Table of contents:
- A feeding guide for people with inflammatory bowel disease
- 1. Eat small amounts of food, but often
- 2. Limit your intake of salt and fat
- 3. Do not consume dairy products
- 4. Limiting fiber intake
- 5. Avoid soda, caffeine, and alcohol
- 6. Record your diet
If you have inflammatory bowel disease or ulcerative colitis, you must pay attention to the food that enters the stomach. The reason is, certain foods can trigger the symptoms and severity of the disease. In order to keep getting the nutrition needed and the disease does not recur, take a peek at the following eating guide.
A feeding guide for people with inflammatory bowel disease
1. Eat small amounts of food, but often
If you previously ate large meals two or three times a day, now you need to change them. People who have ulcerative colitis, their intestines can no longer work normally and optimally.
Eating large portions actually makes the intestines that have been injured work very hard. As a result, inflammation in the intestine can get worse.
Instead of eating large portions at a time, it is better to eat small portions but often. For example, eat five to six times a day in smaller portions than usual. In this way, you are helping to lighten the workload of the intestines.
2. Limit your intake of salt and fat
Usually, the medicines prescribed to treat colitis can have side effects if you eat too much salt. The side effects that will appear are swelling and bloating.
Not only salt, you also need to limit your daily fat intake. Fatty foods make stomach upset, bloating, and diarrhea. For that, for better health you should limit your daily intake of salt and fat.
3. Do not consume dairy products
Usually people who have inflammatory bowel disease also have lactose intolerance. Lactose intolerance is when the body is unable to digest lactose. Lactose is a type of natural sugar found in milk and milk products.
If you insist on continuing to eat dairy products, you are at risk of experiencing diarrhea, stomach pain, and bloating. For this reason, avoiding all dairy products is a wise choice to maintain your intestinal health.
4. Limiting fiber intake
Although fiber is very good for digestion, in people with colitis, the portions should be limited. Too much fiber can inhibit the work of the intestines and make inflammatory bowel symptoms worse. Therefore, you should ask your doctor how much fiber you can consume in a day.
When consuming fruit or vegetables, you can also trick them to make them easier to digest, for example by boiling, steaming, or processing them into juice.
5. Avoid soda, caffeine, and alcohol
If you have inflammatory bowel disease, you need to say goodbye to soda, caffeine and alcohol. These three drinks can irritate the lining of the intestines. The combination of caffeine and sugar, for example, can cause diarrhea and flatulence. Better to drink plenty of water which is clearly healthier.
6. Record your diet
Everyone has a different body reaction to certain foods and drinks. Therefore, it is imperative that you have a personal food record containing a list of daily foods and drinks and their reactions in the body. Even though it looks a little troublesome, this notebook is very useful to help reduce similar symptoms in the future due to eating wrong.
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