We often get asked what makes our presurgery drink different from (and more effective than) sports drinks or water when it comes to safer surgeries and enhanced recovery after surgery—and the answer lies in ClearFast ingredients. Rich in a number of powerful minerals and nutrients, ClearFast was specifically formulated to meet strict Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (or ERAS®) protocols. Today, we’re offering up ClearFast Ingredients 101—a complete breakdown of everything that’s in our presurgery drink and an analysis of how these ingredients work for a less stressful surgery experience and faster recovery upon waking from anesthesia. Read on….and get ready to go under (and wake up) feeling strong as ever!
ClearFast Ingredients Breakdown:
- Electrolytes: We talk all about the importance of electrolytes for hydration and healing here, but the most important thing to note is that electrolytes help our cells, tissues, and fluids effectively communicate with one another—sparking nerve impulses, balancing the amount of water in our bodies, and aiding in rebuilding damaged tissues. We like to think of surgery as an athletic event—like a marathon. You’d never enter a marathon dehydrated—and modern medical research points to the fact that you shouldn’t go under the knife dehydrated, either—which is why so many medical professionals are doing away with the old-school “nothing to eat or drink after midnight” rule and, instead, recommending patients nourish and hydrate with a presurgery electrolyte beverage. Electrolytes play a key role in helping us stay hydrated before surgery—and the ClearFast presurgery drink is chock-full of them. Plus, they also speed the absorption of ClearFast into the stomach, ensuring your stomach is
“Clear” (or empty) for safer surgery.
PRO TIP: We know what you’re thinking: don’t sports drinks have tons of electrolytes, too? They do…but they’re also full of simple sugars and harmful colored dyes, and weren’t formulated for presurgery use. We talk all about why ClearFast is a healthier, safer, more effective option for presurgery hydration and nourishment here.
- Vitamin A: Vitamin A is one of the most important ClearFast ingredients, as it helps support health and tissue function. According to Medicine Plus, “Vitamin A helps form and maintain healthy teeth, skeletal and soft tissue, mucous membranes, and skin.”
- Zinc and L-Citrulline: Next up on our list of ClearFast ingredients are Zinc and L-Citrulline, properties that help you heal faster. Zinc is a powerful and necessary mineral for wound healing. In fact, according to LiveStrong, “Poor nutrition makes wounds take longer to heal…the most important nutrients for wound healing are protein, zinc and vitamin C.” Every bottle of the ClearFast presurgery drink contains 35% of your daily value of zinc—ensuring you’re properly nourished with the minerals you need to heal faster upon waking from anesthesia. L-citrulline is an amino acid, which your body naturally converts to L-arginine, another type of amino acid that works to improve blood flow. Findings from a ResearchGate study on the healing effects of L-Citrulline concluded that L-Citrulline accelerated healing in all four experimental groups as compared to controls.
- Selenium: Selenium is a trace mineral that acts as an antioxidant and contributes to healthy immune function. This is key for helping ensure your immune system is strong for surgery and protecting you against certain pathogens.
- Complex carbs: We saved the best for last in our ClearFast ingredients breakdown! Complex carbs are one of the most beneficial—and important—ingredients in our presurgery drink, as they’re a key part of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (or ERAS®) protocols. ERAS® programs are programs that were first developed in the UK and have since been implemented in hospitals across the U.S. They’re all about ensuring your surgery recovery is the best it can be (faster, easier, and healthier). These programs are comprised of 17 key elements for your doctors to follow—and one of the key elements is preparing patients for surgery with a clear, complex-carb-rich presurgery drink (in place of the dated “fasting from midnight” method) to ensure better surgical outcomes and enhance your recovery after surgery. All in all, medical research shows that drinking complex carbs nourishes patients before surgery and enhances their recovery upon waking from anesthesia. (Psst…nourishing before surgery with complex carbs is also super helpful for those who suffer from post-op nausea and vomiting, an ailment that occurs as a result of being administered heavy anesthesia drugs on an empty stomach.)
What doesn’t ClearFast contain?
Just as important as what’s in ClearFast is what’s not in ClearFast. ClearFast is:
- Gluten-free
- Free of colored dyes
- Free of unnatural ingredients
- Free of simple sugars
- Free of protein and fat
OK, so what do the ClearFast ingredients have to do with my overall surgery experience?
Great question! Together, the ClearFast ingredients work to improve your surgery experience in a number of proven ways, including:
- Reducing pre-op anxiety: Nerves before surgery are only exacerbated by the fact you have absolutely nothing in your stomach. The ClearFast presurgery drink works to reduce the stress and anxiety that come along with being starved and dehydrated before surgery. In fact, in a large controlled study, patients in the pre-op area who drank ClearFast were 5.5-6.5 times more likely to describe themselves as “comfortable” than their cohorts who underwent the old-school fasting-from-midnight option.
- Reducing hunger and thirst: Like we said before, heading into surgery is like heading into a marathon—it makes no sense to deprive yourself of hydration and complex carbs before you’re getting ready to undertake major physical stress. ClearFast provides medical-grade hydration and acts as a liquid food, so your body has all of the nutrition it needs to go under the knife in its strongest state.
- Making IV “sticks” easier: Being poked and prodded with IVs is never any fun. And have you noticed how it’s worse right before you go into surgery? That’s because dehydration from the old-school fasting-from-midnight instruction leads to reduced blood flow, which means it often takes your nurse multiple, painful IV sticks to find a good vein. ClearFast works to drastically reduce this problem by ensuring you’re properly hydrated before surgery and have healthy, easy-to-find veins!
- Reducing post-op nausea & vomiting: Patients who typically experience nausea and vomiting upon waking from anesthesia say the same thing time and time again: drinking ClearFast before their surgery completely eliminated this problem for them. By nourishing and hydrating, ClearFast ensures you aren’t given those heavy anesthesia meds on an empty stomach—drastically reducing your chances of getting sick after surgery. (Psst…you can read more about how ClearFast reduces your risk of post-op nausea and vomiting here.)
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Overall, the ClearFast ingredients are a powerful, effective mix of all-natural nourishment and minerals formulated based on medical research—all to ensure your surgery experience is less stressful and your recovery is faster and easier! If you’re ready for a stress-free surgery and fast recovery, you can order your ClearFast Recovery Drink here. And, as always, don’t hesitate to reach out to the ClearFast team at support@drinkcf.com if you have any questions at all.