Nutrition

A healthy balanced diet is very important for your recovery following surgery as well as for your long-term overall health. It is important to maintain an appropriate body weight to diminish load on arthritic joints. Nutritional guidelines include drinking adequate amounts of water each day, approximately eight, 8 ounce glasses.

You should use fruits and vegetables as your primary carbohydrate intake, relying less upon pasta, grains, breads and starches. Small amounts of low fat protein (fish, poultry, tofu, or lean red meat) should be eaten at each of your meals. 

Foods that contain alpha linolenic acid and gamma linolenic acid have been shown to fight inflammation. Flaxseed oil and linseed oil, as well as green leafy vegetables, legumes, and certain fruits are rich in these nutrients.

 Maintaining an ideal body weight is an important factor in decreasing the risk of chronic disease and in decreasing stress across arthritic joints.

Additional Supplementation

During treatment we advocate taking the following supplements. Most multivitamins will have these nutrients. Check the label to make sure the proper amounts are being taken.

• Vitamin C 1,000 mg per day
• Vitamin A 5,000 I.U.  per day
• Vitamin D 5,000 IU per day
• Calcium 1,500 mg per day (Calcium Citrate is the best form)
• Zinc 15 mg per day

Following your frame removal we encourage maintenance of supplementation with a daily multivitamin. Glucosamine with Chondroitin and cod liver oil is advocated for supplementation if you have any arthritic joints.