The famous ancient Greek healer Hippocrates said: "We are what we eat! "He is right in many ways, meaning by this the culture of food consumption, its usefulness or harm in relation to the human body. Thus, some products are vital for the normal full functioning of all organs and systems, while others, on the contrary, reduce the quality of life and lead to serious diseases, for example, pancreatitis. In this case, proper balanced nutrition is a cure, preventing possible relapses.
Pancreatitis is an inflammatory process that occurs in the pancreas. This organ plays an important role in the functioning of the digestive tract. Its main functions are the production of insulin, as well as digestive enzymes required for the breakdown and digestion of nutrients:
trypsins, for the digestion of proteins;
lipases, for processing fats;
lactase, maltase, amylase, invertase, which ensure the transformation of complex carbohydrates into monosaccharides.
Normally, pancreatic juice, saturated with enzymes, enters the duodenum through the ducts, where the main stage of food digestion occurs. Pathology occurs when the secretion of enzymatic fluid is too active, its quantity becomes such that it cannot physiologically "quickly" migrate from the gland. Stagnation occurs during which digestive enzymes interact with pancreatic cells, leading to their death, stimulating inflammation.
In most cases, pancreatitis is a consequence of excessive and regular consumption of alcohol, fatty, and heavy foods. Such a diet leads to the fact that the pancreas constantly works in an enhanced mode, producing an excess amount of enzymes, which has a toxic effect not only on the organ itself, but also on other life support systems, entering the systemic bloodstream.
The same reactions are possible when taking certain medications.
Another common cause of the disease is partial or complete obstruction of the pancreatic duct. This may be due to the formation of stones (in case of cholelithiasis), the formation of cysts, tumors, injuries, and in rare cases – with a structural anomaly. Less commonly diagnosed are cases of the development of the disease as a result of parasitism by pathogenic microorganisms and other gastrointestinal pathologies (cholecystitis, cholangitis, etc. ).
General rules
There are two main forms of pathology: acute and chronic. In the first case, the symptoms are most pronounced: there is severe pain in the left side, radiating to the forearm, frequent vomiting, and hyperemia. An attack usually occurs after eating fried or spicy foods or alcoholic beverages. In this case, urgent hospitalization and immediate treatment are needed in order to stabilize the condition as quickly as possible and avoid dangerous complications such as pancreatic necrosis and multiple organ failure.
In the first 2-3 days after an attack, it is forbidden to eat any food in order to stop the production of enzymatic secretions. During this period, the body is fed through drips.
Drinking is allowed as desired, but in small portions. Consumption of mineral or boiled water, weakly brewed tea, and rosehip decoction is allowed. After the pain subsides, the patient gradually switches to a normal diet. It is important not to overload the gland and give it time to recover, so the diet should be as gentle as possible. You should eat food in portions of no more than 150 g up to 6 times a day.
All dishes are prepared in liquid or semi-liquid form (broths, purees, porridges) by boiling or steaming and cooled to a warm temperature before serving. Gradually, the diet is expanded, adding more high-calorie and non-chopped foods. Further nutrition for pancreatitis still remains fractional and sparing.
With a chronic disease, the clinical picture is not so bright. The pathology, in this case, has already affected most of the glandular tissues, leading to serious disruptions in the functioning of the organ, primarily in the full production of enzymes. Persistent digestive disorders are observed: diarrhea, bloating, changes in the nature of feces, but no pain occurs. However, during an exacerbation, the symptoms become more intense and are accompanied by severe pain.
Diet adjustments are made based on the same principles as for acute pancreatitis. After a three-day fast, the patient switches to fractional low-calorie meals (proteins - 60 g, fats - 50 g per day). This regimen is indicated for a period of 5 to 7 days. Further, the nature of the food changes depending on the patient’s condition. Preference is given to proteins, the amount of fat remains low. Liquid foods are complemented with viscous, finely chopped ones; Cooking by stewing or baking is allowed.
Daily salt intake should be no more than 6 g (for any form of pathology).
Why follow a diet for pancreatitis?
