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Diet for GI diseases

Medical expert of the article

Gastroenterologist
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025

The human gastrointestinal tract is divided into several sections. It contains different organs. Therefore, one universal diet for gastrointestinal diseases is not enough. Each diet should be built depending on the disease that the patient has. But there are some general recommendations. Following them, you can make a nutrition plan. Such a diet for gastrointestinal diseases will help relieve symptoms and avoid exacerbations of diseases.

Here are the general rules of such a diet. Firstly, you cannot eat food in large portions. Fractional nutrition is one of the general principles of the diet for people with gastrointestinal diseases. It is better to eat a little five times a day than to eat large portions of food two or three times. Secondly, with gastrointestinal diseases it is not recommended to eat very cold or very hot food. Such food can irritate the esophagus and intestines. It is better to eat warm food.

Thirdly, it is important to remember that the digestion process does not begin in the stomach or even in the esophagus, but in the oral cavity. That is, the chewing process is the first stage of the digestion process. Therefore, it is important to chew food well before swallowing. In addition, it is important that the food is well seasoned with saliva, which also participates in the digestion process. To do this, you need to drink a glass of water an hour before eating and generally drink enough liquid during the day so that the body produces a lot of saliva. In addition, it is important to eat when you feel a slight feeling of hunger.

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What is the diet for gastrointestinal diseases?

Do you have digestive problems and want to know what diet for gastrointestinal diseases is best for you? There is a list of foods that are prohibited for problems with the digestive organs. If you have gastritis or even peptic ulcer disease, there is a list of foods that should never be eaten. As a rule, such foods irritate the gastric mucosa and can lead to attacks of pain and exacerbation.

Spicy food is at the top of this list. And spices make food spicy. Therefore, you should exclude mustard, peppercorns or chili, ginger and other hot spices from your diet. In general, it is better to exclude spices from your diet almost completely. But spices are not the only ones that can irritate the stomach lining.

Food with chemical additives can be an even greater irritant. Therefore, when choosing products for a diet table, you need to carefully read the label. Various dyes, preservatives, flavors or thickeners can also negatively affect the walls of the stomach and cause exacerbation of gastrointestinal diseases. And you can't eat dry food. Dry and poorly chewed food also negatively affects the mucous membrane of the stomach.

Gentle diet for gastrointestinal diseases

With some gastrointestinal diseases, you simply cannot do without strict dietary restrictions. But there are cases when a gentle diet for gastrointestinal diseases is quite suitable. For example, such a diet will help cure gastritis. In such a diet, it is important not only what you eat, but also how you cook your food.

For example, with gastritis, you should avoid eating fried foods. It is best to boil or bake food. You can also stew or steam it. It is also important to avoid pickled foods. They irritate the gastric mucosa, which is already irritated with gastritis. Furthermore, a gentle diet for gastrointestinal diseases includes eating liquid foods. You cannot eat dry food.

Dry food also irritates the stomach, so it is important to eat soups and liquid porridges every day. These can be milk porridges or porridges on water. Cream soups or porridges and soups of a "slimy" consistency are very useful. This can be oatmeal, well-boiled rice porridge on milk. You can also eat kissels.

Diet recipes for gastrointestinal diseases

For gastrointestinal diseases, such as gastritis, it is very useful to eat porridge. Cereals contain a lot of fiber. It helps to cleanse and empty the intestines. In addition, they are rich in healthy carbohydrates that are quickly and easily digested. Here are recipes for a diet for gastrointestinal diseases. You can cook semolina porridge in milk with vanilla.

To do this, pour milk into a saucepan and almost bring to a boil. Immediately add salt, sugar and vanilla to taste. While the milk has not yet started to boil, just before it boils, pour in the semolina and stir well. This way, you can avoid lumps in the porridge. Season the porridge with a small piece of butter.

An excellent recipe for people with gastrointestinal diseases is cauliflower in breadcrumbs. Boil the cabbage, or better yet, steam the florets. Then melt the butter, but do not fry it. Roll the florets in breadcrumbs, pour in butter and simmer in a saucepan over low heat or put in the oven.

