Nutrition

Pre-operative bowel preparation

• No diet

Stop eating and drinking

High-fiber diet and hydration

A high-fibre diet encourages consumption of foods with maximum fibre to improve bowel transit and prevent constipation.

A high-fibre diet during at least 4 weeks should prevent hard bowel movements from damaging the healing wound(s) in the anal canal. It also helps to reduce postoperative pain.

Hygiene and dietary rules

Respect some important principles:

• Eat your meals at regular intervals. Do not skip meals.
• Split your diet into 3 meals and possibly 1 or 2 snacks a day.
• Take your time to eat and chew your food sufficiently.
• Eat in a quiet environment.
• Drink 1.5L to 2L per day: water, herbal tea, tea, coffee.

General advice

Gradually increase intake of high-fibre food.

Gradually increase adequate intake of the following foods every day:

• Starches: wholemeal bread, oatmeal, quinoa, rice and wholemeal pasta,…
• Fresh fruit and vegetables: the recommendation is 2 portions of fruit and 3 portions of vegetables a day.
• Dried vegetables: lentils, chickpeas, peas, dried beans,…
• A handful of dried fruit or oilseeds: prunes, apricots, figs, almonds, walnuts,…

Drink enough

You need to drink 1.5 to 2L of water a day in addition to your food. In fact, certain fibers work by absorbing water. Drinking waters rich in magnesium will stimulate your transit (e.g. Hépar®, Contrex®, Orée du bois ®…).

Regular exercise, on medical advice

Regular exercise stimulates transit and helps regulate bowel movements.

Acquire good defecation habits

The urge to defecate after a meal is caused by a reflex mechanism that causes contractions of the muscles in the intestines. It is important to respond to the urge to express bowel movements when the stimuli occur. Avoid holding up. Relief should take place without time pressure and in a calm atmosphere.

Enrich your diet with fibre

You can also add fibre, for example, oat bran, flaxseed, various supplements for sale at pharmacies or psyllium…. In food such as compote, soup, yoghurt and milk products…

If questions, you can always contact the dietary service :

St-Elisabeth site :

02/614.26.79