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Diet for chronic colitis

Medical expert of the article

Gastroenterologist
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025

The diet for chronic colitis should be appropriate. The fact is that this disease significantly affects the mucous membrane of the colon. Therefore, food products should be such as not to create additional irritation. More details about food and possible diets will be described below.

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Treatment of chronic colitis with diet

Treatment of chronic colitis with diet has long established itself as one of the most effective. So, if the disease is infectious in nature, it is necessary to have the right effect on microorganisms. To do this, you need to eat at least 6-7 times a day. In this case, it is worth using the so-called fourth diet.

It includes crackers made from wheat and rye bread, low-fat soups, semolina and rice porridge. You should pay attention to pearl barley, lean meat and fish, soft-boiled eggs. As for drinks, green tea and coffee are allowed. If serious inflammation has begun, the doctor may prescribe a starvation diet.

In any case, colitis must be eliminated with the help of proper nutrition. This will relieve excess irritation and soothe the intestinal mucosa. There is a certain type of nutrition. Moreover, there are special diets and ways to eliminate the problem. Detailed information will be given below.

The essence of the diet for chronic colitis

Many people are interested in the question of what diet is the most effective for chronic colitis. With this disease, nutrition should be special. It is important to consume a lot of vitamins that will ensure normal bowel function. In no case should you abuse enemas and laxatives. Everything can be fixed with the help of nutrition.

It is advisable to eat 6-7 times a day. The intestines should not be irritated by dry and hard food. It is recommended to pay attention to porridge. In case of severe exacerbation, the amount of carbohydrates should not exceed 300 grams per day. Diets during the acute period and the remission period differ significantly.

In case of non-specific ulcerative colitis, complete exclusion of milk and dairy products from the patient's diet may well lead to a complete or partial cure of the disease. Therefore, it is worth holding off on consuming fermented milk products. If the colitis is chronic, then protein stool will help. To do this, you need to consume no more than 150 grams of protein per day. The patient's diet should not include sweets and flour products. Vegetables and fruits are taken in mashed or boiled form. Mineral water will be an excellent addition to any dietary nutrition. For example, Essentuki.

Food should not contain irritating spices. The diet should include sufficiently high-calorie, but easily digestible products. Food should be steamed. All smoked foods should be excluded. If functional diarrhea is observed, it is better to give preference to animal protein products. But whole milk should be excluded. Plant foods should be heat treated. With spastic constipation, an equal amount of animal protein and fiber is consumed. With atonic constipation, a lot of fiber. You should pay attention to fruit and vegetable juices, salads, boiled vegetables, bread made from wholemeal flour or with bran. Based on this data, a diet is selected. Diet No. 4 and 4a have become especially popular.

Diet for chronic colitis with constipation

The diet for chronic colitis with constipation has its own characteristics and differences. Thus, the basis of nutrition is a decrease in tone and weakening of peristalsis of the colon. Therefore, the diet must necessarily contain foods rich in dietary fiber. Simply put, we are talking about plant fiber. The cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin and lignin contained in them have the ability to absorb water and increase in volume, which accelerates the passage of feces, normalizes peristalsis and bowel movement.

Black bread made from wholemeal flour and bread with wheat bran have a pronounced laxative effect. Raw vegetables and fruits are excellent for stimulating intestinal peristalsis. Especially cabbage, beets, carrots, pumpkin, leafy salad, Jerusalem artichoke and zucchini. Pay attention to nuts, tangerines, bananas, figs, dates and prunes. Viburnum, dried apricots, prunes, fresh blackberries and black currants in any form have excellent laxative properties.

If tolerated, you can include herring, lemonade, fruit drinks saturated with carbon dioxide, kvass, dill, celery, parsley, lovage, bay leaf, cinnamon in your diet. Products such as honey, jams and fruit juices irritate the intestines in a moderate way and increase peristalsis. It is advisable to drink beetroot and carrot juice 50 ml 2 times a day.

In the morning on an empty stomach you should drink a glass of raw water at room temperature, but you need to add 10 grams of sugar and a slice of lemon. In the morning and during the day you can eat beet salads, with the addition of dill, parsley and a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Cabbage, carrot and sour cream salad has excellent properties.

Patients with constipation should exclude bread and bakery products made from premium wheat flour, hot sauces, pepper, mustard, black coffee, strong tea, chocolate, semolina porridge, rice. The menu can be anything, but it should contain only permitted products.

