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Nutrition for diarrhea is an important component of a speedy recovery of the patient. The diet should be agreed with the doctor, especially in cases where the liquefaction and frequent stools were caused by serious diseases. The goal of diet therapy for diarrhea is to reduce inflammation in the intestines, normalize digestive processes due to the maximum sparing of the mucosa.
It is necessary to abandon hungry or water days, since with diarrhea, intestinal functions are not lost, and the body is able to digest food, but in smaller volumes. Complete refusal to eat slows down the recovery process, further undermining the body’s defenses.
Principles of nutrition for diarrhea
The daily menu for diarrhea is compiled depending on what exactly caused the development of this symptom.
However, there are general principles of nutrition that must be followed:
The intestines need to be unloaded. Therefore, you need to eat in small portions, but often, 5-6 times a day.
The intestines should not be exposed to chemical or mechanical stress.
It is necessary to remove from the diet foods that contribute to increased gas formation, start fermentation processes.
In the first days, the diet is cut to 20% (with severe diarrhea up to 50%).
The menu should include lactose-free dairy products, fermented milk drinks enriched with bifidus and lactobacilli.
It is necessary to abandon products that stimulate increased bile secretion.
Together with food, the daily need of the body for the nutrients necessary for its vital activity should be covered. At the same time, the volume of fats and carbohydrates is cut, focusing on protein products.
Dehydration is the main danger of diarrhea, so you need to monitor the amount of fluid you drink per day.
Food needs to be ground, steamed, boiled. Spices and spices are not added to the dishes.
At the time of diarrhea, you should stop eating raw vegetables and fruits, as they can aggravate the course of the disease.
Food should be served warm, from +33 to +38 °C.
Salt is limited, but it cannot be completely abandoned.
What can you eat with diarrhea?
Diarrhea is the loss of large amounts of fluid. In order to avoid dehydration, it is necessary to replenish water reserves in the body. If the patient’s diarrhea is severe, then he is recommended a sparing regimen with a reduction in the menu to 50-70% for 1-2 days, but it is necessary to drink water at this time.
Fluid should be taken immediately after another episode of diarrhea. It should be drunk in small sips. At a time, you need to drink about 300 ml of water, because this is how much liquid a person loses on average during each act of defecation with diarrhea. 2-3 liters of clean water should be consumed per day.
In addition to ordinary water, it is allowed to drink water with salt, black and herbal tea, apple juice, low-fat broth, jelly and compote of bird cherry and blueberries, whey.
As for food, in the first 2 days it is necessary to give preference to rye flour crackers, rice porridge, bananas, boiled vegetable puree.
Special attention should be paid to rice water. This drink is effective for diarrhea, as it allows you to achieve the following goals:
Protect the intestinal walls from irritation;
Normalize intestinal peristalsis;
Absorb and remove excess fluid from the intestinal lumen;
Reduce flatulence;
Replenish the deficiency of nutrients.
To prepare a healthy broth, you will need to bring 0,5 liters of water to a boil, add 2 tablespoons of rice to the pan, cook for 45 minutes. The finished broth is cooled and drunk 50 ml every 2 hours.
As you feel better, the patient will be allowed to expand his diet with the following products:
Dairy. During the preparation of porridge or vegetable purees, you can add milk diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 3.
Dairy products can be consumed in its pure form – it is yogurt, kefir, fermented baked milk, cottage cheese. They allow you to normalize the intestinal microflora, reduce gas formation and fermentation processes. In addition, fermented milk drinks are a valuable source of calcium and protein, which is especially needed by the body during illness. Kefir improves the absorption of calcium, fat, nitrogen in the intestines. This fermented milk drink has a bactericidal and antitoxic effect, which allows you to neutralize the pathogenic flora in diarrhea caused by infectious diseases.
Cereals in the form of cereals: rice, buckwheat, oatmeal, egg, millet. Porridge is best cooked in water, or with the addition of a small amount of milk. Porridge is allowed to be salted, but it is impossible to season with butter.
Meat: chicken, turkey, low-fat beef and veal, rabbit. The meat is boiled or steamed. Meat should be served raw.
Eggs chicken is also allowed during the subsidence of the disease. Do not eat more than 1 egg per day. They are either boiled or made into a steam omelette.
As for baked goods, then you can eat crackers. If they are not available, then you can simply dry ordinary bread in the oven. Fresh pastries with diarrhea should not be included in the menu.
Pasta. In small quantities, it is permissible to eat pasta.
You can cook fish: steam or boil. Preference should be given to low-fat varieties of fish, including: pollock, hake, carp, pike perch, cod.
Vegetables. Raw vegetables and fruits are not consumed. They are boiled, or mousses, mashed potatoes, jelly, compotes are prepared on their basis. It is allowed to include potatoes, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, asparagus, pumpkin, bananas, apples, quince in the menu. Vegetables and fruits are introduced gradually, after 2-3 days from the onset of diarrhea. You can cook vegetable soups, cook casseroles and soufflés.
Berries, from which decoctions and jelly should be prepared: dogwood, blackcurrant, bird cherry, blueberries, blackthorn. All of them have a strengthening effect, which allows you to quickly get rid of diarrhea.
To avoid pressure on the stomach and intestines, portions should be made small. Dishes during diarrhea must be salted, this will normalize the sodium balance in the body.
What can not be eaten with diarrhea?
Fatty and fried foods with diarrhea are under the strictest ban. These products will lead to more frequent bowel movements, make the stool more liquid. Dishes that cause increased gas formation, such as cabbage and legumes, should be excluded. They irritate the digestive tract, start fermentation processes.
During diarrhea, the following drinks are unacceptable:
Any alcohol;
Coffee and coffee drinks;
Green tea;
Carbonated drinks;
Sweet drinks
All juices except apple;
unboiled water;
All cold and hot drinks.
The following products can harm the digestive tract with diarrhea:
Fatty meats, organ meats (brains, liver, kidneys).
Canned, pickled, smoked and oily fish.
Butter and vegetable oils.
Heavy cream, heavy sour cream, whole milk. These foods increase fermentation and intestinal motility, which leads to increased watery diarrhea and bloating.
Fresh vegetables, canned vegetables, as well as mustard, horseradish, turnips, cabbage, beets, rutabaga, mushrooms.
Sour berries and fruits.
Chocolate.
Mayonnaise.
Legumes: peas, beans.
Soy.
Fresh pastries, bakery products, including black bread.
Diet for children with diarrhea
Talk to your doctor about what to feed your baby during diarrhea. If the baby is breastfed, then it is not recommended to transfer it to the mixture. This will only make the diarrhea worse. Mother’s milk contains bacteria that are necessary for the normal functioning of the crumbs’ intestines. On days when the baby has diarrhea, the breast should be given more frequently.
If the child is on artificial feeding, then the mixture can not be changed. However, at the same time, bifidobacteria should be additionally given to him.
Breastfeeding tactics are determined on an individual basis. The frequency of feeding and the volume of food depend on the age of the baby, the severity of the course of diarrhea, the frequency of regurgitation. The general recommendation is 10 fractional feedings. You need to put the baby to the breast every 2 hours, at this time he should receive 50 ml of milk.
Children over 1,5 years of age should be offered mashed food, you can cook slimy soups for the child, compotes with blueberries. No new products are introduced into the menu of a child with diarrhea.
Properly organized nutrition from the first days of the disease is one of the conditions for its smooth course and quick relief from diarrhea. Inadequately compiled menu, long-term food restrictions and errors in the diet will contribute to the deterioration of the patient’s well-being, regardless of his age. It is important to strive for complete physiological nutrition, taking into account the severity of diarrhea and the causes that caused it.