What Can You Eat After An Ostomy?

Woah woah woah. If you just woke up from your ostomy surgery, then you probably have a lot of questions. One of the biggest questions I had is how my eating will be affected by my ostomy. I mean, it is a sensible question to ask, right? It’s only that you’ve gone and had a hole put in your body that the good Lord did not intend for. Well, if you are sitting in your hospital bed worried about what you can eat once you go home, I have some good news for you: it is totally possible to enjoy the foods that you used to. I remember being very worried that I would never be able to enjoy my favorite foods again now that I have a stoma. This is simply not true. I am writing this article to tell you about how eating after an ostomy works and hopefully give you some helpful tips about eating with a stoma.

The fact of the matter is that you are going to be a bit of a mess after your ostomy initially. I’m talking about lying on the couch for a good two weeks if you need to. Along with this, you are going to be eating much more bland foods than normal. That is okay and is a part of the recovery process from getting an ostomy. Your doctors will probably help you along the way and give a list of foods that would be good to eat while you are recovering.Your digestive system is most likely going to be royally upset with you, so make sure to eat slowly and eat foods that will be easy for you to digest. Similarly, it is helpful to chew your food extremely well and thoroughly to avoid any digestive problems.

When you start to try new foods as you continue recovering from surgery, keep in mind that you will again want to go very slowly. To ensure that you have no complications after your ostomy, you will want to do exactly what the doctors tell you. Introducing new foods slowly is the best way to determine how your digestive system is reacting to different foods. If you eat a whole bunch of new foods at once and your digestive system gets all messed up, you won’t be able to tell which foods are hurting your stoma and which ones are not. A good rule of thumb is to introduce a new food one meal at a time. This is honestly something that I lived by after my ostomy. That way, you don’t end up rushing the healing process and cause any damage to your stoma. 

Eventually you should be able to get back to eating all the things you used to eat! The key point to remember is that everybody’s body is different, and that means some foods will not sit right with you while they do with others. All I can say is that you have to do what is pleasing to your body and not take any unnecessary risks. Eating baked beans has always made me gassy, even before my ostomy. Consequently, I have cut baked beans out of my diet because I don’t want to deal with a gassy ostomy pouch after each meal, you know what I mean?