The enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol for perioperative management has attracted attention globally. We performed a prospective study to evaluate the effectiveness of and patient satisfaction with early oral feeding – one of the elements of the ERAS protocol – for elective colorectal surgery. Two hundred patients who received elective colorectal surgery from January 2013 to October 2017 at our facility were randomly divided into two groups. One hundred patients began eating the ERAS diet on postoperative day two (ERAS group), while the other one hundred patients began eating a liquid diet on postoperative day five (conventional group). We evaluated the emotional and physical distress experienced by patients as a result of the early oral feeding via a questionnaire survey. Postoperative hospital stays, onset of hunger and date of first postoperative flatus and defecation were significantly shorter in the ERAS group than in the conventional group. The questionnaire survey also revealed high levels of satisfaction with early oral feeding in the ERAS group. Early postoperative oral feeding contributed to earlier postoperative recovery and reduced emotional and physical distress. Early postoperative oral feeding is feasible and produced greater patient satisfaction as a perioperative management method for patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery.