What should you pay attention to in your diet for ulcerative colitis?

Patients with ulcerative colitis must pay attention to scientific treatment, and at the same time cannot ignore dietary issues. They should pay attention to eating less crude fiber foods, be cautious when eating seafood, and avoid eating spicy, irritating, and greasy foods.

1. Eat less crude fiber foods: avoid crude fiber foods and roughly processed foods. Because large amounts of crude fiber foods can irritate the intestines and affect the absorption of nutrients, they can aggravate the condition of patients who are already malnourished. Therefore, you should try to limit dietary fiber, such as leeks, celery, sweet potatoes, radishes, coarse grains, dry beans, etc. During the active period of the disease, you should avoid eating raw vegetables and fruits. They can be made into vegetable juice, vegetable puree, juice, fruit puree, etc. for consumption. Do not cook with large pieces of meat. Instead, use minced meat, diced meat, shredded meat, minced meat, and steamed egg custard, boiled eggs, etc.

2. Eat seafood with caution: There is a certain reason why Chinese medicine lists seafood as "irritating food". The protein in seafood is different from the protein in the food we usually eat. Some foreign proteins are prone to cause allergies and aggravate inflammatory reactions. Therefore, patients with ulcerative colitis must eat seafood with caution. It is also not recommended to drink milk and dairy products during the active stage of the disease.

3. Avoid spicy food: Spicy and irritating food will cause adverse stimulation to the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, patients with ulcerative colitis should avoid spicy and irritating foods such as peppers, mustard, and alcohol, and eat less garlic, ginger, and raw onions. Also, do not eat food that is too cold or too hot. Especially in summer, avoid cold drinks and food that has just been taken out of the refrigerator.

4. Avoid eating greasy food: Diarrhea caused by ulcerative colitis is often accompanied by fat malabsorption, and in severe cases, it is accompanied by steatorrhea. Therefore, the amount of dietary fat should be limited, and low-fat foods and cooking methods should be used. For those with steatorrhea, medium-chain fatty acid oils, such as coconut oil, can be used. When you have diarrhea, you should avoid eating oily and fried foods. When cooking various dishes, you should use as little oil as possible and often use steaming, boiling, braising, boiling, stewing, and water-boiling methods.