Recently, the number of patients with pancreatitis is growing. Doctors and nutritionists assure that in order to improve health, one should definitely adjust the diet. The question arises, what kind of diet for pancreatitis will help recovery? How to eat properly with this disease? Are there foods that can make the condition worse? What should you eat to improve your health?
Basic rules of nutrition in pancreatitis
A diet is mandatory for those who have pancreatitis, otherwise no medication will help.
Experts have developed rules that must be followed:
- if the disease is acute, the diet should begin with fasting, it lasts from 2 to 4 days;
- They often have to eat at the same time;
- Portions should be small;
- avoid overeating;
- reduce the amount of confectionery;
- Dishes should contain pureed products that do not cause irritation of the mucous membrane;
- the daily fat norm is no more than 80 g;
- reduce the amount of salt to 10 g;
- reduce sugar consumption to a minimum.
Based on these rules, a daily menu is formed.
How to eat with acute pancreatitis
Acute pancreatitis is a dangerous disease, so comprehensive measures are needed to improve the condition. It must be remembered that dietary requirements are mandatory, otherwise this condition can lead to surgical intervention.
In the first phase of treatment, you should remain fasting for several days. The duration of refusal to eat is from 2 to 4 days.
Only liquids are allowed. At this time you can not drink strong tea, prepare decoctions from rosehips, mineral water without gas is suitable.
The next step is diet number 5. Food is low in calories, salt and fat are forbidden, which can provoke a new attack. All dishes are cooked in liquid form. You can add a few things.
When compiling a menu, it is best to precede the chapters with a list of beneficial and harmful products.
If you do not adhere to strict dietary rules, the patient's condition will not improve.
How to eat with chronic pancreatitis
Diet in this disease should help normalize the functioning of the diseased organ. You should listen to Diet #5's advice.
Diet tips for chronic pancreatitis:
- Food and liquids entering the body should be warm;
- plan at least 5 meals during the day;
- avoid overeating;
- do not take long breaks between meals;
- reduce the amount of sugar;
- remove fresh bread.
All dishes prepared by frying are strictly forbidden.
In order to form a proper diet, you should know the list of products that will help restore or worsen your health.
Table of permitted and prohibited products:
- Baked Goods: Crackers, Dried Yesterday's Bread, Cookies;
- porridge boiled in water with a little milk;
- Meat, stewed and in the oven, boiled chicken, turkey, lean beef;
- low-fat fish, mashed, chopped;
- first courses: fat-free, vegetable, puree soups;
- Dairy products: all non-acidic, non-fat;
- Vegetables: without rough fiber;
- acid-free fruits;
- eggs no more than 1 per day;
- butter no more than 30 g per day;
- vegetable oil no more than 2 tablespoons;
- acid-free juices diluted with water;
- Tea is not strong, it is possible with lemon, milk;
- Baked goods: fresh bread, muffins, puff pastries;
- soups cooked in strong broth;
- Fatty Meat;
- high-fat dairy products;
- sauces;
- Spices;
- fatty fish;
- Fried eggs;
- coarse-grained vegetables;
- Mushrooms;
- Legumes;
- carbonated drinks;
- Alcohol;
- Coffee;
- Chocolate.
If you have any questions, it is advisable to discuss the use of certain products with your doctor.
Diet for pancreatitis in children
Parents often ask, what kind of diet for pancreatitis does a sick child need? The diet that will help improve the baby's condition is not much different from the adult menu. But there are some special features that need to be considered when feeding children.
Nutrition rules for children:
- Give food and drinks warm, feed more with chopped food, e. g. B. mashed potatoes;
- the diet should contain all the components necessary for normal growth and development;
- It is imperative that dietary restrictions are followed even after resolution of an acute condition.
- Forbid children to drink carbonated beverages;
- fast food dishes.
If the sick child is not even 3 years old, it is recommended to wipe and grind the food. All citrus fruits, freshly squeezed juices should be removed from the diet. Children should not be given berries with small seeds, a rough shell. Fresh vegetables are not required.
