Post Operative Diet

Day 45

Regular Diet

Welcome to the final diet phase!! You are now moving onto a regular diet and more options are open for meal planning. The problem foods listed in the soft solid diet section can be tried now. However, there are a few cautionary tips to be mentioned.

Cautionary tips:

Rice, pasts, and doughy breads may not be tolerated for 6 months or longer after surgery.

Try fresh fruits and vegetables without skins at first and begin eating them with skins after they are tolerated well.

Remember to introduce new foods slowly.

Avoid foods that are hard to digest:

Hard and crunchy foods

Nuts and seeds

Fried and greasy foods

High sugar foods

Try one bite of a new food at a time

Stop eating if you feel too full or nauseated

If needed, go through each diet step again one meal at a time

Portion sizes:

1/2 - 1 cup

4-8 oz

Solid foods may give you more satiety, so your portion sizes may need to be cut down a little bit from where you were compared to a soft diet.

Vitamins and Minerals

For the rest of your life, you will need to take a chewable multivitamin and chewable calcium supplement with vitamin D.

The multivitamin needs to provide 100% of the recommended daily allowances and the calcium supplement must provide 1200mg of calcium and at least 400IU of vitamin D.

For at least five weeks after surgery, you must take crushed, chewable or liquid supplements.

Fluids

- sip water or suck on ice all day

- drink minimum of 32oz a day

- goal volume is 64oz a day

- limit fruit juice to 4oz a day

- juice should be 100% fruit juice

- dilute juice with 50% water

- avoid carbonated/ alcoholic drinks

- beverages should be less than 15

calories

- beverages should be sugar free

- limit caffeine to 4oz a day