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  • For Better Post-Op Results, Eat More of THIS
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The American diet is really screwed up to be honest with you. I think if you're going to wonder about that, go to your local bookstore and look at the diet section and that's probably the largest section showing that there is no one diet that actually works.

It all comes down to lifestyle and it all come down to healthy choices, higher protein. Is a Paleo diet the best diet? Not necessarily for everyone. It's a matter of choosing good vegetables, organic vegetables, staying away from processed foods, staying away from fast food, choosing lean meats, choosing all these in good combinations, not necessarily looking at calories, but looking at good quality of food.

When I look at their protein levels, what I'm essentially doing is I'm trying to figure out, "Are they in a position where they're going to heal well from surgery?" If I do liposuction and their protein is low, then they're most likely to develop prolonged swelling and they're probably not going to heal as quickly as my patients that have higher protein levels.

Vitamin D3 is actually was thought to be a vitamin for years. Now we're actually finding out it is more of a prohormone. It actually can affect the skin, the brain, the heart, the number of different end organs. Because of people like me, plastic surgeons, dermatologist who've told our consumers to stay out of the sun, we actually have an epidemic now of low vitamin D.

What can you do on your own? I recommend that most people supplement with vitamin D. I generally take about 5000 international units a day. Take a little bit more on the weekend. We want our vitamin D levels to probably be around about 70 or 80. Most people I'm checking, they're around about 20 or 30, which is very low.

Vitamin D actually is a long term. First of all, it affects wound healing. Second, it can actually affect your bone strength, bone structure. Long-term, it affects your calcium metabolism. So a lot people that are very low in vitamin D may actually be saving themselves up for bone related changes, osteoporosis, osteopenia, things that will thin the bone and cause an increase risk for fractures. The interesting, I should say the sad thing, about that is women are not only at risk. Men are also at risk as well too. We usually talk about women being the high risk population but it can occur both in men and women.

For Better Post-Op Results, Eat More of THIS

Dr. Greg Buford explains how a good diet can affect patients after surgery and what they should concentrate on the most.