A child over 3 years old attends children's educational institutions, contacts with peers. First of all, you need to take care of nutrition in school and kindergarten. To do this, talk to a medical worker, inform the teacher, educator.
The most difficult thing is to protect the child from soda, chips and other dangerous foods. When visiting birthdays and children's parties, care should be taken to ensure that the child does not violate the diet. The child must explain to him that it is necessary to limit food.
Menu for 7 days for patients with chronic pancreatitis
It is recommended for patients to prepare a menu in advance, so you can eat a balanced diet while the state of health improves noticeably.
Menu option for the week:
1 day
- chicken meat, rosehip broth;
- oatmeal, tea;
- pumpkin puree soup, steamed fish, jelly;
- jar of baby food;
- stewed zucchini, carrots, chicken fillet from the oven, juice;
2 day
- rice porridge, tea with honey;
- pumpkin puree, compote;
- vegetable soup puree, chicken meatballs, jelly;
- tea, crackers;
- semolina pudding and jelly;
3 days
- porridge, jelly;
- baked apple with cottage cheese, rosehip broth;
- soup puree from vegetables, steamed fish, compote;
- cottage cheese, tea;
- boiled fish, tea;
day 4
- rice porridge, crackers, rosehip broth;
- pumpkin puree, tea;
- vegetable broth, a piece of boiled fish, mashed potatoes, compote;
- tea with honey, biscuits;
- rice pudding, jelly;
day 5
- oatmeal, tea;
- cottage cheese, baked apple, rosehip broth;
- vegetable soup, chicken patties, compote;
- tea, dry biscuits;
- Oven-baked fish, rosehip broth.
day 6
- semolina, tea;
- baked apple, rosehip broth;
- Vegetable broth with a piece of beef, vegetable puree, compote;
- tea, crackers;
- steamed omelet, jelly;
day 7
- rice porridge, crackers, rosehip broth;
- cottage cheese with chopped apple, tea;
- vegetable soup puree, chicken meatballs, jelly;
- cottage cheese, tea, biscuits;
- Semolina pudding, jelly.
Knowing the basic requirements for dishes, you can create your own menu.
Recipes for pancreatitis
Knowing the basic rules of the diet, you can make changes to the menu. With food restrictions, you want to treat yourself to something tasty. Nutritionists have developed special dishes that can be eaten with pancreatitis.
Recipe for baked apples:
- For washed apples, remove the core, being careful not to pierce the bottom of the fruit.
- Put honey in an apple.
- Put cinnamon on top.
- Bake in the oven.
- Cooling down.
Recipe for beet salad:
- Boil 1 medium turnip, cool, chop with a grater.
- 2 sweet apples, peeled and cut into small cubes.
- Grind walnuts on a grater, you need about a tablespoon.
- Mix all components, mix, salt a little.
- Pour in olive oil.
Recipe for semolina pudding with berry jelly:
- Prepare a thick semolina pudding in water, pour into deep molds and leave to cool.
- Pour a little water on the strawberries, boil, remove, chop, return to the broth.
- Pour sugar, bring to a boil.
- Prepare starch, stir in cold water, carefully pour into the strawberry broth, bring to the boil, do not boil. Remove from the stove, cool down.
- To serve, cut the thickened semolina pudding into pieces and pour over the jelly.
If desired, any diet can be supplemented with delicious healthy dishes.
We recommend watching a video about allowed and forbidden foods in pancreatitis:
Pancreatitis is a common condition that requires a strict diet to treat. To do this, you need to know which foods are safe to eat and which are not. You should follow the rules of cooking, general recommendations on nutrition.
Types of pancreatitis
The most general classification of pancreatitis is based on the nature of the course of the disease: acute attack or prolonged chronic pancreatitis with periodic flare-ups. The two forms differ in the severity of symptoms and require different treatment approaches.