Zucchini is a very healthy vegetable, especially for people with digestive problems. You can make a summer Lenten soup from zucchini. For those suffering from gastritis, it is not advisable to drink strong meat broth. Therefore, this soup can be made with water or weak broth. You do not need to fry this soup. It is better not to sauté all the vegetables, but put them in raw. But the flour should only be slightly dried in a frying pan without oil.

For the soup you will need potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, dill and parsley, and rice. And of course, zucchini. It is best to use young zucchini. Boil water or prepare a weak broth. All vegetables and rice should be thrown into already boiling water. Cut the potatoes into cubes, grate the carrots and celery. Cut the zucchini into small cubes. Put all the vegetables in boiling water and cook for about five minutes. Then add the rice and cook until tender. At the end, add dried flour and finely chopped greens. Also at the end, add one tablespoon of sunflower or olive oil to the soup. It is better to put less salt. You can add turmeric for taste and color.

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Diet menu for gastrointestinal diseases

How to correctly compose a diet menu for gastrointestinal diseases? First, you need to start planning by making a list of healthy products. When going to the store or market, make such a list in advance. Buy everything you need to prepare porridge and soups, because they should become a healthy basis for the diet.

Secondly, it is important to plan to eat fractionally and often. Instead of the usual three meals, you need to split this amount of food into five meals. At least once a day you need to eat soup and once a day liquid porridge with milk or water. In the morning you can eat low-fat cottage cheese with fruit (bananas or baked apples) or with dried fruit. For dinner, you can steam or bake fish with mashed potatoes.

It is important to remember that you cannot eat dry food. But you should exclude soda and some types of juice from your diet. You should drink warm water, not cold. And it is better to eat all food warm, not hot or cold.

A diet for gastrointestinal diseases will help you restore your health and prevent the development of more serious diseases. Therefore, you need to carefully think through the grocery shopping list in advance and plan your menu for the day, or better yet, for the whole week ahead.

What can you eat if you have gastrointestinal diseases?

A diet should not deprive your body of useful substances and proper nutrition. There are simply a number of products or methods of their processing that need to be excluded from the diet or replaced. What can you eat with gastrointestinal diseases? A healthy diet should include five food groups: vegetables, fruits, cereals, meat, dairy products and fish.

Vegetables that you can eat include boiled or baked potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, cauliflower, and broccoli, but it is better not to eat white cabbage. It is also better to avoid eating eggplants and onions (fresh). But zucchini and squash are very healthy.

Of the fruits, it is better to eat stewed or baked apples, pears, melons, watermelons, bananas. It is better to avoid all citrus fruits, because the acid irritates the mucous membrane of the stomach. It is better to eat lean meat. You cannot eat fried meat, it is better to boil, steam or bake it.

Of the dairy products, it is important to consume fermented milk products: kefir, starters, low-fat sour cream, yogurts, etc. It is better to eat sea fish, steamed or boiled. It is important to cook soups and porridges. Of the cereals, oatmeal and buckwheat, as well as rice, are best for the stomach.

What should you not eat if you have gastrointestinal diseases?

There are a number of products that strongly irritate the mucous membrane of the stomach, gall bladder or liver. These include some vegetables, such as eggplants and white cabbage. Fatty meat or fish should also be excluded from the diet for gastrointestinal diseases.

Fruits, especially citrus fruits, contain acid, and it is also not advisable to eat them. They can cause an exacerbation of the gastrointestinal tract. You should also exclude fatty dairy and fermented milk products from your diet. It is better to choose low-fat cottage cheese and other dairy products. And you should also not eat most spices. These include chili peppers and other types of peppers, ginger, mustard and other spicy and hot spices. And in no case should you eat fried foods and various ready-made snacks, as well as fast food. Some types of juices can also irritate the gastric mucosa, for example, apple or grape juice.


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