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Diet for chronic colitis with diarrhea

The diet for chronic colitis with diarrhea should include a complete and balanced diet. The content of proteins, fats and carbohydrates is appropriate. Table salt is limited to 8-10 grams per day. Food should be exclusively boiled or steamed. Although, baked meat, vegetable and fish dishes may be allowed. But there should be no rough crust. The patient needs to eat 5-6 times a day.

It is allowed to eat wheat bread, dry biscuits and crackers. Soups are prepared on a weak low-fat meat or fish broth with well-cooked cereals. Vegetables can be used instead of cereals: potatoes, zucchini, carrots, pumpkin and cauliflower.

Shown are dishes from lean meats and poultry. Beef without visible fat, chicken, rabbit, turkey and veal are suitable. You can eat steamed cutlets, quenelles, soufflés and meatballs. It is allowed to eat boiled lean fish. Potatoes, zucchini, pumpkin, carrots, green peas are served mashed. This can be mashed potatoes, steamed soufflés, puddings.

Porridges, except for wheat, should be cooked in water with the addition of cream and a small amount of butter. 5 grams per serving is enough. Steamed omelets, soft-boiled eggs (no more than 2 pieces per day), freshly prepared cottage cheese in its natural form or cottage cheese pudding, dumplings with cottage cheese, kissels and strained compotes, jelly, mousses from sweet varieties of berries and fruits, jelly marmalade, marshmallows, baked apples, pears, tea, rosehip decoction are recommended.

Rye bread, fresh bread of all kinds, products made from rich and puff pastry should be completely excluded from the diet. Milk soups, beans, cabbage soup, borscht and rassolnik are prohibited. You cannot eat duck, goose, smoked meats, sausages and canned goods. Milk, hard-boiled and fried eggs are not consumed in their natural form. White cabbage, radish, onion, radish, garlic, rutabaga, spinach, pepper and hot sauces are excluded. You cannot eat cakes, chocolate, plums and apricots. Naturally, kvass, alcoholic and carbonated drinks, coffee are excluded. Such a diet is usually followed for 4-5 weeks, and in some cases months. Over time, you can eat dishes of varying degrees of grinding and not chopped, boiled, steamed, stewed, baked, fried without the formation of a rough crust; soups with low-fat meat, fish broth, vegetable broth, boiled and raw vegetables, sweet dishes and drinks.

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Diet 4 for chronic colitis

Diet 4 for chronic colitis is used for acute bowel diseases, sudden exacerbations of chronic bowel diseases with severe diarrhea. The purpose of the diet is to provide the body with nutrition that can help with digestive disorders, reduce inflammation, as well as fermentation and putrefactive processes in the intestines.

During the diet, products and dishes that can increase the secretion of the digestive organs, fermentation and putrefaction processes in the intestines are sharply excluded. Liquid, semi-liquid, mashed, boiled in water or steamed dishes. You need to eat 5-6 times a day.

Bread and flour products are allowed. But you should give preference to premium bread. Soups should be made with low-fat weak meat or fish broth with the addition of slimy decoctions of cereals, semolina, rice, boiled and mashed meat, steamed quenelles and meatballs, egg flakes. Soups with vegetables, cereals, milk, strong and fatty broths are completely excluded. As for meat and poultry, you can eat lean and sinewy varieties of beef, chicken, veal, rabbit and turkey. Meat must be defatted, tendons removed, and skin for poultry. Steamed or boiled in water cutlets, quenelles, meatballs. Minced meat with boiled rice instead of bread, minced 3-4 times.

Fish. Low-fat fresh fish is allowed. It can be eaten both in its pure form and in the form of cutlets, meatballs. As for dairy products, you need to pay attention to unleavened strained cottage cheese, steamed soufflé. Whole milk and other dairy products are completely excluded.

Cereals. Pay attention to porridges strained in water or low-fat broth. This can be rice, buckwheat, oatmeal. Vegetables are consumed exclusively in the form of decoctions. Snacks are completely excluded. Of the sweets, you can eat kissels, jelly, strained apples, fruits and berries in their natural form. Allowed: honey, jam, dried fruits and compotes. As for drinks, this can be tea, especially green, black coffee and cocoa in water.

