Table of contents:
- Gastroparesis, flatulence due to a stomach that doesn't empty
- Diet rules and choosing foods for gastroparesis
- Eat small portions
- Food should be chewed very well
- Avoid lying down during and after eating
- Take daily supplements
- Liquid food
- Food for gastroparesis should be consumed
- Limit foods high in fat
- Follow a low-fiber diet
- Should I see a doctor? Or is changing your diet enough?
Often feel bloated, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting? Maybe you have gastroparesis. Gastroparesis is a medical disorder that causes slow gastric emptying, causing a variety of symptoms. Well, if this happens, of course, whatever activities you do will be messy. Therefore, to overcome and prevent this condition, you can change, choose, and arrange the right food. Then, what is the food guide for gastroparesis?
Gastroparesis, flatulence due to a stomach that doesn't empty
Gastroparesis is a medical condition that causes slow gastric emptying. This occurs because the normal movements of the stomach muscles that are supposed to push food through the digestive tract are not functioning properly or their movements are slowed down.
Symptoms caused in gastroparesis patients are bloating, burning in the chest, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. The severity of this disease can be mild to severe. In mild conditions it will cause few symptoms but in severe conditions it will cause complications such as malnutrition, dehydration, and irregular blood sugar conditions.
The cause of this disorder is not known with certainty, it is suspected that it has something to do with disturbed nerve signals in the stomach. In addition, several cases have also been linked to these conditions such as lupus, diabetes and bariatric surgery procedures.
Diet rules and choosing foods for gastroparesis
According to the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders, treatment for gastroparesis is primarily a change in diet, followed by medication as an additional option.
Eat small portions
With less food coming in, this will help ease the work of the stomach to empty the stomach. These small portions can also help prevent flatulence in people with gastroparesis.
Because food portions must be small, people with gastroparesis need to eat about 6 or more times a day to meet their nutritional needs.
Food should be chewed very well
People with gastroparesis should chew the food until it is completely smooth. They can not chew carelessly like people in general, which only chewed a few times immediately swallowed.
When the food that comes in is still in a large form because it is not chewed enough, it will aggravate the work of the digestive organs in the body. Food that is not broken down properly in the stomach will make it more difficult to move food from the stomach into the small intestine.
Avoid lying down during and after eating
Eating while lying down can delay gastric emptying. In fact, you have to wait up to three hours after eating if you want to lie down so that the food can be digested.
The difficulty in emptying the stomach when lying down is caused by the influence of the force of gravity. Lying down during or after eating causes reflux (rise) of stomach acid into the mouth. This condition will make it worse for people with gastroparesis to empty their stomach after eating.
Take daily supplements
Most people with gastroparesis are at greater risk of developing nutrient deficiencies. Therefore, some people with gastroparesis are advised to take a daily multivitamin and multimineral supplement to prevent nutrient deficiencies, or to keep their nutritional deficiencies from getting worse.
Liquid food
If reducing the size of the meal doesn't work, softening the food also still causes symptoms that get worse, the next step is to mash the food in a blender and make the food until it has a liquid texture. In order to be more easily accepted by the body and prevent nutritional deficiencies.
People with gastroparesis tolerate fluids more easily than solid foods. Emptying fluids in the stomach is different from emptying solid food in the stomach so that it is easier for sufferers to accept gastroparesis.
Food for gastroparesis should be consumed
Limit foods high in fat
Foods for gastroparesis that are not good enough are high fat foods. Because, fat can delay the emptying of food in the stomach, so this type of food needs to be limited. But that does not mean it is prohibited to consume fat, fat is still needed, so choose foods that contain healthy fats.
Liquids that contain fat, such as smoothies or milkshakes, are easier to digest than fat in solid foods. Limiting fatty meats and high fat dairy products can also help reduce the severity of the symptoms that appear.
Follow a low-fiber diet
Fiber is basically needed by the body. However, this fiber should be considered especially for people with gastroparesis who have digestive disorders.
The fibers delay gastric emptying and bind to substances and gather to form a formation called benzoar, so that this can cause a blockage in the stomach of people with gastroparesis.
Therefore, you should avoid foods with high and hard fiber such as:
- Nuts or dried beans (roasted beans, peas, lentils, black beans, kidney beans, soybeans, gurbanzo beans, navy beans)
- Whole grain cereals
- Fruits (blackberries, clueberries, oranges, strawberries, kiwi, apples)
- Dried fruit (apricots, dates, figs, prunes, raisins)
- Vegetables (broccoli)
- Popcorn
Should I see a doctor? Or is changing your diet enough?
When the selection of foods for gastroparesis is good and as recommended, but the symptoms do not subside, you should see a doctor. Maybe when that happens, your body needs special treatment.
The treatments that will be given include drugs to speed up stomach emptying and drugs to reduce nausea and vomiting. You are also asked to avoid drugs that have the effect of slowing gastric emptying and aggravating gastroparesis symptoms, such as antacids, anticholinergic drugs, and narcotics.
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