Why a Pancreatic Diet is Important

Why You Need A Pancreatic Diet

A pancreatic diet is important if you get any pancreatitis symptoms.  This is just as important whether it is chronic pancreatitis or acute pancreatitis.

It is also a good idea to start thinking back over the food that you had over the days previous to its onset.  You might even write the foods that you eat down.  This way you can track what you eat if you have repeated attacks.  Over time this should give you some insight into what causes these attacks.

If you want to avoid the attacks all together then I think that a pancreatic diet will help.

Pancreatitis and Doctors

There is one thing that I should point out.  Through all the times that I have been in the hospital with pancreatic attacks, the Doctors have never asked me about anything that I have eaten.  Dealing With Doctors

They always want to know about alcohol intake.  But they aren’t interested in what I eat.  I also never have received any suggestions on what I should eat when I was released from the hospital.

So, while it is only my personal opinion and that of many other people who experience this disease, the idea that what we eat can cause a flare up is something that you should think about.

After tracking my own food intake it is my opinion that what you eat can affect whether or not you have an attack.

Pancreatitis and Alcohol

The one thing that you should do immediately if you haven’t done so already is get alcohol out of your diet.

Overuse of alcohol is on of the largest causes of both acute and chronic pancreatitis around the world.  So a good diet for pancreatitis will have no alcohol in it.

For me this is sort of complicated.  I’ve never been a big drinker and that isn’t the cause of my pancreatitis, but now that I have both chronic and acute pancreatitis, even a little alcohol can cause a flare up.

Foods to Avoid With Pancreatitis

There are also a number of different foods that I personally need to avoid or take in very small portions.

These include:

• Cheese – Especially Yellow Cheese
• Fatty Foods
• Red Sauces – Pizza or Pasta

The first thing that I found out when I started to monitor my food intake was that the more fatty food that I eat, the more likely I am to have a flare-up.

So a low fat pancreatic diet plan is important to me.

I can eat hamburgers if they aren’t too fatty but if I go to SmashBurger I’m courting an attack that makes a pancreatic diet important.

The same with places like KFC, Taco Bell or other greasy spoon joints.  Too much fat is just plain bad for a pancreatic diet plan.

This is especially true if I’m already having a slight flare up and eat something fatty.  Usually I’ll end up with a larger attack.

Cheese is another thing that bothers me.  In part because I have gastroparesis which translates to slow stomach.  Cheese seems to take longer to digest for me and can cause a flare-up.

I haven’t been able to have Pizza or Lasagna for years because they have the especially deadly combination of a lot of cheese and red sauce.

I’m not exactly sure why but red sauces don’t sit well with me and can cause a flare-up whether it’s something like lasagna, spaghetti, or pizza.

So my conclusion is that if you want to minimize your outbreaks, you will absolutely have to learn about the foods you eat that cause pancreatitis and change your diet accordingly.

This also means that with most fast food places serving huge portions of fat in every meal you are going to have to avoid them too.

Diet For Pancreatitis Sufferers

The good news is that there are increasing numbers of restaurants that offer low fat, delicious, and healthy meals.  Panera Bread, Mad Greens, and Chipolte are some of my favorites.

My Doctor has also recently added Glucerna to my diet for those times when my stomach or pancreas is acting up but I still want to get nutrition.

I’ve found that I’m not really very good at specific diets or regulations.  It sometimes seems that the less I should have something in my pancreatic diet the more that I want it.

So the advice that I always give is something that one of my favorite Doctors told me.  Remember that I can eat anything but that certain things are more likely than others to cause me pain – so everything in moderation!

Pancreatitis and Stress

Another factor that seems to play into the timing of my attacks is the amount of stress that I am under.  The more stress that I am feeling the more likely that I will get an attack.

I know it’s pretty hard in this day and age to avoid all stress but I’ve found that even just finding ways to destress and get rid of it can be helpful.

I have found that making sure to include time every day for Yoga and walking helps to reduce my stress.  There are many forms of Yoga out there so you will need to shop around for one that is less intensive.

The one that I found works for me is based on the Iyengar method of Yoga.   This type of Yoga uses props to help achieve the poses if you have problems getting into them.

This makes that Yoga less stressful on your pancreas.  Many times Yoga studios also offer restorative classes that are helpful.

Final Thoughts On A Pancreatic Diet

A pancreatic diet won’t nescessarily stop pancreatitis.  But it can help keep the pain down and stop too much damage to your pancreas.

Remember that every time that your pancreas is in pain it means that there is more damage happening to your pancreas.