Advice after your nerve block for surgery
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Introduction
Getting back to a healthy weight means you will need to eat more. This is going to be difficult at first but will get easier in time. There are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ foods. It is a combination of what we eat and drink that forms an unhealthy or healthy diet. The word ‘diet’ means everything we eat and drink, so we are all on a diet!
Choosing a balanced food intake from all food groups is recommended to avoid diseases in later life and to make sure you grow and develop normally.
We should all try and eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day as well as protein, fat and carbohydrate foods. We hear that a low-fat diet is good for us, but low fat does not mean no fat. Fats contain fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K which are essential for us.
While you are recovering it is important to eat regularly by keeping to the meal plan. Accept help from your family and friends to do this. If you have been starving yourself, you may not be able to think clearly or concentrate properly. This will get better as your weight improves.
Recovery is a process - not an event.
Eating for Good Health
Healthy eating means getting the right mixture of foods in the correct amounts to keep your body healthy now and for the future. It also means eating in a way that you enjoy and feel comfortable with, that meets your personal food likes and dislikes and allows you to join in happily with eating socially.
The Eatwell Guide on the opposite page can help you to get your eating right. It divides foods into 5 groups but you need to eat more from some groups than others.
Your meal plan will show you how to balance your intake to provide you with a healthy diet.
Amounts to Eat
You may not be sure about normal serving sizes for some of these foods so the meal plan has been worked out to provide guidelines in household measures.
How Your Meal Plan is Made Up
Each day’s meal plan is based on 3 meals and 3 snacks:
- Breakfast
- Mid-morning snack
- Lunch
- Mid-afternoon snack
- Main meal
- Bedtime snack
How to Build a Meal
Meals are made up by starting with:
- A starchy food e.g. bread, breakfast cereal, potato, rice or pasta.
Add to this:
Some protein for growth e.g. milk, fish, meat, pulses.
Then you need to add:
Some fruit, vegetables or salad for vitamins and minerals.
Plus:
A little fat which is needed as an emergency supply of Energy and to keep warm.
Drinks
Remember it is important to drink enough fluid to stay well. You should drink the milk included in your meal plan as it provides an excellent source of calcium for building bones.
Breakfast
Build your meal by choosing 1 food from each of the 3 groups below:
Step 1: start with a starchy food
- 10 tablespoons cereal e.g. rice Krispies, cornflakes, Shreddies etc
- 2 Weetabix
- 9 heaped dessertspoons (50g) of instant oat cereal with 300mls of milk
- 2 heaped tablespoons sweetened muesli (or 3 heaped tablespoons of unsweetened)
- 2 slices bread and 2 teaspoons butter/margarine (full fat)
- Plus jam/marmalade or marmite if liked
Step 2 - now add some protein
- 200mls full cream milk
- 3 tablespoons yoghurt (not low-fat)
- 2 small pots fromage frais
Step 3 - and some fruit
- 150mls fruit juice
- 1 tablespoon raisins
- 1 portion fruit e.g. 1 medium banana or 1 small apple
- and a drink water, squash or fruit juice (150mls).
Lunch
Step 1 - start with a starchy food
- 2 slices bread/4" French bread
- 1 bread roll
- 4 crackers or crisp breads
- 2 mini or pitta bread
- Jacket potato (small 100g)
- Rice (100g cooked weight)
- Pasta (150g cooked weight)
Step 2 - now add some protein
- Tuna 1 tablespoon (60g)
- Cheese (35g) or 3 Babybels or 2 Dairy Lea Triangles
- Ham 4 thick slices
- Baked beans/spaghetti ½ large tin or 1 small tin
- 2 eggs either scrambled or poached or hard boiled
Step 3 - and add some fat
- 1½ teaspoon margarine, butter or oil
- 1 dessertspoon mayonnaise/salad cream
Step 4 - include some vegetables or fruit
- Cucumber/cherry tomatoes/lettuce/carrot or celery sticks
- 1 portion fruit
Step 5 - after, some pudding
- Full fat fromage frais (100g pot or 2 x 60g pots)
- Full fat yoghurt (125g pot)
- Full cream milk - 200mls
- and a drink water, squash or fruit juice (150mls) - how about combining Step 4 and Step 5 and having a fruit smoothie?
Cooked Meal
Step 1 - Start with a starchy food
- Rice (150g cooked weight)
- Pasta (150g cooked weight)
- Potato (180g cooked weight)
- Bread 3 slices
Step 2 - now add some protein
- Fish 180g/4 fish fingers
- Chicken 120g.
- Red meat 120g/3 small or 1½ large sausages
- Eggs 2/quiche 75g
- Bacon 3 rashers
- Cheese 50g
- 4 veggie sausages
Step 3 - and add some fat
- 2 teaspoons margarine, butter or oil
- 2 dessertspoons mayonnaise/salad cream
Step 4 - now some vegetables or salad
- 1 cereal bowl of mixed salad
- 1 heaped tablespoon of vegetables e.g. peas, carrots, sweetcorn or mixed vegetables
Step 5 - after, some pudding
1 portion fruit plus:
- Custard 1½ teacupful/½ can
- Rice pudding 1 teacupful/¼ can
- Angel Delight 1½ can/sachet
- Full cream milk - 200mls
Don’t forget to drink 150mls squash, water or fruit juice.
Mid-morning and Mid-afternoon Snacks
Choose one option from group A and one from group B.
Group A
- Dried fruit 1 tablespoon e.g. raisins, apricots
- Grapes 100g
- Banana (medium) - 100g
- Apple/pear/orange (medium) - 100g
- Kiwis/satsumas – 2
- ½ large can of tinned fruit
Group B
- Biscuits e.g. Hob Nob, digestive - 3
- Cereal bar (45-50g bar), flapjack - 1
- Jaffa cakes - 5
- Malt loaf (medium slice) - (~60g)
- 1 large shop brought scone or currant bun with spread
- Crisps (32g) /Tortilla chips/Mini Cheddars/Twiglets - 50g bag
- Nuts (50g) - 1 large handful
- 4 crackers and cheese spread - 45g cheese
- 1 slice bread/toast and 1 teaspoon butter or margarine and jam/chocolate spread
Don’t forget a glass of squash, water, milk or fruit juice.
Bedtime
- 200mls full cream milk plus any choice from list B.
Contact us
If you have any queries relating to this information, please contact the Dietetics service.
About this information
Service:
Dietetics
Reference:
DT/080
Approval date:
22 May 2026
Review date:
1 May 2029
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Important note
This page provides general information only. It is developed by clinical staff and is reviewed regularly every 3 years for accuracy. For personal advice about your health, or if you have any concerns, please speak to your doctor.