Good Foods to Eat After Thyroid Surgery

After thyroid surgery, your throat and neck will hurt. Chewing and swallowing can be difficult, and the best way to keep pain to a minimum is to eat foods that go down a little easier. Start with liquids and work up to soft foods.

Soup

Soup should be finely pureed or completely liquid. Heat the soup until it is warm but not too hot. Hot liquids will scald the sensitive throat tissue. The first few days try sipping the soup through a straw. When opening and closing your mouth is no longer painful, add soup with soft ingredients such as pasta or soft vegetables.

Pasta

Graduate to pasta and noodle meals after a week or two. Meatless lasagna or pasta with a light sauce are also good choices. You can add soft, cooked ingredients like tuna, cooked carrots or mushrooms and/or any thin sauce.

Dairy and desserts

Thyroid surgery can severely depress your appetite, so you should have some high fat foods around. Ice cream, full-fat yogurts and pudding are all good choices that also soothe the throat because they are cold or cool. Fruit purees and applesauce are also ideal for filling up without hurting the throat.

Liquids

Drink plenty of liquids to help your throat heal. Keep something to drink handy at all meals until you have healed. Water, fruit juice and milk are all good choices. Avoid carbonated drinks because the bubbling action may cause your throat to hurt even more.