Lifestyle changes are necessary for transplant patients. It’s crucial to keep up with regular healthy eating habits while you begin and continue your new way of life. Transplant patients sometimes have to deal with drugs and procedures that might affect their perception of taste or make them lose their appetite.
Your appetite may take some time to come back after surgery. Things should get better with time. Keep in mind, too, that you’ll need adequate protein and calories to recuperate while you’re resting. Therefore, food is crucial. Here are a few things to keep in mind when you start eating again:
Eating more frequently and in smaller portions might help you feel more at ease.
Snacks like milkshakes and drinks might be great additions to your menu.
Talk to the dietitian if you feel like you just can’t get enough to eat. Even if she suggests a supplement, you should try eating “real” food first.
Modifying Your Diet and Taking Immunosuppressants
After undergoing a transplant, your diet will take on new significance. A healthy diet is essential due to the adverse effects of the medications used to avoid rejection.
Drugs that weaken the immune system:
Induce potassium loss in the body
Result in fluid and salt retention.
How hunger and overeating contribute to weight growth.
Blood levels of cholesterol, lipids, and sugars may all rise.
Could potentially hasten the process through which the heart’s arteries become stiff and constricted.
No preexisting issues with obesity or coronary artery thickening mean that a healthy diet is even more critical after heart transplantation.
Restrictions on Calories
You may adjust your calorie intake to either lose weight, gain weight, or keep the same weight. The workload of your heart increases as your weight rises. Your pharmacological treatment might cause you to feel hungry, leading to overeating and potential weight gain. Therefore, you should carefully monitor the overall amount of food you eat. High levels of Triglycerides (fats) in the blood are associated with being overweight, which also puts extra strain on the heart. High blood fat levels are associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and cardiovascular disease.
Reduced Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Intake
Cholesterol is a vital fatty chemical present in many animal feeds and in our bodies. There are three types of fats—monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and saturated—that provide different amounts of energy. The blood’s cholesterol and saturated fats may congregate on the artery walls and limit blood flow. If the constriction in your heart’s blood arteries is bad enough, your heart won’t get enough blood.
Your blood fat levels may have been increased not just by your food but also by your medicines. Therefore, following surgery, your overall fat intake must be limited to not more than 30 percent of your total daily calories in order to prevent coronary artery disease. Cholesterol and saturated fat levels in the blood can be lowered by increasing the amount of polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fat in the diet and decreasing the total saturated fat intake to less than 10% of total fat intake.
High-cholesterol and high-fat foods
Proteins derived from animals: entire milk, butter, cream, cheeses made with the entire milk, egg yolks, liver, and other organ meats.
Saturated fat-rich vegetables: There’s chocolate, palm, and coconut.
Additionally: fried foods.
Take note: Boiling, baking, or steaming are preferable cooking methods than frying when possible.
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat-rich foods
Protein-rich meals, including meats: Meats and fish that are high in omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, trout, tuna, bluefish) and low in saturated fat.
Olive oil, maize oil, sesame oil, groundnut oil, sunflower oil, and rice bran oil are all examples of vegetable fats.
Restrictions on Consumable Carbohydrates
Sugar and highly concentrated sweets are two food groups that you may be instructed to limit. Consuming a lot of carbohydrates might raise blood triglyceride levels because of the extra calories they provide.
Modifying Your Diet
In order to prevent rejection after transplant surgery, you may need to make adjustments to your diet. Keep in mind that the following adjustments will be made to your diet:
Reduced fluid intake and salt intake
Reduced caloric intake
Restrictions on carbohydrates as a whole
Intake of Protein
Reducing intake of saturated fat and cholesterol
Reduced caffeine intake
Intake of a lot of soluble fiber
Restrictions on Alcohol
