How I cured my gastritis

I haven't had much chia seeds (not my taste) but I think they are ok. 

Unfortunately in the case of gastritis, all fats cause the digestion to slow down which cause your stomach to be subject to digestive juices longer and more prone to be inflammed. But a little bit of fat is ok depending how you feel right now, I started with 1 teaspoon per meal, went up to a table spoon when I got better, than now I can eat much more. Since you are having little fat, it is better to choose healthy fats: avocado and nut butter are an excellent choice, just start with small quantities.

Do you mean peanut butter?? 😋

There is no real reason not to recommend peanut butter in small quantity (very fatty), but personnally I didn't react so well to it. I felt much better with almond butter or walnut butter (the walnut butter is made with cashew butter in it, delicious!).

Maryam, I need to do the Candida diet too. But I am not attempting it anytime soon. With Gastritis the things you need to eat are soft easily to digest foods like bananas, potatoes, maybe rice or oatmeal. I am just now starting to incorporate meats back in. If I do the Candida diet I will not be able to get enough calories in because there's not enough choices if I can't eat too much meats yet. It's too rough for me. I think priority is Gastritis first. Then work on Candida, unless you can tolerate lots of meats, eggs, and veggies only.

Hi, I have tried the candida diet for reflux based on a diagnosis by a naturopath (turned out he gad misdiagnosed)..I felt even worse, lost lot of weight and it did nothing for my reflux. Am sorry to sound negative, wanted to share my experience...you could always try it though, it might work for you!

How long did you try the diet for? Did it exvlude all sugar milk and wheat? I have th white coating on tongue so I really suspect candida. And did you use probiotics or anti fungals? What causedyour acid rreflux? Mine wss after an course of anti biotics x

My acid reflux came on suddenly..the only reason I can think of was eating lot of oranges before it happened..Anyway now I have gastritis caused by pylori so that probably caused the acid reflux..did the diet for 2months based on a naturopath treatment..it excluded all dairy, sugar, carbs, wheat etc..basically only steamed veggies, lentils (for my protein as I am a vegetarian)..I took anti fugal first and then probiotics too prescribed by that guy..

Hi sirivinay. Were you very strict with your diet in those 2 months. I am being pretty good but when I get really hungry, I start eating nuts and oak cakes. I am struggling to digest both these and am wondering if this will stop me healing. Was your digestion quite poor to begin with and maybe getting better now you are healing? Thankyou, Emma.

hi Emma, i was perfectly healthy actually. I fact I used to be proud of my digestive system lol..my acid reflux started suddenly one day and then the gastritis. This is after I moved to the USA from India. Something here didn't suit me, maybe the milk  (I was having whole milk, didn't know it was bad and never heard of terms like lactose intolerance etc). Also, I was very stressed out as I had a busy life back home and all of a sudden I was idle (I am on a dependent visa so I cannot work). I believe all this put a stress on my digestion. 

Now coming to the diet, it's good that you are being strict with your diet. It's really difficult to stick to diets when everyone around you eats normally! And nuts  or oat cakes shouldn't be a problem. They are good for the stomach and healthy as well. Are the cakes gluten and sugar free?and which nuts are you eating.. Almonds, walnuts are great as they also have a low mold content. Avoid peanuts, cashew, raisins, pistachios. Are you on a no carb diet or a candida diet? basically, if you don't feel good after eating something, don't eat it! You need to keep testing till you find what agrees and what doesn't.

I did do the diet strictly for a couple of months but even after that I realised I felt bad with everything I ate. And it made no difference to me as I felt the same. That was when I realised I had been given a wrong diagnosis about candida when In fact I actually had h pylori which was tested positive via endoscopy. I was told I had gluten, lactose intolerance etc (wrongly by the naturopath). I still avoid both for the gastritis but I am able to eat rice, lentils, veggies, yoghurt (homemade) normally. 

Hi sirivinay. Thanks for you reply. I am eating almonds and plain oat cakes but I do have a lot of trouble digesting, and they dont seem to go down very well. It would be best I know to just eat meat/veg/potatoes and rice but  I get so hungry.  If I do eat them, I tend to go to bed with food in my stomach and I'm sure this stops it healing. 

It sounds like stress was the main reason for your problems starting.

Mine was down to overuse of antibiotics/painkillers and oregano. I'm not sure I can ever heal my damaged gut as I am 48 and I think it is harder, the older you get.

I have booked an appointment to see Dr in a couple of weeks to get an antidepressant as I'm sure I am making myself worse stressing about it all the time.

I hope you are still feeling better. Take care, Emma.

