diet after thyroid surgery consist exclusively of liquid food, which is taken in small portions 5-6 times a day. Then you can eat thicker food, but also mashed. And already in a week or two after such an operation you can eat almost everything (unless, of course, the doctor gives special instructions).

But in reality, it is far from simple... The need to follow a special diet for the most complete and rapid recovery after surgery is a medical axiom. Therefore, it is useful to familiarize yourself with the basic rules of nutrition after surgery in order to have an idea of what you can eat after surgery and what you cannot eat after surgery on certain organs.

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Diet after abdominal surgery: general principles

Based on the functional characteristics of various systems and organs, and taking into account the specific physiological consequences of their surgical treatment, a corresponding surgical diet after abdominal surgery has been developed. Its goal is to reduce the load on the entire body and on the operated organ, but at the same time provide the body with energy.

What diet after surgery is prescribed immediately after its implementation? Regarding the permissible set of products and methods of their culinary processing, the most strict is the zero diet after surgery. In clinical practice, this diet is observed during the first three days after surgery. This diet consists of sweetened tea (with or without lemon), rosehip decoction, various kissels and diluted fresh juices, fruit and berry jelly, low-fat meat broth and slimy rice broth. Portions are small, but meals are taken up to seven times a day.

Such nutrition helps to avoid unwanted loads on the gastrointestinal tract and the entire digestive system of the operated patient. Moreover, a diet after an operation on the esophagus, a diet after an operation on stomach cancer, a diet after an operation on peritonitis, as well as a diet after an operation on the heart can be prescribed by doctors only after several days, since at first such patients in the intensive care unit can be given nutrition through a tube or by parenteral administration of special drugs.

The zero diet after surgery has three options - A, B and C. The zero (surgical) diet 0A is described above, its daily caloric content is minimal - no more than 780 kcal. The difference from diet 0B is in the addition of rice, buckwheat and oatmeal porridge (liquid and mashed), slimy cereal soups, vegetable broth seasoned with semolina or low-fat chicken broth. In addition, depending on the patient's condition, steamed omelette (only from egg whites) and steamed meat soufflé are allowed. With this diet, low-fat cream, berry mousses and jelly (not sour) are also given. A single volume of food is limited to 360-380 g, the number of meals is 6 times a day, and the daily caloric content should not exceed 1600 kcal.

Diet after abdominal surgery 0B (2200 kcal), in addition to pureed soups, includes dishes from mashed boiled meat, chicken and lean fish; mashed vegetables; liquid milk porridges, mashed cottage cheese with cream, kefir; baked apples and white crackers (no more than 90-100 g per day). In general, such a postoperative diet - as the patient's condition improves - is a kind of transition to a more complete diet, which in most cases is also limited to the indications of various therapeutic diets.

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Diet 1 after surgery

It is necessary to keep in mind that diet 1 after surgery (No. 1A surgical and No. 2 surgical) largely repeats the prescriptions of diet 0B, but with a higher daily caloric content (2800-3000 kcal). The diet is 5-6 times a day. There are two options here - mashed and not mashed.

What should you not eat after surgery if this diet is prescribed? You should not eat meat and fish broths, fatty meat, poultry and fish, mushroom and strong vegetable broths, any fresh bread and pastries and, of course, all pickles, smoked meats, canned goods, hot sauces and seasonings. You should also exclude millet, barley, pearl barley and corn porridge, legume dishes, sour dairy products, spicy cheese and eggs - fried and hard-boiled. Of the vegetables, white cabbage, radish and horseradish, cucumbers and onions, as well as spinach and sorrel are excluded. Diet 1 after surgery also excludes fruits rich in fiber, as well as sour fruits. And also - chocolate, ice cream, black coffee and carbonated drinks.

What can you eat after surgery on this diet? Warm boiled (or steamed) food - in a highly chopped form. You can make soups from mashed vegetables and boiled cereals and cream soups from pre-boiled meat.

Following diet 1 after surgery allows the consumption of sweet fruits and berries in the form of puree, mousse and jelly, and drinks - tea, jelly and compote.

This is the diet after lung surgery, diet after stomach ulcer surgery and diet after stomach cancer surgery. In the latter case, three weeks after surgery, doctors recommend that patients include meat and fish broth in their diet - so that the digestive system begins to work more actively.

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Diet after gallbladder surgery

Diet after gallbladder surgery (partial or complete resection) - after canceling diet 1 - imposes a complete ban on fatty and fried foods; smoked foods, pickles and marinades; excludes the use of canned goods, mushrooms, onions and garlic, as well as confectionery with cream, ice cream and carbonated drinks. Sweets are strictly limited, primarily chocolate.

