Surgical patient's guide
Recipes
Future surgical patients can be worried about what they will eat during their recovery, mostly for the first weeks. This subsection of the surgical patient's guide introduces several recipes and food ideas for different stages of the recovery. Thanks to all of those who agreed to share their little culinary findings with me!
Note: The number of weeks indicated for each type of diet is for information only based on what my surgeon had told me when he operated on me. Please follow your surgeon's instructions before changing your type of diet during your recovery.
Liquid only diet - Immediately after the surgery
The liquid only diet is usually imposed immediately after the orthognathic surgery when the jaws are held together, making it impossible to chew.
Meal replacements (supplements)
For those who don't want to deal with complicated things (like me!), there is now a huge choice of liquid meal supplements which can be very useful. If you are not used to this kind of supplements, I advise you to try a few of them in order to find out which one you prefer. Depending on the products, several flavors are available at the grocery store or the drugstore, such as strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, for diabetic, with extra protein, etc.
Note: I added hyperlinks to the different available products; they will get you to an external site. The links could change over time; I have no control over this.
Meal replacements (supplements)
| Product |
Availability |
Description / Personal experience |
| Boost |
Grocery store, drugstore |
I drank Boost exclusively to feed myself when my jaws were held together. My favorite flavor is vanilla; it's the only one which didn't get me nauseated after a few days.
|
| Resource 2.0 |
Drugstore, internet |
This supplement was given to me in the hospital when I got my first surgery, but I unfortunately didn't find some at the grocery store! However, this supplement had a lot of calories per portion (2 calories per mL), so it fed me hugely!
|
| Ensure |
Grocery store, drugstore |
Personally, I have never drunk this, so I cannot say if it's equivalent or not to other products.
|
| Nestlé Carnation breakfast anytime! |
Grocery store |
This supplement helped me to avoid always drinking Boost, but I thought that it didn't fill me as much as Boost.
|
Liquid menu and all-in-one liquid meals
Some healthcare professionals of the Centre hospitalier affilié universitaire de Québec, the Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, have put together an oral and maxillofacial surgery post-operative food guide (in French only) containing a liquid menu and all-in-one liquid meals. The suggested menu contains ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, for a total of 2000 calories per day, that is the total number of calories that a healthy person should eat daily. The all-in-one liquid meals and the liquid food recipe ideas contain the nutritive value associated with them, making it really easier for the patients who care about eating healthy and well-balanced meals during their recovery period.
I discovered this menu, these recipes and these all-in-one liquid meals long after my surgeries and I must admit that they seem very appealing. I would refer to these greatly if I had to go through another jaw surgery!
Half-liquid diet - A few days to 1 week after the surgery
The half-liquid diet, or strained food diet, is the diet that some people can have immediately after the surgery, depending on the available space to swallow foods and how the jaws are held together. It's usually the first diet recommended by the surgeon when he/she loosens their patients' jaws a few days after the surgery.
Available foods from the grocery store with little preparation
- Soup
- Yogurt
- Fruit compote
- Jell-O, pudding
- Wheat germ (more liquid than oatmeal by adding water or milk, to mix with brown sugar or maple syrup - suggested by Marie)
- Strained baby food (For those who don't remember, fruits, vegetables, cereals and meats are available. Among other things, baby cereals contain a lot of nutrients and they are easy to eat with milk or water.)
Spicy chick pea soup (recipe suggested by Marie)
Recipe (source) (in French only): Les Gourmandises d'Isa
Marie told me that she would add a step to the recipe, that is put the soup in the blender until the right consistency is obtained.
Potato with turnip (recipe suggested by Audrey)
Cook potatoes and turnip and mash them together afterwards with a lot of milk.
Strained food menu
Once again, healthcare professionals of the Centre hospitalier affilié universitaire de Québec, the Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, have put together a strained food menu (in French only). On the same basis as the liquid menu, the suggested strained food menu contains ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, for a total of 2000 calories per day, that is the total number of calories that a healthy person should eat daily. The recipe ideas of strained foods and soups contain the nutritive value associated with them, making it really easier for the patients who care about eating healthy and well-balanced meals during their recovery period.
All these recipes and meal ideas seem appealing too and I would have liked to discover them before my first jaw surgery!
Soft diet - 1 to 2 weeks after the surgery
The soft diet is introduced when light jaw movements are allowed by the surgeon. In my case, I was able to introduce this diet as soon as my jaws were no longer held together, that is starting one week after the surgery. I was mixing foods from the half-liquid diet with this one at first, because I was still afraid of hurting my jaws. The important thing is to follow your surgeon's guidelines and especially, you must not hurt yourself with strong jaw movements.
Marie-Hélène's feast
I call it my feast because I ate the following on a regular basis between the second and the third week of my recovery.
- Oatmeal (personally, I ate it with a little bit of maple syrup in it...)
- Banana
- Eggs (scrambled)
- Spaghetti cut in small pieces with thick spaghetti sauce
- Ice cream with frozen strawberries (of course, I used to unfreeze the strawberries before eating them so they would be soft!)
- Slices of bread with margarine
Soft menu
The same healthcare professionals of the Centre hospitalier affilié universitaire de Québec, the Hôpital de l'Enfant-Jésus, have put together a soft menu (in French only). On the same basis as the liquid and strained food menus, the suggested soft menu contains ideas for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, for a total of 2000 calories per day, that is the total number of calories that a healthy person should eat daily. The recipe ideas of soft foods and cereals contain the nutritive value associated with them, making it really easier for the patients who care about eating healthy and well-balanced meals during their recovery period.
Once again, all these recipes and meal ideas seem excellent and I would have liked to discover them before my first jaw surgery!
Other suggestions
- Fish: My surgeon had advised me to eat well-cooked fish that can be cut with a fork, but with my aversion for fish, it is part of the other suggestions...
- "Party cubes" cheese cubes cut in half (suggested by Marie)
Normal diet - 4 to 6 weeks after the surgery
You will be happy to get to the moment when a normal diet is reintroduced a few weeks after the surgery! When this moment comes, possibilities are endless! However take into account your surgeon's recommendations who could tell you to wait before reintroducing some foods to your diet, such as steaks and pizza.
