I have been sticking to a fairly bland diet since my Step 1 surgery two weeks ago and wanted to see what foods people recommend at this stage. So far I have been feasting on white rice, mashed potatoes, cooked squash, pasta noodles, plain chicken strips, salmon, tuna fish, and deli turkey cuts. I eat a lot of Ritz crackers, Nabisco vanilla cookies,marshmellows and occassional toast with creamy peanut butter. For fruits I have had success so far with honeydew, bananas, watermelon and cantolope (without seeds of course).

At this stage I was wondering what other foods I could try. Is it okay to have ground hamburger meat, cooked spinach, tomato sauce, etc.?

I would like to shake up the diet up a bit as I am sure people can relate to!

Thanks,

Dave

I had some complications after step 1 and was in the hospital for two weeks with very little food. But after that I was eating everything.

Dave,

I've had my temp ileo for 9 months now. I tried to follow the standard advice and it worked well for me. I'll sum it up this way:

1. Foods can cause problems because of blockages, problems with sensitivity, and what they do to your output.

2. Introduce foods slowly. Add a single new food per day, so if you react badly, you can know what caused it.

3. For blockages, the concern is with things that go through the system as big chunks or as fibrous stringy things. I'd suggest avoiding fibrous things like lettuce and spinach until later. For chunky things like nuts and mushrooms, it is important to chew really well, and you might want to wait a bit. I didn't find small seeds (e.g. in tomatoes or strawberries; sesame seeds) to be a problem. For things with skins (e.g. apples, sausages), for the time being you can remove the skin. Other things seemed fine from the start - meat (as long as no skin or bristle), bread, pasta, dairy products, most cooked vegetables, chocolate chip cookies, etc. I have only just started eating lettuce again.

4. Other foods can cause bad smells or gas, or affect the thickness of your output. This is a matter of experimentation. Again, you might want to try something new in isolation, whether it be cheese or fish (stinky) or carbonated beverages or broccoli (gas).

Also, everyone is different. I have been lucky - no problems with anything in terms of blockages or bad reactions.

So, in short, if you are feeling well, my advice would be to start adding things, but do it slowly.

Best of luck,
Kevin

At this point you can have a lot more than you are currently eating. Don't go crazy or anything and I would limit raw fruits and veggies, nut, corn and pop corn - but most anything that is cooked is fine. Take it slow and add one thing at a time. If something bothers you, avoid it for awhile and then try again later. Foods that cause a lot of gas may bother you, but you can avoid them before bed, or chew Gas-X.

If you don't have a history of adhesions or obstructions, than as soon as your bowel swelling has gone down, you can eat whatever you want - that's the great hing about having an ileostomy!!!!!

Mikaela
perm ileo