Acute pancreatitis
The inflammatory process in acute pancreatitis develops very quickly and is always accompanied by severe pain. In most cases, the disease occurs against the background of alcohol abuse or after eating a large amount of fatty foods. Sometimes an exacerbation is preceded by an attack of acute hepatic colic.
Symptoms of acute pancreatitis:
- Severe pain in the left hypochondrium, radiating to other organs. The pain attack lasts about half an hour to an hour. The pain is particularly severe when lying on your back. The attack worsens after eating, especially fried and spicy, and alcoholic beverages.
- Vomiting, often violent, bilious and bitter. Constant nausea that does not go away after vomiting.
- Subfebrile or high temperature.
- Sometimes, due to a violation of the outflow of bile, yellowing of the proteins of the eyes is observed, very rarely - a yellow tint of the skin.
- In some cases, the pain syndrome is accompanied by heartburn and flatulence.
An attack of acute pancreatitis requires immediate medical attention. Painkillers only provide temporary relief, but do not affect the cause of the inflammation. In the absence of qualified help, the risk of serious complications increases rapidly: infection on inflamed tissues, necrosis and abscesses.
Acute pancreatitis in a severe stage can lead to shock and multiple organ failure.
Chronic pancreatitis
If, after an attack of acute pancreatitis, a person does not follow the recommendations of doctors and continues to drink alcohol and eat an unhealthy diet, there is a high probability that the disease will become chronic. Chronic pancreatitis develops with significant damage to the pancreas during the first episode of the disease.
The disease is characterized by gradual pathological changes in the structure of the pancreatic cells. Over time, it loses its main function - the production of enzymes necessary for the digestion of food. Exocrine insufficiency manifests itself:
- Diarrhea
- gas,
- a change in the nature of feces - they acquire a sticky consistency due to the large amount of fat and are poorly washed off the walls of the toilet bowl.
Chronic pancreatitis can be asymptomatic for a long time: acute pain occurs when significant pathological changes have already occurred in the pancreas. During an attack, chronic pancreatitis presents with the same symptoms as acute:
- severe belt pain,
- nausea,
- to throw up,
- intestinal diseases.
The diagnosis is made using ultrasound, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging. During the study, as a rule, narrowed pancreatic ducts are found due to the formation of stones in them - calcifications. Hardware techniques also make it possible to detect cysts at the site of atrophied tissue. Laboratory blood tests for chronic pancreatitis are not very conclusive.
The insufficiency of pancreatic function is determined by analyzing feces. If they contain a specific enzyme - pancreatic elastase - the diagnosis "chronic pancreatitis" is made.
The role of enzymes in digestion
The functioning of the human body is ensured by a complex system of interconnected and interdependent biochemical reactions. Thanks to special protein compounds - enzymes or enzymes, all these reactions are accelerated, providing a fast metabolism. The action of enzymes is very selective: each of them can only trigger, accelerate or slow down one reaction.
Digestion is based on the work of digestive enzymes. Their main task is to make the process of energy absorption quick and efficient. Enzymes break down food components (proteins, fats and carbohydrates) into absorbable substances. At the same time, the amount of enzymes produced depends on the quantity and quality of the food eaten.
Digestion of food begins in the mouth. Food broken up into small pieces by teeth is mixed with saliva, which contains the enzyme alpha-amylase. The better we chew food, the easier it is for the salivary gland enzyme to convert starch molecules into soluble sugar and facilitate further processing.
After initial processing, food travels through the esophagus to the stomach, where the gastric enzyme pepsin and hydrochloric acid begin to work. These substances produce gastric juice that:
- provides antibacterial protection of the body;
- stimulates the production of pancreatic hormones;
- regulates gastric motility;
- breaks down fats and fulfills a number of other functions.
