Halloween kicks off a season infiltrated with candy and desserts. If you’re still in that 6-8 week window of surgery recovery, you’re probably sticking to low-residue desserts this holiday season. The good news is, there are tons of low-residue desserts for you to enjoy. The bad news is, there are tons of low-residue dessert options for you to enjoy.

Low-residue desserts

What to avoid

Avoid desserts that have high-fiber foods in them like seeds, nuts, coconut, raisins, dried fruit, and popcorn. Foods like coconut macaroons, german chocolate cake, carrot cake, cookies with nuts, desserts with berries in them, etc.

The reasoning for avoiding these foods is because they have a higher likelihood of causing a blockage, especially in a digestive system that is still inflamed from surgery. Once you’re fully healed from surgery and have the “go-ahead” to experiment with food, you may be able to eat some or all of the foods listed above.

What CAN you eat?

There are lots of low-residue desserts, including angel food cake, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, pumpkin pie, lemon bars, ice cream, pudding, canned fruit, etc.

I had my colectomy right before the holiday season and ate a ton of pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin pie and sugar cookies over the subsequent few months. Don’t mind me, I’m just salivating while I type.

Other dietary restrictions

These are all recommendations assuming you don’t have other dietary restrictions like gluten, soy or lactose intolerances, and/or aren’t avoiding sugar.

If you’ve got any of those restrictions, you probably have an arsenal of favorite desserts you can eat in general. Hopefully you can figure out how to alter them to meet a low-residue requirement. You’ll probably want to avoid the desserts which are almond meal or coconut flour based while you’re low-residue, but you can try working them in slowly once you have your doctor’s okay.

I’ve found coconut flour is hard for me to ingest, it’s just too absorptive and I can’t seem to drink enough water to offset how much it thickens my output. So far it hasn’t caused a blockage, but it makes pooping really uncomfortable while it works its way out. I had an issue with almond meal in pancakes shortly after my surgery that caused a partial blockage. I don’t think almond meal intrinsically causes blockages, but I do think it’s really important not to over-do it and to hydrate when you eat risky foods.

Some foods that become popular during the holidays can have different impacts on your ostomy output and function.

Sugar speeds up the digestive system for a lot of people, reducing absorption which can result in a more liquid output (or diarrhea). This doesn’t mean you have to avoid sugar, it just means it’s a good idea to eat sugar in moderation and be conscious of how full your pouch is.

Some foods slow down the digestive system for a lot of people, thickening or even stalling output. Some people eat a few marshmallows about 20 minutes before they want to change their pouch, in an effort to stall their output. Other foods like applesauce, bananas, and coconut flour thicken your output.

Some foods might give you a scare when you go to empty your pouch. Red velvet cake is a culprit, as can be foods that have quite a bit of purple, blue or green food colorings. You wouldn’t be the first person to get nervous over red output a few hours after eating red velvet cake. Food colorings can also change the color of your output, so before you freak out, think about what you ate.

Skip that fibrous food and eat these low-residue desserts

Skip the snickers and go for the 3 musketeers.
Skip the almond kisses and go for the hugs or regular kisses.
Skip the pecan pie and go for the pumpkin pie.
Skip the cranberry cobbler and go for the apple pie.
Skip the walnut chocolate chip and go for the chocolate chocolate chip.
Skip the rocky road and go for the vanilla ice cream.
Skip the triple-berry pie and go for some baked apples with cinnamon.

Salivating yet? I am!

What’s your favorite dessert to eat?  Are there any desserts that have caused issue with your ostomy or noticeably changed your output?