As a surgeon, I often have patients or family members ask before and after surgery: What to eat to heal the incision faster? What should be avoided? Is it not possible to eat hairy things? Especially the hairy food thing, ask especially a lot of things. I don’t know when the folklore has been circulating that patients recovering from surgery should not eat hairy food because it will affect the wound healing.
What is hairy food?
When we hear the saying that we should not eat hairy food, we sometimes ask the family what is hairy food? We have heard that mushrooms, fish, shrimps, lamb, chicken and duck are hairy items, but there is no uniform statement. In some places, spices such as cilantro, scallions and ginger, fruits such as apples, oranges and plums, and milk and eggs are all listed as hairy items.
If you really write a comprehensive book of “hairy items” from all over the country, there may be nothing that is not a “hairy item”. If you really can’t eat hairy food after surgery, then there is nothing to eat.
However, in our opinion, as long as the food is nutritious and absorbable, it can be eaten, and there is no valid evidence that “hair products” affect wound healing.
What really affects wound healing?
In fact, as long as the nutrition is adequate, what you eat is not the main factor that affects wound healing, but the following factors really affect wound healing.
Age: the older you are, the slower the wound healing.
High blood sugar: poor long-term blood control, easily accompanied by vascular disease, will affect the wound healing, but also prone to infection.
Infection: When the wound is infected, there is a lot of exudate, which can crack the wound that is healing or has been sutured, or cause the infection to spread and aggravate the injury, and the occurrence of wound infection is related to obesity and diabetes.
Poor local blood circulation: local blood circulation ensures oxygen and nutrition needed for tissue regeneration on the one hand, and plays an important role in the absorption of necrotic material and control of local infection on the other. Therefore, it is necessary to promote blood circulation through moderate activities after surgery.
Smoking: The combination of carbon monoxide and hemoglobin in the blood circulation of smokers reduces the ability to transport oxygen, and nicotine will cause the surrounding blood vessels to constrict and affect wound healing. It is better not to smoke if you are going to have surgery.
Psychological factors: psychological stress and emotions can affect the function of the neuroendocrine and immune system, slowing down wound healing.
What should I eat after surgery?
Contrary to folklore, fish, shrimp, mutton and other “hairy foods” are actually high-protein foods that are good for wound healing as long as the patient is not allergic to them in general.
If a normal diet is resumed after surgery, the following points should be noted.
1, do not be obsessed with high protein post-operative diet should be diversified, pay attention to the nutritional balance, do not just focus on high protein, steamed buns, rice and other staple foods should also eat enough, otherwise eat how much protein powder will not help.
2, do not be obsessed with fish soup chicken soup milky white soup looks very nutritious, very “complementary” look, but in fact is emulsified fat, seasoning, purine plus a small amount of amino acids, nutrition or are in the meat. If you drink chicken soup and fish soup, remember to eat the fish and chicken.
3, post-operative diet should be easy to digest post-operative diet, cooking methods to stew, boil, steam, less fried and grilled.
4, do not be obsessed with drinking porridge compared to other foods, white porridge is really good digestion, but there is nothing nutritious in porridge.
Just after surgery to resume eating, gastrointestinal function is still in the recovery period, drinking white porridge is very suitable, but long-term only drink porridge to feed the stomach, nutrition will not be able to keep up, must be timely to resume a diverse diet.
Finally, a special reminder is that: whether to eat, to strictly follow medical advice. Especially in abdominal surgery, the doctor will tell the family not to eat and drink after the operation, the patient’s nutritional needs will be supplemented by intravenous fluids at this time, do not worry about the patient’s nutrition will not be able to keep up. People who take care of the patient should listen to the doctor and not think that it is okay to drink some water or eat a little porridge, otherwise, the patient will be the ultimate victim.