In addition to pepsin, which is responsible for breaking down large protein molecules, other enzymes are also produced in the stomach, for example:
- Gelatinase - a solvent for collagen, gelatin and other connective tissue proteins;
- Lipase – an enzyme that breaks down certain fat molecules into fatty acids and monoglycerides;
- Chymosin - starts the process of digesting milk protein.
Bile plays an important role in the digestive process. It contains bile acids that stimulate the production of pancreatic secretions.
From the stomach, the food bolus is evacuated to the duodenum, where the main process of food digestion takes place. It is provided by more than 20 pancreatic enzymes. Enzymes are contained in the pancreatic juice, which is produced by the gland in a volume of about two liters per day.
Functions of pancreatic enzymes:
- Proteases - the breakdown of proteins into amino acids;
- Nucleases - act on DNA nucleic acids;
- amylase - breaks down starches into simple sugars;
- Lipases – break down fats into higher fatty acids and glycerol.
When the function of enzyme production is violated by the organs of the digestive system, especially the pancreas, the whole organism becomes unbalanced. This imbalance leads to nausea, diarrhea, bloating, followed by anemia and malnutrition.
What to take with food for pancreatic enzyme deficiency?
With pancreatitis, the process of producing digestive enzymes by the pancreas is disrupted, causing a person to experience stomach discomfort and pain. In this case, after a full examination, replacement therapy can be prescribed.
The task of treatment with enzyme preparations is to compensate for their deficiency in the body, while reducing the load on the damaged organ. In some cases, such therapy is prescribed for life.
Important!The action of all enzyme preparations begins 20-30 minutes after a meal, so be sure to drink them before meals in the dosage prescribed by your doctor!
Modern pharmacology offers a large number of different enzyme preparations of animal and plant origin. Some of them are aimed only at filling the lack of a single enzyme, for example, breaking down lactose or fats. There are also funds with complex effects that are prescribed for a lack of several enzymes in various organs of the digestive system.
Pancreatic enzymes are obtained from the organs of cows or pigs. The composition of the drugs includes the main pancreatic enzymes - amylase, lipase and trypsin. In addition to pure pancreatin, polyenzymatic preparations may contain bile acids, adsorbents, or other enzymes. All medicines are selected strictly individually, taking into account the nature of the course the disease and the severity of the symptoms.
What is the diet for pancreatitis?
Diet plays no less a role than medication in the treatment of pancreatitis. The main goal of the prescribed diet is to restore the functions of the pancreas and normalize the production of digestive enzymes.
Difficult-to-process foods increase the stress on the inflamed organ. After a long feast on greasy fried food, the pancreas begins to produce enzymes for its digestion. When the ducts of the gland are narrowed, the pancreatic juice produced in extreme mode accumulates in the gland and aggravates the development of the disease - the affected pancreas begins to digest itself.
Signals that your gland is overloaded include:
- feeling of heaviness in the stomach after eating,
- Heartburn,
- burping
- Attacks of pain in the stomach.
Of course, following a strict diet all the time isn't easy, especially at home. People with severe dietary restrictions are forced to cook for themselves and resist the temptation to eat anything fried or spicy.
It is important to understand that a violation of the diet can provoke an acute attack of pancreatitis with all of the following: severe pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. A single failure can destroy all efforts to maintain long-term remission.
Diet rules number 5: What you can and cannot eat with pancreatitis
The diet for pancreatitis has many restrictions both in terms of foods allowed and how they are prepared. Especially for people with problems with the pancreas, one of the founders of home dietology and gastroenterology, Professor I. I. Pevzner, developed nutrition table number 5.
But before you get acquainted with the specific provisions of this diet, it is necessary to consider the general principles of nutrition in pancreatitis:
- You need to eat in small portions 5 times a day.
- exclude fried and pickled foods;
- in the acute stage of the disease, food must be crushed or wiped;
- animal protein should predominate in the diet;
- the amount of fat per day should not exceed 50 g;
- Sugar is also subject to a strict restriction - no more than 30 g per day;
- Products that increase flatulence are prohibited - sweet carbonated drinks, legumes, sweet apples and grapes, sweet muffins and some others;
- Salt intake is minimized - no more than three to five grams.
