Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by a virus. As a result, the protective properties of the body are reduced. The liver in the human body plays the role of a brave defender, who always rushes to the embrasure in case of poisoning and other threats to life. Hepatitis disrupts the functioning of the liver. And, as if by the effect of dominoes, the work of the whole organism is disrupted. Proper nutrition plays a huge role in the recovery of the patient. What you can eat with hepatitis C is described in this article. You will find a sample menu and simple recipes for delicious dishes.
Symptoms of the disease and the causes that cause it
Modern medicine distinguishes between two types of viral hepatitis - acute and chronic. The first occurs in about 20% of cases and is sudden in nature. Chronic hepatitis most often remains with the patient forever, making adjustments to the lifestyle. The features of dietary nutrition for the disease should be strictly observed. Otherwise, the patient is waiting for an exacerbation of the condition. You should adhere to the diet on the diet table 5. What you can eat is described below. The diet is not very strict, unlike, for example, nutrition for diabetics. If the patient does not comply with the prescribed rules, then complications such as cirrhosis of the liver, ascites and then death will be expected.
Symptoms of the disease are very diverse. In the first months after infection with the virus, the ailment is asymptomatic, but in the end the person ends up in the hospital.
The severity and course of the disease depends on the genotype of hepatitis C that has infected the body. Currently, six genotypes with several subtypes are known. Most often, viruses of genotypes 1, 2, and 3 are found in the blood of patients. They cause the most pronounced manifestations of the disease. After the disease enters the terminal stage, the patient experiences the following symptoms:
- persistent nausea and vomiting after eating;
- digestion disorder;
- yellowish skin tone and sclera;
- rashes on the mucous membranes in the oral cavity;
- enlarged liver and pain in the right hypochondrium.
Jaundice and other clinical manifestations of hepatitis develop in a relatively small number of patients. Medicine even highlights a special type of disease - icteric.
However, the majority of those infected carry hepatitis C on their legs: with an anicteric form, they either do not notice anything at all, or attribute the ailment to a cold.
What you can eat for patients with hepatitis C
Doctors recommend that sick people adhere to dietary rules for table diet 5. What can I do:
- unrefined vegetable oils of cold extraction;
- low-fat varieties of poultry - turkey, chicken, quail;
- low-fat veal;
- fruit and vegetable juices;
- any porridge on the water;
- seafood and fatty fish (salmon) - occasionally;
- dried bread, preferably whole grain flour;
- any vegetables, fruits, except sorrel, radish, garlic;
- low-fat dairy products (it is optimal that the fat content does not exceed 5%);
- nuts in small quantities.
From these products you can make a complete diet. The question of what you can eat with hepatitis C worries many patients. Patients are scared that they will have to deny themselves the usual gastronomic pleasures. This fear is completely groundless: from the allowed list of products you can cook many healthy and tasty dishes. Of course, you will have to forget about junk food, fast food and flavor enhancers. As seasonings, you can use greens and ginger, the list below is presented. With hepatitis C, you can cook dishes with:
- parsley and dill;
- green onions;
- nutmeg;
- curry;
- ginger in small quantities;
- bay leaf;
- black pepper peas.
Avoid adding hot ketchups, mayonnaise, black pepper, vinegar to your dishes.
Prohibited Products List
Patients will have to completely exclude the following products from their diet:
- fatty meats: pork, beef, lamb, venison;
- any canned foods;
- vegetables and greens with high acidity, sorrel, radish;
- fatty cheeses, milk, cottage cheese (dairy products with a fat content not exceeding 5% are allowed);
- any factory sweets (they usually have a high fat content);
- homemade cakes and pastries;
- fresh baked goods made from white flour;
- salted and smoked products.
You should monitor the amount of fat in the diet. Animal fats are especially harmful to the liver. You should also forget about fried foods. The patient must purchase a double boiler and grill - these devices will help to create real culinary masterpieces with a minimum content of fat.
Be careful with nuts. They are very useful because they contain many amino acids and minerals. But at the same time, the fat content of any nuts is very high. No more than one hundred grams of raw or slightly roasted nuts can be consumed per week.
Alcoholic beverages for patients with hepatitis C
Ethyl alcohol, which is found in any alcoholic drink, is poison for the liver. Patients should stop drinking alcohol once and for all. It does not matter what it is - beer, cocktails, champagne, natural expensive wines, cognac of ten-year aging. In any of these drinks, ethyl alcohol is present in greater or lesser concentration. Men and women with hepatitis C often think that a glass of wine at the weekend will not hurt. This is a profound error.
If you neglect this rule and continue to even drink alcohol occasionally, hepatitis C very quickly progresses to cirrhosis. And this is a diagnosis that inevitably leads to death.
Dietary nutrition for hepatitis C
What can be eaten? With hepatitis C, the list of products is very extensive. But the cooking method is very important.
Do not fry vegetables and meat. You can cook any soups, cabbage soup, vegetarian borsch with sour cream, but you can’t do the oil frying. If the patient wants to eat fish or steak, you should bake them on the grill or just in the oven with greens. When frying in meat and fish, a lot of oil is absorbed, and such food contributes to a high load on the liver. As a result, an innocent steak can provoke an exacerbation, and the patient will go to the hospital. The most terrible consequences of not following a diet are the final degeneration of organ cells and the first stage of cirrhosis.
Sample menu for the week
The question of what you can eat with hepatitis C is of concern to all patients. Here is a sample menu for the week. You can swap dishes and invent new ones that do not violate the rules of medical table No. 5.
- Monday: for breakfast - oatmeal on the water with dried fruits, a snack - a pack of low-fat cottage cheese, lunch - mashed soup of vegetables and chicken with crackers, a second snack - a seafood salad with olive oil, dinner - buckwheat porridge with veal goulash.
