The Best Diet Foods to Eat While Recovering from Illness

While you are recovering from illness, your body is working extra hard to repair and rebuild itself. Any type of illness can cause a loss of appetite, leading to depleted nutrients andweight loss. Choosing foods that give you the right nutrients and building blocks for healing is key to returning to good health. Adding certain nutrients in your daily balanced diet can help speed up your recovery and prevent some types of side effects.

Protein for Cell Repair

All your cells, tissues and organs are made from amino acids, the building blocks found in protein-rich foods. For this reason, you require sufficient protein in your daily diet; Harvard School of Public Health recommends getting at least 46 to 56 grams of protein every day. You may need slightly higher amounts after a lengthy illness. Good sources of protein include lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, tofu, nuts and low-fat milk and dairy products. Limit red meat, which is high in saturated fats and avoid processed meats such as sausages and bacon, which contain preservative chemicals and excess sodium.

Fruits and Vegetables

Fresh or cooked produce is a good source of essential dietary fiber to help your digestion and bowel movements return to normal after an illness. Fruits and vegetables are also rich in antioxidants that help your body get rid of toxins more efficiently. The Cleveland Clinic recommends getting a minimum of five servings of fruits and vegetables daily. A serving of fruit is the equivalent of a cup of berries or diced melon, a small banana, half a grapefruit or 2 tablespoons of dried fruit. Similarly, one serving of a vegetable might be a cup of raw greens or 1/2 cup of cooked vegetables.

Foods With Vitamin C

Nutrients such as vitamin C help your immune system recover after battling an illness. This water-soluble vitamin stimulates the production of white blood cells such as lymphocytes and phagocytes that help attack and destroy invading pathogens. Vitamin C is also a potent antioxidant that helps to protect your cells from damage. The recommended daily allowance for vitamin C is 75 to 90 milligrams for adults, while breast-feeding women and smokers require more. Make a fruit salad with oranges, grapefruit and kiwis to get a healthy dose of this vitamin.

Probiotics for Good Bacteria

If your doctor prescribed a dose of antibiotics to beat a nasty bacterial infection, you may experience digestive after-effects such as diarrhea. This occurs because antibiotics also destroy colonies of "friendly" bacteria in your gut, which aid digestion and help prevent the overgrowth of harmful types of bacteria. Probiotics are healthy bacteria found in certain foods such as yogurt. A study published in 2007 in the "British Medical Journal" found that probiotic drinks containing the healthy bacteria L bulgaricus, L casei and S thermophilus reduced the incidence of antibiotic-related diarrhea. The researchers noted that probiotics should be used routinely to help reduce recovery time, health care costs and even death, particularly in patients over the age of 50.

Hydration to Beat Fatigue

It is important to drink plenty of water and other fluids during and after illness. Dehydration can lead to fatigue, weakness, light-headedness and nausea. You may lose fluids due to a loss of appetite or throughdiarrhea and vomiting. The American Cancer Society advises that most healthy people need about 2.7 to 3.7 liters of water every day; this amount can also come from foods that contain water such as fresh fruit.

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What to Expect After an Operation

As with all major operations, recovering from pancreatic surgery takes time. Full recovery requires an average of two months. Your recovery can be divided into different stages, each of which carry a different set of expectations. However, it is important to remember that every patient's recovery is different, even patients undergoing the exact same procedure.

Hospital Recovery
Patients spend an average of 3-10 days in the hospital after pancreas surgery. While you are in the hospital, many members of your health care team will be checking in on you daily. Your in-house team consists of residents, medical students, nurses, and your surgeon. Your team will closely monitor your progress throughout your stay. You will be seen by residents and nurses several times each day and by your surgeon and/or one of our Pancreas Center surgeons at least once each day.

It is normal to experience pain after pancreas surgery. While in the hospital, you will be able to manage your pain with intravenous pain medication. Once you are at home, you will manage your pain with oral medications prescribed by your health care team.

After your operation, you will have staples and special dressings where incisions were made during your procedure. You may also have some surgicaldrainage tubes left in your abdomen. Your team will check your dressings regularly to ensure they are healing well and monitor any tubes to ensure proper drainage. It is normal to be discharged home with the surgical drainage tubes still in place, so do not be worried about your recovery if this happens to you. You will be given specific instructions on how to care for both the drainage tubes and your surgical dressing before you are discharged from the hospital; both will be removed during one of your postoperative visits to the Pancreas Center.