A low dose of anti depressant should work well I guess. I want to meet the doctor to get a prescription myself. Not being anxious is the key to healing, but I know it's so hard. I hope you do heal yourself, am sure you can. You just have to be persistent and positive. Have you tried yoga?meats might be a little hard to digest.  Have you tried cutting down on it?maybe twice a week instead of everyday?just thinking of some ways to help you heal..would be great if it works

Im Ok if I stick to chicken, but not red meat. The main problem I am having at the moment is because I have leaky gut, quite a few good foods are giving me instant sinusitis i.e. porridge oats, avocado, even carrots which is extremely frustrating and is making me really anxious. They dont seem to affect my stomach so dont know why they are causing this. I feel if I can sort out my sinuses, I could then get my stomach sorted but not sure what to do. Apparently if you have leaky gut it causes sinusitis. Thats why Im hoping anti depressants might calm me down which will hopefully help. 

What lentils do you eat. I will have a look to see if I am allowed them with leaky gut. Might help to fill me up a bit if I eat them in my soups.

Emma, for two weeks I had only smoothies. This allowed my stomach to heal and I was able to start adding foods back in like ground turkey and sweet potatos. I had ask much smoothies as I needed to help me feel full. I added all kinds of stuff to the smoothies... Cooked oats, cooked sweet potato, cooked brown rice flour, stawberries, bananas, Honey, almond butter, almond milk, coconut milk, protein powder, etc. Be creative. I even put my glutamine powder in there.

Regarding antibiotics. My doc wanted me to try antibiotics and now I think I have C Diff from the antibiotics! I have loose thin stool all day like every hour I have to use the restroom, and burning and cramping! I am upset about this!

Hi acakes. Thanks for your advice, think this is going to be the best for me.

Never thought of adding oats and potato to smoothies but thats a good idea. I cant tolerate any milk. What protein powder did you use? 

If you have taken antibiotics and they have upset you, it would be a really good idea to start a probiotic. I do take two a day and think they are useful not only for your stomach but your immune system. Let me know if you would like to know which one as I dont have a problem taking them.

It sounds like the antibiotics have upset your beneficial bacteria.

Is cooked brown rice flour the same as cooked brown rice?

Thanks, Emma.

What about Almond Milk? It's not dairy. I can easily tolerate Almond milk and Coconut Milk. Brown Rice Flour is just brown rice ground up very fine. You could use white rice flour too. Just think of anything you can throw in there. It actually tastes good! The potato, oats, rice flour is the base and makes it thick. I add chia seeds too.

I am taking a probiotic. I hope I don't have C Diff. That's no fun. Doing a stool test todag and will find out soon. I need to do a colonoscopy soon because something is not right.

Emma, you could try cooking regular rice and throwing that in the blender. It might blend up just fine.

Emma, also... I make a big batch of smoothie up at one time for the whole day. Or somtimes the night before. The only thing else I have with the smoothies is that I eat boiled eggs because they are soft. Make up as much smothie as you want ao that you don't feel hungry or deprived.

Yes thanks I will definitely try that. I'm sure if I help the stomach, the sinuses should get better too.

I dont know what C Diff i?. Is your gastritis improving?

Yes the Gastritis has improved. The Lansoprazole 15mg and the Lexapro both helped. You don't realize how bad you're off until the antidepressant starts working. I feel mentally normal again. Not so worried and imptient.

Thats really good to know, thanks for sharing. I'm not going to try the lansoprazole because I find diet works pretty good but definitely need some help with my emotions. 

You do sound less stressed about your illness. You sound like you have a good Dr who will help you to get back to full health.

I'm more hopeful now. Also, I buy Babyfood Green Beans. But I look to make sure there is no funny ingredients in it.

Did you find it really helped doing it? Are you working at the moment because it must be really hard to do if you have to do the smoothie 

diet away from home. I gave up work last year so I have no excuse.

If hope you dont have that c diff. Ive had a look at it, hopefully the antibiotics have just upset your bacteria. They are awful things.

 

Emma... Yes it really helped. My stomach got flatter. I found the smoothies made things simpler for me. I made a big batch of it the night before and poured them into big drinking bottles and took them to work. I carried them wherever I went in a lunch tote. It was nice not having to worry about what I'm going to eat and if it would upset my stomach or not. It was less to think about.

I think I eat something today that my stomach didnt like as it got huge like a balloon. I think its when things are harder to digest which explains why yours was flatter when you were just consuming smoothies. They take very little to digest. Going to give it a good try, fed up of being ill. 

What protein powder did you add to  your smoothie?

