Hello!
I'm new to the forum, and so grateful that it exists. Not sure if anyone else is experiencing something similar (I couldn't find anything searching through the topics), but hopefully this will provide help for someone besides me!
In August 2019, I received an emergency total colectomy due to complications from c diff. This left me with a temporary end ileostomy, and further testing would show that I had ulcerative colitis (while I had my colon) and ulcerative proctitis. This gave me a drive to make myself healthier. I became vegan shortly after the colectomy, and found Forks over Knives and the benefit of a whole food, plant based diet shortly after that. I have thrived eating this way.
I had IPAA construction surgery in January 2020 which has left me with a temporary loop ileostomy, and am scheduling my ostomy takedown hopefully for later this year or the beginning of next, as soon as COVID stabilizes.
Though after my surgery's healing time frame (about 6-8 weeks after surgeries) I am able to go back to eating a naturally high fiber whole food, plant based diet with no issues, I'm ordered to be on a low fiber diet for the first few weeks post op to prevent blockages while my gut heals. Typically, this includes refined grains, very limited, overly cooked vegetables, eggs, meats, and cheeses. I struggled significantly eating this processed food after both surgeries, noticing that though I wasn't getting blockages I felt AWFUL and sick, and then I immediately felt SO much better when I was healed enough to be able to move my diet to WFPB. It may be worth noting that I tried slightly higher fiber foods in the immediate post-op time frame after this past surgery, and it did cause me to have blockages so my body does need me to stick to low fiber in the immediate post-op time frame. I am now almost 10 weeks post op and able to eat high fiber foods without having any complications.
So! After this background, what are some ways that I can still maintain WFPB while still following my doctor's orders of being low fiber in the immediate weeks following my surgery? I've been told tofu is great for this as it's high protein and low fiber, but are there any other tips/foods that you can recommend so that I can be WFPB for the immediate post-op healing before my body is able to adjust to the normal, higher fiber stuff?
Thanks for reading the long post, and I look forward to hearing from you!
VRB