An acute attack of the disease is a serious damage to the health of the gland. Only in isolated cases does the organ recover completely without any consequences. As a rule, such disorders do not go away without a trace, especially if a person again abuses strong drinks or eats improperly. The transition to a chronic form is a dangerous condition; it will no longer be possible to fully recover. In this case, the affected gland is not able to produce the required volume of enzymes; regular (often lifelong) use of medicinal analogues is required.
Dietary nutrition for pancreatitis is mandatory. The main goal is to relieve the diseased organ, reduce hypersecretion, and prevent re-exacerbation. Difficult to digest, long-digesting foods that require increased production of pancreatic juice are excluded from the menu. The diet is selected in such a way as to ensure normal functioning of the pancreas and maximum restoration of damaged tissue.
Diet plays an important role in the prevention of diabetes. There are special areas in the gland, called islets of Langerhans, where a specific hormone, insulin, is produced. If inflammation affects these formations, then hormonal generation decreases, which ultimately can lead to the development of endocrine disease. Poor nutrition, in this case, is considered as a predisposing factor.
Allowed products for pancreatitis
After the symptoms have weakened, the patient is shown diet table No. 5p. There are two options - basic and advanced. The first is prescribed for the chronic course of the pathology in the active phase and in case of an acute attack. It is quite limited and consists mainly of easily digestible carbohydrates.
Enhanced nutrition for pancreatitis is an adjustment of the carbohydrate diet by adding protein products. Their daily content in food is no more than 125 g. At the same time, the amount of fat consumed should not exceed 70 g. In addition, the amount of other nutrients necessary for health is taken into account:
vitamin A – 10 mg;
B vitamins – from 2 to 10 mg;
vitamin C – up to 150 g;
calcium – 0. 8 g;
sodium – 3 g;
phosphorus – 1. 3 g;
magnesium – 0. 5 g;
iron – 0. 03 g.
All this suggests that the daily menu should not only be healthy, but also varied due to the use of various permitted products.
Vegetables: potatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower, seaweed, green peas, pumpkin, zucchini, celery, carrots. A lot of controversy arises among nutritionists regarding the consumption of beets. It is a known fact that boiled root vegetables are healthy, but the high content of betaine and sugars in it calls into question the safety of its use as food for inflammation of the pancreas.
Vegetables are eaten pureed, in the form of puree, as part of first courses. Gradually a transition to coarser grinding is allowed.
Fruits, berries: apples, pears, pomegranates, peaches, strawberries, raspberries. The products are baked (apples), steamed, or various delicacies (without sugar) are prepared from them: preserves, jams, mousses, marshmallows, marmalade, jelly.
Meat (lean): turkey, chicken, rabbit, veal (fillet or tenderloin). The products can be eaten after the patient’s condition has stabilized. They are used to cook broths, puree soups, prepare steamed cutlets, quenelles, meatballs, and soufflés.
Fish: pike perch, pike, carp, perch, hake, pollock, cod, blue whiting. Served in boiled pieces or processed into minced meat for steaming.
Dairy products (low fat): milk, kefir, yogurt, cottage cheese, cream, yogurt. Fermented milk drinks are drunk little by little during the day, porridge is cooked with milk, and cottage cheese is used for casseroles and puddings.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the cheese. Only brined soft cheeses are allowed for consumption: feta cheese, suluguni, etc. The products are added crushed to food during cooking.
Cereals: semolina, rice, buckwheat, oatmeal. Cereals ground into flour are best suited.
Pasta: any. Prepare according to instructions, preference is given to small items.
Eggs: chicken, quail. They are eaten boiled (mashed), soft-boiled (rarely) or as an omelet.
Bread: wheat (yesterday's), with bran, crackers, biscuits.
Oil: creamy (up to 30 g per day), vegetable (flaxseed, olive, refined sunflower) are introduced into the menu gradually.
Beverages: weak tea, compotes, diluted juices from non-acidic berries, fruits, still mineral water.
All food is prepared immediately before the meal. Soup "frying" of vegetables is prohibited.
