foods to eat before and after surgery

I am having surgery next week (TAH) and would like to know if there are certain foods I should or should not eat before surgery and also what foods to stay away from after? I know not to eat spicy foods nor drink carbonated nor caffeinated beverages, but other than that I'm not too sure.

Just eat normally before the surgery. You won't be able to eat for a few days after and, if you have no complications you usually can go onto a normal diet when you get home.

My GYN office had me drink "at least" a quart of Gatorade the afternoon/evening before surgery. They recommend it with any bowel prep to keep you from getting dehydrated and getting your electrolytes out of whack. Don't know if you'll be doing a bowel prep or not, but either way, Gatorade the evening prior would prob. be good.

Oh yes, I will be doing the "special" diet the day before. And also the bowel prep also. I was just wondering if there were certain foods to avoid before surgery. (Like things I would be eating for Thanksgiving!)

Proteins are supposed to promote healing.

Yes...my Dr. didn't tell me about the gatorade but I did it anyway and I think it really helped me on the day of and day after surgery. With everything coming out of there, the gatorade really did make me feel better...no dehydration.

You don't have to worry about what to eat until the day before surgery. Then, you probably won't want to eat much after that magnesium citrate starts working! But do drink LOTS of gatorade that day!

I am 7 days post op and have found that a bland diet seems to make me more comfortable. Tried a piece of pizza on Friday and really felt bad on Sat. morning. Seems that gas producing foods are a little harder to tolerate than normal. Other than that you should be able to resume a normal diet within a few days post op.
I have been eating a lot of soups and lots of fruit.
Hope that helps-Good luck!

Not true about caffeine! You can have that before & after, just not when you're NPO, of course.
I wouldn't have survived, otherwise <g>
joano

Unless you've been told not to eat specific foods, or to go on a special diet (that means instructed by your DR, not the neighbor, your best friend, or even what you've read here) continue to eat normally before surgery. There are some herbal supplements that should be avoided though.

I had a pepperoni pizza, with diet Pepsi (of course) as my "last" meal, about 6PM. Then around 9PM it was bowel prep time.

For the first 48 hours after surgery I was on a liquid diet, cause I just didn't have any gas to pass and they wouldn't let me eat solid food til I did. Almost as soon as I got in my room they brought me cold ginger ale with ice, and a straw to drink it with. Even though I'd heard that would cause terrible gas it didn't.

After I got home I didn't have much of an appetite. I drank lots of juice and water, ate oatmeal, soup, cereal, applesauce. I normally like spicy foods but for a few weeks they didn't appeal to me at all. I think it was at least 3 weeks before I had any pizza, and we usually have it every Friday.

I am 2 weeks postop tomorrow, and can eat normally, but not always feeling like it. Try to keep the protein up and the gassy stuff away for a little while. For some reason Rice Chex (with whole milk ) seems to be somewhat addictive right now...