Nutrition Tips for your Surgery Recovery

5 Nutrition Tips for your Surgery Recovery

Nutrition seems like a complicated subject, but when you are recovering, it is just as important as many other elements of your recovery process. You need to have a healthy diet in order to allow your injury the right ingredients to heal itself. Here are a few tips to help you line up with good nutrition for your recovery period.

Tip #1: Cut Out Processed Foods

This tip sounds simple, but it can be very hard to do. Processed foods, also often called “junk food” can be very addicting and you may feel like it is something you HAVE to have. If you cut it out or at least greatly reduce it, however, you will feel less and fewer cravings for it. Your body will be getting the nutrients it needs, and you won’t feel like filling it with things you don’t really need. Cut out as much processed food as you can, and you might find that you feel better in general. Once you are recovered, you might even want to continue the habit!

Tip #2: Gain Control Of Your Portions

In order to have the proper nutrition for your recovery, you need to have room on your plate for all of the essentials. If you fill your plate with a slab of meat so large that nothing else will fit, you won’t get in the fruits and vegetables you need to heal faster. Try to keep the meat portion of your plate down to the size of the palm of your hand. Fill the rest of the plate with vegetables along with a small portion of whole-grain bread. You can have fruit for a snack later, but make sure you don’t eat a whole bowl of berries. Just grab a cup full and be done with it.

Tip #3: Don’t Skip Meals

Sometimes, when you are recovering, you simply won’t feel like eating. Other times, you might get hungry, but you won’t want to go to the trouble of getting up and getting the food you need. But when you are recovering, it’s important that you eat to keep your strength up. You are going to need the energy to do everything from walking across the room to taking a shower and beyond. Keep your strength as high as possible by eating regularly. Even if you aren’t hungry, try to get some fruits or vegetables in so your blood sugar doesn’t crash causing you to be even more fatigued than you already are.

Tip #4: Control Your Ingredients

If you want to know what you are eating, the easiest way to do that is to make the meals yourself at home. If you go out to eat, you won’t know exactly what you are getting. Make a few simple meals when you have the energy and put them in the freezer so you can pull them out when you are hungry and don’t have the time to cook. When you know what goes into the meal, you will know what you should get out of it as well.

Tip #5: Drink Drink Drink

Keeping your body hydrated is especially important while you are recovering. Keep some water by your side at all times and sip on it even when you aren’t thirsty. In fact, when you DO feel thirst, that is your body’s way of telling you that you’re already on the path to dehydration. Drink as much as possible. It’ll help you keep your veins open so your pain will lessen.

Follow these nutrition tips for your recovery and your body will be as strong as possible while it heals itself. You might even like the way it feels in general and keeps the tips around once you are back up on both feet!