I just try to take it serious because I don't want to prolong this. I want to move on with my life and put it behind me. The protein I bought was called Paleo Protein. It has simple ingredients. I also LOVE the Raw Meal Shake by Garden of Life. It's very thick. At first I was drinking just that all day but then my food sensitivity test showed I was sensitive to Flax seed so I stopped it. Raw Meal Shake i made from sprouted grains and easy to digest.

Hi ackes,

Could you tell me exactly how you make your smoothies please? I'd like to know for future ref, as I can only drink water at the mo. 😢 what kind of different foods can you eat now?

I too have suffered with my anxiety about all this. I'm on enough medication now to make a mental health hospital happy! x

Hi ackes,

Could you please tell me exactly how you make your smoothies? I'd like to know for future ref, as currently I can only drink water 😢

I'm trying to deal with my anxiety about all this, taking enough medication to make a mental health hospital happy! xx

Gaynor... the reason I try to put so many things in my smoothies is so that I can get in enough caloris as I do not want to lose anymore weight. So I mix and match alot of ingredients. The main smoothie I make, I dump any of the following into a blender: almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk, a few cups of cooked oatmeal, banana, cooked brown rice or cooked brown rice flour, cooked sweet potato, strawberries, bananas, chia seeds, manuka or regular honey, almond butter, protein powder (something with few ingredients). You can think of other things if you like too. I don't put all of those in my smoothie at once, I make sure to always add a type of milk like almond milk and a carb like oats, rice, potato. Then I add a fruit and a few other things in so that I can add calories. If you need me to be more specific with anything let me know. Just be creative.

This sounds good! As soon as I can tolerate any sort of milk I'll give it a go.

Are you feeling a lot better now? Do you think anxiety really hinders recovery? x

Hi Gaynor. How are you managing on just water? I find things get worse if I dont eat enough because I feel too acidy. Have you tried just eating vegetables and rice?

I don't consider Almond Milk, Coconut Milk, or Hemp Milk to be a milk like dairy because its not dairy. It's like water to me.

I think anxiety effects healing, but if you are taking a PPI I think it helps because it is blocking the acide created by anxiety. To me I was too stressed because of the Gastritis that I knew I needed a little something to take the edge off.

When I have too much acidity, I make mashed potatoes mixed with some of the cooking water to make it smooth. I add a little bit of salt and olive oil or vegan butter. I find it very soothing (and delicious!).

Hi Ines. Because I try not to eat 3 hours before going to bed, I will have my dinner at 7pm but sometimes I find I am  hungry about 9ish. I dont have anything else to eat so by the time I go to bed I am really hungry.

This then tends to make me feel quite acidic in the morning and I always feel like it is stopping it heal. Did this ever happen to you?

Actually it is happening to me right now. I went to the restaurant 2-3 days ago and since then I am having some acidity. I manage during the day with regular meals (lots of potatoes!) and lots of water but at night there is nothing to buffer it. I used to take the DGL licorice before against this but now with the pregnancy I would rather not. What I do is that I drink a big glass of evamore water 2-3 hours before bed. Then when I wake up during the night feeling excess acid, I have a coconut water. This is not a good idea though because of the risk of reflux with the liquid but I find it soothing on the moment and it puts me back to sleep. If you can take a tabs of DGL instead it is better. DGL at night is what I used to to and it was working very well.

Have you tried one tab of DGL just before bed? And one if you wake up during the night?

I cant take dgl or coconut water. They both irritate my stomach/gut. I might just try having a bit of mashed potato like you suggest. I'm sure if I had some at 9 it would be digested by 10ish. I can have gaviscon so I do have that sometimes. I think when your pregnant, you do have more acid reflux and heartburn so hopefully yours will be better once the baby is born. How many weeks are you?

I eat whole Mung beans, split mung beans( green and yellow varieties) pigeon peas, pink lentil varieties etc. You can get all of them at any Indian grocery store near your place. You can add veggies, leafy greens (especially spinach) to your soup to make it yummy. Some salt, cilantro and mustard seeds will be great as garnishing. Lentils have a lot of proteins, more than meat in fact and also some carbs so you will feel full. You can even add cooked lentils into your smoothies. Boiling 1 cup lentils with 2 or 2.5 cups water for about half an hour (20min for yellow mung beans) should give you soft cooked lentils which are easy to digest. Or even better is to pressure cook it. You can soak it overnight, but I don't do that (except for whole green mung beans which have to be soaked overnight). I pressure cook them directly as I use it in my everyday cooking.

sometimes I soak 1cup green mung beans for 6 hours with 1/2 cup rice. After 6 hours I grind them into a batter in a mixer with salt, some cilantro, a pinch of ginger (you can avoid it). You can make thin crispy pancakes with the batter. I use coconut oil for the pancakes instead of butter. I was told lentils are good for leaky gut by a naturopath. So I hope it helps you

Hi Emma, I'm struggling just drinking water. Very fed up of it. I miss my tea and coffee 😢

I eat quite a lot veg and potatos. Again, growing suck of them too haha. But if I want to heal then I better start enjoying them!