What can you eat after gallbladder surgery? Gastroenterologists recommend eating only lean meats and fish, first courses based on weak meat and vegetable broths, dried bread, and various low-fat dairy products. When choosing between butter and vegetable oil, you should choose the latter.

It is harmful to eat very hot or cold food: the optimal temperature of food corresponds to normal body temperature. Portions should be small, and there should be at least five meals a day.

Diet 5 after surgery

Diet 5 after surgery is the main therapeutic diet after liver surgery, after gallbladder surgery (including its removal), and also the most frequently prescribed diet after pancreatic surgery.

As expected, meals should be fractional, that is, five or six times a day. The patient needs about 80 g of proteins and fats per day, and carbohydrates - within 350-400 g. The daily caloric content does not exceed 2500 kcal. During the day, it is necessary to drink at least 1.5 liters of water. This gentle diet after surgery allows you to consume 45 g of butter and 65 g of vegetable oil per day, no more than 35 g of sugar and up to 180-200 g of dried bread.

Diet 5 after surgery does not allow in the diet such products as fatty meats and fish, lard, offal; any broths; sausages and canned goods; fatty dairy products; fried and hard-boiled eggs. Also unacceptable is the use of garlic, green onions, radishes, spinach and sorrel, mushrooms and legumes, fresh bread and pastries, confectionery, ice cream, chocolate, black coffee and cocoa. And from the methods of culinary processing, boiling and steaming are used, although baking and stewing are also allowed.

Diet after bowel surgery

Considering the location of the surgical intervention, the diet after bowel surgery completely excludes the consumption of coarse plant fiber, as well as any food products that are difficult to digest, cause increased contractions of the walls of the gastrointestinal tract, that is, intestinal peristalsis, and also provoke flatulence.

Easily digestible liquid homogenized food in small quantities 5-6 times a day are the main rules on which the diet after intestinal adhesion surgery, diet after sigmoid colon surgery, as well as diet after intestinal obstruction surgery and diet after rectal surgery are based. As the condition improves with these pathologies, the doctor gives permission to include lean meat, poultry, sea fish, eggs and low-fat dairy products in the menu.

Since the most suitable diet for the intestines after surgery is a gentle diet, the food must be thoroughly chopped. Over time, diet 4 is prescribed, in which the menu completely excludes vegetables and fruits (in any form); milk soups and dairy products (except cottage cheese); bread and flour products (except wheat bread rusks); meat soups (with any dressing, except steamed meatballs or boiled chopped meat); fatty meat, sausage and hot dogs; fatty or salted fish; fats (you can only put a little butter in ready-made dishes).

The diet after bowel surgery does not allow the consumption of legumes and any pasta, all sweets (including honey), as well as cocoa, coffee and carbonated drinks.

What can you eat after bowel surgery? Strained cereals (buckwheat, rice, oatmeal); vegetable broths (without the vegetables themselves); soft-boiled eggs and steamed omelettes; kissels and jellies (apples, pears, quince); black and green tea, cocoa, weak black coffee. It is recommended to drink diluted fresh fruit and berry juices (except grape, plum and apricot).

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Diet after appendicitis surgery

The diet after an appendicitis operation aims to ensure the fastest possible absorption of food and consists of eating only liquid food in the first days after the operation. What should you not eat after an operation to remove an inflamed appendix? It is strictly forbidden to eat any raw vegetables and fruits, legumes, milk, fatty and fried foods, spicy and salty foods, as well as strong tea and coffee. Fractional meals also contribute to the rapid absorption of food: 7-8 times a day in small portions.

For 8-10 days, the diet after appendicitis surgery consists of: low-fat broth, vegetable and rice broth, pureed vegetable soups and liquid puree (from zucchini, pumpkin, non-acidic apples). The diet menu after appendectomy surgery also includes porridge cooked in water (rice, buckwheat, oatmeal), boiled or steamed chicken, veal and low-fat sea fish, fruit and berry kissels, compotes, rosehip broth. Then boiled and stewed vegetables, vermicelli, eggs (soft-boiled or protein steam omelet), yesterday's white bread, cottage cheese, fermented milk drinks are introduced into the diet.