Fully or partially limited products
Unfortunately, a dangerous disease dictates its own strict rules by which the patient will have to continue to live. First of all, this concerns the daily diet. To avoid possible relapses and worsening of the condition in the future, you will have to permanently stop consuming certain foods. Of course, this is difficult to accept, but the price of poor nutrition during pancreatitis is often the life of the patient.
Dieting should not be treated as an ordeal. The number of things you can eat is not so small, and in all sections of the food table. In addition, if the patient is feeling well, nutrition for pancreatitis can be expanded by introducing foods not included in the main diet (some seasonal vegetables, fruits, etc. ). Their consumption must be strictly limited, carefully monitoring the body's reaction. If any, even mild, symptoms occur that indicate a possible attack, the new food introduced into the diet is immediately excluded.
The patient's diet does not contain foods high in fat. First of all, this concerns meat (pork, lamb, duck, goose, offal). Any semi-finished meat products and sausages are also prohibited. The latter pose a particular potential danger, becauseinclude a large number of chemical flavoring additives that irritate the entire digestive system. The exception is sausages or ham made from dietary poultry meat, which are sometimes consumed in small quantities.
Varieties of fatty sea and river fish (salmon, beluga, sturgeon, sterlet, etc. ), as well as caviar, rolls, and sushi are excluded. Consumption of fish dishes of moderate fat content and seafood is allowed (no more than 2 times a week).
The diet menu does not contain vegetables with coarse fiber, high acidity: white cabbage, radish, rutabaga, radish, turnip, spinach, sorrel, corn, asparagus, eggplant. You should not serve pickled, pickled, salted vegetables, ginger, olives, or dishes prepared with garlic and onions. Products must be thermally processed before eating; they should not be eaten raw. Sweet tomatoes can be used with caution in the diet if there are no signs of inflammation of the pancreas.
Fruits and berries contain a large amount of acids, causing increased secretion of pancreatic fluid. Therefore, their use is undesirable, especially during the rehabilitation period after an attack. Citrus fruits, persimmons, melons, fresh berries, and juices from them are prohibited. Dried fruits are allowed to a limited extent.
Consumption of mushrooms and legumes is excluded. These products are a source of large amounts of vegetable protein, which helps activate the pancreas. In addition, unwanted disorders from other organs of the gastrointestinal tract are possible: increased gas formation, constipation, which is especially problematic for people with pancreatitis.
Difficult-to-digest foods made from cereals are prohibited: millet, barley, peas, and pearl barley. The consistency of the finished cereal should be semi-liquid and viscous; it is not recommended to eat it in crumbly form.
Fat milk, as well as its derivatives (cottage cheese, kefir, sour cream) are extremely undesirable. Hard, salty, sharp cheeses and cheese products are prohibited.
When preparing food, you cannot use any spices or serve factory-made sauces: mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, etc. Cooking by frying is strictly prohibited. Fried foods (including sauteed vegetables for soups) are saturated with many carcinogens and other harmful substances that have a depressing effect on the functioning of the entire digestive tract. Regular consumption of such food can provoke a new attack. The same applies to any smoked meat or canned fish. You should not let fish in a small amount of water, because. . . this releases extractive substances that require increased production of pancreatic juice.
It is prohibited to eat fresh bread, bakery and sweet products. Such food is a source of a large number of carbohydrates, which promote the activity of the diseased organ and increased insulin release. In combination with cooking fats (margarine, etc. ), this is a serious load that is unacceptable for pancreatitis. Therefore, you should also not eat cakes, pastries, ice cream, chocolate, or honey.
Any alcohol is strictly prohibited, as well as strong coffee, carbonated drinks, cocoa, and green tea.
Sample menu for a week for pancreatitis
Nutrition for pancreatitis in the acute phase is quite poor, but necessary to relieve inflammation. A 6-time meal plan is prescribed:
Breakfast. Soft porridges with water are preferable; in the absence of symptoms, with diluted milk. You can complement your meal with a piece of toasted bread brushed with butter.
Lunch. As a rule, it includes unleavened cottage cheese or cheesecakes, jelly, and fruit puree.
Dinner. Light broths and vegetable soups are served as the first course. For the second course - meat or fish soufflé, steamed cutlets with pureed cereals and vegetables.
