Grab our RSS Feed

Foods to avoid with diverticulitis

There are many foods that cannot be consumed by anyone that is living with diverticulitis. This can make living day to day a bit of a hassle if you do not know what foods you are supposed to avoid. If you inform yourself on the foods that are acceptable and not acceptable to eat then you could manage to live with diverticulitis without it affecting your life too much.

Living with diverticulitis does not mean that you cannot enjoy any tasty foods at all. There are just certain foods that should be eliminated from your diet routine to prevent any health issues from spurring. If you have diverticulitis and eat certain foods then it could cause a flare up to occur. You may have to use certain medications to treat the diverticulitis (such as antibiotics) but no matter what you should keep a close eye on your diet plan.

Foods That Should Always Be Avoided
There are some foods that should not be consumed in any amount as they can easily cause a flare up of diverticulitis. You should eliminate these foods from your diet completely and stay away from them no matter what. Some people may not have issues with these foods but most individuals that have diverticulitis have reported problems when consuming them. These foods include any nuts, seaseme seeds and buns containing them, corn products, chili, and hot and spicy peppers.

Other Common Foods to Avoid
Some of the other foods that should be avoided include any fatty or fried foods, iceberg lettuce, onions, and raw vegetables. You will also want to stay away from tomato juice. If you want to have lettuce in your diet still then you may want to try using cos lettuce instead. Not being able to eat raw vegetables can have negative affects to your diet and it can make getting your daily vegetable intake difficult. You will have to work around the restrictions and look for alternatives and ways that you can get vegetables in your diet still.

What Else to Avoid
The most important thing that you should avoid if you have diverticulitis is not actually a food. What you should be avoiding completely is stress. Stress is said to be the biggest trigger of a flare up for people that are living with diverticulitis. You will want to make sure you live as much of a stress-free life as possible. Part of accomplishing this is having a healthy diet and exercising regularly as your overall health can play a role in how stressed you are each day.

Testing Your Tolerance to Certain Foods
If you have to remove certain foods such as nuts from your diet because you have diverticulitis then you may want to consider adding them back in at a later date. When you are first diagnosed with diverticulitis and begin making diet modifications you will have to eliminate all foods that are associated with diverticulitis flare-ups. However, after a few months you can test your tolerance to certain foods. If you like certain nuts then you could try having small amounts of them after a while. If your body responds positively to them then you could continue to eat them in small portions.

Some foods should be avoided no matter what such as fatty foods, fried foods, and more. However, foods such as nuts usually only affect roughly one of every two people with diverticulitis. You should keep a diet log so you can keep track of the foods that you test your tolerance to. It may take you a few months to figure out what foods that you can still eat even though you have diverticulitis. It is important to understand that everyone has a higher tolerance to different foods and some foods that others with diverticulitis cannot eat may be safe for you to eat.

Final Thoughts
At first it may seem like it is nearly impossible for you to live with diverticulitis. After you get rid of all the foods that you cannot have and fix your diet it will not be nearly as difficult to do. You will still have to watch out for minor things such as seaseme seeds in buns when eating out but after a while it will become a part of your life and it will not take much effort at all. A few months down the road you may even be able to eat some foods that you enjoy but thought were restricted as your condition does not flare up as a result of consuming them.

If you make the effort to change your diet around and make it more compatible with your diverticulitis then you will not have to worry about any health problems occurring because of your diet. You should speak with a health care provider or a nutritionist for advice on how to improve yourself so that you can live with the diverticulitis. Ultimately, it will take a while to get used to living with diverticulitis but it should not be a major interference in your life after you are fully informed on what is restricted as a result of the condition.

Last updated on Nov 2nd, 2010 and filed under Healthy Eating. Both comments and pings are currently closed.