After the stitches are removed and the patient is discharged from the hospital, a gentle diet after surgery is recommended - therapeutic diet 2, which excludes from the diet: fatty meat, pork fat, salted and smoked foods, canned goods, fresh bread, baked goods, legumes and millet, mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs. It is contraindicated to eat onions and garlic, radishes and horseradish, sweet peppers and cucumbers, fresh fruits and berries with rough skin or grains. A complete ban is imposed on cakes, ice cream, cocoa, black coffee and grape juice.

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Diet after stomach surgery

At the first stage, the diet after stomach surgery and the diet after stomach ulcer surgery are diets 0A, 0B and 0B (read more above). The peculiarity of this clinical case is that salt can be completely excluded from the diet, and the number of meals can be increased to 8-10 times a day - with the same minimum single amounts. But the daily fluid intake should be at least two liters.

The diet after gastric ulcer surgery (on average, three days after surgery) is diet 1A surgical (pureed). The list of permitted products includes the same as during an exacerbation of peptic ulcer disease, i.e. low-fat chicken broth, milk and fruit jelly and jellies, low-fat cream, mucous soups (with the addition of butter), eggs (only soft-boiled), sweetened decoction or infusion of rose hips, carrot juice and diluted non-acidic fruit juices. Patients adhere to this diet for about half a month. Then the range of products and the diet menu after surgery gradually expands, but the key principle of nutrition is preserved in order to protect the gastric mucosa from any irritants for as long as possible and thereby promote recovery.

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Diet after hernia surgery

The diet prescribed by doctors after hernia surgery - diet after inguinal hernia surgery or diet after umbilical hernia surgery - in the first days is absolutely similar to the diet that patients receive after operations on the intestines and stomach.

Approximately on the fifth or sixth day after the operation, the diet is expanded by various first courses, primarily vegetarian soups, as well as second courses - cereals and meat. However, the principles of a gentle diet after the operation are maintained for some time (it is determined only by the attending physician).

In order to prevent constipation, which leads to overstrain of the smooth muscles of the peritoneum and pelvis, doctors advise patients who have undergone hernia suturing to avoid fatty foods, eat more plant foods, not overeat, and control their weight.

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Diet after hemorrhoid surgery

Diet after hemorrhoid surgery and diet after anal fissure surgery, as well as diet after prostate adenoma surgery are based on the same principles. And the key point that unites therapeutic nutrition in surgical treatment of the listed pathologies is the prevention of constipation, prevention of flatulence and facilitation of defecation.

Therefore, on the first day, such patients are only shown to drink, and then a diet is prescribed that completely excludes: milk, rye bread, cabbage, radish and horseradish, onions and garlic, spicy greens, legumes, raw fruits and berries rich in fiber (apples, pears, grapes, gooseberries, etc.), as well as all types of nuts. Such a diet in some sources is called a slag-free diet after surgery. We would like to note that such therapeutic nutrition is not listed in official dietetics...

It is clear that it is unacceptable to eat particularly harmful foods (fatty, spicy, salty and sweet) and anything canned. And what can be eaten after surgery in this area includes crumbly buckwheat and millet porridge, wheat white bread (made from semolina flour), all fermented milk products, lean beef and chicken. Fried foods are taboo: everything must be boiled, stewed or steamed. Drinking should be plentiful to avoid problems with the bladder.

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Diet after hysterectomy

The diet recommended for women after hysterectomy, as well as the diet after ovarian surgery, is not much different from the rules already given above. However, a couple of days after these operations, the diet is completely different: no liquid porridges, slimy soups or jelly.

Firstly, the volume of liquid drunk during the day should be at least three liters. Secondly, food should promote loosening of the intestines. To do this, doctors introduce fermented milk products (low-fat kefir is especially useful), various cereal dishes (for example, crumbly porridge), weak broths and boiled meat, light vegetable salads (except cabbage) with sunflower or olive oil, fruits and berries (except grapes, figs and pomegranates) into the diet menu after surgery on the uterus and its appendages. The meal regimen is small portions, from five to seven times a day.

The following remain banned for a long time: salty, spicy and fatty foods; almost all groceries; everything fried; legume dishes; white bread, pastries and confectionery; strong tea, coffee, cocoa (and chocolate), as well as alcoholic beverages.

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Diet after heart surgery

The diet after heart surgery involves a zero diet (0A) for the first three days. Then, the operated patients are transferred to diet 1 after surgery (1 surgical), and approximately on the 5th-6th day (depending on the condition), diet 10 or 11 is prescribed. Similar rules apply when a diet is prescribed after bypass surgery.

