Recently, the number of patients with pancreatitis is increasing. Doctors, nutritionists assure that in order to improve health, the diet should definitely be adjusted. The question arises, what diet for pancreatitis contributes to 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 for nutrition in pancreatitis
Diet is a must for those who are sick with pancreatitis, otherwise no medicine will help.
Experts have developed rules that must be followed:
- if the disease is acute, then the diet should begin with fasting, lasting from 2 to 4 days;
- you must eat often, at the same time;
- portions should be small;
- avoid overeating;
- reduce the amount of confectionery;
- meals should include pureed products that do not irritate the mucous membrane;
- the daily rate of fat is no more than 80 g;
- reduce the amount of salt to 10 g;
- keep sugar intake 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 complex measures are needed to improve the condition. It must be remembered that dietary requirements are mandatory, otherwise this condition may lead to surgical intervention.
At the first stage of treatment, you should fast for several days. The duration of food refusal is from 2 to 4 days.
Only liquids are allowed. At this time, you can drink not strong tea, prepare decoctions of rose hips, mineral water without gas is suitable.
The next step is diet number 5. Food is low in calories, salt and fat are prohibited, which can provoke a new attack. All dishes are prepared in liquid form. You can add quite a bit.
It is best when drawing up a menu to have a list of useful and harmful products in front of the heads.
If you do not adhere to strict nutritional rules, then the patient's condition will not improve.
How to eat with chronic pancreatitis
Nutrition in this disease should help to normalize the functioning of the diseased organ. You should listen to the advice of Diet No. 5.
Diet tips for chronic pancreatitis:
- food and liquids entering the body must be warm;
- plan at least 5 meals during the day;
- avoid overeating;
- do not take long breaks between meals;
- reduce the amount of sugar;
- take out the fresh bread.
All dishes that are prepared by frying are strictly prohibited.
To make a proper diet, you need to know the list of products that will help you restore or worsen your health.
Table of permitted and prohibited products:
- bakery products: biscuits, yesterday's dried bread, biscuits;
- porridge boiled in water with a little milk;
- meat, steamed, baked, boiled chicken, turkey, lean beef;
- low-fat fish, mashed, chopped;
- first dishes: fat-free, vegetable, pureed soups;
- dairy products: all non-acidic, skimmed can be;
- vegetables: no coarse fibers;
- non-sour fruits;
- eggs no more than 1 per day;
- oil no more than 30 g per day;
- vegetable oil no more than 2 tablespoons;
- non-acidic juices diluted with water;
- tea is not strong, it is possible with lemon, milk;
- bakery products: fresh bread, muffins, puff pastry products;
- soups cooked in strong broth;
- fatty meats;
- high-fat dairy products;
- sauces;
- spices;
- oily fish;
- fried eggs;
- coarse fiber vegetables;
- mushrooms;
- legumes;
- carbonated drinks;
- alcohol;
- coffee;
- chocolate.
If you have any questions, it is recommended that you discuss the use of certain products with your doctor.
Diet for pancreatitis in children
Parents often have a question, what diet for pancreatitis does a sick child need? The diet that helps to improve the baby's condition differs little from the menu for adults. But there are some features that should be considered when feeding children.
Rules for feeding children:
- give food and drink warm, feed more with chopped dishes, for example, mashed potatoes;
- the diet must contain all the components necessary for normal growth and development;
- even after removal of an acute condition, it is imperative to observe dietary restrictions;
- forbid children to drink carbonated drinks;
- fast food meals.
If the sick child is not even 3 years old, then it is recommended to wipe the food, grind it. All citrus fruits, freshly squeezed juices should be removed from the diet. Children should not be given fruits with small seeds, 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 school and kindergarten meals. To do this, talk to a medical worker, inform the teacher, the educator.
It is most difficult to protect the child from soda, chips and other dangerous foods. When attending birthday parties and children's parties, care must be taken that the child does not violate the diet. The child must explain the need to limit food.
Menu for 7 days for patients with chronic pancreatitis
For patients, it is recommended to draw up a menu in advance, this will allow you to eat a balanced diet, while the state of health will improve significantly.
Menu for the week:
One day
- chicken meat, rosehip broth;
- oatmeal, tea;
- pumpkin puree soup, steamed fish, jelly;
- jar of baby food;
- stewed zucchini, carrots, baked chicken fillet, juice;
2 day
- rice porridge, tea with honey;
- pumpkin puree, compote;
- vegetable soup puree, chicken meatballs, jelly;
- tea, crackers;
- semolina pudding and jelly;
3 day
- oatmeal, jelly;
- baked apple with cottage cheese, rosehip broth;
- vegetable puree soup, 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 meatballs, compote;
- tea, dry biscuits;
- fish baked in the oven, rosehip broth.
Day 6
- semolina, tea;
- baked apple, rosehip broth;
- vegetable broth with a piece of beef, vegetable puree, compote;
- tea, crackers;
- steamed omelette, jelly;
Day 7
- rice porridge, crackers, rosehip broth;
- cottage cheese with sliced apple, tea;
- vegetable soup puree, chicken meatballs, jelly;
- cottage cheese, tea, biscuits;
- semolina pudding, jelly.
