How I cured my gastritis

Hi Alice,

I am not sure how you can get the books but you should be able to find enough information online.

About the food, my advice would be to avoid fruit juice as they are too acidic, rice and the other starch you mention sound good, for proteins try to go for chicken, eggs or fish, cook everything with very little fat, as little as possible, no fried food anymore, nuts are ok in small quantity except maybe peanuts (many people react badly to peanuts), the fruits good for you are bananas and papayas, avoid all others, most vegetables are good if they don't taste spicy but avoid tomatoes, garlic, onion and bell peppers if they are available in your country, and finally no spices and other seasonings.

Hi Alice,

AS you know...Gastritis occurs when the lining of the stomach becomes inflamed or swollen.Well known common causes such as medicines bacteria and trauma but there are many other less common ones.

Inflammation is an immune response to some form of "insult"..a

finger burned, cut, stung, bitten a splinter,  etc...all cause inflammation but we don't necessarily treat them exactly the same. Knowing the "insult" can be most helpful.However, there are some do's and don'ts that apply in general.i.e. don't traumatize the stomach with spice, too hot or too cold, lifting heavy material/compressing the stomach.

In the 80's Heliocobacter Pylori was quite prevelant in Malawi. Were you or any of your close family members diagnosed/treated ?

It is most often transmitted person to person, and to a lesser extent ingestion and dental work.

Food: I know the good greens and other vegetables are not yet available until cooler weather a few months away...but when they are available...consider fermeting.....some patients find eating/drinking the cabbage juices favorable and some find them intollerable.(Most likely due to type of gastritis and phenotype...two big variables).

An alternative to cooking with oil. We used bone broth for cooking all of our food...vegetables, fish, and meats (poaching/sautee). We would occasionally add a teaspoon or two of olive or avaocado oil over our food after cooking. Simply, we did not cook with oil, and we removed skin and fat from meats.

While you may not have the variety of foods, yours are probably better than ours...organic...Malawi is known as a country of growers, hopefully you yet don't use synthetic herbicides/insecticides etc...?

Lastly,, the enzymes your are taking should help with digestion but may need some help...gas...the culprit is usually undigested carbs.

For a trial,you might consider eating carbs first, chewing very slow, so that the saliva mixes well with the food before swallowing. then take a one or two minute break before continuing your other foods.

There are a few other tips but give this a try and let me know 

how it works out for you.

Claudio

 

Hello Ines

You dont know how thankful I am for the tips you have given me.  Sometimes we suffer in silence coz of lack of knowledge and yet there are people out there who are ready and willing to help. I have aready started eating relish without or with very little oil.  But I find it difficult to prepare the veges without oil and tomatoes. Any advice?  Somebody advised me to use the outer layer of tomatoes and leave the insides, is this true?

Hello Caudio

Thank you very much for the tips, they are very helpful, am glad that I came across this wbsite that I can share my experiences and get some tips on my condition.

I have started the diet though it seems to be very difficult but am sure I will get used to it.  Am afraid that I heard nothing about Heliocobacter Pylori, I dont know maybe I have to ask around and find out its name in our local language otherwise I cant remember anything about it.  I was advised to stop eating meats what do you say.  I was advised to use outer layer of tomatoes which they say its safe, what do you say? Or what can be subsituted for tomatoes? Now its rainy season in malawi, most of the veges we get are organic including pumpkin leaves which we of course sow together with maize. Are these okay?

As many tips as I can get are welcome.  Right now am a bit better though I still belch a lot but my stomach is quiet. I have stopped taking Pankreoflat and Domperidon, am taking Nativa (Digestive Complex) to help with my digestion.  I really dont know cabbage juice.  Is it found in shops or you make it using cabbages?  I was advised not to each cabbages its acidic.  I hope to get as may tips as I can to cure this problem.

Thanks

Alice

I think you should avoid the tomatoes completely. You can boil, steam, sauté or roast the vegetables with a little bit of salt and oil. As a rule of thumb avoid anything that feels acidic, spicy or astringent on your tongue.

Be careful with supplements, many are irritating to the stomach. It might be better to let your stomach rest. Personnally, as a precaution I avoid anything that does not feel obviously helpful. I tried some enzymes at some point and I found them irritating for the stomach.

Hi Vicky:  I'm sorry that you have been so ill.  I am in the same boat, chasing symptoms.  I do know that acid blockers are not as benign a drug as some doctors say.  There was a drug study where they put healthy people on a acid blocker for a few weeks, then stopped.  Most of the participants reported acid reflux symptoms and digestive problems afterward.  Yes, the drug can cause more problems.  I think your doctor made a mistake putting you on an acid blocker because of a hollow, echoey feeling.  Now, you're dealing with rebound acid. You need to follow the advice of ines6375 above.  All I can suggest is going on a very restricted diet, then add one thing at a time.  Only items on the coeliacs diet list.  That is what most nutritionists would have you do.  Don't add more medications if you help it.  I hope you get better soon.  John