Lately I'm finding I'm getting a sore throat after drinking any sort of milk. Be it almond, coconut or dairy. My mum says it's another anxiety symptom as I've been getting myself quite worked up. Trying hard to just be calm and get on with it though.

How are you getting on? x

Gaynore are you taking any acid blockers PPIs or H2 blockers? If water bothers you, have you tried a higher pH balanced water like Evemor?

I don't think the acid reflux is due to the pregnancy. It clearly happends every time I eat something out of the diet (usually when I go to the restaurant instead of eating at home).

I am only 10 weeks in. Acid reflux from pregnancy comes when the baby/placenta pushes on the stomach, which is not happening yet.

Not good either. Sorry, I thought you meant you weren't eating anything, just drinking water. I was worried about you. I don't drink anything apart from water either but I didn't drink tea or coffee before. I do miss my lager (beer) though. 

I'm not able to have any alternative milks either. Even though they're not dairy, they still make me feel sick and acidy. I have to add water to my smoothies. 

I'm going to the Dr soon to get some antidepressents because I do feel stress and anxiety will stop you healing. I have been very stressed lately. The trouble is the worse you get, the more you stress which makes you even worse. 

Are you beginning to feel any better now for doing a stricter diet?

I'm on my 3rd different PPI now. I've been stressed out for months and my diet wasn't 'clean', so I think tjats why I'm still poorly. Not sure the PPI's are working anymore. Dr reckons I'm too stressed.

I'm ok drinking water, just sick of it. I really want my life back. Sick of worrying about my stomach and missing out on everything.

I understand! It it like Prison! I say do the smoothies with anything you can tolerate. Use water instead. Who cares what it tastes like. Then after two weeks continue the smoothies and try to add gentle foods in. It's worth a shot.

I found some grains in the health food shop which I mix with water and banana. It doesn't irritate my stomach so I have those morning and lunch. I haven't had tummy ache for s couple days so hopefully ive found something to work with for a few weeks. I can't even tolerate chicken lately. We're you the same? How are you doing now? x

Hi Gaynor. Which grains do you use please?

The reason I like the smoothie format is vecause I can take them to go in a container wherever I go. I make about 50 oz and divide them into two containers. Take your rice and banana idea and add more stuff to it. You can puree sweet potatoes and green beans. Anything to get enough calories. I am doing better now since the PPI and low dose antidepressant.

Hi Emma, they're called millet flakes. They are quite fine, but with water and banana warmed up they turn into like a porridge. Quite nice. x

Hi Gaynor. Thanks for that, might try those as Ive become intolerant to oats at the moment for some reason. 

I hope you can get on top of your problems. Was there something that triggered your stomach problems? Mine was too many antibiotics/painkillers and a strong herb. Not sure I can ever totally repair the damage, but I know stress is holding me back.

Hi Emma,

I think mine was stress and alcohol tbh. And yeah I think my stress and anxitey is holding me back too. I've become really sensitised to everything, I.e any slight niggle anywhere and I'm like 'oMG now what!' I'm a catastrophiser. On a lot of meds at the mo to help my mental state.

I'm sure we will get better, as long as we listen to our bodies and stop stressing about it. I've spoken to loads of people and they say if they get stressed it affects their stomach straight away. So it's obvious if our poor tummys are already sore then getting worked up will just make them worse. I'm trying to stop caring as much and just eat what ever bland food works. Then in time my tummy will improve. I think my taste buds have moved out anyway 😉 xx

Hi Gaynor. 

Stress really is so bad for us. My 18 year old has just changed jobs and was quite stressed and he is also experiencing stomach problems. Ive managed to get a Drs appointment tomorrow so going to see what they advise but have to be careful what I take, as nearly all meds make my tummy burn. 

Ive cut my diet down to just bland, easy to digest foods and it is definitely helping so hopefully with calming medicines, it might start to heal. Ive had mine for 18 years on and off so can imagine its going to take a long time to get better.

Are you on anti-d'S?. Might help you if not. x

Thanks very much for that sirivinay.