Healing food advice for omnivore please

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Hello all

I am currently recovering from some minor surgery to clean out an abscess on my body. At the moment I have an open wound that is dressed but will take some time to heal. I am having to go to our local hospital to get the dressings changed every day.

Although my knowledge of nutrition is above average, are there any foods I can eat to help the healing process along? I am guessing fresh fruit and veg and protein, but am not sure what other things I may need.

We eat meat and fish, but am not keen on offal apart from black pudding, faggots and pate. I also dislike, coconut, sweet potatoes, celery, butter beans and cannellini beans.

Any advice I can get would be much appreciated.

Many thanks, SSC

[Alexandria Profile]

Some of the suggestions and / or advice online have included:

Drink plenty of wáter.
Beetroot Juice.
Lemon Juice.
Cranberry Juice.
Ginger and Tumeric are stated to assist in cleansing toxins.
Lots of Green leafy vegetables.
Ecological products, free of toxins.
Protein souces: Chicken or Fish.
Berries.
" Fresh " and natural ..
Ecological Tofu .. High in protein ..
Best tip is do a basic vegetarian diet with all fresh ingredients
and no animal fats.

Avoids:
Dairy
Canned and processed foods in tins / cans.
Red Meats & animal fats.
Foods wrapped in plastic.

Good luck. Sorry to hear that you are under the weather.

All our best wishes, for a Speedy recovery.

[dennispc Profile]

Strictly, sorry to hear your news. OH's problem last year involved an abscess. She was put on full fat milk, rice pudding made with clotted cream, low residue light diet.

I feel for you but honestly, I suggest you ask the hospital/GP for advice, not us. We're all different.

Daily visit to hospital are a pain in themselves. Does your surgery have nurses for dressings or district nurses to visit?

All the best to you.

Dennis

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Hi Petronius

Thank you for your assistance and advice.

I have just come back from the hospital and they have said that foods containing vitamin C and zinc are good for wound healing. I will have to look up zinc rich foods, hopefully the BBC good food website will have some useful and trustworthy information! A general Google search may throw up some nutrib******s websites which may do more harm than good!

[Stokey Sue Profile]

It’s unlikely you are zinc deficient but Table 2 on this page is a list of zinc rich foods, and as it’s an official US National Institutes of Health list so likely to be reliable
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessional/

I just took a zinc tablet, they are very cheap at Savers and Superdrug

Hope you get better soon

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Thank you Stokey Sue, I will have a look at that later. I also find a link to the NHS advice on vitamins and minerals, which included zinc. I basically have to eat how I already do, which is great, apart from upping my nuts and seeds intake.

[Renee Profile]

I'm glad that you've received such excellent advice Strictly. Zinc improved my sense of smell and taste so I take a supplement every day now, also a vitamin C with bioflavonoids from Holland & Barrett.

[jeral Profile]

A hospital doc told me after an op to eat a lot of beef steaks as it's rich in iron which is good for red platelets in blood if I recall correctly. That was because I was run down and a touch on the anaemic side. It might be an idea if you are worn out from trailing to hospital every day and apparently any op weakens the body's natural balance for a while. I see it's good on Stokey Sue's zinc list too.

It's good that you haven't been told not to eat anything. Maybe more of the blackberry type berries that are high in antioxidants.

I imagine rest will help as much as anything in your recovery and I wish you well. It's not been a happy few months for you, hug, so relaxing with comforting cocoa and choccie biccies ought to be on your list

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Thank you jeral for your kind words. When I was reading the info on the NHS site, they recommended meat generally as well. I had a feeling that an iron rich diet might help with getting my blood levels sorted out. It's my birthday on Monday so I think I'll get some steak and black pudding over the weekend.

[Renee Profile]

Sounds good Strictly and remember that Vitamin C helps with the absorption of iron.