An approximate diet can be as follows. For the first breakfast, eat oatmeal cooked in water and freshly made cottage cheese. Wash it all down with tea. For the second breakfast, a decoction of dried blueberries is suitable. Lunch - meat broth with semolina, steamed meatballs, rice porridge mashed in water and jelly. For an afternoon snack, drink unsweetened warm rosehip decoction. For dinner, steamed omelet, buckwheat porridge cooked in water and tea. Drink jelly at night.

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Diet 4a for chronic colitis

Diet 4a for chronic colitis is prescribed to people with a disease accompanied by intense fermentation processes. The main indication for the use of this type of nutrition is celiac disease. This diet was developed by M. M. Pevzner. What is most interesting is that he does not prohibit the use of crackers made from white flour. Although, today these products top the list of prohibited products.

The main rule of nutrition on diet 4a is to maintain regularity of meals, despite the rather meager microelement composition, and a fairly small amount of carbohydrates. The caloric content of the daily diet should not exceed 1600 kcal. About 100 grams of fat, 120 grams of protein and 200 grams of carbohydrates are enough. The main goal of nutrition is complete and high-quality absorption of food.

List of permitted products: weak tea, low-fat cottage cheese, fish and meat soufflé, protein steamed scrambled eggs or omelette, bird cherry compote, soft-boiled egg, rice and buckwheat broths, low-fat broths, both meat and fish.

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Sample menu for the day

Breakfast: steamed egg white omelette, fish soufflé. Second breakfast: cottage cheese. Lunch: pureed meat soup in low-fat broth, steamed minced meat. Snack: a glass of blueberry jelly or bird cherry decoction. Dinner: boiled beef, tea.

Diet for exacerbation of chronic colitis

The diet for exacerbation of chronic colitis is aimed at alleviating the person's condition. Thus, you cannot eat all bakery products, soups with cereals, vegetables, fatty and strong broths. You need to refuse fatty meats and fish, sausages and salted fish. Whole milk and other dairy products are prohibited. Fried eggs should be excluded. You need to refuse millet, pearl barley, beans and pasta. Vegetables, fruits and berries are consumed exclusively in their natural form. You cannot drink carbonated and cold drinks, as well as coffee and cocoa with milk.

It is recommended to pay attention to sliced wheat bread rusks. You can eat soups in low-fat meat or fish broth, to which a slimy cereal broth is added. You can eat boiled and mashed meat, steamed or boiled in water meat dumplings, meatballs, egg flakes, soufflé from boiled meat, fish dumplings, meatballs boiled in water or steamed. You can eat soft-boiled eggs, steamed omelette, fresh unsalted cottage cheese and steamed cottage cheese soufflé. You can drink green tea, black coffee in water and decoctions of dried blueberries, bird cherry, quince, rose hips.

If a person suffers from a chronic disease, especially with constipation, then it is worth changing the diet a little. On an empty stomach, the patient should drink cold sweet drinks. These include rosehip decoction with sugar, fruit and vegetable juices, water with honey, carrot puree. If there is no pronounced gastritis or enteritis, fresh tomatoes, sweet fruits without skin and berries are allowed. The use of vermicelli, rice and semolina is limited. This is diet No. 4b.

Diet No. 3 is also used. It includes products rich in fiber and magnesium. They do not irritate the intestines and do not cause flatulence.

Such products include boiled beets and carrots, raw, boiled, baked apples, dried fruits, crumbly porridges, bran bread.

If improvement is observed, diet No. 15 is used. It includes a balanced diet with the exclusion of spicy foods and hard-to-digest dishes. The permitted products are similar. In case of right-sided colitis accompanied by constipation, a pureed diet is prescribed (No. 2 or No. 4b). The diet includes non-coarse stimulants of intestinal peristalsis (fermented milk products, fruit juices, sugary substances, sinewy meat). As the inflammatory process decreases, products containing coarse plant fiber are introduced into the diet, and the patient is transferred to diet No. 15.

In case of left-sided colitis with constipation, products that promote more complete bowel movement (products containing coarse plant fiber - raw vegetables and fruits, black bread) are introduced into the diet. Diet No. 15 is prescribed. The diet must necessarily contain a sufficient amount of B vitamins.