Knowing the basic requirements for dishes, you can make 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 delight yourself with something delicious. Nutritionists have developed special dishes that can be eaten with pancreatitis.
Baked Apples Recipe:
- For washed apples, remove the core, being careful not to pierce the bottom of the fruit.
- Put honey in an apple.
- Add cinnamon on top.
- Bake in the oven.
- Relax.
Beet Salad Recipe:
- Boil 1 medium-sized beetroot, cool, grate.
- 2 apples of sweet varieties, peeled, cut into small cubes.
- Grind the walnuts on a grater, you need about a tablespoon.
- Combine all components, mix, salt a little.
- Drizzle with olive oil.
Recipe for semolina pudding with berry jelly:
- Prepare a thick slurry of semolina in water, pour into deep molds, let cool.
- Cover the strawberries with a little water, boil, remove, cut, put back in the broth.
- Pour in the sugar, heat until boiling.
- Prepare starch, mix in cold water, carefully pour into strawberry broth, boil without letting it boil. Remove from heat, cool.
- When serving, cut the risen semolina pudding into pieces, pour jelly on top.
If you wish, any diet can be supplemented with delicious healthy dishes.
We recommend a video about permitted and prohibited foods in pancreatitis:
Pancreatitis is a common disease that requires a strict diet for treatment. To do this, you need to know which foods can be eaten and which cannot. You must follow the rules of cooking, general recommendations regarding 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 relapses. 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 the 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 especially strong when lying on the back. The attack worsens after eating, especially fried and spicy food, as well as any alcoholic beverages.
- Vomiting, often violent, bilious and bitter. Persistent nausea that does not go away after vomiting.
- Subfebrile or high fever.
- Sometimes, due to a violation of the outflow of bile, yellowing of the eye proteins is observed, very rarely - a yellow tint of the skin.
- In some cases, the pain syndrome is accompanied by heartburn and bloating.
An attack of acute pancreatitis requires immediate medical attention. Painkillers bring only temporary relief, but do not affect the cause of the inflammation. In the absence of qualified help, the risk of severe complications quickly increases: infection of inflamed tissues, necrosis and abscesses.
Severe acute pancreatitis can lead to shock and multiple organ failure.
Chronic pancreatitis
If, after an attack of acute pancreatitis, a person does not follow the doctors' recommendations and continues to drink alcohol and eat unhealthy food, 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 pancreatic cells. Over time, it begins to lose its main function - the production of enzymes necessary for the digestion of food. Exocrine insufficiency manifests itself:
- diarrhea
- bloating,
- change in the nature of feces - they acquire a sticky consistency due to the large amount of fat in them and are poorly washed from the walls of the toilet bowl.
Chronic pancreatitis can be asymptomatic for a long time: acute pain appears when significant pathological changes have already occurred in the pancreas. During an attack, chronic pancreatitis manifests itself with the same symptoms as acute:
- severe pain in the waist,
- nausea
- vomiting
- intestinal disorders.
The diagnosis is made on the basis of ultrasound, computed tomography or nuclear magnetic resonance. During the examination, narrowed pancreatic ducts are usually detected due to the formation of stones in them - calcifications. Hardware techniques also allow cysts to be detected at the site of atrophied tissue. Laboratory blood tests for chronic pancreatitis are not very informative.
Pancreatic insufficiency is determined by stool analysis. If they contain a specific enzyme - pancreatic elastase - a diagnosis of "chronic pancreatitis" is made.
Importance 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, ensuring a fast metabolism. The action of enzymes is very selective: each of them is able to initiate, accelerate or slow down only one reaction.
Digestion is based on the work of digestive enzymes. Their main task is to make the energy absorption process fast and efficient. Enzymes break down food components (proteins, fats and carbohydrates) into digestible substances. At the same time, the amount of enzymes produced depends on the amount and quality of food eaten.
Digestion of food begins in the mouth. The food broken up by the teeth into small pieces is mixed with the saliva, which contains the enzyme alpha-amylase. The better we chew the food, the easier it is for the enzyme of the salivary glands to convert starch molecules into soluble sugars and facilitate the process of further processing.
After the initial processing, the food enters the stomach through the esophagus, where the gastric enzymes pepsin and hydrochloric acid begin to work. These substances create gastric juice that:
- provides antibacterial protection of the body;
- stimulates the production of pancreatic hormones;
- regulates gastric motility;
- breaks down fat and performs 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 of 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 secretion.
From the stomach, the food bolus is evacuated into the duodenum, where the main process of food digestion takes place. It is provided by more than 20 pancreatic enzymes. The 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 starch into simple sugars;
- lipases - break down fats into higher fatty acids and glycerol.
When the enzyme production function of the organs of the digestive system, especially the pancreas, is disturbed, the entire organism is imbalanced. This imbalance leads to nausea, diarrhea, gas, followed by anemia and malnutrition.
What to take with food with pancreatic enzyme deficiency
In pancreatitis, the process of production of digestive enzymes by the pancreas is disturbed, as a result of which a person suffers from discomfort and pain in the stomach. In this case, after a complete examination, replacement therapy can be prescribed.
