Spinal surgery is a major procedure and often requires a hospital stay for recovery. Eating may be the last thing on your mind, but diet can impact both how ready your body is for spinal surgery and how well you recover afterward. Making healthy eating changes prior to surgery may help increase your chance of a good outcome.
Types of Spinal Surgery
Spinal surgery has many types, including fusions, bone removals and disk repair. Although some types, like a microdiscectomy, may require minimal healing time, it can take many months to recover from major spinal surgery. In addition to exercising and changing the way you perform your daily routines, changing the way you eat can also help aid your recovery.
Benefits of Eating Well
After surgery, nutrition is important for the body's healing. It can take several weeks or even months for the body to repair itself. During this time, what you eat can help your body do this more efficiently. After surgery, Mayo Clinic emphasizes getting enough calories, eating plenty of protein and including nutritious foods in your diet. Even with special attention to diet, however, eating well may not be easy. In fact, it is common for people to lose weight after they undergo a major operation, sometimes as much as 10 percent of their body weight.
When Eating Is a Problem
Some common reasons a person may lose weight after spinal surgery include lack of appetite, post-surgical nausea and fatigue. You may not feel hungry enough to eat, or may simply feel too tired to stand in the kitchen and prepare a meal. Pain medications and pain itself may cause nausea, which can contribute to appetite loss. However, Mayo Clinic warns that not eating well after surgery can cause other complications in addition to unexpected weight loss. These include dehydration and poor healing.
Considerations for Eating Problems
One way you can avoid eating problems after spinal surgery is to change your diet for the better before going under the knife. Getting accustomed to healthy, high-protein foods can make healthy eating a habit prior to spinal surgery. This prevents some of the problems that can arise from making drastic dietary changes immediately after the procedure. In addition, Mayo Clinic recommends eating protein-supplemented food and asking friends or family to help with meal prep. If nausea is a problem, it recommends smaller, more frequent meals or regular snacks to prevent an empty stomach.
What to Eat, What to Avoid
Robert Packer Hospital also recommends its patients start eating foods high in protein, vitamin D and vitamin C prior to major surgery. Some recommend foods include low-fat dairy products, lean meats and a large amount of fruits and vegetables. It also suggests lots of fortified whole grains, fish and nuts. In addition to eating well, some foods should be limited both before and after surgery. These include fast foods, alcohol and foods that are high in refined sugars and saturated fats.