Afternoon snack. Its composition is similar to the second snack.
Dinner. This meal is preferably light, but with sufficient protein content. Boiled fish, meat pate with a side dish are suitable.
For the night. Instead of food - a glass of low-fat kefir or yogurt.
Depending on the patient’s condition, the daily menu is supplemented with other dishes from the list of permitted products.
Monday
Puree rice porridge, rosehip infusion.
Apple baked with dried apricots.
Chicken consommé with croutons, fish soufflé.
Kissel, biscuits.
Turkey meatballs, pumpkin and carrot puree.
Kefir.
Tuesday
Buckwheat porridge, tea with milk.
Low-fat cottage cheese (100 g), apple mousse.
Vegetable puree soup, steamed veal meatballs.
Compote, a piece of soft, lightly salted cheese.
Boiled pike perch with potatoes.
Ryazhenka.
Wednesday
Oatmeal porridge in water with dried fruits.
Yogurt.
Rice soup with carrots, bread with cheese.
Fruit jam.
Cottage cheese casserole with pears, wheat bread.
Yogurt.
Thursday
Steam omelette (white), sandwich with butter, tea.
Curd pudding.
Fish soup, rabbit soufflé with carrot garnish.
Kefir, fruit jelly.
Steamed chicken cutlet with cauliflower puree.
Curdled milk.
Friday
Steamed cheesecakes, rosehip drink.
Baked apple.
Pumpkin cream soup, turkey roll with vegetables.
Yogurt.
Boiled veal, carrot pudding.
Unsweetened tea.
Saturday
Boiled egg white, kefir.
Fruit puree, biscuits.
Homemade noodles with vegetable broth, turkey cutlet.
Cottage cheese.
Pasta with green peas, compote.
Varenets.
Sunday
Semolina porridge with butter.
Apple mousse.
Chicken broth with potato dumplings, fish dumplings.
Vegetable puree.
Steamed turkey with a side dish of zucchini and carrots.
Milk (low fat).
Diet recipes
Rice porridge with pumpkin
You will need:
Broken round grain rice - half a glass;
pumpkin – 300 g;
milk half and half with water - only 1 glass;
sugar – 1 tsp;
salt.
Cut the pumpkin, previously peeled and seeded, into pieces, boil in a small amount of water until tender, rub through a sieve. Another option is possible: grate the vegetable and add it to the pan along with the rice.
Add cereal to boiling diluted milk and cook for 15 minutes. Then add pumpkin puree, sugar, and add a little salt. Stir and keep on fire for another 2-3 minutes. It is better to eat porridge when it has stood for 20-30 minutes.
Meatball and Cauliflower Soup
Ingredients:
turkey or chicken fillet – 300 g;
fresh egg white – 2 pcs;
potatoes - 3 pcs;
carrots – 1 piece;
cauliflower – 300 g;
water – 2-2. 5 l;
salt.
Make minced meat. Knead thoroughly with egg whites and form into meatballs the size of a walnut. Place cabbage, previously disassembled into small inflorescences, and grated carrots into boiling water. After 5 minutes, add the potatoes, cut into small cubes. When the vegetables are cooked, add meatballs to the soup, add salt and stir. Let simmer over low heat for 5-7 minutes.
If the disease worsens, you can prepare a more gentle cream soup. In this case, the meatballs are not shaped. Minced meat (without protein) is added to the cooked vegetables, mixed, cooked for 5-7 minutes, after which the contents of the pan are pureed with a blender. Pour in the egg whites in a thin stream, while stirring them into the soup.
Chicken soufflé
Products:
chicken breast without skin – 500 g;
milk – 1 glass;
egg whites – 2 pcs;
vegetable oil (for greasing the mold);
salt.
Preheat the oven to 180 °C. Pass the breast through a meat grinder twice, mix with egg whites and milk, add salt. Beat the minced meat with a blender until smooth. Grease a heat-resistant dish with oil and fill with meat mixture. Bake for 30 minutes without opening the oven.
Steamed fish cutlets
You will need:
white fish fillet (cod, pollock, perch) – 500 g;
whites from 2 eggs;
salt.