We think it is necessary to briefly characterize the mentioned diets. So, therapeutic diet 10 is prescribed for diseases of the cardiovascular system and is aimed at normalizing the functions of blood circulation and general metabolism. Its key features are a significant reduction in the consumption of table salt, liquid (up to 1200 ml per day), fats (up to 65-70 g) and carbohydrates (up to 350-370 g), as well as enrichment of nutrition with potassium and magnesium. The daily caloric content is an energy value of 2500 kcal.

Protein diet after surgery (diet 11) is used to increase the body's defenses and restore normal condition, in particular, in case of anemia, general exhaustion and chronic infections. In many cases, it is also prescribed to improve the quality of nutrition of patients with other pathologies, since this is a protein diet after surgery (up to 140 g of protein per day). This physiologically complete diet is fortified with vitamins and calories (3700-3900 kcal), which provides up to 110 g of fat and up to 500 g of carbohydrates. With such a diet after heart surgery, patients eat five times a day. There are no restrictions on the culinary processing of food and its consistency, but in any case, fried and fatty foods are contraindicated even in the absence of any internal diseases.

The diet after bypass surgery is aimed at reducing the cholesterol level in the blood, and its recommendations must be followed constantly to prevent cholesterol deposition in the blood vessels.

The diet after bypass surgery limits fat consumption and completely excludes all fried and fatty foods, as well as ghee and sunflower oil (only cold-pressed olive oil is allowed). The diet menu after coronary artery bypass surgery should include: boiled meat (lean beef and veal), beef liver, poultry, low-fat dairy products, white sea fish, legumes, vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts.

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Diet after kidney surgery

As experts note, a diet after kidney surgery - in the case of ultrasound crushing of stones in it - is not prescribed, but it is recommended to eat light food, steamed, not to eat fatty and spicy foods, and to avoid canned food and carbonated water.

If the stones are removed by abdominal surgery, the patient needs a zero diet after surgery, then a diet 1 after surgery (return to the beginning of the publication and read the characteristics of these diets).

In the standard course of the postoperative period, on about the fifth or sixth day, doctors set their patients a diet in accordance with the therapeutic dietary table 11 (also described above).

But the diet after kidney removal surgery (after eating according to the zero and first surgical diets) assumes a balanced, complete diet with some well-founded restrictions. Thus, it is necessary to add less salt to food, reduce the amount of meat dishes in the diet, eat black bread instead of white bread, drink kefir instead of milk. And there is no doubt that steamed cutlets are healthier than fried ones, and stewed rabbit meat is better for a single kidney than pork shashlik.

Various cereals, dairy products, vegetables, fruits – all this is allowed. And all canned goods, semi-finished products and food products with preservatives, flavorings and food colors can only harm. By the way, there are different reasons for kidney removal, so the diet after kidney removal surgery is prescribed to each patient individually.

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Diet after bladder surgery

All diets for surgical treatment of pelvic pathologies, including the diet after bladder surgery, prescribe the use of food that is easily digestible. Therefore, it is natural to prescribe a diet after abdominal surgery, that is, food with a liquid and semi-liquid consistency, with a limitation or complete exclusion of fats, table salt, coarse fiber, etc.

The main recommendations of urologists regarding diet after bladder surgery are to drink more water more frequently and in greater quantities, as well as to avoid foods that contain oxalic acid compounds (oxalates).

Sorrel, spinach, celery, parsley and all leafy green vegetables; eggplants, potatoes and carrots are high in oxalates. And to avoid increasing urine acidity, it is recommended not to overuse marinades, sour fruits and fruit juices, fermented milk products, as well as beer and wine.

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Post-surgery diet recipes

Is it necessary to give detailed recipes for a diet after surgery, in the sense of that zero diet? It is unlikely, because while patients eat slimy rice broth or low-fat chicken broth, they are in the hospital…

And outside the hospital you will have to learn how to cook, for example, milk jelly. To prepare it, you will need a teaspoon of regular potato starch and the same amount of granulated sugar per glass of milk.

Milk should be brought to a boil and starch diluted in a small amount of water (50-60 ml) should be poured into it. Starch is added with continuous stirring - so that the jelly turns out homogeneous. Add sugar and remove from heat. The principle of preparation of all jelly is similar to this recipe for a diet after surgery.

Here is some advice on making strained porridges - rice, buckwheat or oatmeal. In order not to bother with straining the ready porridge, you need to grind the corresponding cereal and oat flakes almost to the state of flour. And pour the already ground product into boiling water (or into boiling milk) while stirring. Such porridge cooks much faster.

Diet after surgery is the most important component of rehabilitation after any surgical intervention. And now you know the basic rules of therapeutic nutrition.