The task of treatment with enzyme preparations is to compensate for their deficiency in the body, while at the same time 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 you must drink them strictly 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 only aimed at filling the lack of one enzyme, for example the breakdown of lactose or fat. There are also means of complex action, prescribed for deficiency 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, polyenzyme preparations may include bile acids, adsorbents, or other enzymes. All drugs are selected strictly individually, taking into account the nature of the course of the disease and the severity of the symptoms.
What is the diet for pancreatitis?
In the process of treating pancreatitis, nutrition plays no less a role than drugs. The main goal of the prescribed diet is to restore the functions of the pancreas and normalize the production of digestive enzymes.
Hard-to-process foods increase the load on the inflamed organ. After a large feast of fatty fried foods, the pancreas begins to intensively produce enzymes for its digestion. If the ducts of the gland are narrowed, the pancreatic juice produced in an extreme mode accumulates in the gland, which aggravates the development of the disease - the affected pancreas begins to digest itself.
Signs that your gland is overactive include:
- heaviness in the abdomen after eating,
- acids,
- belching
- bouts of stomach pain.
Of course, constantly following a strict diet is not easy, especially at home. People with severe dietary restrictions are forced to cook for themselves and resist the temptation to eat something fried or spicy.
It is important to understand that a violation of the diet can cause an acute attack of pancreatitis with all the resulting consequences: severe pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. A single failure can invalidate all efforts to maintain long-term remission.
Diet rules number 5: what you can and cannot eat with pancreatitis
The pancreatitis diet has many restrictions on both the allowed foods and the way they are prepared. Especially for people who have problems with the pancreas, one of the founders of internal nutrition and gastroenterology, Professor I. I. Pevzner developed a diet table number 5.
But before getting acquainted with the specific provisions of this diet, it is necessary to take into account the general principles of nutrition in pancreatitis:
- you should eat 5 times a day in small portions;
- exclude fried and pickled foods;
- in the acute stage of the disease, food should be crushed or wiped;
- animal proteins should predominate in the diet;
- the amount of fat per day should not exceed 50 g;
- sugar is also strictly limited - no more than 30 g per day;
- products that increase flatulence are prohibited - sweet carbonated drinks, any legumes, sweet apples and grapes, sweet buns 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 meals. Don't be fooled that sugar can be replaced with honey, its consumption should also be controlled. Initially, you will definitely need a calculator. It is necessary to immediately calculate the daily calorie intake 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 apps for counting calories and nutrients.
All these principles are taken into account in diet number 5, which exists in basic and advanced versions.
The main option is indicated for relapses of chronic pancreatitis and for the acute nature of the disease. In the acute phase, the diet is stricter with many restrictions. It is aimed at unloading the pancreas and relieving the symptoms of acute inflammation. During the first 3 days of the acute stage, the patient is advised to fast to rest the pancreas. In addition, within 3-7 days, carbohydrate foods are allowed in small portions at short intervals. The caloric content of the diet on these days should be reduced, and food should be consumed only in pureed or semi-liquid form.
important!It is widely believed that rich broth, especially chicken broth, is good for all kinds of digestive problems. In pancreatitis, gall bladder diseases and other pathologies of the gastrointestinal tract, fat-rich 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 cereals on water and vegetable soups with various cereals, except for millet and corn, boiled or stewed vegetables in a puree. From drinks, weak tea, jelly, dried fruit compote are allowed. Bread is allowed only white and slightly dried, you can eat biscuits and biscuits as 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 beef, turkey or chicken breast, the meat from the broth must 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 and cottage cheese souffle with minimal fat content.
Diet number 5 is considered to spare the pancreas as much as possible, which needs complete rest in the acute stage. The permitted and prohibited foods for the basic diet are shown in Table 1.
important!The predominance of protein foods in the diet can lead to constipation. In this case, you should add more raw vegetables and fruits from the allowed list. With gout, preference is given to proteins of plant origin or marine fish.
Can chronic pancreatitis be cured?
So far, no drug has been developed to stop and reverse the processes occurring 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 there is a significant decrease in pancreatic function, therapy is supplemented with agents to normalize digestion and blood sugar levels. To achieve remission of chronic pancreatitis, proton pump inhibitors, antispasmodics, pain relievers, enzyme preparations are used, their choice is individual and depends on the clinical picture of the disease.
An important area of prevention is the timely treatment of diseases leading to the development of chronic pancreatitis.
How to eat with chronic pancreatitis?
Adherence to a therapeutic diet is an effective, scientifically proven means of preventing exacerbations. 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 the secretion of the stomach and pancreas. Resting the pancreas is very important to reduce inflammation activity. In the acute stage, a deleted version of the diet is used, and when going into remission, a non-pure version is used.
With chronic pancreatitis, it is important to provide the body with a sufficient amount of protein, the diet includes 110-120 g of protein per day, 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 egg white. But fats and simple carbohydrates, on the contrary, limit.
Eating with chronic pancreatitis should be regular and partial - 5-6 times a day in small portions. More about nutrition in pancreatitis