[jeral Profile]

strictlysalsaclare, Happy Birthday for Monday

Are you allowed a deep luxurious bubble bath if your OH wraps you in cling film? Maybe not, but treating yourself to some new scent is a good second best.

A radio presenter plays a ditty ♪ Dooder do do, dee dar ♪
I saw a birthday card saying "Another year older and still none the wiser" which made me giggle. Very true.

Have a good one whatever you do

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

I know zilch about how to help you post recovery.
But I do know about Michael van Straten. He's a wonder - shows up on telly occasionally as a star guest. I last saw him on Ready Steady Cook, so it's been a while.
He's fought to control his weight all his life, but does help others, famous and not so famous.

In fact, on Tony's money sites, a chap in his 40's was "saying his goodbyes". An extreme allergy case, he was surviving for years on rice, broccoli and Rachel's yoghurt.
But suddenly, Rachel's yoghurt changed their culture, and his body organs were slowly shutting down.
Until Michael van Straten flew out to see him as a last bid.
Tony says he's still on the board, and can still survive on a limited diet including a yoghurt culture.

Anyway, I have 2 of his books that I bring out regularly, Super Herbs and Super Salads. His site looks a bit healing hands, but he is one of my favourite "chefs".
Here's a link to his page on Zinc, and there are some recipes on there - not specific to your question, but nevertheless.

http://www.michaelvanstraten.com/minera ... .php?id=23

His sage and tuna fishcakes are a source of zinc and protein according to his book: http://www.michaelvanstraten.com/recipe.php?id=94

Have a super healing birthday. xxx

[Alexandria Profile]

Happy Birthday Strictly Salsa Clare, and
all our best wishes for a Speedy Recovery
from Spain ..

[jeral Profile]

I also was thinking of recommending live yoghurt, because eating things in hospital that are different from one's norm also means the body has to get used to the new items or if suddenly changing one's diet/regime. Presumably it couldn't hurt anyway.

On zinc again, it is also used topically for skin healing, assuming unbroken skin. I see Sudocrem (baby cream) is largely zinc, though is no good if one is allergic to lanolin. Vitamin E cream applied topically has always been thought good/ More recently Vitamin C topically applied, although dunno how proven it is.

Re sardines on the zinc list Gillthepainter linked:
Q: Do you have to eat the bones to get the zinc? Apparently you do for maximum calcium benefit, but is that so for the zinc? Ta.

Re Lidl's Nixe brand assorted little flat tins of fish mentioned by Stokey Sue somewhere - I agree, very good and an ideal size for a toast or sandwich

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Morning all

I was feeling a bit yucky this morning. When i pulled down my eyelids, they did look a bit pale, so it seemed I was a little bit anaemic. I went to the hospital to get my dressing re-done and afterwards went to Sainsburys to stock up on iron rich food. I've bought some spinach rocket and watercress salad, tinned oxtail soup, minced beef, lamb chops and some corned beef, and well as juices etc. I also got a steak slice for my lunch which I had with some tomatoes and the spinach etc, salad. I feel a lot better now.

[Pampy Profile]

Hope you have a quick and trouble free recovery, SSC. I'm not usually one for using doctor google but have seen this which gives just generalised information and sounds quite sensible. Feel free to ignore! https://www.woundcarecenters.org/articl ... nd-healing

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

Hi Pampy

I have just read your link and it is really good. Luckily I do have a balanced diet so hopefully I should recover OK. My eyelids are still a bit pale but I feel a lot better in myself now.

Thank you!

[strictlysalsaclare Profile]

I must be getting something right! Whilst getting my dressing changed today, the nurse said, although my wound was quite big, it is healing very well. She seemed very pleased with my progress. Thanks for all your advice folks!

I am currently eating some tinned oxtail soup with some fried breadcrumbs on the top. I had forgotten how nice and comforting it is

[Pampy Profile]

That's excellent news!

[Gillthepainter Profile Website]

Anyone here fancy some zinc rich yoghurty birthday cake