Pancreatitis Diet Tips

The Pancreatitis diet tips given here can help you avoid further flare ups.

Whether you are looking for a Chronic Pancreatitis Diet or Acute Pancreatitis Diet, what we all should know is that what we eat affects our Pancreas.

That’s because everything we eat causes the Pancreas to create and secrete the digestive enzymes that digest our food.  The harder a food is to digest the harder our Pancreas has to work.

My Thoughts On A Healthy Pancreatic Diet

One of the definitions of a diet as defined by dictionary.com is:

“food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health”

I think that when we create any pancreatitis diet plan it needs to be flexible to our lifestyle, the foods that we enjoy, and even the season.

Whether we are eating at home, eating in a restaurant, or eating at a friend or family’s house, knowing about the things that upset our Pancreas makes it easier to eat healthier and avoid the things that stress our Pancreas and cause flare ups.

Pancreatitis Diet

It’s a well known fact that pancreatitis can increase your risk of breathing problems, diabetes, infections, kidney failure, malnutrition and pancreatic cancer.

So watching what you eat is very important.  Avoiding certain foods can help you prevent an attack and reduce symptoms.

Here are some general guidelines that will help you create a healthier diet that keeps your Pancreas in mind.

Fatty Foods

It is well known that foods which are high in saturated or trans fats can be a big trigger for pancreatitis.

The National Digestive Diseases Information report says that following a low-fat diet when you are recovering from an pancreatic flare up can help to prevent future attacks.

Eliminate or limit meats that are fatty including organ meats and bacon.   It’s better for your Pancreas to eat leaner cuts of beef and white meat chicken.

Fast foods like cheeseburgers and french fries are high in the saturated fats that are hard to digest and make our Pancreas work harder.

Trans fat is found in all sorts of packaged baked goods and in most fast foods.

Read the labels when possible or use common sense.  Foods that are high in fat can cause a Pancreatic flare-up so avoid or dramatically limit them in your daily diet.

Refined Grains

Foods made with refined grains are another common element in our diets that can cause our pancreatitis to flare up.

Eating foods with white flour can increase your triglyceride levels which in turn can irritate your pancreas and end up causing an attack.

Eating whole grain flour takes longer to digest than white flour – giving your pancreas more time to help digest the foods and avoiding stressing it so much.

So, when you can avoid it, don’t eat any bread, breakfast cereal or pasta that is made from refined white flour.  Even white rice can cause problems.

Again, read nutrition labels when you can to determine what type of flour is in the foods you are eating.

Sugars

Another common trigger for your Pancreatitis is foods that contain added sugar.

This can be sort of tough to control because it seems like everything that we eat has added sugar.

But if you can cut out or control things like soda, cookies and candy you will avoid raising your triglyceride levels, another big trigger for a Pancreatitis Attack.

Even things like condiments, jams, and most fast foods contain large amounts of sugar.

Here is another place where reading nutrition labels will help you.  Even many restaurants and fast food places have menus that show what is in their foods if you ask them.

Diet Drinks

Even worse than sugar laden sodas is diet sodas.  They are something that you must avoid!

Diet sodas are often touted as ways that we can have our soda without the added sugar.  The problem is that the fix is worse than the original.

In a recent study researchers found that diet sodas actually raised the risk of diabetes MORE than sugar-sweetened sodas.

The truth is, diet soda will slow down your metabolism and actually make you hungry for sugars and carbs, which stress your Pancreas.

You should also avoid using artificial sweeteners.   Using just a little real sugar to your coffee is better than the artificial kind.

Here is a great article on what happens when you give up diet soda!

Alcohol

Alcohol is one of the largest single causes of Pancreatitis.  Even though current studies are showing it is less damaging to the Pancreas than was thought in the past – anyone who has Pancreatitis should avoid it.

What Can You Eat?

So you are probably asking yourself – what can I eat?  Well. in general, foods that are high in B vitamins and iron are good for you.

When you suffer from Pancreatitis it can be tough to get the nutrition that your body needs.  So eating foods that are minimally processed and full of nutrients is important.

Fresh fruits and vegetables should be a part of your diet because they contain antioxidants that can help prevent flare ups.

Eat lean meats that digest easier than fatty meats and use healthy oils that are low in saturated fats such as olive or canola oil when you cook.

In general – start reading the nutrition labels on any packaged foods that you eat to try to improve your diet.

Your Pancreatitis Diet should also vary when you have a flare up or are recovering from a flare up.

If you just had a flare up start back eating a liquid diet that is easy for your Pancreas to digest.

Conclusion to Pancreatitis Diet

I think that the biggest idea that you should take away from this article is moderation.

You may not be able to or even want to eat a totally controlled and healthy diet for your Pancreas – but limiting the bad foods that could trigger a flare up – or at least eating them in moderation can be a big help.

A diet that is flexible and looks at moderation rather than one that restricts what we eat to foods that we don’t like is always going to be one that we can adjust to easier.

Related articles across the web

• What Happens When You Stop Drinking Diet Soda
• 1000 Calorie Diabetic Plan – Diet to Lose Weight
• Saturated Fats: Are They as Bad as You Think?
• Unprocessed Lean Pork, The New Substitute To Chicken Or Fish In DASH Diet