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A bowel resection is a surgery to remove part of the large intestine that is blocked or diseased. After surgery, not all patients know what they can and cannot eat. Certain foods can irritate a patient's intestines or make post-surgery complications worse. Here's a guide to what to avoid and what a patient's diet should be after a bowel resection.
1. Avoid chewy or crunchy foods
Patient can only drink liquid immediately after bowel resection. A few days later, the patient can start solids. The doctor will ask the patient after surgery to start with soft foods such as cooked vegetables, bananas, avocados, mashed potatoes, and soft proteins. A patient's intestines after ileostomy may be swollen and soft foods will pass through this part of the intestine more easily.
2. Limit fiber consumption
What should I abstain from bowel resection? In fact, our stomachs cannot fully digest fiber-rich foods like wholegrain breads and cereals. This portion of fiber goes to the large intestine and is digested there. A bowel resection patient's large intestine is still in the process of healing, so don't overwork it. Establishing a low-fiber diet for 4 to 6 weeks can be helpful for patients after bowel resection.
3. Pause the consumption of raw foods
Uncooked fruits and vegetables are high in fiber, they can be crunchy (like carrots) or chewy (like celery) that are difficult to puree or crush. Some fruits have skins (like apples) or seeds that are difficult to digest. All of these foods can irritate a patient's large intestine as it heals. Avoid these foods for a few weeks while the patient is recovering, then slowly add these roughages back into the bowel resection patient's diet.
4. Avoid fat and grease
Patients often have diarrhea after bowel resection. Because a person's large intestine suddenly shortens, digested food doesn't have enough time to move (long enough for solid stools to form) before stool leaves the body. Several things can make diarrhea worse:
Fatty meat; Butter and cream; Fried foods; Snacks have a greasy taste. Diarrhea usually goes away after a few weeks. The patient can then enjoy these foods again over time.
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5. Eating lightly is better
Spicy foods can irritate the patient's digestive system and cause diarrhea or gas, discomfort - especially when the patient's intestines are healing. Your doctor may recommend a bland diet for several weeks after surgery. This includes not only spicy spices, but coarse textured herbs and spices such as finely ground rosemary, ground pepper etc. can also cause digestive problems for bowel resection patients. .
6. Be careful with beans and milk
Beans contain a type of sugar that is not easily digested by the body. Therefore, enterectomists may experience bloating or feel bloated after eating legumes. In addition, patients after bowel surgery may also have trouble with lactose, a sugar found in milk and other dairy products. Gas produced in the intestines is a normal part of the digestive process, but during the healing period after bowel surgery, the gases produced can be uncomfortable or even painful.
7. Stay away from Coffee and Soda
The caffeine found in both of these beverages is a stimulant that speeds up activity in the body including the intestines. Drinks that are sugary or contain artificial sweeteners can cause diarrhea in bowel resection patients. The bubbles in soda can cause gas and bloating. While it's important to drink enough water after bowel surgery, it's important to choose your fluids wisely.8. Quit Alcohol
Alcohol can stimulate the bowels of patients and cause them to have more frequent bowel movements. Avoid alcohol until your digestion returns to normal. Plus, most doctors advise patients not to drink alcohol after any type of surgery. Alcohol can affect the effectiveness of pain relievers and slow down the healing process.
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9. Say goodbye to big meals
When starting to eat solid foods again, the patient may feel full more quickly than before. Therefore, patients should try to eat many small meals a day instead of three large meals. Then the patient will digest food easier and they will cause less gas or bloating. Eat slowly and chew each bite thoroughly until the texture of the food resembles mashed potatoes before swallowing.
10. Slowly return to normal diet
As the bowel resection patient's digestion gets better, the patient can begin to return to a normal diet. Add a new food each day, adding only 1 new food at a time to learn how your body responds to each. This will also help the patient's intestines slowly adjust to digesting more fiber-rich foods such as fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Note that bowel resection patients should drink plenty of water to avoid constipation.
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Reference source: webmd.com
