Colostomy Diet Tips

By: ColostomyCentral Staff

 Colostomy Diet

is a type of diet or some like to refer to as meal plan that is suited for the needs, tolerance, and condition of a patient who is already on post-colostomy surgery. Usually, the ET nurse will give you hints and types of foods sutiable for your stoma. However, its going to be the nutritionist's job to make a diet plan well suited for your needs.

J Pouch Diet

This diet is also misleadingly called as j pouch diet. So if you wander around and hear people mentioning this one, most probably, they are referring to your colostomy diet as well. Afterall, it doesnt hurt anyone to clarify.

        It is useful to stress out that there is not one Colostomy Diet Meal Plan that works for everybody. It should be individualized from one patient to another same as with your ileostomy diet. We spent much effort and time to colate different colostomy diet tips to be included on this website as we had to base these tips from existing meal plans that are nutritionist recommended and at the same time, is approved by the UOAA.

Here's some tips that might be helpful:

• Chew foods completely. This is by far the most important thing especially if you newly had a colostomy surgery. It is recommended that you chew at least 25-30 times before swallowing depending on the type of food that you are taking in.
• Use 4-6 smaller meals per day. Having a more frequent intake of the right kinds of foods will be very beneficial to an ostomy patient. Not only will it result to a better absorption, it will also make your excretion manageable as it is divided throughout the day.
• Tone down on Fibers. Intake of oatmeals, wheat breads, and the likes has to be mellowed down if your trying to keep a colostomy diet. These types of foods will make the stool firmer which is not good for a recovering colon. Your danger times on fiber will usually be 6-8 weeks after colostomy surgery so you might as well forego these on your diet until OK'ed by your doctor. 
• Go for softee. Blended drinks, soups and slow-cooked foods are very much loved by your recovering Gastro-Intestinal (GI) tract. They are gentle on the stomach and absorption of these kinds of foods will be easier.  
• Liquids are your friends, take them with you. 7-10 glasses of water and fruit juices will be very beneficial for everyone with a colostomy. If youre used to drinking far less liquids, you better try to train yourself by taking a bottle in your car, in your workplace and another one in your room. Remember: You're at risk for dehydration.
• Small is the new Big. You might want to tell your partner or anyone who cooks for you to keep the slices of foods small youre stoma will not be blocked. Quite a number of patients return to the hospital for obstructed stoma and we dont want this to happen to you. Slice them small and save big on your budget.

        That's it folks! We hope this information was helpful for everyone. If you want to control your stoma through colostomy diet, just remember these 6 general rules and you will be fine. However, if you want detailed and colostomy diet tips that is well suited just for you, you can check out our eBook "The Colostomy Patient's Diet Guide". You can get it at discounted price if you use the link above as every visitor is very much valued here at Colostomy Central.

On an added note: You might want to keep a colostomy diet menu so you can have a good track of what your eating for a particular period of time. This way, you will be about to have a colostomy diet menu as reference for future use.