by A Balloon A Balloon » Sun Nov 27, 2022 6:49 am
This is from an NHS leaflet, "After your heart surgery"
Change in appetite
Your appetite may be reduced after your surgery and should gradually improve over a few
weeks. It is important you have a regular intake of food and fluids to give you enough energy for
your body to heal and to enable you to be active.
If your appetite is low, aim to
Eat little and often, aiming to have three meals and two or three nourishing snacks
throughout the day such as yoghurts, cheese, unsalted nuts, milky drinks or smoothies.
If you are finding it difficult to prepare and cook meals use tinned, chilled or frozen “ready
meals” with added frozen or tinned vegetables.
Try to eat foods to help your recovery, including:
Protein to aid healing, e.g. lean meats, fish, eggs, dairy products, unsalted nuts, beans
and pulses. Please note soya milk contains a similar amount of protein to cow’s milk but
oat, rice and nut based milks contain significantly less.
Carbohydrates for energy - e.g. wholegrain breads, pasta, rice, potatoes, cereals and
oats.
Fruit and vegetables to provide vitamin and minerals to aid healing. If you cannot eat five
portions of fruit and vegetables a day you may need an “A-Z” type vitamin and mineral
supplement which can be bought over the counter at supermarkets and chemists.
And from the NHS website:
An unhealthy diet can increase your chances of developing heart problems after a coronary artery bypass graft.
To reduce this risk, you should ensure your diet is low in saturated fat and salt, but high in fibre and omega-3 (a fatty acid that can help reduce your cholesterol levels).
Examples of foods you should try to avoid include:
meat pies
sausages and fatty cuts of meat
butter, lard and ghee (a type of butter often used in Indian cooking)
cream
cakes and biscuits
Instead, you should try to eat:
starchy foods, such as wholegrain rice, bread and pasta
fruit and vegetables – ideally 5 portions a day
oily fish, such as mackerel and sardines
Also, cut down on the amount of salt you add to your food and check the nutrition labels on food when shopping to find products with the lowest levels of salt.
I had a look but no menus marked out as specific for heart surgery patients. The general menus are not amazing, but the specific vegan menu of meals looks quite tasty to me! But it doesn't list the specific ingredients.