The best diet plan for 10 days after bowel surgery

There is no absolute unified standard for the best diet for 10 days after intestinal surgery. The core principles are low residue, moderate, small meals and frequent meals. Priority is given to ensuring energy and protein supply, and avoiding irritating, gas-producing, and high-crude fiber foods. The final plan needs to be dynamically adjusted based on the type of surgery, personal tolerance, and the advice of the attending doctor.

Don’t be fooled by the unified recipes on the Internet. I have seen too many situations in clinical practice: It is also an intestinal surgery, and someone just cut a small 0.5cm polyp under colonoscopy. The trauma is minimal. After 3 days, you can eat soft rice normally. After 10 days, as long as you don’t eat anything too spicy or cold, there are basically no contraindications.； Some people had an open right hemicolectomy, in which dozens of centimeters of intestinal tube were cut. The anastomosis was not firmly established after 10 days. Eating a little too much food with residue may cause problems. The diet plans of the two are definitely very different.

Now clinically, there are actually two different tendencies towards diet at this stage, and there is no right or wrong. The traditional surgical approach is conservative and believes that the first 10 days after surgery should be dominated by residue-free liquids and semi-liquids to minimize the burden on intestinal peristalsis and minimize the risk of anastomotic leakage and intestinal obstruction. ； The concept of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) promoted in recent years encourages early eating. As long as the patient has normal gas and bowel movements and no abdominal pain and distension, a small amount of low-residue soft food, or even a small amount of stewed lean minced meat, can be gradually added 10 days after the operation, which can help supplement nutrition and speed up recovery. Which one to choose depends on your own recovery status and the judgment of the surgeon - after all, he is the one who knows your intraoperative situation best, such as whether the anastomosis is sewn firmly and whether there is any risk of leakage. Listening to his advice is definitely more reliable than the general guide found on the Internet.

If you're not sure what to eat, you won't get into trouble if you choose these things: The safest option is thin millet oil, which means millet has been boiled slowly for an hour, and the yellowish layer of delicate oily liquid floating on it has almost no residue. It's easy to absorb and can replenish carbohydrates.； There are also egg custards that are steamed until they melt in your mouth. Don't add soy sauce, chopped green onions and other exciting seasonings. Just sprinkle a little less salt. The protein-supplementing effect is better than that of stewing broth. ； There are also oil-free bone soups and pigeon soups that have been skimmed off all the fat in advance. Drinking them will not burden the intestines. If you feel it is tasteless, you can throw in two young vegetable leaves and cook them for 30 seconds. Take them out and get some fresh flavor. If you usually have a poor appetite and feel bloated after eating something, just buy medical enteral nutrition preparations, such as Ansu and Nengquansu, and drink it according to the instructions. The nutritional ratio is more comprehensive than the soup you cook at home for a week. Many patients think that this is "for severe patients" and are unwilling to touch it. It is really unnecessary. Supplementing enough nutrition within 10 days after surgery is the first priority.

Don’t believe in evil. Last month, there was a 28-year-old young man who had undergone intestinal polypectomy. He felt that he was young and recovered quickly. On the 9th day after the operation, he asked a friend to go out for skewers and drank half a bottle of iced Coke. That night, he went to the emergency room clutching his stomach. Fortunately, it was just indigestion and intestinal spasm, and there was no major problem. If a patient who had an intestinal anastomosis went through such trouble, he or she might develop anastomotic leakage, and the risk is ridiculously high. There is also an aunt who heard from relatives about eating celery to relieve constipation after the operation. She fried a large plate of celery and ate it 10 days after the operation. As a result, the thick and hard fiber caused pain in the newly grown intestinal mucosa, and she had diarrhea for two days. The originally good recovery progress was delayed for a week. In addition, there are foods that produce a lot of gas, such as sweet potatoes and beans, as well as nuts, leeks, and corn that are difficult to digest. It is best not to touch them at this stage. The intestines that have just undergone surgery are very delicate, and there is really no need to suffer the pain of being pulled by the flatulence and being rubbed by the hard residue.

If you are recovering well, it is not impossible to try adding new foods: for example, you drank rice oil for a day and ate two custard meals today without any discomfort, your exhaust and defecation were normal, and there was no vague abdominal pain or bloating. Then you can try adding new foods tomorrow. One or two spoonfuls of steamed pumpkin puree, or two sips of stewed lean minced meat. After eating, observe for a long time. If you feel no discomfort, you can continue eating. If you feel a little bloated or painful, immediately return to the previous diet. Don't hold on.

One final word, don’t believe in the old saying of “drinking more soup to replenish wounds”. The most in the soup is water and fat, and the protein content is less than 1%. If you really need to supplement nutrition, if you can eat solid food, sipping half a spoonful of stewed lean meat is much more effective than drinking three bowls of large bone soup. Don’t compare your food with the patients in the same ward. The person in the next bed can eat soft noodles for 10 days after surgery, but you feel bloated after eating it. That doesn’t mean your recovery is poor. It’s just that everyone’s intestinal tolerance is naturally different. It’s better to take your time than to rush to take supplements and cause problems.