Grind the fish into minced meat, add salt, combine with egg whites, and knead thoroughly until smooth. Form cutlets. Place them on a wire rack placed in a deep pan of boiling water and keep over steam until cooked (25-30 minutes). You can use a slow cooker for this.
Broccoli omelette
Ingredients:
raw whites – 4 pcs (or 2 eggs);
broccoli – 200 g;
milk – 0. 5 cups;
water;
salt;
oil for lubrication.
Wash the cabbage, cut into pieces, cook covered for 10 minutes. Beat whites (eggs) with milk and salt until foamy. Place boiled vegetables in a fireproof frying pan, greased with oil, pour in the egg-milk mixture, and place in an oven preheated to 180 °C. Bake for 10 minutes. In acute cases of the disease, cabbage inflorescences are crushed into pulp.
For children
The disease is rarely diagnosed in childhood. However, an acute attack is possible if the child suffers from substance abuse, has previously suffered severe viral infections, abdominal trauma, or has been subject to long-term drug therapy (hormones, tetracyclines). The disease often manifests itself in conjunction with other gastrointestinal pathologies, for example, gastritis. Diet therapy, in this case, should take into account the nature of the underlying disease.
Nutrition for pancreatitis in children is the same as in adults, and is carried out according to a similar scheme: the first week - a strict, most gentle menu, then the weekly table is gradually diversified, subject to good digestibility and the absence of disturbing symptoms.
It is important to remember that a growing child's body needs the required amount of nutrients, including fats. Therefore, in order not to overload the gland, the child receives the required dose of enzymes artificially, i. e. with the help of medications.
The daily menu must necessarily consist of vegetables, fruits (in the remission stage they can be eaten fresh, but with caution), fermented milk products, liquid, viscous porridges, soups, as well as boiled lean meat and fish. A strict diet after an attack must be followed for a month, an extended diet for at least 5 years, and in the chronic form of the disease it is necessary to adhere to the dietary table for life.
For pregnant
Pancreatitis in women during pregnancy can worsen while taking certain vitamin complexes or as a result of internal pressure exerted on the gland by an enlarged uterus. Nutrition for pancreatitis in this case should be dietary, but taking into account all the nutritional needs necessary for the full development of the fetus.
Advantages and disadvantages
Following a diet is the key to the health of not only the pancreas, but also the entire digestive system. Such nutrition is balanced, healthy, easier and more fully digestible. In addition, despite the restrictions, the diet is quite varied and allows you to combine different foods in dishes, thereby providing a wide, nutritious table. However, it takes time to get used to this diet. For many patients, this is not so much a consumer barrier as a psychological one, because many familiar "tasty" products will have to be abandoned. But this is necessary in order to maintain the opportunity to live normally.
Comments from nutritionists
Treatment of pancreatitis with the help of diet is aimed, first of all, at maximum unloading of the affected gland. It is important to stop the excessive production of enzymatic secretions. However, according to nutritionists, from time to time it is necessary to provide the digestive organs with complete rest. During this period, the affected organ is most predisposed to regeneration, becausefunctionally "asleep".
For this purpose, therapeutic fasting is carried out (complete refusal of food). Most often, this regimen is observed for 24 hours, but can be increased if the patient feels well and under the supervision of a doctor. Long-term abstinence from food (more than 7 days) requires hospitalization.
A more gentle option is fasting days. Nutritionists recommend having them at least once a week. From the line of permitted dishes, one is selected, for example, porridge or vegetable puree. It is prepared in such quantities that it can be divided into several meals. No other products are consumed.
Reviews and results
Only with strict adherence to the rules of the treatment table can stable positive dynamics of remission be observed.
Any, even minor, violation of the diet can negate all previously made efforts, provoking a new round of disease. How this could turn out for the patient, no doctor will say in advance, but, in any case, the consequences will be the most disappointing. Reviews from patients with pancreatitis only confirm this. That's why it's so important to eat right. The main thing is to take it easier, study your body and understand what is well tolerated and what is bad. An excellent motivation in this matter is the strong support of loved ones.
Price
The cost of a weekly dietary food basket averages from 20 to 40 dollars.