- Tuesday: the first meal is a vegetable salad of zucchini, tomatoes, cucumbers and celery, a snack is a package of diet bread, lunch is a creamy soup and a salad with chicken. For dinner - boiled hake and beetroot puree.
- Wednesday: buckwheat porridge with stewed veal, a snack - dried fruits and a handful of peanuts or almonds, salad with chicken fillet, lunch - vegetable soup, for dinner - pink salmon baked on the grill or in the oven without adding oil. To diversify the taste, you can add greens.
- Thursday: for breakfast - oatmeal on the water with dried fruits, lunch - mashed soup of vegetables and chicken with rye bread crackers, a snack - a piece of tuna baked in the oven, dinner - Greek salad.
- Friday: a piece of boiled chicken breast with black Borodino bread, lunch - milk soup with cereal, a snack - one red apple and a banana, dinner - a seafood salad seasoned with any natural oil.
- Saturday: protein omelet with the addition of cauliflower, lunch - baked potatoes in the oven with turkey and zucchini, a snack - a glass of low-fat kefir with banana or berries, dinner - baked apples in the oven with cinnamon.
- Sunday: buckwheat porridge, pre-boiled and stewed with carrots and zucchini, a snack - a glass of low-fat kefir with dried fruits, lunch - beetroot soup with veal goulash, dinner - a piece of your favorite fish baked on the grill.
Features of daily BZHU with hepatitis
Patients with hepatitis should keep a food diary in order to analyze what they have eaten and cross out some foods after an exacerbation. For example, regular chicken eggs for some sick people can cause exacerbation. And other patients perfectly tolerate the consumption of both protein and fat.
In no case should you completely delete fats or carbohydrates from the diet. Such behavior is characteristic of patients, immediately after they learn about their own diagnosis. They want to facilitate the work of their liver and almost completely refuse healthy fats. Such compulsive eating behavior leads to a breakdown that aggravates the condition of the liver. In addition, many patients after such disruptions also earn pancreatitis.
The approximate ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates should fluctuate in a ratio of 30:20:50. The total calorie content of the daily diet is about 1800 kcal for women and 2500 kcal for men. Such a diet will help preserve muscle mass and ensure the proper intake of vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
The role of proteins in the patient's diet
People with hepatitis C should never refuse protein. Only fully healthy people can afford vegetarianism. The favorite argument of patients who decide to become vegans is that cereals and some vegetables also contain protein.
The problem is that vegetable protein is completely unequal in animal nutritional value. Adequate amino acids and minerals require the daily use of protein in chicken eggs, chicken and turkey meat, fish and seafood. The patient will feel cheerful, at the physical level, the disease will not manifest itself.
Fats and carbohydrates for hepatitis: harm or benefit
Polyunsaturated fats should be left in the diet. These are nuts, unrefined cold-pressed oil. You can fill them with salads, add to cereals and soups. The following oils are especially good:
- olive;
- flaxseed;
- grape seed;
- cotton;
- peanut.
A day, women should get about 20-40 mg of healthy fats, men - about 50. These are the minimum necessary, if you use less, hormonal problems will begin (in women, amenorrhea can begin, in men - problems with testosterone production).
You can’t refuse carbohydrates either. Fresh baked goods in the diet of a patient with hepatitis C are unacceptable, but yesterday’s bread is allowed. You can independently prepare croutons in the oven. From carbohydrates, fruits, vegetables, berries, cereals from any cereals (cooked on water) are allowed.
Mashed potatoes and stewed cabbage
This is a universal food for all people with liver diseases. Potatoes, especially young ones, have high nutritional value. An important nuance - it should never be fried! The best method of preparation is stewing with cabbage and vegetables or simply separately boiled in a saucepan. Every day, of course, you should not eat potatoes. Despite its benefits, it is optimal to use it once or twice a week. And on other days, use cereal from cereals as a side dish.
Braised cabbage (young white, cauliflower or broccoli) is another versatile dish for people with liver diseases. In order to enrich the dish with protein, just add sliced chicken or turkey fillet to it. All of these products are listed for hepatitis C approved products.
Dietary cutlets for people with hepatitis C
Patients often miss the dishes they ate while healthy. You can easily come up with recipes that will taste as close as possible to your loved ones, but will not include prohibited foods on the diet.
For example, beef patties. You can easily imitate your favorite taste with the help of low-fat veal. To do this, you will have to cook your own minced meat from the following components:
- 400 mg of veal;
- 200 grams of chicken;
- one small onion;
- a slice of white bread;
- one egg;
- half a teaspoon of salt.
Grind thoroughly all ingredients in a meat grinder or in a blender. Form the minced meat into small meatballs. Never fry! Bake in the oven or simmer in a small amount of water with the addition of a teaspoon of tomato paste.
Buckwheat porridge, rice or boiled potatoes should be used as a side dish. Gravy can be prepared from cream with low fat content and greens. Tomato paste can also be used, but in small quantities.
A simple and wholesome dessert recipe: baked apple with cinnamon
Several large sweet red apples should be selected. You can use green ones, but they cause aggravation in some patients due to the high acidity of the juice.
Cut each apple into two halves, remove the core with the tip of a knife. Eating bones is not good, contrary to popular belief. Place the apple halves on a baking sheet covered with baking parchment. Sprinkle cinnamon and powdered sugar on top. Bake in the oven for ten minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. Apples will not let juice, but wrinkle a little. The result is a sweet and healthy dessert. Cooking it is quick and easy.
Hepatitis C patients almost all confirm that this is one of their favorite desserts. Many of them miss the taste of chocolate. You can simulate it thanks to the usual cocoa powder. If you mix it with low-fat milk, you get a drink that tastes very close to milk chocolate. Now many people know what you can eat with hepatitis C.