Due to a condition known as "gastric ileus," or temporary paralysis of the stomach, you will not be able to eat for many days after your surgery. While you are in the hospital, your health care team will ensure you receive proper hydration intravenously. There is no way to predict how quickly your stomach will regain its full function after an operation, and patients must undergo a trial-and-error process as they attempt to resume normal eating. While this process can be frustrating, it is also perfectly normal. You will not be discharged from the hospital until you can tolerate food and liquid, however it still may take several weeks before your digestive system returns to "normal."

Many people are eager to be discharged from the hospital after surgery, and your health care team will do everything they can to return you to your home life. Before we can discharge you, though, there are certain requirements you must meet. You should:

– Have no unresolved medical or surgical issues
– Have a stable temperature and not show signs of fever
– Be able to walk unassisted
– Be able to tolerate food and liquid
– Be able to perform basic activities of daily living like brushing your teeth and washing your hair

Once you meet these requirements, you will be eligible for discharge. In some instances, especially in cases of elderly patients, we may recommend a stay in a skilled nursing or rehabilitation facility before going home. Recovering from a major operation like pancreas surgery can be difficult and it helps to have trained professionals to assist in your recovery. This option may be addressed during your preoperative evaluation, but is often better defined directly after surgery.

After Discharge
While you will be able to leave the hospital after a few days or weeks, remember that a full recovery from pancreas surgery can take two months or longer. During the first two months, we will ask you to come into the Pancreas Center clinical office every two weeks for postoperative evaluations. At your first postoperative visit, you will meet with your surgeon and/or a nurse practitionerwho will review your pathology and surgical reports. Your incisions will be examined and staples and tubes will be removed. At this, and at subsequent postoperative evaluations, your team will also talk to you about your diet, bowel functions, and pain control to ensure you are recovering well. It may help to keep a journal of what you are eating and drinking, how much of it you are consuming, and at what times you are able to eat. This will not only help your conversation with your health care team during your postoperative visits, but will help you understand what kinds of foods you are tolerating. If you are having issues with your diet, your doctor/nurse may refer you to our clinical nutritionist to help you with your individual needs.

After the first two months of very regular postoperative evaluations with the Pancreas Center surgery team, frequency of your follow up evaluations will be reduced to every 3-6 months. Depending on the type of resection and the resulting pathology, we may also ask you to undergo regular imaging studiessuch as MRI or CT to check for recurrence of cancer. We will also perform regular blood tests to ensure important indicators like tumor markers and liver function tests remain within normal ranges.

Most patients who undergo surgery for pancreatic cancer will also require a course of chemotherapy after their operation, known as adjuvant chemotherapy. Your surgeon will refer you to a Pancreas Center oncologist or coordinate with a specialist closer to home. Since chemotherapy requires regular treatment over a period of time, it is important that you receive your therapy at a location convenient for you. Adjuvant treatment does not normally start until six to eight weeks after surgery.

Post-Operative Dietary Guidelines
After pancreatic surgery, it is normal to have difficulty eating or to experiencenausea, vomiting or heartburn. These symptoms are caused by a condition known as "gastric ileus," or temporary paralysis of the stomach. It may takeyour digestive system anywhere from a few weeks to a few months to return to normal. There is no way to predict how quickly your stomach will regain full function, and patients must undergo a trial-and-error process as they attempt to resume normal eating. In some cases, patients find they must make permanent changes to their diet in order to alleviate diarrhea, gas, and stomach pain. In situations where gastric ileus persists, a supplemental feeding tube and/or a special IV called a PICC line can help to ensure the patient receives proper nutrients.

In general, when recovering from a pancreatic operation, the goal should be to eat small, frequent meals/snacks every three hours. Eat a protein containing food first each meal to minimize the amount of muscle mass you may lose. It is important to remember to drink fluids between meals to stay hydrated. Ourclinical nutritionist has created a handout to help you anticipate what to expect after your surgery including food recommendations and some helpful tips for minimizing gastrointestinal upset.