My Diet Affects Healing After Surgery
During surgery, you don’t have much control over how things will go. The success of your procedure is in the hands of your surgeon and the other professionals in the operating room. But after your surgery, the choices you make can play a big role in determining how effectively you heal and how quickly you recover. This includes what you eat and drink in the hours, days, and weeks that follow the operation.
While you may not seem to be doing anything during surgery, your body is actually expending a greater than usual amount of energy to deal with the physical trauma involved. The same goes for the time afterward, when your body’s natural healing properties kick into overdrive to help you recover. All of this work requires the right amount, and right kind, of calories to ensure that the healing process is as efficient as possible and that your body is positioned to fight back against any potential complications.
Many patients may need to switch up their diets after surgery to focus on those foods that provide the most benefits for healing and recovery. If you are about to have or just finished a surgical procedure, fill up your shopping cart with foods that contain ample amounts of the following nutrients to help you get back on your feet and back to your life as soon as possible:
- Protein – Nuts, eggs, dairy, beans, meat, fish, and poultry are all full of the protein that fuels your body’s recovery capabilities, helps your muscles and bones to repair themselves, and strengthens your immune system to fight infection.
- Vitamin C – Collagen is critical to the health of your ligaments and tendons, especially when they are rebuilding themselves. Vitamin C increases your body’s collagen production and helps strengthen these connective tissues. Get plenty of vitamin C by eating plenty of citrus fruits, berries, vegetables, and potatoes.
- Calcium – You already know that calcium is the key to strong and healthy bones, and it is even more critical after the stress of surgery. Drink plenty of milk and further up your calcium intake with other calcium-rich foods like cheese, spinach, and kale.
- Vitamin D – Calcium only strengthens your bones if the body absorbs it efficiently, and vitamin D does precisely that. Orange juice, almond milk, and many of the same foods that are abundant in calcium and protein are also full of vitamin D.
Of course, eating the right foods after surgery is only half the challenge. Avoiding the wrong foods is just as important. Stay away or minimize your intake of alcohol, caffeine, excessive sugar, and salt as they can all slow bone healing.
Schedule an Appointment at OrthoMiami Today.
At OrthoMiami we are committed to using the most advanced and effective methods to relieve pain, repair joints, and restore mobility to our patients. When surgery is needed, our skilled and experienced Miami orthopedic surgeons use the utmost care and precision to produce optimal results with minimal downtime.
The OrthoMiami team always welcomes new patients and can generally schedule new patient appointments within a couple of days. Please contact us today at (305) 596-2828 to schedule your appointment. We look forward to meeting you.