Important!With pancreatitis, you can eat slow carbohydrates, while you need to monitor the ratio of nutrients in the dishes. Do not be fooled by the fact that honey can be substituted for sugar, its consumption should also be controlled. First of all, you will definitely need a calculator. It is necessary to immediately calculate the calorie intake per day and the balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates based on the body mass index. This information is easy to find on the Internet on sites dedicated to proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. There are various mobile applications for counting calories and nutrients.
All of these principles are considered in diet number 5, which exists in a basic and an advanced version.
The basic option is indicated for flares of chronic pancreatitis and for the acute nature of the disease. In the acute phase, the diet is stricter with many restrictions. It aims to relieve the pancreas and relieve symptoms of acute inflammation. In the first 3 days of the acute stage, the patient is recommended fasting to rest the pancreas. In addition, within 3-7 days, carbohydrate-containing foods are allowed in small portions at short intervals. The calorie content of the diet should be reduced nowadays and food is only consumed in pureed or semi-liquid form.
Important!It is widely believed that rich broth, especially chicken broth, is good for digestive problems. In pancreatitis, diseases of the gallbladder and other pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, high-fat broths are categorically contraindicated! An excessive amount of animal fat significantly increases the load on the pancreas and prevents the normalization of the condition.
The diet includes grains on the water and vegetable soups with various grains, except millet and corn, boiled or stewed mashed vegetables. From drinks are allowed weak tea, jelly, dried fruit compote. Bread is allowed only white and slightly dried, you can eat crackers and biscuits like biscuits.
On the third day of the carbohydrate diet, protein products are gradually introduced:
- soup from lean meat, it is desirable to cook broth from veal, turkey or chicken breast, meat from the broth should be passed through a meat grinder or chopped in a blender;
- steamed omelette or soft-boiled eggs;
- steam cutlets from lean meat or low-fat fish;
- Cottage cheese casseroles and soufflés made from cottage cheese with minimal fat content.
Diet number 5 is known for sparing the pancreas as much as possible, which needs complete rest in the acute stage. Permitted and forbidden foods for an alkaline diet are listed in Table 1.
Important!The predominance of protein foods in the diet can lead to constipation. In this case, you need to add more raw vegetables and fruits from the allowed list. With gout, preference is given to proteins of plant origin or sea fish.
Can chronic pancreatitis be cured?
To date, no drug has been developed to stop and reverse the processes that occur in the pancreas during chronic inflammation. Therefore, treatment is aimed at slowing the progression of the disease and preventing exacerbations. In the later stages, when the pancreas function decreases significantly, the therapy is supplemented with means to normalize digestion and blood sugar levels. To achieve remission of chronic pancreatitis, proton pump inhibitors, antispasmodics, painkillers and enzyme preparations are used, the choice of which is individual and depends on the clinical picture.
An important area of prevention is the timely treatment of diseases that lead to the development of chronic pancreatitis.
How to eat with chronic pancreatitis?
Following a therapeutic diet is an effective, scientifically proven way to prevent flare-ups. There are several modifications of therapeutic diets for the stage of exacerbation and remission. The diets used are based on the exclusion of products that stimulate an increase in gastric and pancreatic secretions. Rest for the pancreas is very important to reduce inflammatory activity. In the acute stage, a wiped version of the diet is used, and when it goes into remission, an unmashed version is used.
With chronic pancreatitis, it is important to provide the body with enough protein, 110-120 g of protein per day is included in the diet, which slightly exceeds the physiological norm. At the same time, 60% of this amount should be animal proteins. The menu includes dishes from lean meat, poultry, fish, cottage cheese and protein. But fats and simple carbohydrates, on the contrary, limit.
Diet in chronic pancreatitis should be regular and fractional - 5-6 times a day in small portions. More about nutrition in pancreatitis