Juicing?

I'm only 3 days post op, but I haven't had any fruits or veggies for weeks due to the Stage 2 diet I had to do pre-op.  Does anyone know if I'm allowed to juice? 

Dawn

Hard to say.  Surgeons are all so different in what they want their patients to follow post-op.  Some things to consider:

1) Texture: if it is strained, it should be ok as far as texture; most surgeons wouldn't have a problem with unstrained, but some do

2) Sugar content: a few people are sensitive to the sugar that naturally occurs in fruit (and you will dump faster and harder on sweetened liquids than on solids with too much sugar), so I am not sure that fruit juice -- unless it is significantly diluted (my surgeon had us dilute even NSA apple juice to half strength early out) -- is a good idea from this perspective

3) Calories: most surgeons don't want their patients drinking calories outside of protein shakes (and milk), and fruit can be high in calories, so you won't want to do it long term, but early out when you are getting very few calories it isn't as big a problem from that standpoint

4) Protein:  you need to really emphasize protein in everything you eat and drink right now, and other than just a couple of grams of protein from some veggies, juicing won't help with this

 

Lora

Thank you, Lora.

I really just want to juice cucumbers which have hardly any calories.  I'll wait and talk with my RD.

Thanks

I can't imagine any issue with green vegetables.  Just stay away from too much fruit.

If you're just juicing things like kale, celery, carrot, cucumber, etc. it probably isn't a problem (not from a caloric or sugar standpoint). But if you add things like ginger, lemon, etc. as is sometimes commonly added those may or may not irritate your stomach. Also seeds of the cucumber need to be completely removed (on the off chance a few get in your drink) as those are usually not advised to be ingested just yet. Do run it by your nutritionist first though...Sometimes juicing can cause diarrhea (I have juiced in the past for dieting purposes) and it may especially after surgery.

Beware of the carrots they have a high sugar content

3G of natural sugars per 1/2 cup of fresh carrot.