Thanks John. You have no idea how distressed I've been in the last week. I was having a terrible time and it was making me anxious. It wasn't helped when numerous people started telling me my symptoms sounded like various forms of cancer! And you know what stress does to the body?! It gives you indigestion! It's been truly horrific. Funnily enough, this afternoon I decided I was desperate enough to try the tried-and-tested recommendation of peppermint tea (I had to be desperate. My GOD I hate mint!!) and it worked amazingly well. Totally got rid of the bloating and stomach ache, within a couple of hours! I was stunned! I even felt well enough to eat this evening, although even that small meal has given me acid. Frustrating. Anyway, I'm going to do as you say and pare my food right back to basics. No spices, no onion or garlic (*sob!*), non-acidic veg, no chocolate (*sob!* again!) and I might go back to having warm water as well. I found in the past that microwaving cold water for 2.5minutes, then making a glass of half that water and half cold water is a little easier on the stomach. I desperately hope this works, but I shall try speaking to this different doctor on Tuesday and see what she says. Thank you so much again for replying.

Hi Vikki:  I'm glad you got some relief from the peppermint.  Whenever you find something that helps a bit, write it down for future reference.  I also heat my water a little before drinking it.  Why don't you start a new discussion on coeliacs disease.  No doubt, other people who are dealing with this problem could give some advice.  I am also seeing a new doctor soon.  First I have to have a Colonoscomy.  I have been putting it off for too long.  Then I am hoping I can talk my doctor into getting a high quality 3D scan of my digestive system.  I need more information as to what I'm dealing with.  Stay in touch and we'll hope for the best.  John

Hi Vicky,

I am glad peppermint helped you. Peppermint is good for digestion but unfortunately it relaxes the LES sphincter which can cause acid reflux.

have you ever looked into the fodmaps diet? It helps reduce the foods that feet the bacteria that make us feel bloated. This is similar to the fast track diet.

Hi Vikki:  I hope you are getting better.  I wanted to share my progress over that past week.  First, after much research, I found that my prescrption steroid nasal spray has been found to cause gastro-intestinal damage.  So, I stopped using it immediately.  I have been feeling better each day.  I also determined that I had bad bacteria in my gut.  Many people have been told to avoid milk products.  But, the small and large intestines must have beneficial bacteria to function properly.  And the main source of this is milk based probiotics.  The best way to diagnose a problem is look at your tongue, it should be pink, not white, smoothe, not furry.  I had a case of bad gut bacteria and could not eat carbs.  When I ate carbs I would blow up like a ballon.  So I took 5 doses of Pepto bismol 1 each hour, to kill all the gut bacteria.  Then started eating good quality, plain yogurt every hour all day, then 4 times a day thereafter.  Now I can eat carbs and no bloating.  Yogurt saved my life as the doctor wanted to remove some of my small intestine.  Now I'm much better.  That was my main symptom.  Too many presciption drugs are killing us.  Be well.  John

I use a leakproof Tupperware to take with me whatever I want. Otherwise can buy cut melon or watermelon, a banana and/or coconut water.

Non-acidic fruits in leakproof lunchboxes. Got it. I wanted to try a new recipe for lunch: A sandwich which consists of chicken breast pieces in brown bread. I guess that's ok for me. Oh and I'm a little concerned about my weight loss. I lost 22 pounds in 3 months (I actually started a really strict diet before this one but it was only low-fat. It had plenty of acidic foods and fruits). My BMI is currently 22.2. Should I be worried?

A BMI of 22.2 is very healthy! No need to worry.

I put all sorts of things in my Tupperware: sometimes leftover from lunch or dinner to eat as a snack.

You're right. I'm freaking out over nothing. To be very honest, I could stay on this diet for the rest of my life because all i want is to feel normal again. In fact, I used to be overweight and now I'm normal and am eating healthy food everyday and this has significantly lowered the risk of getting diseases/conditions like obesity, high bloodpressure, heart attack and much more. I think of it as a blessing in disguise. 

By the way, did you start eating outside now? Like, once or twice a month? 

Before I was diagnosed with gastritis, I complained to my doctor that fatty food and gluten were making me sick and that I was only feeling good with healthy food and he told me that I was lucky to be forced to eat healthy. I guess it is one way of seeing things. I still would like to be able to go to the restaurant and enjoy all the diversity of food out there.

I am on vacation now, I have been eating at the restaurant every day for a week. I ask that my food be prepared as simple as possible but I get things I should not: sometimes they put black pepper by mistake, or I can taste some garlic, I had mustard in a sandwich, a little bit of curry in the plane, and fries every day these last days (so hard to resist). I was more or less fine until yesterday but I noticed that my stools looked more and more awful, my sleep is getting worse and since yesterday I have some discomfort in my stomach. I think the fries were the worst, I am going to stop with that.

Well you know what they say, health is wealth. I too have a confession to make: I also cheated on my diet. Yup, I did it again. And not once but 6 times in a month. I felt a little better so I ate outside. Nothing happened so I did it again some other day. Still feeling normal. So I went and ate some more( Okay, a lot more). It was not until a day later from my last cheat meal that I felt the beast within me awaken and boy did it remind me of the afterlife: Bowel movements went haywire, stomach cramps are back, the disruption of my beauty sleep and a bit of indigestion. I've been feeling like this for the past few days. I made an oath not to eat ANYTHING outside for the next 3 months. 

I also think that the fries were the main offender in my case but maybe I'm making excuses.