Sunday December 12, 2010
The road to recovery
By INDRA BALARATNAM

Practical tips to eating well after undergoing surgery.

PROPER nutrition is important for health and wellbeing. This is especially so when you are recovering from surgery.

The process of surgery can be very draining on the body. Many patients I see (after surgery) experience a loss of weight for several reasons – namely muscle wastage, lack of appetite, and dehydration.
When you’re recuperating from surgery, make sure you always have a protein serving during meals. For example, instead of just making plain porridge, be sure to fortify it with protein by adding minced meat, or fish, or egg.

This type of weight loss can negatively affect the quality of life by prolonging healing and recovery. This in turn leaves the patient susceptible to developing post-surgery complications.

Once they have left the hospital and returned home, many patients are anxious about their recovery.

Even their family members have lots of questions to ask about what are the best foods they can prepare and give to their family member who has just had surgery.

The nutrition goal for a person recovering from surgery is to ensure they eat sufficient calories and protein by having balanced meals.

After undergoing surgery, it would be beneficial for you to seek the help of a qualified dietitian to help assess and make recommendations for meal planning. Ask your doctor or surgeon to refer you to see a dietitian. The main goals for a patient during this post-surgery time are:

·To prevent or replenish nutrient deficiencies

·To preserve lean muscle mass and muscle

·To protect the patient’s immune function to reduce the risk of secondary infection

More importantly, the main purpose of good nutrition is to maximise quality of life. Your illness and subsequent surgery may have struck you a blow, but now it’s time to fight back.

Here are some practical tips to help you do this.

Eat small but frequent meals

You won’t get sufficient calories if you don’t make a conscientious effort to eat. Eating large meals may seem daunting, so start slow by eating small, frequent meals throughout the day.

Even if it’s a beverage with crackers, it is still energy that will help to replenish loss of nutrients.

Fortified nutritional supplement drinks are particularly helpful as they are fortified with essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. A small cup is equivalent to having a small meal of rice, meat, and vegetables.

Focus on calorie-dense foods

Since you’ll be eating small portions frequently, make sure that the small amount of food is calorie-dense and boosted with protein.

For a body that is recovering from surgery, these nutrients will aid in providing energy and rebuilding tissue.

High protein food sources are meats, fish, cheese, milk, yogurt, eggs, beans, taufu, soya milk, and fortified nutritional supplement drinks. A serving of meat suitable for a post-surgery patient is 150 grams of lean meat, two eggs (if you’re watching your cholesterol, discard one of the egg yolks), 1½ cup of beans/legumes, one to two squares of tofu or two tablespoons of peanut butter.

Start slow if your appetite is still poor, but aim to eat a little more protein each day as your appetite returns.

So, if you’re making a meal, make sure you always have a protein serving. For example, a popular post-recovery dish is rice porridge.

Instead of just making plain porridge, be sure to fortify it with protein by adding minced meat or fish or egg. Similarly, you can add an egg into broth, such as egg-drop soup. Pureed cream soups are also an excellent calorie-dense dish to make, such as cream of pumpkin, or cream of potato soup.

Keep yourself hydrated

Post surgery and medications can dehydrate, so it’s important to remember to constantly replenish fluid loss by drinking sufficiently.

Recommended liquids are water, non-carbonated isotonic drinks with electrolytes, milk, fruit juices, soya bean milk, soups, and foods prepared with broth, gravies, and liquids.

Bear in mind that caffeine drinks such as coffee and tea are diuretics, meaning they draw water out of your body. If the taste of plain water is too bland, you can always flavour it by using a small amount of cordial or diluting fruit juice with water.

Unless you are on a fluid restriction diet advised by your doctor and dietitian, aim to drink two to three litres per day (about eight to 12 cups) to keep you sufficiently hydrated.

I recommend you keep a large container of water which is two or three litres in volume. By the end of the day, you should finish that container of water. Keep glasses of water everywhere you are in the house – by your bedside, by the chair where you watch TV, so that it’ll constantly remind you to sip on fluids.

Have snacks to boost calorie intake

It is perfectly fine to snack in between meals to boost your energy intake. Go for calorie-dense snacks such as sandwiches, puddings, fortified nutritional supplement drinks, boiled eggs, pau, crackers, oatmeal, wholegrain cereals, granola bars, cheese, salted nuts, toast with butter and jam, to name several examples.

Get family and friends to eat with you

Many of my patients find that they have more appetite when someone accompanies them during meal times. If you can manage it, come out of your bedroom to have your meals at the dining table.

Having your meals in bed can dampen your appetite as it feels too much like being in a hospital.

You can always invite friends over to have a meal with you while recuperating at home. Seeing your friends and having a chit chat will definitely lift up your spirits.

When meal times become more fun, your appetite will increase as well.

Good nutrition is important as part of your recuperation and recovery process to allow your body to rebuild itself. All it takes is some pre-planning and it will not seem so overwhelming. In no time, you will be fit as a fiddle again.

> Indra Balaratnam (Bsc Dietetics, US) is a consultant dietitian who runs her own dietetic practice in Kuala Lumpur. She specialises in making home visits to patients who require dietary counseling. She is also the co-author of the nutrition cookbook “Healthy Eating – Recipes for the Asian Palate” (2004 Marshall Cavendish). This article is courtesy of Enercal Plus.