The Importance of Nutrition in Surgical and Injury Recovery

Around 15 million Americans have surgery each year, meaning that many people will undergo a surgical procedure in their lives. While the surgery itself is critical in determining how quickly patients heal from an operation, something else also plays a crucial role — nutrition. 

The food you eat can determine how effectively you heal from surgery. Learn about the importance of nutrition in recovering from an operation.

How Does Nutrition Help With Recovery?

One of the recommended steps in postoperative care is to eat a healthy diet. Eating balanced meals filled with macronutrients and micronutrients is essential for overall health. However, it’s even more vital when you’ve recently undergone surgery since your body may be weaker than usual. Proper nutrition helps ensure that you heal and recover as speedily and effectively as possible. 

The right nutrition after surgery can assist your recovery in the following ways: 

Reduced risk of malnutrition: Eating too little — or not eating enough of the right things — can cause malnutrition. Since your body needs all the strength it can get to heal during the post-surgery period, you need to prioritize getting enough nutrients to sustain recovery. 

Tissue regeneration: After surgery, your muscles, tissues and wounds need time to heal. A balanced diet with ample protein can aid with this regeneration. 

Inflammation reduction: Because surgery is traumatic for your body and causes wounds, you may experience increased inflammation. Foods that fight inflammation, alongside anti-inflammatory medication, may help reduce this swelling and pain.

Boosted immune response: Surgery takes a lot out of you, so it’s natural to feel weaker than usual after the procedure. However, your body might have a harder time fighting off possible infections. Eating food to boost your immune response can help you stay healthy even though you might be more vulnerable to illnesses. 

What to Eat After Surgery to Heal Faster

Talking to your surgeon or a dietician is the best way to ensure you’re consuming the right foods after surgery, as they can help you develop a custom dietary plan. However, there are a few foods to eat after surgery that everyone can benefit from.

1. Anti-Inflammatory Foods

Omega-3 fatty acids help reduce inflammation, making them ideal postoperative healing foods. Leafy greens and fatty fish, such as salmon, are rich in omega-3 and can help your body fight post-surgery inflammation. 

Recent studies have shown that eating fish containing omega-3 fights inflammation in two ways. The DHA fatty acid lowers the levels of proteins that cause inflammation, whereas the EPA acid produces by-products that help regulate the immune system. 

2. Foods Rich in Vitamins and Minerals

Here are a few essential vitamins and minerals and some food options to help you consume enough of them:

• Vitamin C: Vitamin C can help your wounds heal quicker. It’s also easily accessible. Some common sources of vitamin C include citrus fruits, strawberries, tomatoes, potatoes and broccoli. If you aim to eat a wide range of fruits and vegetables every day, you will get a healthy dose of vitamin C. 
• Vitamin D: Vitamin D is crucial since it performs various functions to keep you healthy and speed up the healing process. This vitamin ensures bone health, regulates your immune system and plays a role in brain function. You can get vitamin D from the sun, but if you want to boost it through your nutrition, you should eat food like cheese, egg yolks and mushrooms. 
• Magnesium: Magnesium can promote bone health, making it an excellent mineral for those who have had orthopedic surgery. It also aids in sound sleep. Since much of your recovery will occur while you sleep, ensuring enough high-quality rest is critical in your healing. Magnesium is commonly found in seeds, nuts and beans.
• Calcium: Your bones and teeth contain over 99% of all the calcium in your body, and calcium plays a significant role in ensuring that your bones break down and rebuild correctly. This mineral is most commonly found in dairy products.

3. Foods to Boost Your Immune System

In general, a balanced diet that contains enough of the essential nutrients should support a healthy immune system. Studies have shown that micronutrient deficiencies can affect your cells’ immune response, so if your body is in a vulnerable state — such as recovering from surgery — taking additional measures to boost your immune health can help.

Since vitamin C aids immunity, eat foods like oranges and other fruits rich in this vitamin to support your immune system. Probiotics also support a functioning immune system. You can buy probiotic supplements or eat foods like yogurt that contain probiotics. 

4. Protein 

A large part of surgery recovery is healing your wounds and the surrounding tissue and muscles. Since most surgeries involve some type of incision, the parts of your body surrounding the cut are often harmed during the operation. 

While this is natural and should heal with time, you can assist the process by eating enough protein. Protein helps with wound healing by producing collagen and maintaining skin health, thus aiding tissue repair. If you have a chronic wound post-surgery, your protein needs may increase by as much as 250%, so you must get enough of it during this time. 

Ideally, protein should come from natural sources such as meat, dairy and legumes, but if you’re struggling to meet your protein goals, you may need to take supplements such as protein shakes. 

The Importance of a Tailored Nutritional Plan 

Including the above foods in your diet is an excellent first step toward meeting your nutritional needs during surgery recovery. However, it’s best to work with an expert to create a custom plan.

A tailored after-surgery diet is:

• Based on your age: People of different ages have different nutritional needs, and a medical professional will consider these when designing your meal plan. The older we get, the more calcium we need, and the same is often true with other nutrients. A tailored plan will include enough nutrients to assist you in a healthy recovery, regardless of age.
• Suited to your lifestyle: Are you an athlete? Are you pregnant? Do you have a chronic illness? These are just some factors that impact your nutritional needs after an operation. The food advisements above are an ideal place to start, but depending on your lifestyle, you may need additional meal adjustments. An expert in the field will consider these things and design a diet to promote healing after surgery.
• Designed to meet your post-surgery calorie intake: When it comes to caloric intake, you need to find a balance between eating enough to keep up your strength but not too much. Generally, patients recovering from surgery are less active and require fewer calories, but finding the ideal amount to eat each day can be tricky without the relevant knowledge. Consider having a professional guide your eating journey during surgery recovery. 

Why Trust Us? 

At Fondren Orthopedic Group, we use state-of-the-art technology and equipment during our orthopedic procedures to ensure that our patients receive the best treatment. 

Our doctors are board-certified, and with more than 50 years of experience and 10 subspecialties, we can offer you a comfortable orthopedic experience. We’ve dedicated ourselves to orthopedic research, ensuring that we continue to give our patients the excellent service they have come to expect from us. 

Contact Fondren Orthopedic Group for Your Surgical Needs

If you require surgery, it’s vital to select a health care provider who will assist you every step of the way, from preoperative care to post-surgery advice and assistance. 

Fondren can offer you just that. With multiple convenient locations and various orthopedic services, we are here to help you however possible. Contact us to learn more about our personalized care and treatment plans.