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Diet for chronic spastic colitis

The diet for chronic spastic colitis should be accessible and not contain prohibited products. It is advisable to keep a daily diet diary during the entire healthy diet. Patients are recommended to consume a lot of fiber. To do this, preference should be given to vegetables, fruits, fermented milk products, dried fruits and whole grain bread.

It is necessary to exclude or at least limit products of animal origin. For example, this could be butter and fat. It is strictly forbidden to drink alcohol, coffee, carbonated water and strong tea.

It is recommended to avoid products that can provoke an exacerbation of the disease and cause spasms. These include chocolate, creams, cheeses, whole milk, butter and fatty meat. Perhaps these are the main conditions. Naturally, you can clarify the diet with a doctor. In general, each diet has its own characteristics, but the list of permitted and prohibited products does not change much.

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Diet for chronic colitis and gastritis

Diet for chronic colitis and gastritis received number 2. It is used for chronic gastritis, which is accompanied by secretory insufficiency. It is used for enteritis, colitis and acute gastritis during the recovery period.

It is advisable to use the therapeutic table as a transition to rational nutrition in the absence of concomitant diseases of the gallbladder, liver, pancreas. The nutrition system can be prescribed during the recovery period after surgeries and acute infections.

The main characteristics of the diet

You can eat 4-5 times a day. The chemical composition should include: 90-100 g of proteins, 90-100 g of fats and 400-420 g of carbohydrates. 1.5 liters of liquid and 15 grams of salt are consumed per day. Therapeutic diet No. 2 aims to provide the body with adequate nutrition, moderate stimulation of the secretory function of the stomach, and normalization of the motor function of the gastrointestinal tract. The nutrition system is complete. Dishes can have different degrees of grinding. But at the same time, food can be steamed, stewed, baked and fried (without crust). Products that irritate the mucous membrane should be excluded from the diet. Eating should not be abundant.

A person should eat yesterday's bread, non-sweet biscuits and pastries. First courses cooked in weak meat and fish broth, cereal and vegetable soups are allowed. You can eat lean meat, fish, tongue, beef sausages. Dairy and fermented milk products are allowed. These include cottage cheese, cream, grated cheese, steamed omelette. Porridges: rolled oats, rice, buckwheat. They can be cooked in diluted milk. Of the vegetables, preference should be given to pumpkin, zucchini, beets, cauliflower, tomatoes and potatoes. Ripe sweet fruits and berries in mashed or pureed form are allowed (meringues, jam, preserves, honey). If we talk about drinks, then it is allowed to drink tea with milk or lemon, coffee with cream, juices diluted with water, decoctions of bran and rose hips. Refined vegetable, butter, ghee - can be consumed.

There are also products that should not be eaten. These include fresh wheat bread, duck, goose, canned food, smoked meats, lard, hard-boiled eggs, cereals (millet, pearl barley, barley, corn), cucumbers, mushrooms. It is worth excluding from the diet coarse varieties of fruit, berries with hard seeds, grapes, dried fruits. Spices, hot and fatty sauces are also prohibited.

Sample diet menu

For breakfast you can eat cheese, one soft-boiled egg, oatmeal and tea. For lunch you can eat noodle soup, steamed cutlets, carrot puree and jelly. Afternoon snack: bran decoction. For dinner - jellied fish, rice pudding and tea with lemon. Before going to bed you can drink sour milk.

Diet menu for chronic colitis

A person can make up a diet menu for chronic colitis on their own. For an approximate understanding of this process, an approximate diet will be presented. It is based on permitted products.

For breakfast, it is recommended to have a steamed omelet, loose buckwheat porridge and wash it all down with tea. For the second breakfast, preference should be given to fresh apples. For lunch, you can eat potato soup cooked in a weak meat broth. Boiled meat with oatmeal is allowed. Wash it all down with milk compote. For an afternoon snack: crackers with sugar, a glass of rosehip broth. Dinner: milk sausages, stewed carrots, pudding from fresh cheese. Wash it all down with tea. Before going to bed, drink one glass of apple juice jelly. During the whole day, you can eat only 200 grams of white dried bread, 40 grams of sugar and 10 grams of butter.

Literally six months after the onset of exacerbation, it is worth taking sodium chloride, magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate, sodium hydrocarbonate, and calcium hydrocarbonate mineral waters. These include Essentuki and Borjomi. In addition, it is recommended to administer mineral waters using microclysters. But this should be done under the supervision of a doctor.

