It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the digestive system for a living organism. After all, it is she who provides the digestion and assimilation of nutrients from food. Gastrointestinal diseases affect the work of all organ systems. In order to pacify the disease, first of all, you should adhere to a certain diet. On the agenda today is a diet for Crohn's disease. We will review prohibited and permitted products, as well as general recommendations.
What kind of ailment is this?
Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammation of the walls of the gastrointestinal tract. Most often, the focus is localized in the ileum, but in some cases extends to other departments.
Against the background of the disease, the intestinal walls are damaged, ulcers, scars and edema form on them. Of course, digestive upsets are also observed. The disease goes hand in hand with an ulcer, it can develop in the body in parallel with gastritis, pancreatitis and other inflammatory processes. It is believed that this is a hereditary ailment, which is very difficult to get rid of.
What to do in this situation?
In addition to medical and hospital procedures, diet is a very important aspect of treatment. In Crohn’s disease, food must pass through the damaged intestine, be processed in it, and, having got blood, benefit the body.
Additionally consumed foods should help the inflamed area recover and start working normally. If the stomach or intestines are susceptible to this ailment, then worrying about the taste of food is the last thing for the patient.
The most important thing is to choose such products that will contribute to a speedy recovery. At the first stages of treatment, the diet for Crohn's disease will be very scarce, the diet will be incredibly monotonous. Gradually, the treating doctor will expand the list of acceptable products, and the patient will be able to pamper himself with something more delicious.
General Provisions
To get started, we’ll get acquainted with the recommendations that apply to all patients suffering from this disease, regardless of its severity.
- Eating - 5 times a day.
- No more than 8 g of salt per day.
- Drink plenty of water - from 1.7 to 2 liters.
- Energy value should be equal to 2100 kcal per day.
- The daily norm: proteins - up to 150 g, carbohydrates - up to 250 g, fats - up to 80 g.
- Potassium and calcium are essential components of a daily diet.
- Nothing fried and stewed. Only steam or cook.
- You need to eat a lot of fiber.
- Food should not be cold or hot.
Allowed Products
So, what does the diet for Crohn's disease include? Menus can be combined depending on specific gastronomic preferences, but you cannot go beyond certain boundaries.
It is allowed to eat: dairy products, shabby cereals, mashed potatoes, boiled chicken, soups on the second meat or fish broth, jelly, mushroom soups, seafood (without spices), crackers (white bread), boiled lamb. Remember that even these products should never be fried, salted, baked in any way or stewed. Only diet recipes are allowed. Additionally, we note that in some cases, doctors shorten this list if the disease progresses too quickly.
Stop products
Yes, in fact, the diet for Crohn's disease is a continuous gastronomic restriction. Many patients should abandon their beloved dishes for a long time.
These products fall into the stop list: sausage, duck, goose, stew, milk soups, beans, canned food (absolutely all), raw vegetables, maize, pearl barley, garlic, radish and radish, pickles, hard-boiled eggs, all alcohol , juices from the store (especially grape), coffee, ice cream, chocolate.
If the disease is at an initial stage, and the doctor allows you to eat something from this list, anyway, we advise you not to lean. Most of these products, if consumed in large quantities, have a negative effect even on a healthy digestive system.
Exacerbation diet for Crohn's disease
This chronic ailment develops in two stages, which alternately replace each other. The first of them is remission, in which the intestine calms down and begins to work in a more or less normal mode. At these moments, the diet expands , the pain subsides.
But the diet with exacerbation of Crohn's disease is a preventive fasting, which lasts for 1-2 days. The patient is only allowed to consume fluid in volumes from 1.7 to 2 liters per day. It can be:
- Black tea with lemon and one tablespoon of sugar (preferably without a sweetener).
- Light broth of wild rose.
- Acidophilic milk.
- Fat-free kefir.
Variants of the course of exacerbation
In most patients, this stage of the disease is accompanied by diarrhea. The stomach or intestines are inflamed and regularly cleaned. New products do not enter there, so hunger can cause cramping and acute pain.
Therefore, the diet for Crohn’s disease with diarrhea is supplemented by two products (or one of them) - carrots and apples. The latter should not be overripe or too acidic. These products should be passed through a fine grater or chopped in a blender.
Carrots and apples have "fixing" properties. Diarrhea will no longer be painful and profuse. If the exacerbation occurs without diarrhea, then these products are undesirable. It is better to limit yourself to the fluids described above.
The second stage of exacerbation
When abdominal pain subsides, new foods are gradually introduced into the diet. Each new dish should be served once every three days, so as not to introduce the body, which was just starving, into a stressful state with a variety of foods. At the second stage of exacerbation, the following products are acceptable:
- White crackers.
- Mucous broths.
- Low-fat home-made cottage cheese.
- Mashed soups.
- Porridge on the water (except for pearl barley and maize).
- Souffle meat, boiled meatballs.
- Decoctions of blueberries, bird cherry or pears.
- Steam omelet.
Estimated daily ration
Outside of exacerbation, the diet for Crohn's disease should consist of the products that were listed at the beginning of the article. Using them, you can create a similar day menu.
- First breakfast : semolina, steamed omelet, tea.
- Second breakfast : baked apples (without crisps).
- Lunch : jelly from blueberries (or pears), the third chicken stock, grated carrots.
- Afternoon snack : light broth from rose hips, white crackers.
- Dinner : rice with boiled chicken and tea.
Diet for Crohn's disease: a menu for a week
If we summarize everything that was described above, we will get specific recommendations that relate to a weekly diet with a similar intestinal ailment. By the way, approximately the same diet is recommended for patients undergoing surgery, because during this period the body needs to be given time to recover.
Well, we divide our diet into stages, which in total will take us a week:
- The first two days - fasting. You can drink tea, low-fat kefir, and in cases of diarrhea it is allowed to eat carrots and apples.
- Stage two - mashed soups with meat and light broths cooked on chicken meat. On the menu you can add crackers, jelly, steam omelet and cereals on the water. These restrictions are valid for 3 days.
- At the third stage, eating stewed vegetables is allowed. You can also eat baked apples, cheeses, and low-fat dairy products. Allowed boiled or steamed meat (chicken or lamb), hard-boiled eggs and small vermicelli.
Of course, patients receive more accurate instructions from the attending physician. Diet should be individually.