Diet recipes for chronic colitis

It is quite possible to create recipes for a diet for chronic colitis independently. It is enough to know the list of permitted products. Several recipes will be presented as an example. You can prepare a salad with oatmeal or wheat flakes. To do this, grate two small apples on a coarse grater. Add half a teaspoon of cinnamon, a tablespoon of honey and two tablespoons of flakes. Mix everything and leave for 30-40 minutes. After that, the salad can be eaten. Apples can be replaced with oranges if desired. Raisins, prunes or dried apricots are added instead of cinnamon.

  • Diet vegetable soup. To prepare it, take 100 grams of white cabbage, one carrot, 10 grams of cauliflower, two potatoes, 20 grams of parsley root. You can't do without half an onion, one zucchini, a teaspoon of butter, a tablespoon of green peas. You will also need half a tomato, 50 grams of sour cream, a pinch of salt and 300 grams of water. So, the cabbage should be cut into squares and thrown into boiling water. Then peel the potatoes and cut them into small pieces. Cauliflower is divided into florets. All the ingredients are laid out with the cabbage and boiled for 15 minutes. In the meantime, grate and fry the carrots. Chop the onion and sauté. All this is added to the soup. Green peas and chopped zucchini are also added here. Everything is cooked until done. When the soup is almost ready, you can add tomatoes cut into slices. The soup is ready to eat.
  • Meatball broth. To prepare, take 300 grams of meat, 400 ml of meat broth, 50 grams of bread, salt and herbs to taste, and water. You need to take a piece of meat and remove all the tendons from it. Then rinse it thoroughly and mince it. The bread is soaked in water and squeezed out, then added to the mince. Now the meat is minced together with the bread and round balls are formed from the resulting raw materials. It is enough to boil the meatballs in water and put them on a water yuan. Meanwhile, the broth is brought to a boil. When serving, the meatballs should be poured with broth.

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What can you eat with chronic colitis?

Do you know what you can eat with chronic colitis? In fact, this is a difficult question. Because each diet has its own characteristics, indications and contraindications. In general, with colitis, you can drink rosehip decoction, apple, cherry, tangerine, orange juice diluted in half with boiled water. It is necessary to pay attention to sweet varieties of berries and fruits without skin. It is desirable that they are baked or mashed.

The diet depends entirely on the stage of the disease, the presence of diarrhea or constipation. Food should be boiled or steamed. Moreover, it should be consumed in a mashed or chopped form. The diet should include 100 grams of proteins, 70 grams of fats, 250 grams of carbohydrates. The daily energy value should not exceed 2000 - 2100 kcal. It is necessary to drink 1.5 liters of water per day and no more than 10 grams of table salt. The diet is standard 6-7 times a day.

As for permitted products, you should pay attention to stale wheat bread, strained soups, strained berries and fruits without skin, juices - half with boiled hot water, milk (only in dishes), fresh cheese, cheese puddings, rosehip broth, tea.

As soon as the symptoms begin to go away, you can gradually include boiled meat, crumbly porridge, pies with meat or apples, cheesecakes, jams from sweet varieties of berries and fruits, teas, coffee with milk or cream in your diet. It is recommended to eat 50-100 grams of fresh apples or carrots 3-4 times a day before bed. You need to chew everything thoroughly.

What should you not eat if you have chronic colitis?

Do you know what you can't eat with chronic colitis? When following a diet, you should give up many familiar products. It is advisable to completely exclude all products made from wheat and white flour. Only crackers are allowed.

You can't eat any porridge. The diet is very meager, but, again, it depends entirely on the person's condition. It is necessary to exclude cottage cheese with sugar and fruits. They can lead to an aggravation of the fermentation process in the gastrointestinal tract. You need to stop eating yogurts. All products containing starch and thickeners are prohibited.

It is necessary to pay attention to the quality of food. Frozen fish and meat should be excluded from the diet. The following are prohibited: fatty fish, cottage cheese and cheese, eggs in large quantities, milk, kefir, fermented baked milk and sour cream. You will have to give up various snacks, seasonings and drinks. You can only drink weak tea and water. It is especially necessary to strictly limit pasta, casseroles made from them, pelmeni, lasagna, pizza, pies, pasties and other baked goods. There should be no semi-finished products in the patient's diet.


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